The policy of "relying on the people to build the Party" includes promoting the people's strength in building, rectifying the Party and protecting the Party (In photo: General Secretary To Lam takes Metro train No. 1 Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien and talks with people)_ Photo: VNA

Combining Party building with Party protection is an objective requirement.

Firstly , the Party can only exist and operate when it both builds and protects itself.

VI Lenin clearly affirmed: In a class society, the governments of the ruling class must always protect their own lines, policies and organizational apparatus; the forces carrying out the revolution must always protect the revolution, protect the achievements that the revolution has won, in which "the entire organized proletariat must protect itself, and we must use those workers' organizations to protect the workers from the encroachment of their state and for the workers to protect our state" ⁽¹⁾ . The self-defense ability of the ruling communist party proves the meaning of the party's existence, demonstrates the party's strength and the party's responsibility to the class, revolutionary forces, people and nation, which is "protecting the honor of the Party" ⁽²⁾ . President Ho Chi Minh pointed out: "A nation, a party and each person, who were great yesterday and had great appeal, will not necessarily be loved and praised by everyone today and tomorrow, if their hearts are no longer pure, if they fall into individualism" ⁽³⁾ .

The fact that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union - a party led by VI Lenin, which had gone through a long process of building, overcoming many fierce challenges, and had over 20 million members - lost its ruling role, disintegrated, and led to the collapse of the country's socialist regime shows that if the ideological foundation and organizational principles of the party are not well protected, all achievements in party building will disappear in just a short time.

Second , hostile forces never give up their plots to sabotage the Party and its leadership role.

The bourgeoisie knows well the strength and role of the Communist Party in relation to the revolutionary forces, so they seek every way to eliminate the Communist Party by hunting down and arresting Party members, planting spies within the Party... When the Communist Party is in power, hostile forces - including invading forces and representatives of classes that have lost power - also consider sabotage of the ruling Communist Party as the top priority in their plot against socialism. In the "peaceful evolution" strategy to sabotage our country, sabotage of the Party by hostile forces includes many tricks: Refuting the Party's leadership role over the State and society; distorting the Party's ideological foundation; attacking the Party's guidelines and policies; exaggerating the limitations and shortcomings in the Party's leadership, State management and violations by a number of Party organizations and Party members to deny the Party's leadership capacity; refuting the Party's organizational and operational principles; They divide the unity and solidarity within the Party; discredit the cadres and Party members; reduce the people's trust in the Party... Especially dangerous is that they bribe, entice, and incite political opportunists and discontented people within the Party to collude with reactionary forces outside to sabotage the Party. Therefore, protecting the Party and foiling all plots and tricks to sabotage the Party is a long-term, arduous, and uncompromising struggle.

Third , the revolutionary situation and tasks are always changing.

Party building and Party protection are closely linked to the context of the world, the country and the Party's internal situation. Meanwhile, the general situation and the situation of the communist and workers' movement in the world, the situation and tasks of the country are always changing. On a general level, it can be clearly seen that Party building and Party protection in the condition of having a government are fundamentally different from when there was no government; in the period of national renovation, it is also different from the years before renovation. The connection and combination between Party building and Party protection today also have many new points. When the country's renovation has achieved great achievements of historical significance, the Party's leadership role has been enhanced and strongly affirmed, the hostile forces have become more frantic and fiercely sabotaged. When the market mechanism penetrates into all areas of social life, international integration is deep, internal negative factors sometimes become complicated, especially corruption is increasingly sophisticated, there is collusion to form complex "interest groups"; The degradation of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle of a significant number of cadres and party members has become a direct threat to the survival of the Party and the regime.

Fourth , the Party cannot avoid shortcomings and negative aspects, which need to be publicly acknowledged and corrected.

Right from the early years when the Soviet government was newly established, VI Lenin saw dangerous manifestations in the party that required a party purge. According to him, it was necessary to purge the party to eliminate from the party “the cunning ones, the bureaucratized, dishonest, weak-willed communists, and the Mensheviks, who, although “on the surface” had been covered with a new coat of paint, were still Mensheviks in their hearts” ⁽⁴⁾ ; “elements that were far from the masses…, who disgraced the party before the masses…, the “officials”…, the “bureaucratized” ones” ⁽⁵⁾ . He pointed out the significance of party purification for party building: “Party purification… will make the party a much stronger vanguard of the proletariat than before; it will make the party a vanguard with stronger ties to that class, more capable of leading that class to victory, amid countless difficulties and dangers” ⁽⁶⁾ .

One of the tasks of protecting the Party associated with building the Party is that the Party must look straight at and openly admit its own mistakes and shortcomings and resolutely overcome and correct those mistakes and shortcomings. President Ho Chi Minh explained in an easy-to-understand way the reasons for the negative aspects in the Party: “Every person has good and evil in their hearts. We must know how to make the good part in each person bloom like spring flowers and the bad part gradually disappear, that is the attitude of a revolutionary” ⁽⁷⁾ . According to him, admitting and correcting the Party’s mistakes and shortcomings is also building the Party and protecting the Party, because “a Party that conceals its shortcomings is a rotten Party. A Party that has the courage to admit its shortcomings, clearly point out those shortcomings, the reasons for those shortcomings, clearly examine the circumstances that gave rise to those shortcomings, and then seek every way to correct those shortcomings. That is a progressive, bold, steadfast, and genuine Party” ⁽⁸⁾ . He also requested that, in order to protect the purity and strength of the Party, it is necessary to overcome the situation of "individualism leading to disunity, lack of organization, discipline, lack of responsibility, failure to properly implement the Party's and State's guidelines and policies, harming the interests of the revolution and the people" ⁽⁹⁾ .

Fifth , through protecting the Party, Party building is focused on the right core and key points, and the Party's fighting strength is increased.

In the article “The Tricks of the Eliminationists and the Tasks of the Bolshevik Party” written on November 28, 1909, VI Lenin affirmed that the struggle to overcome the crisis within the Russian Social Democratic Party was both to protect the Party and to build and train the Party. It was “a necessary task to protect the correct strategy of the revolutionary Social Democratic Party and to build the Party. It is the Bolsheviks who are persistently carrying out that struggle, thereby training and uniting all the truly Party-following, truly Marxist, Social Democratic elements” ⁽¹⁰⁾ . The orientation of Party building is comprehensive, with the desire to have an ideal Party. However, the practice of building a new Party clearly shows what are the key and prominent issues that need to be resolved, how the Party building work needs to be innovated, what needs to be rectified, and through the sabotage activities of hostile forces, the Party clearly sees what needs to be done to protect the Party. For example, Party building is a regular task and work of the Party, but at the 4th Central Conference of the 11th tenure (January 2012), it was determined to resolutely fight to prevent and push back the degradation of political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle of a significant number of cadres and Party members, first of all leaders and managers at all levels, to improve the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party, and to strengthen the trust of Party members and the people in the Party, which is the most central, consistent, and urgent of the three urgent issues of Party building today. The Party has recently emphasized the protection of the Party's ideological foundation and the fight against erroneous and hostile arguments through Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW, dated October 22, 2018, of the Politburo, "On strengthening the protection of the Party's ideological foundation and fighting against erroneous and hostile views in the new situation". It is through the struggle to protect the Party that the great and lasting value of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought is more strongly affirmed; the strength and great contributions of the Party to the nation; the great achievements of the revolution and our people; the nature and vitality of the Party's organizational and operational principles. It is also through the activities of fighting against erroneous and hostile views that the Party's internal unity and solidarity are greater; the contents of the Party's ideological work are more profound, the arguments are sharper, theoretical and practical arguments are increased, and they are more convincing and attractive.

The relationship between Party building and Party protection

Firstly , Party building and Party protection are activities that are closely related, intertwined, influence each other and serve as a premise for each other.

The element of enhancing the Party's "fighting strength" goes hand in hand with the element of enhancing the Party's "leadership capacity" in the theme of the Political Report at the 10th National Party Congress, clearly demonstrating the unity between Party building and Party protection. With the viewpoint of "building" going hand in hand with "fighting", the resolutions and conclusions of the recent Central Conferences on Party building have advocated simultaneously carrying out the task of Party building with preventing and repelling the degradation of political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle of cadres and Party members. Conclusion No. 21-KL/TW, dated October 25, 2021, of the 4th Central Conference of the 13th tenure, along with the requirement of "promoting the building and rectification of the Party and the political system" is to "resolutely prevent, repel, and strictly handle cadres and Party members who have degraded political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, and manifest "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" - one of the contents of Party protection.

Implementing Party building well will create strength to protect the Party, effectively fight against anti-Party activities of hostile forces and bad elements, and prevent and repel signs of degradation, "self-evolution", "self-transformation" within the Party and the entire political system. Using the good to repel the bad, taking "building" as a fundamental, strategic, long-term task to "fight" immediate, urgent negatives... - that is a matter of law in the process of Party building in particular, and in social management in general. President Ho Chi Minh instructed: “For those with bad habits, except those who betray the Fatherland and the people, we must also help them progress by making the good part in them flourish to push back the evil part, not by crushing them. Taking good people and good deeds as examples to educate each other every day is one of the best ways to build the Party, build revolutionary organizations, build new people, and a new life” ( ¹¹⁾ . If the Party is firmly built, united, has high leadership capacity and fighting spirit, and has clean party members, then no force can oppose the Party.

Implementing the protection of the Party well will help the Party building to be promoted, go into depth, and have high quality. Through the struggle to defeat the plots and sabotage tricks of hostile forces and criticize the distorted perceptions and wrongdoings of cadres and Party members, the Party realizes more fully and specifically the policies that need to be perfected, the tasks that need to be implemented, the key points that need to be focused on, the obstacles that need to be overcome, the implementation methods that need to be innovated and improved in the work of Party building.

Second , building and protecting the Party share the same goal of keeping the Party clean, strong, with high leadership capacity and fighting spirit, and fulfilling well its role and mission of leadership and governance.

In general, Party building aims to build a truly clean and strong Party with high leadership and fighting capacity, and to fulfill its role and mission of leadership and governance well. However, in the process of Party building and Party activities, it is inevitable that there will be opposing forces and negative factors arising within the Party, so it is necessary to carry out Party protection work. Party protection is not an isolated, autonomous task, but an activity closely linked to Party building activities, contributing together with Party building activities to make the Party strong enough to fulfill its leadership and governance role well and capable of resisting, preventing, repelling, and neutralizing acts of sabotage that weaken the Party's strength. Preventing and repelling the degradation of political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle of cadres and Party members, manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party, and disciplining Party organizations, cadres, and Party members who violate the Party's regulations also aim to purify the Party; Warning and deterring those who intend to do wrong; preventing violations early, not allowing small violations to accumulate and develop into major violations, and individual and local violations to become widespread violations; strengthening the Party's prestige among the people. In preventing and combating corruption and waste, the 13th National Party Congress requires: "Closely combining active prevention with proactive detection, strict and timely handling of acts of corruption, waste, covering up, tolerating, abetting corruption, interfering with, obstructing the fight against corruption and waste, with no forbidden areas and no exceptions" ⁽¹²⁾ . Actively preventing, proactively detecting corruption and waste as well as controlling power so that corruption cannot and does not dare to be committed are tasks within the content of Party building.

Third , Party building and Party protection are carried out by Party organizations, cadres and Party members, and with the participation of the people.

The policies, tasks and solutions on Party building and Party protection set forth by the Party's leading bodies require Party organizations, all cadres and Party members to thoroughly grasp and fully and seriously implement. According to the functions, tasks and powers according to the decentralization, each Party Committee and Party organization is responsible for concretizing the policies of the Central Committee and higher-level Party Committees on Party building and Party protection into policies, programs and plans of the Party Committee and Party organization in accordance with the characteristics of the Party organization and effectively organizing the implementation of those policies, programs and plans. Party Committees and Party organizations must promptly resolve issues arising in the work of Party building and Party protection in their organizations; proactively prevent possible violations. The quality and effectiveness of the Party building and Party protection work of the entire Party depends on the quality and effectiveness of the Party building and Party protection work of all Party organizations and cadres and Party members in the entire Party.

The policy of “relying on the people to build the Party” includes promoting the people’s strength in building, rectifying the Party and protecting the Party. Decision No. 217-QD/TW, dated December 12, 2013, of the Politburo, promulgating the “Regulations on supervision and social criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations”, Decision No. 218-QD/TW, dated December 12, 2013, of the Politburo, promulgating the “Regulations on the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and people participating in giving opinions on Party building and government building” clearly stated the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations in detecting missing, inaccurate, incorrect and inappropriate contents in draft documents of Party agencies; Proposing practical contents, contributing to ensuring the correctness, conformity with the reality of social life and effectiveness in planning the Party's policies and guidelines - that is, related to the work of Party building; supervising and giving opinions on the implementation of the Party's resolutions and directives, policies and laws of the State; functions, tasks and powers of Party agencies, Party committees and Party organizations; Party members' implementation of Party regulations, policies and laws of the State; political qualities, ethics, lifestyle and the vanguard and exemplary role of cadres and Party members, especially the heads of Party committees and organizations; the relationship between Party members and the people - that is, related to the work of protecting the Party. The resolutions and conclusions of the Central Executive Committee Conferences of the 11th, 12th and 13th terms on Party building all stated the important solution of promoting the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and the people in Party building. Conclusion No. 21-KL/TW, dated October 25, 2021, of the 4th Central Conference of the 13th tenure, "On promoting the building and rectification of the Party and the political system; resolutely preventing, repelling, and strictly handling cadres and party members who have degraded political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, and manifested "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" emphasized: " Promoting the role and responsibility of elected agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations; truly relying on the people to build and rectify the Party and a clean and strong political system " ⁽¹³⁾ . The conclusion also set out the task: "Researching and promulgating... mechanisms to protect and encourage people to reflect and denounce corrupt and negative cadres and party members" ⁽¹⁴⁾ .

Delegates vote at the Party Congress of Hanoi National University of Education for the 2025-2030 term_Photo: VNA

Fourth, Party building and Party protection must both strictly comply with the Party's organizational and operational principles.

Party building and Party protection include many contents and are carried out by many levels and many Party organizations. To ensure that Party building and Party protection activities are carried out in a unified manner, Party committees, Party organizations and all cadres and Party members must comply with and properly implement the Party's organizational and operational principles, especially the principle of democratic centralism. Platforms, strategies, resolutions and conclusions on leading national development and Party building; policies, decisions, regulations and rules of the Party on ideological work, organizational work, cadre work, inspection, supervision and Party discipline work, and internal political protection work must all be discussed democratically and decided by majority; those with minority opinions must obey the majority's resolutions and reserve their opinions. Regarding the protection of the Party, the annual assessment and classification of the quality of collectives and individual cadres and Party members must strictly follow the principles of democratic centralism, self-criticism and criticism; maintain solidarity and unity; and be within authority and responsibility. In particular, decisions on disciplinary actions against violating Party organizations and Party members must strictly follow the principles of democratic centralism, and at the same time, strictly follow the procedures, processes and authorities prescribed in the Party Charter, regulations and instructions of the Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat and the Central Inspection Committee. In reality, Party organizations that violate the principles of democratic centralism in leadership and Party building also do not strictly handle violations by Party organizations, cadres and Party members under their authority; Covering up and condoning violations for "group interests", even when there are petitions, letters of reflection and denunciation of violations by officials, they find ways to cover up, not handle according to authority, handle not in accordance with regulations or do not report to competent authorities for handling.

Our country is facing new opportunities and chances to realize the strategic goals of national development, bringing the country into a new era, an era of national growth, but also facing many risks and challenges, requiring the Party's leadership role to be constantly consolidated and strengthened. The viewpoints of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought on the necessity of protecting the Party still retain their value, requiring the Party to continue to apply and properly handle the relationship between Party building and Party protection in the new context to build and rectify a truly clean Party, protect a strong Party in all aspects of politics, ideology, ethics, organization and cadres./.

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

(1) VI Lenin: Complete Works , National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, vol. 42, p. 256
(2) VI Lenin: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 16, p. 571
(3) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 15, p. 672
(4) VI Lenin: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 44, p. 154
(5) VI Lenin: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 44, p. 152
(6) VI Lenin: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 44, p. 152
(7) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 15, p. 672
(8) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 5, p. 301
(9) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 15, p. 547
(10) VI Lenin: Complete Works , National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, vol. 19, p. 182
(11) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit. , vol. 15, p. 672
(12) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. I, pp. 193 - 194
(13) Documents of the 4th Conference of the 13th Central Executive Committee , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, p. 105
(14) Documents of the 4th Conference of the 13th Central Executive Committee, op. cit ., p. 100
 

Source: https://tapchicongsan.org.vn/web/guest/chinh-tri-xay-dung-dang/-/2018/1072902/tinh-tat-yeu-khach-quan-va-moi-quan-he--giua-xay-dung-dang-voi-bao-ve-dang-trong-boi-canh-moi.aspx