Revolutionary ethics - the fundamental foundation of cadres and party members

Building revolutionary ethics for cadres and party members is a very important issue, one of the core contents of the Party building and rectification work. That is also the issue that was focused on clarifying at the National Scientific Conference on building revolutionary ethical standards for cadres and party members in the new period, which took place on May 19, in Hanoi.

The workshop was chaired by the Central Propaganda Department, in coordination with the Central Organizing Committee, the Central Theoretical Council, and the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. Attending and chairing the workshop were comrades: Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Politburo member, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council; Nguyen Trong Nghia, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda Department. Attending the workshop were comrades: Lieutenant General Trinh Van Quyet, Party Central Committee member, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army; comrades of the Party Central Committee, leaders of central departments, ministries, branches, mass organizations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations; provincial, municipal, and central party committees; experts, scientists, and managers in the field of Party building...

Limitations and weaknesses stem from moral degradation.

In his opening speech at the workshop, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang emphasized: Building the Party in terms of ethics and building revolutionary ethics of cadres and party members is a very important issue, one of the 10 tasks of Party building and rectification work and one of the core contents of Ho Chi Minh's thought. Deeply imbued with his valuable and precious instructions, over 93 years of leading the revolutionary cause, our Party has always paid attention to and focused on building the Party in terms of ethics, considering this a regular and continuous task, an important and urgent requirement in the work of Party building and rectification, so that our Party is truly clean, strong, ethical, civilized, an organization of elite people with steadfast political will; capable and prestigious enough to lead the people, worthy of the responsibility entrusted by the people.

However, looking at the reality of recent times, comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang frankly stated: There are still a number of cadres and party members, even at high levels, who have degraded in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, showing signs of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation", causing discontent, anxiety, and a decline in people's trust in the Party, the State, and the socialist regime. Many cases of cadres who have been disciplined by the Party and dealt with before the law in recent times have the root cause of not paying attention to maintaining revolutionary ethics, violating the Party's Charter, regulations on what party members are not allowed to do, and disregarding Party discipline and State law for personal gain.

Analyzing the causes of limitations, weaknesses, and violations in the past by a number of cadres and party members, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thu Nghia (Institute of Philosophy, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) said that this stems from moral degradation, leading to embezzlement, corruption, group interests, negativity, individualism, etc. This situation raises the issue of the need to build a system of revolutionary ethical values. The work of educating and training cadres and party members in ethics needs to be given more attention because this is one of the decisive factors in improving the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party. Therefore, the 12th Congress added the content of Party building in terms of ethics to the Party building goal: Building a clean and strong Party in terms of politics, ideology, organization and ethics. At the 13th Congress, our Party determined: In the coming years, we must pay special attention to and further promote the comprehensive Party building and rectification in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organization and cadres; research, supplement and perfect revolutionary ethical values in the spirit of "Our Party is ethical and civilized" in accordance with new conditions and the fine cultural traditions of the nation.

Sharing the same view, comrade Nguyen Doan Toan, Head of the Propaganda Department of the Hanoi Party Committee, explained that the fundamental cause of the above-mentioned degradation is the lack of full and profound awareness of the fundamental role of ethics in social development and stability, and the negative impacts of the market economy mechanism on social ethics. In fact, we have not paid due attention to ideological, ethical, and lifestyle education for cadres and party members; there is a lack of organization and coordination among sectors and levels. A number of leading cadres, party members, and their families have not promoted their pioneering spirit in ideology, and have not been exemplary in ethics and style. The above-mentioned degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle has had a negative impact on the current cause of national construction and defense. That situation is changing and deviating from the scale of fine traditional ethical values of the revolution and the nation, threatening the survival of our Party and the regime.

Highlighting the consequences of moral degradation, and at the same time pointing out the role of preserving and building revolutionary moral standards for cadres and party members in the new period, is also the content mentioned in the speeches of comrades: Lieutenant General, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Vi Dan, Member of the Central Theoretical Council, Director of Department V04, Ministry of Public Security; Major General, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van The, former Deputy Director of the Academy of Politics, Ministry of National Defense; Associate Professor, Dr. Ly Viet Quang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh Institute and Party leaders, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics; Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Van Phuc, Vice Chairman of the Scientific Council of Central Party agencies, former Editor-in-Chief of Communist Magazine; Associate Professor, Dr. Ta Quang Dong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Dinh Phong, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics; Colonel, Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Quang Hien, Academy of Politics, Ministry of National Defense; Le Huu Tho, Head of the Propaganda Department of Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee; Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Secretary of Truc Ninh District Party Committee, Nam Dinh Province...

Passionate opinions stated that in the context of a rapidly changing world with many uncertainties, instabilities, sudden changes and unpredictable risks; reactionary forces take advantage of the fact that some cadres and party members have violated regulations, been disciplined, and criminally prosecuted to further defame, distort, and continue to sabotage our Party, State and regime, it is even more necessary to be aware of the importance of building the Party in terms of ethics, building a contingent of cadres and party members with qualities, revolutionary ethics, capacity, and prestige equal to the task, meeting the requirements of continuing to comprehensively and synchronously promote the innovation process.

Concretize revolutionary ethical standards

Based on assessing the current situation and looking directly at the limitations and weaknesses, delegates spent a lot of time discussing the issue of building and concretizing revolutionary ethical standards for cadres and party members in the new period.

Comrade Nguyen Ho Hai, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, shared his experience in applying and concretizing ethical standards for cadres, party members, civil servants, and public employees in building and implementing public ethics and professional ethics in Ho Chi Minh City. Accordingly, Party committees at all levels require each cadre and party member to make a written commitment to the Party cell, local leaders, agencies, and units to strive, practice, and maintain political qualities, ethics, and lifestyle... in conjunction with developing a plan to implement Directive No. 05-CT/TW dated May 15, 2016 of the Politburo; periodically report to the Party cell on the implementation results, identifying this as the basis for reviewing, evaluating, and classifying Party members at the end of the year. Party cells and Party organizations pay attention to inspecting and supervising the implementation of Party members; promptly criticize, correct, and strictly handle cases of Party members who violate; Persistently educate, persuade, and fight against signs of political and ideological degradation, "self-evolution," and "self-transformation" within the organization.

Comrade Nguyen Ho Hai suggested that it is necessary to soon develop a law on public ethics, regulating issues on core values of the public service, standards for cadres and party members in all aspects. In particular, there must be specific and strict sanctions for heads of agencies and units who cover up or allow cadres and party members to violate public ethics. On the basis of the law on public ethics, each unit should concretize into detailed and specific regulations on ethical standards, standards of conduct of cadres and party members in their sectors, fields, localities, agencies and units. Pay attention to the close relationship between legal norms and ethical norms, to the extent necessary, institutionalize ethical principles into legal norms.

Supplementing and perfecting the revolutionary ethical standards of cadres and party members in the new period, journalist Ha Dang, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Head of the Central Ideology and Culture Commission, agreed with the proposal of the Central Propaganda Commission on promulgating "Regulations on revolutionary ethical standards of cadres and party members in the new period". Journalist Ha Dang believes that if this regulation is promulgated soon, it will be a new wind blowing strongly into the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics and style, which is developing and increasingly developing in our entire Party, people and army.

Discussing one of the specific ethical standards, which is the pioneering and exemplary nature of cadres and party members, Dr. Nguyen Minh Chung, Head of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of the Central Agencies, expressed his opinion: Cadres and party members, especially heads of Party committees, agencies and units, need to be proactive and take the lead in setting an example in ethics and lifestyle, improving their ability to resist the impact and intrusion of harmful factors from the outside. In particular, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and supervision work, have forms of rewards and strictly handle violations in the issue of setting an example. The pioneering and exemplary nature of cadres and party members does not come naturally but must be through education and training. Therefore, the work of education, the responsibility of setting an example, and training in revolutionary ethics is both an urgent and long-term task, contributing to building a truly clean and strong cadre and party member team.

A revolutionary must have ethics. Without ethics, no matter how talented, he or she cannot lead the people. The revolutionary ethics of cadres and party members in the new period are loyalty to the Party and filial piety to the people; courage, steadfastness, creativity, self-reliance; dedication to work, humanity to others; diligence, thrift, integrity, impartiality; self-respect, honor, solidarity, discipline; responsibility, setting an example, self-reflection, self-correction; lifelong learning, striving... These are the contents summarized in many papers, with specific topics, such as: Building ethical standards for cadres and party members according to ethical relationships (Associate Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Student Nguyen The Thang); framework of criteria for revolutionary ethical standards of cadres and party members in the new period (Associate Professor, Doctor Tran Hau Tan); building ethical standards of cadres and party members in the fight against hostile forces (Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Thi Tho); Conducting self-criticism and criticism in cultivating and training the ethics of cadres and party members according to Ho Chi Minh's thought (Dr. Le Thi Thu Hong)...

Many opinions and papers conclude that to form revolutionary ethical standards, it is not something that can be achieved overnight or easily, but must go through a process of cultivation and training. That is the process based on a thorough understanding of the position and role of ethics, the need for cultivation and training, each person becomes the subject of the process of self-education, self-cultivation, and ethical training according to the common standards of society. Ultimately, the awareness and from there self-cultivation and ethical training are the most important factors in forming the ethical standards of cadres and party members. This is also what the great moralist and educator Ho Chi Minh always paid special attention to throughout his arduous, but also extremely noble and glorious revolutionary life.

In his concluding remarks at the conference, Comrade Nguyen Trong Nghia informed that recently, the Central Propaganda Department conducted a survey of public opinion, and the vast majority of respondents emphasized that building and implementing revolutionary ethical standards for cadres and party members in the new period is extremely necessary and important. There is a very encouraging compatibility in that many revolutionary ethical standards for cadres and party members were synthesized from the results of the survey of public opinion, basically coinciding with the proposals of delegates and scientists at this conference.

Affirming that all opinions and presentations demonstrated a high sense of responsibility, intelligence and enthusiasm, the Head of the Central Propaganda Department emphasized that the workshop contributed to providing a reliable theoretical and practical basis, creating unity and raising awareness of building revolutionary ethical standards to contribute to building a contingent of cadres and party members with steadfast political ideology, moral qualities, a pure and exemplary lifestyle, with a mindset and aspiration for innovation, and with capacity and prestige equal to the task.

Article and photos: DAO HONG

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