Raise high the flag of national unity, build a rich and strong country

On the occasion of the 93rd anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (November 18, 1930 - November 18, 2023) - the traditional day of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the National Great Unity Day - Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, wrote an article: "Raising high the flag of national great unity, promoting the tradition of patriotism, the core political role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, determined to build our country to be increasingly rich, prosperous, civilized and happy."

Solidarity is an extremely precious tradition of our nation, the source of strength for our nation to forever exist and develop, the red thread running through it, the strategic line, and the vital meaning of the Vietnamese revolution.

Inheriting and promoting the tradition of national solidarity, creatively applying and developing Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought on nation, national solidarity and gathering revolutionary forces, since its inception, our Party has paid special attention to building the great national solidarity bloc, gathering and organizing the mass forces into an organized, unified bloc, creating a great strength in the resistance war for national independence, freedom and national unification in the past as well as in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland today - that is the National United Front, now the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

With different organizational forms and names suitable to the situation and revolutionary tasks of each period, the role and mission of the Vietnam Fatherland Front has always been the core of solidarity, the common home of the entire nation, a political alliance organization, a voluntary union of political organizations, socio-political organizations, social organizations and typical individuals of social classes, ethnic groups, religions, overseas Vietnamese... That is the noble, heavy, difficult, complicated, but very glorious political mission of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

Our country is entering a new development period with the goal of becoming a developed country with high income by the middle of the 21st century, requiring us to continue promoting the potential of the great national unity bloc to become a great source of strength, towards the goal of "rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization."

Developing a socialist-oriented market economy, building a socialist rule-of-law state, practicing socialist democracy... at a new level, along with comprehensive and deep international integration in the context of a complex and unpredictable world, with opportunities and challenges intertwined, poses many new issues for the cause of great national unity and front work. How should we correctly understand the connotation of great national unity?

What must be done to raise high the flag of national solidarity, promote the tradition of patriotism, the leadership of the Party, the core political role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, strongly arouse all resources, potentials, and creativity of the people, and contribute to the cause of national construction and defense?

Our national history has proven that in the face of great historical turning points with great national goals, if we know how to arouse patriotism, national pride, and self-respect, promote the great strength of the great national unity bloc, combine national strength with the strength of the times, then the Vietnamese revolutionary boat will overcome all rapids, storms, and tempests to reach the shore of glory.

Solidarity is an extremely precious tradition of the Vietnamese people, nurtured and cultivated through thousands of years of history of building and defending the country.

Throughout the history of the struggle to build and defend the country of the Vietnamese people, the spirit of solidarity originating from the love for the homeland, the land where "the umbilical cord was cut", the patriotism of each Vietnamese child has become the cultural value of the nation, the spiritual heritage passed down by our ancestors to future generations.

That tradition has always been preserved, nurtured and developed, and summarized into lessons such as: "One tree cannot make a forest/Three trees together make a high mountain"; or "Many red silk covers the mirror/People in the same country must love each other"; "North and South are children of the same family/The chicken of the same mother, the flower of the same branch/Wishing to be together with the deep sea and green mountains/Love each other and nurture the will to fight forever"...

In the history of the nation, whenever the country was rich and strong, its foundation was solid because the court knew how to rely on the people, unite the people, and have the unanimous support of the entire people. On the contrary, when the country was divided, the people were scattered, and resentful, the country declined. Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan pointed out the deep root of the victory of the Tran Dynasty's king and his subjects in the three resistance wars against the Mongol-Nguyen invasion in the 13th century: "The king and his subjects were of one mind, brothers were in harmony, and the whole country contributed its strength."⁽¹⁾

The great national unity from tradition has become the people-oriented political philosophy of our ancestors with the viewpoint "Quoc di dan vi ban", meaning that the country must take the people as its foundation (Nguyen Binh Khiem). The people-oriented philosophy has many progressive elements, which is the source of strength that helps our nation overcome countless difficulties and challenges, and survive the vicissitudes of history, so that "Son ha thien co dien kim au" (The mountains and rivers of a thousand years are firmly anchored in the golden abyss) as affirmed by King Tran Nhan Tong.

The Ho Chi Minh era was the most glorious era in promoting the strength of national unity. He founded the Vietnam National United Front, the soul of the great national unity bloc.⁽²⁾President Ho Chi Minh has repeatedly affirmed: “Unity, unity, great unity. Success, success, great success”⁽³⁾...

In Ho Chi Minh's ideology, great national unity is a core content, creating an important mark of him in the process of leading the Vietnamese revolution, inherited and successfully applied by the Communist Party of Vietnam in the process of leading the people in the struggle for national liberation, carrying out the renovation process, building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

President Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on great national unity clearly demonstrate the viewpoints, positions, worldviews, outlooks on life and scientific and revolutionary methodology of Marxism-Leninism, which are concretized into theses, principles and methods of gathering, rallying and promoting the strength of all classes of people, organizing revolutionary forces and international solidarity to maximize the great strength of the great national unity bloc.

He pointed out that the greatest strength lies in the people: “In the sky, nothing is more precious than the people. In the world, nothing is stronger than the united force of the people.”⁽⁴⁾, uniting the people will create the greatest strength.

He affirmed: “Great unity means first of all uniting the great majority of the people, and the great majority of our people are workers, farmers and other working classes. That is the foundation of great unity. It is like the foundation of a house, the root of a tree. But once there is a solid foundation, a good root, we must also unite other classes of people. Anyone who sincerely supports peace, unity, independence and democracy, even if those people were against us in the past, we will now sincerely unite with them.”⁽⁵⁾He advised that national unity is not only the top goal and task of the Party but also the top goal and task of the entire nation.

Inheriting and developing the ideology of President Ho Chi Minh, our Party in every revolutionary period has always affirmed: Solidarity is an extremely precious tradition, a strategic line of the Party; a source of strength, a core value and a main driving force of the Vietnamese revolution, which is decisive for the victory of the cause of building and defending the Fatherland in every period. The solid foundation of the great national unity is the alliance of the working class with the peasantry and the intelligentsia led by the Party; the "flesh and blood" relationship between the Party and the people, the people's trust in the Party, the State and our regime; solidarity between classes and social strata, between the community of Vietnamese ethnic groups, between religious and non-religious compatriots, between people of different religions; between Vietnamese people at home and abroad; solidarity between the Vietnamese people and peace-loving, progressive people in the world. Taking the goal of building a peaceful, independent, unified, territorially intact, increasingly rich, prosperous, civilized and happy Vietnam as a common point.

The development of theoretical thinking and the Party's leadership on great solidarity and building and promoting the strength of the great national solidarity bloc

Inheriting and promoting the identity, cultural roots and traditions of the nation on the foundation of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, in the process of leading the revolution, our Party has constantly innovated and developed its thinking on building the great national unity bloc. The innovation of theoretical thinking helps us to recognize and correctly evaluate the role of national unity and the gathering of revolutionary forces, the strategic line of vital significance, ensuring all victories of the Vietnamese revolution.

Immediately after the country was unified, at the 4th Congress (December 1976), our Party emphasized the need to "promote the collective mastery of the working people".⁽⁶⁾, building a collective mastery regime in which the masters are the working people, with an organization whose core is the worker-peasant alliance, led by the working class.

This viewpoint was affirmed by the 5th Party Congress (March 1982): "further strengthen the solidarity of ethnic groups".⁽⁷⁾.By the 6th Congress - the Congress that opened the comprehensive renovation of the country (December 1986), the Party had many viewpoints and policies on renovation, including the issue of great national unity such as: "In all its activities, the Party must thoroughly grasp the idea of ​​"taking the people as the root", building and promoting the mastery of the working people"⁽⁸⁾The 7th Party Congress (June 1991) adopted the Platform for national construction during the transitional period to socialism, which emphasized two lessons on national solidarity: first, the revolutionary cause is of the people, by the people and for the people; second, constantly consolidate and strengthen solidarity: solidarity of the entire Party, solidarity of the entire people, national solidarity, and international solidarity.

At the 8th Congress (June 1996), our Party once again affirmed the role of the people: "It is the opinions, aspirations and initiatives of the people that are the source of the Party's renewal policy. It is also because the people responded to the renewal policy, bravely struggled, and overcame countless difficulties and challenges that the renewal process has achieved the achievements it has today."⁽⁹⁾.

The 9th Party Congress (April 2001) emphasized: "The main driving force for national development is the great national unity on the basis of the alliance between workers, farmers and intellectuals led by the Party."⁽¹⁰⁾.

At the 10th Congress (April 2006), our Party clearly pointed out the task of promoting the strength of great national unity, making the issue of promoting the strength of the entire nation one of the four elements of the Congress theme, considering it "the source of strength, the main driving force and the decisive factor to ensure the sustainable victory of the cause of building and defending the Fatherland".⁽¹¹⁾.

At the 11th Congress (January 2011), our Party affirmed: "Great national unity must be based on the harmonious resolution of the relationship of interests between members of society. Unity within the Party is the nucleus, the solid foundation for building the great national unity bloc."⁽¹²⁾.

The Platform for National Construction in the Transitional Period to Socialism (supplemented and developed in 2011) affirmed: "The Vietnam Fatherland Front and people's organizations play a very important role in the cause of great national unity in building and defending the Fatherland."⁽¹³⁾.

The 12th Congress (January 2016) emphasized the requirement in the current revolutionary stage to "create new vitality for the great national unity bloc".⁽¹⁴⁾.

The 13th National Party Congress (January 2021) added the motto: "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit"; affirming to continue "promoting the strength of great national unity, socialist democracy and people's mastery"⁽¹⁵⁾.

The Congress also affirmed the “subject role and central position” of the people in the entire process of building, developing and defending the Fatherland; the Party’s leadership is the flag that gathers the strength of great national unity to strive for a Vietnam of “rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness and civilization.”

Thus, from just talking about solidarity, then talking about great national solidarity, then developing into great national solidarity are milestones marking important innovations and developments in cognitive and theoretical thinking for our Party's strategy of great national solidarity, in the direction of increasingly expanding amplitude, from low to high, from narrow to wide, from still "rigid" to increasingly more open.

There are times when we have not thoroughly resolved a number of issues, affecting the building and consolidation of the great national unity bloc, and the ability to widely gather all national forces in accordance with the social structure, class structure, correlation of forces and characteristics of our country through the periods.

However, with the spirit of seeking knowledge, seriously looking straight at the limitations, and at the same time being "honest" and "sincere" as instructed by President Ho Chi Minh in handling the relationships of the great national solidarity bloc, our Party has promptly corrected shortcomings, identified and resolved newly arising problems, multiplied good models and good practices, thanks to which the great national solidarity bloc has further expanded and deepened.

Outstanding results in building and promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc under the leadership of the Party in recent times

Over nearly 40 years of national renovation, our Party and State have had many policies and strategies to strengthen the great national unity bloc, focus on promoting socio-economic development, care for the material and spiritual life of the people, ensure social security, gradually narrow the rich-poor gap between regions; pay attention to the comprehensive development of mountainous areas, islands, remote areas, ethnic minority areas and areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions, maintain political and social stability...

The strength of the great national unity bloc is increasingly consolidated, expanded and promoted; social consensus is enhanced, people's trust in the Party, the State and the socialist regime is increasingly consolidated and multiplied; patriotic emulation movements and campaigns are promoted, thereby encouraging people to promote their dynamism and creativity, mobilizing great resources and potentials among the people to serve the task of building and defending the Fatherland.

Strengthening international solidarity, creating an open space for relations, gaining support, cooperation and assistance from the international community, on the basis of synchronous and comprehensive implementation of party diplomacy, state diplomacy, people's diplomacy, developing good relations with many political parties, governments and parliaments of other countries, expanding friendly relations and cooperation between the Vietnamese people and people of other countries in the world. People's diplomacy has made an important contribution to enhancing the position and prestige of the Party and the country, the respect of other countries for Vietnam; mobilizing many external resources for the country's development, including important resources of overseas Vietnamese; actively protecting national interests, participating in the fight against plots and sabotage actions of hostile forces in areas related to sovereignty, ethnicity, religion, democracy, human rights, etc.

In particular, in the context of the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Party and the entire political system together with all compatriots, both people at home and overseas Vietnamese, with high will and determination, promoting the spirit of solidarity, have steadfastly overcome great difficulties and challenges.

In difficult times, our nation's patriotism, compatriotism, tradition of "loving others as you love yourself" and the superiority of the socialist regime continue to be promoted and raised to a new level.

The great national unity bloc is firmly built on the working class's stance, with the worker-peasant-intellectuals alliance as the foundation, led by the Communist Party of Vietnam.

On the basis of the worker-farmer-intellectual alliance, our Party has continuously expanded solidarity among all social classes and strata. Social strata (working class, farmers, intellectuals, youth, women, veterans, businessmen, the elderly, ethnic minorities, religious followers, and the overseas Vietnamese community) have developed strongly in both quantity and quality.

In the context of many changes in social structure and class structure, the legitimate and legal rights and interests of all classes of people are always concerned and harmoniously ensured.

The quality of state administration has been improved according to the motto of “serving democracy, the rule of law, professionalism, modernity, streamlining, ensuring publicity, transparency, and accountability”; the effectiveness of serving people and businesses has improved, and the level of satisfaction of people and businesses has been raised.

Social democracy is increasingly expanded, and people's knowledge is increasingly improved. Democracy is practiced more substantially and widely; the role of the people in deciding major and important issues of the country is gradually promoted; human rights, citizens' rights and obligations are respected, protected and guaranteed; attention is paid to enhancing representative democracy, expanding direct democracy, especially democracy at the grassroots level, which is institutionalized from the Ordinance into the Law on implementing democracy at the grassroots level.

Activities of dialogue with the people, resolving complaints and denunciations are given attention and promoted; leaders of Party committees and authorities increase contact and dialogue with the people, listen to and consider the opinions, recommendations and concerns of the people.

The mechanisms of "Party leadership, State management, people mastery" and "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit" are being implemented more and more widely.

Solidarity and unity within the Party are maintained and strengthened, serving as the core leadership and the nucleus, a solid foundation for building solidarity of the political system and the great national unity bloc.

The work of building a clean and strong Party and political system has been given special attention, persistently implemented, and achieved important results. Resolutely preventing, repelling, and strictly handling cadres and Party members who have degraded in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle, and who show signs of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation."

The fight against corruption and negativity has been carried out resolutely and synchronously; organizations and Party members who violate the law have been resolutely and persistently handled; many corruption cases have been tried promptly, strictly, but also very humanely, thereby enhancing people's trust in the Party, the State and the regime. The role of the people in supervising and participating in building a clean and strong Party and political system has been promoted.

In particular, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations and mass organizations continue to promote their role as the political core in organizing, mobilizing, gathering and converging people of all walks of life, creating unity and consensus in society; have many innovations in content and methods of operation, widely deploy and improve the quality of patriotic emulation movements and campaigns; closely follow the grassroots; diversify forms of mobilizing people, focusing on the legitimate and legal interests of members, union members, association members and people, contributing to solving many complex problems arising in the development process.

The Front and its member organizations have increasingly performed their role of representing and protecting the legitimate and legal rights and interests of union members, association members and the people; proactively participated in social supervision and criticism; fought against corruption and negativity; done well in mass mobilization work and as a bridge between the Party, the State and the people, uniting the Vietnamese people with the people of the world.

Besides the achievements, we also need to frankly acknowledge the limitations and find solutions to overcome them in order to further promote the tradition of patriotism and the strength of the great national unity bloc..

That is: The concretization and organization of the implementation of the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws in some areas and localities have not achieved high results; some mechanisms and policies are not really suitable for reality and are slow to be revised and supplemented.

Some Party committees and authorities still lack a thorough grasp of the people's situation and resolve pressing issues arising at the grassroots level; mobilize and promote fully and effectively the people's resources. The lives of a segment of the population are still difficult; the gap in income and living standards between regions, areas and zones has not been narrowed.

The mechanism of “Party leadership, State management, people mastery” and the motto “People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit” have been slow to be concretized; the people's mastery, especially at some grassroots levels, has not been fully promoted; the close relationship between the Party, State and people is sometimes and in some places not really close.

The innovation of the content and methods of operation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations, and mass organizations has not yet met the requirements of the situation; the role of gathering and uniting people of all walks of life, representing and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the people has not been fully promoted. Social supervision and criticism activities have sometimes not fully met the requirements set by reality; the effectiveness of some campaigns and emulation movements is not high...

New context and issues for building and promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc

In the coming time, the world situation will continue to develop more complicatedly, rapidly, and unpredictably than forecast; opportunities and advantages will be intertwined with difficulties and challenges. The trend of multipolarity, multi-center, competition, contradictions, disagreements, and conflicts in some regions will affect the international situation, including Vietnam.

In the country, besides the great achievements that have been made, many new and unprecedented problems have also emerged. Developing a socialist-oriented market economy, promoting industrialization, modernization, comprehensive and deep international integration, along with the strong development of science and technology, have affected classes and strata, as well as the relationships between classes and strata; increasing the gap in income and living standards between regions and areas.

In addition, hostile forces continue to exploit issues of ethnicity, religion, democracy, human rights, etc. to intensify sabotage in order to divide and destroy the great national unity bloc, and to divide the Party, the State and the people. To successfully achieve the goals set out in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, the entire Party and people must join hands, be united, have high determination, make great efforts, seize every opportunity, mobilize all resources, promote the strength of the nation and the strength of the times, strive to build a strong and prosperous country, the people have a prosperous and happy life, firmly protect the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam, and at the same time actively participate in the peacekeeping activities of the United Nations.

Mobilizing the strength of national solidarity in the current new context requires innovation in thinking, methods of mobilization, gathering and rallying forces. It is necessary to have New factors and goals are suitable for the development of the country as well as the times, aiming at a more solid, firm, substantial and effective solidarity.

Practice has proven that, in order to meet the different requirements and central tasks in each revolutionary stage, it is necessary to identify similarities and “common denominators” - an important and solid foundation to arouse, promote and gather people's hearts, gather a large number of classes, strata, religions, ethnicities, and mobilize all forces among the people. In the process of leading the revolution, our Party has correctly grasped the central tasks and requirements set for the revolution, promptly leading the Front to innovate the content and methods of operation to promote the capacity to attract, gather and unite social forces, so the Front has always affirmed its important role.

Since the Party was founded, leading the August Revolution in 1945, conducting the resistance war against the French colonialists and the invading American imperialists, building the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland, by identifying the important and solid foundation of the great national unity as expelling foreign invaders, we have regained national independence, unified the country, and protected peace. Our Party has been flexible and sensitive in establishing and organizing various forms of fronts with appropriate slogans, names, policies, etc. to both unite all progressive forces and divide and isolate the enemy. They are: Anti-Imperialist Alliance (November 1930), Anti-Imperialist Alliance (March 1935), Indochinese Anti-Imperialist People's United Front (October 1936), Indochinese Democratic Front (March 1938), Indochinese National United Front (November 1939), Vietnam Independence League (abbreviated as Viet Minh, May 1941), Vietnam National United Association (abbreviated as Lien Viet Association, May 1946), Vietnam National United Front (abbreviated as Lien Viet Front, March 1951), Vietnam Fatherland Front (May 1955), National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (December 1960), Alliance of Vietnamese National, Democratic and Peace Forces (April 1968) and from 1977 to present, Vietnam Fatherland Front.

In the process of leading the revolution, applying and thoroughly grasping the ideology of President Ho Chi Minh, our Party has gathered a large number of intellectuals, people from all walks of life regardless of ethnicity, religion, belief, class, or political views, including many talented Vietnamese intellectuals and scientists working abroad, ready to return home to participate in the resistance war, national construction, and contribute their efforts and intelligence to the country. Not only is it a matter of domestic solidarity, we have also raised high the flag of justice, done well in party foreign affairs, state diplomacy, and people's foreign affairs, thus receiving great and strong international solidarity, support, and assistance for the Vietnamese people's resistance war to regain independence and unify the country as well as in the current cause of national renewal and construction.

The history of the revolution has left many valuable lessons on building and promoting the strength of great national unity, especially being sensitive in identifying common goals and similarities of social classes to gather and unite the broadest possible people's forces. In the context of the current situation, what are the bases and goals?Similaritiesto gather, arouse and promote the strength of national unity?

That is the goal of building a peaceful, independent, unified, territorially intact Vietnam, increasingly rich, prosperous, civilized, happy, striving by 2045, our country will become a developed country, with high income as a common point, to motivate, encourage all classes of people, mobilize all resources, seize all opportunities, and the people's contributions to successfully carry out the task of building and defending the Fatherland. This is the greatest goal, if properly aroused, it will have the power to attract, move people's hearts, be a call to arms for all people, multiply the pride, self-respect, and will of the whole nation.

It is also about combining the great national unity with promoting socialist democracy, implementing the people's true mastery in all areas of social life through appropriate and feasible mechanisms. Implementing well the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit"; promoting the spirit of self-management in the community, reconciling and resolving conflicts right at the grassroots level... to strengthen social consensus, democracy and solidarity.

That is to take people as the center, the subject, the resource and the goal of all development strategies, respecting human rights and civil rights. All policies and guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State must be in accordance with the people's will, for the benefit and happiness of the people. Relying on the people, nurturing the people's strength, mobilizing the entire people, and promoting the people's creativity are always the deep and lasting plan of the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

That is to properly and harmoniously resolve social relationships, especially the increasingly diverse and complex relationships of interests between members of society; to be flexible in harmoniously handling relationships: ethnicity and class, national and international, strategy and tactics, immediate and long-term interests, individual and community interests in new conditions, while paying attention to difficulties and vulnerable groups in society.

That is to eliminate inferiority complex, put the past behind, look to the future; accept and respect differences that are not contrary to the interests of the nation; put the interests of the nation above all, first. The Fatherland is the flesh and blood, the origin of all "children of Lac, descendants of Hong.", always opening its arms to all children of Vietnam who sincerely wish to contribute their efforts and intelligence to shouldering the country's affairs.

It is also solidarity and unity within the Party - the foundation and nucleus of the great national solidarity and international solidarity. As the only ruling party, the Party must build and consolidate solidarity and unity within the Party as President Ho Chi Minh instructed: "Today, solidarity within the Party is more important than ever."⁽¹⁶⁾; "Our experience is that the revolution is successful and the resistance is victorious due to the unity of forces, first of all the unity within the Party"⁽¹⁷⁾Only when the Party building work is done well, the Party is truly clean, strong, worthy of being "moral and civilized", will the people truly trust, unite, support, strive, and sacrifice for the common cause under the leadership of the Party.

Tasks and solutions to promote the tradition of patriotism and the strength of the great national unity bloc in the coming time

In the context of our country having many opportunities, opportunities and risks, challenges intertwined, more than ever, the lesson of solidarity, the strategy of great national solidarity becomes more important, requiring to be raised to a new level. In order to promote the strength of great national solidarity, realize the goal of "rich people, strong country, democracy, equality, civilization"; strengthen the core political role, responsibility of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, political and social organizations in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on implementing well the following points:

Firstly, maintain the Party's pioneering and core leadership role, raise awareness of Party committees, Party organizations, and the political system in building and promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc in the new period.

The building and promotion of the strength of the great national unity bloc must always be under the leadership of the Party. The 13th National Party Congress affirmed: The leadership of the Party is the flag that gathers the strength of the great national unity bloc, with the mechanism of "The Party leads, the State manages, the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations act as the core for the people to be the masters"⁽¹⁸⁾The Party leads by guidelines and policies so that the State can promptly promulgate correct and appropriate policies and laws, mobilizing all classes of people and all forces in society to promote patriotism, creativity, dynamism, actively participate in emulation movements, participate in building the Party and the political system, develop the socio-economy, firmly protect the socialist Fatherland, and at the same time unite with the people of the world.

To have the capacity and prestige to lead the revolution, organize and promote the great national unity, the Party must constantly self-rectify and self-renew, and its cadres and members must regularly cultivate and practice revolutionary ethics. Unity and consensus within the Party are prerequisites for the Party to truly be the nucleus of unity for the entire nation and society.

Strongly innovate the Party's leadership method for the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations. The Party leads the political system, including the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and at the same time, the Party is also a member of the Front. Therefore, the Party cannot stand aside to lead the Front, but must, through democratic consultation, gain the people's sympathy, support, and consensus to successfully carry out all tasks.

Further tighten the close relationship between the Party and the people, constantly consolidate and strengthen the people's trust in the Party's leadership, rely on the people to build the Party. Have an effective mechanism for the people to participate in building a clean and strong Party and political system, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the activities of Party organizations and Party members.

It is necessary to do a good job of mass mobilization, focusing on propaganda and education for organizations, cadres, party members and people of all walks of life about the tradition of solidarity, the policy of great national solidarity of our Party and State in the new conditions. Mobilizing and convincing people of all walks of life must be done with profound theories, clear practical results, and adequate legal basis; with sincerity, respect, listening and openness.

Continue to innovate and diversify forms of mass mobilization, effectively use modern media in propaganda, education, connection, grasping people's thoughts and aspirations, listening to and promptly reflecting people's opinions. Timely fight against distorted, incorrect, hostile arguments that aim to divide and destroy the great national unity bloc.

Second, continue to supplement and perfect policies and laws to mobilize all resources, promote patriotism, national pride and creativity of all social classes, contributing to building and protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Continue to supplement and perfect policies and guidelines in line with the reality and trends of the times, meeting the requirements of the tasks in the new period in order to strengthen and consolidate the great national unity bloc. Arouse and promote all resources, potentials, and creativity of each Vietnamese person for the goal of "Rich people, strong country, democracy, equality, and civilization." In order to thoroughly grasp and implement the Resolution of the 8th Central Conference, Session XIII, on continuing to promote the tradition of great national unity, building our country to be increasingly rich, prosperous, civilized, and happy, the Fatherland Front must play a good role as the core, coordinate with member organizations, unite all classes, outstanding individuals among compatriots, ethnic groups, religions, and overseas Vietnamese, encourage people to promote the spirit of innovation, creativity, and actively participate in patriotic emulation movements.

(1) Building a modern working class, strong in quantity and quality; having political will, educational level, expertise, professional skills, industrial style, labor discipline, adapting to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and increasingly comprehensive and extensive international integration.

(2) Promoting the central role and subject of farmers in agricultural and rural development, associated with new rural construction, in the direction of "ecological agriculture, modern rural areas, civilized farmers". Building a Vietnamese peasant class that both preserves cultural identity and good traditional qualities, and has new qualities, thinking, knowledge, qualifications, production and business capacity to adapt to the green revolution and modern agriculture.

(3) Building an increasingly strong team of intellectuals - scientists and artists, worthy of being the "national spirit", promoting the role, responsibility and capacity of intellectuals in implementing the goals, tasks and strategies for socio-economic development of the country. Respecting and promoting freedom of thought, academics, practicing democracy in scientific research and creative activities; making good use of talents, highly qualified intellectuals, and elite intellectuals in accordance with the spirit of the 8th Central Conference of the 13th Party Congress.

(4) Developing a team of entrepreneurs grow in quantity and quality, make pioneering and active contributions to the construction and development of an independent, self-reliant and internationally integrated economy. Develop a team of entrepreneurs with vision, intelligence, ethics, entrepreneurial spirit, legitimate enrichment, dynamism, creativity, advanced management capacity, law compliance, ethics, business culture with national identity; have social responsibility, environmental protection awareness, and make worthy contributions to the country's development goals.

(5) Strengthening the education of the young generation about revolutionary ideals, ethics, lifestyle, enhancing patriotism, national pride, nurturing dreams, ambitions, and aspirations to contribute to the Fatherland; building an environment and conditions for studying, working, entertaining, and training to develop healthily, comprehensively, and harmoniously in terms of intelligence, physical strength, and aesthetic values. Motivating young people to be proactive in studying, working creatively, starting a business, establishing a career, and mastering modern scientific and technological knowledge in the digital economy and digital society.

(6) Building Vietnamese women of the new era, promoting the tradition of loyalty, responsibility, potential, strengths and spirit of advancement of Vietnamese women. Improving the quality of female human resources, meeting the requirements of sustainable development and international integration. Perfecting and implementing well policies and laws related to women and children, attaching importance to gender issues and gender equality.

(7) Encourage veterans Promote the nature and tradition of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in building and protecting the Party, the State, the people and the socialist regime; help each other do business, improve and raise living standards, and get rich legally. Strengthen the role of veterans in educating patriotism and revolutionary traditions.

(8) Promote the prestige and experience of the elderly in society, community and family. Respect, protect, care for, have mechanisms and policies to mobilize resources to promote and care for the elderly; encourage the elderly to participate in socio-economic activities; sponsor and help the elderly who are in difficulty, lonely and have no one to rely on.

(9) Ensure equality, solidarity, respect, Promote internal strength to help each other rise up and develop together. Have a mechanism to promote the positivity, self-reliance and self-reliance of ethnic minorities in socio-economic development. Take care of material and spiritual life, improve people's knowledge, preserve and promote the good traditional cultural identity, language and writing of ethnic minorities. Timely fight against plots and actions to divide the solidarity among ethnic groups.

(10) Mobilize, unite, and gather religious organizations, dignitaries, and followers to live a “good life, good religion,” stand side by side with the nation, and actively contribute to the cause of national construction and defense. Ensure that religions operate equally in accordance with the provisions of law and the charters and regulations recognized by the State.

(11) Support for Vietnamese people abroad have a solid legal status, develop the economy and life, integrate into the host country's society. Improve the effectiveness of citizen protection, labor management, international students... Have breakthrough policies to attract resources of overseas Vietnamese to return to the homeland, the country, actively contribute to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. Create conditions for compatriots to preserve the Vietnamese language, national cultural identity, enhance national pride and self-esteem.

(12) Pay attention to summarizing practices and researching theories. clarify the factors affecting the new differentiation and fluctuations of social classes; clarify the content and characteristics of great national solidarity, promoting the strength of great national solidarity and the core content of the alliance of the working class with the peasantry and intellectuals in the new situation; build and implement the Strategy of great national solidarity until 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Third, continue to innovate the organization, content, and methods of operation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations and mass associations to truly represent and protect the legitimate and legal rights and interests of the people.

Continue to innovate and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the activities of the Fatherland Front and mass organizations. Promote the effectiveness of the Front's role in presiding over democratic consultation in coordinating and unifying actions with member organizations and other relevant organizations.

The Front has both consolidated and gathered core members and expanded and attracted an increasing number of social organizations. It is necessary to innovate the methods of mobilization and gathering of the Front organization in a rich, practical and lively direction, becoming a people's forum, where people of all classes, ethnicities, religions, overseas Vietnamese... meet, exchange information, express opinions, thoughts, aspirations, and have democratic and open dialogue. Doing well the mass mobilization work, at the same time innovating the activities, enhancing the practicality and effectiveness of the Front organization will attract more participation from social organizations and outstanding individuals at home and abroad.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front needs to “focus strongly on the grassroots and residential areas,” go deep and close to the people, understand the people’s needs, protect the people’s legitimate and legal rights and interests; participate in social supervision and criticism. Only by understanding the people’s needs and aspirations can we represent and protect the people’s legitimate and legal rights and interests. Strengthen the mass mobilization work of authorities at all levels and supplement and perfect the coordination regulations between the authorities and the Front. Do a good job of the “skillful mass mobilization” movement, mobilizing people to properly implement the Party’s guidelines and policies and the State’s policies and laws.

The activities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations and mass organizations continue to be substantive, focused and key, as instructed by President Ho Chi Minh: "The activities of the Front should aim at the main point to avoid doing everything but doing little thoroughly."⁽¹⁹⁾. Organize practical and effective patriotic emulation movements, creating widespread influence, strongly targeting the grassroots so that people can directly participate, truly be the subject and make efforts to implement. Innovate and perfect institutions and policies on emulation and rewards to promptly encourage and commend typical models and examples, thereby contributing to promoting patriotic emulation movements.

Fourth, promoting socialist democracy, taking people as the center, subject, resource, and main driving force, is the goal of great national unity in the organization and activities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

The principle of organization and operation is democratic consultation to reach a consensus on action, therefore the Vietnam Fatherland Front needs to promote democracy to the highest degree, so that all differences that are not contrary to the common interests need to be respected, listened to, discussed and agreed upon, "seeking common ground and preserving differences", not imposing or forcing. The Front needs to promote democracy, friendly exchange and discussion, ensuring equality and mutual respect; the Front at all levels must truly be the center of solidarity, gathering all social forces, a place where everyone can speak up their voices and aspirations, contribute their intelligence and efforts to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. Democracy must at the same time be closely linked to principles, discipline, and compliance with the Charter and Platform of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. For acts of violation, undemocratic acts, taking advantage of democracy to sabotage the great national unity bloc, oppose the Party, the State, the people and the cause of innovation and national construction, we will resolutely and strictly handle them in accordance with the law.

Expand the practice of democracy in all areas of social life, at all levels, especially democracy at the grassroots and in residential communities, direct democracy, representative democracy and people's self-management. Promote the role of people's self-management in residential communities, villages, hamlets and residential groups. Build and perfect appropriate mechanisms and forms for people to give opinions on major and important issues of the country; ensure people participate in all stages of the process of making decisions directly related to people's interests and lives.

Continue to concretize, institutionalize, and perfect the mechanism of "Party leadership, State management, people mastery" associated with the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit"; clarify the content of the mechanism "Party leadership, State management, Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations as the core for people to mastery"⁽²⁰⁾.

Fifth, promote the role of supervision and social criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations.

As the political foundation of the people's government, the Front coordinates with the State to implement the Party's policy of great national unity. To carry out that coordination, the Front must participate in building, protecting, and supervising the State, so that the State can fulfill its role as a "public servant" of the people.

The Front and its member organizations coordinate with the government through regulations, programs, and plans to create the strength of the entire political system to carry out common tasks. In order to have close and sustainable coordination, creating conditions for the Front and its member organizations to perform their roles well, state agencies need to continue to research, supplement, and perfect institutions, mechanisms, policies, and laws, creating the best conditions for the people to promote their mastery, effectively participate in state management, and social management; and perfect the legal basis for the activities of the Front and its member organizations.

The Front does not perform the task of state management or support state management, but has the task of participating in controlling state power. Therefore, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations need to study, supplement and perfect this mechanism, at the same time do a good job of monitoring, social criticism, controlling power, ensuring correctness, effectiveness and satisfaction of the people.

Conduct a review of 10 years of implementing Decision No. 217-QD/TW dated December 12, 2013 of the Politburo promulgating the Regulation on social supervision and criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations; Decision No. 218-QD/TW dated December 12, 2013 of the Politburo promulgating regulations on the participation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and people in giving opinions on Party building and government building, as a basis for making adjustments and supplements to mechanisms and policies so that the supervision and social criticism, participation in giving opinions on Party building and government building of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and people are increasingly substantive and effective, a method that clearly demonstrates the people's mastery and the superiority of the socialist regime.

Sixth, build a contingent of cadres of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations, mass associations with capacity, prestige, enthusiasm, responsibility, and dedication to the common work.

Front cadres at all levels, first of all full-time cadres, must have a strong political stance, pure moral qualities, be devoted to the cause of national unity, have capacity, prestige, and successfully complete mass mobilization work, gather and mobilize people of all walks of life. Front cadres are those who have direct contact with the people, so they must "respect the people, be close to the people, understand the people, learn from the people and be responsible to the people"; "listen to the people, speak so that the people understand, make the people believe". Front cadres and mass organizations need to have the qualities of daring to think, daring to speak, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, daring to innovate and create, daring to face difficulties and challenges for the benefit of the nation and people; at the same time, be examples of dedication, devotion, responsibility, wholehearted devotion to work, striving to study, practice and improve qualifications.

Front cadres must always remember that the people will only listen to and believe in them when they truly trust them, when front cadres are truly the most convincing examples. Therefore, each front cadre must constantly train himself, cultivate morality, and become a shining example for the people to love, cherish, respect, and benefit from. The Vietnam Fatherland Front, its member associations, and agencies that work to mobilize the people need to have a plan to train and foster front cadres and organizations with the capacity to rally the masses, have wide influence, and have prestige with the masses. This is an important and difficult task that requires a long-term preparation plan with a comprehensive and strategic vision.

Building the great national unity bloc is not only the responsibility of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, but also the responsibility of the entire Party, the entire political system and the entire society. Therefore, all activities of the political system, of each cadre and party member must take the people's peace as the core, take the people's interests as the center, build a position of people's hearts, and promote people's consensus. Experience shows that leading the development of exemplary people worthy of being the flag that gathers all classes of people is a very elaborate and meticulous task, a task of a special nature and cannot be successful if it does not come from a bright heart, a pure heart, for the country, for the people.

***

Reality has taught us a profound lesson that any work, big or small, to be successful, must have solidarity, unity, internal consensus, and the whole people's consent; the revolution must build a solid bloc of solidarity if it wants to advance. With the high political determination of the entire Party, people, and army, I believe and hope that the Vietnam Fatherland Front will continue to promote its role as the political core, the nucleus of solidarity, fulfill its glorious mission, strongly arouse the tradition of patriotism, national pride, belief and aspiration for development, to build our country increasingly rich, prosperous, civilized, and happy.

------------------------

(1) Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Literature Publishing House, Hanoi, 2017, p. 256
(2) President Ho Chi Minh was honored as Honorary President of the Vietnam National Union (abbreviated as Lien Viet) in May 1946; Honorary President of the Lien Viet Front in March 1951; Honorary President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in September 1955.
(3) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. 13, p. 120
(4) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 10, p. 453
(5) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 9, p. 244
(6) Complete Party Documents, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2004, vol. 37, p. 507
(7) Complete Party Documents, op. cit., vol. 43, p. 132
(8) Complete Party Documents, op. cit., vol. 47, p. 362
(9) Complete Party Documents, op. cit., vol. 55, p. 360
(10) Complete Party Documents, ibid, vol. 60, p. 132
(11) Complete Party Documents, op. cit., vol. 65, p. 212
(12), (13) Documents of the 11th National Congress of Delegates, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, pp. 240, 86
(14) Documents of the 12th National Congress of Delegates, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2016, p. 159
(15) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. I, p. 165
(16) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 9, p. 368
(17) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 12, p. 35
(18) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. I, p. 173
(19) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 7, p. 48
(20) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. I, p. 173