Grasping the Party’s guidelines and President Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on mass mobilization, the Military Command of Thanh Hoa province has paid attention to leading and guiding its forces to conduct this task, making contribution to the consolidation of “the people’s hearts and minds posture”, the maintenance of social-political order and stability, and the social-economic development.

In the past years, the task of mass mobilization in Thanh Hoa province has been conducting under both favorable and unfavorable conditions. While the favorable ones are the main stream, the obstacles are also considerable, namely: environmental pollution, natural disasters, and diseases. The hostile forces exploit issues, such as “national and religious issues, democracy, human rights, and weaknesses of a few party committees and leaders at grass-roots level” to cause contradictions within the people communities. The issues of free migration, illegal evangelism and people’s complaints have sometimes caused social-political instability.

In order to solve those, the Provincial Military Command and its Party Committee have thoroughly grasped the Party’s guidelines and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on conducting mass mobilization, mapping out measures and solutions to conduct this task.

1. Closely working with the local party committees and governments to conduct propaganda and guide the people to follow the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law. The provincial military command identified its focal tasks, building action plans and implementing them in a synchronous manner, making positive changes in getting people involved in social-economic development, making contribution to maintaining defence and security and building strong political system. At the same time, it has cooperated with local agencies and governments in conducting propaganda and helping the people understand and strictly follow the party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policies as well as the localities’ regulations, while thoroughly perceiving the situation in the areas and opportunely solving issues to maintain social order and safety.

The command has also assigned its officers and soldiers to villages and communities to persuade ethnic groups to follow good lifestyle, not to: freely migrate; illegally pass the border; follow the distortions of reactionary figures; involve in trading or transporting drugs; or practice superstitions, etc.

Military commands of coastal districts and towns regularly conduct propaganda on maritime and island sovereignty, persuading fishermen to follow the Agreement on Maritime Boundary Delimitation in the Gulf of Tonkin between Vietnam and China, the Vietnamese – Sino Agreement on Fishery Cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin, and not to use explosives in fishing. Cadres and members of the provincial militia and reserve forces have been active in conducting propaganda, persuading families, houses and locals to exercise rights and obligations of citizens, while leading by example in work, study and implementation of movements. As a result, the people have always joined hands with their local governments in implementing social-economic development programs, strengthening defence and security, achieving consensus in land clearance for projects and voluntarily donating land for construction of roads and other public facilities.

2. Being active in counselling local party committees and authorities to build comprehensively strong grass-roots political bases and groups of safe, self-governance, ready-to-combat communes. The Provincial Military Party Committee and Command in cooperation with the Provincial Committee for Mass Mobilization has counselled the Steering Committee for Building Grass-Roots Bases and the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee to direct, inspect and supervise the implementation of the Democratic Regulations according to the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 36/2005/CT-TTg, dated October 17^th, 2005 on “continuing to build strong grassroots bases, meeting defence and security requirements in the new situation”, and the Directive No. 15-CT/TU, dated July 30, 2013 by the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee on strengthening the Party’s leadership over the exercise of democracy at commune level in the new situation. The Provincial Military Command and its Party Committee have also been active in completing the structure of social and political organizations at grass-roots level and giving advice to the communes’ party committees and leadership on the personnel work, while heightening role and responsibility of the leaders, the pioneering role of party members, and overcoming the issue of communes and villages without  party members, particularly in remote, isolated areas and those inhabited by ethnic groups. As a result, since 2012, communes have admitted around 29,000 new party members.

3. Raising awareness and responsibility of the armed forces in defence and security training for different groups of people. Basing on its functions and tasks, the Provincial Military Command has actively and proactively worked with functional agencies to organize classes on defence and security and conduct propaganda via mass media on citizen’s responsibilities for Homeland protection and maintenance of social order. It has actively developed action plans to protect the assigned areas and build safe localities and defensive zones.

It has also regularly organized training courses to improve the quality and efficiency of local military commands at grass-roots level, and managed the training of militia and reserve forces. The task of selecting and recruiting personnel for the Military and Public Security Forces has also been conducted thoroughly, with priority given to the improved quality of this task. Exercises have been conducted with positive results, combining the contents of practicing fighting tactics with conducting mass mobilization aiming to get the people’s support. The task of nurturing human resources for grass-roots levels has recorded significant outcomes.

Bringing into play the role of the militia force in mass mobilization, the provincial armed forces have assisted people in natural disasters, and successfully carried out the tasks of search and rescue and patrol to safeguard local economic and political facilities.

With their practical activities, the provincial armed forces have made contribution to the consolidation of strong political system, opportunely solving emerging issues, maintaining social order, security and safety in the region. Thereby, local people always follow the party’s guidelines, state’s law, and the Government’s decrees on land and maritime borders.

4. Actively participating in social-economic development program, helping the people eliminate hunger and alleviate poverty. The Command has worked with local governments to assist people in adjusting their economic structures, selecting kinds of livestock and plants, etc.; focusing on the development of large fields, traditional handicraft villages, multi-sector economy in accordance with the State’s policies and law; creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs. The task of hunger elimination and poverty alleviation has been a focal point, with a 3.57% reduction annually in the number of poor households. Hence, material life of the ethnic people has significantly improved.

The provincial armed forces have actively participated in movements, such as the campaign to build cultural lifestyle in association with the national targeted program on building new rural areas. They have donated 3.9 billion VND and nearly 4,000 laboring days to help localities build roads, community houses, medical centers, and stadiums, etc., upholding the tradition and the nature of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”.

In addition, the Provincial Military Command and its Party Committee have worked with the Provincial Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs as well as related agencies to comprehensively and effectively implement the policies towards the ethnic minorities and social welfare programs. Therefore, the province is among the top ones nationwide in conducting these policies.

With the above-mentioned practical activities, the armed forces of Thanh Hoa province have consolidated their image as trustful and beloved forces of the government and people of the province. It is also a great encouragement for the officers and soldiers in the whole province to continue to better conduct this task, making contribution to consolidating the solidarity between the people and the armed forces in the cause of Homeland’s construction and protection.

Senior Colonel Do Van Minh, Commissar of the Provincial Military Command