President Ho Chi Minh, a genius leader of our Party and people, a great teacher of the Vietnamese revolution, a hero of national liberation, and a great man of culture, left a priceless legacy – Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on all fields, for our entire Party, Military, and people. In this regard, the ideology on great national unity is a consistent, outstanding, and cross-cutting matter in all theoretical and practical activities of the President. That ideology was formed on the basis of the tradition of unity in thousands of years of national construction and protection, especially since the inception of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV); it was the selective acquisition of lessons drawn from national liberation movements across the globe; notably, it was the creative application of Marxist-Leninist viewpoints on the role of the masses in history, on unity within a communist party, on class unity, and on international unity to the practical condition of the Vietnamese revolution.

Group photo with the participation of leaders of the Ministry of National Defence and General Department of Politics and representatives of Binh Dan hamlet, Tan Dan commune, Khoai Chau district, Hung Yen province on the Great National Unity Day of 2023 (photo: qdnd.vn)

According to President Ho Chi Minh, great national unity is a valuable tradition, a matter of strategic significance; at the same time, it is the goal, task, and decisive motivation of the Vietnamese revolution. He believed: “Unity, unity, great unity/ Success, success, great success”.

In fact, great national unity according to Ho Chi Minh’s ideology means all-people unity based on an alliance between the working class, peasantry, and intelligentsia under the CPV’s leadership. It is the ideology on building up, promoting, and transforming the strength of domestic and foreign revolutionary forces, social forces, and political organisations into the strength of the entire nation with the widest range, involving all components and forces, regardless of ethnicity, religion, belief or occupation. President Ho Chi Minh pointed out that it is necessary to utilise the revolution’s common goal and other similarities to gather and unite people from all walks of life, which is his basic principles and methods for realising great national unity. According to the President, every Vietnamese citizen from any class or region is, to some extent, a patriot in pursuit of independence, freedom, and happiness for their Fatherland. Finding and taking things in common as the fulcrum to rely on and to resolve differences represent a profound philosophy of President Ho Chi Minh in the process of realising viewpoints and policies on great national unity. Notably, President Ho Chi Minh stressed that great national unity must aim to form a close-knit, uniform community, combine the strength of the nation with the strength of the times, and become an organised physical force to successfully fulfil revolutionary goals. To that end, it is important to gather and unite people from all walks of life in the most inclusive organisation, which is the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) as the representative of the great national unity bloc built on an alliance between the working class, peasantry, and intelligentsia; the VFF operates under the principle of democratic consultation and regards the unification of the interests of the nation and people as the basis for its consolidation and expansion. Meanwhile, the CPV is a member of the great national unity bloc, serving as the leader of the VFF and the nucleus of the building of an increasingly solid great national unity bloc.

President Ho Chi Minh not only gave us his ideology, viewpoints, and instructions on great national unity, but also acted as a role model in great national unity; more than that, he realised his ideology on building up and promoting the strength of great national unity. In the process of leadership over the Vietnamese revolution, our Party and President Ho Chi Minh have always focused on building up and bringing into play the strength of great national unity, thereby leading to the success of the August Revolution, the two resistance wars against the French and the US, and the cause of national liberation and unification, taking the whole country to socialism together with tremendous historic achievements. It can’t be denied that “great unity is an invincible force. Thanks to great unity, the revolution was victorious, the resistance war was successful. If we now remain united, our political struggle will be definitely victorious, and our country will be certainly unified”.

In the foreseeable future, our Party and people’s Fatherland construction and protection cause has advantages and opportunities, while encountering difficulties and challenges, with new demanding, complex task requirements. Therefore, the entire Party, Military, and people must continue to bring into play the strength of great national unity, comprehensively, synchronously step up the cause of national renovation, integration, and development, improve the country’s potential, firmly protect the Fatherland and the recorded fruits, and maintain rapid, sustainable national development. In order to realise that goal and the Party’s guidelines on “continuing to study and grasp Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity as well as the importance of promoting the tradition and strength of great national unity in the new period”, it is necessary to apply and creatively develop Ho Chi Minh’s ideology to the current cause of Fatherland construction and protection. In this regard, applying the President’s ideology on great national unity to the building of strong all-people national defence to prevent and push back the risk of war and readily defeat all enemies constitutes a strategic matter of urgency. To that end, it is essential to focus on several main solutions as follows.

First, raising public awareness and a sense of responsibility among organisations, forces, sectors, and all people towards the application and development of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity to the building of strong all-people national defence

All-people national defence is the country’s defence power built on the political, spiritual, human, material, and financial foundation, having the all-people, all-round, self-reliant, and gradually modern nature. That is the country’s crucial task and a duty of the entire Party, Military, people, and political system, with the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) playing a core role. Over the years, a part from advantages and great achievements recorded, the dark side of the market economy and hostile forces’ sabotage have been causing difficulties for the building and promotion of the great national unity bloc, negatively impacting on a sense of consensus within the CPV and among the people, particularly on the mobilisation of all resources for Fatherland construction and protection as well as the building of all-people national defence. Thus, it is vital to step up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and the Party’s resolutions and directives on great national unity. It is important to grasp the viewpoints “relying on the people’s strength” and “taking the people as the root”, stimulate patriotism, promote the willpower, self-reliance, tradition, culture, and strength of the Vietnamese people, build a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, and bring into play all people’s strength in Fatherland construction and protection as stipulated by the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation. Doing so will help instil President Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity into every citizen and render them fully aware that great national unity is not only a summation of the history of national construction and protection and the world’s lessons on revolutionary force development, but also a law of existence of the Vietnamese revolution. Only unity could create a source of strength to overcome all difficulties and challenges and allow our nation’s eternal existence.

While making a huge change in public awareness and a sense of responsibility among party organisations, state bodies, party members, officials, cadres and soldiers of the armed forces, and the people towards the consolidation and promotion of the tradition and strength of great national unity in the cause of national renovation, construction, and protection, all-level party organisations, cadres, and party members within the armed forces should creatively apply the President’s ideology on great national unity to building strong all-people national defence and successfully fulfilling the cause of Fatherland construction and protection.

Second, enhancing the Party’s leadership and the State’s management efficiency to promote the strength of great national unity and build strong all-people national defence

In the process of leadership over the Vietnamese revolution, our CPV headed by President Ho Chi Minh has always considered great national unity as a strategic, crucial, cutting-cross, decisive matter and clearly identified principles and methods for promoting the strength of great national unity in the building of all-people national defence, with top priority given to enhancing the Party’s leadership and the State’s management. In the new situation, party committees and organisations should frequently improve their leadership capacity and combativeness, while making themselves really pure and strong to earn the masses’ trust. They should continue to step up the building and rectification of the Party and political system under the Resolutions of the Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenums (11^th and 12^th tenure) and the 13^th Party Central Committee’s Conclusion 21-KL/TW dated 25 October 2021 on building and rectifying the Party and political system, resolutely preventing, pushing back, and strictly handling the degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” among cadres and party members. Due attention should be paid to enhancing the fight against corruption and negative practices, preventing and stringently handling the degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” among cadres and party members, building a pool of cadres and party members, particularly at strategic level with sufficient qualities, capabilities, and prestige on a par with their tasks, heightening the example-setting responsibility of cadres and party members, cementing the people’s faith in the Party’s leadership, developing a close-knit bond between the Party and people, fostering unity within the Party as the basis for building unity within the political system and great national unity.

All-level authorities should heighten their responsibility and enhance their management towards building up and promoting the strength of great national unity in national development, in the building of all-people national defence, and in the mobilisation of resources from the people to ensure the legality of those activities. In addition to building all-level authorities of the people, by the people, for the people, it is necessary to facilitate socio-economic development, improve the people’s life, create a favourable condition for the VFF, social-political organisations, and mass organisations to perform their functions and promote their role in gathering the people.

Third, grasping and creatively applying Ho Chi Minh’s fundamentals and methods of great national unity to the building of all-people national defence

Being imbued with and creatively applying Marxist-Leninist viewpoints on the masses’ role in history, inheriting the nation’s tradition of unity, President Ho Chi Minh attached special importance to building up and promoting the strength of great national unity in the performance of revolutionary tasks. According to the President, it is crucial to employ common goals and interests and other similarities between forces and social strata to build up and promote the strength of great national unity. Meanwhile, building strong all-people national defence, more specifically developing political, economic, cultural, social, scientific, technological, and military potential will contribute to improving the people’s life, raising the country’s defence power in a balanced, comprehensive, synchronous way, and maintaining peace and stability for national construction and development. Thus, all organisations, forces, and localities should step up propagation and education to render the people fully aware of the necessity of raising the country’s synergy via the building of all-people national defence, with the armed forces playing a core role in defending national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, protecting the Party, State, people, and socialist regime, and ensuring a peaceful environment for national development. That is also a common wish of every Vietnamese citizen both at home and abroad. Grounded on such a consensus among all people, we could promote the strength of great national unity and combine the strength of the nation with the strength of the times to build increasingly strong all-people national defence.

In the process, on the basis of Resolution 43-NQ/TW dated 24 November 2023 by the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on “Continuing to promote the tradition and strength of great national unity, building an increasingly prosperous, happy country”, due regard should be paid to ensuring the people’s rights and legitimate benefits as well as equality between ethnic groups, social strata, and all people in accessing opportunities, making contributions to the country, and benefiting from the fruits of national development. Besides, it is vital to resolutely fight against all negative practices, selfish nationalism, grudging or unprincipled unity, and the slackening of the Party’s leadership.

Fourth, renewing and diversifying methods of building up and promoting the strength of great national unity in the building of strong all-people national defence

President Ho Chi Minh pointed out that in order to gather the people for great national unity, it is necessary to employ a combination of political, economic, cultural, social activities. “To win the people’s affection and the people’s hearts and minds, we must dedicate ourselves to things beneficial to the people and avoid things unprofitable for the people. In summary, we must pay special attention to all the things that could improve the people’s material and mental life”, according to the President. To apply Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity to the building of strong all-people national unity, it is vital to actively renew and diversify methods of gathering and mobilising the masses so that we could promote their central role and exploit all resources and potential from the people.

To that end, it is necessary to continue to complete mechanisms and policies, practise socialist democracy, promote the people’s right to mastery in all aspects of social life under the motto “people know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit”. The promotion of democracy must go hand in hand with tightening social discipline, heightening civic responsibility, and strictly handling the exploitation of democracy against our Party, State, and great national unity bloc.

The VFF and social-political organisations should drastically renew methods of gathering, mobilising, and uniting the people. The VFF must truly serve as a political alliance, a voluntary union representing the will, aspirations, rights, and legitimate benefits of the people, ensuring consultation, coordination, and unified action with its member organisations. It is essential to raise the effectiveness of coordination between the VFF, social-political organisations, mass organisations and state bodies and all-level authorities to achieve a consensus and promote the people’s role in building all-people national defence.

Furthermore, it is necessary to renew the organisation of patriotic emulation campaigns and movements in a practical, effective fashion to encourage all people to take part in building all-people national defence and remain active in production, innovation, economic development, and lawful enrichment for their hometown and country. Great value should be attached to raising the quality of the people’s self-management models and movements, particularly the movements that could bring about practical benefits to the people’s life and contribute to performing military-defence tasks, maintaining political security and social order and safety, and protecting national sovereignty, border security, seas, islands, and cyberspace. At the same time, it is important to actively detect, honour, and commend typical examples and creative models in the building of great national unity bloc.

Fifth, promoting the core role of the people’s armed forces, particularly the VPA in building up and promoting the strength of great national unity as well as in building strong all-people national defence

In the past 80 years, under Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and instructions, cadres and soldiers of the VPA have always grasped and seriously implemented the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policies on great national unity, well performed their functions as “an army ready for combat, for work, and for production”, acted as an Army of the people, by the people, and for the people, bolstered the virtues and image of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, thus making contributions to promoting the strength of great national unity, building all-people national defence and the posture of all-people national defence in line with the people’s security and the posture of people’s security, firmly protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Bringing into play that tradition, offices and units should keep cementing the close-knit bond between the VPA and the people and enhancing the work of propagation to encourage the people to observe and successfully implement the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policies. Offices and units should actively participate in building strong political bases, help the people with hunger eradication, poverty alleviation, and socio-economic, cultural development, take care of the people’s health, and improve the people’s life, particularly in remote, isolated, border, sea, island, and ethnic minority areas. All-level party committees and organisations should better implement resolutions and directives on Party building and rectification in tandem with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers in the new period”, the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW dated 28 December 2021 on “promoting the virtues of Uncle Ho’s soldiers, resolutely combating individualism in the new situation”, thereby contributing to making the Military Party Organisation pure and strong in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel, building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices and units, and developing a pool of “both red and expert” cadres and party members. At the same time, offices and units should give sound advice to local party committees and authorities on building strong all-people national defence and people’s security in line with the postures of all-people national defence and people’s security. Due attention should be paid to carrying out the work of defence diplomacy, taking part in United Nations peacekeeping operations, well performing the tasks of combat readiness, training, regularity building, and discipline management, proactively settling situations, and maintaining peace for the country’s development.

Sixth, raising the quality and effectiveness of defending and developing Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity in the building of all-people national defence in the new period

In the new situation, higher task requirements are being imposed on the protection and development of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology in general, his ideology on great national unity in the building of all-people national defence in particular. On the one hand, it is essential to grasp and seriously implement the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 35-NQ/TW dated 22 October 2018 on “enhancing the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation and the fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints in the new situation”. On the other hand, it is necessary to well perform several tasks as follows.

Based on systematic, comprehensive researches into Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity in the building of all-people national defence, emphasis should be placed on safeguarding the revolutionary and scientific nature as well as practical and theoretical values of his ideology in order to properly identify the targets, content, forces, principles, requirements, and methods of building all-people national defence in the new period.

Development is the best way for protection; therefore, developing Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity in the building of all-people national defence in the new period must uphold basic principles. Currently, the primary principle for developing Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity in the building of all-people national defence in the new period must cover “steadfastness and development”. It is necessary to remain steadfastness in his viewpoints and instructions which have been valuable so far; at the same time, it is vital to prevent and combat revisionism when we study and develop Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity in the building of all-people national defence in the new period. 

It is important to step up theoretical and practical studies to provide scientific arguments for major issues of the world, Vietnam, and the VPA, particularly the issues raised by the building of strong all-people national defence in the new period to creatively develop Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity especially when globalisation and digitalisation are making profound changes in all aspects of human society, with the gradual shaping of a “multipolar, multi-centre, multi-layer” world order. Consideration should be given to dealing with new arising issues, such as building and promoting the “posture of people’s hearts and minds” and great national unity in cyberspace and in a “flat world”, managing the relationship between individual, collective, social, and national interests in the building of all-people national defence when Vietnam is integrating into the world more deeply and widely.

Additionally, it is necessary to build research and training centres and develop high-calibre human resources, particularly top experts and scientists to study, develop, and effectively apply Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity to the building of all-people national defence in the new period.

Building all-people national defence is an important strategy of our Party and State, which is implemented via various solutions, with the promotion of the strength of great national unity and the mobilisation of all resources from the people acting as the top one. Therefore, studying, grasping, applying, and creatively developing Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on great national unity to the building of all-people national defence are of importance and urgency to ensuring that all activities in this work will be of the people, by the people, for the people, and that strong all-people national defence will make contributions to constructing and firmly protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland in the new period.

Sr. Lt. Gen. TRINH VAN QUYET

Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the Central Military Commission Standing Board

Director of the General Department of Politics of the VPA