The success of the August Revolution in 1945 was the greatest victory, the most glorious milestone, and the most decisive turning point in the history of the struggle for independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people in the 20th century. Eighty years have passed, yet the glory of that great victory still shines, leaving behind many profound historical lessons; among them, the most prominent is the lesson of promoting the strength of great national unity - the root of all victories of the Vietnamese revolution under the leadership of the Party.

Right after its establishment, our Party, led by Leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, clearly recognised the great role and importance of promoting the tradition and strength of great national unity in the revolutionary cause, therefore, the Party decided to establish an organisation to gather and lead the people in the struggle for national independence and to seize power for the people. Accordingly, in November 1930, the Anti-Imperialist Alliance - the predecessor of today’s Vietnam Fatherland Front was established.

From its establishment to 1945, despite having different names and missions, under the leadership of the Party and Leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, the Front fulfilled its role as the core force, raising the flag, gathering and uniting forces, classes, and social strata to carry out the revolutionary mission. In early 1945, the global and regional situation underwent rapid changes, creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese revolution. Domestically, the revolutionary struggle movement of the masses was on the rise. Immediately after the Japanese fascists overthrew the French, the Party Central Committee decided to launch a revolutionary high tide as a premise for the general uprising, and at the same time issued the directive “Japanese - French war and our actions”. In April 1945, the Party Central Committee convened the Northern Revolutionary Military Conference, deciding on many important issues, unifying armed forces into the Vietnam Liberation Army; the Viet Minh Central Committee issued a directive to organise Liberation Committees at all levels and prepare to establish the Vietnam National Liberation Committee, which would also serve as the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam.

VFF President Do Van Chien speaks at the ceremony to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese revolutionary journalism

Realising that the historic opportunity to seize power had arrived, on 14 August 1945, the Viet Minh Central Committee issued a call to the entire nation to rise up in an armed uprising to seize political power; on 16 and 17 of August 1945, at Tan Trao (Tuyen Quang), the National People’s Congress convened and decided to launch a general uprising nationwide, seizing power before the allied forces entered Indochina. On behalf of the Provisional Government, President Ho Chi Minh called upon compatriots, patriotic organisations, and soldiers across the country to rise up in an armed uprising to seize power: “The decisive moment for our nation’s destiny has arrived. All compatriots, rise up and use our own strength to liberate ourselves”. Following Uncle Ho’s call, our people from all three regions: North, Middle, and South, regardless of ethnicity, religion, wealth, or age, “millions of people as one” rose up to carry out the General Uprising with “earth-shaking” strength to seize power for the people, establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam - the first workers’ and peasants’ state in Southeast Asia, smashing the nearly 100-year-old chains of slavery of French colonialism, expelling the Japanese fascists, overthrowing the outdated feudal regime that had existed for thousands of years, and bringing our country into a new era - an era of independence, freedom, and advancement toward socialism.

The victory of the August Revolution in 1945 affirmed that the Viet Minh Front not only developed as a model of an organisation, an entity led by the Party, but also developed in a form of movement, calling for revolution to gather all classes, ethnicities, religions, and social components to participate in the revolution - an extremely important and necessary issue. The Party maintained its leadership principle while respecting the independence and autonomy of the Front, encouraging and creating all favourable conditions for the Front to carry out its role, forge alliances, and unite the broadest possible forces, which were also the Party’s forces. This was a distinctive and unique feature in the revolutionary history of the Party, the nation, and the Front. Therefore, both domestically and internationally, the position and role of the Viet Minh Front were highly valued as a flag to gather forces and help the Party’s policies and guidelines on armed uprising to seize power through the August General Uprising to succeed.

In the upcoming time, it is forecast that the global and regional situation will continue to develop rapidly, in complex and unpredictable ways; strategic competition among major countries will intensify; non-traditional security challenges, wars, military conflicts, and arms races will occur in many areas, on larger and more complex scales. After 40 years of renovation, our country’s fortune, potential, position, and international prestige have been elevated, creating a foundation for the nation to advance in the new era of development. However, hostile and reactionary forces continue to promote the strategy of “peaceful evolution”, foster “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” internally, and exploit issues of freedom, democracy, human rights, ethnicity, and religion to eliminate the Party’s leadership role, sabotage the great national unity bloc, and divide the solidarity between the military and the people. Meanwhile, the cause of consolidating defence and safeguarding the Fatherland is setting higher demands and facing many new difficulties and challenges. This context requires, more than ever, that we fully promote the spirit of the August Revolution, especially the lesson of maximising the strength of great national unity under the Party’s leadership, creating the foundation for firmly defending the Fatherland in the new situation.

VFF President Do Van Chien at the establishment of the new Hung Yen province

To achieve that goal, first and foremost, it is necessary to continue to uphold the Party’s core leadership role in promoting the tradition and strength of great national unity. The success of the August Revolution in 1945 stemmed from many factors, of which the Party’s ingenious and wise leadership was the most decisive. Practice shows that: “If our Party had not previously built up armed forces and established extensive bases to support political forces and political struggle movements, and had not promptly launched the armed uprising when conditions were ripe, the revolution could not have swiftly achieved victory”. Drawing upon that invaluable lesson, more than ever, our Party must strengthen unity and maintain its leadership in building and promoting the strength of great national unity in carrying out the tasks of consolidating defence and safeguarding the Fatherland. In order to have the capacity and prestige to lead, organise and promote the strength of the great national unity, party committees and organisations at all levels, from the Central to the grassroots level, must continuously engage in self-rectification and self-renewal; the Party’s cadres and members must constantly cultivate and train their political qualities, revolutionary ethics, and improve their professional competence; the entire Party must unite and be unify, truly serving as the core of leadership and unity for building the great national unity bloc.

At the same time, party committees and organisations at all levels must regularly strengthen their close relations with the people, constantly consolidating and strengthening the people’s trust in the Party’s leadership; deepening the solidarity bond between the military and the people. The Party needs to have mechanisms and policies for the people to participate more effectively in Party building; simultaneously, it must adopt policies and solutions to mobilise the broad participation of all social strata, together with the revolutionary armed forces to promote patriotism, national pride, and self-respect, and to enthusiastically engage in building the whole-people defence and the whole-people defence posture in close association with the people’s security posture, particularly in building a firm “people’s heart and mind posture”, thereby contributing to the cause of consolidating defence and safeguarding the Fatherland.

Secondly, step up propaganda and education on the position, role, and importance of promoting the strength of great national unity in the cause of consolidating defence and safeguarding the Fatherland. Deeply imbued with the lesson of promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc in the August Revolution, party committees, party organisations, and the political system, with the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels as the core, must intensify propaganda and education to ensure that the team of cadres, Party members, and the people firmly grasp the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the government’s policies and laws, especially Resolution No. 43-NQ/TW, dated 24 November 2023, of the Party Central Committee (13th tenure) on continuing to promote the tradition and strength of great national unity, building our country to become increasingly prosperous and happy; the tradition of great national unity; the task of building and protecting the Fatherland; the development achievements and the image of Vietnam and its people; the glorious traditions of the People’s Army and People’s Public Security; as well as knowledge of partners, adversaries, and the hostile forces’ schemes and tactics to sow division and undermine the great national unity bloc,... thereby raising awareness and the sense of responsibility in preserving and promoting the strength of great national unity to successfully accomplish the mission of consolidating defence and safeguarding the Fatherland.

The process of propaganda and mobilisation must be renewed and diversified in form and method. Alongside effectively utilising mass media, cultural and artistic forms, it is necessary to coordinate internal and external information, closely combine traditional education with the propaganda of the Party’s guidelines and the government’s policies and laws, etc. Party committees, political systems at the grassroot level, cadres and Party members must promote the role of prestigious people in ethnic minority communities, village elders, hamlet chiefs, and religious dignitaries in conducting propaganda and mobilisation of the people, thereby foster social consensus, firmly consolidate the “people’s heart and mind posture”, encourage the people to participate in socio-economic development, strengthen defence and security, and firmly safeguard the Fatherland in the new situation.

Thirdly, renovate and enhance the operation quality of the Vietnam Fatherland Front; promote the mass mobilisation efforts, mobilise all resources for the task of consolidating defence and safeguarding the Fatherland. In the context of the country vigorously advancing the reform to streamline the political system’s apparatus, particularly the implementation of two-level local government, promoting the lessons of the Viet Minh Front’s experience in raising the flag of national independence, having correct policies and guidelines, meeting the requirements of the revolution, in line with the aspirations and urgent interests of the people, being supported by the people, becoming the rallying flag for the strength of the entire people during the August Revolution in 1945, becomes even more meaningful. Accordingly, the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels must thoroughly grasp and effectively implement the Secretariat’s Directive on leading the congresses of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, provincial-level and commune-level socio-political organisations, ensuring these are truly profound political and social activities that create a sense of excitement among all strata of the population. At the same time, focus on building a contingent of Fatherland Front cadres with strong political qualities, ethics, leadership capacity, prestige, enthusiasm, responsibility and working experience; truly close to the people, grasping the thoughts and aspirations of the people, thoroughly grasping and implementing the viewpoint “the people are the root”; all activities of the Front must put the interests of the nation and improving the happy life of the people as the top priority.

Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels, from the Central to the grassroots, must actively renovate the content and methods of gathering and uniting forces, classes, and all strata of society; promote the strength of the nation in combination with the strength of the times; take advantage of the support of international friends and overseas Vietnamese for the country’s development; actively renovate the forms of organising and enhance the effectiveness of events such as the “Great National Unity Festival”, emulation movements and campaigns, including “The entire people unite to build a cultural life”, “Joining hands for the poor - leaving no one behind”, “Joining hands to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing”, “Gratitude and repayment”, etc. Thereby, creating motivation for the broad participation of the people, ensuring that they truly act as the main subjects in labour production, socio-economic development, construction of new rural areas, civilised urban areas, enriching their families, homeland and country; creating the foundation and comprehensive strength to build a whole-people defence and people’s security, build a whole-people border defence posture within the whole-people defence posture associated with a people’s security posture; strengthening defensive zones, contributing to resolutely safeguarding the Fatherland “from early and from afar”, “while the nation is not yet in danger”.

Fourthly, the Vietnam Fatherland Front should continue to promote its role as a connection between party committees, authorities, the political system at all levels and the people. To realise the Party’s policies, in August 1945, the Viet Minh Front proposed ten major policies to gather and unite all strata of the population in carrying out revolutionary tasks. Building on that valuable lessons in the new era of national development, the Vietnam Fatherland Front should institutionalise and concretise the Party’s guidelines on great national unity, particularly the Law on Implementing democracy at the grassroots level, mobilising all resources, and strongly inspiring creativity, consensus, and solidarity among the people to successfully implement the “04 pillar resolutions” of the 13th Political Bureau (Resolutions No. 57, 59, 66, and 68). Continue to promote the role of representative democracy, the political core, protecting the legitimate, legal rights and interests of the people; promote the role of the people in deciding major issues of the country, especially in the ongoing political system apparatus reorganising to ensure an “elite, compact, strong, efficient, and effective” system, strongly shifting from a management mindset to development creation, serving people and businesses, taking people and businesses as the centre.

At the same time, promote the people’s key role in social supervision and criticism, contributing opinions to the formulation of policies, guidelines, and major national issues. For the upcoming time, the people should actively participate in contributing ideas to build documents for Party congresses at all levels, particularly the draft documents to be presented at the 14th National Party Congress. Propaganda and mobilise the people nationwide to promote their right to mastery, enthusiastically participate in the elections of the 16th National Assembly deputies and the People’s Councils at all levels for the 2026-2031 term; participate in performing military, defence, and security tasks; listen to the people’s thoughts and aspirations, engage in dialogue, learn, receive feedback, and address difficulties, obstacles, and legitimate demands of the people. Continue to effectively implement the mechanism of “Party leadership, government management, people mastery” and the motto “People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, and people benefit”, thereby strengthening public trust in the Party and the government, fostering social consensus, and contributing to building a strong government apparatus and authorities at all levels, truly “of the people, by the people, and for the people”.

Fifthly, strengthen international solidarity and expand people-to-people diplomacy in accordance with the motto of “proactive, creative, and effective”, consolidate the solidarity and friendship between the Vietnamese people and people of other countries in the world, contributing to broadening the Party’s foreign relations, promoting the state diplomacy, and further enhancing Vietnam’s position and prestige on the international stage. Building on the achievements of the August Revolution in 1945, under the leadership of the Party, our country has achieved great and historic achievements, especially in the cause of renovation and international integration. These serve as an important foundation for the nation to rise in the new era of development. Accordingly, all levels, sectors, forces, and the political system, with the core being the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels, must effectively promote the lessons learned from the August Revolution, intensify propaganda and mobilisation of the people to effectively implement the Party’s foreign policies and guidelines, the state’s diplomatic policies, especially in relations with people’s organisations in neighbouring countries and traditional partners. Effectively promote national strength with the strength of the times, gain the sympathy, support and great assistance of international friends, mobilise external resources, especially the resources of overseas Vietnamese in solving issues related to national interests as well as the country’s development, thereby creating a solid “security belt” to protect the Fatherland “from early and from afar”.

At the same time, actively and proactively struggle to defeat all plots and tactics of “peaceful evolution”, counter the promotion of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” by hostile forces, particularly those activities that exploit issues of ethnicity, religion, democracy, and human rights to divide the great national unity bloc, undermine the solidarity between the military and the people, between the Army and the Police, and weaken the spirit of international solidarity...; constantly combat and refute erroneous and hostile viewpoints, firmly safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation in the new situation.

The lessons learned from promoting the strength of great national unity during the August Revolution in 1945 remain fully valuable today. Therefore, researching, inheriting, and creatively applying those lessons to current practice is of utmost importance, creating a combined strength and a solid foundation to further develop the country; continuously enhancing military and defence potential, contributing to the building and firm protection of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the new era.

DO VAN CHIEN, Member of the Political Bureau, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front