Editor's note: Recently, many party organizations have been disciplined for violating party principles and the law, with many key officials being disciplined and criminally prosecuted. So why have party organizations, which should have made wise decisions to lead their units in carrying out political tasks; been places where will and belief converge; been exemplary in implementing party regulations and state laws, become the subjects of discipline? Is it possible that the resistance and fighting spirit within a part of the party organization are having problems, affecting the ability to self-detect and self-eliminate signs of wrongdoing within the organization? What are the harmful effects of this situation? What are the causes? And what are the solutions to prevent it?
What is worrying is that in many cases that have been handled recently, the party organization has been manipulated and led to wrongdoing by the leader or a group of key officials. And the consequence is that the party organization has fallen into "4 losses": loss of fighting power, loss of resistance power, loss of leadership role and finally loss of honor and prestige.
Where is the party organization when the leader "falls off the horse"?
According to the report of the Central Inspection Commission (CIC), in the first 6 months of 2023, regarding the enforcement of party discipline, Party committees at all levels and Party cells disciplined 182 Party organizations and 7,056 Party members. Of which, the Central Executive Committee disciplined and expelled 1 person from the Party, the Secretariat disciplined and warned 2 Party organizations and 17 Party members (warned 1, dismissed 1, expelled 15). Disciplinary committees at all levels disciplined 92 Party organizations and 2,894 Party members. During the 2012-2022 period, Party committees and CICs at all levels disciplined more than 2,700 Party organizations and nearly 168,000 Party members, of which more than 7,390 Party members were disciplined for corruption.
The Central Inspection Commission held its 30th meeting/Illustration photo/ubkttw.vn
In many cases, party organizations and individuals were disciplined by the party and criminally prosecuted as an inevitable consequence of serious wrongdoings that occurred over many years. A typical example is that the Politburo decided to impose a warning on the Standing Committee of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee for the 2010-2015, 2015-2020 terms, the Party Executive Committee of the Provincial People's Committee for the 2011-2016, 2016-2021 terms, and Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; and reprimanded Mr. Huynh Van Ti, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee. Along with that, the Secretariat decided to impose a disciplinary action of expelling from the Party and removing from all Party positions a number of individuals who were former leaders of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee and People's Committee.
The reason for such severe discipline is that the Standing Committee of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee for the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 terms violated the principle of democratic centralism; violated the working regulations of the Provincial Party Committee; lacked responsibility, loosened leadership, direction, and lacked inspection and supervision, allowing the Party Executive Committee of the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial People's Committee, and many organizations and individuals to violate Party regulations and State laws in land use management and project implementation, causing revenue loss, leakage and risk of large leakage of the state budget, with many consequences that are difficult to overcome; a number of officials, including key officials of the province, were prosecuted and temporarily detained.
The violations and shortcomings of the Standing Committee of Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee for the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 terms caused very serious consequences, causing outrage in society and negatively affecting the reputation of the local Party Committee.
The above violations of Party principles and regulations and legal violations in Binh Thuan occurred over a period of 10 years. During those two terms, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the Party Executive Committee of the Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee had almost no resistance to self-detect and prevent their own violations. The role of Party inspection was also not demonstrated.
In the above case, it is not that there were no people who discovered and reported the signs of violations, because there were complaints and reflections sent to the authorities. However, those sober and brave voices have not been paid attention to, resolved promptly and thoroughly.
From that reality, public opinion is extremely concerned about where the party organization has been and is; what responsibility does it have when the leaders "fall off their horses"?
The "little kings" paralyze the party organization
On June 19, 2023, speaking at the conference to review 1 year of operation of the provincial anti-corruption and anti-negativity steering committee, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: "Some people with positions and power maintain a mandarin and patriarchal style, and are in charge of a locality or unit like a "little king" there."
In fact, in recent times, there have been "little kings" who have shown absolute authority and manipulated the units and localities they are in charge of, turning party organizations in these places into tools in their hands.
The case of “hot girl Quynh Anh” (Tran Vu Quynh Anh) in Thanh Hoa is a typical example of leaders abusing their power to subvert and neutralize the Party organization and monopolize personnel work. It is hard to believe that a person who started out as a handyman, has a bachelor’s degree in part-time IT, and has no expertise in the construction field, but in just 4 years from the position of a contract worker was recruited, appointed as deputy head of department, and then just 6 months later was appointed as head of department at the Department of Construction of Thanh Hoa province. Quynh Anh was even planned as a source of Deputy Director of the Department of Construction. In addition, Quynh Anh also owns assets including many villas and luxury cars worth tens of billions of VND.
It is not difficult to see that the reception, mobilization, planning, sending to study advanced political theory, and appointment of Tran Vu Quynh Anh are full of violations of Party and State regulations, and Quynh Anh's huge assets are unusual.
However, the fighting spirit of cadres and party members in the Party Committee and the Party Committee of the Department of Construction in the Tran Vu Quynh Anh case was very weak, even paralyzed. The procedures and standards in personnel work are all strictly regulated, from planning, sending for training, and then appointing. However, the Party Committee of the Department of Construction did not comply with the above regulations and standards. Along with that, the Provincial Party Committee, the People's Committee, the Provincial Party Committee's Inspection Commission, the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Board, and the Department of Home Affairs must also be responsible for allowing the Department of Construction to plan, send for training, and then appoint unqualified cadres.
Such a terrible incident, the responsible agencies are all confused, explaining that they “don’t know” because they “trust the Department of Construction”. “Don’t know” here is also a manifestation of paralysis!
After that, the Central Inspection Commission determined that Mr. Ngo Van Tuan, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, former Party Secretary, former Director of the Department of Construction of Thanh Hoa province, had unfairly favored and supported Tran Vu Quynh Anh in personnel work, violating the regulations of the Party and the State. Mr. Ngo Van Tuan was disciplined by the Secretariat by being dismissed from all positions in the Party.
However, there was still information that Ms. Tran Vu Quynh Anh had a close relationship with Mr. Trinh Van Chien, who was then the Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee. Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee Trinh Van Chien himself denied the above information. The Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee also issued an official dispatch denying this information, which was considered fabricated and slanderous.
Tran Vu Quynh Anh resigned and disappeared quickly in an inexplicable manner, and the original records are no longer kept. The large amount of assets of Ms. Tran Vu Quynh Anh has not been clearly concluded. With such signs, it is very difficult to dispel the suspicions of public opinion. Moreover, the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 terms in Thanh Hoa not only involved Tran Vu Quynh Anh but also many scandals in personnel work and investment projects.
On July 28, 2023, the Politburo and the Secretariat met to consider disciplining the Standing Committee of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee for the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 terms and a number of former leaders of Thanh Hoa province. Accordingly, the Standing Committee of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee for the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 terms violated the principle of democratic centralism, Party regulations, State laws, and working regulations in approving investment policies, planning, and adjusting planning for a number of land-use projects; in personnel work; in leading the work of declaring and publicizing assets and incomes... In particular, former Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee Trinh Van Chien was determined to have degraded in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle; Violating the principle of democratic centralism, working regulations, Party regulations, State laws, regulations on what Party members are not allowed to do and the responsibility to set an example, causing very serious consequences that are difficult to overcome, causing great damage to the state budget, public outrage, and negatively affecting the reputation of Party organizations and local authorities.
"Surfaces" and unpredictable consequences
It is worrying that the phenomenon of local and unit party organizations being manipulated and becoming fronts for leaders is not uncommon in recent times. Often, shortcomings and violations due to personal intentions are hidden under the guise of collective decisions, following proper procedures.
The reason why “elephants can go through the eye of the needle” in many cases is because the party organization has been manipulated by the “little king”. The leader often borrows the name of the party organization to legitimize personal intentions, serve personal interests, and group interests. The principle of democratic centralism becomes a formality, is distorted, misunderstood, and even transformed into a tool for the leader to be autocratic and arbitrary. The principle of self-criticism and criticism is neutralized. Therefore, the inspection and supervision work in “problematic” party organizations also “fails to detect” violations.
When the Party organization is manipulated by dark forces, it will lead to unpredictable risks. Because the correct policies and guidelines of the Party and State will be easily distorted and transformed to serve personal and group interests. The "rescue flight" scandal is a typical example of this risk. From a very humane and good policy of our Party and State, wanting to extend a helping hand to Vietnamese people abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was turned into an opportunity by degenerate and corrupt individuals who are the heads and leaders of some agencies and units to make money from the pain of our compatriots.
We understand that if we let party organizations lose their fighting power and be used as tools for violations, the consequences will not only be the loss of cadres and the damage to the organization, but more dangerously, the loss of people's trust, affecting the survival of the Party and the socialist regime... And the consequences have been clearly seen in practice in recent times.
Moreover, the valuable lesson from the collapse of the socialist model in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Eastern European countries still remains a warning. Accordingly, one of the underlying causes of the collapse is the loosening and distortion of the principle of democratic centralism, the abandonment of the principle of self-criticism and criticism, and the elimination of the fighting power in the party organization system, especially at the grassroots level of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Therefore, along with strictly handling specific cases, the above dangerous issues need to be identified and analyzed to find effective mechanisms to prevent them. We will discuss this issue in the next articles of the series.
In the 2012-2022 period, Party committees and Inspection Commissions at all levels have disciplined more than 2,700 Party organizations and nearly 168,000 Party members, of whom more than 7,390 Party members were disciplined for corruption. The Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Central Inspection Commission have disciplined more than 170 senior officials under the Central management, including 33 members and former members of the Party Central Committee, and more than 50 generals in the armed forces. Since the beginning of the 13th Party Congress term, 50 officials under the Central management have been disciplined, including 8 members and former members of the Party Central Committee, and 20 generals in the armed forces. (Summary report on 10 years of anti-corruption and anti-negativity work in the 2012-2022 period)
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Ta Ngoc (According to qdnd.vn)
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