Ho Chi Minh’s thought on building the Army with “politics being taken as the roots” has great, profound significance and practical values in many respects, from theory to practice as well as from perception to action. That thought was crystalised by a thorough grasp of Marxist-Leninist viewpoints on the nature of a revolutionary army, on the roles and tasks of the military in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland, protecting the socialist regime and Communist Party, serving and protecting the people in any circumstance.

Ours is an army “from the people, for the people, readily fighting and sacrificing for the independence of the Fatherland and nation, for the happiness of the people”. To successfully fulfil the function as an army ready for combat, for work, and for production, the building of a really pure, strong Army worthy of the title of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” given by the people must start with politics. That is also the standpoint for preserving and bringing into play the working-class nature of our Army. There must be sound political guidelines as the basis for correctly formulating military policies and operational methods as a military science and art, ranging from organising forces, building a contingent of commanding officers, educating and training soldiers to cementing the close-knit bond between the Army and the people. Ho Chi Minh’s thought on building the Army with “politics being taken as the roots” is comprehensive, specific, focuses on performance and practicality, conveys a long-term vision, combines profound wisdom with pure revolutionary ethics and complete dedication to the Fatherland and people from Ho Chi Minh who founded, organised, and trained our Army, the beloved father of the people’s armed forces with the tradition of “invincibility”.

Ho Chi Minh’s teachings remain valuable in terms of ideology and method to build a regular, elite, and modern Army capable of maintaining a high level of readiness for fighting and successfully fulfilling all the tasks entrusted by our Party and people. Thus, it is necessary to correctly perceive and well implement those important teachings in the current situation.

In fact, when approving the plan to establish the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team– the forerunner of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), Ho Chi Minh added the word “propaganda”. In the “Directive on Establishing the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team”, Ho Chi Minh explained that politics is more important than military owing to the name of the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team. That is a Propaganda Team. The Team is tasked with assisting local armed cadres in training and giving them weapons if possible. Cadres of those teams will be the ones who are the most determined and dedicated as the rule of force organisation, while most of the weapons will be mobilised for the main component. Cadres of local armed teams should be trained and then dispatched to localities for further training, experience exchange, smooth communication, and combat collaboration. Tactically, secret, rapid, active guerrilla warfare will be flexibly applied. According to Ho Chi Minh, although the scale of those teams is small in the beginning, their future will be very brilliant; they are the starting point of a liberation army which will be able to manoeuvre from the South to the North, across the country. Under Ho Chi Minh’s Directive, the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team including 34 members was founded on 22 December 1944, at Tran Hung Dao forest, Nguyen Binh, Cao Bang (currently in Cam Ly commune, Hoa An district, Cao Bang province) under command of comrade Vo Nguyen Giap. The Directive on establishing the Propaganda Liberation Army Team is a concise document, acting as a Brief Military Platform which includes key points of the Party’s military guidelines and clearly indicates the ideology on all-people armament and all-people resistance war, rules and mottos of building main forces and developing local armed forces as well as the operational method of combining military with politics as the combat principle of the people’s armed forces.

Ho Chi Minh’s thought on building the Army with “politics being taken as the roots” laid a scientific and revolutionary theoretical foundation for building our VPA at its very onset. Focusing on building the Army in terms of politics is the fundamental, consistent issue in Ho Chi Minh’s military ideology and doctrine. The robust development of the force organisation and military operations of an army ready for combat in close association with an army ready for work and for production proves Ho Chi Minh’s discernment of the crucial importance of politics to the vitality and strength of a revolutionary army.

The foundation of the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team in 1944

The dialectical thinking, specific historical viewpoints, and development-related viewpoints in Ho Chi Minh’s military ideology are noticeable in the thesis that “politics is more important than military”, which means that politics will give orientations to military, and operations of an army must serve political purposes. Sound political guidelines will determine the survival of an army and guarantee all military victories. As we carry out our revolution to save the country and people, liberate the people, and gain independence, freedom, and happiness for the Fatherland and people, politics must be aimed at freeing the people from slavery, oppression, and exploitation of imperialism, colonialism, and feudalism. Since the Army takes politics as its roots, it must rely on the people, enlighten the people, and make the people trust, support, and protect itself. That is the social basis of the Army and the source of strength for the Army to gradually get mature in the people’s hearts and minds and fight and sacrifice for the people. In the fight against imperialists and colonialists, when our VPA was still small with rudimentary weapons, we defeated our enemies only by the people’s strength, nurture, shelter, and protection. When our VPA gradually developed with strengthened manpower and weapons, it still had to rely on the people. Ho Chi Minh always reminded the VPA’s cadres and soldiers to maintain a close-knit bond with the people.

“Politics is more important than military”, which means the Army must be imbued with the people-ness, conduct all-people, all-round, long-lasting resistance war, build the “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, and maintain a close-knit bond with the people; all people will join soldiers in annihilating enemies; politics must not be separate from military; it must not be hollow politics or pure military. Therefore, in the process, importance should be attached to performing political, ideological, and organisational work within the VPA, educating military staff on revolutionary ideal and tradition with patriotism acting as the core value, and setting good examples in terms of mass mobilisation.

Ho Chi Minh not only added but also underlined the word “propaganda” in the name of the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team. He frequently paid due regard to ideological work in forms of education, propagation, and mobilisation within the VPA. He requested all cadres and soldiers to well perform mass mobilisation work, particularly “clever mass mobilisation”. That is a feature and one of the secrets of all victories of our VPA. He attached great value to not only “mass mobilisation” but also “troop mobilisation” and “enemy agitprop”. It is a convincing proof of the guidelines on building the Army with “politics being taken as the roots”.

Ho Chi Minh always believed in the potential strength and creativity of the people. Thus, he stressed that the people are the basis and parents of troops, ours is an army by the people, fighting for the people, loving the country and people, thus suffering sacrifice and hardship. He directed the VPA’s cadres and soldiers to respect and help the people, remain loyal to the State and Party, stay pious to the people. Closely associating loyalty with the State and Party, attaching loyalty to piety, and linking the Party with the State and people, Ho Chi Minh demonstrated the close connection between politics and ethics; ethics are present in politics. If “politics should be taken as the roots” in the building of the Army, ethics must be the roots of politics in the personality of military cadres and soldiers. The building of the Army in terms of politics must be in parallel with ethical education and training. Only by doing so can our troops become the people’s troops and revolutionary troops with courage, patience, thrift, simplicity, and resolve to overcome all difficulties and dangers.

Ho Chi Minh’s guiding motto is “men first, guns later”; therefore, significance should be attached to the VPA’s political study: “Military without politics is like a tree without roots, useless and even harmful. Ours is an army of the people. The people are led by the Party. The Party exercises its leadership via political platforms and policies. A people’s army must study the Party’s policies”. According to Ho Chi Minh, it is necessary to step up political work, always improve our troops’ awareness of politics and classes, ensure the observance of the Party and Government’s policies, maintain military and political self-discipline. To that end, it is essential to enhance the Party’s leadership within the army and exercise democracy amongst troops. Those are fundamental issues on building the Army in terms of politics, laying a political theoretical foundation in the building of the people’s revolutionary Army, ensuring the Party’s absolute, direct, comprehensive leadership over the Army and military affairs. This is a typical argument on the relationship between politics and military. Army and military must not be separate from politics. The present significance of this important argument becomes clearer when our VPA is attaching great value to making itself regular, seasoned, and modern, improving its revolutionary steadfastness, resolutely unmasking and combating hostile and reactionary forces’ wicked plot to “depoliticise” our Army.

 With his great vision, comprehensive adoption, and scientific method in the building of the Army, Ho Chi Minh believed that all cadres and soldiers of the people’s armed forces strived but shall strive more; they made progress but shall make more progress, avoid resting on their laurels, and frequently exercise self-criticism and criticism when facing defeats to draw lessons, obtain more new victories, and remain loyal and pious to the Party and people. He recommended that it is necessary to keep improving political, technical, and cultural competence, striving for work and production, and practising thrift to contribute to socialism building. It is essential to improve revolutionary ethics and remain united, humble, and dedicated to the Party and people. There is a must for enhancing combat morale and always maintaining readiness to protect the Fatherland and peace.

Those are the requirements set by Ho Chi Minh for our VPA, expressing his deep-seated faith in the heroic Army led by the glorious Party. In his Letter to cadres and soldiers on the occasion of the 15^th founding anniversary of the VPA, Ho Chi Minh wrote that it is necessary to preserve ethics of revolutionary soldiers, remain courageous, ingenious, united, disciplined, industrious, thrifty, vigilant, and ready for combat, strive to study, and set good examples in terms of revolutionary ethics. He paid special regard to and underlined the qualities and zeal of Generals; they must set good examples for their comrades, soldiers, and people to follow. It is necessary to heighten comradeship and support each other. Despite good military knowledge, without revolutionary ethics, it is difficult to gain success. Revolutionary ethics are demonstrated by Knowledge, Prestige, Humanity, Courage, Integrity. “Our industriousness, thrift, integrity, and uprightness represent ethics of a revolutionary soldier”, said President Ho Chi Minh. He attached special importance to the roles and qualities of commissars. Commissars’ conduct has important influence on troops. When a commissar well performs his/her task, his/her troops will do the same and vice versa. Ho Chi Minh directed that as for troops, commissars must be friendly like a sister, righteous like a brother, and knowledgeable like a friend; commissars must be a role model in all work.

In the building of the Army with politics being taken as the roots, considerable weight should be given to unity amongst troops and between the Army and people. Ho Chi Minh concluded that when we have four things, namely unity between all people, brave troops, and ingenious commanders, our resistance war will be certainly victorious.

Ho Chi Minh’s military thought and doctrine refer to a wide, deep, comprehensive system of issues on the people’s army, all-people armament, all-people, all-round resistance war, posture of people’s hearts and minds, inseparable relationship between politics and military, and close-knit bond between the military and the people. Building the Army with “politics being taken as the roots” and especially enhancing the Party’s leadership over the Army constitute one of the key points of Ho Chi Minh’s military ideology and guidelines creatively applied and implemented by our Party and VPA in the past 80 years. Our VPA shares its glorious history with our Party and people in the fight for national independence, freedom, and unification as well as in the Fatherland construction and protection with historic miracles in the Ho Chi Minh era. Nowadays, our VPA is bringing into tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, and making itself regular, seasoned, and modern. That is the continuation of our Party, nation, and VPA’s tradition in modern times.

Prof. HOANG CHI BAO, Ph.D.