From the achievements in more than 35 years of national renewal, General Secretary of the Party Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong proudly said that “our country has never had such fortune, potential international position and prestige as it does today,” which was reaffirmed by the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress. Let’s learn more about the country’s fortune and the building, protection, greatness, and brightness of such fortune nowadays.

Approving the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress (Photo: VNA)

It is hard to introduce an accurate concept of “the country’s fortune”, but it is possible to regard such fortune as the fruits of great causes, goals, and ideals which are sustainably and materially and mentally valuable. The country’s fortune could be seen as the country’s mountains, rivers, lands, independence, unification, territorial integrity, and might as well as a fine regime and the people’s happiness. With such an approach, the country’s fortune is first manifested in the form of the country. National fortune is clearly expressed via the country’s beauty; however, there are many other components of such fortune.

Grounded on those above-mentioned things, it could be said that fortune is the result of a great cause, and the country’s fortune is first and foremost the country’s territory which is the space for the people’s existence and development. There must be resolve to pursue a great cause and surmount numerous hardships for the building of fortune. It is really hard to build fortune in the beginning, but it is much harder to maintain such fortune. In order to defend the country’s fortune, it is vital to protect national independence. Great famous General Ly Thuong Kiet, who defeated Song invasion, introduced the first Vietnamese Declaration of Independence in the national history with the poem titled “Mountains and rivers of Southern country”: Over Mountains and Rivers of the South, reigns the Emperor of the South/ As it stands written forever in the Book of Heaven/ How dare those barbarians invade our land?/ Your armies, without pity, will be annihilated. In his Proclamation of Victory, which is considered as the second Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, Nguyen Trai stated: “As to Dai Viet, a country of great culture with a long tradition.” Grand Chancellor of Tran dynasty Tran Quang Khai left us with famous verses: At Chuong Duong Port, we seized the enemy's spears/ At Ham Tu Pass, we held the enemy back/ Peace is here: let's strive further/ To keep the Fatherland forever.

During thousands of years of national history, our ancestors expanded the borders of our land, fostered socio-economic and cultural development, built the country’s fortune, and resolutely fought against many aggressive invaders to protect territorial integrity and national independence. Nevertheless, when French colonialists invaded our country, Nguyen dynasty was unable to maintain the country’s fortune. Bringing into play the patriotic tradition, our people kept rising up against the enemy in vain. The French colonial rule in nearly one century proved that feudalism and representatives of the bourgeoisie had been out of their historical roles in Vietnam; the nation’s destiny and fortune had been stuck in a stalemate. At that time, it was imperative that we find out a way of driving French colonialists away to regain national independence and facilitate national development.

That matter of urgency was solved by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc. According to him, in order to gain national independence, we must follow the proletarian revolution path. It was him who sowed the seeds of the Vietnamese revolution. Thanks to Nguyen Ai Quoc’s flexible, clever application, Marxism-Leninism was combined with Vietnam’s patriotic and labour movements, leading to the foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) on February 3rd, 1930 as a significant historic event. The CPV was founded, educated, and trained by President Ho Chi Minh; it was assigned to build and develop the country’s fortune by our people. Our Party’s 90-year-plus journey has always been difficult but extremely glorious. The Vietnamese revolution’s periods have been marked by our Party’s significant achievements in leading our people to build the country’s fortune, which are manifested in the following contents.

First, our Party has established the revolutionary goal of national independence and socialism and led our people to realise that goal. Immediately after its foundation, our CPV determined to conduct a bourgeois revolution of civil rights and a land revolution toward Communism. That policy was greatly supported by our people and became inevitable. Socialism was not only a goal, but also an incentive for the development of Vietnam’s history and a path for making our country’s fortune increasingly sustainable. Only by national independence could the country’s fortune remain intact, and only socialism could bring our country a fine society associated with freedom, equality, charity, unity, and well-being for all citizens. Obviously and logically, the goal of national independence and socialism selected by our Party was indispensable. Historically, that goal was completely in accordance with the trend of the times. Given Vietnam’s state as a semi-feudal colony, that goal was a burning desire of our Vietnamese people. Regarding the building of the country’s fortune, that goal is the fundamental value system for the Vietnamese nation in the past, at present, and in the future. That could be seen as the unique path for building and developing the country’s fortune.

Second, the Party has led our people to regain national independence and freedom as the most important prerequisite for building the country’s fortune. Following the goal of national independence and socialism, under the CPV’s flag, our entire people united in carrying out a durable revolution, overcame countless difficulties, and won great victories in the August Revolution of 1945 that smashed the yoke of French colonialists, established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and brought our country to a new era of independence and freedom, in the resistance war against French Colonialists with the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu of 1954, in the resistance war against the U.S. with the Great Spring Victory of 1975 that completely liberated the South and unified the country, and in the two border wars to firmly protect the Fatherland’s Southwestern and Northern borders.

Third, the CPV has led the building of socialism as the key foundation of the country’s fortune. Our Party’s perception of the building of socialism has been based on reviews of practical activities and theories. According to the CPV, the building of socialism is the overall task of the entire Party, State, Military, and people under the noble goal of “wealthy people, strong nation, democracy, equality, and civilisation.” Our country must have a highly-developed economy based on modern productive forces and proper, progressive productive relationships; it must have an advanced culture deeply imbued with national identity. Our people must have a free, happy life and comprehensive development. Ethnic groups within Vietnam must be equal to, respect, and help one another for development. Ours must be a socialist rule-of-law State of the people, by the people, and for the people under the CPV’s leadership. Vietnam must have friendly and cooperative relations with other countries around the world.

The CPV is typical of Vietnam’s knowledge and courage in the building of the country’s socialist-oriented fortune as it has clearly expressed its self-reliance in domestic and foreign policies and transformed our country from a semi-feudal colony into an independent, free nation; it has also turned our people into masters of the country and enabled our country to achieve new, sustainable development.

Our Party has launched and led a national renewal as a turning point in national history. It is the national renewal that has created a major, comprehensive breakthrough and moved our country forward. It is the national renewal that has enabled our country to escape from dependence upon food import to become a leading rice exporter of the world. Our country has never witnessed such a strong, rapid change in the appearance of its rural, urban, mountainous, and flat areas. All people’s working style and lifestyle have never been fresh, cheerful, and lively like they are today. National renewal has breathed new life into our country and provided support for our path towards happiness. After more than 35 years of national renewal, Vietnam has obtained tremendous, historic achievements. “Our country has never had such fortune, potential international position and prestige as it does today,” which could be seen as a pride, an incentive, an important resource, and confidence for our whole Party, Military, and people to overcome all difficulties and challenges and keep steadfastly marching on the path of comprehensive, synchronous national renewal and rapid, sustainable national development. 

Those above-mentioned things prove that Vietnam’s journey to national liberation, the Fatherland protection, and the building of the country’s fortune since the inception of the CPV has been extremely glorious. It can’t be denied that the path towards national liberation and socialism has been extremely sound and creative. Currently, the policy on national renewal and international integration developed, led, and implemented by our Party are in accordance with the trend of the times. That is also the two strategic tasks for the building of the country’s fortune. The success of national renewal and international integration has clearly changed the appearance of the country and helped considerably improve our people’s material and mental life. The country’s fortune has been increasingly bigger to provide an incentive for Vietnam to walk abreast with other countries in the world. We all hope that the country’s fortune will be brighter under the goal of wealthy people, strong nation, democracy, equality, and civilisation, and our country will steadfastly march on the path towards socialism.

Prof. VU VAN HIEN, PhD

Former Deputy Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council