PV: Could you tell us about the current situation of union members, affiliated union organizations, and grassroots unions in the province?
Comrade Le Van Luong:Currently, Nghe An Provincial Youth Union has 35 affiliated district-level Youth Union units, including: 21 district, city and town Youth Union units; 9 university and college Youth Union units; 3 armed forces Youth Union units; Provincial agencies Youth Union and Provincial enterprises Youth Union.
The whole province has 679 grassroots Youth Unions (including 460 communes, wards and towns), 390 grassroots Youth Union branches and nearly 8,000 Youth Union branches with nearly 150,000 members.
The team of full-time Youth Union cadres from the district to the grassroots level has been consolidated and improved, ensuring sufficient quantity and quality. The Provincial Youth Union Standing Committee regularly directs units to proactively review the list of over-age Youth Union cadres and advises the Party Committee to pay attention to arranging and assigning suitable positions.
PV:Gathering young people to join the Youth Union is one of the key tasks in the Youth Union's activities. So, in your opinion, what are the advantages and challenges of this task at present?
Comrade Le Van Luong:Entering a new era when the Fourth Industrial Revolution has been taking place strongly on a global scale, young people have many favorable premises to promote the good traditions of previous generations, rising up to assert themselves in all areas of social life.
However, there are also many difficulties and challenges facing Vietnamese youth in general and Nghe An in particular. These are the negative impacts of the market economy; the plots and tricks of peaceful evolution of hostile forces that are trying to find every way to entice, divide, and shake the faith of the young generation, aiming to sabotage the next generation of the revolution, the backbone of the country.
However, difficulties do not mean there is no solution. If we do well in building the Youth Union to adapt to social changes, the solidarity and gathering of members and youth to participate in Youth Union activities will achieve the set goals. Specifically, we need to do well in the following contents: Building the Youth Union in terms of ideology and politics; building the Youth Union in terms of organization; building the Youth Union in terms of action.
Building the Youth Union in terms of ideology and politics is to build and consolidate the awareness and belief of union members and young people in Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought and the Party's political viewpoints and guidelines. Building the Youth Union in terms of organization is to build the organizational system and build the contingent of cadres and union members of the Youth Union. It can be said that this is the central and most essential content of the work of building the Youth Union, because if the organization is not strong, it cannot fulfill its mission of performing its functions and tasks well.
As for the action movement, it is the basic method for the Youth Union to carry out its political tasks and demonstrate its responsibility to society. The action movement is also a way to connect, gather young people and train and educate them, and is a place to strengthen the discipline, community spirit, coordination and management skills of the Youth Union. It can be said that the youth movement is a measure of the value, the vitality and the soul of the Youth Union. The important issue for the Youth Union is to pay attention to and invest in the way of organization and implementation to ensure practicality and effectiveness.
In Nghe An, in recent times, the development of the Youth Union has seen the emergence of a number of innovative models and approaches, such as: Establishing youth union branches in apartment buildings in Vinh city; The model of "Honorary Youth Union Branch Secretary" with the Head of the Veterans Association of the village or hamlet selected based on appropriate criteria to assume the role of Honorary Secretary of the Youth Union branch.
In addition, attention is paid to the development of Youth Union organizations in private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises. In 2022 alone, the province established 10 Youth Union organizations in non-state enterprises, an average of 8-10 organizations per year.
PV:Some people say that the content and form of the activities of the Youth Union branches and the activities of the grassroots Youth Union are not attractive and do not really attract young people. What do you think about this opinion and what solutions are there to overcome it?
Comrade Le Van Luong:The activities of the Youth Union are a bridge to bring information, regulations of the Youth Union, policies and guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State to the members and youth. At the same time, it is a place for the members and youth to exchange, share and integrate into the organization and the collective.
However, in reality, many Youth Union officials still misunderstand the concept of Youth Union branch activities and the organization of Youth Union branch activities. Some Youth Union branch secretaries consider Youth Union branch activities as a meeting to disseminate work plans, so the organization of activities is heavily formal in the style of a dry "Youth Union meeting", with little innovation, lack of dissemination, and are not attractive and appealing to Youth Union members.
Grasping this situation, in recent times, the Provincial Youth Union Standing Committee has implemented many solutions to promote the Youth Union at all levels to focus on innovating the content and form of branch activities in a more practical and attractive direction, closely linked to the needs and legitimate interests of union members, youth and the political tasks of localities and units. At the same time, increase the proactive role and subjectivity of union members in activities; compile documents on branch activities in a way that is easy to see, easy to understand and lively.
Youth Union chapters at all levels are encouraged to organize activities in the form of gathering many branches, outdoor activities, historical and cultural sites. At the same time, organize cultural and artistic activities, physical education and sports before the activities to create a joyful and exciting atmosphere, imbued with the colors of youth. Many units have chosen the form of activities of the Inter-branch Youth Union or the Commune Youth Union to organize the activities by the Youth Union cadres with many skills and experiences in charge, thereby ensuring the quality of the activities.
PV:How has the role of the Youth Union been promoted in building and protecting the Party and the political system in recent times, comrade?
Comrade Le Van Luong: In recent years, identifying the importance of training and introducing outstanding members to the Party for consideration of admission, the Youth Union at all levels has issued plans, programs, instructions, and concretized the Party development work in localities and units; making the content of Party development work one of the important targets in the Congress Resolution of the term and the annual work program.
The campaign “Youth Union members strive to become members of the Communist Party of Vietnam” has been effectively implemented. In 2022 alone, Youth Union chapters at all levels introduced 7,340 outstanding members to the Party, of which 3,632 new members were admitted from outstanding members.
However, Party development work in recent times still faces four fundamental shortcomings and limitations.The first, education work in some units has not been implemented evenly and reached all groups of subjects. A part of the union members have faded ideals, reduced will, and lack of motivation to strive to join the Party.Monday, the implementation of the Youth Union Training Program and the annual evaluation and classification of union members in some localities and units have not really received attention, considering this a key solution in improving the quality of union members.TuesdayThe number of outstanding union members admitted to the Party out of the total number of outstanding union members recommended to the Party is still low.WednesdayRegulations and instructions on criteria and procedures for evaluating and introducing outstanding union members are not specific and consistent; the process of monitoring and training outstanding union members after being introduced to the Party is not regular and continuous.
To overcome these limitations, the Provincial Youth Union Standing Committee has requested units to pay attention to a number of key tasks: Continue to implement Directive No. 03-CT/TWĐTN-BTC dated July 21, 2021 of the Central Youth Union Secretariat "on strengthening the work of training and introducing outstanding members for the Party to consider and admit". Pay attention to innovating the content, methods, and ways of operating the Youth Union; movements and programs need to be linked to each specific subject to create an environment and motivation for each member to practice and cultivate.
Next, it is necessary to strengthen political and ideological education, train revolutionary ethics, and build the right ideal of striving to join the Party for union members. Innovate forms of propaganda, political and ideological education associated with practical activities of union members at the grassroots level. Increase the effective use of modern communication tools, take advantage of social networks and digital platforms in propaganda work.
More importantly, it is necessary to enhance the responsibility of the Youth Union at all levels in training and introducing outstanding members to the Party. Advise the higher-level Youth Union to regularly work with the Party Committee at the same level to promptly resolve difficulties and obstacles. Improve the quality of new Party members admitted from outstanding members; avoid chasing quantity without paying attention to quality.
Finally, it is necessary to promote the role of setting examples, positive and typical factors as the core nucleus to spread and create motivation for each youth union member to strive to become a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam, each union official to strive and actively train, worthy of being a reliable reserve force of the Party.
PV:Thanks comrade!