Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits Vietnamese Heroic Mother Dao Thi Vui in Thuong Xa village, Hai Lang commune, Quang Tri province_Photo: VNA
The Party's consistent and thorough viewpoint on caring for people with revolutionary contributions
Right from the first days after the victory of the August Revolution in 1945, our Party and President Ho Chi Minh paid special attention to the work of war invalids and martyrs and took good care of families with meritorious services to the revolution. In the “Letter to the Standing Committee of the Organizing Committee of the “National War Invalids Day”” in 1947, President Ho Chi Minh advised: “War invalids are those who sacrificed their families and blood to protect the Fatherland and protect their compatriots/ Therefore, the Fatherland and their compatriots must be grateful and must help those heroic sons” (1) . That advice rich in human values has become a consistent thought in the Party’s guidelines and policies and the State’s policies on the work of “Repaying gratitude”, deeply demonstrating the revolutionary nature of serving the people of a true revolutionary Party.
In all circumstances and periods, even when the country faces difficulties and challenges, the work of people with meritorious services to the revolution is always identified by the Party and State as a priority task. This not only demonstrates revolutionary sentiment and a deep sense of responsibility, but also clearly demonstrates the strategic vision of building and promoting the great national unity bloc. This is an important endogenous resource to ensure political stability and sustainable development of the country. The document of the 13th National Party Congress affirms: "Complete and well implement laws and policies for people with meritorious services on the basis of State and social resources, ensuring that people with meritorious services and their families have a living standard of average or higher in the residential area" (2) . Our Party's consistent viewpoint on caring for people with revolutionary contributions is built and developed on the basis of the nation's traditional morality: "When drinking water, remember its source", "When eating fruit, remember the person who planted the tree", is the sacred responsibility of the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire army, and at the same time is one of the core contents demonstrating the superior, humane and progressive nature of the Vietnamese socialist regime, an important criterion reflecting the political mettle, public ethics and spirit of serving the people of the contingent of cadres and Party members in the political system. Under the leadership of the Party, preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions are constantly supplemented and improved in an increasingly comprehensive and sustainable direction, in accordance with the requirements of national development and the legitimate aspirations of the people.
In recent years, preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions have not only stopped at purely social security support measures, but have been placed in the right position as an essential component in the strategy for comprehensive human development of Vietnam, for the goal of a rich people, a strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization - where human values and sacrifices for the community and the country are respected, recognized and cared for properly. At the 7th Central Conference of the 13th term, the requirement to "ensure social security and welfare; constantly improve the material and spiritual life of the people... Caring for the lives of people with revolutionary contributions" was emphasized (3) . Resolution No. 42-NQ/TW, dated November 24, 2023, of the 8th Central Conference, Session XIII, "On continuing to innovate and improve the quality of social policies, meeting the requirements of the cause of building and defending the Fatherland in the new period" emphasized: Focus on implementing preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions; pay attention to caring for the material and spiritual lives of people with meritorious contributions, especially those in remote and isolated areas, and those facing difficulties in life. Continue to raise the standard level of subsidies and preferential allowances towards the highest level in social policies.
The Party's viewpoint on caring for people with revolutionary contributions is also closely linked to the strategic orientation on building a socialist rule-of-law State - a State that takes people as the center, serving the people as the guiding principle. In the context of the new era - the era of deep international integration, digital transformation, rapid and sustainable development, showing gratitude to people with revolutionary contributions is not only a manifestation of traditional morality, but also a measure and indicator of the humanistic values of the regime, and at the same time a solid spiritual foundation to arouse the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country.
Outstanding results in caring for people with revolutionary contributions
Over the past years, the work of caring for people with revolutionary contributions has been carried out systematically and synchronously, increasingly going into depth, achieving comprehensive and practical results. Currently, the whole country has about 9.2 million people with revolutionary contributions, including 1.2 million martyrs, nearly 140,000 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, 600,000 war invalids and people enjoying policies like war invalids, nearly 185,000 sick soldiers, over 312,000 resistance fighters infected with toxic chemicals, along with millions of other people with revolutionary contributions, such as youth volunteers, people imprisoned by the enemy, people who participated in the resistance war to liberate the nation, protect the Fatherland, fulfill international obligations and their relatives. That number reflects the great stature of the revolutionary cause, demonstrating the breadth and depth of the preferential policy system for people with revolutionary contributions. This is also a vivid, concrete manifestation of the nature of the State of the people, by the people, for the people.
By 2024, over 98.5% of households with meritorious services to the revolution had a standard of living equal to or higher than the average standard of living in the residential area where they reside. This is an important result, demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating preferential policies for meritorious services to the revolution with the local socio -economic development program, while affirming the role of regulating and spreading social security policies of the socialist rule-of-law State of the people, by the people, for the people.
Along with the institutional improvement, the infrastructure system serving the nursing work, caring for war invalids, sick soldiers and people with meritorious services to the revolution has been invested in a modern, synchronous and humane way. Many nursing, rehabilitation and health care centers for people with meritorious services to the revolution have been expanded in scale, service quality has been improved, and the physical and mental needs of policy beneficiaries have been gradually better met. This is the concretization of the content of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress on "building a fair, high-quality, effective, modern and internationally integrated health care system" (4) associated with the care of special policy beneficiaries.
Activities to honor people with revolutionary contributions continue to be organized regularly, with diverse forms and practical content, creating a widespread effect in social life. Tens of thousands of gratitude houses have been newly built or repaired; tens of thousands of gratitude savings books, scholarships, startup support packages, and programs to care for Vietnamese Heroic Mothers have been effectively implemented. Many models of livelihood support for people with revolutionary contributions and their relatives continue to be replicated in localities, contributing to arousing the spirit of self-reliance, self-improvement and the will to integrate into the community. This is a concrete expression of the viewpoint of arousing the aspiration to develop the country, promote cultural values and Vietnamese people in the renovation process that our Party has emphasized for many terms.
In particular, the Ordinance on Preferential Treatment for People with Meritorious Services to the Revolution has marked a major step forward in perfecting policies and laws on people with meritorious services to the revolution. The Ordinance clearly defines the subjects, conditions, and criteria for preferential treatment; specifies the responsibilities of all levels and sectors; and establishes a strict, public, and transparent monitoring mechanism. This is an important step in institutionalizing the Party's orientation on building "synchronous, feasible, fair, transparent, and effective" policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution in the new period.
However, in addition to the achieved results, the work of caring for people with revolutionary contributions in our country still reveals some limitations and shortcomings, such as some specific policies are still inflexible, not really suitable to the characteristics, conditions and diverse needs of beneficiary groups, especially in remote areas, ethnic minority areas. The settlement of backlog files, confirmation of people with revolutionary contributions in some special cases is still prolonged, affecting the fairness and humanity of the policy...
That inadequacy raises the need to continue perfecting the legal system and preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions in a comprehensive, fair, targeted, revolutionary-oriented, and practical manner. This is also a requirement emphasized in Resolution No. 42-NQ/TW, dated November 24, 2023, of the 8th Central Conference, Session XIII, "On continuing to innovate and improve the quality of social policies, meeting the requirements of the cause of national construction and defense in the new period". Coordination between sectors and levels in organizing policy implementation is often not truly synchronous and unified; investment resources, especially at the grassroots level, are still scattered, lacking focus, and not meeting the requirements of sustainable development. A number of cadres and civil servants are still limited in professional capacity and public service ethics, affecting implementation effectiveness. In addition, the implementation of propaganda work, education on revolutionary traditions and gratitude to those who have contributed to the revolution has not been truly extensive and regular, especially for the younger generation. This requires "strengthening education on revolutionary ideals, ethics, and cultural lifestyle" among the younger generation as the Party has determined in resolutions on cultural and human work.
The urgent requirement now is to continue to innovate thinking, perfect institutions, improve the effectiveness of implementation, and promote the combined strength of the entire political system and society. This is an important premise for the Party and State's policy of "Repaying gratitude" to truly go into depth, contributing to strengthening people's trust, maintaining the great national unity bloc, and creating a solid political and social foundation for the cause of rapid and sustainable development of the country in the new era.
The Party, State and people are always grateful and care for war invalids and martyrs' families, continuing the nation's tradition and morality of "When drinking water, remember its source" _Photo: Document
Requirements of the new era
Entering a new stage of development, especially in the context of promoting international integration, digital transformation and developing a knowledge-based economy, the work of caring for people with revolutionary contributions needs to continue to be identified as a key, regular, and strategic political task in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. This is not only an objective requirement to concretize the comprehensive development path of Vietnamese people in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, but also an important political and social foundation, contributing to ensuring sustainable social security, maintaining political stability, and consolidating the great national unity bloc.
In the context of global competition and increasingly high demands on modern social governance, the policy of "Repaying gratitude" needs to be further improved in a comprehensive, flexible, humane and adaptive direction, clearly demonstrating the political commitment of the Party and State in inheriting and promoting the nation's tradition of "When drinking water, remember its source". In the context of the impact of non-traditional challenges, such as population aging, climate change, and epidemics, policies for people with revolutionary contributions need to be placed in the overall policy of human development, protecting vulnerable groups and enhancing social resilience. That requires a strong shift in thinking and policy implementation methods, from passive support to proactive empowerment, from individual intervention to comprehensive integration, from administrativeization to socialization, promoting the role of the whole society in caring for people with revolutionary contributions. Putting this work in a strategic vision, linked with major policies on people, social security, national defense - security and foreign affairs, is an inevitable requirement to realize the country's development goal of "Rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization".
One of the key tasks at present is to promptly, synchronously and effectively institutionalize the Party's policy on people with revolutionary contributions into feasible and practical legal regulations, ensuring fairness in access, flexibility in implementation and effectiveness in execution. This policy needs to be specified in the comprehensive human development strategy, considering people as both the goal and the driving force of development.
A breakthrough requirement today is to innovate the thinking and methods of organizing the implementation of preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions in a service-oriented, modern, effective and humane direction. At the present stage, applying digital transformation and administrative reform in policy implementation is an urgent requirement. This is an important tool to improve management efficiency, make processes transparent, shorten processing time, reduce social costs and increase people's satisfaction. At the same time, it contributes to transforming the approach from "administrative management" to "social management", clearly demonstrating the spirit of serving the people of the socialist rule of law state of the people, by the people, for the people. Transforming preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions from "responsibility, obligation" to "development motivation" not only contributes to deepening the humanistic values of the regime, but also strongly spreads social responsibility, self-reliance and aspiration of those who have contributed to the revolution. This is the foundation for building a fair and inclusive society that leaves no one behind, where all people, especially those with revolutionary contributions, have the opportunity to develop fairly and comprehensively in a stable political environment and a humane and civilized society.
Promoting the morality of gratitude not only helps strengthen social trust in the Party, the State and the socialist regime, but also serves as a sustainable spiritual foundation to foster development aspirations, arouse internal strength, foster political mettle, civic ethics and revolutionary qualities in every Vietnamese person in the new era. Therefore, a strategic requirement today is to step up propaganda and political and ideological education on the tradition of patriotism, the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source", the spirit of gratitude and civic responsibility towards those who have contributed to the revolution. This is not only a complementary solution to the policy of "Repaying gratitude", but also an important method to foster cultural values and national spirit in the process of development and integration. The 13th National Party Congress determined that it is necessary to "strengthen education on patriotism, national pride, national traditions and history, and a sense of social responsibility for all classes of people, especially the youth" (5) . Through the national education system, the activities of socio-political organizations such as the Youth Union, Veterans Association, Women's Association, etc., along with the leading role of the press, literature and art, it is necessary to strongly promote the role of traditional education and arouse patriotism in the whole society, especially among young people. Propaganda and education work needs to be systematically and modernly built, linked to the country's reality and the reception needs of the young generation. Building a history education program, patriotic traditions in schools, organizing gratitude forums, competitions to learn about examples of people with revolutionary contributions, as well as integrating the theme "Repaying gratitude" into cultural, artistic, film and digital platform products will contribute to spreading humanistic values widely in the community. In the digital age, it is necessary to apply modern scientific and technological achievements, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, digital libraries, etc., to innovate traditional revolutionary education methods. This helps increase interaction, experience, arouse emotions and improve reception efficiency, especially for the younger generation.
youth system
In the context of the increasingly urgent need to improve the effectiveness of national governance and implement socialist democracy, the role of social supervision and criticism of preferential policies for people with revolutionary contributions must be given special attention, clearly demonstrating the democracy, openness and transparency of our regime - the core element in building a clean and strong Party and political system, a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people, for the people. It is necessary to perfect the legal corridor, build a close coordination mechanism between the Vietnam Fatherland Front, member organizations with state agencies, press, media and communities to make social supervision and criticism activities more substantive, effective and efficient.
In addition, mobilizing the combined strength of the entire society in the movement of "Repaying gratitude" needs to be raised to a strategic level. This is a continuation of the tradition of "the whole people taking care of those with merit", deeply demonstrating the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source" and a vivid expression of the spirit of solidarity and community responsibility in the new conditions with the participation of organizations, businesses of all economic sectors, social organizations, volunteer groups and the whole society. The participation of the whole society not only increases resources, but also creates a spreading effect, arouses a sense of responsibility and strengthens the connection between the Party, the State and the people.
In the context of deep international integration, spreading the value of gratitude also contributes to building the image of Vietnam, a humane, affectionate and responsible nation in the eyes of international friends. Socializing the work of caring for people with meritorious services on the basis of maintaining the comprehensive leadership role of the Party and the State's management, not only expands the space for policy implementation, but also creates a multi-dimensional and sustainable gratitude ecosystem. Thereby, good core traditional values are continued and strongly promoted in the new era of development - the era of independence, autonomy, self-confidence, self-reliance, national pride, comprehensive integration and sustainable development. Showing gratitude to people with meritorious services to the revolution not only has moral significance, but also contributes to strengthening strategic beliefs, building a spiritual foundation for sustainable development and maintaining the great national unity bloc. Gratitude is not only a historical obligation, but also a valuable spiritual resource, fostering faith, nurturing aspirations and awakening the nation's inner strength. That spirit continues to be a solid foundation for our Party, State and people to firmly move forward on the path of independence, self-reliance, realizing the goal: "Rich people, strong country, democracy, equality, civilization", for the happiness of the people, for the prosperous future of the country, for the longevity of the Vietnamese nation./.
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(1) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 5, p. 204
(2) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , National Political Publishing House Truth, 2021, vol. I, pp. 148 - 149
(3) See: Nguyen Phu Trong: "Promoting existing results and lessons learned; continuing to further promote the innovation process, taking advantage of all opportunities and advantages; overcoming all difficulties and challenges; determined to comprehensively and successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress" , Communist Magazine, No. 1014, May 2023, p. 18
(4) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , op. cit., vol. 1, p. 266
(5) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , op. cit., vol. 1, p. 143
Source: https://tapchicongsan.org.vn/web/guest/chinh-tri-xay-dung-dang/-/2018/1111003/cham-lo-nguoi-co-cong-voi-cach-mang---nen-tang-vung-chac-de-dang%2C-nha-nuoc-va-nhan-dan-ta-vung-buoc-trong-ky-nguyen-moi.aspx
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