President Ho Chi Minh's use of the word "truth"

In his writings and speeches, President Ho Chi Minh often emphasized the word "truth." He demanded that all correct actions be done "truly." In his sacred Last Testament, he used the word "truth" five times. His use of the word "truth" carries a profound message about Party building and the Party's responsibility to the people.

President Ho Chi Minh. Archival photo.

When the nation had not yet regained independence, the people had not yet had freedom, and the country was still divided, President Ho Chi Minh resolutely and persistently fought to demand "true independence" for the nation, to demand "true unity" for the country, to demand freedom and happiness for the people, and to demand "true peace " for the world. After the August Revolution of 1945, when building the people's government, he demanded that "the people's democratic government must be truly perfected in all aspects of work, organization, and personnel" (1).

President Ho Chi Minh always got to the root of the problem, the core of the spirit, the essence of the matter. He always emphasized "truthfulness." In every aspect of the country's political and social life, he demanded "truthfulness" and "genuineness" in every task. This reflects his very high demands regarding responsibility and work results, as well as the qualities, attitudes, and feelings towards each task and each person.

In every aspect of the country's political and social life, he demanded "truthfulness" and "genuineness" in every task. This reflects his very high standards for responsibility and work results, as well as for the qualities, attitudes, and feelings he had towards each task and each person.

According to President Ho Chi Minh, a good cadre is someone who lives "authentically" with the people and truly dedicates themselves to the people. In leading society, the Party must truly unite the entire people, "Not just verbal unity, but unity through actions, unity through spirit, true unity" (2). In leadership, "From the Central Committee to the commune Party branches, everyone must follow the principle of collective leadership and individual responsibility; everyone must fight against the evils of personality worship and bureaucratic command; everyone must honestly self-criticize and frankly criticize; everyone must be truly democratic" (3). "Leadership must be truly democratic but at the same time must be truly centralized" (4). "Internal unity must be truly united… We must be truly close to the people, listen to the opinions and aspirations of the people, and learn from the experiences of the people" (5).

He emphasized: "To truly unite, there must be genuine democracy in the Party. We must regularly and seriously criticize and honestly self-criticize to help each other correct shortcomings, promote strengths, and progress together" (6). "Regarding leadership, cadres must be truly united and in agreement, must go deep and close, must lead practically and comprehensively" (7). "Leading cadres must be truly thrifty, honest, upright, and selfless..." (8).

In his sacred Testament, President Ho Chi Minh's primary concern was building the Party – "First, let's talk about the Party…". Following his reflections and instructions focusing on Party building, maintaining unity, and practicing democracy within the Party, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: "Our Party is a ruling Party. Every Party member and cadre must truly internalize revolutionary ethics, truly be thrifty, honest, upright, and selfless. We must keep our Party truly clean, and be worthy of being a leader and a truly loyal servant of the people" (Testament). President Ho Chi Minh uses the words "truly" and "really" four times in this short passage (only 57 words) to convey his crucial point about the role and responsibility of the Party, and the qualities of cadres and Party members.

In his Testament written in 1968, he emphasized: "In my opinion, the first thing that needs to be done is to reorganize the Party so that every Party member, every Youth Union member, and every Party branch strives to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Party, wholeheartedly serving the people."

In the fifth instance of the word "truth" in his Testament, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: "The Party needs to have a truly good plan to develop the economy and culture, in order to continuously improve the people's lives." This was his requirement for the Party in fulfilling its responsibility to the people after the country achieved peace and reunification. The Party continues its role in leading the people in healing the wounds of war, building and developing the country to comprehensively improve the people's lives, both materially (economic development) and spiritually (cultural development).

In his Testament written in 1968, he explained: "The work mentioned above is enormous, arduous, and complex, but also very glorious. This is a struggle against what is old and rotten, to create something new and better. To win this colossal struggle, it is necessary to mobilize the entire people, organize and educate the entire people, and rely on the great strength of the people." President Ho Chi Minh emphasized the importance of the close relationship between the Party and the people, mobilizing all the people's resources, and arousing the aspiration for a prosperous and happy country.

Rereading President Ho Chi Minh's Testament and other works, especially in the field of Party building, we gain a clearer understanding of the word "truth" that he often used when demanding that the Party truly be a pioneer and exemplary in morality, with a clean and upright ranks, and combating the manifestations of degeneration among some cadres and Party members that harm the Party's prestige and erode the people's trust. Building and rectifying the Party is the most fundamental thing to ensure that the Party "is moral and civilized," and that the ruling Party is truly clean and strong.

Applying the profound lessons of President Ho Chi Minh's thought to building and rectifying the Party, and enhancing the Party's leadership and governance capacity in the current national renewal process, is identified by our Party as a regular, urgent, and crucial task. Our Party recognizes the need to maintain and strengthen the capacity and fighting power of grassroots Party organizations to enable the nation to overcome all changes and difficulties, and achieve the goals chosen by the Party, President Ho Chi Minh, and our people. In accordance with Ho Chi Minh's thought, our Party is actively implementing the Central Committee Resolutions 4 of the 11th and 12th terms, and Conclusion No. 21-KL/TW of the 4th Central Committee Meeting of the 13th term on building and rectifying the Party, in conjunction with implementing the Politburo's Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and following Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style. The documents of the 13th National Congress of the Party specifically state: "Building a team of cadres, first and foremost the leaders, who possess firm political acumen, impeccable ethics, outstanding capabilities, who dare to think, dare to speak, dare to act, dare to take responsibility, dare to innovate, dare to confront difficulties and challenges, dare to act for the common good, have high prestige and are truly pioneering and exemplary, and are the nucleus of unity."

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has also repeatedly affirmed the resolute leadership spirit in the work of Party building and rectification. At the closing session of the 4th Central Committee Meeting of the 13th Party Congress, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: Today, in the new conditions, facing the demands of the revolutionary cause in the new stage, with its enormous scale and stature, and many new difficulties and challenges, more than ever, we need to further promote the fine traditions and nature of the Party, and take care to build our Party to be truly strong in politics and ideology; highly unified in will and action; clean in morality and lifestyle; tightly organized; closely connected with the people, and capable of leading our country to overcome all difficulties and develop further.

Today, in the new circumstances, facing the demands of the revolutionary cause in the new stage, with its enormous scale and stature, and many new difficulties and challenges, more than ever, we need to further promote the fine traditions and nature of the Party, and focus on building our Party to be truly strong in politics and ideology; highly unified in will and action; morally upright and clean in lifestyle; tightly organized; closely connected with the people, and capable of leading our country through all difficulties and towards ever greater development.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong

The more I read and reflect, the clearer I understand what President Ho Chi Minh advised. A ruling party must truly uphold the spirit of responsibility to serve the people, for the people, and be worthy of the people's trust and love in order to formulate policies, lead the people, and create momentum for the country's rapid and sustainable development and increasingly deep integration into the international community. We must effectively carry out the work of building and rectifying the Party according to President Ho Chi Minh's ideology to make our Party truly clean, strong, and a source of trust and a solid foundation for the people. If we can do that, then no matter how great or difficult the task, we will certainly succeed, as President Ho Chi Minh envisioned for the entire Party and the entire nation.

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