The Communist Party of Vietnam is a political party of the working class and also of the entire Vietnamese nation. Since its establishment, the Party has served to represent the interest of workers and peasants, as well as all Vietnamese people.
Party derives strength from entire nation
At the second Party Congress in February 1951, President Ho Chi Minh said: “In this period, the rights and interests of the working class and the nation are the same. The Labor Party of Vietnam is the party of the working class so it must also be the party of the Vietnamese nation.”
When North Vietnam launched a socialist revolution in 1961, the President reiterated: “Our Party belongs to the working class and the nation and is an impartial and unprejudiced party.”
Applying V.I. Lenin’s principle of a new-styled party to Vietnam, the President asked the Party to recruit people who were workers, peasants, soldiers, and anyone else who believed in Communism, the Party’s programs, the Communist International, and who dared to sacrifice for the Party’s activities.
The working class nature of the Party is not based solely on the number of its members, but more importantly on the working class’s stance and the Party’s ideological foundation, Marxism-Leninism.
The seventh Party Congress passed a resolution that read: “Saying that our Party’s nature is the same as that of the working class does not mean our Party is separated from other classes in society. Our party is characterized by a unification of two elements: its working-class nature and the nation’s nature. Our Party’s strength is not only sourced from the working class but also from many other classes.”
Party must bring happiness to people
According to Ho Chi Minh, the working class always serves as a pioneering team for the entire nation. Therefore, the Party, with its working-class nature, played the role of leader of the revolution for national liberation, liberation of the working class, and liberation of the people.
President Ho Chi Minh once stressed that “the Party is not an organization based on its members becoming rich ‘mandarins’, but it must fulfill its duty to liberate the nation, making our country stronger and more prosperous and bringing happiness to all people.”
He also pointed out: “A party that wants to exist must be based on a doctrine. A party without a doctrine is one without intellect. There are now many doctrines, but the most authentic, most reliable and most revolutionary is Leninism.
“Following Marxism-Leninism does not mean that we mechanically imitate it, but we must apply the doctrine based on our comprehension of its scientific, revolutionary and creative nature, and do so in a way that is suitable for our country.
President Ho Chi Minh once affirmed: “Only by creatively applying Marxism and Leninism to our country with its own actual conditions can we drive the revolution for national liberation and socialist revolution to a success.”
It has been proven over the past 80 years since its establishment, that our Party has been the only leader of Vietnam’s revolution. Such leadership by a revolutionary party of the working class is necessary, since it has always wholeheartedly served the people’s interest to drive the revolution for national liberation and the socialist revolution to a success.
* This article is the first of a series of articles themed “The Party and the people: theory to practice” to be published in Sai Gon Giai Phong to mark the 80th anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3).
