70 years have elapsed alongside the ups and downs of national history, but the Appeal for patriotic Emulation (hereafter the Appeal) by President Ho Chi Minh has still carried theoretical and topical values. That Appeal has motivated the Party, people, and Army in their entirety to surpass all challenges and successfully accomplish the goal of “prosperous people and “strong democratic equitable and civilized nation”.

1. The nation always needs further strength

Following the outbreak of national resistance war against the French colonialists (on the night of December 19^th, 1946) through January 1950, Vietnamese revolution had faced numerous difficulties. Despite the fact that our people became masters of the nation, our Party became a ruling one, and the nation’s spiritual strength improved, our country had been under siege by colonial and imperial forces. Meanwhile, Vietnam had not established its international relations with Communist Parties and socialist and democratic countries yet. Moreover, colonialist- fascist-feudal regimes had had serious consequences for war-torn Vietnam’s values and development potential; capabilities of social management and governance by the nascent Democratic Republic of Vietnam had been still inadequate; economic and military capabilities in our people’s national self–reliant resistance war against the French aggressors had been so limited with asymmetrical forces between our Army and the enemy. Therefore, our country always needed further strength as was the case on the onset of the anti-French resistance war. With political will and clear-sighted vision, President Ho Chi Minh compiled the Appeal for Patriotic Emulation in June, 1948 in a bid to stir up “a sense of national patriotism and undauntedness and immense forces” as well as “our people and Army’s patriotism and determination” for successful national war resistance and reconstruction”. With simple language and succinct writing style, the Appeal clearly demonstrated aims, forces, approaches, and obligations of every individual and organization to implement Patriotic Emulation movements and highlight their    realistic values.

The purpose of patriotic emulation was to resolutely bring the national resistance war to victory and national reconstruction to success” and “ wipe out famine, illiteracy, and foreign invasion”. Simultaneously, President Ho Chi Minh asserted realistic values of Patriotic Emulation “our entire people have enough rice to eat and clothing to wear. The entire population will know how to read and write. Soldiers will have enough food and weapons to defeat the foreign aggressors”. In terms of forces, according to the Appeal, “no matter what background they come from, fighters, peasants, workers, war invalids, men, women, the old and the young, and the entire population must do their utmost to participate in the movements”; “no matter who they are, every Vietnamese national literally needs to be a fighter in the military, economic, political and cultural fields”. According to President Ho Chi Minh, specific forces of patriotic emulation constituted the whole political system, and individuals and organizations alike in Vietnamese society needed to emulate in their very own ways. Accordingly, “the elderly emulate in urging the young to take active part in every task; children emulate with one another in their academic affairs and assisting adults; local affluent compatriots emulate in establishing their businesses; peasants and workers emulate in production; intellectual compatriots emulate in making discoveries; governmental officials emulate in their devotion to duty and their service to the masses; soldiers and militia emulate in killing the enemy and collecting many guns”. In terms of approaches of emulation, “emulation movements should be undertaken in a swift, effective and quantitative fashion and reliant upon people’s forces and spirit”, making them deep-rooted amongst people from all social strata and in every field, thereby enabling us to surpass all hardships and thwart the enemy’s schemes, leading to the ultimate victory”.

Taken together, President Ho Chi Minh incorporated the entire Patriotic Emulation Movement into our Party’s national, comprehensive, long-term, and self-reliant guidelines of war resistance and national construction. In response to his Appeal, emulation movements had been launched frantically and effectively across Vietnam on all fronts, ranging from the front line to the rear areas and the regions occupied by the enemy and pulling in all walks of life as concluded by President Ho Chi Minh “emulation movements are carried out daily by every sector and house; patriots are emulators; emulators are the most patriotic; each good person and deed is a beautiful flower, our whole nation is a beautiful flower garden. The further the cause of national war resistance and reconstruction goes, the more demanding the scope and quality of emulation movements will be, the further talented individuals and material resources for resistance wars are required, the more food, equipment and weapons and logistical supplies soldiers need, and the more people’s physical and spiritual life will improve. Therefore, he demanded that patriotic emulation be taken “a stronger step”. The Appeal by President Ho Chi Minh had taken the initial outcomes of the Patriotic Emulation movement to the forefront of National Congress for Emulators and outstanding cadres, which motivated our people in the entire resistance war, particularly in the Winter-Spring Strategic Offensive  of 1953-1954, culminating in the world-shaking Victory of Dien Bien Phu Campaign on 7^th, May 1954. The encouraging results of 1948-1954 Patriotic emulation movement transformed strength and tenacity of the whole Party, people and Army into immense momentum, annihilating all traitors and foreign invaders. The Patriotic emulation movement transformed national strength from a fragile force to an overwhelming one, inflicting a humiliating failure on the French colonialists as anticipated by President Ho Chi Minh. Since then, our country has thrown various national Patriotic Emulation Congresses to honour and acknowledge “good people and deeds”, glorifying people’s cause of revolution.

2. Contemporary values

The Patriotic Emulation movement launched and led by our Party not only contributed greatly to the cause of national anti-French resistance war and reconstruction and people’s democratic revolution, but had strategic significance to Vietnamese revolution. At present, patriotic emulation has far more purposes and influences than ever before. Over 21 years of anti-American resistance war for national salvation and socialist construction in the North (1954-1975) as well as the period of national reunification and Homeland construction and protection since 30^th, April 1975, Patriotic Emulation movements have inherited the spirit of “emulation is unity, patriotism and international integration”, contributing to safeguarding international peace and democracy; Patriotic Emulation is the promotion of Vietnamese peoples’ noble values.

Currently, Vietnam is intensifying its industrialization, modernization, and international integration with a view to becoming an industrialized nation by 2030 and realizing the goal of “wealthy people and strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized nation”. Hence, the spirit of Patriotic Emulation in tune with Ho Chi Minh thoughts must be brought to a new height in which following issues should be taken into consideration.

First, it is necessary to ensure practicality and effectiveness of emulation movements. To this end, patriotic emulation movements at all levels must be included in successful implementation of shared goals set by the entire Party, people and Army. Additionally, attention should be paid to creating the synergy for Vietnamese revolution and combining national strength and epochal strength. It is necessary to combat achievement disease and the execution of emulation movements in a passive, perfunctory and inefficient fashion, and preclude negative practices in commendation and emulation work.

Second, cadres, party members, especially key ones in political system need to pioneer emulation movements. President Ho Chi Minh set a shining example in the Patriotic Emulation movement. His example always reminds us that there must be a match between words and actions, and that it is necessary to prevent the practice of “talking the talk, but not walking the walk”. As a result, key cadres and heads of organizations have a significant role to play in pioneering and directing emulation movements. Accordingly, they have to be a prime example of political willpower and outstanding virtues and brainpower in their organizations.

Third, it is essential to build and multiply outstanding individuals. For the sake of widespread patriotic emulation movements, President Ho Chi Minh paid due attention to building and multiplying examples of “good people and deeds”. To this end, it is crucial to implement three stages of unearthing, building, and multiplying “outstanding people and deeds” amongst people and organizations who directly involve in production and battles at grass-roots level nationwide. They have to be genuinely outstanding and make substantial contributions to their units’ task performance, and gain high credibility in their unit. In particular, when organizations and people recognize their exemplary record, they have to be modest and ceaselessly cultivate their virtues and talents and avoid a sense of complacency. In addition, it is vital to eliminate negative practices in emulation work to “polish” their  unit’s reputation.

Fourth, it is vital to provide proper leadership over patriotic emulation movements. President Ho Chi Minh and our Party launched the Patriotic Emulation movement; party and socio-political organizations properly led and efficiently carried out emulation movements. In the implementation process, he constantly encouraged people’s participation and actively spurred “outstanding people and deeds” on, and opportunely redress shortcomings. As a result, the Patriotic Emulation movement rapidly proliferated and gave a new impetus to Vietnamese revolution; emulation movements with diverse forms were maintained in a regular and effective manner. Brilliant images of emulation movements has left an indelible imprint on evolution of Vietnamese revolution in the period of national anti-American resistance war and socialist building in the North, namely “three building, three fighting” and “building four-good party cells and members” in party organizations; “the young are ready for three tasks”; women with “three responsibilities”; “kids do one thousand good deeds”; “good teaching and good training”; “determined to win emulation” in the military, amongst others. Today, the more demanding requirements for emulation movements are, the higher leadership responsibilities organizations and cadres in the political system will take on. These leadership responsibilities will ensure appropriate purposes and solutions, diverse forms, and effectiveness of emulation movements in line with the Party’s goals of Homeland construction and protection. Experiencing the vicissitudes of history, our country’s revolutionary cause has scored historical achievements which reflect every endeavour made by all sectors, branches, and people. Therefore, emulation movements act as a strategic solution to development which conveyed a precious message by President Ho Chi Minh in the Appeal for Patriotic Emulation 70 years ago. 

Prof.  Mach Quang Thang, PhD