Comrade To Huu - a talented leader on the ideological and cultural front

Photo caption — Comrade To Huu, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda Department, spoke at the 4th Northern Mountainous Education Conference, from December 10-15, 1973, in Bac Thai. Photo: VNA

The workshop aimed to celebrate the 105th anniversary of the birth of Comrade To Huu (October 4, 1920 – October 4, 2025). The workshop was attended by scientists and representatives of Comrade To Huu's family.

Comrade To Huu, whose birth name was Nguyen Kim Thanh, was born into a poor civil servant family in Hoi An, Quang Nam ; his hometown was Quang Tho commune, Quang Dien district, Thua Thien-Hue province (now Quang Dien commune, Hue city). After nearly 70 years of active revolutionary activities, Comrade To Huu was assigned many important responsibilities by the Party: Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Government) of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Deputy Secretary of the Central Party Committee, Chairman of the Thua Thien Hue Uprising Committee, Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Head of the Central Science and Education Department, Head of the Central Unification Department, Director of the Nguyen Ai Quoc Senior Party School (now the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics), National Assembly delegate of the 2nd and 7th terms.

In every position and field of work, comrade To Huu completed all tasks excellently, devoted himself to the revolutionary cause, not afraid of difficulties and hardships, upholding the indomitable and resilient tradition of a communist party member in the arduous, heroic and glorious struggle of the Party and the Vietnamese people.

In his opening speech, Associate Professor, Dr. Ly Viet Quang (Director of the Ho Chi Minh Institute and Party Leaders) chaired the conference and reviewed the life and great contributions of Comrade To Huu. Associate Professor, Dr. Ly Viet Quang emphasized that Comrade To Huu was a person who devoted his whole life to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, for the independence and unification of the country, for the happiness of the people.

With his talent and prestige, comrade To Huu gathered and united artists and intellectuals working in the fields of culture and arts; becoming a soldier fighting for the cause of "supporting the righteous, eliminating evil", creating a combined strength, contributing to the victory of the August Revolution. On the revolutionary journey, he and his colleagues and the team of artists became a unified block, highly promoting patriotism and revolutionary heroism, combining patriotism with pure international spirit, in every artistic creation towards the Party and the people to serve the revolution. In particular, he paid great attention to and focused on perfecting the organizational apparatus and the work of training and improving the qualifications of the team doing ideological work.

As a leader in ideological work, comrade To Huu had a strategic vision, clearly demonstrated in the organization of the cadre apparatus and the implementation of work when he was assigned by the Party Central Committee to concurrently hold the position of Director of the Nguyen Ai Quoc Senior Party School, from 1969 to 1979.

Foreseeing the great need for cadres to serve the fight to liberate the South, unify the country and the tasks after the country's reunification, he proposed that the Secretariat expand the scale of training for leaders and theoretical cadres; open more in-service Central Party Schools, Nguyen Ai Quoc Schools in the liberated areas of the South, special systems, short-term classes for cadres preparing to take over the cities of the South. After the liberation of the South, the Nguyen Ai Quoc High-Level Party School opened a second facility in Ho Chi Minh City to promptly meet the requirements for intermediate and advanced theoretical training for thousands of new cadres in the newly liberated areas, and at the same time strengthen the organization, content and training programs of party schools in the provinces and cities.

Comrade To Huu was both a politician and a typical poet of Vietnamese revolutionary poetry. He used his sharp pen as a weapon in propaganda and revolutionary struggle. To Huu's poetry always expressed a will, a passionate and emotional revolutionary enthusiasm. Each step of the poet's poetic path, each joy, sadness, and concern was closely linked to each step of development and victory of the Party, and to the ups and downs of the Vietnamese revolution. With more than half a century of writing, he published many famous collections of poems: From then on (1936-1946), Viet Bac (1947-1954), Windy Wind (1955-1961), Going to Battle (1962-1971), Blood and Flowers (1972-1977), A Sound of the Guitar (1979-1992), You and I (1992-2002),...

The presentations and speeches of delegates and scientists at the Workshop focused on discussing and clarifying the great contributions of Comrade To Huu, especially in the field of cultural ideology - the field in which he made the most outstanding and profound contributions, on a number of main contents: Great contributions in organizing and implementing the Party's guidelines on the cultural and ideological front; attention to building the Party's ideological and theoretical cadres; Sharp cultural and artistic theorist; Typical poet of Vietnam's revolutionary poetry.

Scientists affirm that throughout his life, from the moment of revolutionary enlightenment, with "the sun of truth shining through his heart", comrade To Huu always strived to fulfill the important responsibilities assigned by the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh, devoted himself to the revolutionary cause, wholeheartedly for the Party and the people, upholding the indomitable and steadfast tradition of a communist who strived all his life to follow Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, striving for the goal of national independence and socialism.

At the age of eighty-two, with nearly 70 years of continuous revolutionary activities and non-stop poetry writing, comrade To Huu set a shining example of revolutionary ethics for a communist soldier: "He has passed away, but the image of a staunch communist soldier, a talented culturalist devoted to his cause still lives on. Comrade To Huu's example will forever be for us to learn from" (Eulogy of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam read by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai at the funeral of comrade To Huu).

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/dong-chi-to-huu-nha-lanh-dao-tai-nang-tren-mat-tran-tu-tuong-van-hoa-20251002130254513.htm