The August Revolution and the Declaration of Independence were the starting point for a new Vietnam.

Experts say the decisive factor leading to the victory of the Vietnamese Revolution is the Communist Party of Vietnam - the force that spread Ho Chi Minh's ideology and organized to protect the interests of its people.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, a reporter from Vietnam News Agency interviewed Professor, Doctor of Science Vladimir Kolotov, Head of the Department of History of Far Eastern Countries, Director of the Ho Chi Minh Institute of Saint Petersburg State University (Russian Federation) regarding this important anniversary of the Vietnamese people.

On August 19, 1945, after a rally at the Opera House Square, the people of the capital occupied the Bac Bo Palace, the headquarters of the French puppet government in the North. The August Revolution was a historical lesson, opening a new era in Vietnam, the era of the Vietnamese people being masters of the country and their own destiny. (Photo: VNA)

- What is your assessment of the historical significance of the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, especially the fact that shortly after gaining power, Vietnam successfully organized the first General Election to establish the first National Assembly and promulgate the first Constitution?

Professor Vladimir Kolotov: The birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was a process prepared and carried out by President Ho Chi Minh under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam .

During the time when the Japanese militarist regime lapsed in Vietnam and the French colonial regime had not yet been re-established, the revolutionary forces under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh successfully carried out the August Revolution and declared independence.

At that time, the August Revolution was organized and took place in Hanoi, Hue and Saigon. In the South, together with the Party organization, the role and mark of Mr. Tran Van Giau at that time was very clear in organizing the revolution successfully on August 25, 1945 and seizing power. He was able to apply into practice the knowledge he had received during his time studying at the Oriental University in the Soviet Union (1931-1933).

Those events were related to many subsequent events, such as successfully organizing the General Election to establish the first National Assembly and promulgating the first Constitution, and at the same time preparing for the resistance war against the return of French colonialism. These were major events carried out in the context of Vietnam facing many difficulties at that time, with an unstable material foundation.

President Ho Chi Minh united around him outstanding people with the same aspirations such as Tran Van Giau, Vo Nguyen Giap, Pham Van Dong… to break the yoke of colonial oppression. I think these are achievements of historical significance and are recorded in golden letters in the history of the Vietnamese nation.

- According to the Professor, what is the decisive factor that helps a country that has just escaped from colonial rule, and has a feudal foundation that has lasted for thousands of years, to quickly build a democratic, independent state with such a modern constitutional institution?

Professor Vladimir Kolotov: In my opinion, the decisive factor here is the Communist Party of Vietnam. The Communist Party of Vietnam was founded by President Ho Chi Minh and only 15 years after its founding, the Party successfully organized the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence.

The Party then led the Vietnamese army and people to fight against the French colonialists and the American invasion, unify the country and fight against the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge. After completing the task of unifying the country, in 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam drafted an economic development plan called Doi Moi, which dramatically changed the economy and the lives of the entire population.

And now Vietnam is striving to implement the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress with the goal that by 2030, Vietnam will become a developing country with modern industry and high average income; by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, it will become a developed country with high income.

It can be said that over the past 95 years, the Communist Party of Vietnam has always led and guided the Vietnamese people from one victory to another, not only on the military front but also on the economic and scientific-technological fronts.

Therefore, I believe that the decisive factor leading to the victory of the Vietnamese Revolution is the Communist Party of Vietnam - the force that spread Ho Chi Minh's ideology and organized to protect the interests of its people.

- The Professor mentioned Ho Chi Minh's ideology in the Communist Party of Vietnam's leadership of the Vietnamese people in carrying out the revolution. So, according to the Professor, what role did Ho Chi Minh's ideology play in building a democratic rule-of-law state for the people of Vietnam?

Professor Vladimir Kolotov: Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought are the guiding principles of the Vietnamese revolutionary forces, or they are the thoughts of the Vietnamese people. During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh said: "If the Party wants to be strong, it must have an ideology as its core. Everyone in the Party must understand and follow that ideology. A Party without an ideology is like a person without intelligence or a ship without a compass." Thus, Ho Chi Minh's ideology can be considered the ideology of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which is very important.

It can be said that Vietnam's independence, prosperity, freedom and true sovereignty today, in a way, is the concretization of Ho Chi Minh's ideological legacy, or in short, following Ho Chi Minh's ideology will achieve a successful revolution.

On the morning of September 2, 1945, at the historic Ba Dinh Square, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence, giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, affirming before the people and the whole world: “Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence, and in fact has become a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to devote all their spirit and strength, their lives and property to maintain that freedom and independence.” (Photo: VNA)

- Professor, from a historical and political perspective, what is your assessment of the long-term impact of the first steps in building a democratic and independent state in Vietnam in 1945 on the current development process of Vietnam?

Professor Vladimir Kolotov: I think those were fateful steps. The rapid historical events and turning points in August and September 1945 of the Vietnamese people created a historical starting point for a new Vietnam. The results of those events outlined a new path of development for Vietnam.

And as I said, on that path, the Communist Party of Vietnam has always led and guided the Vietnamese people from one victory to another. During the Cold War, Vietnam was one of the hot spots and only Vietnam was the country in the Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia region that broke the polarized confrontation and unified the country in 1975.

Currently, Vietnam is a sovereign nation, truly enjoying independence, freedom and self-determination in its development direction. Vietnam has no foreign military bases on its territory. This is the result of the spread of Ho Chi Minh's ideology and the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

- As an international scholar with many years of research on Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh, what lessons from the historical events of 1945 do you think are of special value to Vietnam in the current process of development and international integration?

Professor Vladimir Kolotov: In the 1945 period of Vietnam, both feudalism and bourgeoisie failed to protect Vietnam's interests. They did not have the idea of ​​gaining independence but only the idea of ​​being lackeys of France, or later of the US.

Therefore, the new force, the Communist Party of Vietnam, has taken on the nation’s historic mission, stepping into politics to spread the idea of ​​independence under the red flag with a yellow star. The Communist Party of Vietnam only knows how to operate for the people’s interests and fight against French colonialism and the Japanese militarism in a radical revolutionary manner. This is the greatest lesson for the current and future development process of Vietnam. The lesson is about the leadership and guidance role of a political force that truly protects the interests of the nation.

Along with that, another lesson that I think is very important from the August Revolution of Vietnam is solidarity. The whole nation must unite into a unified bloc to achieve great success in protecting its own interests.

It is necessary to recall the history of Vietnam's struggle against foreign invaders, which shows that feudal and bourgeois forces did not have the ideology of protecting the interests of the nation, so they could not win the hearts of the people, and although they organized many uprisings, they all failed. It was not until the Communist Party of Vietnam was born that it immediately organized and led the people to seize power, thereby proving that the Party was the force protecting the interests of the people, thereby creating a strong unity bloc, as President Ho Chi Minh once said: "Unity, unity, great unity. Success, success, great success". While the strategy of the colonialists at that time was "divide and rule".

That is also the principle to ensure the stability and development of modern Vietnam, a sovereign nation, enjoying freedom and self-determination of its own development path, taking responsibility for its own destiny. And reality shows that Vietnam currently has a very high economic growth rate, the people's lives are constantly improving. That is what President Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese patriots have expected and desired for many generations, and now that wish has become a reality.

- Thank you very much Professor Vladimir Kolotov.

According to Vietnamplus.vn

https://www.vietnamplus.vn/cach-mang-thang-tam-va-tuyen-ngon-doc-lap-la-diem-khoi-dau-cho-mot-viet-nam-moi-post1059346.vnp

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/cach-mang-thang-tam-va-tuyen-ngon-doc-lap-la-diem-khoi-dau-cho-mot-viet-nam-moi-216019.html