II. For the sake of the ever-lasting vitality of the Party’s ideological base

For the sake of the ever-lasting vitality of the Party’s ideological base, it is a must to make Marxist-Leninist theories, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws deeply entrenched in society’s life; therefore, it is necessary to effectively implement inclusive measures with an emphasis on some fundamental contents as follows.

First, enhancing the work of disseminating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws and actively reforming the work of political theoretical education. First and foremost, it is essential to widely propagate the scientific and revolutionary nature of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, making them deep-seated in society’s life as a spiritual foundation and ideological orientation to development trends in the fields of social life. Central to local sectors and branches, alongside press agencies, academies, schools, and research institutes and a contingent of communicators as the core must work together to actively disseminate this matter through practical forms and contents and effective methods. Great emphasis is placed on continuously thoroughly grasping and properly executing Resolution of the 5^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (9^th tenure), dated18-3-2002 on “main tasks of the ideological and theoretical work in the new situation”; Resolution of the 5^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (10^th tenure), dated 01-8-2007 on “ideological, theoretical, and journalistic work against the backdrop of new requirements”, etc., thereby making cadres, party members, and people from all social strata fully aware of the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws.

In addition, it is vital to reform the work of political education. Ho Chi Minh ever stated “Without theories of scientific socialism, there will be no firm class position. Hence, you folks must diligently study Marxist-Leninist theories and the Party guidelines and acquire cultural, technological and professional knowledge”. For the sake of high effectiveness in the work of political education, military schools have to strictly implement Conclusion No. 94-KL/TW, dated 28-3-2014 by the Secretariat (11^th tenure) on “Continuing to reform the study of political theories in national general educational system”; Directive No. 23-CT/TW, dated 09-02-2018 by the Secretariat on “Continuing to reform and enhance the quality and effectiveness of studying, researching, applying and developing Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought in the new situation”. Accordingly, it is necessary to actively and synchronously renew the content of and textbooks on and methods of teaching political theories; to fully impart the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought in sync with realistic situations whilst attaching great importance to educating young generations in military schools on political theories; developing the fascination of teaching and studying subjects pertaining to Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought in line with objects of study and educational levels and realistic requirements.

Second, actively fighting false and hostile viewpoints. To this end, it is essential to thoroughly grasp and seriously implement Directive No. 34-CT/TW, dated 17-4-2009 by the Secretariat (10^th tenure) on “Accelerating the fight against artifices and stratagems of “peaceful evolution” in the cultural and ideological fields”; Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW, dated 22-10-2018 by the Politburo (12^th tenure) on “Strengthening the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation and fighting false and hostile viewpoints in the new situation”, etc. Accordingly, central to local sectors, especially press agencies, academies, schools, and research institutes need to proactively and actively combat false and hostile viewpoints and lay bare the artifices of distorting and refuting the scientific and revolutionary nature of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, and of exaggerating shortcomings in socioeconomic management to incite disaffection and internal division. Therefore, resolutely combating false and hostile viewpoints is considered to be a significant measure to protect the Party’s ideological base.

Central to local sectors and branches must proactively hold dialogues with disaffected cadres to ease their indignation and promote social consensus and intra-Party unanimity whilst stringently and lawfully managing press and publishing agencies, the Internet and social networks; boosting the work of disseminating foreign affairs and internal information, thereby contributing to precluding manifestations of ideological, political, moral and lifestyle degeneracy and “self-evolution” and “self- transformation” from within; to building the clean and pure Party, capable of leading the cause of constructing and safeguarding the Homeland in the new situation.

Third, bolstering theoretical research and practical assessment. Over the course of searching for the revolutionary truth, since 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc ever stated “Anyway, it is impossible to prohibit including documents, to which K. Marx could not get access in his time, into Marxist “historical basis”. Therefore, for the sake of the ever-lasting vitality of the Party’s ideological foundation, it is a must to actively promote theoretical research and practical assessment in a bid to enrich the theories of Marxism-Leninism. Yet, even though the theories of Marxism-Leninism are scientific and revolutionary, they are not always valid in all times. Hence, during the process of researching the theories of Marxism-Leninism, it is necessary to clarify some theoretical issues of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought through: (1) stating that which of those arguments remain strong, and have been and will be valid (2) making clear that which of those arguments used to be sound, but now they are inappropriate due to changing practical and historical conditions; (3) identifying which of those arguments had been specious or admitted to be wrong, and then fixed without our knowledge; (4) identifying which of those arguments have been misunderstood due to inadequate research or following misunderstanding by other people and parties

To this end, it is vital to uphold democracy in political theoretical research and properly implement Regulation No. 285-QĐ/TW by the Politburo (11^th tenure) on promoting democracy in politically theoretical research in academies, schools and research institutes, thereby contributing to bringing the theories of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought to a new height, meeting realistic requirements of constructing and protecting the Homeland. Simultaneously, it is essential to properly conduct the work of assessing the realities of nearly 90 years of the Party’s leadership on the foundation of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, thereby bearing out the soundness of this ideology and pointing out arising matters to suitably apply Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought to new developments in reality.

Fourth, attaching great importance to building a contingent of cadres in charge of theoretical work, especially those specializing in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought. The quality and effectiveness of theoretical work and protecting and applying and developing Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought largely depend on the contingent of cadres in charge of theoretical work. More than anyone else, this contingent must be steadfast in political willpower and knowledgeable about Marxism- Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought. Yet, at present, “a not-small portion of cadres and party members exhibit deviation from and suspicions about the Party’s leadership and the objectives and ideals and the path to socialism in Vietnam”; they even refute and negate Marxism- Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought”. Hence, building a contingent of cadres in charge of theoretical work, especially those specializing in Marxism- Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought is a matter of great urgency. To this end, the work of training pertaining to the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought in academies and schools needs paying attention and reforming whilst carefully selecting those with sufficient capability and moral virtues for teaching jobs and theoretical research. In particular, it is necessary to promote the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality, and lifestyle in association with the implementation of Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (12^th tenure) on Party building and rectification; to actively combat and preclude ideological, political, moral and lifestyle degeneracy and “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” amongst people in charge of political theoretical research and teaching.

Fifth, upholding the role of armed forces in protecting the Party’s ideological base. The responsibility for protecting the Party’s ideological foundation falls on every sector, branch, and force, and the whole political system in which cadres and soldiers of the armed forces have a significant role to play. Therefore, cadres and soldiers of the armed forces need to be fully aware of their duties and missions; to uphold their sense of responsibility for political studies and research. Military academies, schools and research institutes continue to enhance the quality of teaching political theories; to conduct the overall assessment of military-defence theories; to compile a wide range of documents aimed at refuting false and hostile viewpoints, contributing to formulating the guidelines on the Party’s Homeland protection. Military news and press agencies proactively and opportunely provide ideological orientations for cadres, soldiers, and the people against the backdrop of sensitive and complex events, creating high unanimity amongst them on the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies in general, and the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence’s ones. In addition, it is crucial to actively post news items and articles that refute and lay bare the reactionary nature of false viewpoints by hostile forces, thereby contributing to protecting the Party’s ideological base. Competent agencies continue to actively exchange information to take unanimous concerted measures to preclude collusive operations and mass rallies by hostile forces and opportunists; and prevent them from using the Party and the State’s inadequacies in managing and governing work as a pretext for distorting and negating Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought.

At the same time, it is necessary to attach great value to building up cyberspace combat forces in direct charge of fighting false viewpoints on the Internet; to designing personal websites and expanding blogs in an effort to improve the quality of political education and the effectiveness of fighting hostile views in ideological and cultural fields; and to proactively applying technical measures to prevent hostile forces from opposing our Party and State through the Internet.  

Protecting the Party’s ideological foundation is a long-term and challenging cause, requiring synergistic efforts made by organizations, forces, and central to local sectors and branches, thereby enabling the theories of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, and the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies to become increasingly ever-lasting and widespread in society’s life. (The end)

Nguyen Phu Hung