Each person works as two Norths compete for the South

Especially in the North, with the spirit of "being nimble with the plow, skillful with the gun", "each person doing the work of two", the whole North was full of competitive spirit, determined to become a strong rear base for the great front line in the South to fight.

From Uncle Ho's message at the Special Political Conference in 1964

Our Party and President Ho Chi Minh decided to convene a special Political Conference on March 27 and 28, 1964 at Ba Dinh Hall, Hanoi . This Conference was considered the Dien Hong Conference during the anti-American period when more than 300 official delegates (and over 500 observer delegates from the Capital) attended the Conference, demonstrating solidarity and unanimity around the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh; at the same time, demonstrating the determination to fight to protect the North, liberate the South, and unify the country.

At the Conference, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: "...if they recklessly touch the North, they will certainly fail miserably"; called on "each of us to work twice as hard to repay our compatriots in the South".

Students of Yen Hoa High School, Hanoi registered for the "Three Responsibilities" movement, later the "Three Responsibilities" women's movement.

After the special political conference, the Central Executive Committee and the Prime Minister issued Directives and Guidelines for the patriotic emulation movement following President Ho Chi Minh 's call, "each person works as hard as two, building and defending the North, supporting the revolution to liberate the South".

On April 11, 1964, that is, just after nearly a month from the "special conference", President Ho Chi Minh wrote an article answering readers, pen name Chien Si, published in Nhan Dan newspaper No. 3665, answering the reader's question "How to make each person work twice as hard?", He explained that working twice as hard does not mean doubling the working hours but "no matter what job you do, you must raise your sense of ownership and responsibility, have the spirit of trying harder, make every effort to promote initiatives, improve techniques with the aim of doing more, quickly, well, and cheaply".

The competitive atmosphere is exciting and spreads throughout the North.

From Uncle Ho's call, emulation movements with the spirit of "Every family competes, every person competes, every industry competes", "For the South, each person works as hard as two", "All to defeat the American invaders"... immediately spread throughout the localities in the North.

Sending off the "Three Ready" youth of Dong Da area (Hanoi) to join the army, August 1964, after the US expanded its air strikes to the North.

Accordingly, from 1960 to 1975, emulation movements were continuously initiated in all fields. In education, “Bac Ly Drum” was one of the most prominent emulation movements in the North during the years of fighting against the US. Bac Ly is the name of Bac Ly Secondary School, where the “Two Goods” emulation movement (teaching well and studying well) originated, implementing the motto “Learning must go hand in hand with practice, theory must be linked to practice, and schools must be closely linked to society”. In July 1961, Uncle Ho praised the glorious achievements of the education sector and suggested that schools should launch the “Two Goods” emulation movement.

In early 1960, in response to the “Patriotic Emulation”, the movement to promote initiatives and increase labor productivity of Duyen Hai Mechanical Factory, Hai Phong (now Duyen Hai Mechanical State-owned Company Limited) was strongly launched and received widespread support from all cadres and workers. The “Duyen Hai Wave” movement became one of the major emulation movements of the Northern rear at that time in industry and handicrafts.

In the agricultural sector, in early 1961, the "Gio Dai Phong" movement emerged from Dai Phong Agricultural Cooperative (Phong Thuy Commune, Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province). Before that, at the end of 1959, the people of Dai Phong village, Phong Thuy Commune, Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province decided to establish Dai Phong Cooperative. By the end of 1960, Dai Phong Cooperative had a total of 26 industries. The cooperative not only paid off its debts to the State in full and on time, but also accumulated tens of thousands of dong. The lives of Dai Phong cooperative members were constantly improved and enhanced. On January 11, 1961, in Nhan Dan Newspaper, Uncle Ho wrote an article "A model cooperative" about Dai Phong Cooperative, Phong Thuy Commune, Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province. Just a few months after that article, nearly 7,000 cooperatives registered to compete and learn from Dai Phong. And from Uncle Ho's article, the agricultural emulation movement called "Great Wind" was blown from the plains to the mountains.

A technical demonstration by workers at Duyen Hai mechanical factory, Hai Phong - the leading industrial power in the North in the early 60s of the 20th century.

Among the youth, on August 9, 1964, Hanoi Pedagogical University launched the "Three Readies" movement with the slogan: Ready to fight and join the armed forces; Ready to study and work to build a new life; Ready to go wherever the Fatherland needs.

In March 1965, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union launched the "Three Virtues" movement. Accordingly, tens of millions of women, regardless of day or night and enemy bombs, enthusiastically competed in labor production, work, and were ready to fight and serve in combat. In agricultural production, with the spirit of "Fields are battlefields, hoes and plows are weapons", female farmers "with one hand plowing and one hand gunning" enthusiastically competed in virtuosity to replace men as masters of fields, participating in cooperative management, many of them were good managers. In construction sites, factories, enterprises, mines... with the slogan "Each person works as two for the beloved South", with the determination "the heart can stop beating, the machine cannot stop running", hundreds of thousands of female workers "with one hand hammering and one hand gunning" enthusiastically participated in the "practice skills, compete for good workers" emulation movement, promoting the spirit of collective mastery, striving to promote initiatives and improve techniques; Many women continuously exceeded their plans for many years... It is noteworthy that President Ho Chi Minh changed the name "Three Responsibilities" that the Women's Union planned to "Three Responsibilities".

In addition, in the North during the period of 1960-1975, there were many outstanding emulation movements such as "Three bests" in the army, "Three determinations" of intellectuals, "Plow hands, gun hands" of farmers, "Hammer hands, gun hands", "High productivity Saturday", "Practice skills to compete for skilled workers" of workers, "Aim straight at the enemy and shoot" of the armed forces, "No regrets until the car has passed the house", "Not a pound of rice is missing, not a soldier is missing", "Singing drowns out the sound of bombs" of the entire population. Along with that, many action slogans appeared "Steady hands on the plow, steady hands on the gun", "Steady hands on the hammer, steady hands on the gun" in all fields, farms, factories, enterprises, construction sites, etc. in the North.

At the 1960 Patriotic Emulation Congress, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: Workers raise high the "Duyen Hai" flag. Farmers raise high the "Dai Phong" flag. The heroic army raises high the "Three Firsts" flag. Workers, farmers and soldiers compete in great unity, socialism will definitely succeed, North and South will definitely be unified, the country will be one.

Ha Anh

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bai-4-moi-nguoi-lam-viec-bang-hai--mien-bac-thi-dua-vi-mien-nam-ruot-thit-post249924.html