The August Revolution implements the ideal for national liberation and promotes the aspiration for developing the country

In 1917, the October Revolution was successful, leading to the birth of the Soviet Union, bringing the revolutionary government to the worker and peasantry. That was a new-style government with the right to true mastery belonging to the labouring people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, through which V.I. Lenin’s thought on nations’ self-determination and the right of peoples to determine their own destiny and select their own development path was realised. That was the greatest and most outright revolution in the world’s modern history, giving birth to the first real socialism in Russia, then commencing the formation of the “Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic”. Overcoming challenges of the civil war and the crisis caused by the capitalist force and Western imperialism, Russia stood firm and revived thanks to the “New Economic Policy” (NEP) designed by V.I. Lenin. In that context, in 1920, Nguyen Ai Quoc took in V.I. Lenin’s ideology on the right to peoples’ self-determination. In 1923, sharply one century ago, Nguyen Ai Quoc first came to the Soviet Union and directly witnessed the “revival of Russia”. Witnessing the great care of the Communist Party and governments of Soviet Union for the people’s life and especially children, he said “if it has yet to be a paradise for all then at least Russia is a paradise for children”.

In 1925, when establishing the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League – one of the forerunners of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), Nguyen Ai Quoc calculated that “In the future, when the country starts building a new regime, it is a must for the application of Lenin’s NEP. In 1927, 10 years after the success of the October Revolution, Nguyen Ai Quoc wrote the “Revolutionary Path” to disseminate Marxism-Leninism into Viet Nam and lay a theoretical, political, ideological, and organisational foundation for the formation of a true revolutionary Party in the country. Within this work, he introduced the concept of “revolution” whose values have remained for centuries and become classic but extremely simple: What is revolution? “Revolution means replacing the old with the new, the bad with the good”. He emphasised that “A revolution must have a Party as the first thing. The Party must have ism as the core. A Party without its ism is tantamount to  a person without wisdom or a ship without compass”. According to him, “the most revolutionary and genuine ism is Leninism”. In 1930, Nguyen Ai Quoc founded a truly revolutionary Party of Viet Nam, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). He was the one who directly drafted the CPV’s short-term Brief Political Platform, Brief Policy, and Brief Charter.

After 30 years of seeking the way to save the country and the people, in 1941, Nguyen Ai Quoc returned to his Fatherland to directly lead the Vietnamese revolution. The 8^th Plenum of the CPV Central Committee (May 10^th 1941 – May 19^th 1941) chaired by Nguyen Ai Quoc decided to make a strategic change, set national liberation as the top priority, uphold the flag of national great unity, establish the League for the Independence of Viet Nam (also known as Viet Minh Front), and focus every effort on gaining national independence, driving French colonialists and Japanese fascists away, and seizing power for the people when the time came.  He issued an appeal to all people, urging them to use their own strength to liberate themselves. That was a historical sacred message when the revolutionary time was about to come. Within a short period of time, from 1941 to 1945, the national liberation revolution under the guiding flag of Ho Chi Minh’s thought took place extremely urgently, full of events and situations, and surmounted numerous challenges to end up with a General Uprising and seize power across the country. The 8^th Plenum of the CPV Central Committee became a milestone in the CPV’s history and a turning point in the national liberation revolution, while proving the value, significance, and vitality of Ho Chi Minh’s thought in practice. the August Revolution of 1945 made up the greatest achievement in the history of Viet Nam in the first half of the 20^th century, established the Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic State, and turned the people into the master of their own destiny. The August Revolution of 1945 opened up a new era in the modern history of Viet Nam – the era named after Ho Chi Minh – the era of national independence and socialism in Viet Nam. That is the most glorious era in the history of national construction and protection. When the revolution broke out and became successfully in a fortnight’s time only, our CPV was just 15 years old (1930 – 1945) and it had only nearly 5,000 members. At that time, the Viet Nam Propaganda Unit of Liberation Army – the forerunner of the Viet Nam People’s Army, founded by President Ho Chi Minh just nearly one year ago, achieved a legendary feat; it cooperated with the people under the CPV’s leadership in conducting armed uprisings to successfully gain power. The August Revolution is an exemplary national liberation revolution; it demonstrated the ideological and organisational genius of President Ho Chi Minh and the CPV, cleverly employed advantageous elements, well manage the relationship between “Opportunity, Advantage, and Strength” within a revolution itself in order to abolish the yoke of colonialism, imperialism, and feudalism and liberate our people from slavery for nearly a century to mastery. The victory of the August Revolution is the great evidence of the truth “taking our strength to liberate ourselves”, for independence and freedom, while providing a precondition for national development under the principle of national independence and socialism towards the goal of “Independence, Freedom, Happiness”.

An inllustrative photo (Photo credit: xaydungdang.org.vn)

Realising the aspiration for developing a prosperous, happy country under the spirit of the August Revolution and Ho Chi Minh’s thought

When it comes to the historical value and significance of the August Revolution, Ho Chi Minh placed emphasis on the two aspects, namely liberation and development: “The August Revolution liberated our people from the absolute monarchy and the yoke of imperialism” and “The August Revolution provided our people with a foundation of Democratic Republic and independence”.

Against French colonialists’ strategy to sabotage our new regime’s fruits and re-invade our country, on December 19^th, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh issued the Appeal for National Resistance: “We would rather sacrifice everything than lose our country, than return to slavery”. Together with the Party Central Committee and Government, he led our entire people and Military to carry out a long-term all-round resistance war under the motto of “both national resistance and construction” and the spirit of self-reliance. That ideology was nurtured by the August Revolution and Ho Chi Minh’s ideological and organisational genius.

Speaking about the cause and most fundamental lesson for the victory of the August Revolution, he stressed that “The August Revolution and resistance war were successful as our people were very united, very ardent, very desirable and struggled very persistently”. His summary explains the profound principle of liberation and the eternal law of development, which is “Unity, unity, great unity. Success, success, great success”. That principle and law prove that unity is strength and creates the strength of the entire nation. With the entire people’s ardent patriotism and consensus, we can overcome all difficulties and challenges. The power of patriotism was described as a strong wave capable of breaking down every barrier and drowning all foreign invaders and traitors to the country. Patriotism, national spirit, and self-reliance represent the source and incentive for unity and great unity. Liberation and development are always based on that solid foundation. According to Ho Chi Minh, apart from determination, it is necessary to maintain faith and create a consensus in the entire society. While timing and advantages are important, people’s harmony is even more important. People’s harmony acts as a decisive factor in every success. Thanks to people’s harmony, the Viet Nam Propaganda Unit of Liberation Army – the forerunner of the Viet Nam People’s Army, with only 34 soldiers relied on the people to fight the enemy; it was sheltered, supported, and protected by the people, thereby winning victory right in the first battle and establishing its tradition of invincibility. The Directive on founding that Unit issued by Ho Chi Minh served as the Party’s first Military Platform with a strategic vision and the unshakeable faith placed on the people’s strength: “Men before arms, politics is more important than military affairs”, “If the people’s hearts and minds are won, there will be guns”. Liberating the entire nation from the yoke of imperialism must start from mobilising all people’s power. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh enlightened, awakened, and inspired the entire nation and became the soul of the great national unity block, the guiding flag of Viet Nam’s national liberation revolution, and the noble symbol of the aspiration for developing an Independent, Free, Happy Viet Nam.

As for Ho Chi Minh and the August Revolution led by our Party and himself, the aspiration for liberation was closely connected with the aspiration for development. Those two currents of aspiration have been continuously, persistently present in the Party and people’s mind throughout all historical periods; they became Ho Chi Minh’s burning desire for national independence and freedom and the people’s right to access to food, clothing, shelter, and education as well as the people’s right to happiness. From his strong will: “It doesn't matter whether we will have to burn the whole Truong Son mountain range to win our independence” to the immortal “Declaration of Independence” giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, Ho Chi Minh conveyed a message to the whole world: “The entire Vietnamese people are determined to use all their spirit and strength, life and wealth to uphold that freedom and independence”. That was the consistent development advocated by Ho Chi Minh in which freedom and independence must be really associated with peace, unification, and the people’s happiness. He always beat himself that if we gain independence but the people still live in difficulty, such independence means nothing. Therefore, he underlined that we must immediately provide the people with food, clothing, housing, and education so that they could benefit from an independent country and contribute to that independence. In the first days of establishing the Democratic Republic, the Government headed by Ho Chi Minh released and implemented the most practical and urgent policies to maintain the independence, ensure the people’s freedom and happiness, and combat foreign invaders, illiteracy, and hunger. He rendered our people fully aware that “an ignorant nation is a weak nation”, poor people will lead to a cowardly nation, and a nation which is dependent on external support is not worthy of independence or freedom. He always upheld and promoted self-reliance for development in pursuit of happiness. In his letter to students on the opening day of the first school year of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, he pinned his faith on the youth: “Whether our Viet Nam becomes beautiful or not, whether Vietnamese people make it to the hall of glory, to stand side by side with strong and great countries of all the five continents or not, it depends tremendously on your studying”.

When the August Revolution was successful, our new regime had to deal with a large number of difficulties and challenges, especially both internal and external enemies at the same time; our country was hung by a thread. The old regime left us with 2 million people starving to death, 95% of the population being illiterate, and more than 1 million French Indochinese piastre most of which were torn and could not be used. Ho Chi Minh launched movements and set an example on compassion and mutual support in difficult time. The movements, namely “Jars of rice for national salvation”, “Week of gold”, all people’s crop and animal husbandry, “An inch of land is an ounce of gold”, advocated by Ho Chi Minh, aimed at quickly fighting hunger, illiteracy, and foreign invaders significantly contributed to successfully settling the Provisional Government’s urgent tasks. Within a short period of time, the Constitution was drafted, and the General Election of Deputies to the National Assembly was successfully held. The 1^st National Assembly was convened, and Ho Chi Minh became the Head of State. Within the first 474 days prior to national resistance, the democratic republic led by Ho Chi Minh achieved glorious feats and gave us valuable lessons on bringing into play the spirit of the August Revolution and his ideology to maintain national independence and development.

At the urgent moment of the fight for human freedom and dignity, there were two special events. First, in October 1946, after returning from France, during a talk with compatriots at Hai Phong seaport, Ho Chi Minh expressed his hope for our nation’s future: “The Vietnamese people must be a wise people”. While most of the population were illiterate as a result of the French policy of obscurantism, Ho Chi Minh succeeded in organising a general election of deputies to the National Assembly by quickly helping the people know how to read, how to write, and how to vote. In spite of the low level of the people’s knowledge, he still desired for “a wise people”, which allows us to understand how great his faith and aspiration for development were. Second, the country was on the verge of a war due to French colonialists’ blatant sabotage, under the spirit of “Fatherland first, nation first”, Ho Chi Minh came to the Opera House at Ha Noi capital to attend the first National Cultural Congress (November 24^th, 1946). At the Congress, he addressed a famous speech in which he emphasised that Viet Nam’s new culture must take the people’s happiness as the basis and culture must light the way for the nation. According to the President, Viet Nam’s new culture must be able to receive all good things from those of other countries in order to enrich itself. It must be strong enough to combat all vanities, luxuries, wastefulness, and corruption and build up a civilised mental and material life for our people. He also urged culture specialists to pay special regard to the young generations and future of the country.

In summary, to maintain independence and freedom as the great fruits of the revolution, it is necessary to attach special importance to promoting the role of culture in building the new regime. The aspiration for development is nurtured by the aspiration for liberation. The aspiration for development is realised by the power of culture and by acculturation to development. That is a long-term strategy of Ho Chi Minh. He stated that the people’s (mental and material) happiness must be the foundation and purpose for culture building. The people’s happiness was a permanent, lifelong concern of the President.

Happiness is the highest value and crystallisation of Independence and Freedom. Happiness is the most important and practical index of development mentioned in the Documents of the 13^th National Party Congress as “prosperous, happy country”. “A peaceful, reunified, independent, democratic, and prosperous Viet Nam, making worthy contributions to the world revolution” was the last wish recorded in President Ho Chi Minh’s Testament. That wish is also his aspiration for development which was cherished since the day he left the country to find the way for national salvation and since the August Revolution – a liberation revolution. And now our entire Party and people are devoting efforts to realising his aspiration. 

Prof. HOANG CHI BAO, PhD., Former Member of the Central Theoretical Council