One of the basic scientific theses in Lenin's doctrine on defending the Fatherland is: "A revolution is only valuable when it knows how to defend itself." However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries in Eastern Europe, hostile and reactionary forces distorted and falsified Lenin's correct viewpoint.

Be alert to the plot to distort that there is no need to protect the Socialist Fatherland

As early as 1916, on the eve of the proletarian revolution in Russia, Lenin pointed out: “Without taking up arms to defend the socialist republic, we cannot survive. The ruling class never cedes power to the ruled class. But the ruled class must prove in practice that it is not only capable of overthrowing the exploiters, but also capable of organizing and mobilizing all to defend itself”; and: “A revolution is only valuable when it knows how to defend itself”. Because self-defense is to defend the government and the achievements of the revolution that have been won, it is an objective necessity, of a just nature, it is one of the natural laws of the proletarian revolution. Lenin also said that “it is not possible for a revolution to immediately know how to defend itself”, because “how to defend itself is a science and art of revolution, the revolution can only achieve complete success when it knows how to defend itself correctly”.

After Lenin's idea of ​​"A revolution is only valuable when it knows how to defend itself" was born, it was fiercely opposed by hostile and reactionary forces. They denied protecting the revolutionary achievements of the proletariat when the revolution was successful. According to them, the victorious proletarian revolution did not need to establish a state power because it had already succeeded. To destroy this argument, right after the success of the October Revolution in Russia, Lenin pointed out: "Since October 25, 1917, we have been advocates of defending the fatherland. We agree with "defending the fatherland", but the war to defend the country that we are going towards is a war to defend the socialist fatherland, to defend socialism as a fatherland."

In recent times, taking advantage of the declining socialist system and the rapid and unpredictable changes in the world situation, hostile and reactionary forces have increasingly tried to sabotage the remaining socialist countries, including Vietnam. They believe that there is no need to protect the Socialist Republic of Vietnam because there are no more invaders, and if there is protection, it is only to protect the country, not the socialist regime. This is an extremely vicious argument, easily causing misunderstanding in the performance of military service to protect the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by Vietnamese citizens today.

Both in theory and practice, it has been proven that every revolution that breaks out is associated with a class standing at the center of the era and the issue of seizing power is always the fundamental issue of every revolution associated with a specific nation or people. Thus, there is never a Fatherland separated from a social regime, but is always closely associated with a certain social regime such as the slave-owning social regime, the feudal social regime, the capitalist social regime, the socialist regime.

The task of defending the Fatherland in each historical period is closely linked to the regime in that historical period, nation, and people. Unfortunately, in addition to the sabotage of reactionary and hostile forces, some people in the country are still mistaken and subjective, do not see all the dangers to the country and the regime, do not perceive the unity between national independence and socialism in our country, so they tend to underestimate the task of defending the socialist Fatherland; do not fully perceive the dialectical relationship between building and defending the socialist Fatherland. Even some Vietnamese people, although carrying the blood of Lac Hong and enjoying the fruits of the revolution, turn their backs on the nation, try to attack and distort the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, and are determined to sabotage the achievements of the country's renovation and the peaceful life of the people.

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Strengthening the overall strength, firmly protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Loyalty to and creative application of Lenin's thought "A revolution is only valuable when it knows how to defend itself" is very important in today's era. Therefore, we need to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement the Strategy for defending the Fatherland in the new situation in the spirit of the Resolution of the 8th Conference of the Party Central Committee, 13th tenure.

Imbued with the above-mentioned ideology of Lenin and inheriting the tradition and law of nation-building combined with national defense of our people, immediately after the victory of the August Revolution in 1945, President Ho Chi Minh declared to the world resolutely that: “Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence, and in fact has become a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to devote all their spirit and strength, lives and property to maintain that freedom and independence”. Since then, throughout the 30-year long march under the leadership of the Party and Uncle Ho, our people have successfully waged two resistance wars against the French colonialists and the invading American imperialists, reunified the country, brought the country together, and the whole country entered the cause of building socialism and firmly defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In practice, the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s proved that seizing power was difficult, but maintaining and using power to build and protect the socialist regime was even more difficult. One of the main reasons for the collapse was the mistakes of the communist parties in the process of reform, the loss of vigilance and self-weakening, and loss of resistance from within the communist parties and revolutionary forces against the insidious and cunning plots and tricks of hostile forces.

As Lenin once warned: “No one can destroy us except our own mistakes if we do not make mistakes and overthrow ourselves.” Thus, the lessons of success and failure in defending the socialist Fatherland since the October Revolution in socialist countries not only affirm Lenin’s thought that “A revolution is only valuable when it knows how to defend itself” but also serve as a basis for determining the will and determination to raise our sense of responsibility in fighting and refuting the current erroneous and hostile viewpoints.

The most important solution is to step up propaganda and education work, raising awareness among cadres, party members and people about the need to protect the Fatherland in conjunction with protecting the socialist regime, protecting the Party, the State and the people. That is the basis for consolidating the class political stance, belief and steadfastness in the Party's goals and ideals on the country's path to socialism.

In addition, it is necessary to focus on educating the unified perception of the object, partner and the goal of protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The distinction between partners and objects is very necessary, however, it is necessary to be flexible and agile in perception. In reality, the boundary between partners and objects is sometimes very fragile, relative, and perception is not easy or simple. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly define the criteria and viewpoints in perceiving and handling this issue. One of the very important criteria for determining partners is benefits. Because benefits (understood in its full sense) must be guaranteed for both sides: our side and the partner's side, so that both sides benefit, in accordance with Vietnamese law and international practice. The criterion of "mutual benefit" becomes the basis of the relationship between partners. On the basis of the common interests of the nation and people, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp the viewpoint of our Party and State in determining the objects and partners: Those who advocate respecting independence and sovereignty, establishing and expanding friendly relations, and equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with Vietnam are all our partners. Any force that plots and acts to sabotage our country's goals in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland is an object of struggle.

Regarding the goal of protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam comprehensively, protecting both the natural-historical and political-social aspects in the unified whole of protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, according to the spirit of the Resolution of the 8th Central Committee, Session XIII, it was pointed out: "Firmly protect the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland, protect the Party, State, people, socialist regime, culture, and national and ethnic interests; maintain a peaceful environment, political stability, national security, and human security; build an orderly, disciplined, safe, and healthy society to develop the country in the direction of socialism".

In the current context, it is necessary to make the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire army correctly aware of the motto of protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam early and from afar, defending the country before it is in danger, with many flexible, adaptable, and resolute strategies to create a solid combined strength in the cause of defending the country.

The strength to protect the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the combined strength of the great national unity bloc, of the entire political system under the leadership of the Party, in which the people's armed forces play a core and pillar role. It is the combined strength of political, military, economic, scientific-technological, cultural, and foreign affairs factors, manifested in the material and spiritual strength of about 100 million Vietnamese people in the country and more than 5 million Vietnamese people living, studying, working, and working abroad who always turn towards the Fatherland. It is the internal strength with the external strength, the national strength with the strength of the times in protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam today.

Ta Ngoc (According to qdnd.vn)