The Communist Party of Vietnam and its mission of leadership and governance in new conditions

Article 4 of the 2013 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam affirms: “ The Communist Party of Vietnam - the Vanguard of the working class, concurrently the vanguard of the working people and of the Vietnamese nation, faithfully representing the interests of the working class, the working people and the entire nation, taking Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought as its ideological foundation, is the force leading the State and society.”

The 6th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW dated November 17, 2022 "On continuing to innovate the Party's leadership and governance methods over the political system in the new period" (Resolution 28). Thus, the Communist Party of Vietnam is not only the sole leading party but also the ruling party. As the sole leading and ruling party, the Party must be responsible to the People for its decisions.

The Communist Party of Vietnam leads and governs

The 13th National Party Congress set out the task: "Continue to summarize practices and study theories on innovation in the content and methods of Party leadership and governance in new conditions". One of the first key tasks of the 13th National Party Congress is "Innovation in the Party's leadership and governance methods". Thus, by the 13th National Party Congress, a new concept has emerged: the Party's leadership and governance methods.

In his “Will”, President Ho Chi Minh advised: “Our Party is a ruling party”. The Party Charter approved by the 10th Party Congress also affirmed: “The Communist Party of Vietnam is a ruling party”. Therefore, it is not only when the concept of the Party’s leadership and ruling methods appeared that the Communist Party of Vietnam paid attention to implementing the Party’s ruling role, but clearly establishing this role will help the Party define tasks and solutions more clearly and specifically.

In the most common understanding, “leadership” means setting out policies, guidelines and organizing implementation, while “ruling” means holding power. Unlike many political parties in countries around the world, the Communist Party of Vietnam performs the leadership function before holding power. The Communist Party of Vietnam was founded in 1930 and since then has led the people to rise up and fight to gain power in 1945. Thus, it was not until 15 years after its founding that the Communist Party of Vietnam officially became the ruling party.

Thus, before the government, the Party's main leadership method was through Party organizations and Party members to propagate and mobilize the People to implement the Party's policies and guidelines. When the government was established, with the powerful tools of the government and the entire political system led by the Party, the Communist Party of Vietnam, through state agencies and Party members in state agencies, implemented the Party's policies and guidelines. In the governing method, in addition to the previous methods of propaganda, education, mobilization, and persuasion, the Party led the government to institutionalize and concretize the Party's policies and guidelines into policies and laws and organize the People to implement them.

Always renew yourself

During his lifetime, Lenin warned of the dangers of the ruling party, including the danger of making mistakes in policies and bureaucracy, and being far from the people.

Immediately after becoming the ruling party, President Ho Chi Minh pointed out the dangers to the ruling party. In the “Letter to the People’s Committees of the regions, provinces, districts and villages” in October 1945, President Ho Chi Minh pointed out the dangers that the Party’s cadres and members were facing, such as: illegality, power abuse, corruption, personal gain, division, and arrogance. Also in this letter, he sternly warned: “We must understand that the Government agencies from the whole country to the villages are all servants of the people, meaning they are meant to shoulder the common work of the people, not to oppress the people as in the period under the rule of France and Japan. Whatever is beneficial to the people, we must do our utmost to do. Whatever is harmful to the people, we must avoid at all costs. We must love and respect the people, then the people will love and respect us.”

The Party is a living entity, so it cannot be without mistakes. The problem is that the Party has courageously recognized its mistakes and corrected them. Looking back at the past 94 years of history, the Communist Party of Vietnam and its founder: leader Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh have always surpassed themselves, overcome their mistakes, and innovated for development. One of the most obvious milestones is the national renovation approved at the 6th Party Congress (1986). Dr. of History Evgeny Kobelev, senior scientific researcher of the Center for Vietnam and ASEAN Studies - Institute of Far East, Russian Academy of Sciences, is the author of many elaborate research works on Vietnamese history, politics and society, and has assessed: "Ho Chi Minh creatively learned from the experience of the October Revolution".

Dr. Kobelev believes that the creations of leader Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party of Vietnam are: "First, the Bolshevik Party refused to cooperate with other revolutionary forces. Ho Chi Minh, on the contrary, established the Viet Minh Front and all patriots could join this front. Second, the Bolshevik Party opposed all religions, especially Catholicism, and thus caused the cause of a civil war.

Ho Chi Minh, on the contrary, all religious people could join the Viet Minh. Third, the Soviet revolutionary government destroyed the king and his entire family. Ho Chi Minh, on the contrary, did not destroy King Bao Dai but proposed that Bao Dai become the General Advisor (ie Supreme Advisor - NV) of the revolutionary government". Dr. Kobelev also said: "In 1991, the opposition used these three mistakes of the Bolshevik Party to oppose the Soviet government, on that basis causing the Soviet Union to disintegrate".

Innovation in leadership and governance methods

The Platform for National Construction in the Transitional Period to Socialism (Supplemented and Developed in 2011) stipulates that the Communist Party of Vietnam is the ruling party, leading the state and society. The Platform clearly states that the Party leads by its platform, strategies, policy orientations and major policies; by propaganda, persuasion, mobilization, organization, inspection, supervision and by exemplary actions of Party members.

The 13th National Party Congress determined the Party's leadership method for the State as follows: "The Party leads the State through its Platform, strategies, major guidelines and policies, through organizational and personnel work, through inspection and supervision;... Party organizations and Party members, especially those operating in State agencies, must both be exemplary in complying with the Constitution and laws, and must uphold their pioneering role in implementing the Party's guidelines, policies, and regulations, and the State's policies and laws."

On these bases, Resolution No. 28 has proposed 6 groups of tasks and solutions to improve the leadership and governance capacity of the Party, namely: (1) Innovating and improving the quality of promulgation and effective implementation of the Party's policies and guidelines; (2) Innovating and improving the effectiveness of propaganda and mobilization work; (3) Innovating and improving the quality and effectiveness of organizational and personnel work; (4) Innovating and improving the quality and effectiveness of inspection and supervision work; (5) Promoting the role and exemplary responsibility of cadres and Party members; and (6) Promoting administrative reform, innovating leadership style, working methods, and working manners of Party leadership agencies from the Central to the grassroots levels.

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once advised: “A nation, a party and each individual, who were great and had great appeal yesterday, may not necessarily be loved and praised by everyone today and tomorrow, if their hearts are no longer pure, if they fall into individualism”. We often hear that the people trust the Party. The Communist Party of Vietnam has nearly 5.5 million members, which is an extremely large and populous organization.

Therefore, people look at the Party through their own lens by whether, as the ruling party, the State's policies and laws meet the legitimate needs and interests of the People and whether the Party's members, especially those holding important positions in State agencies, are truly exemplary. That is the measure of the people's trust in the Party and also an important criterion to evaluate the Party's leadership and governing capacity.