In its process of leadership over our country’s revolution, our Party has always considered mass mobilisation and enemy agitprop as an important part of its revolutionary mobilisation work and the inheritance of Vietnam’s tradition of “taking the people as the root.” In order to assist our Party and Government in bringing into play the whole country’s strength to victoriously carry out the resistance war against French colonialists, on May 1^st, 1947, President Ho Chi Minh signed Decree 47/SL on organising the Vietnam National Army and Militia Command, including the Political Department. Under the Decree, as a section of the Political Department, the Office for Enemy Agitprop (the present-day Mass Mobilisation Department) was officially founded. On April 22^nd, 1999, Director of the General Political Department (GPD) issued Decision 224/QĐ-CT on recognising the 1st of May as the traditional day of the Mass Mobilisation Department (MMD).

Over the past 75 years of construction, combat, and development, under leadership and direction from the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and especially the GPD, with coordination and support by other offices both inside and outside the Military, the MMD has always grasped the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies and strived to successfully fulfil all assigned missions to deserve to be an office for giving strategic advice on leading, directing, guiding, and organising mass mobilisation work, enemy agitprop work, special propagation work, and ethnicity and religion work as well as for developing and implementing Regulations on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level within the Military. As a result, it has made significant contributions to national liberation, unification, construction, and protection.

In the resistance war against French colonialists, the MMD assisted the General Military Party Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and the GPD in issuing important directives and strategies on extensively developing guerrilla warfare to block the enemy’s advance, destroy traffic systems, disrupt the enemy’s rear bases, and build many resistance bases, while proposing a large number of measures for enemy agitprop work. At that time, the Military’s mass mobilisation work was seen as “the root of all other pieces of work” and made tremendous contributions to facilitating national resistance and construction and winning victories in our campaigns, particularly the victory of Dien Bien Phu that resounded across the five continents and shook the globe.

In the resistance war against the US, for national salvation, the MMD helped the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and the GPD formulate guidelines, strategies, and measures for directing the armed forces and localities to enhance enemy agitprop work aimed at causing disagreements amongst enemy troops and disuniting them. At the same time, it directly organised enemy agitprop activities and deployed hundreds of elite cadres in charge of enemy agitprop work to the South battlefield. It cooperated with the Voice of Vietnam and the Liberation Radio Station in broadcasting enemy agitprop programmes to contribute to disbanding Saigon’s puppet regime and Army.

A field training march associated with mass mobilisation work by Infantry Officer College No.1

In the period of national renewal, construction, and protection, the MMD has focused on advising the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and the GPD to promulgate documents on leading, directing, organising, and developing mass mobilisation work in accordance with the Homeland construction and protection in the new situation. Many mass mobilisation programmes and models of the Military have produced positive spillover effects on the society. Notably, since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Military has actively, proactively provided its personnel and medical equipment for localities in order to keep the pandemic under control, guarantee the people’s life, facilitate socio-economic development, and bolster the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period.

Over the past 75 years of construction, combat, and development, generations of cadres, soldiers, and employees of the MMD and offices in charge of mass mobilisation and enemy agitprop across the Military have devoted their knowledge, effort, and “blood and bones” to obtain brilliant feats of arms and build up the military mass mobilisation branch’s tradition of “loyalty, creativity, benevolence, unity, coordination, sacrifice, victory.” With its outstanding achievements, the MMD has been given the title of “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” in the resistance war against the US, for national salvation and many other noble rewards by the State and the Ministry of National Defence.

In the upcoming years, the Military build-up, national defence consolidation, and the Homeland protection will impose higher requirements on mass mobilisation work. Meanwhile, hostile forces will step up their “peaceful evolution” strategy via cunning artifices in order to promote “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” and “depoliticise” our Military. Bringing into play the 75-year tradition, cadres and soldiers of the MMD shall keep improving their task performance to build an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Department capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks, with a focus on the following measures.

First, concentrate on making the MMD’s Party Organisation, cadres, and party members politically, ideologically, organisationally, and morally strong. This measure plays a decisive role in building a pure, strong Party Organisation of the MMD as the basis for leading the MMD to successfully fulfil all functions and missions. Thus, all-level party committees should grasp and strictly implement resolutions, directives, and regulations by the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, and the GPD on the Party building. Emphasis should be placed on the 13^th Party Central Committee’s Conclusion 21-KL/TW, dated October 25^th, 2021 on building and rectifying the Party and the political system, resolutely preventing, repelling, and stringently handling the degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” amongst cadres and party members. Due attention should be paid to increasing party organisation’s leadership capacity and combativeness, observing the principle of democratic centralism, cementing internal unity, heightening criticism and self-criticism, and resolutely fighting against the degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. At the same time, it is necessary to enhance ideological work and the management and training of party members, comply with regulations on party members’ don’ts, and maintain relationships with residential areas’ party organisations. Cadres and party members must raise a sense of responsibility for improving their political zeal, morality, and lifestyle. It is important to correctly evaluate, classify, and opportunely reward party organisations, party members, and cadres under regulations on a yearly basis. Due regard should be paid to leading Youth Unions and Women’s Unions to operate under their functions and tasks.

Second, better the effectiveness of counselling and directing mass mobilisation work within the Military to successfully fulfil all functions and missions. The MMD Party Committee and party cells should continue raising the quality of developing resolutions and clearly defining collective and individual responsibilities for realising those documents. The MMD’s divisions, commissions, and teams should formulate scientific, detailed, feasible action plans for resolutions designed by party organisations, while giving advice on renewing contents and forms of mass mobilisation, particularly at grass-roots level. The MMD should frequently grasp the situation to give instructions on performing mass mobilisation work, particularly in areas mainly inhabited by ethnic minority people or religious people and within isolated, remote, border, sea, island areas, while readily responding to natural disasters and epidemics. It should enhance coordination with all-level Mass Mobilisation Commissions, Vietnam Fatherland Fronts, and politico-social organisations to employ forces and resources in mass mobilisation work. Significance should be attached to organising conferences to review mass mobilisation work, draw lessons, and multiply creative, effective approaches, typical examples, and “good people, good deed” examples in this work.

Third, build a contingent of cadres, employees, and soldiers with political zeal, great determination, scientific and people-oriented work method, and successful fulfilment of all assigned missions. All-level party committees should focus on enhancing the quality and effectiveness of political education for troops and grasping cadres, employees, and soldiers’ ideological developments. Due attention should be paid to fighting against hostile viewpoints and wrong information about “ethnicity,” “religion,” and the close-knit bond between the Military and the people to defend the Party’s ideological foundation. Consideration should be given to stepping up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle via practical, specific deeds, effectively executing movements and campaigns, opportunely commending, rewarding, and multiplying typical examples, and well implementing policies for cadres, employees, and soldiers to achieve a consensus within the MMD. Besides, it is vital to “respect the people, stay close to the people, understand the people, learn from the people, and work responsibly for the people” as the working style of the MMD’s staff members.

Fourth, strictly adhere to the new payroll, enhance the military administrative reform, and raise the quality of training and combat readiness. The MMD’s Party Committee and Command should focus their leadership on grasping the new payroll to ensure stability within the MMD and enable all staff members to keep their mind on their work. In addition, it is essential to step up the military administrative reform, apply information technology to managing and archiving documents, and frequently complete the system of documents on combat readiness and fire prevention and control. Emphasis should be placed on raising the quality of military standard order building and discipline management and building an “exemplarily, typically” pure, healthy cultural environment within the MMD. At the same time, great value should be attached to improving cadres’ skills in helping higher echelons to issue guidelines and measures for performing mass mobilisation work effectively.

Being proud of the 75-year glorious tradition, cadres and soldiers of the MMD will continue heightening solidarity and building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong MMD capable of fulfilling all assigned missions.

Maj. Gen. NGO THANH HAI, Director of the MMD