In the history of the Vietnamese revolution, party and political work has always been a very important part of the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) over the Military, acting as a basic duty of all-level party committees, political commissars, junior political commissars, commanders, and political agencies, aiming to maintain and enhance the CPV’s absolute, direct, all-round leadership over the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), enabling the VPA to retain its deep working-class, people-oriented, and national natures and its absolute loyalty to the Fatherland, CPV, State, and people, readily undertake and excellently fulfil all assigned tasks. As a dialectically uniform component of the CPV’s communication and education work aimed at building up troops’ ideal and faith in our Party and people’s revolutionary cause, party and political work within the VPA makes direct contributions to increasing military staff’s spiritual strength and political resolve for all victories.

Head of the Central Commission for Communication and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia encourages participating forces in the grand ceremony and parade marking the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (photo: mod.gov.vn)

1. The role of the General Department of Politics of the VPA in the Party’s communication and education work

The VPA’s history of construction, combat, and maturity pertains to the history of formation and development of the General Department of Politics (GDP). Under the leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND), the GDP has played a central role in carrying out strategic staff work, directing, guiding, and implementing party and political work in combat, combat readiness, training, exercises, search and rescue, natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control. The GDP has always proactively, actively given advice and direction on building a politically strong VPA, ensuring the CPV’s absolute, direct, all-round leadership over the Military, rendering cadres and soldiers absolutely loyal to the Party’s glorious revolutionary cause, excellently fulfilling all tasks assigned by the CPV, State, and people. The GDP has also demonstrated its crucial role in the Party’s communication and education work across the VPA in different periods of history.

In the resistance war against French colonialists, our Party attached special importance to ideological work, considering this work as a key incentive to enable our Military and people to win against the enemy. The GDP regularly, effectively carried out propagation work, political education work, and ideological work to encourage cadres and soldiers to bolster their combat morale for protecting the people and maintaining national independence under the motto “we would rather sacrifice everything than lose our country, than return to slavery”. The GDP devoted efforts to disseminating the Party’s lines, i.e. all-people, all-round resistance war, concurrent resistance war and national construction, protracted resistance war with assured victory, and emulation movements during combat. In addition to training all-level political cadres, the GDP regularly provided information for troops by designing documents, stepping up press and publication work, organising Army-wide conferences on communication and education, thereby contributing to raising the quality and effectiveness of political and ideological work within the VPA and cementing troops’ faith in the CPV and the complete victory of the Vietnamese revolution. Communication and education work within the VPA in that period was regularly, continuously enhanced in terms of political theory education, propagation, and spiritual encouragement as the 3 main points. Emphasis was placed on raising troops’ awareness of the Party’s major lines during the resistance war, rendering all cadres and soldiers fully aware of the “active, proactive, mobile, flexible” motto during combat and the transition from “rapid fight, rapid victory” to “steady fight, steady advance” during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Besides, propagation work continued to be promoted via the spread of leaflets, mottos, bulletin boards, and placards; advocating that “emulation is patriotic, those that are patriotic must emulate”, the whole VPA robustly developed typical emulation movements, such as “annihilating enemy troops to achieve feats of arms”, to greatly contribute to the victory of Dien Bien Phu that “resounded across the five continents and shook the globe”.

During the resistance war against US imperialists for national salvation, the Party’s communication and education made new developments in terms of content, form, method, and personnel. Under the CMC’s leadership, the GDP’s close, detailed direction and guidance allowed cadres and soldiers to clearly understand the new situation and tasks, consider the US as the direct enemy of the Vietnamese revolution, take US Army and its lackeys as the VPA’s main object of combat, and perceive that our people’s struggle for peace, unity, and independence would be durable, arduous, and complex. Cognisant of the importance of communication and education work to promoting troops’ combat morale, the GDP issued a directive on organising a campaign to introduce new tasks to cadres and soldiers across the VPA. Doing so enabled cadres and soldiers to comprehend the urgency of our revolutionary situation, grasp the enemy’s plot of military aggression, and uphold their “determination to fulfil all tasks anywhere” and “sacrifice to the last drop of blood for national independence and freedom, for socialism”. At the same time, propagation work brought into play patriotism and encouraged generations of Northern youths to “split Truong Son mountain” towards the Southern battlefield; Northern people and troops heightened the spirit of determination to fight and to win, readily surmounting all hardships and defeating any types of warfare developed by the enemy. In the South, ideological education across the Military contributed to raising public awareness of the nature and tasks of the revolutionary struggle against neo-colonialism, stimulating troops’ participation in offensives against the enemy, maintaining readiness for dealing with forms of warfare and the spirit of “sacrificing everything” and “fighting to the last man to protect the Fatherland and gain complete independence”. One of the most effective forms of communication and education was Patriotic Emulation Movements within the VPA which continued to be developed to a new height. Typical examples included “Three-best” movement and “Searching for Saigon puppet regime’s troops to fight, searching for US troops to kill” movement; the spread of typical examples during emulation movements, heroes of the people’s armed forces, and valiant destroyers of the Yanks opportunely encouraged a large number of young people to join the Military and motivated cadres and soldiers to strive to achieve landslide feats of arms. Notably, in the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, communication and education work brought into play our general political strength from all forces and means, thus making a worthy contribution to liberating the South and unifying the country.

In the new period, under directives, resolutions, conclusions, and regulations by the Party Central Committee (PCC) and the CMC, the GDP has organised many political campaigns for cadres and soldiers across the VPA. Communication and education work within the Military has been carried out in diverse, flexible, creative forms with practical results. All-level party committees, political commissars, commands, and political offices have adopted proper measures to raise the quality and effectiveness of ideological work. Ideological work has always been conducted prior to each task to give orientations in terms of awareness and action relevant to each group of troops. Units across the VPA have proactively grasped and managed ideological developments among their troops, combining political education with discipline management, regularity building, cultural, artistic, and communication activities, and revolutionary action movements within the Military, closely taking steps of ideological orientation, management, forecast, struggle, and settlement. At the same time, they have promoted the role of organisations, forces, cultural institutions, and all means of communication and education and cooperated with local authorities and military families in educating and managing troops.

Furthermore, the Determined to Win Emulation Movement has developed both widely and deeply, with a focus on building a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern VPA, well implementing breakthroughs in overcoming weaknesses, stimulating self-reliance against difficulties for new achievements. Typical movements include “good training, strict discipline, high combat readiness”, “good practice, good combat”, “one focus, three breakthroughs”, and “the entire Military acts in compliance with troop management regulations”. The Determined to Win Emulation Movement has been closely combined with the Resolutions of the PCC’s 4^th Plenum (11^th, 12^th, 13^th tenure) on Party building and rectification and the 13^th Politburo’s Conclusion 01-KL/TW, dated 18 May 2021, on continuing to execute the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle. As a result, cadres and soldiers have shown their great responsibility, political steadfastness, self-reliance, creativity, and unity to surmount difficulties and fulfil all assigned tasks, particularly the dangerous, arduous ones, while resolutely fighting against wrong viewpoints, individualism, corruption, and negative practices. They have also actively taken part in combating hostile viewpoints, signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, and hostile forces’ plot to “depoliticise” our VPA, acting as the vanguard force in protecting the Party’s ideological foundation. Communication and education work has directly contributed to bringing into play the revolutionary nature, tradition, and noble virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, turning the VPA into a reliable, absolutely loyal political and fighting force of our Party, State, and people.

The GDP’s achievements and feats of arms gained throughout periods of history, especially in the two resistance wars of the nation have proved its very important role in promoting the Party’s communication and education work, building a strong VPA in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel, creating a huge positive change in the Military’s task performance, raising the VPA’s synergy and combat power for firmly protecting national independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity and ensuring a peaceful, stable environment in the process of national construction and development.

2. Continuing to promote the GDP’s role in the Party’s communication and education work in the new situation

In the upcoming time, the situation in the region and throughout the world will continue to have rapid, complex, unpredictable developments. Disputes over territories and in the East Sea will probably be more intense. Globalisation and the 4^th industrial revolution will create more opportunities and pose a lot of challenges to defence and security consolidation. Domestically, tremendous, historic achievements in the Doi Moi cause (national renovation) have laid a solid foundation for our country to continue to build a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA. However, new, higher requirements will be imposed on the task of Fatherland protection due to our country’s deeper and wider integration into the world. Moreover, the dark side of the market economy, hostile forces’ sabotage, and the VPA’s organisational adjustments will greatly impact on thoughts and psychology of military staff and citizens.

The new situation necessitates maintaining and strengthening the CPV’s absolute, direct, all-round leadership over the Military as a precondition for the current task of Fatherland protection. At the same time, it is necessary to rely on the people, take the people as the root, bring into play self-reliance, cultural tradition, patriotism, and great national unity strength, and build a “posture of people’s hearts and minds” as a deciding factor in the cause of national construction and protection.

That situation also necessitates continuing to further promote the GDP’s role in the Party’s communication and education work, unceasingly enhancing our Military’s combat determination, and achieving a consensus within the CPV and the people so as to “safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, protect the Party, State, people, socialist regime, culture, and national benefits, maintain peace, political stability, national security, and human security, build a disciplined, safe, healthy society for socialist-oriented national development”. To that end, it is essential to focus on several basic measures as follows.

First, the GDP should play a vanguard role in the propagation, dissemination, and implementation of the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies; it should always maintain the CPV’s political and ideological foundation within the Military and ensure that the VPA will always be absolutely loyal to the Party, Fatherland, and people, contributing to cementing the people’s faith, creating motivations for stepping up the Doi Moi cause comprehensively, synchronously and successfully fulfilling the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress. The fundamental requirement for defence tasks is to develop a source of strength for Fatherland protection and to build all-people national defence on the basis of great national unity strength under the CPV’s leadership. Hence, all-level party committees across the Military should attach great value to encouraging people from all walks of life to actively, proactively implement the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies on fostering socio-economic development, bringing into play the spirit of independence and self-reliance, creating synergy, and combining the national strength with the strength of the times for successfully performing the two strategic tasks of Fatherland construction and protection.

Second, continuing to grasp, disseminate, and implement the CPV’s lines and tasks relating to the building of a politically, ideologically, morally strong Party within the VPA. This is a matter of principle to the performance of ideological work to raise all troops’ political awareness, revolutionary faith, and combat determination. To that end, it is necessary to well conduct political and ideological education work to instil Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, and the Party’s lines and viewpoints on defence work and Fatherland protection into cadres and soldiers as well as to improve troops’ ideal, pride, and faith in our Party and people’s revolutionary cause. Simultaneously, it is essential to continue to execute the Resolutions of the PCC’s 4^th Plenum (11^th, 12^th tenure) and Conclusion 21-KL/TW, dated 25 October 2021, by the 13^th PCC’s 4^th Plenum on the building and rectification of the Party and political system in tandem with the 13^th Politburo’s Conclusion 01-KL/TW, dated 18 May 2021, on continuing to implement the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW, dated 15 May 2016, on the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the 9^th Politburo’s Resolution 51-NQ/TW, dated 20 July 2005, and the CMC’s Resolution 513-NQ/ĐUQSTW, dated 17 November 2005, on “continuing to complete the Party’s mechanisms of leadership and implement one-commander regime in line with political commissar and junior political commissar regime within the VPA”, the CMC’s Resolution 109-NQ/QUTW, dated 11 February 2019, on “building a pool of military cadres, particularly at operational and strategic levels to meet the task requirements in the new situation”, the CMC’s Statute 2036-QC/QUTW, dated 16 June 2023, on “leadership over personnel work within the VPA”, the 13^th Politburo’s Regulation 144-QĐ/TW, dated 9 May 2024, on revolutionary moral standards of cadres and party members in the new period. Due attention should be paid to realising the Party’s lines and viewpoints on military - defence and Fatherland protection tasks and researching into issues of communication and education work in the new situation as the basis for opportunely, effectively proposing remedial measures appropriate to practical developments.

Significance should be attached to propagating the fight against corruption and negative practices in a proactive, persistent, drastic manner. Under the leadership of the Central Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Corruption and Negative Practices, the CMC and the MND should continue to direct the Military Party Organisation and the whole VPA to combat “internal enemies” according to the tasks set by the Project on “preventing and fighting negative practices, corruption, and wastefulness within the Military” to contribute to building a pure, strong Military Party Organisation and an adept, compact, strong VPA towards modernity. Due regard should be paid to developing a contingent of cadres and soldiers with pure morality and a sense of responsibility for practising thrift, combating corruption and wastefulness, and well implementing regulations on management of finance and public property.

Third, the GDP should be the main agency in charge of giving advice to the CMC and directing the entire VPA to take a pioneering role in realising the systems of cultural values, national values, Vietnamese human norms, and family values in practice, especially the noble values of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”. The GDP should direct the dissemination of the CPV’s lines and viewpoints on the development of an advanced Vietnamese culture deeply imbued with national identity and regulations on the building of military cultural environment among cadres and soldiers. It should direct offices and units to educate troops on national and military values and cultural traditions, such as patriotism, revolutionary heroism, humanitarianism, peace-loving spirit. It is necessary to keep executing the 12^th Politburo’s Conclusion 76-KL/TW, dated 4 June 2020, on continuing to realise the 11^th PCC’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW, dated 9 June 2014, on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people towards sustainable national development, the CMC’s Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021, on promoting the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” and resolutely fighting individualism in the new situation, the CMC Standing Board’s Directive 855-CT/QUTW, dated 12 August 2019, on stepping up the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new era”, the CMC Standing Board’s Conclusion 1172-KL/QUTW, dated 16 June 2022, on continuing to strengthen leadership over cultural and artistic work within the Military in the new period, and the GDP’s Plan 1349/KH-CT, dated 15 August 2022, on implementing the Strategy for cultural development within the VPA towards 2030. Emphasis should be placed on clarifying the values and virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new period to build a comprehensively strong VPA worthy of an Army of a civilised and heroic Vietnam.

Fourth, continuing to renew and improve political education, social sciences and humanities education to contribute to raising troops’ political awareness, scientific credence, and combat determination. This measure should be seen as a central, routine task with proper measures of leadership and direction. Consideration should be given to equipping cadres and soldiers with basic knowledge of Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s lines and viewpoints, the State’s laws and policies, the country’s revolutionary tasks, military - defence and Fatherland protection tasks, and units’ tasks. Significance should be attached to educating troops on patriotism, the national history of fighting foreign invaders, and the VPA’s tradition of determination to fight and to win. Due attention should be paid to grasping military - defence strategies, particularly the 13^th PCC’s Resolution 44-NQ/TW, dated 24 November 2023, on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, unmasking hostile forces’ nature, plots, and new artifices, distinguishing between partners and opponents, clearly understanding opportunities, advantages, difficulties, and challenges in the cause of national construction and protection, and raising vigilance, a sense of responsibility, and resolve for combat readiness in any circumstances. Notably, it is vital to well execute the CMC’s Directive 2423-CT/QUTW, dated 9 November 2023, on “renewing and improving political education in the new period” and the Project on “renewing social sciences and humanities education within schools of the VPA”. It is important to strengthen and renew methods of leadership and direction of party committees, party organisations, political commissars, junior political commissars, and commands at all levels over political education and social sciences and humanities education, resolutely settle weaknesses, create a solid, substantial positive change in the quality of political education and social sciences and humanities education within the VPA and the militia and self-defence force, raise the quality of a contingent of cadres in charge of political education and social sciences and humanities education, and promote the example-setting responsibility of cadres and party members, particularly the key ones at all levels.

Additionally, great value should be attached to grasping and studying viewpoints, resolutions, directives, and guiding documents by the PCC, CMC, MND, and GDP on ideological work, especially the GDP’s Statute 775/QC-CT, dated 12 May 2022, on “the work of troop ideology management; public opinion management and orientation within the VPA”. Offices and units should comprehend the role of special importance of ideological work to develop measures of leadership and direction over this work in accordance with their training and combat readiness realities and their troops’ activities via their party committees’ resolutions and commands’ action plans/programs, ensuring that ideological work will always be one step ahead of every task. Besides, offices and units should grasp and well implement the content, procedures, and steps of ideological work at grass-roots level, while analysing, assessing, and opportunely, effectively handling ideological issues to maintain ideological stability, uniformity, and consensus within themselves.

Fifth, stepping up the Determined to Win Emulation Movement and well organising propagation work for major events of the country and the VPA. Via the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, it is necessary to continue to encourage cadres and soldiers to actively overcome all difficulties, follow typical examples to correct and assert themselves, and build up the spirit of determination to fight, knowing how to fight, and determination to win. The entire VPA should continue to effectively execute the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new period”, build a healthy cultural environment, and keep improving troops’ mental and material life. Those pieces of work must be regularly carried out within offices and units as a routine task of all cadres and soldiers in order to achieve a positive change in troops’ morality, lifestyle, and task performance. Due attention should be paid to achieving a consensus among all troops and creating synergy for excellently fulfilling the task of national construction and protection in the new situation; new motivations should be generated via new movements and models, effective, creative approaches, and typical examples to turn the study and following of President Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle into a routine, daily action of cadres and soldiers; the strength of the whole VPA, political system, and people for building robust all-people national defence and firmly protecting the Socialist Fatherland in the new situation should be mobilised. The Determined to Win Emulation Movement must be derived from the Patriotic Emulation Movement and must be closely aligned with major campaigns across the country and within each committee, ministry, sector, and locality.

Much weight should be given to directing the organisation of major events of the country and the VPA under conclusions by the Politburo and the PCC’s Secretariat, guidance by the Central Commission for Communication and Education as well as projects, plans, and guiding documents by the MND and the GDP in an effective, practical way. In the short term, emphasis should be placed on organising birthday celebrations of several former key leaders of the Party, State, and Vietnamese revolution and preparing forces and means for propagating all-level party congresses towards the 14^th National Party Congress to contribute to creating a cheerful, united, uniform atmosphere within the Party and society, affirming cadres and soldiers’ confidence and pride, and providing an incentive for accomplishing the tasks of building and protecting the Socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Sixth, enhancing the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation and the fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints. To that end, the VPA should regularly keep a close watch on situational developments and proactively combat wrong, hostile information and viewpoints to defend Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s lines and viewpoints, the Doi Moi cause, and the path to socialism and thwart hostile forces’ plot to “depoliticise” the VPA and the “peaceful evolution” strategy against our Party, State, and national great unity. The VPA should grasp and execute the 13^th Politburo’s Conclusion 89-KL/TW, dated 25 July 2024, on continuing to implement the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 35-NQ/TW, dated 22 October 2018, on “enhancing the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation, combating wrong, hostile viewpoints in the new situation”, undertaking researches to unmask hostile forces’ new plots, artifices, and acts of sabotage and opportunely provide information and orientations for the entire force in charge of this work. Coordination should be maintained to prevent and remove websites, weblogs, and social network accounts that release wrong, evil information under Conclusion 53-KL/TW, dated 4 June 2019, by the PCC’s Secretariat on “directing the fight for preventing, invalidating, removing fake news and wrong information on the Internet and social networks”. The GDP should continue to give sound advice to the CMC and the MND on directing the entire VPA to actively take part in the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation and ensure that the VPA will always take the lead on this front. Due regard should be paid to improving troops’ methods of objectively, scientifically evaluating enemy weak and strong points, enabling troops to realise our power, building up troops’ faith in our creative art of war and existing weapons and equipment to readily defeat enemies’ wars using hi-tech weapons.

Seventh, well conducting external information and propagation work, especially regarding border demarcation and the protection of national sovereignty over seas and islands. Amid the country’s deep and wide integration into the world, the GDP should attach greater importance to external information and propagation work to increase our strength for protecting the country’s border, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. It should focus on directing the entire VPA to grasp our Party and State’s foreign lines and policies, particularly the 13^th Politburo’s Conclusion 57-KL/TW, dated 15 June 2023, on continuing to raise the quality and effectiveness of external information work in the new situation, and render cadres and soldiers fully aware of the importance of external information work and Vietnam’s foreign policies. The work of external information should be aimed at improving the effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral defence relations, maintaining the goals and orientations of international integration, putting national interests above all, closely combining defence diplomacy with economic integration to increase material and technical potential for national defence. Doing so will help build strategic trust, raise the position and prestige of our country and VPA, and create a solid posture of defence diplomacy for protecting the Fatherland early and from afar by peaceful means.

With its 80-year history of development, hopefully the GDP will continue to promote its role and responsibility, unceasingly renewing and improving communication and education work to contribute to building a politically, ideologically, morally strong VPA as the basis for raising the Military’s synergy and combat strength and successfully fulfilling the two strategic tasks of national construction and protection in the new situation.

Sr. Lt. Gen. NGUYEN TRONG NGHIA

Member of the Politburo

Secretary of the PCC

Head of the Central Commission for Communication and Education