114th Anniversary of Uncle Ho's Departure to Find a Way to Save the Country (June 5, 1911 - June 5, 2025): A Man Like "Spring Thunder"

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - “Ho Chi Minh, imbued with the thoughts of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, has shown us the way forward. And as the words in an ancient Vietnamese poem say, he is like “Spring Thunder”, dispelling the fog that hinders our progress as well as that of all humanity to the future”! (Dr. John Callow, Director of the Marx Library, UK).

Nha Rong Wharf - where President Ho Chi Minh began his 30-year journey to find a way to save the country.

The embodiment of the desire for independence

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once affirmed: “I have only one desire, the utmost desire, which is to make our country completely independent, our people completely free, everyone has food to eat, clothes to wear, everyone can study”. That great aspiration is the luggage, the spiritual support, to support and urge him to overcome countless adversities, step by step “dispel the fog of obstacles” to find a way to bring the nation out of the yoke of slavery and misery.

Then, June 5, 1911 became a historic moment for the Vietnamese people. The moment of the century has and will forever call the name of the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh as the embodiment of the desire for independence and freedom not only for the Vietnamese people, but also for oppressed and enslaved peoples. Because on his journey across the five continents and four seas and doing many jobs to make a living, he realized and clearly outlined the nature of capitalism. That is, "Everywhere, capitalist and colonial empires are savage, brutal, and full of inhumane relationships; everywhere, poor and destitute workers are friends, brothers, and comrades of each other; they must be gathered together and stand up to fight for liberation."

In July 1920, Nguyen Ai Quoc read the first draft of Lenin's theses on the national and colonial questions. Lenin's theses helped him answer the fundamental questions about the path to national liberation that he had been searching for so long. He affirmed: "To save the country and liberate the people, there is no other way than the path of proletarian revolution." The great impact of the theses on his thoughts and feelings left a strong impression on him - even 40 years later, as President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He wrote: "In that theses, there are difficult political words. But after reading them over and over again, I finally understood the main part. Lenin's theses made me so moved, excited, enlightened, and confident! I was so happy that I cried. Sitting alone in my room, I spoke loudly as if I were speaking before a large crowd: "My miserable and suffering compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”.

In December 1920, he joined the Communist International and participated in founding the French Communist Party. This event marked a turning point in his ideology, from patriotism to communism. After determining the path to save the country through the proletarian revolution, he actively spread Marxism-Leninism in the country, bringing a new wind to fan the flames of struggle in the direction of the proletarian revolution in our country in the 1930s. At the same time, he laid the foundation for the birth of the Vietnamese proletarian party.

In the spring of 1930, leader Nguyen Ai Quoc chaired the conference to establish the Communist Party of Vietnam , approving the first political platform he drafted. The platform was concise, clear and expressed the spirit of independence and autonomy, suitable to the practical situation of Vietnam. At the same time, it emphasized the struggle for national liberation, against imperialism, colonialism and the declining feudal regime, and carried out the strategic goal: "Making Vietnam completely independent", "carrying out bourgeois democratic revolution and land revolution to move towards a communist society". The birth of the Party marked a particularly important turning point in the process of national revolution, becoming the decisive factor, deciding all victories of the Vietnamese revolution. From there, it opened a brilliant era of Vietnam, with historical marks and epochal stature.

Under the leadership of the Party, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, our people rose up strongly, making the victory of the August Revolution in 1945, giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. At the same time, promoting patriotism, national spirit, determination to both resist and build the nation, our people made the Dien Bien Phu victory "famous in five continents, shaking the earth". When facing the fierce, long-term war against the invading American imperialists, President Ho Chi Minh once again raised the determination of the entire Party, the entire army, and the entire people: "The sacred task of all our people at this time is to raise the spirit of determination to fight and win, determination to liberate the South, protect the North, and move towards peaceful reunification of the Fatherland. As long as there is one invader in our country, we must continue to fight and wipe him out". And as he predicted, the historic victory of April 30, 1975 once again affirmed the will of self-reliance, self-strengthening, and determination to protect and maintain national independence of President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese people.

Symbol of true peace

President Ho Chi Minh - right from the first step on the journey of thousands of miles to find a way to save the country - always carried in his heart a burning desire: Independence for the Fatherland, freedom and happiness for the people. In his thought, the happiness of the people is simply the right to live, from which to develop a happy nation and country. That is a society owned by the working people, equal, without the regime of man exploiting man, a completely new society, full of humanity, "bringing the masses to a worthy, glorious and increasingly prosperous life, making all working people have a free, happy and powerful Fatherland, heading towards bright horizons".

From the journey to find a way to save the country, to leading our people to achieve glorious victories, President Ho Chi Minh's thoughts and aspirations have also become the common aspirations of enslaved peoples. His whole life was not only to fight against oppression and injustice, to bring a prosperous life to the people and the Vietnamese nation, but also to seek happiness for humanity. When talking about the great son of the Vietnamese people, Romet Chandra, President of the World Peace Council, affirmed: “Wherever people fight for independence and freedom, there is Ho Chi Minh and the Ho Chi Minh flag flies high. Wherever people fight for peace and justice, there is Ho Chi Minh and the Ho Chi Minh flag flies high. Wherever people fight for a new world, against poverty, there is Ho Chi Minh and the Ho Chi Minh flag flies high (...). Standing beside Ho Chi Minh, the world peace movement has seen more clearly than ever the vital connection between the struggle for peace and the struggle for national independence and freedom, the struggle for justice and the struggle for socialism”.

President Ho Chi Minh is the embodiment of the desire for peace, even of the culture of peace. Peace is not only the absence of gunfire from invaders, the absence of blood and tears from the people; but also a true peace, based on the fundamental foundation of independence, national sovereignty, happiness and prosperity for the people; based on the values ​​of culture, ethics and the humanistic spirit of "all for the people". Today, although the great trend of the times is peace, cooperation and development; however, conflicts and divisions are taking place in many regions of the world, making peace even more fragile. Then, looking back at Vietnam - a country that has gone through two long and arduous resistance wars - we can appreciate more and more the value of peace, and cherish more and more the beauty of peace. In particular, we understand more deeply Uncle Ho's teachings that Vietnam desires peace, but not the kind of peace that is "given" conditionally, but a true peace that we ourselves must win and that we are determined to keep even if we have to "burn the entire Truong Son mountain range".

It can be affirmed that it was patriotism, the desire to liberate the nation and build a “more decent” and “more beautiful” country that brought President Ho Chi Minh to Marxism-Leninism and from there, he led our nation on the path of glorious light. And then, despite the current turbulent world, the legacy of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and morality - especially the humanitarian spirit and the desire for peace, freedom and happiness, the spirit of patriotism and true nationalism, will forever be eternal values. And “Ho Chi Minh will remain forever in the hearts of the soldiers fighting for justice, freedom and independence of their nation as one of the greatest and most steadfast successors of the path of Marx and Lenin” (DT Novikov, Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation).

Article and photos: Khoi Nguyen

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/ky-niem-114-nam-ngay-bac-ho-ra-di-tim-duong-cuu-nuoc-5-6-1911-5-6-2025-nguoi-nhu-tieng-sam-mua-xuan-250913.htm