Ho Chi Minh - A role model for Party building and rectification

In the work Ho Chi Minh - The Essence and Spirit of the Nation , Prime Minister Pham Van Dong affirmed that "Ho Chi Minh set an example for building the Party. The leader's example received the voluntary and enthusiastic response of the entire Party , creating a strict and sacred framework, leaving behind a fine tradition of the Party and its leadership."

The statue of President Ho Chi Minh located at the Ho Chi Minh Museum ( Hanoi ) is a sculpture of special value to honor the great leader of the nation. Photo: MINH NGUYET

Since the founding of the Party and throughout the process of leading the revolution, President Ho Chi Minh has always paid attention to Party building and rectification.

In the work "Reforming the way of working" , Uncle Ho emphasized: "A Party that has the courage to admit its shortcomings, clearly points out those shortcomings, why they exist, and then seeks every way to correct those shortcomings. That is a progressive, bold, steadfast, and genuine Party."

Respect objective laws

Self-reflection, self-examination of good and bad issues through each stage to correct, make oneself perfect, better, that is the objective development law of each individual and organization. A ruling party that does not self-examine and self-correct is very likely to have power degenerate.

Right after the October Revolution, building the first worker-peasant state in the world, leader V.I. Lenin pointed out that the Russian Communist Party had three "internal" enemies that sabotaged it. These were communist arrogance, illiteracy, and bribery.

The chaotic socio-economic situation after the revolution, combined with the Party's "internal" illness, made the masses discontented. Purifying the Party was the medicine to revive the Party in that critical situation. Purifying the Party was "a serious and extremely important task" aimed at fighting to keep the Party from straying from the revolutionary path, so that the Party could be worthy of being the vanguard of the revolutionary class and the masses.

Lenin wrote: “We must know how to listen to and select constructive opinions from the masses. In evaluating people and eliminating those who “infiltrate the Party”, those who “become officials”, and those who have been “bureaucratized”, the guidance of the proletarian masses outside the Party and in many cases the guidance of the peasant masses outside the Party is very valuable.”

The history of Eastern thought also particularly emphasizes the spirit of self-examination through the formula “Cultivate oneself, regulate one’s family, govern one’s country, and pacify the world”. A person with great ambition must first know how to cultivate himself. And the way of behaving is “First blame yourself, then blame others”, in all things that happen, one must first examine oneself.

Born into a family with a Confucian tradition, President Ho Chi Minh, in the process of absorbing revolutionary ideas, always inherited and promoted the quintessence of Eastern ideology. As the founder and trainer of the Party, going through the process of revolution to gain independence and become the ruling Party, he was very aware of the role of Party building and rectification, making the Party clean and strong, which is a key task, with a particularly important position, throughout the process of leading the country. That is an inevitable task, in accordance with objective laws.

Promoting revolutionary ethics to build and rectify the Party

In October 1947, in the work "Reforming the Way of Working ", for the first time he used the phrase "Party Rectification", identifying 12 standards of the character of a true revolutionary party. He reminded: "If you want the Party to be stable, do not forget any of those twelve things"; clearly stating the duty of party members and cadres: "Putting the interests of the Party above all else... the interests of the individual must be subordinate to the interests of the Party. The interests of each part must be subordinate to the interests of the whole. Temporary interests must be subordinate to long-term interests"; must practice revolutionary ethics - humanity, justice, wisdom, courage, integrity.

Singing and dancing to praise the Party and Uncle Ho at the 17th Congress of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee. Photo: MINH NGUYET

Regarding self-criticism and criticism, he pointed out: “The purpose of criticism is to help each other correct and progress. The purpose is to change the way of working to be better and more correct. The purpose is to unite and unify internally”. He affirmed: “Individualism is like a very toxic virus, which causes very dangerous diseases”; therefore, he required that in Party rectification, we must resolutely fight against “individualism”.

In May 1952, at the first Central Party training course, President Ho Chi Minh determined: “The purpose of Party rectification is to improve the ideology and political level of Party members and cadres, making Party members and cadres follow the correct proletarian viewpoint and stance”. He emphasized: “But due to difficult conditions, the majority of cadres and Party members have not been properly trained, so their ideology and political level are still low and distorted. This is clearly shown in each shortcoming such as: not grasping the policy of long-term resistance and self-reliance; not clearly distinguishing between friend and enemy, bureaucracy, meritorious people and corruption are quite serious...”.

In 1969, in his last work , Enhancing Revolutionary Ethics, Eradicating Individualism , he emphasized: “Revolutionary ethics does not fall from the sky. It is developed and consolidated through daily struggle and persistent training. Just as jade becomes brighter the more it is polished, or gold becomes purer the more it is refined.”

In his Will before passing away, he also set out basic ethical requirements for cadres and party members, and requirements stemming from the revolutionary nature of the Party, from the blood relationship between the Party and the People: “Our Party is a ruling Party, each party member and cadre must be truly imbued with revolutionary ethics, truly frugal, honest, impartial and selfless. We must keep our Party truly clean, and must be worthy of being the leader and a truly loyal servant of the People.”

Regular and continuous tasks of the Party

The work of Party building and rectification plays a particularly important role, of vital significance to the Party and the regime, and has always been identified by our Party as a key, regular, continuous task throughout revolutionary periods.

Singing and dancing about the Party and Uncle Ho at an art program. Photo: MINH NGUYET

In the context of building socialism in the North after 1954 - an unprecedented revolutionary cause - President Ho Chi Minh required the constant building and rectification of a strong and comprehensive Party.

In the spring of 1961, our Party launched a rectification campaign with the aim of building a socialist collective spirit among cadres, party members and working people, clearly understanding the tasks of production and thrift in the new period; criticizing individualism, corruption, waste, bureaucracy, commandism, conservatism and timidity.

After that, the Politburo continued to issue a Directive on the 1965 spring rectification campaign, aiming to enhance the working class's will to strive, sense of organization and discipline to foster revolutionary moral qualities, overcome deviant thoughts, and criticize manifestations of individualism.

Since entering the renovation process, our Party has issued many resolutions on Party building and rectification. Just counting the recent congress terms, right from the beginning of each term, through the 4th Central Conferences of the 11th, 12th, and 13th terms, extremely important resolutions, conclusions, and regulations on Party building and rectification have been issued; each time more profound, comprehensive, specific, and clear than the previous one.

In response to new requirements, the 13th National Party Congress developed the element "Strengthening the building of a clean and strong Party" of the 12th National Party Congress into "Strengthening the building and rectification of a clean and strong Party and political system".

The 4th Central Conference of the 13th tenure issued Conclusion 21-KL/TW on promoting the building and rectification of the Party and the political system; resolutely preventing, repelling, and strictly handling cadres and Party members who have degraded in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation".

In particular, the establishment, supplementation and completion of the functions and tasks of the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption and anti-negativity have created positive and clear changes in the work of building and rectifying the Party and a clean and strong political system, gaining the trust and support of the people, making a very important contribution to the implementation of political tasks, economic, cultural and social development, ensuring national defense - security and deep international integration of the country.

Throughout its 94-year history, our Party has led the People to overcome all difficulties and challenges, creating brilliant milestones in the cause of national liberation and building the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Under the leadership of the Party, the country has never had the foundation, potential and political position as it does today.

To achieve such great results, our Party has always thoroughly grasped His ideology on Party building and rectification, considering it a regular, important, and continuous task in the process of leading the revolution so that the Party is truly clean and strong, increasingly responding to new situations and tasks.