The great victory in the Spring of 1975 was the result of a synthesis of many objective and subjective factors. Among those factors, the Party's correct and creative line - Simultaneously carrying out and closely combining two revolutionary strategies (the people's national democratic revolution in the South and the socialist revolution in the North) was the decisive factor.

The basis and creative correctness of the policy

In terms of theory , first of all, our Party creatively applied the Marxist-Leninist theory of continuous revolution. The theory of continuous revolution was developed by V.Lenin from the thought of continuous revolution of C. Marx and F. Engels. The basic content is that the proletariat carries out the revolution in two stages (first stage - new-style bourgeois democratic revolution; second stage - socialist revolution), and between these two revolutionary stages there is no dividing wall. The first stage is the premise for the next stage. Completing the first stage, we must immediately move on to carrying out the tasks of the revolution in the second stage.

Next, our Party inherited and developed the Party Platforms. The first Party Platform, drafted by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, on the basis of applying the theory of continuous revolution of Marxism-Leninism to Vietnam, clearly stated: "Carry out bourgeois democratic revolution and agrarian revolution to move towards a communist society" ⁽¹⁾ . That is, clearly defining that the Vietnamese revolution must move towards a communist society. But how? First, it must go through the bourgeois democratic revolution and agrarian revolution, then inevitably carry out the socialist revolution to move towards a communist society. Therefore, even though it was not clearly and specifically stated, the revolutionary goal contained two stages that the Vietnamese revolution had to go through. From then on, when talking about the goal (or path) of the Vietnamese revolution, it was often understood and expressed as national independence associated with socialism.

The 3rd National Congress of the Vietnam Workers' Party (September 5, 1960). Photo courtesy

The two revolutionary stages were more clearly defined in the Platform of the Vietnam Workers' Party (February 1951). The Platform determined the roadmap for the Vietnamese revolution: Completing the people's national democratic revolution and advancing to the socialist revolution.

Thus, our Party creatively applies revolutionary theory continuously and inherits and develops the first Platform and Political Platform of the Vietnam Workers' Party.

Creativity is clearly shown in the names. Revolutionary theory constantly calls the two revolutionary stages the new-style bourgeois democratic revolution and the socialist revolution. The Platforms and guidelines of the Third Party Congress do not use this name but use other names, suitable to the reality of Vietnam (bourgeois democratic rights, land revolution and socialist revolution or people's national democratic revolution and socialist revolution).

Fear of creativity is also reflected in scope. Both the Marxist-Leninist theory of continuous revolution and the Party Platforms mention the implementation of the revolutionary roadmap on a national scale. Therefore, determining the guidelines at the 3rd Congress, simultaneously implementing and closely combining the 2 revolutionary strategies in the 2 regions of the South and the North is a great theoretical innovation of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh.

In practice. The situation of the country after July 1954 had a major feature: The country was temporarily divided into two regions (according to the provisions of the Geneva Agreement, the ¹⁷⁰ parallel was the temporary demarcation line). In that context, the requirement for our Party was how to set out a path to simultaneously lead the revolution in the two regions, the South and the North. After a period of research (July 1954 - September 1960), closely following the world and domestic situation, firmly relying on and creatively applying revolutionary theory to Vietnam, inheriting and developing the Party's Platforms, our Party outlined the Vietnamese revolutionary path in a correct and creative way.

The correctness is clearly shown when considering each region: the South has not yet completed the task of the people's national democratic revolution, so it must continue to carry out this revolution, the direct goal is to overthrow the US imperialists and their lackeys, liberate the South, and unify the country. The North has been basically liberated, the task of the people's national democratic revolution has been basically completed, so without waiting for the South, we immediately move on to carry out the task of the second revolution, the direct goal is to build a socialist North, the larger goal is to turn the North into a strong rear for the struggle for peace and national unification. At the same time, the North must also shoulder an important mission - preparing the material and technical foundations for the whole country to move towards socialism after the war.

Creativity is clearly demonstrated when considered on a national scale. Therefore, the simultaneous implementation and close combination of two revolutionary strategies in the North and South has turned Vietnam into a unique model, unprecedented in history.

The policy of simultaneously implementing and closely combining two revolutionary strategies

The policy of simultaneously carrying out and closely combining two revolutionary strategies was clearly defined in the Third National Congress (September 1960) of the Party: “The Vietnamese revolution in the current period has two strategic tasks: One is to carry out the socialist revolution in the North. Two is to liberate the South from the domination of American imperialism and its henchmen, to achieve national reunification, and to complete independence and democracy throughout the country. These two strategic tasks are closely related to each other and have the effect of promoting each other” ^{( 2 )} .

Our Party also clearly pointed out the role of each revolutionary strategy: The people's national democratic revolution in the South played a directly decisive role in the resistance war against the US to save the country; the socialist revolution in the North played the most decisive role in the entire revolutionary cause of the whole country.

Saigon people welcome the liberation army occupying the puppet presidential palace, noon April 30, 1975. Photo: Document/VNA

With the correct and creative guidelines, our Party led the Vietnamese revolution to great victories in the period of 1954 - 1975. The 4th Congress (1976) of the Party affirmed: “The most important decisive factor for victory is the leadership of our Party with an independent, autonomous, correct and creative political and military guideline. That is the guideline of holding high the two flags of national independence and socialism, simultaneously carrying out two closely related revolutionary tasks: the people's national democratic revolution in the South and the socialist revolution in the North, aiming at the common goal of completing the people's national democratic revolution in the whole country, completing the unification of the country, creating conditions to bring the whole country forward to socialism. With that guideline, our Party has mobilized to the highest level the mighty people's force of the whole country, combining the great frontline with the great rear, combining the strength of our people with the strength of the three revolutionary streams of the era, creating "combined strength to fight and defeat America" ^{​​( 3 )} .

The policy of simultaneously implementing and closely combining two revolutionary strategies in the North and the South was led and directed by our Party and brought about practical results. That process took place through many successive stages, successively defeating the strategies and wars of the US imperialists in the South: the strategy of "unilateral war" (1954 - 1960); "special war" (1965 - 1968); the strategy of "Vietnamization of the war " and "Indochinaization of the war " (1969 - 1975).

After the preparation process, the combined strength of the two regions, the South and the North, was brought into full play in the general offensive and uprising in Spring 1975, with three campaigns and great victories: the Central Highlands Campaign (March 4-24, 1975); the Hue - Da Nang Campaign (March 21-29, 1975) and the decisive victory in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign (April 26-30, 1975).

Valuable lessons for today and tomorrow

The decisive factor for the victory of the resistance war against America to save the country was the policy of simultaneously implementing and closely combining two network strategies in the North and South , or the policy of " raising high the flag of national independence and socialism" of the Party. From there, looking at current reality, gives us three extremely valuable lessons:

Firstly, in the process of formulating policies and guidelines, the Party must always creatively apply theory to practice, especially paying close attention to the reality of the Vietnamese revolution.

Second, in planning a general revolutionary strategy for the whole country, the Party must pay close attention to the specific characteristics of each region, area, and locality... to make it suitable. From there, clearly define the general purpose of the entire strategy , and at the same time , pay close attention to the specific tasks of each region , area, and locality.

Third, cadres need to promote the spirit of "6 dares" in applying theory in general, the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's policies and laws in particular to each locality, agency, and unit .

Thus, under the leadership of the Party, with the correct and creative guidelines is the decisive factor for the victory of the Vietnamese revolution in the period 1954 - 1975 . The Party's line is the creative application of the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism, inheriting and developing the Party's Platforms. With the planning and leading the successful implementation of this line, it has left extremely valuable lessons for the Party, the nation and each of us today and tomorrow. Promoting the great victory spirit of the Spring of 1975 and the valuable lessons, under the wise leadership of the Party, the Vietnamese people will certainly create new great spring victories in the era of rising up.

LE VAN MINH

( Binh Dinh Provincial Political School )

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(1) Communist Party of Vietnam: Complete Party Documents, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2002, vol. 2, p. 2

(2) Communist Party of Vietnam: Complete Party Documents, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2004, vol. 21, p. 916.

(3) Communist Party of Vietnam: Complete Party Documents, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2004, vol. 37, p. 981.