Ho Chi Minh's ideology on dignity and human rights

On the basis of the traditional dignity of "people are the flowers of the land" and "respecting the people", Ho Chi Minh applied and creatively developed Lenin's (1870-1924) ideology on the right of national self-determination under socialism. association (socialism); the ideology of freedom, equality, and fraternity of the French bourgeois Revolution of 1789; Sun Yat-Sen's (1866-1925) ideology of "Three Peoples" (independent nation, civil rights, freedom, and happiness) and the ideology of the natural rights of each individual in international human rights law. The right to independence, freedom, and happiness associated with socialism of each person and the Vietnamese nation is based on Marxism-Leninism. This is the ideology and theory for the Party, State and people of Vietnam to apply and develop creatively in the innovation period.

President Ho Chi Minh in his office at Viet Bac base (1951). (Source: hochiminh.vn)

Ho Chi Minh's ideology on dignity and human rights

About dignity. President Ho Chi Minh considered dignity from the human nature of people themselves. He once borrowed the phrase "First of all, good nature" to explain the issue of Good - Evil in a simple way: "On earth, there are tens of millions of people. But those people can be divided into two classes: good people and evil people. In society, although there are hundreds of jobs, there are thousands of jobs. But those jobs can be divided into two categories: main jobs and bad jobs. Work hard, be a good person. Doing evil deeds is an evil person"2. For President Ho Chi Minh, "good and evil are not inherent nature. Much of it comes from education”1; A person with dignity will do good deeds, no matter how small, and avoid evil deeds, no matter how small.

People believe that the issues of good and evil, human dignity in traditional people are basically expressed in humanity and morality. Ethics and human rights (or human rights) are different ways of expressing human nature whenever people are present in the community and in society under different angles and roles.

When approaching Marxism-Leninism, President Ho Chi Minh considered morality and dignity to be factors that greatly influence people's awareness and emotions, not just ideological genius. .

Indeed, in the article "Lenin and the Peoples of the East" (1924), he wrote: "It was not only his genius but also his disdain for luxury, his love of work, his pure personal life, The teacher's simple lifestyle and, in short, his great and noble morality have greatly influenced the peoples of Asia and have made their hearts turn towards him unstoppably."3.

Human dignity is associated with progressive humanistic values ​​and even "transcendent" humanistic values ​​of the nation and humanity.

In the light of Marxism-Leninism, those qualities were raised by him to new heights, such as: From the rational "thinking man" of the West and the "mind" or heart of the Eastern man were integrated into "living in a meaningful way", "studying with practice", "speaking and doing" so as to harmonize talent and virtue; From humanity's compassion and love for humanity, it was elevated to communist humanitarianism, with Vietnamese identity; From traditional patriotism, it was upgraded to Vietnamese patriotism in the era of socialist revolution; From the tradition of national solidarity and gratitude, it has been upgraded to a tradition of national solidarity associated with international solidarity;...

Thereby, according to Soviet journalist Osip Mandelstam (in 1923): "from Nguyen Ai Quoc has radiated a culture, not a European culture, but perhaps a future culture."

About human rights. The preamble of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. Human rights are the expression of human dignity through law in society. President Ho Chi Minh, through the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 9, associated individual rights with the rights to independence - freedom - happiness of all peoples.

Thus, he expanded human rights to include the right of national self-determination. One point that needs to be emphasized is that it was not until 1966 that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) included civil rights. ethnic self-determination with human rights.

This is because Ho Chi Minh really valued practicing the dialectical relationship between individual rights and the rights of communities (nation - ethnicity, religion, gender, ...) with the right to independence and self-reliance. due to the happiness of the nation - nation, in accordance with Article 55, the 1945 UN Charter recognizes The decision of a nation - nation belongs only to all the population regularly living on the territory of the new nation - nation, because they are subjects of international law.

Human rights are the synthesis of social and legal relationships of human dignity and are expressed in cultural personality. People consider human rights mainly as a real product won by humans in the struggle with the natural world, society and themselves, especially in the struggle against oppression and exploitation, and associated with progress. economic and cultural development in each historical period of the nation and humanity.

Therefore, human rights always have national and class identities and depend on each socio-political regime and each national culture. Therefore, human rights are not limited to the aspect of natural - social entities, but are of the nature of "a synthesis of social relations"4 (Karl Marx), first of all legal relations, of human dignity. , and is expressed in cultural personality. Therefore, what must be done to deepen culture into the national psychology..., what must be done so that everyone has the ideal of autonomy, independence, freedom,... everyone understands their duties and knows how to enjoy happiness. should be enjoyed.5

Human rights are recognized in both civil rights and human rights through law and self-governing cultural institutions in society. Inheriting this ideology of Karl Marx, President Ho Chi Minh used both the terms human rights and civil rights (citizen rights) and always valued the unified relationship between them to exercise the right to independence and freedom. , the happiness of the nation - nation on the basis of respecting, protecting and exercising the right to life, freedom and the right to pursue happiness of each Vietnamese person.

President Ho Chi Minh visited the evening cultural and technical enrichment class of workers at Automobile Factory 1-5, the flagship of the cultural enrichment movement in Hanoi industry (1963). (Source: hochiminh.vn)

Applying Ho Chi Minh's ideology on dignity and human rights today

First, Applying President Ho Chi Minh's ideology on the relationship between human dignity and human rights in the direction: human rights are both universal in human dignity and specific in social conditions that create human dignity. Human rights are not limited to the aspect of natural-social entities, but are of the nature of "a synthesis of social relations" (Karl Marx), first of all legal relations, of human dignity and are expressed in cultural personality.

Monday, Applying the ideology of the interrelationship between ensuring national and ethnic rights and respecting, protecting, and realizing the rights of individuals and communities in the country. In fact, the cause of innovation has been resolved quite well, but the value of this dialectical relationship has not been fully seen.

Therefore, in the current period, we must be aware and constantly aware of practicing and resolving that dialectical relationship well; in which respecting, protecting, and exercising the rights of people and large and small communities is the basis for ensuring the independence, freedom, and happiness of the country.

Tuesday, Applying the idea of ​​"hundred things must have the spirit of the rule of law" to "renovate the human rights business" (a social transformation to enforce human rights). The main application result is the building and improvement of the socialist rule of law state.

However, there are still limitations in building and perfecting institutions to implement institutions of the people, by the people, for the people. For example, we have only paid attention to building the rule of law institutions of the state apparatus, but have not at the same time paid attention to building and developing the rule of law institutions of citizens in their relations with the State and society as is the foundation and purpose of the socialist rule-of-law institution of which the People are the masters.

Therefore, it is necessary to continue to institutionalize the State's responsibility in ensuring human rights and citizens' rights in all three aspects: responsibilities of agencies and organizations; responsibilities of officials, civil servants and state employees; Responsibilities of state administrative management documents.

At the same time, we attach importance to the implementation of the Law on Implementing Democracy at the Grassroots in 2022, first of all to promote the assurance of human rights and civil rights at the grassroots level and improve the social criticism and supervision capacity of organizations. society, especially the press and the Internet. Currently, there are still many agencies and businesses that have not paid adequate attention to the implementation of this Law right in their localities and fields of operation. Since then, there has been a lack of coordination to implement democracy in a unified and synchronous way between officials and people at the commune level and officials and employees at agencies and businesses.

Especially in the context of the country entering a new stage of development, with new position and power, it is necessary to immediately overcome the limitations in applying Ho Chi Minh's ideology on dignity and human rights.

That is: (i) avoid confusing Ho Chi Minh's ideology on criticizing human rights under the bourgeoisie and feudal colonial regime in the revolutionary period of national liberation with the right to be master and master in the period of progress. Socialism; (ii) pay due attention to creativity in ensuring human rights in accordance with the country's conditions; (iii) give due importance to ensuring "authority" associated with human rights and civil rights as determined by the Resolution of the Tan Trao National Congress (August 16-17, 8).

Although up to now, Vietnam has implemented quite well the rights to hunger eradication, poverty reduction, production, business, entrepreneurship, etc., it has not paid enough attention to effectively and efficiently resolving property rights issues. associated with the right to possess, use and manage land, housing and other real estate as the foundation of economic rights. As a result, many economic issues, especially land, housing and other real estate, often cause consequences for many human rights and civil rights issues and cause economic losses for the State and people. .

Along with that, there is still a lack of attention to clarifying, applying and creatively developing the relationship between building new ethics, new culture and ensuring human rights (while President Ho Chi Minh considered morality is the foundation and root of revolutionaries); Not paying due attention to concretizing the respect, protection, and implementation of institutions to ensure the rights of each social class (workers, farmers, intellectuals, businessmen, etc.) to suit the current situation. model of rich-poor and social differentiation according to the socialist-oriented market mechanism.

In the context of increasing awareness of human rights, ensuring and promoting civil rights needs to be associated with human rights in accordance with the Party's viewpoints and policies and the spirit of the 2013 Constitution "In the Republic of Vietnam". Socialist Republic of Vietnam, human rights, political, civil, economic, cultural and social rights are recognized, respected, protected and guaranteed according to the Constitution and law. .

1 Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, Publishing House. National politics Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol.6, p.129.

2 Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., vol. 3, p. 413.

3 Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., vol. 1, p. 317.

4 Karl Marx - Engels: Complete works, Publishing House. National politics Truth, Hanoi, 1995, vol.3, p.11.

5 Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., volume 1, p. XXVI

6 See: Communist Party of Vietnam: Complete Party Documents, Publishing House. National Politics Truth, Hanoi, 2000, volume 7, p.559.