As a socialist school of the youth, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union has always determined that further educating its members’ revolutionary ideal, morality and cultural lifestyle is a task of importance to making the Vietnamese youth both “red and expert” and building up their ideal, aspirations, responsibility, vanguard role, and creativity in the cause of Homeland construction and protection.

Grasping the directives, resolutions and projects by the Party and State on the youth work, over the past years, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) has issued many directing and guiding documents on educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, morality and cultural lifestyle in each period and yearly, which have been actively realized by its branches via diverse contents and forms with many encouraging results.

Comrade Le Quoc Phong giving presents to the youth volunteers in Ea Ral commune, Ea H'leo district (photo: baodaklak.vn)

The work of educating Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, propagating and studying the directives and resolutions by the Party and the HCYU has been carried out in various creative forms, such as online study, multiple-choice test, and online written test. Among those forms, the Competition entitled “The guiding light” which was held twice has attracted the participation of over 650,000 students from nearly 700 universities and colleges across the country and over 200 Vietnamese students abroad. That number has proved the effectiveness of this model for the work of studying and propagating Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology. Notably, the model of education via the revolutionary action movements has been seen as the centre and carried out synchronously in accordance with the youth’s demands and reality at grass-roots level. As a result, the youth have raised their awareness towards the society, gained hands-on experience, and had a chance to devote themselves to building and defending the Homeland in general, boosting the socio-economic development of their localities and units in particular.

The HCYU’s branches have elaborated the movements entitled “Promoting the vanguard, voluntary role in socio-economic development and Homeland protection” and “Supporting the youth’s career establishment” as well as other movements and campaigns launched by the HCYU and the Vietnam Youth Federation (VYF) in accordance with each group of youths. Accordingly, the VYF has carried out the movement entitled “I love my Homeland”, the Vietnamese Student Association has conducted the movement entitled “5-good students”; in those movements, the youth have taken part in facilitating socio-economic development, with over 455,000 constructions from over 2,200 projects in all areas. Notably, between 2013 and 2018, the Youth Volunteer Movement attracted the participation of over 5,259,000 youths; the National University Entrance Exam Support Campaign drew the participation of over 272,000 youths and students; 4 campaigns, namely Green Summer, Red Poinciana Flower, Pink Summer Vacation, and Green Marching attracted the participation of over 3 million youth volunteers; the “Winter Volunteer” and “Spring Volunteer” campaigns were expanded with the participation of over 2 million youths. Those movements and campaigns have encouraged the youth’s pioneering, vanguard role in overcoming hardships and striving to fulfil the goal of “wealthy people, rich nation, and democratic, just, civilized society”, greatly contributing to the achievements in the Doi Moi, making the Vietnamese youth deserve to be the loyal heirs to the Party and people’s revolutionary cause.

However, there are a number of young people who have fallen into the decline in their will and faith, shown the signs of degenerate revolutionary ideal, the fearfulness of hardships, selfish lifestyle, pursued materialistic lifestyle and hedonism, even committed social evils, and disrespected the public benefit. Meanwhile, the hostile forces continue focusing on inciting the youth as their main goal. Several young people, due to a lack of political awareness, have committed acts of sabotage against our Party’s revolutionary cause and our people’s Homeland construction and protection cause. Besides, the negative side of modern media, particularly social networks and the Internet has greatly impacted on the youth’s ideology and sentiment and the work of educating young people.

That situation has imposed the requirements for renewing and enhancing the work of educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, ethics and lifestyle so as to build up Vietnamese youth’s patriotism, national pride, steadfastness in the national independence and socialism goal, pure ethics, observance of the law, capacity and political will during the process of international integration, fitness, good knowledge and skills as well as meet the requirements for Homeland construction and protection. This is both an important, urgent task and a long-term strategy for the sake of the country’s future generation. At the same time, it is a task of the whole Party and political system with the HCYU playing an utmost important role. Thus, youth union branches should focus on a number of measures as follows.

First, continuing to grasp and effectively implement resolutions, directives and projects by the Party, State, and HCYU Central Committee on educating the youth’s revolutionary, ethics and lifestyle. HCYU branches should further the work of propagation and education to make their cadres and members clearly understand the importance, goals, requirements and contents of the work of educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, ethics and lifestyle. At the same time, they should advise all-level party committees and authorities to effectively execute the Party Central Secretariat’s Directive 42-CT/TW, dated March 24^th 2015, on “enhancing the Party’s leadership over the work of educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, ethics and cultural lifestyle in the 2015-2030 period”, the Prime Minister’s Decision 1501-QĐ/TTg, dated August 28^th 2015, on approving the project on “stepping up the work of educating revolutionary ideal, ethics, and cultural lifestyle of the youth, adolescents, and children in the 2015-2020 period” in line with the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05 and the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on the Party building and rectification. Forces and organizations within the political system should promote their duty and fulfil their function in the work of educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, ethics and lifestyle. Youth union branches should raise the quality of giving advice on holding dialogues between heads of all-level party committees and authorities, National Assembly deputies, and young people as well as engaging them in the youth’s activities. As a result, they could frequently grasp and manage the youth’s ideology, legitimate rights and aspirations while building up and raising the youth’s responsibility for socio-economic issues.

Second, continuing to renew and make the contents of education effective and relevant to each locality, unit and group of young people. To do so, youth union branches should remove unnecessary contents and place emphasis on raising the youth’s awareness towards Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s guidelines, and the State’s law and policy as well as their political awareness and revolutionary vigilance. Significance should be attached to educating the country’s moral values and traditions, such as love for the nation and homeland, national pride, sense of diligence, courage, passion for work and study, optimism, solidarity, close bond within the community, lifestyle for all people, self-esteem, self-reliance, responsibility for family and society, a sense of obedience to the Constitution and the State’s law, and the country’s fine customs. Youth union branches should frequently gather the opinions of their members and the young people, conduct surveys on the socio-political issues drawing a lot attention of the youth, and then develop the programs for education properly. Moreover, it is necessary to opportunely provide the official information about the situation domestically and worldwide for the youth; to propagate the examples of good people good in all areas of the social life; to prevent and combat the “peaceful evolution” strategy, and refute all wrong information and distortions; to improve the youth’s “immunity” against the hostile forces’ sabotage.

Third, further renewing and flexibly employing methods and forms of educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, ethics and lifestyle. Youth union branches should synchronously adopt various methods and forms of education with the participation and coordination of schools, families and society, and attach greater importance to education via the youth’s revolutionary action movements in order to raise the quality of education and propagation, encourage the youth’s role in socio-economic development and defence-security consolidation, and unite and gather the youth in the organizations. Youth union branches should continue effectively implementing the action movements, namely “youth volunteer”, “creative youth”, and “youth pioneer in the Homeland protection” as well as three programs on accompanying the youth, namely “accompanying the youth in study”, “accompanying the youth’s start-ups, and “accompanying the youth in the process of developing their life skills and improving their fitness and cultural-spiritual life”. Youth union branches should organize political meetings for their members and the young people on the occasions of national holidays and major events in various forms, such as dialogue, party, and exhibition, thereby bolstering the youth’s patriotism, national pride, and aspirations.

Provincial, municipal, affiliated, and university youth unions should establish and develop the models, clubs, and groups of “youth theory” and continue effectively implementing the campaigns, namely “everyday a piece of good news, every week a beautiful story” and “setting up the youth’s exemplary value in the new period” with a view to starting the trend of sharing positive information and creating a healthy environment for the youth’s comprehensive development. Youth union branches should encourage the coordination between schools, families and society as well as between sectors and organizations in order to enable the youth to take part in social activities, gain hands-on experience, devote themselves to the society, and get mature.

Fourth, raising the awareness and responsibility of youth unions and their cadres towards the work of educating the youth’s revolutionary ideal, ethics and lifestyle. Youth union branches should regularly hold training courses on professional competence and particularly skills in organizing social activities for their cadres. At the same time, they should proactively study and elaborate higher echelons’ programs, plans, projects, and conclusions in accordance with each locality, unit and youth union’s situation and capability. Besides, it is important to flexibly use new methods and apply science and technology to building and executing the revolutionary action movements to meet the youth’s demands and aspirations and fulfil the assigned goals and missions. Due attention should be paid to promoting the exemplary role of youth union cadres and particularly making the key cadres really examples for youth union members and young people to follow. Thus, each youth union cadre must take the initiative in registering the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle with specific, practical actions relevant to their assigned responsibilities and tasks. In addition, it is necessary to well make plans for training and using cadres in charge of educating the youth at all levels.

To make those above-mentioned measures highly effective, there is a need for the close leadership and direction of all-level party committees and authorities, the coordination and resolve of the whole political system, and the effort of each youth union branch in particular and each youth union member and young person in general. Doing so will contribute to building generations of both “red and expert” Vietnamese young people, making them deserving to be the heirs to the Party and people’s glorious revolutionary cause, and firmly protecting the national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity in the new situation.

Le Quoc Phong, Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the HCYU, Chairman of the VYF