Vietnam’s history of thousands of years of  national construction and defence has shown clearly that: the existence or destruction of the country,  the prosperity or decline of a dynasty depend mainly on the people’s heart and mind, whether they are taken care or ignored. The policies exercised by the dynasties of Ly, Tran, Le all attached importance to people’s heart and mind, considering these prerequisite for social stability and aimed to create the most favourable conditions for people to enjoy a good and secured life Hence, they  successfully earned people’s enthusiasm and support, established a firm “people’s heart and mind posture” to defeat the invaders and safeguard national sovereignty and independence. On the contrary, once people have turned against their authorities, no matter how powerful the militaries, how firm the installations and how modern the weapon are, defeats beyond the enemies are inevitable, like the cases of the An Duong King and the Ho dynasty. We may well remember the famous saying with a bit of bitterness of Ho Nguyen Trung, a general in the Ho dynasty: “I am afraid not of fighting, but of the people’s disobedience”. This shows that people’s support makes the most solid foundation that can not be conquered by any enemy however strong they are. This perception is kept unchanged through out the country’s history of national construction and defence.

A government's tranining on building defensive areas

Fully aware of the role of the mass, particularly the strength of “People’s heart and mind”, President Ho Chi Minh stated that: “the all People’s force is the most powerful one which can not be defeated”. Inheriting and upholding the traditional quintessence of the nation, our Party have brought into full play the strength generated from all strata of people contributing to the victories in the resistance wars against the French and American invaders. Since the end of the national liberation war, especially since 1986, our people have brought into play the Party’s strategic guideline of building provincial defensive areas, in which “people’s heart and mind posture” holds an important position. The guideline represents our Party’s cognitive and thereotical development on the Homeland protection issue.

To build firm “people’s heart and mind posture” for provincial defensive areas, meeting the demands of the new situation, it is necessary to focus on the following solutions:

First, enhancing the tasks of propagation and education to raise people’s awareness of the role and importance of “people’s heart and mind posture” in the cause of Homeland protection. This is of prime importance in building the provincial defensive areas in particular and Homeland protection in general.

Second, attention should be paid to building and consolidating local political systems to best serve the people. Strong and pure local political systems with qualified and virtuous cadres and party members working effectively and serving people wholeheartedly will result in earning people’s trust and mobilizing people’s strength for development.

Third, attention should be paid to building and consolidating the people’s great solidarity. People’s heart and mind posture is, in essence, the concentration of all people’s enthusiasm for national interests, regardless of their class, occupation, origin, religion, etc. At present, hostile forces, with their schemes of “democracy’, “human rights”, “religion”, are trying to separate people from the Party and cause people’s mistrust in the Party leadership. Therefore, paying attention to building people great solidarity is an important task in building firm “people’s heart and mind posture”.

Fourth, bringing into play the key role of local armed forces. This is a fundamental measure requiring local authorities and party committees to focus on leading and directing their local miliary, police, militia to conduct thoroughly their people mobilization work, including the policies of “3 together” and “4 on the spot”, helping local people in production, natural disaster relief, etc to set up a close relationship with the people serving as a solid ground for firm “people’s heart and mind posture”.

Fifth, combining economic development with ensuring social welfare and security; enhancing material and spiritual life for people.

Major General, Assoc Prof, Doctor Nguyen Xuan Thanh

National Defence Academy