Human resources, weapons, and equipment are fundamental factors that determine the development of a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern People’s Army, with the human factor being crucial. Implementing Party and political work, particularly in technical work, is a critical task that directly builds and enhances human resources, creating overall strength, improving the quality of technical work, and meeting the requirements for constructing the Military and protecting the Fatherland in the new era.

In recent years, under the leadership of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence, following directives and guidelines from the General Department of Politics, Party committees and organisations at all levels, specifically those within the Military Technical sector, have provided leadership and direction for comprehensive implementation of Party and political work, achieving significant results. Agencies and units responsible for technical assurance have embraced the tradition of “Proactivity, Innovation, Self-reliance, and Self-strengthening,” overcoming difficulties and fulfilling their roles in the work of equipment and technical assurance. Currently, facing the high demands of national defence tasks, directly the construction of a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern People’s Army and the challenges of societal drawbacks and hostile forces’ sabotage, there are heightened requirements for conducting Party and political work in technical services. This article discusses several contents and solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of Party and political work within technical services, fulfilling the requirements of building and modernising the Army and ensuring a robust defence of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Firstly, it is essential to continually educate and enhance the awareness and responsibility of organisations and forces involved in Party and political work within the technical services in the new era. This approach is of paramount importance as accurate understanding leads to unified actions and high-quality, effective outcomes in practical activities. The experiences of recent years in Party and political work within technical services have shown that, despite many positive results, the thinking and understanding of some Party committees, organisations, and members are limited, inconsistent, and lag behind the developments of the situation and tasks at hand. Consequently, leaders and commanders at all levels need to actively innovate and improve the quality of learning and grasping of resolutions and legal dissemination and education, aiding cadres, Party members, and the public in fully grasping the Party’s views and policies and the State’s laws related to technical and political work in the new period. For effective outcomes, each agency and unit must innovate their thinking and adopt creative methods; select and train reporters; and arrange appropriate political study and activity times for different groups, ensuring substance and effectiveness. Proactively guiding thoughts and enhancing the understanding of the military personnel will help every serviceman deeply comprehend and firmly grasp the Party’s views, directions, policies, and state laws; focusing on the perspectives, objectives, tasks, and solutions for leading technical work up to 2030 and beyond. Simultaneously, it is crucial to clearly define the responsibility of cadres, Party members, and union members in self-study and research; actively address difficulties and obstacles; and overcome simplistic, biased thinking and distorted perceptions resulting from inadequate indoctrination and education, among other issues.

Secondly, it is crucial to actively innovate the content and methods of leadership and direction in Party and political work, ensuring unity, practicality, and effectiveness. Party and political work, especially within the realm of technical tasks, primarily aims to implement and enhance the Party’s leadership over the Army and its specific duties. Thus, innovating the content and methods of leadership and direction for this work is of great importance. To achieve this, Party committees and organisations at all levels must strictly implement the directives and resolutions from higher authorities concerning technical work. The focus should be on Resolution No.1656-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, by the Central Military Commission regarding the leadership of technical work up to 2030 and beyond. This involves determining the policies, content, and leadership and direction measures, and planning programmes to ensure comprehensive, synchronised, scientific implementation aligned with the higher-level directives and the practical demands of each agency’s or unit’s technical tasks. At every level, strict adherence to leadership principles, especially the principle of democratic centralism, is required in addition to understanding the functions, duties, and authorities of organisations and individuals to enhance the responsibility in execution; maintaining unified, focused leadership, avoiding laxity, diminishing the leadership role of party committees and organisations, or wholly delegating responsibilities to political offices or cadres. All aspects of this crucial work must be tightly led and directed to ensure unity. They should be concretely realised and implemented creatively to suit to the characteristics and requirements of each agency and unit. In defining the policies, content, and leadership and direction measures for each technical task, the orientation and requirements of the Party and political work must be clearly articulated. This includes prioritising political and ideological orientation, enhancing political fortitude and competency levels, and promoting the proactive and creative nature of organisations and forces in fulfilling technical tasks. Regular reviews and updates should be made to refine and specify the regulations related to Party and political work within technical tasks, clearly defining the functions, duties, authorities, and operational relationships of each organisation and individual. It is also required to promote the exemplary role of cadres and Party members in implementing the programmes and plans for Party and political work; address issues of overlap, omissions, or ambiguities in functions, duties, or areas of responsibility; and appropriately decentralise and delegate authority, clearly linking authority with responsibility. Concurrently, it is necessary to push forward with administrative reforms, innovate leadership styles and working methods of Party committees and organisations, cadres, and Party members, especially those leading key agencies and units, to create a synchronised transformation in the quality and effectiveness of Party and political work within technical tasks.

Thirdly, it is imperative to continuously adapt the content, form, and methods of Party and political work according to practical needs, target groups, and specific tasks. Implementing this approach necessitates that organisations and forces engaged in Party and political work closely monitor the ideological climate and activities of the soldiers, task requirements, and issues affecting technical operations to propose appropriate leadership strategies and measures to Party committees and organisations. These strategies should provide accurate and timely guidance, foster positive elements, limit negative impacts, and prevent detrimental influences on the morale and determination of the military in task execution. During implementation, Party committees, political cadres, political commissars, and commanders at all levels should embody the spirit of “Seven Dares” promoted by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and consistently integrate ideological work with organisational and policy efforts, combining education with administration, and aligning political and military training with technical specialisation, particularly in units post-restructuring or merger.  Furthermore, it is essential to enhance education on the principles of necessity, frugality, integrity, fairness, impartiality, and the spirit of initiative, creativity, self-reliance, and determination to master weaponry and technical equipment among the soldiers.

Fourthly, the role of political commissars, political cadres, political agencies, and political staff at all levels must be enhanced. The quality and effectiveness of Party and political work within technical tasks primarily depend on the passion, responsibility, and competence, especially the ability to apply specialised technical knowledge of those who directly guide, instruct, and implement. Therefore, Party committees at all levels should prioritise optimising the number and quality of political staff in technical agencies, providing a foundation to play a pivotal role in directing, guiding, and organising the implementation. It is crucial to strengthen training for political staff and secretaries or deputy secretaries who concurrently serve as technical staff, ensuring comprehensive knowledge, especially in-depth knowledge, and the ability to apply a synthesis of forms, methods, and means of conducting Party and political work as per assigned roles and responsibilities. This includes focusing on core content and the ability to apply Marxist-Leninist theory, Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts, the Party’s views on military and defence matters, and skills in educating and persuading the public; methods and work styles that are detailed, meticulous, and ensure that speech is accompanied by action, theory is linked with practice, and learning is coupled with application. To be effective, units need to maximise the role of political staff in self-study, self-improvement, and all-around training, especially in carrying out Party and political work. Based on their responsibilities and tasks, each political cadres should plan their learning, set specific goals, and devise implementation methods and regularly self-evaluate and review in conjunction with supervision from higher levels to continuously improve themselves and successfully fulfill their assigned duties and responsibilities.

Finally, it is essential to harness the collective strength of organisations, forces, and resources in the execution of Party and political work. This approach is both a principle and a method to enhance the quality and effectiveness of Party and political activities in general, and technical operations in particular. Commanders, political commissars, political cadres, and political staff across all agencies and units must coordinate closely, effectively leveraging the roles of mass organisations and functional bodies, and utilising all available resources and means for Party and political tasks, especially within specialised technical sectors. Attention must also be paid to ensuring the material and spiritual well-being of the military personnel and effectively implementing military rear services policies, thereby fostering a widespread revolutionary action movement and a competitive spirit to fulfill duties. Additionally, the role of the command staff at all levels, advisory, logistics, and technical agencies within the units must be emphasised in the conduct of Party and political work. There should be a focus on ensuring adequate supplies, technical resources, and funding; innovating and enhancing the quality of cultural institutions at the grassroots level; and prioritising the preliminary and comprehensive reviews and theoretical research concerning Party and political activities within technical operations in response to the increasingly high demands of building the Military and national defence.

The enhancement of the quality of Party and political work within technical operations depends on numerous factors, requiring leaders, commanders, political commissars, political cadres, and political staff at all levels to consistently stay close to the practical dynamics of their units, thoroughly understand the directions, tasks, goals, and requirements of technical operations, and flexibly apply the aforementioned solutions to conduct appropriate and effective party and political work.

Lieutenant General TRAN DUY HUNG, Political Commissar of the General Department of Technology