Building the posture of “people’s hearts and minds” is a consistent viewpoint in the Party’s military-defence guidelines. That viewpoint continues to be grasped and consistently expressed in the Vietnam’s National Defence Strategy (NDS) in the new period.

“People’s hearts and minds” is a term that describes the society’s politico-spiritual state and expresses the people’s certain faith, consensus, and cohesion towards the socio-political regime. “People’s hearts and minds” is a determinant to the military strength of a country due to the human role in a war. “People’s hearts and minds” always exists, but it is not always in agreement with the authority’s leadership guidelines. That issue necessitates the authority taking measures to win the “people’s hearts and minds” under its leadership to create the synergy, which could be seen as the task of building “people’s hearts and minds posture”.

Our country’s national construction and protection history has proved that when the people are in support for the authority, the country is strong, or vice versa. Therefore, the top lessons drawn by our predecessors are: “compassion and righteousness are intended to bring peace to the people”, and “the best strategy to defend the country is to ease the people’s burden”. Inheriting and promoting those lessons, during its leadership over Vietnamese revolution, our Party has always set store by the “people’s hearts and minds” and encouraged the national great unity as the main impetus for creating the synergy in the cause of national liberation, construction and protection.

Until the 9^th Party Central Committee’s 9^th Plenum, our Party had started including the term of “people’s hearts and minds posture” in its official documents. However, “relying on the people”, “taking the people as the roots”, and “uniting the people to create the synergy” have always been expressed consistently in the Party’s military-defence guidelines. According to the Resolution of the 9^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Homeland Protection Strategy, “the strength of the Homeland protection in the new situation is combined by the country’s internal strength, the political regime’s strength, the purity of cadres, and the national great unity”. The 10^th National Party Congress first used the term of “people’s hearts and minds posture” when referring to the task of building the posture of people’s hearts and minds as the basis for promoting the whole nation’s synergy. Reviewing the 10-year implementation of Resolution of the 9^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Homeland protection, our Party continued to affirm that in order to defend the country, it is necessary to “develop a strong and stable economy, consolidate national defence, stabilize the people’s hearts and minds and society and politics, and make the whole nation a unity block”. Besides, our Party strongly stressed the demand for the unceasingly enhanced national great unity block. The 12^th National Party Congress once again emphasized the task of building the posture of people’s hearts and minds as the solid foundation for building the all-people national defence and the people’s security. All of which have proved our Party’s consistent viewpoint on building the posture of people’s hearts and minds both in the past and nowadays.

As the elaboration of the Party’s military-defence guidelines, the NDS continues to include the viewpoint on building the posture of people’s hearts and minds in its targets, direction and method for building the all-people national defence as well as in the national defence missions and measures in each strategic situation. The NDS advocates that building the posture of people’s hearts and minds as the basis for building other types of potential of the all-people national defence, and the Party’s absolute, direct leadership and the State’s management over the national defence cause as well as the national great unity block and the posture of people’s hearts and minds serve as the determinant to the Homeland protection. It also underlines that in order to build a firm posture of people’s hearts and minds, it is vital to build a pure, strong Party and State, associate economic growth with social welfare, and combine economic development with defence and security consolidation.

It is a new feature of the viewpoint on building the posture of people’s hearts and minds that in the NDS, this task is put in the conditions of a socialist-oriented market economy and the international integration. The achievements in the 30-year-plus Doi Moi and the initial results of corruption prevention and combat have given a fresh impetus and cemented the people’s faith in the Party’s leadership. However, many weaknesses and shortcomings have arisen during the process of market economy development and international integration and greatly impacted on the people’s faith in the path towards socialism. The degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” among a section of cadres and party members, the degenerate cultural values, and the income gap have undermined the faith of a number of people in the Party, State and socialist regime. Besides, the hostile forces’ sabotage via the “peaceful evolution” strategy has been increasingly cunning. They devote efforts to denying the Party’s leadership over the State and the society as well as its political ground, taking advantage of the issues on ethnicity, democracy, human rights and religion to undermine the socio-political stability, separate the Party, State, Military and Public Security from the people, encourage “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within, and step by step remove the Party’s leadership and the socialist regime. That situation necessitates us regularly achieving all people’s politico-spiritual uniformity and building a firm posture of people’s hearts and minds as the basis for building the all-people national defence and the people’s security.

Building the posture of people’s hearts and minds in the new period is to consolidate the people’s faith in the Party, State and Doi Moi cause for the sake of “wealthy people, strong nation, and democratic, equal, civilized society”. In the process, we need to take political, ideological, economic, social, cultural, and defence-security measures synchronously, with a focus on the following.

The Party must be made pure and strong politically, ideologically and morally so that our Party is the truly vanguard of Vietnam’s working class and nation. At present, it is necessary to step up the implementation of the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on the Party building and rectification as well as prevent and repel the degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle and the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. Accordingly, it is important to both improve the quality of Party membership and resolutely dismiss the Party members who seriously violate the Party’s Charter and the State’s law; both enhance the leadership and combativeness of the grass-roots party organizations and attach great value to building a contingent of party members who are really exemplary, respect the people, stay close to the people, understand the people, learn from the people, and have a sense of responsibility for their work, political will, sense of discipline and capability to fulfil the task and overcome all difficulties and challenges, and devote themselves to the Party’s goal and ideal. To cement the people’s faith in the Party, all cadres and Party members should strictly follow the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Regulations 08-QĐ/TW, dated October 25^th 2018, on the role model-setting responsibility of cadres and party members, firstly members of the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Party Central Committee. It must be a voluntary, routine task and combined with the execution of the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and moral example. In 2019, it is vital to seriously study and apply the topic entitled “building a sense of respect for the people, promoting democracy, and improving the people’s life under Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle.

Encouraging the building a socialist State ruled by law of the people, by the people, for the people; stepping up corruption prevention and combat. Currently, it is necessary to enhance the Master Program on state administrative reform to build democratic, modern, professional, dynamic administration for the people; accelerate the solutions to realizing the guideline on building a Government of “discipline, integrity, action, creativity, and effectiveness” that respects and stays close to the people. To do so, it is essential to reduce unnecessary administrative procedures for the people and businesses; heighten public service ethics, social responsibility and tighten administrative discipline in cadres and public servants’ exercise of public services. Moreover, due attention should be paid to raising the capability to study, propose and promulgate the policies which are aimed at “stabilizing the people’s hearts and minds”. Corruption cases should be seriously settled under the law while mechanisms for combating corruption effectively should be formulated to ensure that those who are in power “can’t be corrupt, don’t dare to be corrupt, or don’t want to be corrupt”. Besides, local leaders should attach great value to encouraging the people’s right to mastery and stringently implementing the Grass-Roots Level Democratic Regulations and the Regulations on receiving citizens to opportunely handle the people’s legitimate aspirations and desires.

Striving to fulfil the central task of economic development in line with the effective settlement of social issues. When the economy is developed, social issues are handled, the people’s life is improved, the income gap is narrowed, and the social equality is ensured, the material and spiritual strength will be created, and the people’s hearts and minds will be consolidated. To do so, it is vital to closely align economic polices with social policies in all periods and combine economic development with the people’s improved living standard to ensure that the people from all walks of life could better enjoy the achievements of the national renewal, construction and development.

Building the posture of people’s hearts and minds is the responsibility of the whole political system. To implement the measures for building a firm posture of people’s hearts and minds, it is important to grasp General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s closing speech at the 6^th Plenum of the 12^th Party Central Committee: “if we make the people believe in the Party, our socialist regime and Party will exist; if we are in contrast to the people and lose the people’s faith, we will lose everything”. And it is essential to be fully aware that “the people’s strength is like the water, it could both steer and overturn the boat”. That principle is true in all ages.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoi