Firm protection of the Party’s ideological foundation and struggle against false, hostile viewpoints are important, regular tasks of party building and rectification. These tasks are carried out by our entire Party, people, and military through synchronous solutions, of which building of a strong “people’s heart and mind posture” is the long-term, vital, basic solution aimed to make each person become a soldier absolutely loyal to and proactive in defending the Party, State, and socialist regime, resolving to defeat any plots and acts of sabotage of hostile forces.

Building “people’s heart and mind posture” in safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation is all of solutions to make people from various walks of life constantly steadfast in Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s thought, the Party’s leadership, and socialism, thereby arousing and bringing into play people’s patriotism, solidarity, and willpower in the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland. On clearly perceiving the importance of this task, over the past few years, party committees, party organisations, authorities, branches, and localities have grasped and implemented seriously resolutions, directives, and regulations on party building and rectification in connection with stepping up studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style and making party organisations, cadres, and party members pure and strong in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and cadre. It is necessary to enhance rapid, sustainable economic development in association with ensuring progress, equality, and social security; promote implementation of policies on hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and preferential treatment for people with meritorious services to the revolution, people living in remote border areas, and people from ethnic minorities; realise the full potential of social democracy; successfully prevent and respond to the aftermath of natural disasters and epidemics; actively prevent and combat corruption, wrongdoings, crime, and social evils; strengthen national defence and security; preserve political security, social order and safety, and a peaceful environment conducive to national development, thereby building consensus, consolidating the great national unity, bolstering people’s confidence in the Party and State, and firmly safeguarding the socialist Vietnam Fatherland.

Nevertheless, the building of “people’s heart and mind posture” has revealed certain limitations and shortcomings in some places. In particular, part of the corps of cadres and party members has signs of degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle, corruption, and wrongdoings. This is the cause that undermines people’s confidence in the Party, State, and regime. Moreover, hostile forces accelerate acts of sabotage, denial and distortion of the Party’s ideological foundation, destruction of people’s confidence, and division of the great national unity. The situation requires us to attach importance to and redouble our efforts to establish the “people’s heart and mind posture”; rely on the people and mobilise the people’s participation in safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation; resolve to struggle against false, hostile viewpoints. It is also imperative to focus on adopting the following solutions well.

First, the quality of propagation and education is to be reformed and enhanced with a view to bringing about drastic changes in party committees’, party organisations’ and authorities’ awareness and responsibility for building the “people’s heart and mind posture” in protecting the Party’s ideological foundation. This is a fundamental matter that helps to defend the ideological foundation of the Party and struggle against false, hostile viewpoints effectively. Therefore, party committees, party organisations, and authorities at all levels need to actively renew content and modes of propagation to promote organisations’, forces’, cadres’, party members’, and people’s sense of responsibility for this important task. The content of propagation should concentrate on the perspective of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thought that “revolution is the cause of the people, by the people, and for the people. The people themselves record historic victories”. There is also a need to speed up propaganda about our Party’s and State’s guidelines, perspectives, and policies on ethnicity, religion, great national unity, and leverage of the great national unity bloc in the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland. To achieve the desired aim requires good leverage of the leading role and political responsibility of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front and sociopolitical organisations at all levels for building the great national unity bloc, encouraging people to raise their pride in the nation, and accelerating the patriotic emulation. It is also vital to well carry out the motto: “the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect, and the people enjoy” and the regulation on grassroots democracy in every aspect, especially those directly relating to welfare of the people. Interest relationships in the society must be delt with harmoniously in order to protect people’s legitimate rights and interests and ceaselessly improve people’s material and spiritual life. There is a need to bring into play the role of people in formulating and implementing guidelines of the Party and policies and law of the State; building pure, strong party committees and party organisation. Leading cadres of party committees and authorities at all levels must regularly meet, listen to, engage in direct dialogue with, and be open to people’s opinions in the spirit of respecting for the people, having responsibility for the people, and wholeheartedly serving the people. They must also resolutely struggle against and seriously deal with any plots and acts that divide and damage the great national unity bloc, thereby building robust “people’s heart and mind posture” and tapping into people’s solidarity and consensus to protect the Party’s ideological foundation.

Second, it is imperative to bring into play the role and responsibility of cadres and party members for party building; resolutely prevent and push back the degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. This is a pressing, key matter because the purity and robustness of the corps of cadres and party members will foster people’s confidence in the Party, State, and regime. They are also the pivotal factors to establish and vigorously leverage the “people’s heart and mind posture” in safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation. In fact, all the great achievements of our country are attributed to the Party’s sound leadership and the majority of cadres’ and party members’ exemplary role and wholehearted dedication to the Fatherland and people, contributing to strengthening of people’s confidence in the Party, State, and regime. This is the pride, incentive, vital resource, and belief that enables the entire Party, people, and military to overcome all difficulties and challenges and continue to move our country firmly along the road to reform for the sake of rapid, sustainable development. However, corruption, wastefulness, bureaucracy, degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle; “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and party of cadres’ and party members’ violation of the Party discipline and State’s law are among the main causes that undermine people’s confidence in the Party and regime, threatening stability and development of the country. Therefore, party committees and party organisations at all echelons need to further grasp and implement the Party’s resolutions and directive on building and rectifying the Party and political system seriously. They must also focus on leading and directing synchronous implementation of the Conclusion No. 21-KL/TW, dated 25 October 2021, of the Party Central Committee (13th tenure); stepping up studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style; making party committees and party organisations at all levels pure and strong in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and cadre; improving the operating efficiency and effectiveness of authorities at all echelons; strictly abiding by the Party’s regulation on cadres’ and party members’ responsibility for leading by example and things that party members are not allowed to do. Each cadre and party member must emphasise their responsibility and self-training for revolutionary morality. The higher position a cadre holds the more exemplary he/she must be. Additionally, party committees and party organisations must improve quality and effectiveness of inspection and supervision to timely detect and address limitations and shortcomings, preventing minor violations from transforming into major ones that make cadres, party members, and people angry. There is a need to resolutely and persistently prevent and combat corruption, wastefulness, shortcomings, and signs of factionalism and interest groups; strictly punish cadres and party members who are degraded in terms of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle and have signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” to consolidate and bolster people’s confidence in the Party.

Third, there is a requirement to bring into play the exemplary role of the military in defending the Party’s ideological foundation and rejecting false, hostile perspectives. Realities of the Vietnamese revolution have demonstrated that our military is always the backbone of the Party and State as well as the mainstay of the people. Protection of the Party’s ideological foundation is a primary political mission of the military both in peacetime and wartime. Currently, in the face of hostile forces’ fierce sabotage, the military continues to establish a proactive, widespread, uninterrupted, robust posture. Party committees and commanders at all echelons need to clearly perceive that to safeguard the Party’s ideological foundation is a long-term, strategic, pivotal mission of the entire Party, military, and people. It is also regular, self-conscious work and responsibility of all organisations and individuals, first and foremost party committees, party organisations, leaders of party organisations, commissars, and commanders at all echelons. This will provide the basis for working out all methods and principles for the disposition, deployment, and organisation of specific forces. The methods will range from basic, extensive education and propagation to direct operations and focal struggle in the media of the military and nation, the Internet, and social network, ensuring coverage throughout the military and increasing national and international expansion. There is a need to closely combine political, ideological, and organisational measures to prevent and protect internal politics and preserve the Party’s ideological battlefield in the military. “Building” and “opposition” must be aligned closely with each other, of which “building” is the fundamental measure while “opposition” must be drastic and effective, taking the good to fight the bad, without abandoning the ideological front, ensuring that where there are soldiers, there are propagation and education about Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s thought, and the Party’s guidelines and perspectives. Every unit, cadre, and soldier are a shining example of popularising the Party’s ideological foundation. Moreover, it is necessary to promote training in order to equip the core force with vital methods, experience, information, tools, and technologies, thus enabling them to struggle on the social networks; successfully bring into play the role of cyber force; regularly monitor and adopt necessary, proper technological methods to prevent, recognise, identify, and remove malicious information and activities in violation of law in cyberspace.

Fourth, there is a need to enhance the effectiveness of the struggle against false, hostile perspectives; proactively detect and punish the hostile element and political opportunists in a timely, serious manner. Currently, globalisation and international integration become more and more intensive and extensive. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is unfolding at an exponential pace, together with the boom in information and communication technology. Hostile forces exploit the Internet, social networks, and issues concerning democracy, human rights, ethnicity, and religion to step up doing damage to our Party and State. Consequently, party committees, party organisations, and functional agencies at all levels must promote propagation and education for people from various walks of life, especially the youth, thereby enhancing their resistance to false, hostile perspectives on the Internet and social networks. It is important to tap into the role the core force and take advantage of the mass media system, the education system of political theory, the oral propagation system, and cultural institutions to popularise and disseminate guidelines of the Party and policies and law of the State, establishing people’s scientific belief in the Party’s leadership and the path to socialism in our country. Special importance is attached to training in revolutionary ideals and enhanced patriotism, pride in the nation, and vigilance about hostile forces’ sabotage plots and acts. Party committees, party organisations, and functional agencies must be well aware of situations regularly and successfully make predictions in order to deal with false, malicious information on the Internet and social networks in a timely, effective manner. Education, persuasion, and mobilisation must be combined closely with strict punishment of hostile elements, opportunists, and reactionaries.

Protection of the Party’s ideological foundation and struggle against false, hostile perspectives are a fight without weapons, but the fight will be enduring and no less fierce. At this battle, the Party, State, party committees, party organisations, and authorities at all levels must rely on the people and make the most of people’s trust, consensus, and support and the strength of the great national unity bloc to create a robust “people’s heart and mind posture,” which is the primary factor for firmly safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation.

Lieutenant General DUONG DINH THONG, Commissar of the 1st Military Region