Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on building political commissars and political officers  is not only a distinctive feature but also holds a crucial position within his ideological system, which should be thoroughly studied and applied to improve the quality of this staff, thereby contributing to strengthen the political foundation of each agency, unit, and the entire military, ensuring the successful fulfillment of all assigned tasks. 

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh emphasised: “The political officer has a very important influence on the soldiers. If the political officer is good, the soldiers will be good. If the political officer fails to fulfill his duties, the soldiers will not be good”. Fully embracing his ideology, in recent years, party committees, party organisations, and key leading cadres at all levels have regularly paid attention to enhancing the quality of political cadres in general and political commissars, political officers in particular. As a result, the qualities, capacities, working methods and styles of political commissars and political officers have been continuously improved, meeting the requirements of assigned responsibilities and tasks, contributing to strengthening the leadership capacity of party committees at all levels as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of Party and political work. However, some party committees, units, and political agencies have yet to place sufficient emphasis on improving the quality of political commissars and political officers. In reality, certain political commissars and political officers still demonstrate limitations in political qualities, ethics, lifestyles, leadership, management, and execution of party and political work, while some remain passive in handling tasks, lack decisiveness, and the political leadership role has not been clearly affirmed, leading to “the quality and effectiveness of political education, ideological management, and discipline enforcement in some agencies and units are inadequate; the efficiency of the party and political work in regularisation efforts and discipline management in certain units remains limited”. Addressing these shortcomings requires Party committees, party organisations, leading cadres, and relevant agencies at all levels to implement the following fundamental solutions effectively:

Firstly, strengthen education and raise awareness of cadres, soldiers, organisations and forces on Ho Chi Minh’s ideology regarding political commissars and political officers. President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: “In terms of politics, every level must have a political delegate appointed either from within the revolutionary organisation in that army or assigned from outside”. Therefore, leaders and commanders at all levels must thoroughly grasp his ideology and enhance educational efforts to ensure organisations and forces correctly understand the crucial role and position of political commissars and political officers. The educational content should focus on the resolutions and directives of the Party and the Central Military Commission; particularly by continuing to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement Resolution No. 51/NQ-TW, dated 20 July 2005, of the Political Bureau (9th tenure), and Resolution No. 513/NQ-ĐUQSTW, dated 17 November 2005, of the Central Military Party Committee (now the Central Military Commission) “On continuing to perfect the Party’s leadership mechanism, implementing the one-command system in conjunction with the political commissar and political officer system in the Vietnam People’s Army”. At the same time, proactively innovate political education to ensure that organisations and forces correctly understand the significance and importance of Party and political work, the contents and requirements for building a politically strong army, particularly the schemes and tactics of hostile forces aimed at “depoliticising” the military. Through this, organisations and forces will be accurately aware of the position, the role and the importance of political commissars and political officers as those responsible for political leadership, directly leading and carrying out Party and political work in their units. On that basis, many solutions are proposed to pay attention to, care for, train, foster and continuously improve the quality of this staff.

A political cadre briefs his soldiers about the unit's tradition

Secondly, accurately identify the content, flexibly and creatively apply various forms and measures to improve the quality of political commissars and political officers. Party committees, leading cadres, and functional agencies at all levels must prioritise fostering political capability and unwavering stance in the face of difficulties and challenges; the spirit of self-criticism and criticism to defend truth and righteousness; criticism and overcoming negative and outdated ideologies and phenomena. The training content should be comprehensive but focus on weak skills, such as: grasping, directing, guiding, implementing directives and resolutions from higher-level within their own level; leading the implementation of ideological work activities, building party committees and party cells, and conducting party and political work in various missions, especially in disaster prevention and response, disease control, rescue operations, and participation in resolving local hotspots and complex situations. Emphasis should be placed on nurturing scientific and democratic working methods, promoting proactiveness, creativity, decisiveness, and the courage to think, act, take responsibility, innovate, confront difficulties and challenges, and take action for the collective good; setting an example in conduct, maintain close bonds with soldiers, serve as their trusted support and sincere companions, and earning the respect and trust of officers, soldiers, and the people. To achieve effectiveness, it is necessary to flexibly and creatively apply various training methods and measures, such as: annual training and coaching of cadres; direct mentorship from senior officers to their subordinates; holding competitions of political lecturer, party cell secretaries, party committees, reporters, and propagandists; and sports competitions for political cadres at all levels. Particularly, it is crucial to assign tasks that provide opportunities for practical training and testing, especially in the execution of party and political work activities.

Thirdly, effectively evaluate, assign, and utilise political commissars and political officers. According to President Ho Chi Minh: “When assessing cadres, we must not only look at their outward appearance but also their character. We must not judge them based on a single task or a single moment but must consider their entire history and all their work”. Therefore, when evaluating political commissars and political officers, party committees and organisations cannot assess them based on a single moment or specific task... but it requires time and a comprehensive process to review their entire work. Combine regular monitoring and periodic evaluations; using the results of assigned responsibilities and duties as a concrete and accurate measure of assessment: “link individual evaluations with collective evaluations and the task performance results of the agency or unit, ensuring frankness, objectivity, transparency, and openness in the results”, overcome one-sided, arbitrary, and subjective situations in comments and evaluations.

Bearing in mind the teaching of President Ho Chi Minh: “Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We must utilise their strengths and help them correct their weaknesses”, party committees and organisations at all levels must ensure that political commissars and political officers are assigned to the right people, for the right tasks, in the right place, and at the right time. It is necessary to base on the strengths and limitations of each person to arrange and use them appropriately for the task, specific conditions and circumstances, gradually from low to high, guaranteeing alignment between personnel, tasks, and organisational needs; promoting their talents, capabilities, and expertise of each person in performing tasks, creating motivation for continuous self-cultivated and professional growth, becoming highly competent cadres, take charge of increasingly larger and higher missions, and contribute more. In particular, it is necessary to pay special attention to using political commissars and political officers who are ethnic minorities in performing tasks in the localities and ethnic regions where they live. It is essential to firmly overcome the improper placement and utilisation of political officers in positions unrelated to their training specialisation, as this can lead to discouragement, directly affecting the results of completing the unit’s tasks and reducing the quality of political commissars and political officers.

Fourthly, promote the positivity, proactiveness, and creativity of political commissars and political officers in self-study, training to improve the qualities, capacities, methods, and working styles. This is a practical solution that enables political commissars and political officers to maximise their time, thoroughly overcome limitations and shortcomings, and enhance their qualities, capacities, methods, and working styles to meet mission requirements and advance to higher positions. Therefore, each political commissar and political officer must always bear in mind President Ho Chi Minh’s teaching: “Take self-study as the foundation”, and be positive, proactive, and creative in their self-study and training. To achieve effectiveness, they must establish the right motivation for learning and training; the self-study and training plan needs to clearly define the goals to be achieved, reflecting the needs that are lacking and weak in practical work. This must be closely linked with studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and style, as well as implementing the Campaign of promoting tradition, devoting talents, and being worthy of the title “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era, Resolution No. 847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021 of the Central Military Commission on promoting the qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, resolutely fighting against individualism in the new situation and the requirements of practical leadership, management and command of units. The established goals must be specific and realistic; the content must be comprehensive yet focused on key priorities, with a clear timeline and suitable, feasible, and effective methods. In addition, party committees, leading cadres, and functional agencies at all levels must deeply grasp President Ho Chi Minh’s instruction: “The Party must help cadres in their self-study. Once the Party provides assistance, cadres must be diligent in learning”, consistently support, guide, and assist political commissars and political officers in formulating their self-study and training plans. Create favourable conditions in terms of time, resources, and facilities to support their learning and training efforts; encourage and motivate them to fully participate in study sessions, resolution briefings, specialised research, training courses, drills, competitions, and sports competitions. Furthermore, focus on encouraging and praising individuals who are active in self-study, scientific training, achieve outstanding results, and have many innovations and creativity to replicate; resolutely overcome the situation of relying on circumstances, tasks, and time, which leads to laziness in studying, reading, and researching.

Applying Ho Chi Minh’s ideology correctly and creatively to enhance the quality of political commissars and political officers today requires leaders, commanders, and functional agencies at all levels to thoroughly grasp the comprehensive and synchronised viewpoint, but with a focus, key points, forms, and measures appropriate to the characteristics of each unit and the requirements of party and political work in order to supplement and improve the qualities, competencies, methods, and working styles of this key cadre force, thereby contributing to constantly improving the effectiveness and efficiency of party and political work in building a politically strong Army.

Senior Colonel, Dr. HOANG MANH HUNG, Academy of Politics, Ministry of National Defence