Safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation and countering against wrong, hostile viewpoints constitute an uphill, complicated struggle that needs synergy created by the entire political system and society. Performing its role as a vanguard force in all areas, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) has been actively conducting this struggle via a lot of creative, synchronous, and effective measures.

In recent years, denying and undermining our Party and Vietnamese people’s goal of national independence and socialism towards a prosperous and happy nation, hostile and reactionary forces have been adopting numerous cunning artifices of sabotage. Along with that, signs of degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle, internal “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”  as well as corruption, wastefulness, and negative phenomena, which remain complex, are posing enormous challenges to the defence of the Party’s ideological foundation in the current period.

Fully aware of its role as “a reliable reserve force of the Party, often reinforces the Party with young members, inherits the glorious revolutionary cause of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh”, the HCYU Central Committee has always considered the defence of the Party’s ideological foundation and the fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints as a basic, central task and routine self-work of each youth union, cadre, member, and young person. Therefore, the HCYU Central Committee has implemented a large number of practical, effective measures to bring into play all-level youth unions’ pioneering role in propagation work to raise the union’s cadres and members, people, and citizens’ awareness and “immunity” against evil information and wrong, hostile viewpoints, particularly on social networks. The HCYU Central Committee has paid attention to aligning “building” with “fighting” in HCYU building work and the HCYU’s participation in Party building work, with “building” acting as a basic and long-term task, and “fighting” as a routine and urgent one. Doing so has provided a firm foundation for all-level youth unions to focus on synchronously taking various measures to produce positive outcomes.

All levels of the union have intensified revolutionary ideal education to raise its cadres, members, and young people’s awareness of the fundamentals and immense values of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, socialism, Viet Nam’s path towards socialism as well as the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policies. They have proactively provided formal information and good news for their members and young citizens, particularly on social networks. The responsibility to set good examples amongst youth union cadres has been raised, while forces in charge of defending the Party’s ideological foundation have been increasingly consolidated in a practical and effective manner. In 2022, all-level youth unions have formulated measures to renew programmes and methods of political education and orientation for their cadres, members, and young people. Emphasis has been placed on organising political theoretical training courses for new youth union members in diverse forms to promote their activeness and proactiveness. Besides, forms and methods of propagating and educating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party’s guidelines, and the State’s law and policies have been diversified via online multiple-choice contests, online interaction, and “young theorist” clubs at provincial and district levels and within schools. The HCYU Central Committee has proactively developed and submitted the Programme titled “Educating revolutionary ideal, morality, and cultural lifestyle amongst young people, adolescents, and children on cyberspace in the period of 2022-2030”. At the same time, due attention has been paid to managing youth union cadres, youth union members, and young people in a close, timely, effective fashion via different channels. Mechanisms for reporting public opinions between all-level youth unions and providing information for press agencies under the HCYU Central Committee’s management have been regularly maintained. In addition to integrating deeper into social networking sites favoured by the majority of young people and carrying out surveys into young citizens’ opinions, the HCYU Central Committee has conducted contingency and special sociological investigations to grasp and handle matters of concern to the youth.

An illustrative photo (Source: dhannd.edu.vn)

All-level youth unions have actively, effectively operated social networking sites, successfully put the mobile application “Vietnamese Youth” into operation, brought into play the role of press agencies and publishing houses in developing series of articles, pieces of news, special topics, special pages, and publications, frequently posted, shared, and spread positive information, good news, and good stories for the sake of opinion orientation amongst youth union members, young citizens, and children. At the same time, great value has been attached to stepping up campaigns, such as “one piece of good news each day, one good story each week” and “building symbolic values of Vietnamese youth in the new period”, with more than 9.6 million pieces of good news and good stories being released. Doing so has contributed to orientating the pioneering role of the union’s cadres and  members, and young people in defending the Party’s ideological foundation and fighting against wrong, hostile viewpoints with recorded remarkable results.

In the upcoming time, under the motto of “good judgement, sufficient information, quick action, strong connection, rapid spread”, the HCYU will keep promoting its vanguard and creative role to effectively perform the task of safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation and combating wrong, hostile viewpoints stipulated in the Resolution of the 12^th HCYU Congress, with a focus on the followings.

First, enhancing political education to render youth union cadres, youth union members, and young people fully aware that the task of safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation must cover the defence of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought as revolutionary doctrines and ideologies as well as the defence of those ideologies’ fruits and specific manifestations in the cause of national renewal, thereby arousing the youth’s aspirations for developing a prosperous and happy country. To that end, it is necessary to adhere to situational developments to formulate and renew methods of education in accordance with each group of young people. Due attention should be paid to actively raising the quality of studying, grasping, and disseminating resolutions, directives, and conclusions by the Party and the HCYU amongst youth union cadres, youth union members, and young people, while emphasis should be placed on stepping up digital transformation to expand the HCYU’s reach and create a favourable environment for all-level youth unions, youth union members, and adolescents to study at any moment. It is essential to further apply information technology and take advantage of modern mass media to educate the youth and adolescents. The HCYU should develop products of propagation in accordance with the tastes of the youth and children on social networks and smart mobile devices. The HCYU should increase the educational quality, persuasiveness, and attractiveness of its publications, press works, and social networking sites. At the same time, the HCYU should continue to promote the role of rapporteurs, “young theorist” clubs, organisations, and top influencers in education youth union members and young people.

Second, heightening self-discipline to improve and practise revolutionary morality amongst youth union cadres and members as well as the responsibility to set good examples amongst youth union and youth federation cadres. To that end, it is necessary to actively research, supplement, and complete specific criteria for the Vietnamese youth in the new period. Emphasis should be placed on effectively implementing campaigns, namely “one piece of good news each day, one good story each week”  amongst the youth and “one good story, one good book, one good example each week” amongst children. It is essential to create trends in cyberspace to encourage youth union members and young people’s self-study, self-improvement, and aspirations for devotion. At the same time, due attention should be paid to remaining resolute and persistent in combating  immoral, counter-cultural viewpoints and actions amongst the youth and children.

Third, continuing to regularly and effectively manage youth union members, young people, and children, diversifying forms of grasping and orientating the youth’s ideology. To do so, it is necessary to proactively develop mechanisms for giving official information to all youth union cadres, youth union members, young people, and children so that they will thoroughly understand and comply with the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policies. Due regard should be paid to consolidating core forces in charge of safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation, especially on cyberspace via social networking sites, press agencies, and communication applications. It is important to develop and synchronously connect social networking sites and platforms in cyberspace in order to raise the effectiveness of public opinion orientation and better the fight against wrong and hostile viewpoints. Last but not least, coordination with competent offices should be maintained to well manage complicated and sensitive incidents and situations.

The HCYU’s pioneering role in defending the Party’s ideological foundation and combating wrong, hostile viewpoints is proved by the political steadfastness, competence, awareness, and action of each youth union cadre and member, and young people. In the upcoming time, all young people should heighten a sense of responsibility for the country, apply and creatively develop Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought in their work, know how to “distinguish between the good and the bad” within the flow of information, self-consciously, resolutely fight against fake news and evil information, opportunely prevent and thwart all plots and artifices of sabotage conducted by hostile forces as significant contributions to successfully implementing tasks and measures of socio-economic development, building and firmly protecting the Socialist Vietnam Fatherland, and realising the goal of building a prosperous and happy country towards 2030, with vision towards 2045 set forth by the 13^th National Party Congress.

Dr. NGUYEN MINH TRIET, Secretary of the HCYU Central Committee, President of the Central Committee  of the Viet Nam Student Association