Political and spiritual mobilisation is an important content in the defence mobilisation, assuring the political-spiritual potential to be transfomed into the physical strength. In the context of increasingly severe information and psychological warfare, the continual research and innovation of contents, forms and methods for this work has been more strategically meaningful, contributing to strengthening the all-people national defence in the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland.

Policital-spiritual mobilisation is one of the five basic contents of the defence mobilisation, which is an important factor to build the will and spirit of being ready to fight and sacrifice for the Fatherland by the entire people and the armed forces.

For the past few years, the political-spiritual mobilisation in building the all-people national defence has been concerned by all-level party committees, governments, Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organisations in their leadership, direction, and implementation, and has gained many important results. Especially, the education and training of defence and security knowledge have been enhanced; emulation movements and campaigns including the “Gratitude” movement, “When drinking water, remember its source”, building the new rural areas, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, etc. have been widely developed and spread. Many creative models and methods for mobilising the people and building the “people’s hearts and minds” posture have been effectively implemented in all areas, grassroots levels, etc. These activities have helped build the patriotism and responsibility of all citizens, becoming a great spiritual power in the cause of strengthening the defence and security, safeguarding the Fatherland, reinforcing the trust by the people to the Party, State and Army.

National parade in the 80th Anniversary of National Day on 02 September 2025

Beside the achieved results, the awareness and responsibility of parts of cadres, party members and people for the position, meanings and importance of the political-spiritual mobilisation have been insufficient; the propaganda and education contents and forms at times and in some places have been rigid, outdated and unsuitable with several groups of people, the younger ones in particular. Some local party committees and governments have made neither concern nor drastic direction, leading to the formal implementation, loose and ineffective coordination among forces in the political-spiritual mobilisation. The mechanism and policies on political-spiritual mobilisation have been nonsynchronous, slowly checked and completed later than the requirements of reality, which reduces the effectiveness, attraction and social effects of the political-spiritual mobilisation.

In the forthcoming time, the region and the world will still see fast, complicated and unpredictable situations; the strategic competitiveness among major countries is increasing, local conflicts and nontraditional warfare such as information, cyberspace, ideology and cognition are more sophisticated. The globalisation and strong development of the digital technology are to widely affect the political, economic and social life, which directly influences the people’s thought and belief. In such context, the requirements of building the strong and modern all-people defence set new demands for the quality and effectiveness of political-spiritual mobilisation, of which, political-spiritual mobilisation should be considered the top priority and the foundation to reinforce the “people’s hearts and minds” posture, strengthen the will, belief and power of national unity.

Therefore, it is necessary to search for solutions, complete the mechanism and policies, and continuously renovate the organisation methods in order to improve the effectiveness of political-spiritual mobilisation, meeting the defence tasks and requirements in the new era. Concerning this issue, this article suggests several basic solutions as follows:

One solution which is principled and decisive, assuring the political-spiritual mobilisation to be conducted effectively in a consistent and correct orientation is to continuously strengthen the Party’s leadership and the State’s management. When the leading role of the Party, the management of the State are fully brought into play, the political-spiritual mobilisation will closely connect the guidelines, policies and the reality; reinforcing the belief, the will and the solidarity spirit of the entire people in the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland.

Students of Hue University perform military training

Accordingly, it is necessary not only to improve the leadership and direction of the all-level party committees and organisations on this work but also assure the scientificness, flexibility and suitability with the reality of areas and units; frequently bring into play the managing role of all-level governments in concretising the guidelines and policies into action plans and programmes; enhanced the inspection and supervision, timely repaired any weaknesses and limitations, multiplied the advanced models to create the unity of the awareness and responsibility in the entire political system for the work of political-spiritual mobilisation in the all-people national defence.

Intensely improving the awareness of the role and importance of the political-spiritual mobilisation is a basic solution which has an important role in the defence mobilisation. The reality has shown that when the awareness is improved, the political-spiritual mobilisation will become a self-demand, inspiring the patriotism, responsibility and determination to safeguard the Fatherland inside each cadre, party member and person, which is considered a stable foundation to push all levels, sectors and the whole society to take part in building the strong all-people national defence, firmly safeguarding the Fatherland in the new era.

To implement this solution, all-level party committees, governments and socio-political organisations need to promote the propaganda and education to improve the awareness and responsibility of cadres, party members and the people for the political-spiritual mobilisation, considering this as a main task to be implemented strictly and effectively. The propaganda and education contents should be wide and comprehensive but focused on the guidelines of the Party, policies and law of the State, and documents, instructions of functional organs on the military and defence tasks, at the same time, combine the education of defence knowledge with the cultivation of patriotic traditions, national pride and self-respect, solidarity, combat and sacrifice readiness for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, the happiness of the people. In the implementation, it is necessary to actively renovate and diversify the forms and methods suitably with learners including pupils, students, cadres, armed soldiers and the people, assuring the attractiveness, practicality and pervasiveness in the social life, focusing on organisation methods of political activities, meetings, seminars, specialised learnings, etc. in the way of increasing the interaction, helping all learners deeply understand, longer memorise and effectively apply them into the reality. Besides, it is also necessary to continuously renovate the contents and methods of political-spiritual mobilisation in order to decrease the monotony and formality, making the political-spiritual mobilisation appealing and appropriate to the psychology and demands of each group of learners, i.e. for cadres and party members, it is the exemplary responsibility and pioneering spirit; for the elderly, it should be traditional values and national history; for the youth, it needs to focus on current issues, heroic role models, desire to contribute to the society, etc.

Together, it is necessary to actively apply the information technology and modern media in the mobilisation and propaganda; effectively use the digital platforms such as social networks, video clips, documentaries, infographics, etc. to convey messages quickly, deeply and attractively, at the same time, bring into play the artistic activities and performances in order to both educate the politics, spirit, and improve the cultural life, inspire the national pride and self-respect, so that the political-spiritual mobilisation could create the social consensus, inspire the patriotism, reinforce the trust, will and responsibility of each resident for the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland.

People happily receive allowance from the State on the occasion of National Day

Correct mechanism and policies are legal corridor and management tools, therefore, frequently reviewing, researching and completing the mechanism and policies on the political-spiritual mobilisation are an important solution assuring this work to be implemented synchronously and effectively in the whole political system, encouraging all organisations and individuals to actively build the solid “people’s hearts and minds” posture. To gain effectiveness, all levels, sectors and forces need to review, complement and complete the mechanism and policies on political-spiritual mobilisation in the synchronous, flexible and practical way, focusing on building the mechanism of close combination among levels, sectors, socio-political organisations, clearly defining responsibility and power of each office and unit; timely issue and implement the policies on encouraging and rewarding collectives and individuals who have gained excellent achievements in their propagandising, educating and nourishing the patriotic spirit, through which, to create the driving force to encourage the whole society to participate in the political-spiritual mobilisation, creating the general strength, inspiring the patriotism, will and responsibility of the whole political system and people in the cause of building and reinforcing the solid all-people national defence, firmly safeguarding the Fatherland in the new era.

The contents and solutions being considered the goals and motivation to improve the political-spiritual strength of the whole nation which need to continuously researched are to bring into play the active roles of the people and socio-political organisations in the political-spiritual mobilisation. The people are the main factors of the all-people national defence strength, the centres and forces to do the mobilisation activities. When the people have trust, agreement and active responses, the mobilisation will spread widely, becoming a self-conscious and stable movement. The participation of organisations including the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Labour Union, Youth Union, Women Union, Veteran Union, etc. is an important factor to collect, orient and bring into play the spirit of patriotism and the will of national unity.

Accordingly, the all-level party committees, party and socio-political organisations need to promote the propaganda and education, helping the people realise the meanings of the political-spiritual mobilisation connected with their rights and responsibility in safeguarding the Fatherland. The Fatherland Front and other socio-political organisations need to renovate the contents and activities, combine the spiritual encouragement with their emulation movements and campaigns, etc., at the same time, promote the coordination between the social organisations and armed forces in propaganda and organising the cultural and artistic activities performances, forums, contests, etc. in order to spread the patriotic spirit and social responsibility, contributing to reinforcing the “people’s hearts and minds” posture – the foundation of the all-people national defence in the new era.

The political-spiritual work in the defence mobilisation is a strategic issue, which plays a key role in assuring the strength of national defence. The above-mentioned contents and solutions are just an aspect for all offices and units to research and consult, making contribution to further improving the effectiveness of such an important work in the new era.

Senior Colonel, Assoc. Prof., Dr. NGUYEN LONG, National Defence Academy