Correcting bad habits of officials in the folk language of the General Secretary

Using idioms, proverbs, poetry, and folk songs to correct bad habits of a number of cadres and party members is a familiar but profound style of instruction that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong often expresses in his articles and speeches on the topic of Party rectification and building.

The "little kings" who bring happiness to the people

The General Secretary used a folk saying - "little king" - to refer to cadres and party members who were assigned positions by the Party and State to serve the country and the people, but abused their power for personal gain, corruption, arrogance, and harassment of the masses.

Speaking at the conference reviewing one year of operation of the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption (June 19, 2023), General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong stated: “There is a group of cadres, civil servants, and employees who have direct relations with the people who are authoritarian, arrogant, and harassing, causing all kinds of trouble and difficulties for the people. Some people with positions and power maintain a mandarin and patriarchal style, and are in charge of a locality or unit like a "little king" there."

According to the General Secretary, these "little kings" only care about personal gain, trying to get rich, are irresponsible towards the people, indifferent to the difficulties and sufferings of the masses, take advantage of their power to exploit and plunder the wealth of the State and the collective, becoming terrible worms of society.

And because they are “little kings”, these officials with many positions of power but little moral cultivation are very autocratic and arbitrary. They command their subordinates to obey unconditionally, regardless of whether it is in accordance with the law or whether it violates the interests of the State.

As our ancestors explained, this is the type of "crabs relying on their claws, fish relying on their fins." Describing the new generation of "kings", the General Secretary used a folk song that is both easy to remember and profound: "When meeting, there is someone to take notes, when going, there is someone to carry, when staying, there is someone to take care of, when lying down, there is someone to squeeze..."

In the book "Resolutely and persistently fighting against corruption and negativity, contributing to building our Party and State increasingly clean and strong", General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pointed out: "Normally, any leader must have a certain prestige; the higher the position, the greater the prestige. Because without prestige, it is impossible to lead, persuade and gather others. Not everyone who has a position has prestige, and certainly not full prestige. Position does not create prestige, does not determine prestige. In reality, aren't there people in quite high, even very high positions, but have no prestige or very low prestige? In this place and that place, aren't there "leaders" who speak but the masses and subordinates don't want to listen, and are even criticized by the masses and want to "boycott" them?"

According to the General Secretary, a leader who demonstrates through his actions that he truly has qualities and talents will “naturally attract the love, respect and trust of the masses.” Any cadre who shows off and pursues formalities in the style of “God-given appearance, it covers up the shortcomings inside” will sooner or later be exposed. No matter what position he holds, how much he exalts himself, or how much he is praised, he still cannot have prestige.

At the same time, according to the General Secretary, they “only need one minute of being careless with themselves, letting themselves go, and they can make a big mistake, lose their prestige, and harm the reputation of the Party. It is not by chance that our ancestors concluded: “Buy a reputation for thirty thousand, sell a reputation for three coins.”

The country does not need officials who "yes, even the seventh officer..."

In the book "Resolutely and persistently fight against corruption and negativity, contributing to building our Party and State to be increasingly clean and strong," General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong requested to improve the fighting spirit of cadres, party members and grassroots party organizations.

He criticized some party members for being passive and not daring to express their opinions for personal gain, as the popular saying goes: "even the seventh-ranking officials agree...", "keeping their mouths shut and taking the money"; criticized officials who lacked exemplary behavior but were only interested in "holding a torch to drag others down."

The General Secretary believes that not only individual cadres and party members but also organizations must improve their fighting spirit: "We have talked a lot about fighting corruption, but have we seen any party cells detect it? When voting at the end of the year, most party members meet the standards and the party cells are clean and strong, but there are many denunciations and corruption is also there. We say it is self-criticism and criticism, but we still praise each other, we do not look straight at the truth, we do not dare to speak directly, we are also hesitant and respectful with hundreds of reasons, especially the fear of being persecuted, so we are always confused. Fighting here is not "fighting" but fighting against the negative things, the obstacles to our development right from within the Party and in society, in each of us, we do not protect what is right, we do not dare to fight against what is wrong, "even the seventh-ranking official agrees, even the fourth-ranking official nods."

Moderation without progress is a lack of fighting spirit... Party members must be pioneers and exemplary so that others will listen to what they say. If they speak very strongly but "have their own feet covered in dirt, and yet carry a torch to rub other people's feet", people will not accept it."

At the conference on Party building and rectification (December 9, 2021), General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pointed out: Party building and rectification is the work of building organizations, building people, is human work, very easily touching the honor, interests, and relationships of people, requiring each of us to self-criticize; must comment and evaluate others.

If you are not truly self-aware, sincere, fair, and objective, it is easy to be subjective, often only seeing your own advantages and strengths more than others; while only seeing the shortcomings and weaknesses of others more than yourself.

The General Secretary used idioms and folk songs to describe the instinctive bad habits of people that cadres and party members must overcome: "A piece of food is unbearable," "A piece of food is a miserable piece, losing a piece of food turns your liver upside down!"

According to the General Secretary, in the face of new requirements of revolutionary tasks and the reality of some existing weaknesses and shortcomings, more than ever, our Party must pay special attention to the task of Party building as pointed out by the 13th National Congress and the 4th Central Conference, creating a real change.

The important and decisive thing is: All of us, from top to bottom, must have great determination, high unity, drastic and feasible implementation measures, close direction with a correct, sober, calm, non-extremist way of thinking, not allowing bad forces to take advantage, distort, incite, or sabotage. There are things that cannot be done just once.

On the contrary, you have to do it very resolutely, persistently, and persistently; do it regularly and continuously; do it over and over again like brushing your teeth and washing your face every day.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong requires that cadres, regardless of their position, must always be fully aware of their responsibilities, perform their "right role, know their lesson," be truly qualified, complete assigned tasks well; be closely attached to the people, and be trusted and respected by the people.