Identify the "praising to put down" trick

Illustration photo / tuyengiao.vn

One of the sophisticated arguments they often use is to try to exalt Ho Chi Minh's ideology but oppose it to Marxism-Leninism in order to destroy the ideological foundation of the Party. Therefore, opposing this distorted argument is a fundamental content in the struggle to protect the ideological foundation of the Party and refute the current erroneous and hostile views.

The sophistication of anti-scientific voices

There is a dialectical relationship between Ho Chi Minh's thought and Marxism-Leninism. Marxism-Leninism is the fundamental theoretical source that forms Ho Chi Minh's thought. Ho Chi Minh's thought is the inheritance, application and creative development of Marxism-Leninism in the specific circumstances of Vietnam and both are components of the ideological foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Any argument opposing Ho Chi Minh's thought to Marxism-Leninism is unscientific and unhistorical.

First of all, they deny the existence of Ho Chi Minh's ideology on the grounds that Ho Chi Minh was only a practical activist, not an ideologist. Although the value and stature of Ho Chi Minh's ideology have been verified by the victory of the Vietnamese revolution and the national liberation movement around the world, and have been recognized by scholars at home and abroad, the distorters still claim that "Ho Chi Minh's ideology is just a fabrication of the Communist Party of Vietnam". The denial of the existence and great, lasting value of Ho Chi Minh's ideology does not stem from scientific reasons but from the dark political motive of destroying the fundamental strength of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The anti-government elements also have a completely different tone, trying to praise and exalt Ho Chi Minh's ideology and deny the value of Marxism-Leninism. To overthrow Marxism-Leninism, they have given many different reasons. First, they cite the "element of the times", that Marxism-Leninism was only suitable for the 19th century, at most the early 20th century, only suitable for industrial civilization; but now humanity is in the 21st century, in the era of knowledge economy and globalization, the mission of the working class has changed, the role of intellectuals "reigns", so Marxism has become outdated and has been surpassed by history. This is also a very vague argument because even though the era we are living in is very different from the era in which Marx, Engels, and Lenin lived, its changes still do not go beyond the most general laws that Marxism-Leninism has discovered. With its open nature, Marxism-Leninism is still the scientific theory and methodology for social awareness and awareness of the times that no other political doctrine or ideology can replace.

“Geographical factors” are also the reason why the anti-revolutionary forces try to deny Marxism-Leninism, that Marxism-Leninism is not a product of Vietnam, it is a “foreign” doctrine, “imported” from the West, so it is not suitable for Vietnam. Those who put forward the above argument deliberately do not understand the power of abstraction, generalization and the vision of the times of Marxism-Leninism. Although Marxism-Leninism has its theoretical origin directly from the West, as Nguyen Ai Quoc affirmed, “Marxism will still be true there”, that is, in the East, especially when it has been supplemented with “Oriental ethnology” as Nguyen Ai Quoc emphasized and tried to implement.

The third reason they give to refute Marxism-Leninism is the collapse of the socialist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, which has proven that Marxism-Leninism is fundamentally wrong, not due to wrong perception or wrong application. They deliberately do not understand that the collapse of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is the collapse of a socialist model with many defects and slow to be repaired, not the collapse of a scientific doctrine. The sustainability of Marxism-Leninism compared to other doctrines lies in the fact that it is based on a scientific worldview, which is dialectical materialism. The fourth reason they give to demand the abolition of Marxism-Leninism is the difference between Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought, because Marxism advocates class struggle, Ho Chi Minh advocates great national unity, and Ho Chi Minh is a nationalist, not a communist; Therefore, there is nothing in common between Ho Chi Minh's ideology and Marxism-Leninism. They also believe that in the history of the Communist Party of Vietnam, there has been an "ideological civil war between Ho Chi Minh's ideology and Marxism-Leninism", but in fact it was only a struggle between Ho Chi Minh's ideology and dogmatic, rigid views in the application of Marxism-Leninism.

After giving many such fallacious "excuses", they came to the conclusion: At this time, it is enough to just talk about Ho Chi Minh's ideology, only Ho Chi Minh's ideology is "valuable" and therefore, it is necessary to remove Marxism-Leninism from the Party's ideological foundation.

Firmly and resolutely defend Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought

The argument of "praising" Ho Chi Minh's ideology and contrasting Ho Chi Minh's ideology with Marxism-Leninism is completely contrary to Ho Chi Minh's own feelings and wishes.

During his lifetime, from the time he became a communist (in 1920) until his death, Ho Chi Minh was always closely attached to and highly praised Marxism-Leninism. Since 1927, he affirmed: Now there are many doctrines and many isms, but the most genuine, most certain, and most revolutionary ism is Leninism. Ho Chi Minh's saying that "everyone has the right to study an ism. As for me, I have studied Marxism" expressed his resolute choice. To talk about the great role of Marxism-Leninism in the Vietnamese revolution, he also affirmed: "Leninism for us, the revolutionaries and the people of Vietnam, is not only a miraculous "handbook", not only a compass, but also the sun illuminating our path to final victory, to socialism and communism".

Ho Chi Minh's inseparable attachment to Marxism-Leninism is also shown through very vivid and touching details. When writing his Will, he called his departure from this world "going to meet Mr. Marx and Mr. Lenin" because between these great men there was a harmony in the aspiration for human liberation and the sacred "proletarian brotherhood". In his last interview on July 15, 1969, Ho Chi Minh also affirmed: "We achieved that victory due to many factors, but it must be emphasized that... first of all, it was thanks to the irreplaceable weapon of Marxism-Leninism".

Thus, from the moment he shed tears of happiness when reading Lenin’s “Theses” until the last days of his life, Ho Chi Minh was attached to Marxism-Leninism with love and loyalty in the dialectical spirit. Therefore, contrasting Ho Chi Minh’s ideology with Marxism-Leninism is a distortion of history, of which Ho Chi Minh was the most vivid witness.

It must be affirmed that: The exaltation of Ho Chi Minh's thought and the downgrading of Marxism-Leninism is essentially a dark plot and a sophisticated trick. Its danger lies in its sophistry, which can easily make people misunderstand and believe it because it "hits" the love of the leader and the spirit of national pride. However, this is not actually a praise, not an exaltation of Ho Chi Minh's thought according to its true value, but only a "lifting up to lower down" tactic, which is to find a way to isolate and separate Ho Chi Minh's thought from its main theoretical source in order to weaken and eventually negate Ho Chi Minh's thought itself. More deeply, the saboteurs not only deny Marxism-Leninism or Ho Chi Minh's ideology but also want to deny the entire platform and policies of the Party formulated on that ideological foundation in order to achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, eliminating the current regime, and eliminating the orientation towards socialism in our country.

To counter this distorted and deceitful tone, it is necessary to first educate and raise awareness among the entire Party and people about the dialectical relationship between Ho Chi Minh Thought and Marxism-Leninism and the dark motives of the opposing forces when denying this relationship. It is necessary to make cadres, party members and people understand that the relationship between Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought is the relationship between origin and development, between the general and the specific, so that "although two, they are one, although one, they are two". Although Ho Chi Minh Thought has many creative points compared to Marxism-Leninism, it is consistent with Marxism-Leninism in its essence and in its ideal of liberating the suffering people.

Along with that, it is necessary to strengthen political theory education so that cadres and party members can understand the content, nature, and lasting value of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought. The current situation of "party indifference, fading of the union, and lack of ideals" and the laziness in studying political theory among a number of cadres and party members is "fertile ground" for the enemy to step up counter-propaganda work. Therefore, doing a good job of education and actively cultivating scientific knowledge for cadres and people is creating a "vaccine" to prevent and combat the infiltration of bad and toxic information.

In the current context, we must be steadfast and further strengthen the creative application and development of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought to successfully build socialism in Vietnam because practice is the place where all truths are most authentically tested. On the contrary, every wrongdoing by individuals and Party organizations is aiding and abetting hostile forces in attacking the Party's ideological foundation. Therefore, strengthening the protection of the Party's ideological foundation must be closely linked to the work of building and rectifying a clean and strong Party.

The history of development of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought has always gone hand in hand with the struggle to protect the true value of the doctrine and to fight against hostile and erroneous viewpoints. Therefore, fighting against the opposing viewpoints of Ho Chi Minh Thought and Marxism-Leninism is a regular task to increase the Party's strength and defeat the plots of distortion and sabotage by hostile forces. With correct perception as well as in action, each individual and organization in the political system must have the responsibility to participate in affirming the truth: The world is still changing, but Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought live forever.