General Nguyen Chi Thanh, an example of a staunch communist

During more than 30 years of revolutionary activities, assigned by the Party and the Army many important tasks in many key positions, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was always present in the most arduous and fierce places, constantly contributing and sacrificing his whole life for the ideals and revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation.

General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum displays nearly 400 documents, artifacts, and images about the life and revolutionary career of the General.

The revolutionary life of General Nguyen Chi Thanh left for future generations an example of a loyal and exemplary communist soldier who devoted himself to serving the Fatherland and the People.

Firstly, absolute loyalty to the Party and devotion to the People is the revolutionary nature of comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh. Growing up in a homeland rich in patriotic and revolutionary traditions, witnessing firsthand the suffering of the People under the oppressive rule of the colonial and feudal regimes, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh soon nurtured patriotism and revolutionary spirit. At the age of 17, young Nguyen Vinh began participating in strikes demanding that employers pay workers.

Guided and trained by his predecessors in practical revolutionary activities, he quickly matured. In July 1937, he was honored to be admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party (now the Communist Party of Vietnam); by the end of 1937, he was appointed as Secretary of the Niem Pho Party Cell, the first party organization of Quang Dien district, and was introduced to join the provisional Provincial Party Committee. In 1938, when he was only 24 years old, he was trusted by the Party to take on the important responsibility of Secretary of the Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee. Under the leadership of the young, talented and courageous Provincial Party Secretary, the movement to fight against colonial and feudal oppression and exploitation by the people of Thua Thien developed strongly.

With his active revolutionary activities, in 1938-1939, comrade Nguyen Vinh was arrested by the enemy twice and imprisoned in Thua Phu, Lao Bao, and Buon Ma Thuot prisons. During his imprisonment, he always played the role of a staunch communist soldier, participating in the fight against the cruel prison regime and brutally torturing prisoners to protect cadres, causing a great stir.

In 1941, he and a number of fellow prisoners successfully escaped from prison, returned to continue revolutionary activities and was elected as the provisional Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of Thua Thien province. In July 1943, he was again imprisoned by the enemy in Buon Ma Thuot; in March 1945, he was released, continued to lead the revolutionary movement, contributed to the building and strong development of the revolutionary base system, Viet Minh organizations, and local self-defense forces.

In 1947-1948, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was assigned to be the Secretary of the Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee, concurrently the Secretary of the Binh-Tri-Thien Sub-Zone Party Committee. At this time, the resistance war against the French colonialists in the Binh-Tri-Thien Front encountered many difficulties because the enemy concentrated its forces to attack fiercely, our forces suffered serious losses, many Party agencies and organizations suffered heavy damage, and revolutionary bases in many places were disintegrated.

Some cadres, party members and the masses were pessimistic. In that context, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh clearly demonstrated the mettle of a staunch communist, a talented leader, together with the Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee and the Binh-Tri-Thien Regional Party Committee to lead the people to restore and develop the political base, promote guerrilla warfare, turn the revolutionary situation around, worthy of the Party Central Committee's trust.

Based on a deep understanding of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought on the role of the masses in the revolutionary struggle and the Party's line of resistance of the entire people, comprehensively, long-term, self-reliant, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh affirmed: "Losing land does not mean losing the country. We are only afraid of losing the people's trust. Having the people's trust means having everything. Therefore, we must not run away.

We must return to the people, we will definitely win!”(1). His viewpoint had great motivational power, strengthening the will to fight and win, which was thoroughly grasped by cadres, party members and armed forces of Binh-Tri-Thien, persistently sticking to the land, sticking to the people, relying on the people to organize guerrilla warfare, people's war. Thanks to that, the revolutionary movement in the Binh-Tri-Thien Front recovered and developed strongly, continuously won victories, contributing with the people of the whole country to gradually win victory in the resistance war against the invading French colonialists.

Second, General Nguyen Chi Thanh - a talented leader who devoted his whole life to the Vietnamese revolution. In August 1945, at the Party's National Conference in Tan Trao, Comrade Nguyen Vinh was elected as a member of the Party Central Committee, appointed as Secretary of the Central Party Committee and was honored to be given a new name by Leader Ho Chi Minh: Nguyen Chi Thanh. After the Conference, he and the Central Party Committee led the people to carry out the General Uprising and won victory, establishing revolutionary governments in localities, including Hue city - the center of the feudal government, contributing significantly to the victory of the August Revolution in 1945.

When the Party assigned him the responsibility of being the Secretary of the Inter-Zone Committee of Inter-Zone 4 (1948), he deeply researched, analyzed and summarized the practical situation, together with the Inter-Zone Committee to thoroughly grasp the Party's resistance line, lead the army and people of Inter-Zone 4 to conduct revolutionary war, build armed forces, develop economy and culture. Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh chaired the Inter-Zone Committee conferences and cadre conferences to propose the policy: The entire Party should stick close to the people, create a continuous and vigorous struggle movement from within the enemy, fight against the idea of seeking security among cadres, party members and people, take destroying the enemy, eliminating traitors, and improving people's lives as the main task; develop people's war, build National Guard units, implement the motto "independent companies, concentrated battalions", at the same time consolidate and develop militia and communal guerrillas, build and develop the movement "bare-handed capture of enemy guns" (2).

Under the leadership of comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh and the Inter-zone Party Committee, the army and people of Inter-zone 4 overcame difficulties and challenges, courageously and steadfastly promoted the all-people, comprehensive resistance war, changed the balance of forces on the battlefield, and gradually defeated the enemy's plot of "using war to feed war, using Vietnamese to fight Vietnamese".

The three-armed forces in the Inter-zone grew stronger and stronger, becoming the core in building the people's war posture, building the rear base that was increasingly mature in both the resistance and national construction aspects, becoming a free zone, a strategic rear base of the Inter-zone and the whole country. With those contributions, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was awarded the title "Guerrilla General" by President Ho Chi Minh.

By 1950, in response to the need to step up the resistance war against the French colonialists, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was assigned by the Party and President Ho Chi Minh to the important responsibility of Deputy Secretary of the General Military Commission (now the Central Military Commission), Director of the General Political Department of the General Command of the Vietnam National Army and Militia (now the Vietnam People's Army). At the 2nd National Congress of the Party, he was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee and was appointed by the Party Central Committee to the Politburo. He devoted all his mind, together with the General Military Commission, to leading and directing many major issues, such as: Thoroughly grasping and strictly implementing the principle of the Party's absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Vietnam People's Army, thereby affirming that the Party's leadership is the life, the source of strength and victory of the Army; Identifying that conducting Party work and political work is a regime and a basic principle of the Army building process; conducting ideological work must closely combine "building" and "fighting", with building being the main focus; taking care of education and training, building a strong Army cadre team to meet the increasingly high requirements of revolutionary tasks; directing the people's armed forces to successfully implement the Party's strategic determination.

The great contributions of comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh were recognized by the Party Central Committee: "Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh made great contributions to consolidating the Party's leadership over the army, building the army politically, ideologically and organizationally, fostering and promoting the revolutionary nature of our army, building a political work tradition, and rapidly improving the fighting capacity of the people's armed forces" (3).

In 1961, he was assigned to be the Head of the Central Rural Work Committee, and he contributed to strengthening the cooperative movement and developing agricultural production. Taking on the highest leadership position of an important economic sector of the country, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh "stuck in the fields, waded in the fields" to grasp the situation, humbly listened, consulted with scientists, and determined the direction of expanding production. Emulation slogans took place enthusiastically throughout the country, such as: "Breaking the shackles of three sao", "Catching up with the middle peasant's standard of living"... and the movements "Doing irrigation in two years", "Great Wind"... promoted Vietnam's agricultural economy to a new step of development.

The example of a communist soldier with a close, scientific, democratic, attached, intimate working style, utmost concern for life, concern for the difficulties of the people, and wholehearted love for farmers of comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh - "Farmer General" left good impressions in the hearts of the people, cadres and soldiers.

In the context of the war of aggression launched by the US imperialists and the increasing activities of the Saigon puppet government and army, on September 25 and 26, 1964, President Ho Chi Minh chaired the Politburo Conference. Implementing the resolution of the Conference, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was honored to be selected by the Party Central Committee and the Politburo, mobilized to the battlefield, taking on the position of Secretary of the Central Office for Southern Vietnam, Political Commissar of the Southern Liberation Armed Forces, directly commanding the resistance war against the US to save the country.

Under the leadership and direction of comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh, the main units continued to be built and developed, becoming "iron fists" that successfully carried out many campaigns, such as: Binh Gia, Ba Gia, Dong Xoai and many other battles, contributing and effectively supporting the destruction of the enemy's "strategic hamlet" national policy, completely bankrupting the "Special War" strategy of the invading American imperialists.

From the battlefield reality, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh summarized the motto and unique combat art of the Vietnam People's Army, and at the same time the famous revolutionary slogan "Cling to the enemy's belt and fight"; successfully implemented the policy of building "Belts to destroy the Americans", which were spread and multiplied into revolutionary movements throughout the Southern battlefield. At the same time, Comrade took great care to build a contingent of cadres and party members, promote the strength of the masses, of the three types of army, develop people's war, fight the enemy in all three strategic regions, contributing significantly to making the resistance war against the Americans, saving the country, increasingly develop strongly, going from one victory to another.

Third, General Nguyen Chi Thanh - a shining example of revolutionary will and moral qualities. Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh's life of activities is an exemplary communist example of his dedication to the revolution, to the people, and of his moral qualities "as clear as jade". Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was trusted by the Party to be assigned important responsibilities in difficult times, each time often newer and heavier than the last. In the difficult conditions and material shortages of the resistance war at that time, communists had no other weapon than to know how to promote spiritual strength, which is the strength of ideology, will and revolutionary morality.

General Nguyen Chi Thanh set a shining example in studying, researching, and practicing President Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality, and style of diligence, thrift, integrity, impartiality, and selflessness. He was a representative of a pure lifestyle, always putting the interests of the Party and the nation above personal interests, hating showing off, living sincerely, affectionately, simply, being close to cadres and soldiers, sharing hardships with the people. He was a leader who was always receptive, listening to different opinions, fighting for self-criticism and criticism very satisfactorily and seriously, not "making a mountain out of a molehill" or "keeping peace is precious".

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh was the first person to thoroughly criticize individualism, considering it the mother ideology, from which other erroneous ideologies such as meritorious service, status, rivalry, arrogance, bureaucracy, command, factionalism, embezzlement, waste... He called individualism an enemy - an internal enemy, a more dangerous enemy than an invading enemy, because it always lurks within each of us, we must always be vigilant and resolutely fight against it. According to him, "individualism is contrary to collectivism and collectivism, socialism will definitely win, individualism will definitely be destroyed" (4).

Nguyen Chi Thanh was one of the first students of President Ho Chi Minh who wrote a series of articles on fighting individualism. He pointed out that individualism is the offspring of the private ownership regime, and to identify it, we must start from "How to consider and solve the problem of the relationship between individuals and organizations, between individual interests and revolutionary interests according to what stance, viewpoint and ideology?" (5), in order to clearly see the nature and manifestation of individualism. Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh's articles on fighting individualism since their publication more than 40 years ago have had a wide resonance, contributing to repelling the negative manifestations of individualism and building a new socialist man.

The reason why Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was able to openly and resolutely fight against individualism and to talk a lot about the noble morality of communists was because he was not only a talented general with outstanding contributions in various fields of work, but he was also an exemplary leader who always upheld revolutionary morality: Loyal to the Party, filial to the people, thrifty, honest, impartial, upright, sincere, loving comrades and teammates, with a simple, modest style, close to everyone, and close to reality. He "left forever in the hearts of comrades, teammates and people the bright example of a true communist who fought and sacrificed his whole life for the Fatherland, for the people and the great communist ideal" (6).

The 110th anniversary of General Nguyen Chi Thanh's birth (January 1, 1914 - January 1, 2024) is an occasion for the entire Party, people and army to remember and honor his great contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation. General Nguyen Chi Thanh's life will always be a shining example contributing to educating the revolutionary tradition for the people, cadres and soldiers of the armed forces, especially the young generation, fostering patriotism, love for socialism, promoting national pride and self-respect; striving to study, work creatively, unite and be determined to build and firmly protect "the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Fatherland, protect the Party, the State, the people and the socialist regime" (7), successfully realizing the goal of a rich people, a strong country, democracy, fairness and civilization.

(1) Quoted from: Communist Party of Vietnam Electronic Newspaper, A shining example of lifelong dedication to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation. Source: https://dangcongsan.vn/tu-tuong-van-hoa/tam-guong-sang-tron-doi-cong-hien-cho-su-nghiep-cach-mang-cua-dang-va-dan-toc-224873.html.

(2) Quoted from: General Nguyen Chi Thanh - A model, loyal communist, talented leader. Ibid, pp. 219-220.

(3) “Funeral oration of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party”. Printed in: Collection of General Nguyen Chi Thanh, volume 3, Thoi Dai Publishing House, Hanoi 2013, p.641.

(4) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi 2011, Vol. 11, p. 600.

(5) Nguyen Chi Thanh: Against individualism, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi 1978, p.11.

(6) “Funeral oration of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party”. Printed in: Collection of General Nguyen Chi Thanh, volume 3, op. cit., p. 643.

(7) Communist Party of Vietnam, Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, volume 1, National Political Publishing House - Truth, Hanoi, 2021, p.156.

(According to nhandan.com.vn)

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