Over the course of his revolutionary life, President Ho Chi Minh had always paid special attention to moral issues and cultivation through very initial lectures of his work titled “Revolutionary Path” and his last Testament and considered them to be the “root” of revolutionaries.

According to Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts on revolutionary morality, there is always a consistency in thorough revolutionary spirits, faithful and single-minded service to the Homeland and the people, inheritance of fine national traditions, absorption of mankind’s cultural quintessence and creative enhancement of new moral and ideological values in line with Vietnamese realistic conditions, which could be found in a wide range of his works, articles, and speeches, chief of which is the work titled “Revolutionary Morality” under a pseudonym as Tran Luc, published on Learning Review (the present-day Communist Review) in December 1958. This work still remains valuable in theoretical and practical terms to date.

The Vietnam People’s Army (hereinafter VPA) has been formed, led, and trained by the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, and been trusted, protected and taken care of by the people. Inheriting and upholding national patriotic spirits and military art, our Army, in unison with the whole Party and people, has scored great victories in the cause of struggling for national liberation and firmly safeguarding the Homeland of socialist Vietnam, and successfully fulfilled international missions, as recognized by Uncle Ho “Our army, loyal to the Party, pious to the people and ready to fight and sacrifice their lives for independence and freedom of the Homeland and socialism, will fulfil any tasks, overcome any difficulties and defeat any enemies.”

President Ho Chi Minh presents medals to officers and soldiers who achieved outstanding feats on the front of Dien Bien Phu (May 1954) (file photo)

The extolment is recognition of our Army’s absolute loyalty to the Party and the Homeland and absolute piety to the people, and shows President Ho Chi Minh’s deep affection for the Army of the people, by the people, and for the people. Simultaneously, it also crystallizes the nature, traditions, supreme sacrifice, and core values of revolutionary morality of our Army into noble dignities of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” – a testament to the performance of studying and following Uncle Ho’s moral example by the VPA’s cadres and soldiers. Those dignities are characterized by the following features.

First, displaying absolute loyalty to the nation, the Party, and socialist regime; absolute piety and faithful service to the people and making supreme sacrifice for the people; willingly fighting and sacrificing their lives for independence and freedom of the Homeland and socialism and the people’s well-being, which are considered to be the principal feature of the nature of the VPA’s working class as well as function, missions, and revolutionary morality. President Ho Chi Minh ever stated “Revolutionary morality is absolute loyalty to the Party and the people”. Displaying absolute loyalty to the country, the Party, and the socialist regime is indicative of our Army’s revolutionary nature and fighting objectives and ideals under the leadership and training of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh and every revolutionary soldier’s oath of honour.

Since our Army is by the people and for the people, absolute piety to the people is a fundamental persistent one of a system of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ dignities, and a fine tradition, obligation, responsibility, pride, and revolutionary morality of revolutionary soldiers. This not only displays soldiers’ attitude and conduct towards the people, but demonstrates political and moral virtues under the motto “attaching to people, understanding people, respecting people, and loving people; doing things beneficial to people and avoiding things detrimental to them; caring for and protecting people’s legitimate rights and interests”.

The realities have revealed that under any circumstances is our Army always absolutely loyal to the Homeland, the Party, the State, and the people, and ready to fight and make supreme sacrifice for the cause of protecting the Homeland of socialist Vietnam. This is not only every battle-hardened cadre and soldier’s political dignity, but also a yardstick for “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ revolutionary moral standards in the new period. Absolute loyalty to the Party, the Homeland, and the regime and absolute piety to the people are the principal core standards of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ revolutionary morality in the new period and indicative of generations of VPA cadres and soldiers’ affection and reverence for studying and following Uncle Ho’s moral example through the fundamentals of revolutionary morality that he had discussed in the work of “revolutionary morality”.

Second, being steadfast in Marxism- Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts and the goal of national independence and socialism. Political ideology is an integral component of political dignities. Therefore, when it comes to political willpower, it is, first of all, necessary to touch on political and ideological steadfastness of our Army – the Party and the State’s sharp violent tool and political force with absolute loyalty and reliability. On the one hand, the Party’s objectives and ideology are the Army’s ones, and the Party’s ideological foundation is the Army’s one. On the other, the personality model of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” is naturally actualized via Uncle Ho’s thought, morality, and lifestyle. Thus, the Army must be always steadfast in Marxism- Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s thought, and the goal of national independence and socialism. The standards for “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ personality and soldiers’  revolutionary morality have been molded, forged, and cultivated over the course of 70 years of our Army’s building, fighting, and maturing, which is profoundly indicative of revolutionary morality, a contributing factor to our Army’s successful accomplishment of all the tasks entrusted by the Party, the State, and the people, as taught by President Ho Chi Minh “when needed, our Army willingly makes the ultimate sacrifice, which is a clear and noble manifestation of revolutionary morality”.

Yet, at present, there is worryingly moral degeneracy in a portion of cadres and party members, as stated in Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (12^th tenure) “A portion of cadres and party members, many of which are bigwigs and holding leading and managerial positions exhibit manifestations of political, ideological, moral, and lifestyle degradation and fall into individualism and self-seeking, etc. This situation results in people’s eroded confidence in the Party. Unless it is put right, it will pose challenges to the Party’s leadership role and the survival of the regime”. As a result, building the Party morally is of great significance, creating a firm foundation for building the strong and pure Party, contributing to precluding manifestations of political, ideological, moral, and lifestyle degradation and “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. The 12^th National Party Congress stated “Building the Party morally is on a par with building the Party politically, ideologically, and organizationally. Hence, steadfastness in Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s thought, and the goal of national independence and socialism must be considered to be one of the principal criteria for a system of moral values of a contingent of cadres and party members in general, and the VPA’s cadres and soldiers in particular. On the one hand, these criteria stand in total contrast to complex ideological trends and moral degradation endorsed by the bourgeoisie and hostile forces; on the other, they promote lofty dignities of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, contributing to repulsing political, ideological, moral, and lifestyle degeneracy amongst a section of cadres, party members, and people.

Concretizing these criteria for revolutionary soldiers’ morality and personality into moral values of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” bears out steadfastness in fighting objectives and ideals for national independence and socialism; displays firm loyalty to and creative application of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thought and moral example; reflects the absorption of mankind’s progressive values and civilization amid the trend of extensive globalization and international integration under the far-reaching impacts of the ongoing 4^th Industrial Revolution.

Third, proactively identifying and foiling artifices and stratagems of “peaceful evolution” and subversion by hostile forces and preventing manifestations of ““self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within; and clearly defining partners of cooperation and objects of struggle in Vietnamese revolution. At present, there are growing intertwined national interests on a global scale. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehend the dialectical relation between partners of cooperation and objects of struggle and their interrelation in different circumstances. In terms of defence-security affairs, our Party affirmed “any force that acts against our country’s revolutionary goals; wages aggressive wars and activities of “peaceful evolution” and subversion, and violates national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and Vietnamese national interests is our Army’s object of struggle. For the Army, it is always a must to firmly grasp and seriously implement the directive principles “of being steadfast in strategic objectives and principles; flexible in strategies; persistently solving disputes and differences through peaceful means on the basis of ensuring national interests in accordance with international laws; and devising counter-measures to deal with every object and specific context”. All-level party committees and commandants, and cadres and soldiers are required to always thoroughly grasp revolutionary missions and situations as well as military-defence tasks; to be fully aware of artifices and stratagems by hostile forces; to uphold their revolutionary vigilance and willingly fight and defeat the enemies under any circumstances whilst resolutely combating political opportunists and distortions of the Party’s guidelines and policies and the country and the Army’s fine customs and moral values. Hence, clearly identifying partners of cooperation and objects of struggle, resolutely foiling strategy of “peaceful evolution” and activities of subversion by hostile forces and precluding “self-evolution” and “self- transformation” from within are regarded as one of the new criteria for revolutionary morality of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period.

Fourth, displaying determined to fight and determined to win will, proper motives, devotion and high sense of responsibility; single-mindedly building comprehensively strong offices and units, willingly undertaking and satisfactorily accomplishing all assigned tasks. Over 70 years of the Army’s building, fighting, and maturing, determined to fight and determined to win spirit that has been forged with national glorious traditions over the course of its millennia-old history of national construction and defence and ceaselessly cultivated over the resistance wars for national liberation and Homeland protection is a characteristic of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ dignities. Under any circumstances, determined to fight and determined to win spirit has been profoundly and thoroughly manifested through willingly undertaking and accomplishing every mission entrusted by the Party, the State and the people. Determined to fight and determined to win spirit has become our Army’s fine tradition and “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ characteristic. Determined to fight and determined to win spirit and the spirit of risking life and limb for the Homeland’s independence and freedom and the people’s happiness have motivated our Army to fight against and defeat every enemy. The Army’s fighting objectives and ideals, function, missions, and organization as well as every soldier’s personality are imbued with the principle of “putting national interests first”- every cadre and soldier’s powerful motive for the Party, the Homeland, and the people’s interests, which is considered to be the fruit of the Party’s education and training and President Ho Chi Minh’s deep imprints on building and training our Army.

In the current period, there have been many changes in the social value ladder as evidenced by the growing influences of material interests on people’s motives. However, every cadre and soldier is determined not to consider material and personal interests as their prerequisite for the implementation of their missions. It is a strong motive for every soldier’s single-minded devotion to their duty, which is not only a new manifestation of revolutionary soldiers’ moral dignity and “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ personality, but also strict requirements of the mission of protecting the Army and the Homeland in the new period.

Fifth, exhibiting clean and wholesome lifestyle, upholding democracy and solidarity and a sense of comradeship, and stringently observing the State’s laws and the Army’s discipline. Revolutionary soldiers’ pure moral dignity and simple and humble lifestyle are a crystallization of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ noble virtues and Vietnamese peoples’ cultural identity and humane traditions, which have been forged during Ho Chi Minh’s era. Some outstanding dignities include industriousness, thrift, integrity, uprightness, public-spiritedness and selflessness; upholding national self-respect; matching words with deeds; putting the Homeland, the Party, the State, the Army, and the people’s interests first, etc. Democratic spirit and a sense of solidarity and comradeship are “Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ fine cultural tradition, which motivates every cadre and soldier to surmount all difficulties and hardships, and willingly make the final sacrifice for the Homeland’s independence and freedom and the people’s happiness. This is regarded as the fundamentals of building the working class’s new-type military and the VPA’s revolutionary morality according to Ho Chi Minh’s moral example.

According to President Ho Chi Minh, the Army is powerful by virtue of adequate education, sound policies and strict discipline. Discipline is the power of our Army and the strict observance of the Constitution, the State’s laws, the Army’s rules and regulations, and higher echelons’ orders and directives, ensuring the Army and its affiliates’ uniform, smooth, and effective operation. Sufficient self-awareness and stringency are the highest manifestation of the Military discipline and dialectically related since the former leads to the latter and vice versa.

Thorough perception and strict implementation of the fundamentals of morally role model-setting responsibility in President Ho Chi Minh’s work of “Revolutionary morality” and voluntarily striving to be “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period are one of the significant solutions for building the politically, ideologically, organizationally, and morally strong Army and ceaselessly enhancing its overall quality and combativeness. Upholding the Determined to fight and determined to win traditions, the whole Army thoroughly grasps and effectively and strictly implements the Party’s resolutions, directives, and regulations, the State’s laws; pioneers the study and following of Uncle Ho’s thought, morality, and lifestyle, and the execution of Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (12^th tenure) on Party building and rectification whilst being the vanguard of preventing strategies of “peaceful evolution” and manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within by hostile forces; promoting Determined to win emulation movement, the Campaign “Promoting traditions, devoting talents, deserving to be “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, etc. In addition, it is necessary to reform leadership and commanding lifestyle under the motto: closer to grassroots-level units, and uniform and drastic leadership and directions; to properly complete political tasks and protect national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; firmly preserve peaceful and stable environment; successfully implement the cause of national renewal and industrialization and modernization for the sake of “wealthy people and strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized country”; and ceaselessly uphold noble dignities of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new situation.

Every VPA cadre and soldier must be a shining example of studying and following Uncle Ho’s morality and lifestyle, worthy of the Party, State, people’s affection and beloved President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings “Revolutionaries must have revolutionary morality as their foundation, thus accomplishing glorious revolutionary missions”.

Senior Lieutenant Gen. Nguyen Trong Nghia, Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Head of the VPA’s General Department of Politics