Personnel work and the building of a contingent of military personnel act as both a significant component of the Party’s personnel work in general and a fundamental matter in the VPA’s Party and political work in particular. Over the course of 20 years of implementing Resolution of the 3^rd Plenum of the Central Party Committee (8^th tenure) on “Strategy for personnel work in the period of accelerated national industrialization and modernization”, the Military Party Organ has thoroughly grasped, comprehensively introduced and effected positive transformation in personnel work and the building of a strong pool of cadres. In response to demanding requirements for building the army and defending Vietnamese socialist Homeland, the building and enhancement of qualitative military personnel is of increasingly particular significance.

Snr.Lt.Gen. Luong Cuong addressing the military key cadres’ meeting on studying and implementing the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress (photo: qdnd.vn)

President Ho Chi Minh ever taught us: “Cadre work is at the root of all issues, and “any success or failure depends on it” and “cadre training is the Party’s key matter”. On comprehending those teachings, over the course of national leadership, personnel work has always been considered to be not only a determinant to the national revolutionary cause as well as the survival of the Party, the peoples and regime, but a key to the work of Party building and rectification; hence our Party has spared no effort to train and cultivate a contingent of devoted and fortified cadres. In their capacity as the Party’s key cadres in the army, a pool of military personnel assumes crucial positions of leadership, commanding, and management at all levels. Fully aware of the essential role of this pool in the implementation of the Party’s military and defence policies and of the VPA’s tasks of training and combat readiness, the Central Military Commission and Ministry of National Defence have taken various measures to improve the quality of military cadres in a bid to successfully complete every task entrusted by the Party, the State and people.

Perceiving the Party’s line on personnel work, especially Resolution of the 3^rd Plenum of the Party Central Committee (8^th tenure); Conclusion No.37-KL/TW, dated 02-02-2009 of the Central Committee on continued acceleration of the implementation of personnel strategy towards 2020; Conclusion No. 24-KL/TW, dated 05-6-2012 of the Politburo on personnel planning and rotation, the Central Military Commission promulgated Resolution No. 769-NQ/QUTW on “building a pool of military cadres in the 2013-2020 period and beyond” and leadership rules for personnel work and other relevant documents which have been seriously concretized via numerous effective measures by party executive committees and party organizations at all levels in line with their unit’s particularities. The principle of the Party’s unified leadership in personnel work has been stringently upheld. Since personnel work-related issues rest with party executive committees to consider and decide collectively, the role and responsibility of party executive committees and commandants are further heightened. The work of personnel planning has been executed in a procedural fashion in accordance with higher authorities’ regulations, ensuring a continuous transition amongst generations of cadres. Growing importance has been attached to personnel training in line with personnel requirements and strategies and the army’s particularities through combining training in military academies and schools with on-site training in military units; domestic training with overseas one. The work of personnel management, assessment, rotation and appointment has been carried out in a regular, procedural and jurisdictional manner while the work of cadre policy has been implemented in a democratic and transparent fashion in line with the Party’s line, the State’s policy and the Army’s factual conditions, thereby gradually improving cadres and policy beneficiaries’ living standards.

Broadly speaking, personnel work-related viewpoints and objectives enshrined in the Resolution of the 3^rd Plenum of the Central Party Committee (8^th tenure) and the Party’s other resolutions on personnel strategy have been firmly grasped and seriously executed by the Central Party Commission and party executive committees at all levels within the Military Party organ, thereby effecting profound transformation in awareness and action and streamlining a contingent of military personnel qualitatively and quantitatively, further satisfying immediate and long-term requirements. Up to now, 94.8% of the total military personnel underwent college and university education of which 10.3% underwent postgraduate education. Attained results have enabled a contingent of military cadres to contribute to not only the building of strong and pure party organizations, and comprehensively strong offices and units, but the Army’s enhanced overall quality and combat strength.

Still, personnel work and the building of a contingent of military cadres also exposes limitations that need to be redressed in the coming time, such as poor personnel management quality, assessment, training, planning and appointment, etc.

In the years to come, global and regional situation will witness complex and unpredictable developments, especially border and sea territorial disputes. Domestic situation has seen stable sociopolitical climate, robust economic growth, consolidated defence and security, and expanded foreign relations. Yet, hostile forces and political opportunists continuously accelerate “peaceful evolution” strategy, military depoliticalization, and strategies of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. The Army’s task of constructing and defending the Homeland in the new situation necessitates continued acceleration of building revolutionary, regular, elite and gradually modernized army of which some of modernized arms and services help bring combat readiness capability and strength to a new height, contributing to preserved stable and peaceful climate for national construction and development. The building and enhancement of qualitative military personnel has a key part to play in satisfying those requirements. Therefore, party executive committees, commandants, commissars, and political offices at various levels need to continuously comprehend and properly implement the Party line on personnel strategy, especially Resolution of the 3^rd Plenum of the Central Party Committee (8^th tenure), Resolution No. 769-NQ/QUTW of the Military Party Commission on building a pool of military cadres in the new situation in which the following measures should be taken seriously.

First, thoroughly grasping the Party line and Ho Chi Minh thought on personnel work. Accordingly, party executive committees, party organizations, commandants, and commissars need to consider a pool of cadres to be not merely a determinant to national revolutionary cause, but a key to the work of party building. All issues concerning personnel work and management within the jurisdiction of party executive committees and party organizations should be handled according to principle of democratic centralism. Innovation in personnel work must be grounded in strategy for national construction and protection and makes a breakthrough in improving overall quality, and building a pool of capable, virtuous and dependable cadres, thereby meeting task requirements in the new revolutionary stage. Personnel work-related procedure, rules and regulations must be strictly observed on a basis of combining both the building of a pool of cadres with that of party members and the building of a contingent of key cadres with that of party executive committees. It is essential to focus on building a qualitative and quantitative pool of cadres with steadfast political willpower and pure ethics and lifestyle; with discretion and leadership capability; with good health, professionalism, and suitable age, thereby contributing to the building of revolutionary, regular, seasoned, and gradually modernized army as stated in Resolutions of the 12^th Congress of Vietnamese Communist Party and the 10^th Congress of the Military Party organ.

Second, attention should be paid to building a pool of cadres qualitatively and quantitatively, meeting task requirements. In terms of the quantity of cadres, it is necessary to ensure sufficient quantity of cadres in offices and units with a focus on effectively streamlining their organizational structure for military-run equitized and dissolved enterprises in particular. Personnel appointment and additional deployment must be carried out carefully to cherry-pick prospective cadres for commanding and management positions. According to the Law on Vietnamese people’s Army officers,  those cadres who reach retirement age are eligible to take retirement with the exception of the extension to those competent cadres for units under strength. In terms of personnel structure, it is crucial to balance the strength amongst offices and units while combining the retention of a current pool of experienced cadres with selection and training for succeeding generations of cadres on a continual and inheritable basis. In view of the quality of cadres, attention is paid to enhancing across-the-board quality for cadres, including qualities of politics, morality and lifestyle as well as leadership capability and style. Innovated working method and style requires cadres to not only adhere strictly to principles, instructions and resolutions, but to promote their sense of duties and responsibilities in a proactive, creative, determined, enterprising, disciplined, and devoted fashion, matching their words with their deeds. In addition, it is imperative to train a pool of cadres with their capacity to research, lead, command, manage, counsel, and handle complex problems in reality.

Third, personnel planning and rotation must be properly executed. Party executive committees and commandants at all levels need to firmly grasp and seriously implement higher authorities’ resolutions and directions on personnel planning and rotation, particularly Resolutions No. 42-NQ/TW, No. 11-NQ/TW, Conclusion No. 24-KL/TW by the Politburo (11^th tenure) on the acceleration of personnel planning and rotation; Regulation No. 496-QĐ/QU, dated 12-6-2017 of the Central Military Commission on the jurisdiction over ratification of military personnel selection and appointment procedure, etc as a foundation for planning and supplementing commanding and leadership cadres on an annual basis. The work of personnel planning must be carried out in a procedural, democratic, transparent, continual, and inheritable manner. The work of personnel planning undergoes three stages. 2 or 3 succeeding candidates and 3 or 5 potential candidates are cherry-picked in each stage. The rotation of leadership and commanding cadres must be based on personnel planning for the purpose of personnel nomination and appointment to higher positions. Party executive committees and party organizations need to thoroughly comprehend and strictly implement Regulation No. 98-QĐ/TW, dated 07-10-2017 of the Politburo (12^th tenure) on personnel rotation. Accordingly, young qualified and prospective cadres are subject to job rotation as commanding and managing roles in different units and localities. The work of personnel rotation must be implemented in an inclusive, regular, synchronous fashion throughout armywide offices and units with the exception of cadres with disciplinary records and professional incompetence.

Fourth, the work of personnel management, assessment, training, selection, rotation and policy should be seriously executed in a synchronous fashion of which the personnel management and assessment has the central role to play.  Personnel assessment rests with party executive committees and party organizations to which cadres belong; offices with direct authority over cadres and cadres themselves. The work of personnel assessment must be executed in line with  the principle of criticism and self-criticism; be democratic, transparent and majority rule-based. The procedure for personnel evaluation must strictly stick to Regulation 89-NQ/TW, dated 15-8-2017 by the Politburo (12^th tenure) on norms and criteria for assessing leadership and commanding cadres at all levels as well as the performance of cadres’ cultivation of political, moral and lifestyle virtues in an objective and authentic fashion. Grounded in proper personnel assessment, party executive committees proactively select prospective cadres for training in military and non-military schools with a focus on strategy and campaign-level prospective cadres. It is important to diversify a wide variety of personnel training activities with great emphasis placed on combining on-site training with independent study; knowledge acquisition with practical training and working style in accordance with cadres’ stated duties and responsibilities. Personnel training must stick strictly to personnel selection and utilization, combine training performance with personnel selection and appointment in an effort to improve overall quality for a pool of cadres, especially their political willpower and thinking skills while personnel policies must be seriously implemented in line with the Party line, the State and the Army’s regulations and every office and unit’s particularities in a democratic, transparent and equitable manner. Policy system should be continuously proposed and improved, particularly those on salary, allowance, housing and social securities for cadres and their next-of-kin in conformity with military regulations.

Fifth, closely combining the work of personnel with that of party building and rectification and the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle. According to Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11^th tenure) on current urgent issues in Party building, personnel work is a key consistent matter in Party building and rectification. Accordingly, personnel work serves as a prerequisite for party building and rectification and vice versa. Therefore, party executive committees and party organizations must regard personnel work as a matter of great importance in Party building and rectification under the spirit of Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11^th and 12^th  tenures) and Instruction No. 05-CT/TW by the Politburo on acceleration of the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle. Contents and solutions pertaining to personnel work must be included in comprehensive solutions to Party building and rectification, considering the performance of personnel work as a criterion for assessing strong and pure party organizations and comprehensively strong offices and units. Personnel assessment must be grounded in both cadres’ dignity and competence, and norms and manifestations of deterioration enshrined in Instruction No. 05 and Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee respectively. Personnel evaluation must be tightly associated with party members’ assessment, laying a foundation for building a pool of “virtuous” and “capable” cadres, and redressing manifestations of deterioration in political ideology, morality and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. To this end, it is essential to promote the role of heads of party executive committees, commissars and commandants, building strong and united party executive committees, regularly streamlining a pool of key cadres, and enhancing inspection and supervision work, opportunely remedying violations, especially those of the principle of democratic centralism while highly feasible and comprehensive solutions should be adopted to Party building and rectification which is considered to be the key task, and derives from personnel work.  

Building a strong contingent of military cadres rests with party organizations and every cadre and party member, first and foremost party executive committees and key cadres at all levels. Grounded in the review of 20-year implementation of Resolution of the 3^rd Plenum of the Party Central Committees (8^th tenure), party executive committees and party organizations at diverse levels within the Military Party Organ need to learn from experience to continuously work out drastic solutions to personnel work and the building of a contingent of military personnel in the next stages, contributing to improved quality of military personnel, enhanced effectiveness of  Party and political works, thereby building the powerful Army and firmly protecting the Vietnamese socialist Homeland in the new situation. 

Senior Lieutenant General Luong Cuong, Member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat

Member of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee, Head of the General Department of Politics, the VPA