Ho Chi Minh - a shining personality

Ho Chi Minh's personality was that of a national liberation hero, an outstanding cultural figure, of great stature yet humble. This was manifested in his profound virtue; his pure and bright heart; his abundant abilities and wisdom; his extraordinary will and determination; his relentless pursuit of self-improvement and the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty; and his lifelong struggle for national liberation, social liberation, and human liberation.

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh did not write any specific works on character, but from his legacy, we can see that he was very concerned with the development and perfection of character. In his work "The Revolutionary Path " (1927), he set forth 23 requirements for revolutionary character in relation to oneself, others, and work. This is essentially the model of Vietnamese character that Ho Chi Minh built. This model was further concretized into qualities such as humanity, righteousness, wisdom, courage, and integrity in his work "Correcting Working Methods " (1947) and the qualities of diligence, frugality, integrity, and righteousness in his work "Diligence, Frugality, Integrity, and Righteousness " (1949). Ho Chi Minh considered diligence, frugality, integrity, and righteousness as the foundation of the new life, and believed that "lacking one virtue makes one incomplete." According to him, the structure of human character includes two elements: "virtue" and "talent." "Virtue" and "talent" are the two most fundamental elements in the structure of a person's character, and every individual always has a tendency to strive for perfection in both "virtue" and "talent."

In this article, exploring Ho Chi Minh's personality, we study him from two perspectives: his moral character and his intellectual character, to understand his simplicity, approachability, and yet profound nobility and greatness.

Firstly, regarding moral character.

Ho Chi Minh's moral character is manifested in his responsibility as a citizen to the nation, to himself, to the surrounding community, and to the international community. This is exemplified by the following outstanding qualities:

Ho Chi Minh's boundless compassion for working people. Unlike feudal intellectuals, Ho Chi Minh's compassion was not a vague, generalized love, nor was it pity, but a genuine love for all working people in Vietnam and around the world , from slaves and prisoners to farmers and workers suffering under the oppression and exploitation of colonialism and feudalism, especially for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as the disabled, women, and children... and it was a respect for human beings, empathy for the fate of the "suffering." This is evidenced by his life's work for the independence, freedom, prosperity, and happiness of the Vietnamese people and working people around the world. Because he cared deeply for the poor people, and because "his only ultimate desire was to see our country completely independent, our people completely free, and all our compatriots having enough food and clothing, and access to education," even though he held the position of leader of the country and of a ruling party, Uncle Ho's life remained very humble, simple, and pure, with only a small wooden stilt house, a pair of rubber sandals, and two sets of faded khaki clothes...

Ho Chi Minh was a shining example of diligence, frugality, integrity, and impartiality. According to him, diligence means being hardworking, industrious, persistent, and resilient in all tasks; at the same time, it means increasing labor productivity and achieving good results. Frugality means being thrifty, avoiding extravagance and waste; spending only on what is necessary, postponing what is not necessary, and resolutely refraining from spending on what is not necessary. Integrity means being honest, clean, and not greedy. Impartiality means being straightforward, not being deceitful; striving to do good things, however small, and avoiding bad things, however small. Ho Chi Minh also believed that one must be upright oneself before one can help others be upright; it is unreasonable to expect others to be upright if one is not. Impartiality means being completely fair and just; one must not have personal feelings, biases, or favoritism. To achieve impartiality, one must overcome individualism; because when individualism prevails, morality is severely degraded. This is a requirement for the character of a revolutionary; it is the opposite of individualism.

Secondly, Ho Chi Minh's intellectual personality.

Ho Chi Minh's intellectual personality is manifested in his independent, self-reliant, creative, astute, and insightful thinking in observing, evaluating, and criticizing the things and events around him. In addition, Ho Chi Minh was a keen learner, sensitive to new things, possessed a dialectical method, had a practical mind, and always diligently studied to reach the pinnacle of human knowledge. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh became the trailblazer, pioneer, and leader who led our nation to victory. When studying Ho Chi Minh's life, career, thoughts, style, and methods, scholars have paid close attention to the formation and development of his thought, as this provides a comprehensive view and the advancements in his thinking regarding the Vietnamese revolutionary path and the international situation.

With Ho Chi Minh's intellectual vision and incredibly rich and vivid practical experiences, he raised many issues that the world is now gradually implementing. For example, his philosophy of education, his views on culture, the issue of reforestation, and environmental issues…

Ho Chi Minh's character has nurtured and sown the seeds of the noble character of the Vietnamese people today and in the future. Ho Chi Minh's character has been recognized through its enduring values and has had a profound impact on human life, contributing to peace, independence, democracy, and social progress. In recognition of Ho Chi Minh's outstanding values and contributions, UNESCO has passed a resolution recognizing him as a "National Liberation Hero and Outstanding Cultural Figure."

The values of Ho Chi Minh's personality serve as the basis and foundation for our Party's research, application, and development in building and developing the personality of Vietnamese people – a crucial element in the Party and State's "human development" strategy. At the same time, it reflects the educational goal of forming and developing the personality of a new generation of Vietnamese people to serve the cause of building and defending the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam in the new situation.

The 13th Congress of our Party emphasized: “Building Vietnamese people who are comprehensively developed, healthy, capable, qualified, and have high awareness and responsibility towards themselves, their families, society and the Fatherland” [1] . With a comprehensive view, the Party has set out the task of building Vietnamese people in terms of morality, intellect, emotions, aesthetics, physical strength and knowing how to fight, criticize and push back negative and reactionary phenomena that negatively affect the building of Vietnamese culture and people in the new era. When we build these aspects, it means we have built a quality human resource, ensuring the sustainable development of the country.

The values of Ho Chi Minh's character continue to illuminate the issue of character building for the Party's cadres and members in the new situation. Inheriting and developing Ho Chi Minh's values, through successive Party congresses, our Party has always paid attention to and valued cadre work, first and foremost the leadership and management cadres at all levels who are politically steadfast, morally exemplary, clean in lifestyle, intelligent, knowledgeable, and capable of practical work, and closely connected with the people. However, many shortcomings and limitations still remain in the character building of cadres and Party members. Also at the 13th Congress, our Party frankly pointed out that "A part of cadres and party members have faded ideals, diminished willpower, are afraid of difficulties and hardships, have degenerated in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle, and are 'self-evolution' and 'self-transformation'" [2] . This shows that the character of a not insignificant part of cadres and party members is having problems that need to be overcome and corrected so that our Party is "both moral and civilized" and worthy of being the conscience and honor of the nation.

Promoting the values of Ho Chi Minh's personality among Party members and cadres in the current period is manifested in many aspects, but ultimately boils down to two sides: "virtue" and "talent." Party members and cadres must possess both "virtue" and "talent" to fulfill their duties. Only when we build a team of Party members and cadres with high moral character and professional, leadership, and management capabilities can our Party and State truly be clean and strong, and our country quickly become prosperous and beautiful, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world's leading nations.

It can be affirmed that Ho Chi Minh's personality is the crystallization of the noble values of the nation and humanity in one person with a pure heart, exemplary actions, and brilliant intellect. The values of Ho Chi Minh's personality not only profoundly influenced the Vietnamese national liberation revolution, but also impacted the national liberation movement as well as the movement for peace, national independence, democracy, and social progress in the world. In Vietnam's current process of renewal, the values of Ho Chi Minh's personality have, are, and will continue to illuminate the path chosen by our Party and people. With deep faith in Ho Chi Minh's great personality, we are certain to build a high-quality workforce with comprehensively developed personalities, meeting the requirements of sustainable national development. In particular, every cadre and Party member needs to be imbued with the values of Ho Chi Minh's personality to constantly cultivate, train, and build for themselves bright moral qualities and intelligence to meet the requirements of the cause of industrialization, modernization, international integration and successful construction of socialism in Vietnam, fulfilling President Ho Chi Minh's last wish: "My last wish is: The whole Party and all the people of our country unite and strive to build a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic and prosperous Vietnam, and make a worthy contribution to the world revolutionary cause" [3] .

Le Cao Vinh

Head of the Department of Ho Chi Minh Thought,

Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

1. Communist Party of Vietnam (2021), Documents of the 13th National Congress, National Political Publishing House, Volume 1, p. 213
2. Communist Party of Vietnam (2021), Documents of the 13th National Congress, National Political Publishing House, Volume 1, p. 92
3. Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi 2011, Vol. 13, p. 614

Source: https://baohungyen.vn/ho-chi-minh-mot-nhan-cach-sang-ngoi-3173479.html