Education of Party’s Lines Contributes to the Current Fight against Wrongful and Hostile Views

Since the collapse of the socialist model in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, controversial hostile forces have intensified attacks and distortions against the Party’s revolutionary history, in which they consider “opposing the Communist Party a fundamental task, a disruptive breakthrough”(6). They have opposed, distorted, and defamed the Party in terms of theory, policies, and specific facts, focusing on complete or partial rejection of the fundamental content of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, lines and views of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and policies and laws of our State. Denying the success of the chosen revolutionary path of national independence associated with socialism, they argue that the victory of the August Revolution was a “stroke of good fortune” brought about by World War II, and that the armed resistance that caused traumatic loss was unnecessary. They think that the socialist path that our Party, former President Ho Chi Minh and our people have chosen is “blind and ambiguous”, “utopian”, and that “whatever ideology or regime is fine, as long as the people are prospering, and the country is strong”. They deliberately separate and oppose national independence from socialism; national sovereignty against socialist ideology; propagating hostile claims that “the Communist Party of Vietnam puts ideology above national sovereignty,” and so on; They also claim that the Communist Party is totalitarian, “a dictatorship”, “non-democratic”, and only suitable in the wartime, not in peacetime, thus it has completed its mission and must be replaced by a multi-party-political system, etc.

Hostile forces have taken advantage of the press and social networks to sabotage our country’s revolution, creating impediments to the protection of our Party’s current ideological foundation. In a Report to the US Department of State, Jon Aloisi (former Deputy Chief of Mission in Vietnam) once wrote: “Our greatest success has been the introduction of the Internet in Vietnam. It is an effective means for the campaign to spread Western ideas as part of the strategy to change the polity in this country”(7).

2. Some requirements to grasp in educating the Party’s line, contributing to the fight against false and hostile views

Firstly, clarify the theoretical and practical basis in the planning of the Party’s guidelines and viewpoints.

One of the common arguments used by hostile forces is separating the Party’s lines and viewpoints from history’s circumtances, demands and problems of revolutionary reality. They attempt to replace objective reality with subjective will. Therefore, it is imperative to clarify the theoretical and practical basis of the Party’s lines; building, consolidating, protecting, and developing the three pillars of the political regime in our country including: 1/ Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought; 2/ Socialist regime; 3/ The Communist Party of Vietnam to protect the ideological foundation of the Party and fight against false and hostile views.

Marxism-Leninism is a system of ideas, views, and scientific theories about the cause of class, social, and human emancipation and showing the forces, the ways and the methods to achieve that goal. With the qualities of genuine revolutionaries and great scholars, K. Marx, F. Engels, V.I. Lenin founded scientific socialism and devoted their whole life to turning the theory of scientific revolution into reality by guiding and pointing out the way for mankind to move towards communism, after passing through the previous intermediary stage of socialism. Marxism-Leninism provides scientific commentary through the process of dialectical materialism to the inevitable substitution of socio-economic forms in human history; on the class struggle between the working class and the bourgeoisie; on the inevitability of capitalism’s collapse and the triumph of socialism.

The 9th Party’s Congress affirmed: “Ho Chi Minh Thought is a profound, comprehensive system of views on fundamental issues of the Vietnamese revolution, the result of the application and creative development of Marxism-Leninism, taking into account our country’s specific conditions, encouraging the inheritance and development of our nation’s fine traditional values, absorbing the cultural quintessence of mankind. Ho Chi Minh Thought paves the way for the victory of our people’s struggle, it is a great spiritual asset of the Party and our nation”(8). The 13th Party Congress determined: “To stay consistent to the foundation of Marxism- Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, and be persistent in constantly supplementing and developing creatively in accordance with Vietnam’s reality.” (9).

Grasping the revolutionary and scientific nature of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, our Party has promptly and accurately answered a series of strategic and tactical issues, bringing the Vietnamese revolution one successful victory after another. Consequently, education on the Party’s line must clarify the Marxist-Leninist theoretical basis, and Ho Chi Minh Thought in those views and lines.

The revolutionary cause of the proletariat has always been closely linked to the theory and historical and social conditions of each nation. Revolution is creative, truth is concrete. The revolution of the proletariat, at specific times, the goals, requirements, and tasks of the revolution are also set forth by very specific recommendations.

The lines and views of our Party are always closely linked with the characteristics and conditions of the country and the nation, the level and ability of the masses to be enlightened to the revolution; the Party’s lines are also a true reflection of the legitimate interests and aspirations of the masses in each revolutionary period to answer practical problems. Education of the Party’s lines, strategies and tactics that are not consistent with and separate from specific historical contexts will discredit their revolutionary and scientific characteristics.

Over the past 92 years of our Vietnamese revolution’s reality, during the process of planning its tactical and strategic lines, our Party has always been closely associated Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought with the country’s reality, the capacity and aspirations of the masses and the demands of the revolution in each specific period. It is by following along the right line, with loyalty, devotion, and the heroic sacrifices of millions of Party members and the masses that the Party’s mission has become a reality. This has also been confirmed that only the Communist Party of Vietnam - a genuine Marxist-Leninist Party, the Party founded and trained by President Ho Chi Minh can appreciate the revolutionary and scientific nature of the new working class, and has the mettle and wisdom to lead the revolutionary cause to overcome many difficulties and challenges ahead, and the ability to gain breakthrough achievements in the future of mankind; that is an undeniable fact.

Second, education of Party’s lines must grasp the dialectical unity between issues of fundamental principles of the revolution, strategic goals and specific goals, tasks, guidelines, and solutions.

Our Party has always adhered to the principle of democratic centralism, which listens to and respects the opinions of cadres, Party members, scholars, and people from all walks of life. Recently, after the 13th Party’s Congress, hostile forces have taken advantage of democratic mechanisms by sending “letters of suggestion and recommendation” ... to the Party, attempting to distribute documents with controversial content, to steer the Party’s line in a different direction with the purpose of diverting or abolishing the road to socialism, objecting to the Party’s leadership role; objecting to the ideological foundation of the Party, etc. Those views are aimed at eliminating the principles and strategic goals of the revolution.

According to the Party’s lines, strategic goals and specific objectives and tasks always have an interrelationship, in which strategic goals play the role of orienting specific direction, tasks, policies and solutions. Based on defined strategic lines, specific goals, tasks and solutions in each revolutionary period are set in a creative, flexible, suitable manner to the objective and subjective conditions. We understand that every mistake and defect has its harmful effects, but the worst and most dangerous is the mistake of disregarding the fundamental principle of the revolution, because the fundamental principles set the red line between revolution and counter-revolution, socialism and non-socialism, etc. Education of the Party’s lines in the dialectical unity between the fundamental principal issues of the revolution, strategic goals and specific goals, tasks, guidelines and solutions is the basis for fighting to discern what are sincere constructive ideas to support the Party’s lines, and what is the point of surreptitiously, under the guise of democracy, trying to distort the Party’s lines and views, and opposing the revolutionary path that has been chosen by the Party, Uncle Ho and our people?

Third, clarify the value and meaning of the achievements gained in different periods of the revolution under the Party’s leadership to affirm the correctness of the Party’s lines.

Hostile forces often attempt to distort the perception of the revolution’s achievements. They disparage, compare, and underestimate the achievements of the revolution to downplay the great merits of the Party and the revolution, and attempt to revise the historical achievements of the Party.

Reality is the criterion of truth. The Party’s mission is reflected in reality. The victorious values of the revolution are eloquent proof of the Party’s effective leadership capacity. Each achievement of the revolution has always been within specific historical conditions and circumstances contributed by the blood and sweat of generations of Vietnamese people. Therefore, when talking about the achievements of the revolution, it is not enough to just simply mention figures and enumerate advantages. We need to analyze and interpret the revolution’s values and qualities. For example: The Vietnam war (1954 - 1975) first and foremost originated from the internal interests of the imperialist countries, particularly the global strategy of the US. The ruling powers in the United States advocated to use military force to achieve strategic goals. During the 1954-1959 period, our Party persisted in not using armed struggle to unify the country, however, Ngo Dinh Diem’s government exerted intense persecution and bloody suppression of communists, resistance cadres, and patriotic people who used peaceful political struggle to demand for improved people’s life, democracy and peace. Therefore, it is not effective to persist in political/peaceful struggle anymore. That situation lasted for a long time, causing heavy consequences for the revolutionary movement. In July 1959, the Party Central Committee’s Resolution No. 15 affirmed that the basic task of the Southern revolution was to liberate the South; the immediate task was to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem’s government, the henchman of the US imperialists; the revolutionary struggle method was using revolutionary violence, progressively evolving from the political struggle to the combined one: political and armed struggle; the developmental trend was predicated on the people’s uprising to long- term armed struggle. The inception of Resolution No. 15 met the requirements of the situation and the aspirations of a large number of cadres, Party members and people, turning the South’s struggle movement out of its dangerous situation and opening a new direction for the struggle movement in the South.

Each victory of the revolution serves as a premise for the next step to come. Each achievement must be considered in specific circumstances, objective, and subjective conditions, with its full value and meaning, so as we can properly appreciate the merits of our Party and people. It is inevitable that during the process, the leadership of our Party has stumbled occasionally and made some mistakes. Those mistakes and shortcomings were soon discovered and publicly acknowledged by the Party, which proves that the Party believes in itself and the people, and is determined to correct itself to fulfill its role. However, at present, hostile forces still thoroughly recall and insist on focusing on and taking advantage of several mistakes and stumbling blocks of the Party in the past, contending that in the future the Party would no longer be capable of leading the revolution. Properly interpreting the achievements and pointing out the shortcomings of the revolutionary leadership of the Party with its full revolutionary and scientific character is the basis for our Party to constantly summarize and evaluate the reality to complete its lines. This is also a strong argument to affirm the Party’s leadership role and refute all historical distortions by hostile oppositional forces.