The success of the August Revolution of 1945 brought independence to our nation and liberty to our people. However, French colonialists did not give up their wicked intention of reinvading Vietnam. As our country was “hanging by a thread,” on the evening of December 19th, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh released the Appeal for National Resistance, marking the inception of our all-people, comprehensive, long-term resistance war against the French. In the early days of national resistance and during national liberation wars, the strength of the national great unity block was promoted to encourage people from all walks of life to contribute human and material resources for national resistance and construction.

Our Party and President Ho Chi Minh believed that to defend our revolutionary government and prepare for a prolonged resistance war against French colonialists, we must mobilise the strength of all people - a determinant to victory in such a predicament. In order to gather and unite all people, the first urgent job was to satisfy the people’s pressing needs, which was also task of a revolutionary government. Therefore, immediately after the success of the August Revolution of 1945, at the first meeting of the Council of Government on September 3rd, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh pointed out 6 urgent tasks, namely (1) launching a movement to step up agricultural production against famine and immediately raising a rice fund to help needy people, (2) launching an anti-illiteracy campaign, (3) holding a universal suffrage general election as soon as possible and drafting a democratic constitution, (4) launching an education campaign promoting diligence, thrift, moral integrity and righteousness in order to do away with bad habits and practices left behind by the old regime, (5) immediately abolishing poll tax, market dues, ferry tolls, and absolutely banning opium smoking, (6) supporting freedom of belief and unity between religious and non-religious people.

Citizens of Hanoi fighting French colonialists on Mai Hac De Street (file photo)

To perform those above-mentioned tasks, our revolutionary government synchronously took measures to confiscate farmland of imperialists and Vietnamese traitors and give it to poor peasants, reduce taxation, and remove unreasonable taxes. For workers, it implemented an 8-working-hour regime, ensured their right to study, and provided them with military and political training courses. Thanks to our Party and Government’s sound, resolute leadership and all people’s revolutionary enthusiasm and determination, famine was repelled, agricultural production was quickly restored, and the people’s material life was gradually stabilised. On the front against invaders, in addition to the building of a standing army, our Party and Government placed emphasis on establishing semi-armed forces, including militia in rural areas and self-defence combat force in urban areas. On January 6th, 1946, our people first enjoyed their democratic rights in the General Election; victory of the election dealt a death blow to the imperialism and hostile forces’ plots. That was a deep and wide movement of political significance demonstrating the all-people unity block’s strength and iron will as well as the determination to safeguard our revolutionary government. Moreover, our Party and Government attached importance to building and expanding National United Front as a task of urgency and importance to building and defending the people’s government, and preparing a national resistance war. In May 1946, under President Ho Chi Minh’s initiative, many organisations, such as Association of the United Vietnamese People, Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, Vietnam Socialist Party, and Vietnam Women’s Union were founded to gather people from all walks of life, regardless of race, religion, class, and profession in the League for the Independence of Vietnam (aka Viet Minh Front) and the revolutionary Government. That laid a foundation for our Party to mobilise all resources from social strata, classes, and citizens to safeguard the revolutionary Government and carry out an all-people, comprehensive, prolonged resistance war against the French.

In the resistance war against the U.S., for national salvation, the strength of national great unity was once again brought into play in building and defending the socialist North, and conducting the Southern people’s national democratic revolution to fulfil the task of liberating the South and unifying the country in the spring of 1975.

In the period of national renewal, our Party has always focused on supplementing and perfecting its guidelines and policies on national great unity, and promoting the people’s strength in the Fatherland construction and protection as follows.

First, our Party and State have always grasped the ideology on taking the people as the root and considered national great unity as a revolutionary strategy and an enormous resource for the Fatherland construction and protection. In 1986, the Party’s 6th National Congress formulated and approved guidelines on a comprehensive national reform; our Party pointed out major lessons and the first of them was that “the Party must take the people as the root” and encourage the people’s right to mastery. Since then, via its National Congresses, our Party has always advocated “keeping consolidating unity within the entire Party and amongst the entire people and strengthening international unity.”

Being fully aware of the importance of national unity and the Fatherland Front building, on November 17th, 1993, the Politburo issued Resolution 07/NQ-TW on “national great unity and National United Front.” From the 7th National Party Congress (1991) to the 9th National Party Congress (2001), national great unity was continuously included in the Party’s resolutions as an important component, a source of strength, and a determinant to victory of the Fatherland construction and protection. Notably, in 2003, the 9th Party Central Committee’s 7th Plenum released Resolution 23-NQ/TW, dated March 12th, 2003 on promoting the strength of national great unity for the sake of wealthy people, strong nation, and democratic, equal, civilised society. At that Plenum, our Party replaced “all-people unity” with “national great unity” in order to expand great unity not only amongst the people within our country, but also amongst Vietnamese people abroad. That was a new development of our Party’s ideology on national great unity. At the Party’s National Congress (2011), national great unity was seen as a strategy of the Vietnamese revolution.

Second, national great unity represents the unity block between ethnic groups, religions, and social strata as well as between Vietnam people both at home and abroad. To realise the guidelines on national great unity set by the Party’s National Congresses, the Party Central Committee has issued many specialised resolutions on the building of a national great unity block in accordance with each group of citizens. Grounded on such resolutions, our Party has promulgated a lot of policies on ethnicity, religion, youth, women, workers, peasants, intelligentsia, and overseas Vietnamese together with socio-economic development programmes in mountainous areas and areas mainly inhabited by ethnic minority groups. Those documents have provided us with an important legal basis to promote the strength of national great unity, closely combine national unity with international unity, bring into play the national strength and the strength of the times, and align internal resources with external resources to create the synergy for the Fatherland construction and protection.

Third, our Party has always advocated that revolution is a cause of the people, by the people, and for the people and that national great unity must be on the basis of maintaining a harmonious balance of benefits between members of the society and improving the people’s material and mental life. All guidelines, policies, and laws by our Party and State are for the people’s interests. Unity within the Party lays a solid foundation for building a national great unity block. Hence, party committees, authorities, and Fatherland Fronts must frequently hold dialogues with the people to settle issues and satisfy the people’s legitimate needs, trust the people, respect the people, and develop proper mechanisms for the people to express their opinions and exercise their right to mastery. Besides, it is important to treasure and honour the people’s contributions and devotion, and strictly adhere to the principle: “the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect, the people supervise, and the people benefit” under Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

Fourth, the Party and the State should proactively grasp the situation and work towards appropriate measures to build and promote the strength of the national great unity block. After 35 years of national renewal, our country has gained outstanding achievements. Our economy has been developed rapidly, sustainably. The people’s mental and material life has been improved. Defence and security have been frequently consolidated. Our country’s prestige in the international community has been raised. However, in addition to those achievements, our country is confronted with a lot of challenges that are negatively impacting on the people’s life and the national great unity block. The gap between rich and poor increases dramatically, while bureaucracy, corruption, wastefulness, and violations of the people’s rights and legitimate interests are still complex. The hostile forces are stepping up their sabotage strategy against our national great unity block. Those above-mentioned things are undermining the people’s faith and become a threat to the close-knit bond between the Party and the people. Therefore, the Party must focus on formulating, adjusting, supplementing, completing, and implementing mechanisms and policies in accordance with new developments of reality so that the people could sufficiently promote their right to mastery, develop their talent and creativity, foster production and business for lawful enrichment, and fight against the hostile forces’ plot of sabotaging our national great unity block.

Fifth, to promote the strength of national great unity, our Party and State must create a favourable condition for the people to exercise their right to mastery. The people must be encouraged to take part in building the Party and the State. Regulations on democracy at grass-roots level must be effectively implemented, while a sense of community responsibility and self-reliance must be promoted in the Fatherland construction and protection. The Vietnam Fatherland Front should proactively help people from all walks of life to actively participate in designing local socio-economic development plans and supervising the implementation of those plans. It should frequently hold dialogues to settle issues and meet the people’s legitimate aspirations. At the same time, negative practices and corruption cases must be strictly handled to cement the people’s faith in our Party and State.

Sixth, our Party and State should well implement socio-economic development policies. Due regard should be paid to boosting socio-economic development in mountainous areas and areas mainly inhabited by ethnic minority and religious people, reviewing, adjusting, supplementing, and completing the existing policies, promulgating new ones to facilitate socio-economic development, and well carrying out ethnic and religious work in the new situation. All-level authorities should take care of each household, particularly in remote, isolated areas and areas in extreme difficulty, while helping the people with hunger eradication and poverty reduction. Great value should be attached to promoting the role of persons with great prestige and religious dignitaries in implementing policies on ethnicity and religion, fostering socio-economic, cultural development, and maintaining security and order. At the same time, it is vital to actively fight against discrimination, superstition, and exploitation of ethnic and religious issues to undermine the strength of our national great unity block.

Seventh, continue making the Party and the socialist rule-of-law State pure and strong. The entire Party should keep executing Resolution No.4 of the 12th Party Central Committee on the Party building and rectification, preventing and repelling the degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. It is essential to implement Conclusion 21-KL/TW by the 13th Party Central Committee’s 4th Plenum on further building and rectifying the Party and the political system, resolutely preventing and pushing back the degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” amongst cadres and party members in tandem with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and lifestyle.

In addition to building the Party and the State, it is necessary to build a contingent of cadres and public servants at all levels so that they will “stay close to the people, understand the people, learn from the people, respect the people,” and match their words with action. Due attention should be paid to heightening the role model-setting responsibility of cadres and public servants, resolutely fighting against all signs of bureaucracy and violations of the people’s democratic rights, and strictly handling violations committed by collectives and individuals to cement the people’s faith in the Party and the State.

Eighth, building the national great unity block is task of the whole political system, with the Vietnam Fatherland Front playing a core role. According to the 13th National Party Congress, it is necessary to “encourage the core role of Fatherland Fronts and politico-social organisations in building a national great unity block.” Besides, it is important to “build a firm posture of people’s hearts and minds and promote the strength of unity and consensus amongst Vietnamese people both at home and abroad for the Fatherland construction and protection.” 

In order to promote its core role in building the national great unity block, the Vietnam Fatherland Front should continue renewing its apparatus and method of operation, raise responsibility of its cadres, well perform its function of social supervision and criticism, defend its members’ rights and legitimate benefits, actively take part in building the Party and State, and enhance its diplomatic activities. Besides, it should keep executing campaigns and patriotic emulation movements, arouse the people’s creativity and effort for economic development and settlement of social issues, and participate in COVID-19 prevention and control, new-style countryside and civilised urban area construction, and sustainable poverty reduction.

Lessons on mobilising the strength of national unity in the early days of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, particularly in national resistance have been applied to today’s Fatherland construction and protection by our Party, State, and Vietnam Fatherland Front. Under the 13th National Party Congress Resolution and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on bringing into play the strength of the national great unity block, we will certainly succeed in developing a mighty, prosperous, and happy Vietnam.

DO VAN CHIEN, Secretary of the Party Central Committee

President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee