The unpredictable danger of historical revisionism

In fact, most of the historical revisionist views and denials come from opposing forces, politically disaffected elements and political opportunists. However, there are still a number of cadres, party members and the masses who do not fully understand the seriousness of the problem and lack vigilance, which has inadvertently allowed historical revisionist views and ideas to spread in social life, thereby causing many consequences.

Báo Quân đội Nhân dân•15/05/2025

President Ho Chi Minh 's advice in the past has clearly shown the meaning and importance of history to the survival of the country. History is a collection of events that have happened, containing many profound lessons in the process of movement and development of an entire nation. For that reason, history is never simply a story of the past but also a strong link between generations, summarizing the experiences of our ancestors to create a development path for today and tomorrow.

Vietnam has a long and proud history of building and defending the country. The Vietnamese people have a tradition of valuing morality and always remembering the contributions of previous generations, preserving and promoting the noble values accumulated throughout history. Realizing that, since its founding, the Communist Party of Vietnam has always attached great importance to the nation's traditional history, considering it an endogenous resource, combined with the guiding light of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought to lead the country through many "tests of fire" of the times, continuing to write the heroic pages of the nation's history.

Illustration photo: VOV

The study and exploitation of historical values are closely related to the socialist revolutionary cause that our Party, State and people are carrying out. Perhaps that is why history has also become a content of sabotage by hostile, reactionary and opportunistic political forces with many sophisticated and sinister tricks.

Revisionist views and ideas about the role of history, removing the influence of history from social life, gradually fade patriotism, revolutionary will, and national cultural identity among the masses. Those who follow this ideology believe that history does not have much meaning in the conditions of a market economy and scientific-technological revolution, so it is necessary to reduce attention to history to focus on other fields, and at the same time reduce or eliminate the subject of History in the educational program at all levels.

This wrong viewpoint strikes at the pragmatic mentality of a part of the masses, especially the youth, because although they are dynamic and enthusiastic, they do not have a strong will and often have difficulty absorbing the profound value of historical lessons. The viewpoint of denying the role of history is very popular on cyberspace, mainly in the form of articles that aim to orient public opinion and incite mob psychology. The idea of denying the role of history is still very dangerous, directly hitting the thinking of many young people - the future generation of the country, causing them to forget national history, be indifferent to the fate of the nation, and in the long run, lead to the risk of losing independence, autonomy, and dependence on others.

Historical distortion and revisionist views come from many different types of subjects, mainly from hostile, reactionary, and opportunistic political forces. The familiar tricks of subjects who distort history are to write books, write articles, and publish articles under the name of "research projects" to provide false data and information, to turn black into white, and to blatantly distort historical events that have occurred; to focus on some limitations of the Vietnamese revolution in previous periods. The subjects focus on events from 1945 onwards because this is the period when our Party took the leadership of the resistance war and the construction of socialism. The goal of historical distortion is to defame and lower the prestige of the Party.

In addition to the trick of distorting history, the subversive elements also use a more sophisticated trick, which is to revise history. The activity of revising history has a broader scope, not only targeting events in modern history but also medieval and modern historical periods. Instead of directly distorting, the elements following the tendency of revising history go into depth to analyze and review unclear issues, the righteousness of historical figures and the correctness of historical events; put forth hypotheses to create doubts in readers and listeners about official historical sources; praise the false prosperity of the puppet regime to arouse revisionist thinking, denying the revolutionary struggle; create entertainment products, literary and artistic works that borrow historical materials to insert messages with bad intentions. The main purpose of historical revisionism is to deny the orthodox historical viewpoint recognized by our Party and State, and is also to sabotage our Party, revolution and regime.

To prevent the harmful consequences of the trend of historical revisionism, it is necessary to unify the historical content in the documents used at all levels of education. It is necessary to emphasize the irreplaceable role of the History subject in the education and training program; there must be no doubt about the importance of history. The learning content must be selective, ensuring that learners grasp historical events and historical lessons, while meeting the requirements of culture, politics, diplomacy, ethnic affairs, and religion on the basis of national interests and maintaining and strengthening the great national unity bloc.

The compilation and publication of historical documents, entertainment products, and literary and artistic creations using historical materials must be under the leadership of the Party, the management of the State, and regularly inspected and supervised. Official historical sources that have been recognized must be widely disseminated for use in scientific research. For unclear historical issues and events, it is necessary to focus on investment and mobilize human and material resources to conduct fundamental, convincing, and effective research.

In the current situation, it is necessary to strengthen knowledge training and raise awareness for cadres and party members in the fight against historical revisionist viewpoints. First of all, focus on studying Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, the foundation of which is dialectical materialism and historical materialism, because these are the sources of worldviews and accurate methodologies in scientific research, and weapons to fight against arguments demanding historical revisionism. When fighting, cadres and party members themselves must grasp historical truths and historical lessons to neutralize hostile and destructive viewpoints in this field; must take the spirit of protecting national interests, class interests, and protecting the great national unity bloc as the orientation when fighting. The fight to protect historical values must comply with and implement the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's policies and laws.

In addition, it is necessary to promptly detect, prevent and take appropriate and appropriate measures to deal with subjects who distort and revise history. In fact, most of the revisionist and historical denialist views originate from opposing forces, politically disaffected elements and political opportunists. However, there are still a number of cadres, party members and the masses who have not fully recognized the seriousness of the problem, lack vigilance, and have unintentionally allowed historical revisionist views to spread in social life. Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to ensure more seriousness and substance in the struggle, to have a correct view of this issue to protect true history, to protect the revolutionary achievements that previous generations had to sacrifice so much blood and sweat to gain independence and freedom for the Fatherland today.

TRAN NHAT CUONG