Why was Uncle Ho's Testament published after 20 years?

Before leaving us, President Ho Chi Minh left behind a top secret document, later called the Testament. However, 20 years after his death, the entire process of writing President Ho Chi Minh's Testament was officially announced in 1989. At that time, the Truth Publishing House was honored to be assigned by the Politburo to publish this top secret document.

As one of the few lucky people to participate in publishing the full text of President Ho Chi Minh's Testament, Dr. Luu Tran Luan - Former member of the Editorial Board of the National Political Publishing House Truth said: "In the atmosphere of innovation, the Politburo decided to hold a meeting to review the full text of Uncle Ho's Testament. At that time, it was necessary to publish the full text of Uncle Ho's Testament because it was related to many new points such as agricultural tax exemption and Uncle Ho's personal matters."

Responding to the question of why it took 20 years for the Will to be published, Dr. Luu Tran Luan explained: “Uncle Ho's Will was partially published right after his death. In mid-1989, comrade Vu Ky - Uncle Ho's personal secretary, who had been preparing for many years, decided to send the draft of Uncle Ho's Will, recounting the process of Uncle Ho writing the Will from 1965 to 1969 to the Truth Publishing House at that time.

This work has many new points, recounting the process of Uncle Ho writing his Will from when, until the book was published. Thus, people understand that Uncle Ho's Will does not only have the published part as in 1969. Therefore, in the atmosphere of innovation, the Politburo decided to publish the full text of the Will and issued a Directive to study and follow Uncle Ho's Will", Mr. Luu Tran Luan recalled.

Sharing about the process of publishing the full text of this historic Testament, Dr. Luu Tran Luan said: “The Truth Publishing House was assigned, together with the Progress Printing House, to organize the printing and publishing of the full text of Uncle Ho's Testament. The full text of the Testament was brought from the archives to the printing house by the head of the Archives Agency and security. I was one of the two lucky people of the publishing house assigned to organize the printing and publishing. And this was done in just one night, around August 1989. After that, the entirety of Uncle Ho's Testament was brought back to the Central Archives, and the next day was the printing house's job. The number of copies printed was very large, 100,000 copies, printed on beautiful cut-cement paper. The solemn printing of the full text of Uncle Ho's Testament for distribution to the whole country, later the publishing house reprinted it again, and it is still reprinted now”.

Along with Uncle Ho's Will, at that time, the Politburo also decided to announce Uncle Ho's death date as September 2. Dr. Luu Tran Luan also explained why the Politburo had previously decided to announce Uncle Ho's death date as September 3: "We should remember that Uncle Ho died at 9:47 a.m. on September 2, 1969. From 1969 to 1988, we celebrated Uncle Ho's death anniversary on September 3 because the year Uncle Ho died, the Politburo carefully considered the National funeral which coincided with National Day.

Therefore, the Politburo found it necessary to announce it on September 3. But in 1989, in the atmosphere of innovation, the Politburo with comrade Nguyen Van Linh as General Secretary decided to announce the full text of the Will and announced Uncle Ho's death date as September 2, not September 3. Some new points in the Will were also implemented, such as Uncle Ho said that agricultural tax must be exempted for farmers for 1 year, the Politburo must make a decision, then the National Assembly must issue a resolution. Although the economy was still very difficult, the Politburo requested that agricultural tax exemption for farmers be implemented immediately for 1 year.

President Ho Chi Minh's Testament is the final advice of a genius leader, a revolutionary with a far-sighted vision. The further back in time, the more we understand the value of the historical Testament. Evaluating the theoretical and practical values ​​of the Testament, Dr. Luu Tran Luan emphasized: "Uncle Ho's Testament focuses on reflecting his intelligence, feelings, and responsibility to the Party, to the nation, to the country and to the people, leaving instructions for future generations. The content has many different points, but in general, there are two major matters. First of all, it is Uncle Ho's personal matter. His funeral was not held grandly, but he left many instructions to the entire Party and the entire people. Talking about the Party, Uncle Ho said that after the war, it must be reorganized.

Within the Party, we must unite, we must preserve unity like we preserve the apple of our eye. Another thing Uncle Ho advised was that for those who have contributed to the country, the army, and the youth volunteers, we must try to use and train them to become a class of people who are both red and expert. There is a point here that very few people pay attention to. Uncle Ho left these lines in case he met Karl Marx or Lenin.

He wanted to continue building the communist regime, firmly following the path of socialism as the best path he chose. Thus, at the 7th Congress, the Party took Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought as the ideological foundation and compass for action. His thoughts were that profound”./.