The Resolution of the 14^th National Party Congress comprehensively mentions the development of the Vietnamese nation in the new era, which includes the valuable lesson that “The people are the root”. This is also a continuation and development of the Party’s lines and policies throughout its leadership over the Vietnamese revolution, particularly during 40 years of Đổi Mới (Renovation). This consistent and overarching perspective has become the guiding principle for the thinking and action of the entire Party, people, and armed forces in this new era of development.

General Secretary To Lam delivers the 13th Party Central Committee’s Report at the 14th National Party Congress (photo: baochinhphu.vn)

The 14^th Congress inherits and develops the Party’s ideology concerning the people

The 14^th National Party Congress outlined lessons learnt after 40 years of Đổi Mới, including the third lesson: “profoundly grasping and thoroughly implementing the principle that ‘The people are the root’”. Such affirmation and emphasis by the Party aim to guide the entire Party, people, and armed forces in striving towards the objectives for the coming years: “To maintain a peaceful and stable environment; to develop the country rapidly and sustainably; to comprehensively improve and elevate the living standards of the people; to achieve strategic autonomy, self-reliance, and self-confidence as we advance vigorously into the nation’s new era”. This also reflects the Vietnamese nation’s aspiration for extraordinary development, primarily through the realisation of the two centenary goals: by 2030 (the 100^th founding anniversary of the Party), Vietnam will become a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income; by 2045 (the 100^th founding anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam), Vietnam will be a developed, high-income country striving for peace, independence, democracy, prosperity, civilisation, and happiness, advancing steadfastly towards socialism.

Accordingly, the Party continues to attach great importance to harnessing the strength of the people in the nation’s new era. The Resolution of the 14^th National Party Congress determines that the people are the centre and the subject; it steadfastly upholds the goals set by the Party since 1930; it establishes the model of Vietnamese socialism upon three pillars: a socialist-orientated market economy, a socialist rule-of-law State of the people, by the people, and for the people, led by the Party, and socialist democracy. From this foundation, it resolves to successfully fulfil President Ho Chi Minh’s “ultimate wish”, as recorded in his sacred Testament: “To build a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic, and prosperous Vietnam, and to make a worthy contribution to the world revolutionary cause”. This demonstrates that the Party’s principle of “The people are the root” is consistent and overarching throughout the entire Đổi Mới process; at the same time, it is an inheritance and development of the Party’s own previous ideology.

Historical reality shows that the people, in any era and any nation, always play a crucial role in the development process. The Vietnamese revolution is no exception. From this reality, the 6^th National Party Congress (which officially initiated the Đổi Mới process) drew a valuable lesson: “In all its activities, the Party must profoundly grasp the ideology of ‘taking the people as the root’, while building and promoting the mastery of the working people… The masses are the makers of history”. The Platform for National Construction in the Period of Transition to Socialism, adopted by the 7^th National Party Congress in 1991 (supplemented and developed at the 11^th Congress in 2011), also highlighted this lesson: “The revolutionary cause belongs to the people, is carried out by the people, and is for the people. It is the people who achieve historic victories. All Party activities must stem from the legitimate interests and aspirations of the people. The Party’s strength lies in its close ties with the people. Bureaucracy, corruption, and alienation from the people will lead to incalculable losses for the fate of the country, the socialist regime, and the Party”.

Ratifying the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress (photo: VNA)

This lesson has become a fundamental principle of the Party, serving as both the theory and practice of the Vietnamese revolution in general and the Đổi Mới process in particular. This perspective is the result of our Party being deeply imbued with Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thought regarding the people’s role in the revolution. President Ho Chi Minh elevated the strength of great national unity to the highest supremacy in society: “Unity, unity, great unity / Success, success, great success”. “Ten times easy, without the people, it cannot be done / A hundred times difficult, with the people, it will be accomplished”. He affirmed: “Ours is a democratic country; the highest status belongs to the people, because the people are the masters”; “Ours is a democratic regime, meaning the people are the masters”. According to him, “Under the sky, there is nothing as precious as the people. In the world, there is nothing as powerful as the united strength of the people”. President Ho Chi Minh’s most comprehensive and overarching viewpoint is: “All power and force lie with the people”.

“The people are the root” continues to be thoroughly grasped in the new era

The value of 40 years of Đổi Mới, based on the Party’s leadership in harnessing the strength of the people, is being carried forward by the 14^th National Party Congress into the nation’s new era of development. Vietnam begins to enter a period of double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates. This also reflects the aspiration to successfully build a modern, powerful Vietnam that stands shoulder to shoulder with the major powers across the five continents, just as President Ho Chi Minh wished, which is also the aspiration of the entire nation in the 21^st century.

The Resolution of the 14^th National Party Congress determines: We must promote the principal role and central position of the people. All lines and policies must genuinely stem from the aspirations, rights, lawful and legitimate interests, and happiness of the people; we must truly trust, respect, and promote the people’s right to mastery; we must persistently implement the motto “The people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people check, the people supervise, the people benefit”; we must tighten the close relationship between the Party and the people, rely on the people to build the Party and the political system. The satisfaction and trust of the people and businesses, alongside work efficiency, must be taken as the criteria for evaluating officials. Also, we must strengthen, consolidate, and effectively harness the strength of the people and great national unity.

Amid complex and unpredictable global changes, our country’s development has opportunities and faces new challenges. This makes it even more imperative to maintain innovative thinking, exert great effort, take resolute action, and focus on building and promoting the strength of the people, upholding the will and aspiration for development, and shaping the future. Over the past nearly 40 years of Đổi Mới, the Party has steadfastly led the country to continue achieving highly important, comprehensive, breakthrough results, with many outstanding highlights. It must be affirmed that these results have been achieved due to two factors: the shrewd leadership of the Party and the strength of great national unity. The Party has always attached significance to building and promoting the strength of the people in the cause of national construction and defence.

The Resolution of the 14^th National Party Congress outlines numerous solutions to profoundly grasp and actively implement the principle that “The people are the root”, among which the following key points emerge.

First, continuing to synchronously build and perfect the institution for the rapid and sustainable development of the country. In the activities of the political system, greater emphasis must be placed on building and perfecting mechanisms and policies to effectively realise the people’s right to mastery and enforce laws on grass-roots democracy. We must promote the role of the people in participating in building a clean, comprehensively strong Party and political system. We must implement the principle that the Party is closely bound to the people, serves the people, is subject to the people’s supervision, and is accountable to the people for its decisions. We must promote the people’s right to mastery across all areas of social life. There must be suitable, favourable, and reliable mechanisms for the people to express their opinions during the formulation of lines, policies, and decisions on major and important national issues; we must uphold the responsibility of Party and State agencies to receive and respond to the recommendations and proposals of the people. We must fully implement direct and representative democracy, particularly grass-roots democracy, while combating manifestations of superficial democracy.

Second, the Party itself must always remain clean and strong to rally the strength of the entire people and armed forces, aiming to build and consolidate strength that integrates national strength with the strength of the era. Simultaneously, we must truly and effectively build a socialist rule-of-law State of the people, by the people, and for the people, led by the Party; accordingly, the people must hold the supreme position and role within the power structure of the State and the whole of society. The Party must renew its mass mobilisation work, further tighten its close ties with the people, and rely on the people to build the Party and the political system. We must continue to renew the content and methods of public mobilisation. We must promote the role and participation of the people in formulating, promulgating, and implementing the Party’s lines and the State's laws and policies, ensure a harmony of interests between the State, businesses, and the people, as well as between regions and localities. We must encourage - in a substantive, scientifically planned, and rigorous manner - the people’s participation in supervising and evaluating the operational efficiency of organisations within the political system, as well as the moral qualities and capabilities of officials, party members, and civil servants, especially at grass-roots level. Mass mobilisation must be linked with the effective implementation of socio-economic development policies, right from grass-roots level. We must renew the methods of leadership and mobilisation and effectively implement lines and policies on ethnicity and religion. Emphasis should be placed on further developing a core force of reputable individuals within ethnic and religious communities, firmly grasping the situation of the people in each locality, proactively preventing, promptly detecting, and thoroughly resolving “hotspots” and complex cases so they do not prolong, spread, or escalate.

Third, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political - social organisations must continue to be reorganised and restructured to ensure unified, effective operations and promote the strength of the people and great national unity. Patriotic emulation movements need to be actively carried out with profound and widespread impact; the people’s right to mastery must be more fully promoted; the lawful, legitimate rights and interests of the people must be cared for and protected. Grass-roots democracy, direct democracy, and representative democracy must be advanced; the quality of social oversight and criticism must be elevated. We must synchronously perfect mechanisms and policies to improve the operational efficiency of the Fatherland Front, political - social organisations, social organisations, and residential communities in participating in building the Party and the political system, and in self-governance activities. We must build and effectively enforce mechanisms for social oversight and criticism regarding the activities of party organisations and state agencies, and step up the practice of democracy in society, especially at grass-roots level.

Fourth, we must accelerate the building of a digital government and a digital society to meet the requirements of creating development and sustainably governing social progress. We must build a multi-tiered, modern, and flexibly adaptive social security system with the people being placing at the centre, thereby improving social welfare for the entire population. We must ensure that all citizens have access to and can enjoy high-quality basic and essential social services; we must prioritise social policy beneficiaries, vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, and those in the informal sector; we must build a fair, high-quality, effective, and sustainable healthcare system, with a focus on improving the quality and skills in disease prevention, medical treatment, and epidemic control. We must strive towards the fundamental goal of eliminating poverty-stricken households and basically providing free health care for the entire population. We must strengthen and improve the efficiency of state administration and effectively implement ethnic and religious policies. We must develop a flexible, synchronous, modern, and integrated labour market. Focus should be placed on creating jobs with stable incomes, supporting the improvement of living standards for workers in the informal sector, and assisting those beyond working age. We must encourage legitimate wealth creation and the robust development of the middle class.

Finally, democracy must go hand in hand with national discipline and law. We must promote democracy alongside enhancing responsibility, social order, and discipline, strengthen social consensus coupled with elevating citizens’ sense of responsibility, and strictly deal with acts that violate the people’s right to mastery, as well as actions by political opportunists and hostile forces aimed at exploiting democracy to sabotage our Party and State, undermine our socialist political regime, cause socio-political instability, divide the great national unity bloc, and weaken our country’s strength. We must harmoniously resolve relationships of interests, ensure fairness and equality among all ethnic groups, classes, social strata, and every individual in accessing opportunities and enjoying the fruits of development, leave no one behind, and raise a sense of responsibility among every individual and community towards the nation.

The continuous comprehension of the principle that “The people are the root”, as reflected in the Resolution of the 14^th National Party Congress, alongside building, developing, and harnessing the strength of the people, has always been a consistent, fundamental guideline and a cross-cutting value throughout the Party’s revolutionary process. Only by profoundly grasping and actively implementing this perspective can we firmly secure the success of the Vietnamese revolution in the nation’s new era of development, foremost of which is achieving the two centenary goals by 2030 and 2045.

Prof. MACH QUANG THANG, PhD