Party personnel work: Must cultivate the roots to avoid withering branches and leaf worms

According to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, if cadres are the "root of all work", then for each cadre, talent and morality must go hand in hand, in which "morality must be the root." If we want branches and leaves to not be infected with worms or diseases, the "moral root" must be cultivated constantly.

Ethical roots of cadres

On March 13, chairing the meeting of the 14th Party Congress Personnel Subcommittee, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Head of the Subcommittee, required members of the Central Executive Committee to have truly steadfast political will, sufficient courage, qualities, intelligence, and high prestige.

This elite team not only determines the success or failure of a Party congress term, but their qualities and talents are also closely linked to the fate of the Party, the survival of the regime, and the development of the country.

Generally speaking, members of the 14th Central Executive Committee must be both virtuous and talented, with virtue being the root.

Why is virtue, not talent, the root? According to President Ho Chi Minh, a tree can grow green, grow leaves, bloom, and bear fruit thanks to its healthy roots; only with morality can people contribute their talents to society. A revolutionary needs revolutionary morality as the root; only with revolutionary morality can he complete his revolutionary mission; without revolutionary morality, he cannot lead the people. Success or failure depends on whether the cadres are imbued with revolutionary morality or not.

Officials must have both virtue and talent. Without talent, it is difficult to do anything. But talent without a moral foundation is useless, even harmful.

President Ho Chi Minh defined the ethics of a revolutionary as "loyalty to the country, filial piety to the people; love for humanity; diligence, thrift, integrity, impartiality."

He emphasized: "Revolutionary morality does not fall from the sky, it is developed and strengthened through daily struggle and persistent training, just as jade becomes brighter the more it is polished, and gold becomes purer the more it is refined."

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Head of the Personnel Subcommittee of the 14th Party Congress, recalled the lesson of “moral roots” that Uncle Ho taught long ago because it still holds true today. Some high-ranking officials have made many contributions to the country and are talented, but due to a lack of daily cultivation of moral roots, they have caused great harm to the Party and the people.

From the 13th National Party Congress (January 25 - February 1, 2021) to March 13, 2024, the time of the meeting of the Personnel Subcommittee of the 14th National Party Congress, the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Central Inspection Commission had to discipline nearly 100 senior officials under the Central Committee's management, including key leaders of the Party and State.

Most recently, on March 20, 2024, the 13th Party Central Committee decided to discipline Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy Lan, member of the 13th Party Central Committee, former Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairwoman of the People's Council of Vinh Phuc province, by expelling her from the Party.

Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy Lan has degraded in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle; seriously violated Party regulations and State laws in performing assigned duties and tasks; violated the Regulations on what Party members are not allowed to do and the responsibility to set an example; was negative, accepted bribes, causing very serious consequences, public outrage, and very badly affecting the reputation of the Party organization and local government.

Fair and transparent when doing human resources work

President Ho Chi Minh considered personnel work to be the most important task in the cause of Party building and state administration building. He believed that in selecting officials, there should be no bias or favoritism, but only those who are truly virtuous and talented.

At present, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong also requires that personnel work must ensure fairness, transparency, and objectivity; in other words, "virtue must be the root."

To do this well, the General Secretary requested that personnel work must be done well from party congresses at all levels to contribute to preparing personnel well for the 14th National Party Congress.

The personnel work of the Congress must be carried out according to a strict, scientific and consistent process, ensuring true fairness, transparency and objectivity, especially having a discerning eye in evaluating, introducing and selecting. Taking the standards of political qualities, ethics, lifestyle and work efficiency, personal and family reputation as the main measures.

In personnel work, we must resolutely oppose localism, localism, cronyism, "cliquey" and "group interests"; avoid simplistic, arbitrary and unprincipled ways of doing things. We must take all measures to resolutely not put into leadership positions those who are unworthy or unqualified, especially those who have made mistakes or have degraded their qualities and ethics, are involved in corruption, seeking positions and power, are arrogant, patriarchal, flatter superiors, bully subordinates, cover up criminals, cause disunity and negatively affect the Party's reputation.

Frankly facing the reality that nearly 100 senior officials under the Central Government's management have been disciplined, even held criminally responsible, over the past 3 years, the General Secretary pointed out that the situation of running for positions, running for power, running for planning, running for rotation, running for votes, running for degrees, running for rewards, running for titles, running for crimes... has not been completely prevented.

The shortcomings and weaknesses of a number of cadres and the limitations and shortcomings in cadre work are interrelated. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pointed out that this is an important reason why the country's development is not commensurate with its potential and strengths, and has weakened the people's trust in the Party and the State.

The large number of cadres and party members, including high-ranking cadres and even key leaders of the Party and State, who have been disciplined is a great concern for those working in human resources. On the other hand, looking from a positive perspective, this clearly shows that our Party and State are determined to fight against corruption and negativity, with no forbidden zones, and no one, no matter how high their position, can have an exemption card.

At the same time, through the decline in moral qualities of a number of cadres, including high-ranking cadres, our Party has drawn great lessons from the personnel work of the 13th tenure, to have more basis to propose directions, requirements, and tasks for building the cadre team of the 14th tenure.