Immediately after the success of the August Revolution in 1945, on September 2, 1945, at Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi, President Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of the provisional government, solemnly read the Declaration of Independence, declaring to the people of the whole country and all of humanity around the world, giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam).

"It was an extremely great change in the history of our country" because from here, our country entered a new era - the era of independence, freedom and socialism, our people from being slaves became the masters of the country, masters of their own destiny.

Photo: Document

Also on that historic day, the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam solemnly introduced itself to the people. As the Government of a country that had just gained independence, difficulties piled on difficulties, everything was by no means simple for the young Provisional Government.

But no matter how difficult it was, it did not stop the people who had just made the historic autumn revolution. As the leader of the revolutionary boat, President Ho Chi Minh carried out a revolution in building a new administration, with quality, organization of activities and especially a personnel apparatus that was qualitatively different from before.

With bold and wise choices and decisions, the Provisional Government established on August 28, 1945, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, gathered many non-Party figures and talents such as Nguyen Van To, Nguyen Manh Ha...

From here, the state apparatus was formed and gradually perfected to lead the people to consolidate and build the government and gain complete independence, "unifying the country, North and South as one family".

With a sincere heart, all for the country and people, and with a far-sighted vision, Ho Chi Minh gathered around himself a leadership team that is truly considered the "golden generation" of the Vietnamese revolution.

He was a Confucian scholar of high virtue and prestige - Mr. Huynh Thuc Khang , who was the President of the Central House of Representatives during the French colonial period. Feeling the intelligence, humanity and righteousness of President Ho Chi Minh, Mr. Huynh placed his complete trust in him after hearing his persistent persuasion and the message: "Mr. Huynh has sacrificed a lot, please sacrifice more".

President Ho Chi Minh respectfully introduced Mr. Huynh Thuc Khang as "a virtuous and honorable person known to the entire nation" during his introduction to the National Assembly and his acceptance of the responsibility of Minister of Interior of the coalition resistance government.

The words were short but contained President Ho Chi Minh's heart and his respect for Mr. Huynh. That heart was consistent in his ideology of valuing talents and in his policy of especially respecting scholars and intellectuals.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Dang Viet Chau recounted: In April 1946, when Uncle Ho called him back to work as Chief of Office of the Ministry of Interior, Uncle Ho instructed that when working with Mr. Huynh, one must understand that he was a very courageous person. If there was anything, one must report it all to him, without hiding anything, and not resolve it among subordinates.

Uncle Ho's advice: "We must be honest and respectful to convince him" not only shows the consistent principle in President Ho Chi Minh's ideology of solidarity but also shows the harmony between the two souls and two spirits of two Confucian scholars.

Although Mr. Huynh was 14 years older than President Ho Chi Minh, they were always "close and affectionate to each other because of their devotion to the people and the country"; and every time he mentioned President Ho Chi Minh, Mr. Huynh respectfully said, "He is the father of the nation."

That was Minister of Social Welfare Nguyen Van To - a man who wore a black ao dai and a turban all year round, but spoke and wrote French very well, an excellent representative of the transitional generation from Confucianism to Western learning.

He was one of the founders of the National Language Propagation Association, along with other patriotic intellectuals, enthusiastically participating in eliminating illiteracy for the working people. Therefore, very naturally, he was invited by President Ho Chi Minh to be the Minister of Social Relief in the Provisional Government.

Mr. Nguyen Van To, the first and only Minister and also the highest leader of the Government, sacrificed his life in the resistance war against the French colonialists.

The news of the death of Minister Nguyen Van To, a representative of the people, truly saddened and moved President Ho Chi Minh. And although he had never practiced writing funeral orations, he wrote heartfelt "eulogies" praising this talented and virtuous man.

He was a Western-educated intellectual, a non-Party figure, Lawyer Phan Anh, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in law from Hanoi and a bachelor's degree in literature from France. In just a ten-minute meeting with President Ho Chi Minh (August 27, 1945), his intimate words in his Nghe accent warmed the hearts of the listeners, changing the young lawyer's entire life:

“ We have sacrificed and fought to gain independence; now that we have gained independence, we must rebuild the country so that our people have food to eat, clothes to wear, shelter, and education. You are a talented and well-educated person. I suggest that you take on the responsibility of being Chairman of the National Construction Committee to take care of those things .”

And so, from being the Minister of Youth of the Tran Trong Kim Government, Mr. Phan Anh became the first Chairman of the National Construction Committee and then the Minister of National Defense when the Vietnam Resistance Coalition Government was established.

Later (in 1989), when interviewed by Norwegian historian Stein Tonnesson, Phan Anh emphasized that it was the policy of great national unity of the communists and the Viet Minh Front, of which President Ho Chi Minh was the embodiment, that attracted the entire nation and patriotic intellectuals to participate in the revolution.

That was Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach, Minister of Health of the Provisional Government, introduced to the people on September 2, 1945. In the conditions of our country at that time, when the revolutionary government was still young and had to quickly complete the basic apparatus to deal with internal and external enemies, to assume the position of Minister of Health, one could not simply be a doctor with good expertise but also needed to be a prestigious intellectual, trusted and listened to by the people.

President Ho Chi Minh and Minister of Health Pham Ngoc Thach visited Bach Mai Hospital - Hanoi, March 21, 1960. Photo: Ho Chi Minh Museum

President Ho Chi Minh soon realized that Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach was the one who fully met those necessary requirements. And reality has proven that it was an extremely correct choice of our Party and State, headed by President Ho Chi Minh.

Although it only operated for a short time, the Provisional Government played an important role in building, protecting and consolidating the young state government.

Putting a person of poor quality in any job is dangerous.

More than half a century has passed, but looking back at President Ho Chi Minh's lessons on using people, they are still relevant, especially at the present time, when all provincial and municipal Party Committees, Party Committees, Party Delegations, Party Committees directly under the Central Committee... have been and are implementing the process of introducing personnel planning for the 14th Party Central Committee.

We have had painful lessons in selecting cadres for planning when there were cadres who were just elected to the Party Committee and were found to have committed many previous violations. Some were even prosecuted and criminally prosecuted.

Just counting from the beginning of the 13th Congress term until now, in many localities across the country, many cadres have been disciplined for violations from many previous terms. Specifically, 91 cadres under the Central Committee's management have been disciplined, including 17 members and former members of the Party Central Committee, and 23 generals in the armed forces.

Of these, 31 officials have been criminally prosecuted, including: 2 ministers and former ministers; 4 secretaries and former secretaries of provincial Party Committees; 5 deputy ministers and former deputy ministers; 7 chairmen and former chairmen of provincial and municipal People's Committees; 2 assistants to Deputy Prime Ministers and 9 general officers of the armed forces.

As General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has reminded many times, the work of planning cadres must be extremely careful, profound, thorough and rigorous because this is a matter related to people.

The General Secretary noted that we must resolutely not miss out on those who are truly virtuous, talented, and qualified, but at the same time, we must not allow those who are not politically steadfast; who show signs of political opportunism, ambition for power, flattery, lobbying, corruption, bureaucracy, localism, and lobbying for personal, factional, or group interests to enter the Party Committee.

The General Secretary also requested to eliminate personnel who show signs of getting rich quickly, having many houses, many lands, many other assets of unknown origin; themselves or their spouses, children have an exemplary lifestyle, taking advantage of their positions of power to gain illegal profits...

This is the most practical way to carry out Uncle Ho's instructions on how to use people and cadres: "If our people harm the revolution, that is the most dangerous thing. The people will shun us and not trust us. Putting people who are weak in ability, especially those who are weak in character and personality, into any task is also dangerous."

To select cadres, first of all, President Ho Chi Minh put his trust in the masses. Because according to him, "the vibrant mass movement has given rise to many talents outside the Party. We must not abandon them or distance ourselves from them. We must honestly unite with them and support them. We must be close to them, be intimate with them, and use their talents to help the resistance war to save the country."

Accordingly, President Ho Chi Minh's view on personnel is very simple and everyone can understand: Having both virtue and talent. "A revolutionary cadre must have revolutionary ethics. Only by maintaining revolutionary ethics can one be a true revolutionary cadre" and "Only with strength can one carry heavy burdens and go far".

Although President Ho Chi Minh paid great attention to the criteria for selecting officials, he did not attach much importance to qualifications, but mainly placed importance on actual ability. Officials who do not have high qualifications but have real talent and virtue must still be a source for selecting and assigning officials; as for those who have neither talent nor virtue, they must be resolutely eliminated.

Thus, the way to select cadres according to President Ho Chi Minh must be close to reality, must be based on quality criteria, without being rigid or prejudiced about background or being in the Party or outside the Party.

Vietnamnet.vn