Practice and talk - President Ho Chi Minh 's important guidance on revolutionary ethics
President Ho Chi Minh - the genius leader of our Party and people, the great teacher of the Vietnamese revolution, the national liberation hero, the outstanding cultural celebrity, left our nation and the cause of national liberation and human liberation all over the world a treasure of knowledge about noble, humane, and profound revolutionary ethics. He devoted his entire life and career to liberating the nation, protecting the independence, sovereignty , unity, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland, improving the quality of people's lives every day. He always upheld the principle of relying on the people, respecting the people, loving the people, showing in every word and action wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly for the pursuit of happiness of the people. One of the noble virtues in his personality is that his words go hand in hand with his actions, building trust, and keeping his word before the people. This is also the main content in Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics and style, leaving valuable lessons on ethics for the whole nation, especially for the current cadres, civil servants and public employees.
In the process of building a revolutionary government, President Ho Chi Minh paid attention to every expression of revolutionary ethical standards of the people's cadres, always reminding and advising cadres: "If you say something, you must do it" (1) , and must demonstrate the spirit and character of a revolutionary "Towards work, you must be dedicated" (2) . The words of cadres before the people are not only the simple statements of an individual, but also carry the name of the Party organization and the government, carrying out the task of propagating, disseminating, and mobilizing the people to implement the policies of the Party and the State; therefore, every word of a cadre cannot be arbitrary or formal, but must be weighty, convincing, responsible, and have a basis for implementation. He always criticized, reminded, and strictly reviewed individuals who talk a lot but do little, talk but do not do, say one thing and do another. In fact, this is always the fundamental factor to build an honest state civil service, requiring a team of responsible officials with revolutionary ethics and integrity in performing public duties.
President Ho Chi Minh also advised cadres and party members to have the spirit of setting moral examples, "To guide the people, we must set an example for others to follow... It is not enough to write, speak and shout slogans. The main thing is to do" (3) , from which the people will look at and follow. Cadres cannot be individuals who "point their fingers", let others do things while they "do nothing" or suffer from formalism, empty talk, shouting empty slogans, because "Propaganda must be done with words and actions, depending on the circumstances, we must organize to truly help the people, not just mobilize the people through speeches" (4) . The prestige of cadres must be demonstrated in doing first - setting an example - doing for real - doing effectively, He affirmed the truth "A living example is better than a hundred propaganda speeches" (5) . The living example describes cadres and party members as real people, real deeds, living right, doing right, saying what they do to spread values and strength to the masses. If propaganda, speeches, and calls are not associated with actions, they will become empty, formal, just theory and lose the trust of the people, because "The masses only believe in those who know how to practice ethics, not those who only talk about ethics" (6) . He pointed out two "diseases", which are formality, empty talk and passivity, lack of responsibility. These are individuals with low productivity and efficiency in work, reducing the prestige and fighting strength of the Party and State, or a passive, irresponsible mentality, seeing what needs to be done but not doing it, not speaking up to remind, criticize, or give suggestions.
In fact, saying and doing are also a beautiful trait in Vietnamese culture that our ancestors have summarized and recorded in the treasure trove of folk songs, proverbs, and folklore, that "If you say nine, you must do ten/ If you say ten, you will be laughed at and criticized", "Eat like a coiled dragon, talk like a climbing dragon, work like a vomiting cat", "say one thing, do another",... Therefore, cadres and party members "need to think, see, listen, walk, speak, and do. Not just talk , just sit and write orders... must honestly get their hands dirty" (7) .
Building trust and keeping credibility with the people - an important principle in President Ho Chi Minh's character of saying what he does
Deep and great in the personality and soul of President Ho Chi Minh is the spirit and will to be ready to sacrifice his whole life to seek the truth, save the country, for the freedom and happiness of the people. In that journey, his ideal is always to live for the people, to take the people as the root. He affirmed: "Our country is a democratic country, the highest position belongs to the people, because the people are the masters. In the revolutionary apparatus, from the person who sweeps the house, cooks to the President of a country, all are assigned to be servants of the people" (8) . In his behavior with the masses, he was always close, loving, respectful, promoting strength, building trust, keeping his word before the people from the smallest things in daily life to the great things in the revolutionary struggle of the nation and humanity; He also strived to build a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.
President Ho Chi Minh is a shining example of keeping promises to everyone, from children to every Vietnamese citizen. Not only did he set an example himself, he also often reminded everyone to keep their promises, especially cadres and party members. In fact, keeping promises is an important quality in life, helping to build trust and respect between people and "Cadres who know how to make people trust, respect, and love them will do everything perfectly" (9) .
Thus, keeping one's word is a principle that must be implemented in all circumstances, even in the smallest things from daily life relationships to great deeds related to the fate of the nation and country. Keeping a promise means keeping one's word, preserving one's honor and that of one's unit before others, building trust and practicing ethics for each person, contributing to building a society rich in love and precious trust in humanity for a better society. President Ho Chi Minh mobilized and called on and led the people to carry out the August Revolution in 1945 to drive out the French colonialists and Japanese fascists, establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He once had an immortal saying: "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" (10) . His words and actions were consistently demonstrated through revolutionary organization activities, mobilizing the entire people, comprehensive resistance, calling for support and assistance from the international community, gathering forces to expel French colonialists and American imperialists, gain national independence, and unify the country. He always paid special attention to people's lives, launched many revolutionary movements to eradicate hunger and illiteracy, opened schools everywhere, popularized education, and developed education; organized a general election, because "Through the general election, the entire people elect the National Assembly. The National Assembly will elect the Government. That Government is truly the Government of the entire people" (11) . Unfortunately, he did not witness the moment when the North and the South were reunited, reunited under one roof, and our country was completely unified, but his wish during his lifetime has always been the guiding principle for the revolutionary activities of our Party and State.
President Ho Chi Minh repeatedly affirmed, “If you promise, you must do it, if you do it, you must do it” (12) . This demonstrates the high responsibility and determination of cadres when they make a promise to the people, they must fulfill it at all costs; ensuring the prestige of the State and the harmonious interests of the State and the people. His advice is the guiding principle in the public service culture of socialist cadres, wholeheartedly devoted, serving the people, respecting and loving the people, always taking the people as the root. Only with tolerance, love and a high sense of responsibility, living wholeheartedly for everyone, respecting others, can one be determined enough to fulfill a promise, not making empty promises or making promises for the sake of things. In his Testament , he advised: “Our Party is a ruling Party, each Party member and cadre must be truly imbued with revolutionary ethics , truly diligent, frugal, honest, upright, impartial and selfless. We must keep our Party truly clean, worthy of being a leader, a truly loyal servant of the people” (13) . Accordingly, he built a system of revolutionary ethical standards on the culture of conduct and responsibilities of the government apparatus, the “servant” status of cadres from low to high must all serve the interests of the people, this plays an important role in building office culture and practicing grassroots democracy in the political system in our country today.
Thus, saying goes hand in hand with doing, the spirit of setting an example by cadres contributes to creating people's trust in the Party and the government. Practicing saying goes hand in hand with doing also demonstrates the responsibility, revolutionary ethics and mettle of cadres and party members, thereby building a spirit of solidarity and consensus between the Party, the State and the people, making an important contribution to building an honest, active state that serves the people. Cadres and party members need to be careful and consider before making promises, especially carefully considering their capacity, conditions, circumstances and ability to implement before speaking, avoiding the situation of saying good things, winning the people's hearts and then leaving it there, not doing anything. In fact, if we want people to trust us, all policies, guidelines and policies of the Party and the State must originate from the interests and legitimate aspirations of the people, and cadres must be honest, truthful, responsible and respectful of the people.
Some issues raised today
At the 13th National Congress (2021), our Party identified the first important task in the 6 key tasks of the term: "Strengthening the people's trust and attachment to the Party, the State, and the socialist regime" (14) . The implementation of this content plays an important role in building the prestige of the Party and the State among the people; aiming to assess the qualities and honesty of cadres and Party members in the current political system. In fact, in the performance of public duties, many cadres have upheld the spirit of exemplary conduct and high responsibility, especially grassroots cadres in many provinces and cities who always strive to well implement the policies and guidelines of the Party and the State, practice the style of being close to the people, loving and attached to the people, "talking less, doing more", daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, and having high prestige in the organization and unit. They become the core of the organization, attracting and gathering the masses to build a great solidarity bloc, contributing to enhancing the position of the Party and the government, gaining the trust and support of the people. On the other hand, saying goes hand in hand with doing is also reinforced in many new policies, such as streamlining the government apparatus, rearranging provincial administrative units; digital transformation, building a scientific, modern, streamlined administration; reforming administrative procedures to ensure transparency, compactness, overcoming overlaps, applying information technology into management; proposing and seriously implementing the commitment to say goes hand in hand with doing in many localities through the model of cadres close to the people (such as the government serving, "listening to the people, speaking for the people to understand, making the people trust"; "cadres close to the people, respecting the people, for the people"); promulgating Regulations on "Encouraging and protecting cadres who are dynamic, creative, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility for the common interest"...
However, the current practice of cadres and party members still has certain limitations. The 13th National Party Congress pointed out, “A number of cadres and party members have faded ideals, reduced will, are afraid of difficulties and hardships, have degraded political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” (15) . In some localities, a number of cadres make mistakes such as “talking well but doing poorly”, “talking but not doing”, reporting well, hanging slogans but not implementing, “leaving them there” or when implementing, they lack determination and effectiveness, and do not fulfill their commitments. There is a situation of “elephant head, mouse tail” or “hot above, cold below”, when the leaders at higher levels are highly determined, but when they reach the grassroots level, they are slow, even make mistakes, and “distracted” from the policies and guidelines of higher levels, causing damage to the people’s interests. There are also places where personal interests and group interests dominate, leading to negativity, "saying one thing and doing another", embezzlement and corruption, which damage the reputation of the State. Moreover, the situation of avoiding responsibility among some officials also occurs frequently. They choose safe solutions, are afraid of conflicts, do not dare to fight, and take actions that lead to stagnation, negatively affecting the effectiveness of work; a number of officials and party members have incorrect attitudes, are indifferent to mistakes and shortcomings of themselves, their comrades, colleagues and the organization.
The humanistic values in Ho Chi Minh's character and morality have been emphasized by General Secretary To Lam in the construction, reform and innovation of the country today: "Learn from Uncle Ho to live with ideals, discipline, love, responsibility, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility for the common good. Learning from Uncle Ho is not to praise him in a formal way, but to add confidence, motivation and courage to the cause of building the country today" (16) . Thus, in the period when the Fatherland is facing historical turning points, it is necessary to further promote the spirit of saying and doing among cadres and party members, contributing to promoting the combined strength, creating a driving force for the whole nation to rise up strongly.
Solutions to build a team of prestigious, intelligent, responsible cadres who act for the people in the era of national growth
Firstly, improve the quality of political theory education, foster public ethics, ensure that cadres and party members have the spirit of respecting the people, being close to the people, understanding the people, and daring to act for the common interests of the country. To enhance the prestige and trust of the people in the Party, it is necessary to make cadres and party members deeply aware of and imbued with Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on their responsibilities and tasks, so that the practice of saying and doing is concretized by practical actions, within a time limit, with inspection and supervision. Regularly select topics close to the tasks and functions of each organization and specialized field for training and fostering, ensuring that cadres grasp theory and transform it into action, overcoming the way of learning that is far from theory and practice; considering "saying and doing" as a manifestation of exemplary performance of assigned tasks. Promote the spirit of self-criticism and criticism in the Party, because "Party members and cadres are also human. Everyone has good and bad qualities" (17) , so it is necessary to look straight at the truth to evaluate and classify cadres, point out mistakes and shortcomings to correct them and improve their qualities and abilities through work. On the other hand, focus on educating and nurturing the young generation, the future owners of the country, in terms of awareness and responsibility for their words and actions, imbued with the teaching "Cultivating the revolutionary generation for the next generation is a very important and necessary task" (18) .
Second , periodically organize dialogue programs between the government and the people to listen to the thoughts, aspirations, and concerns that people want to express, thereby promptly correcting and overcoming them; receiving and listening to people's reflections and recommendations... There is a mechanism to attach responsibility, handling measures and benefits to officials in fulfilling promises to the people, there is a process of publicly recording, monitoring progress, and reasonable handling methods for individuals who have not completed assigned tasks. Research and promulgate a system of criteria and levels of trust from collecting people's opinions in evaluating officials, while ensuring to meet requirements in the context of the impact of the scientific and technological revolution, digital transformation, international integration,... to build a team of officials who "Dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to innovate, be creative, dare to face difficulties and challenges, act for the common good, for the country, for the people" (19) .
Third, improve the quality of supervision and social criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front to ensure transparency, publicity and effectiveness in implementing the promises of officials. Increase contact with voters to listen to people's feedback, promote responsibility for timely and satisfactory explanations, avoid congestion, delays, and damage to the common interest . The Vietnam Fatherland Front plays a bridge role for people to question and give opinions to officials and criticize public policies.
Fourth, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed the importance of personnel work. Training, fostering, and objective and impartial evaluation of cadres are important and necessary tasks to enhance the prestige and responsibility of the Party and State towards the people. It is necessary to closely combine the implementation of saying and doing before the people in the work of evaluating and appointing cadres, focusing on criteria such as service spirit, responsibility for words, commitments and actions, attitudes, and work handling of cadres, etc. In the new situation, continue to effectively implement Regulation No. 144-QD/TW, dated May 19, 2024, of the Politburo, "On revolutionary ethical standards of cadres and party members in the new period" and Decree No. 73/2023/ND-CP, dated September 29, 2023, of the Government, on "Regulations on encouraging and protecting dynamic, creative cadres who dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility for the common interest".
Fifth , the leader always plays an important role in matching words with actions in his/her agency or unit; is an example of ethical standards for subordinates to follow and is the person primarily responsible for the results of public service implementation; at the same time, is the person who presides over and creates organizational culture; is the bridge connecting the organization and the people. Therefore, the leader must be the center of the connection between words and actions in the state organization, deciding the prestige and quality of work of his/her unit, always creating a positive office culture, connecting words and actions. From there, creating a spreading force to the entire agency, unit, each cadre and party member to follow in the spirit of "In front of the masses, we do not just write the word "communist" on our foreheads to be loved by them. The masses only love those who have character and morality. To guide the people, we must set an example for them to imitate" (20) .
Sixth, promote the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle throughout the political system, taking it as the foundation for building a professional, honest and people-oriented civil service. The contingent of cadres and party members must always be imbued with and implement the viewpoint of taking the people as the root to perform public duties; must have bright revolutionary morality; consider Ho Chi Minh's morality and lifestyle as an exemplary model to follow, especially in the virtues of diligence, thrift, integrity, impartiality, being close to the people, for the people, living simply, and matching words with actions. Party organizations need to effectively prevent and repel the degradation of political ideology, morality, lifestyle, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the organization, and promote the responsibility of setting an example for cadres and party members according to the motto that the higher the position, the more exemplary they must be (21) . Concretize Ho Chi Minh's thought in building standards of public ethics, working style, and civilized behavior toward the people; improve the quality of inspection, supervision, review, and screening work to promptly remove unqualified party members from the Party./.
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(1) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 2, p. 280
(2) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 5, pp. 498 – 499
(3) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 6, p. 16
(4) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 7, p. 219
(5) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 1, p. 284
(6) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 16
(7) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 5, p. 699
(8) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 7, p. 434
(9) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 5, p. 167
(10), (11) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 4, pp. 187, 153
(12) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works , op. cit. , vol. 11, p. 417
(13) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 15, pp. 611 – 612
(14) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. II, p. 334
(15) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , op. cit., vol. I, p. 92
(16) To Lam: "Uncle Ho still marches with us", Communist Magazine , No. 1,062 (May 2025), p. 8
(17) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 5, p. 294
(18) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 15, p. 622
(19) See: Regulation No. 144-QD/TW, dated May 9, 2024, of the Politburo, "On revolutionary ethical standards of cadres and party members in the new period"
(20) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 6, p. 16
(21) See: Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. I, p. 41
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