Currently, the Chemical Corps is effectively implementing the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle, making a huge positive change in its cadres and party members’ awareness and action, contributing to building a politically, ideologically, organisationally and morally strong Party Organisation of the Corps.

Commander of the Chemical Corps encouraging troops in a training course

When he was alive, President Ho Chi Minh ever said: “I believe that the first job we should do is to rectify the Party and make every party member, youth union member and party cell dedicated to the mission assigned by the Party and whole-heartedly serve the people; only by doing so could we accomplish all jobs - no matter how difficult and big they are.” Being imbued with his instructions, the Chemical Corps’ Party Committee has always focused its leadership and direction stepping up the Party building and rectification, making all party organisations politically, ideologically, organisationally, morally strong and capable of playing the core role in leading their units to successfully fulfil every assigned task. At the same time, it has put this work at the forefront of its execution of the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on “studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle,” the Party building and rectification under the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers in the new period.” To translate Uncle Ho’s teachings into the Party building, the Corps’ Party Committee has always proactively renewed its leadership contents, method and style, while adopting various measures for encouraging cadres and soldiers to overcome all difficulties and realise all goals and targets set by the Resolution of the Corps’ Party Congress for the 2015-2020 tenure. Significance has been attached to giving advice to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on raising the quality of the chemical work and the Corps’ combat readiness, combat strength and capacity to effectively deal with toxic chemical and environmental disasters. As a result, the Corps’ Party Organisation’s leadership and combativeness have been improved and it has led the Corps to accomplish all assigned missions, thereby raising the status and prestige of the Chemical Force and the Military.

Emphasis has been placed on building a politically, ideologically strong Party Organisation as a vital task. In the past tenure, the Corps’ Party Committee has creatively applied Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology to building a politically, ideologically strong Party Organisation. It has frequently renewed the contents, forms and methods of political education and ideological orientation for cadres and party members, while proactively providing official information and opportunely settling issues. It has directed forces within the Corps, especially the Steering Board 35 and the Force 47 to defend the Party’s ideological foundation, resolutely prevent and combat the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy, their plots to “depoliticise” our Military as well as wrong, negative, backward viewpoints, opportunism, and mediocrity. Consequently, cadres and party members within the Corps’ Party Organisation have always kept their absolute faith in our Party, State and Military, remained steadfastness in the goal of national independence and socialism, complied with the Party’s directives, resolutions and regulations, clearly demonstrated their vanguard, exemplary role, heightened a sense of political responsibility, and persistently, successfully surmounted hardships, particularly in the dangerous, hard missions.

In addition, the Corps has concentrated on building an organisationally strong Party Organisation. Following Uncle Ho’s words: “a strong Party must have good party cells while a strong party cell must be comprised of good party members,” the Corps’ Party Committee has directed affiliated party committees and organisations to improve their capability in concretising higher echelons’ resolutions into their resolutions and action programmes, to make preparations and successfully hold all-level party congresses towards the 13^th National Party Congress, and to consolidate all-level party committees both qualitatively and quantitatively. At the same time, it has taken a lot of measures for enhancing party committees and organisations’ leadership and combativeness, renewing and improving party meetings at all levels, upholding the principle of democratic centralism, collective leadership and individual accountability, valuing combativeness, self-criticism and criticism, building a sense of unity, and promoting the vanguard, exemplary role of cadres and party members, especially the key ones. All-level party committees have always closely managed, well trained and built a contingent of cadres and party members, particularly the key ones who would have typical political qualities, ethics and lifestyle, play a vanguard role in performing the political mission, self-consciously improve revolutionary ethics and the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers.” Great value has been attached to grasping and stringently, effectively executing resolutions, conclusions, directives, statutes, circulars, and guiding documents by the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on the personnel work in accordance with the Corps’ Party Organisation’s practical conditions so as to closely control powers and combat negative practices in this work. Measures have been adopted synchronously to build a pool of cadres with good quality and proper structure. Due attention has been paid to examining and verifying political criteria during the process of cadre appointment and strictly maintaining the regulations on the personnel work to ensure democracy, openness and consensus within the Corps. Moreover, consideration has been given to heightening the responsibility of party committees for managing and evaluating cadres, aligning training, recruitment, and job rotation with cadre appointment and planning, particularly personnel plans for all-level party congresses in the 2020-2025 tenure. The Corps’ Party Committee has intensified inspection, supervision and disciplinary action, while strictly implementing its plans of inspection and supervision for its tenure and each year in a serious, close, focalised manner. Focuses of inspection and supervision have been placed on the political task, the Party building under the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4, and the role model-setting responsibility of cadres and party members under the Party Central Committee’s Regulation 08-QĐi/TW. Priority has been given to inspecting party committee members, key cadres, and signs of negative practice and violation, thus opportunely, completely handling weaknesses and shortcomings right at grass-roots level. Doing so has helped maintain the order for party meetings, enhance party committees and organisations’ leadership and combativeness, prevent and push back the degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle as well as the signs of violating the Party’s discipline, the Military’s discipline and the State’s law among cadres and party members. Over the years, there has been no letter of complaint and denunciation within the Corps’ Party Organisation while its rate of violations has been reduced considerably.

Significance has been attached to renewing leadership method and style as an important content of the following of Uncle Ho’s teachings. The Corps’ Party Committee and its affiliates have actively built scientific, collective, democratic working style, effectively exercised self-criticism and criticism, heightened the role model-setting responsibility of leaders, commanders and managerial cadres at all levels, maintained discipline and unity, and resolutely fought against the signs of arbitrariness, negative practice and group interest. Commanders at all levels have grasped the situation, opportunely settled issues, and proactively proposed breakthrough measures for building comprehensively strong units. Resolutions and conclusions have been made concise and centred on performing the central political task, overcoming weaknesses, and clearly identifying the responsibility of party committees and key cadres for the task performance.

Also, great weight has been attached to building a morally strong Party Organisation. Following Uncle Ho’s teachings: “Each Party member, each cadre must be deeply imbued with revolutionary morality, and show industry, thrift, integrity, uprightness, total dedication to the public interest and complete selflessness; Our Party should preserve absolute purity and prove worthy of its role as the leader and very loyal servant of the people,” party committees and organisations have taken many measures for training and improving cadres and party members’ revolutionary morality and lifestyle. Plans to overcome weaknesses after self-examination, self-criticism, and criticism under the 12^th Party Central Committees’ Resolution No.4 have been well implemented while the degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within have been prevented and pushed back. Cadres and party members have matched words with action, observed the Regulation on the role model-setting responsibility, proactively combated and prevented corruption, wastefulness and negative practices from penetrating their units. Hence, the Corps’ cadres and party members have always preserved their qualities, ethics and lifestyle, maintained a sense of responsibility and unity, shown no sign of degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle, and made contributions to building a pure, strong Party Organisation and an exemplary, typical, comprehensively strong Corps capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Maj. Gen. HOANG XUAN DUNG

Commissar of the Chemical Corps