Removing the leading role of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and socialism in our country are constant aims of hostile forces. However, the Party’s leadership over the State and society has been tested and is an unreplaceable choice by the history.

On the occasion of the 90^th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) and organisation of Party congresses at all levels towards the 13^th National Congress, hostile forces and some of the so-called “human rights activists,” “democratic activists,” etc., escalate their acts of sabotage against our Party and State. They fully exploit racial and religious issues, shortcomings and degradation of some cadres and party member in political ideology, morality and lifestyle as well as their corruption and wastefulness, or environmental incidents, epidemics, natural disasters, etc., to distort truth and attribute all of these shortcomings and weaknesses to the leadership of the CPV with a view to removing our Party’s leading role and the socialist regime and making Viet Nam fall within the orbit of imperialism. No matter how much they try to distort, undermine and deny, they cannot deny the CPV’s leadership over the State and society because of the following basic issues.

The CPV’s inception is historically inevitable, meeting demands of the nation and earnest aspirations of the people. The history of Viet Nam between late 19^th century and early 20^th century proved that, against the backdrop of draconian rule, enslavement and exploitation of colonialist and feudalist regimes, many struggles and patriotic movements based on feudalist, bourgeois ideologies were launched but they all failed. The main reason for the failure of those movements was that their guidelines and ideologies did not accord with the times and people’s aspirations. Despite brutal suppression, patriotic movements and struggles of people from various walks of life and the working class still thrived vigorously, which required a force equipped with an advanced revolutionary guideline in accordance with the development of history to represent the people and make Vietnamese Revolution succeed.

It was within the context of guideline impasse that Nguyen Ai Quoc found the way to save the country and people – the proletarian revolution according to Marxism-Leninism. In order to realise this vision, he actively made preparations of ideology, organisation and human factor, introduced Marxism-Leninism to Viet Nam by various ways and means, and opened cadre training courses with the aim of establishing a political party to lead the people’s struggles. Given his careful preparations, the CPV was founded on the basis of preceding communist organisations on 3 February 1930. The birth of the CPV was attributed to the combination of Marxism-Leninism, working-class movement and patriotic movement. This inception satisfied the aspirations of the nation and people because the Party had sound revolutionary guideline, was composed of the most elite people, represented the working class and labouring people, met the urgent need for leading force and revolutionary guidelines for the liberation of the nation and classes, arouse and converge the strength of national unity, and was able to gain the masses’ confidence and support. That was a choice made by the history.

Under the Party’s leadership, Viet Nam has won great victories and written glorious pages in the national history. 15 years after its foundation, the Party led Vietnamese nation to stage the landslide August Revolution to gain national independence and unification after nearly 100 years under the French rule and empower Vietnamese people to master their own fates. Next, the Party led the people to successfully conduct the two wars of resistance against French colonialists and American imperialists to liberate the nation, reunite the country, bring the whole country on the road to socialism, and firmly safeguard independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity of the Homeland.

Since adoption of the reform guideline under the Party’s leadership, our country has recorded great achievements in terms of economy, culture, society, national defence, security, securing human rights, and so on. For the period of 2016-2020, despite influence of the global and regional economic crises, Viet Nam’s average growth of GDP always reached about 6.78% annually and belonged to the group countries with the highest growth of GDP in the region and the world. The GDP per capita is estimated to reach $3.000 in 2020. In 2019, the rate of poor households according to new criteria decreased to about 4%, which was 1% lower than the previous year. 90 per cent of the population has been covered by health insurance. People’s standard of living has been increasingly improved. Viet Nam has also successfully maintained political stability and growing society, strengthened national defence and security, and heightened its prestige and status in international arena. It has established diplomatic ties with 194 countries and territories, including the great powers. All the countries recognise and respect socialist regime in Viet Nam. This demonstrates that, as a result of its sound, appropriate guidelines, the CPV is entrusted and supported by the people. This is an undeniable fact.

National independence and socialism is the only correct path in congruence with development trends of the times. Hostile forces and some people claim the collapse of the socialist model in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to be an evidence of mistake and outdatedness of Marxism-Leninism. In fact, no doctrines have been more progressive, scientific and revolutionary than Marxism-Leninism. Although the social models in capitalist countries, including the developed one in Europe and America, have attained many achievements, they are still laden with contradiction of interests – an unresolved fundamental issue of capitalism. Wars and armed conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Syria as well as terrorist attacks right in the United States and some European countries have proved those things. Moreover, rapid development of forces of production under the influence of the scientific, technological revolution has further advanced socialisation of forces of production, thus leading to changes in relations of production. This is the main cause that leads to social revolution to create a better society as specified by Marxism-Leninism. That is socialism, an advanced society for the people, a thousand-year aspiration of all labouring people and progressive human race, who wish to live in peace and mercifulness. The collapse of socialist model in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, mainly attributed to the communists’ insufficient understanding and false application of principles of Marxism-Leninism to practice and drastic sabotage of hostile forces, is a painful lesson for not only the communists but humanity. Nevertheless, this is the collapse of a specific model, not the collapse of a scientific theory and a bright future that the progressive human race is longing for. It means that socialism is still the future of humanity. The human societies definitely advance to socialism. Viet Nam’s consistent option to pursue socialism is completely suitable to trends of the times. It is the only path that guides Vietnamese nation to glory and powerfulness. Vietnamese people believe in, choose and entrust the CPV with leading the whole nation to advance on the selected path.

The CPV always reforms and rectifies itself to meet the demand of missions and people’s trust and aspirations. To fulfil its heavy responsibility assigned by the people, our Party always self-criticises and criticises, resolutely remedies shortcomings, always reforms and rectifies itself to reshuffle the organisation with the aim to make our Party stronger, capable of leading the whole nation from one victory to another. Today, on clearly perceiving the risk of degradation in political ideology, morality, lifestyle, “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation,” the whole Party resolutely and persistently realises the Resolution of the 4th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (12^th tenure) on Party building, steps up studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s thought, ethics and style, enhances the struggle against corruption and strict punishment of violations, and so forth. Since the onset of the 12^th Party Congress, over 70 cadres under the management of the Politburo and the Party Central Committee Secretariat have been disciplined and faced criminal charges. These actions reveal that there are no “forbidden zones” in the Party’s fight against corruption, degradation, “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation.” No matter what job and position they may take, whether they are active or retired, they will be punished if they commit violations. This is the Party’s stern declaration of war with the “internal aggressor” - the most serious problem that may undermine people’s trust in the Party, erode the Party’s combat strength and leadership capability, and make the Party diverge from its principles and aims, thus contributing to warning and preventing negative behaviours, promoting education and training of party members to meet demand of missions, and strengthening people’s confidence in the Party and socialist regime.

Opposition forces calling for pluralism and multiparty system and denying the leading role of the CPV cannot be representative and capable of leading the State and society. It must be affirmed that organisations such as Viet Tan (a US-based organisation) and individuals labeling themselves as “democrats” and “civil society activists” to call for and propagandise Western-style bourgeois democracy, pluralism, multiparty system and deny the leading role of the CPV, etc., are only representatives and efficient lackeys of imperialists and hostile forces who are escalating their acts of sabotage with the aim to drive Viet Nam into chaos and instability and seek political and economic profits from this disorder. This has been acknowledged by some ex-members of these organisations. Additionally, they do not have and cannot represent any theories that are more advanced, scientific and revolutionary than Marxism-Leninism. They, therefore, cannot represent the people and are quite unqualified to lead the country and Vietnamese nation to glory.

The above truth has affirmed that the CPV, the only leader of the State and society, is the only correct choice of the people and nation. This role has been not and will be not replaceable forever. All negation and smear to undermine the Party’s prestige and role have revealed the truth about the Party’s firm maintenance of its role and the people’s growing confidence on the Party.

Senior Colonel, Doctor Nguyen Van Thanh,

National Defence Academy