The leadership of the Party is the decisive factor of all successes, growth and development of the Vietnam People’s Army

(Bqp.vn) - On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army, Communist Review introduces the article written by General Secretary the Communist Party of Viet Nam and Chairman of the Central Military Commission Nguyen Phu Trong entitled: “The leadership of the Party is the decisive factor of all successes, growth and development of the Vietnam People’s Army.”

Illustrative only.

“Over the past 70 years of building, fighting and growing under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the Vietnam People’s Army has demonstrated its absolute loyalty to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, its unity, bond, courage in fighting, and creativeness, and together with the Party and people made glorious triumphs in the cause of national liberation, construction and defense. These are aggregate results created by many factors of which the leadership of the Party over the Vietnam People’s Army is the decisive one.

The Party’s leadership of the Vietnam People’s Army has been established very early and constantly supplemented and completed. That is the comprehensive and absolute leadership in politics, ideology, organization and personnel through a strict and suitable mechanism and methodology. Right from its first Political Platform in 1930, the Party pointed to urgently “organize the worker-farmer army.” In the Resolution on the self-defense guards in 1935, the Party stated: “To persistently maintain leadership of the Party over permanent self-defense guards,” “Heads self-defense units and Party delegates should cooperate in the leadership.”

In its leadership to build and develop forces for armed uprising to seize power, the Party set out the task to direct the guerilla units to the correct “political path” of the Party. In 1944, in face of the demand to establish the national main-force brigade, leader Nguyen Ai Quoc advised comrade Vo Nguyen Giap: “The army should consider the Party cells as the leading force.” To realize Uncle Ho’s instruction, the Party cells of the Armed Propaganda Brigade for the Liberation of Viet Nam was set up to lead the brigade to absolutely and directly implement its tasks in all fields.

In the early stage of the resistance war against the French colonialists, the army developed quickly in quantity. To maintain its firm leadership, the Party continued studying and established mechanism and took the leadership over the army. The Central Military Commission was set up in January 1946. Military party committees were established from the military regions to military party cells. The mechanism of two leaders (military and political officers) to command units from military regions to platoons was implemented and political commissars was reinstated in October 1948 to represent the Party’s leadership in the army.

Based on the practices of the Party’s leadership over the army in the resistance war, the Party Central Committee 2nd Tenure issued Resolution 07 dated 20 May 1952 on the overall collective leadership of the Party Committees, delegation of responsibilities to military and political officers to exercise collective and unified leadership of the Party in all areas.

In the resistance war against the US imperialists for national liberation, those mechanisms were continued. As a result, the Party’s leadership over the army was firmly maintained and strengthened and promoted the fighting strength in the spirit of “the more the army fights, the stronger the army becomes and the more victories the army wins.” All army units were fully aware of and strictly abided by and implemented the principle of democratic centralism, upheld the Party’s leadership while highly promoting army officers’ wisdom and creativeness. The Party’s leadership made decisive contribution to the victory of the Vietnamese army in the resistance war against the US imperialists for national salvation while constituting a precious tradition and experience of the army.

Since 1975, the Party has three times renovated, supplemented and fine-tuned the mechanism of leadership over the army. From 1975-1982, the mechanism of Party’s leadership over the army during the resistance war against the US imperialists for national salvation was maintained. On 15 December 1982, the Politburo of the 5th Tenure issued Resolution 07 on “Renewing and completing the mechanism of Party’s leadership over the Vietnam People’s Army and national defense and one commander in the army.” After two years of implementation, the Party discovered some constraints. Hence on 4 July 1985, the Politburo of the 5th Tenure issued Resolution 27 on “Continuing to supplement the mechanism of Party’s leadership over the Vietnam People’s Army and national defense.”

Resolution 27 of the Politburo decided to restore the system of Party organizations in the army. The army’s Central Military Commission was directly led by the Party Politburo and Secretariat. Military Party Committees at all levels were responsible for overall leadership over units under their delegated functions and authority. The 20-year-implementation of Resolution 27 from 1985 to 2005 made positive changes in awareness, ideology and action in the army to fulfill its tasks of building the army, strengthening national defense, standing ready for fighting and fighting for national defense.

Amid the demand to firmly maintain and uphold the Party’s leadership to strengthen national defense, safeguard the Fatherland and build the army in the new stage, on 20 July 2005, the Politburo of the 9th Tenure issued Resolution 51 on “Continuing to complete the mechanism of Party’s leadership and exercise the mechanisms of commander and political commissar in the Vietnam people’s Army.”

The resolution pointed out: “The task of building and defending the socialist Viet Nam in the new stage requires improving the quality and efficiency of army building, particularly Party work, and political work, maintaining and consolidating the Party’s absolute and direct leadership over the army in all areas, ensuring that the army is strong in politics, ideology, and organization to really become a political force and a loyal and reliable fighting force of the Party, the socialist State and the people, and successfully fulfills its tasks in all circumstances.”

Resolution 51 underlined the leadership mechanism with fundamental contents to orient, guide, and organize activities of Party organizations, Party work, political work, commanders, political commissars, and political units in the army units. The Politburo and Secretariat of the 11th Tenure issued regulations on party organizations and organization of political units in the Vietnam People’s Army.

The Party’s important documents affirm that the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the Politburo and Secretariat constantly and directly undertake absolute and direct leadership over the army in all areas. That leadership is exercised through systems of party organizations, command units, political units, political commissars at all levels and mass organizations at grassroots levels.

The system of party organization in the army includes the Central Military Commission and military party committees at all levels. The General Secretary of the Party Central Committee is the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Minister of Defense is the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and member of the commission are appointed by the Politburo. Members of party committees from those affiliated to the Central Military Commission to the grassroots levels are elected by corresponding party congresses.

The Central Military Commission studies and makes recommendations to the Party Central Committee on military and national defense guidelines and tasks, national defense strategies, orientations and solutions to build the all-people defense, and mechanism of Party’s leadership over the army. The Central Military Commission has the responsibility to coordinate and give guidance to its affiliated military party committees in implementing the Party’s military and national defense resolutions and instructions and directly perform leadership in building a comprehensively strong army and strong and clean party organizations in the army. By taking measures to enhance the quality and efficiency of party work and political work, the Central Military Commission has contributed to maintaining and promoting the Party’s leadership over the army.

The Central Military Commission exercises the mechanism of collective decision towards big issues namely guidelines, programs, and implementation plans of the Party’s decrees and resolutions as well as measures to build the army. The Central Military Commission leads the Political General Department and through the Political General Department to party organizations, the system of political commissars, political units at all levels in carrying out the party work and political work in order to build a comprehensively strong army capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Thus, over the last 70 years, due to its constant efforts to supplement and fine-tuned its leading methodology and mechanism, the Party has maintained its leadership of the army in all circumstances and historical periods which is decisive to the development, fighting, and victory of the Vietnam People’s Army. Over the last 70 years, the army has proved to be a sharp revolutionary violence tool and a loyal political force of the Party and the Fatherland, maintained the nature of the working class and the army of the people, by the people, and for the people. It has brought into play the tradition of determination to fight and determination to win, gained glorious feats of arms, defeated all aggressors and lived up to its honor as a heroic army of a heroic nation.

In the new revolutionary conditions, new world, regional and national situations, there are complicated developments beside fundamental advantages. The Central Military Commission, Ministry of Defense, military party committees and commanders at all levels have strictly followed the leadership of the Party and State, concentrating on providing guidance with focus and priorities and successfully fulfilling the assigned goals and tasks.

Prominent achievements are proactively providing recommendations to the Party and State on national defense guidelines and military strategies; correctly assessing, forecasting and handling problems and situations, avoiding passivity and unexpectedness, particularly in the struggle for water sovereignty and safeguard of national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity; actively carrying out the work of external relations in national defense, contributing to maintaining political stability and peaceful environment for national development and leading the building of a political strong army with enhanced aggregate quality and combat capacity.

The army has actively participated in hunger eradication and poverty reduction, overcoming consequences of war and natural disasters, building strong and firm local political basis and “people’s hearts and minds” posture and winning the confidence of the Party, State and people. In the work of building the Military Party Organization, improvement has been made in leading capacity and combat strength; cadres and party members possess firm political acumen, are absolutely loyal to the Party, Fatherland and people, and ready to assume and complete all assigned tasks. The army has always lived up the people’s trust as a reliable force. The image of the soldier of Uncle Ho has been promoted and brightly shone.

In the current situation, in order to maintain and reinforce the Party’s leadership of the army and ensure that the army holds fast to its revolutionary characters and goals, ideals worth fighting for, and national defense tasks, it is necessary to attach importance to:

First, it is necessary to reach consensus on awareness that in whatever circumstances and conditions, the ultimate and direct leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam over the Vietnam People’s Army in all areas should be maintained; the completion and enhancement of Party’s leadership are decisive factors for the Party to take hold of the army in all circumstances. The Party has not only decided military tactics, the development orientations of the army and national defense, mapped out objectives, fighting ideology, guidelines and solutions to raise the combat capacity of the Military Party Organization but it has led the realization of viewpoints and guidelines to build a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern army.

The Communist Party of Viet Nam, and directly and constantly its Politburo and the Secretariat have decides major issues in building a strong army in politics, ideology and organization which is absolutely loyal to the Party and Fatherland, wholeheartedly devote to the people, acts as the core force together with the entire people in defending and building the socialist Viet Nam. The State has undertaken unified management of the army in line with stipulations of the Constitution and laws.

The Military Party Organization, the Central Military Commission and party organizations at all level in the army should constantly and deeply grasp and realize the Party’s military viewpoints and guidelines on national defense and Fatherland protection, while fulfilling its advisory role by providing military and national defense consultancies to the Party and State; effectively implementing the Party and State’s resolutions and instructions on building the people’s armed forces, the all-people defense and all-people defense posture in association with the people security posture; and improving the aggregate quality and combat strength of the army. At the same time, the principle of absolute and direct leadership of the Party over the army in all areas should be firmly maintained and exercised.

The Communist Party of Viet Nam is the sole organization leading the Vietnam People’s Army. The leadership over the army cannot be shared with any other individual or political force. The State exercises its unified management of the army on the basis of democratic centralism under the leadership of the Party and social management by laws. So, strengthening the State’s management of the army is organically associated with strengthening the Party’s leadership over the army in all areas.

The Military Party Organization should continue to study and enforce effectively Resolution 51 of the Politburo 9th Tenure, Regulation 49 of the Politburo 11th Tenure, Regulation 50 of the Party Secretariat 11th Tenure, Resolution 513 of the Central Military Committee (now the Central Military Commission). Military party committees at all levels must strictly observe the Central Military Commission’s leadership while studying and applying lessons learnt during the implementation of Resolution 51 of the Politburo and ensuring the smooth and highly effective leadership of the Party over the army.

Second, continuously improve the overall leadership and combat strength of the Military Party Organization and efficiency of the Party and political work. First and foremost, continue to renovate, raise combativeness and efficiency of ideological work, strengthen Party’s ideological front in the army to ensure that the army stands loyal to the Party, Fatherland and people; steadfast in the Party’s goal and ideal, the renewal and building of socialism and stands firm before all difficulties and challenges; truly becomes a core force in the fight against erroneous viewpoints, and in protection of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s Thought, Party’s guidelines and orientations and the State’s policies and laws.

Efforts should be focused on improving the organization, capacity, comprehensive leadership, fighting strength, and dynamism of party organizations, particularly party organizations at grassroots levels and the quality of cadres and party members. Party Committees have to ensure the principles of democratic centralism, collective leadership, and individual responsibility, pay attention to developing and implementing work regulations and leadership statutes in essential areas, and improve the quality of Party activities, unity, and consensus in each Party organization and unit, proactively expedite plans on control and supervision in each term in line with tasks and situation of each organization. Strengthen the personnel work to build a contingent of cadres paying attention to quantity in terms of suitable structure, placement and arrangement and quality of cadres.

Third, it is necessary to consolidate and uphold the State’s management efficiency of the army on the basis of institutionalizing the Party’s guidelines and resolutions on military, national defense, Fatherland protection and building of the armed forces into laws, policies, and plans while revamping the organization and operation of the state administrative apparatus from central to local levels. Adjust functions, tasks and authority of the Government, Ministry of National Defense, ministries and ministerial agencies, agencies belonging to the Government and local administrations to meet requirements on state management of the army. Improve working style and methods of army units and agencies, clearly define working principles and regulations on coordination among leading, managing and commanding apparatus in army units.

Reinforce the Party’s absolute and direct leadership in all areas along with strengthening the unified management of the State over the army are the two crucial and closely-linked issues and vital to building the “revolutionary, regular, elite and gradually modern army.” The Party and State need to supplement, develop and complete the leading policies, mechanism and management policies for the army while developing a system of clean and strong party organizations in the army and consolidating military commands at all levels and units so that they can be able to lead, give guidance and manage military work and national defense, build the army and defend the Fatherland in the new situation.

Fourth, step up the fight to foil all schemes by hostile forces to instigate “peaceful evolution” in general and “military depoliticization” in particular. In fact, “military depoliticization” of the army is an extremely wicked scheme of the hostile forces against Viet Nam’s revolution, attempting to separate the army from the Party leadership and disempower the army as a sharp tool and a trustworthy political force of the Party and State. The lesson learnt from the former Soviet Union and East European countries in the 1990s of the 20th century still hold their value for us.

Every military officer, Party member, and soldier should fully and profoundly understand that the Vietnamese army is the revolutionary force of the people, from the people and for the people under the close leadership of the Party. The goal of the army which is also the goal and ideal of the Communist Party of Viet Nam is to fight for national independence, socialism and the plentiful life, freedom and happiness of the people. On that basis, each army man must heighten his vigilance, proactively, subtly and resolutely thwart every plot and scheme of “military depoliticization” of the hostile forces, stay fully conscious and timely handle complicated situations in line with the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws and avoid being taken advantage by the enemy.

The current key issue to intensify the Party leadership over the army is to build a clean and strong Military Party Organization in terms of politics, ideology and organization, with constantly increasing leading capacity and fighting strength to fulfill assigned tasks. Especially, persistently implement Resolution of the Party Central Committee 4th Plenum, 11th Tenure on “Some urgent issues on Party building at present” while learning and acting upon President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example. Mistrust behaviors, lack of faith, ambiguity, loss of vigilance, degradation in political thinking and ethics, lifestyle, opportunism, pragmatism, individualism, and violation of the State laws and army disciplines must be stamped out.

Renew and promote mass mobilization to strengthen the national unity bloc and the bond between the Party, army and people, consolidate “people’s hearts and minds” posture, and increase people’s trust in the Party, State and army. Focus on raising the quality of organization and operation of the system of political units, political cadres, especially commissars in the army so that they are able to successfully assume the leading role while giving guidance and consultancies on Party and political affairs.

Step up political and ideological education; build a healthy cultural environment, prevent external ills and negative phenomena to infiltrate in army men; organize cultural, artistic, physical and sport activities to bring about positive changes in cultural and spiritual life, overcome negative manifestations in ethics and lifestyle to maintain the values of Uncle Ho’s soldiers. Promote the role of information, communication, publication; strictly implement the army’s revolutionary tasks, maintain the Party political orientation, viewpoints and guidelines; and actively fight against wrongful viewpoints of the hostile forces.

Taking pride in the 70-year glorious tradition of the Vietnam People’s Army, the Party, State and people are confident and hope that the army will continue to uphold the virtues of Uncle Ho’s soldiers, exert untiring efforts, foster, and build the “revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern Vietnam People’s Army, contributing to safeguarding the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to be worthy of the trust of the Party, State, and people.”

(Source: Tapchicongsan.vn)