Struggling with oneself

Reading the book "Resolutely and Persistently Fighting Against Corruption and Negative Phenomena, Contributing to Building a Cleaner and Stronger Party and State" by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, I was particularly impressed by the article "Strengthening Party Building - An Important Factor in Building a Rule of Law State and a Socialist-Oriented Market Economy " (published in the Journal of Legislative Studies, March 2008 issue) because it explained and pointed out the root cause of the disciplinary action taken against cadres and Party members who violated regulations. That cause is individualism, the inability of cadres and Party members to overcome temptations and immediate benefits.

A socialist-oriented market economy demands that every Party committee, every cadre, and every Party member be dynamic, creative, and possess the ability to think strategically about economic development, daring to think and act for the common good and the well-being of the people, while simultaneously maintaining integrity. However, in reality, there are many instances where cadres and Party members fail to maintain integrity and have fallen into corruption due to their inability to overcome their own ideological struggles.

The General Secretary pointed out situations such as: In the current circumstances, our cadres and Party members travel abroad for work everywhere – who manages them, who knows about their dealings with foreign countries, and how can we avoid being manipulated or bribed? In basic construction and procurement, there are countless things like commissions, percentages, and unwritten rules…

So how can we avoid falling into temptation? What can we do to overcome the temptations in our daily work? In answering this question, the General Secretary, in the same article, emphasized that the solution is to enhance the fighting spirit of grassroots Party organizations and Party members and cadres.

Specifically, this involves combating stagnation and lack of development; fighting against wrongdoing; struggling against oneself to overcome manifestations of individualism; and fighting against the conspiracies and subversive tactics of hostile forces.

It's not just individual cadres and Party members who need to fight, but the entire organization must also enhance its fighting spirit. Regarding this issue, the General Secretary raised the question: We've talked a lot about fighting corruption, but how many Party branches have actually detected it?

When the year-end evaluations are conducted, most party members meet the criteria and the party branches are clean and strong, but there are many complaints and instances of corruption. What does this mean? It means that the fighting spirit of the grassroots party organizations is not high or is declining.

The General Secretary pointed this out and stated: "We need to examine within each Party branch and among each individual whether their fighting spirit is sufficient. They talk about self-criticism and criticism, but mostly they praise each other, failing to confront the truth. They are hesitant and deferential for a hundred reasons, especially fearing retaliation, so they just stagnate. They don't defend what's right, they don't dare fight against what's wrong, they just nod along with whatever the officials say." Mediocrity and a lack of striving for improvement indicate a lack of fighting spirit.

The views expressed by the General Secretary in the article raise many profound issues in the current context, as our country is increasingly integrating into the international economy. The cases of corruption and misconduct that have been exposed, investigated, and processed show that the struggle against individualism within each person is extremely difficult.

Besides enhancing the fighting capacity of grassroots Party organizations with increasingly rigorous and thorough supervision mechanisms, daring to struggle against oneself should also be considered an important measure. Therefore, I wholeheartedly agree with the article and understand even more deeply that each person must constantly improve their awareness, self-reflection, self-correction, self-cultivation, and self-training to maintain integrity. This is a fundamental solution that contributes to combating corruption and negative practices.

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