The reason why the image of Ho Chi Minh is immortal to the Vietnamese country and people and the progressive people all over the world is that we always find out cultural and moral values in his revolutionary cause.
The fact showed that Ho Chi Minh’s cultural and moral values absorbed into the nation’s identity, constituted Vietnamese cultural and moral values, and permeated spiritual life of the world’s progressive nations. That is also a reason why Ho Chi Minh was a pioneer solider fighting for peace, independence, democracy and social progress. Nevertheless, there are a number of people who despise communism, try to go against the development of Vietnamese nation, distort and defame Ho Chi Minh. They oppose the Party, the Vietnamese revolutionary cause and even values that Ho Chi Minh devoted himself to. It is clear to realize that they focus on sullying Ho Chi Minh’s culture and morality. Their evil activities on forums and the Internet are almost the same as vain attempts as Ho Chi Minh’s culture and morality are immortal and invaluable to the Vietnamese people and human beings.
1. Ho Chi Minh’s title as a man of culture covers all his others. There is a fact that there is someone who is considered as a national hero but not as a man of culture. Ho Chi Minh was bestowed the both titles. He generalized culture to every aspect of social life and boosted the development of culture as he said “Let culture guide the nation and the people”. The Vietnamese revolution proved that Ho Chi Minh’s culture exists in our Party and State’s strategy, guideline, policy and law, and our country’s politics, economy and society. Moreover, that culture existed in the victory of Dien Bien Phu Battle, in the 1975 Spring great victory, and in the fight against poverty and backwardness. Ho Chi Minh created a new culture for the Vietnamese people, mobilized potential in the building of a new regime, and lightened the Vietnamese people. Human race have strived for a bright future, bringing into existing values, fighting against bad things and backwardness. That is the cause driven by culture in which great men of culture play the key role. That explains why the world’s great men of culture often have a vision beyond centuries. Ho Chi Minh is such a man.
Together with orientating the development of culture, Ho Chi Minh initiated a new culture towards “nation-ness, science-ness and popularity”. Culture is the spiritual base for the society, the goal and the motivation for the socio-economic development, and also the national identity. Fate of a nation is always decided by the chosen path for development. Ho Chi Minh selected the national independence and socialism path – a choice matches rules set by culture. That sound orientation helped mobilize all strength of nation combined with that of the times to create spiritual motivation for the country’s development. Nevertheless, hostile forces believe that Ho Chi Minh imported exotic culture, which was Marxism – Leninism, into Vietnam and forced the country to follow a wrong path to develop. That is an old-fashioned argument taking difficulties in the international communist movement as a failure of Marxism – Leninism. They focus on limitations and shortcomings in the country’s development to deny the path decided by our Party, President Ho Chi Minh and people. They deliberately deny the fact that the target of development of every nation worldwide is socialism. However, the path to socialism for each nation is different and full of difficulties. Thus, the only path of the Vietnamese people is national independence and socialism as guided by Marxism – Leninism. That is immortal value of Ho Chi Minh’s culture and morality, and also a message about the development which can not be distorted by any hostile forces.
In the 24th session of the UNESCO (1990), it adopted a Resolution recommending its member states to join in the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of President Ho Chi Minh – Vietnamese hero of national liberation and a great man of culture. The Resolution considered: “President Ho Chi Minh, an outstanding symbol of national affirmation, devoted his whole life to the national liberation of the Vietnamese people, contributing to the common struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress”. In 1923, talking with Ho Chi Minh, Russian essayist and poet Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam said “In Nguyen Ai Quoc’s manner, one can see a type of culture, not from the West, perhaps from tomorrow”.
2. Ho Chi Minh’s morality is the unity between thought and action. The “morality” mentioned by Ho Chi Minh is the revolutionary one different from the old one. Ho Chi Minh believed that revolutionary morality is manifested in virtues, such as compassion, humanity, loyalty to the country, piety to the people, “diligence, thrift, honesty, and righteousness, public-spiritedness and selflessness”, pure internationalism.
In a modern society, law is enforced more fully and closely. Nevertheless, morality still plays a role of utmost importance in regulating social relations. Ho Chi Minh always paid attention to “rule of virtue” and “rule of law”. It could be said that Ho Chi Minh’s life is like a big set of books, a moral symbol that has become immortal cultural values for the Vietnamese people and the world’s progressive people.
Hostile forces, for a long time, have distorted Ho Chi Minh’s morality, particularly his personal life. They have taken various measures to undermine people’s morale, especially that of the youth. However, they could only undermine morale of groups of gullible people. All life of Ho Chi Minh was spent on fighting for the good, sincerity, compassion, social progress, national, social and human liberation, in other words the noblest values that everyone tries to reach.
Before he was gone, he felt no regrets but grief. He grieved for not being able to serve the Homeland, the people anymore. That was a grief of an eminent man of culture and morality. Ho Chi Minh was in the vanguard of the revolution in morality and also a solider of culture in practice. That fact could be used to refute all distortions of hostile forces against the Vietnamese revolution and Ho Chi Minh. The more they deny, the more Ho Chi Minh’s culture and morality shine.
Each of us, in our life, has numerous complex, intertwined relations. However, as for Ho Chi Minh, he divided all his relations into three main ones, namely the one with other people, the one with work, and the one with oneself, in which the third one is the most challenging. Nature of Ho Chi Minh’s morality is the traditional humanism combined and followed by progressive modern humanism, featuring tradition of compassion and struggle against bad, evil things. Nature of Ho Chi Minh’s morality is also the unity between thought and action, words and action, study and practice, theory and practice.
There are still a number of cadres and party members who have not successfully completed their task yet, even committing evils, such as corruption, waste, bureaucracy. However, it would be unreasonable that hostile forces base on things mentioned above to speak ill of our Party. In Ho Chi Minh’s opinion, the Party has its roots in the society, thus being affected negatively by the society. But he believes that our Party – a Party of morality and civilization – will educate and train its party members to improve themselves.
Prof, Dr. Mach Quang Thang