President Ho Chi Minh is a genius leader of the Vietnamese people, a convergence of the quintessence and spirit of the nation, a shining example of revolutionary ethics. He always promoted and practiced diligence, thrift, integrity and uprightness, and at the same time required each cadre and party member to regularly practice these precious virtues. Before passing away, he instructed in his Will: “Our Party is a ruling party. Each party member and cadre must truly imbue revolutionary ethics, truly be thrifty, honest, impartial and selfless”. Studying the life, career, ideology, ethics and style of Ho Chi Minh, it can be seen that President Ho Chi Minh always emphasized the qualities of diligence, thrift, integrity and uprightness as the core content of revolutionary ethics. Therefore, while the resistance war against French colonialism was taking place fiercely, in mid-1949, under the pen name Le Quyet Thang, he wrote 4 articles titled: "What is need", "What is thrift", "What is integrity" and "What is righteousness" published in the Cuu Quoc Newspaper, aiming to educate cadres and party members about revolutionary ethics, ensuring the victory of the "resistance and nation building" cause. 75 years have passed, but the work "Diligence, Thrift, Integrity and Righteousness" still retains its topicality and has profound theoretical and practical value.
"Without one virtue, one cannot become a human being"
During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh paid great attention to the issue of training and educating revolutionary ethics for cadres, party members and our people. He wrote many articles and speeches on this issue. He repeatedly mentioned the "four virtues": "diligence, thrift, integrity, and uprightness" in his speeches and writings, such as in: "Revolutionary Path" (1927), "Reforming the way of working" (1947)... and finally in his historical Testament (1969).
If in the work “New Life” (March 1947), He emphasized the practice of “Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness”, then in the work “Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness” (a collection of 4 articles, published in the National Salvation Newspaper on May 30, May 31, June 1, and June 2, 1949), He considered the “four virtues” as the foundation of New Life, the foundation of patriotic emulation and explained the “four virtues” in the totality of heaven, earth, and human beings and the relationship of seasons - heaven; of directions - earth; of virtue - human beings.
At the beginning of the work, he affirmed that "Diligence, thrift, integrity, and uprightness are the foundation of the New Life, the foundation of Patriotic Emulation."
There are four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
The land has four directions: East, West, South, North
A person with four virtues: Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness
Without a season, there is no sky.
Without one direction, there is no land.
"Without one virtue, one cannot become a human being" (1).
Then, He went into analyzing each virtue so that “everyone could understand clearly and everyone could practice” (2).
In the passage about “need”, Uncle Ho clearly explained: “Need means diligence, hard work, and perseverance” (3). He emphasized: “A diligent person will progress quickly. If the whole family is diligent, then the whole village will be prosperous. If the whole country is diligent, then the country will be strong and rich” (4). He also pointed out: “If you want the word “need” to have more results, you must have a plan for all work. That means you must calculate carefully, arrange neatly... Therefore, diligence and planning must go together” (5). He also pointed out: “Laziness is the enemy of the word “need”... Therefore, laziness is also the enemy of the nation. Therefore, lazy people are guilty towards their compatriots and the Fatherland” (6).
Explaining about “thrift”, he affirmed: “Thrift “is saving, not being extravagant, not wasteful, not being indiscriminate. Need and thrift must go together, like the two legs of a human being” (7). Then he pointed out the relationship between need and thrift: “Thrift without need will not increase, will not develop...” (8). Not only re-establishing the saving of wealth, Uncle Ho also reminded: “Time also needs to be saved like wealth. If wealth runs out, we can still make more. When time has passed, we can never get it back… If we want to save time, we must do everything quickly and promptly. We should not be slow. We should not “put it off today and tomorrow” (9). At the end of the article, he concluded: “The results that need to be added to the results of thrift are: The army will be full, the people will be warm and well-off, the resistance will quickly win, the nation-building will quickly succeed, our country will quickly become rich and strong on par with the advanced countries in the world... Therefore, patriots must compete to practice thrift” (10).
Analyzing “integrity”, Uncle Ho said: “Integrity is clean, not greedy”. Integrity must go hand in hand with thrift, “Only with thrift can one be honest” (11) because if one lives lavishly and wastefully, it will inevitably lead to greed and selfishness. He pointed out: “Greed for money, position, fame, delicious food, and a peaceful life are all dishonest...” (12). To practice integrity, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “There needs to be propaganda and control, education and laws” (13). And “officials must practice integrity first, to set an example for the people” (14). On the other hand, Uncle Ho also said, “Corrupt officials are foolish because the people are corrupt”. “If the people are knowledgeable and refuse to bribe, then even dishonest officials will have to become honest. Therefore, the people must know their authority, must know how to control officials, to help officials practice honesty” (15)... He concluded: “A nation that knows how to be frugal, honest, is a nation rich in material things, strong in spirit, a civilized and progressive nation” (16).
Explaining the meaning of “righteousness”, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: “Righteousness means being straightforward and upright. Anything that is not straightforward and upright is evil. Diligence, thrift, and integrity are the roots of righteousness. But a tree needs roots, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits to be complete. A person must be diligent, thrifty, and honest, but must also be upright to be complete” (17). He pointed out 3 aspects of a person in society and the requirements of each aspect: Towards oneself - “Do not be arrogant or conceited...”; Towards others - “Do not flatter superiors. Do not look down on inferiors...”; Towards work - “Put national affairs first, before private affairs, family affairs...” He concluded: “If all 20 million compatriots do the same, then our country will certainly become rich quickly, and our people will certainly have much happiness” (18).
Uncle Ho's shining example and its profound influence on people's lives
Throughout his life, President Ho Chi Minh set a shining example of revolutionary ethics, diligence, thrift, integrity, impartiality and selflessness for all cadres, party members and the masses to follow. He thoroughly practiced all the ethical concepts he put forth, and even did more and better than what he said.
Regarding “need”, Uncle Ho worked, studied, and researched continuously to find a way to save the country; then together with the Party planned, organized, and led the people to make a successful revolution. Regarding “frugal”, Uncle Ho was a rare example of simplicity and honesty. Although he was the leader of an entire nation, he was always extremely simple, from eating (rice balls, sesame salt, pickled eggplant); dressing (worn-out Ba Ba outfit with rubber sandals or yellow khaki outfit with cloth shoes); to living (when in the war zone, he lived with cadres and employees, when in Hanoi he lived in an electrician's house, and later lived in a simple stilt house with a few essential personal items). Even in his work, Uncle Ho emphasized thrift, “when it is not advisable to spend, not a single coin should be spent”... Regarding “integrity”, his integrity was clearly demonstrated through every word and action. Not only did he never have any thoughts of personal gain, he also always worried and thought about how to make his people have a better life, how to make "everyone have food to eat, clothes to wear, everyone can study". Regarding "policy", he was always modest, loving, and caring for all classes in society, especially the poor. In particular, he always put the interests of the nation first and sacrificed his whole life to bring independence to the nation, freedom to the people...
It can be seen that President Ho Chi Minh possessed and clearly demonstrated all four virtues of diligence, thrift, integrity, and uprightness. This has further strengthened the value of his thoughts on the above revolutionary moral qualities and created a profound influence in people's lives.
Following his example, in the resistance wars for national independence, generations of Vietnamese people, from party members to the people, competed to practice diligence, diligence, integrity and uprightness. Thanks to that, despite the heavy devastation of war, with the spirit of patriotism and solidarity, we were still able to mobilize a large resource of human and material resources, ensuring victory in the wars. Tens of thousands of children of the Fatherland have fallen for independence, freedom, territorial integrity and national unity; tens of thousands of children have sacrificed themselves for the peaceful life of the people. They themselves have continued the fine tradition of the Vietnamese people who are patriotic, industrious, creative and sacrificial, for a brighter society tomorrow.
In the process of national construction, building and defending the Fatherland, the whole country has had millions of cadres, party members, "good people, good deeds", heroes, emulation fighters... representing the will of self-reliance and self-strengthening of the nation; hard-working, creative, working with the spirit of "one for all", "each person working as much as two", conscious of saving public funds, not embezzling or wasting... Thanks to that, the past cause of national construction and the current cause of innovation, building and defending the Fatherland have achieved great achievements of historical significance.
Constantly care for education, training and practice of revolutionary ethics
Today, imbued with his ideology, our Party and State have constantly cared for educating, fostering and training revolutionary ethics for all cadres, party members and people, considering it an important content in the ideological and cultural work of the Party. Ho Chi Minh's ideology on the four virtues of "diligence, thrift, integrity and uprightness" has entered the thinking, habits, style and lifestyle of the majority of cadres and party members; at the same time, it is also a standard of striving, a criterion for classifying and evaluating the quality and level of task completion of each person.
However, besides those typical examples, there are still many cadres and party members who have degraded and changed politically, ideologically, morally, and in their lifestyle; lack responsibility for their assigned work and responsibilities; are lazy in studying, afraid of training, afraid of difficulties, hardships, and sacrifices; are bureaucratic, corrupt, wasteful... affecting the Party's reputation and reducing the effectiveness of State management.
Meanwhile, the process of national renewal is facing both opportunities and challenges, placing high demands on the qualities and capacities of cadres and party members - not only enhancing knowledge and improving education but also regularly cultivating and training revolutionary ethics. Therefore, promoting education, fostering and training revolutionary ethics of "diligence, thrift, integrity, uprightness, impartiality and selflessness" for cadres and party members is a fundamental and long-term requirement, as well as an urgent requirement in the current cause of national renewal.
However, we must creatively understand the issues that Uncle Ho mentioned in a broader sense, more suitable to the current situation. Nowadays, it is not possible to understand diligence as just diligence, hard work, self-reliance, self-strengthening, but also the level of thinking, initiative, sensitivity in grasping information, assessing the situation, proposing directions, leadership solutions, organizing implementation; dynamism, creativity in handling situations arising in practice. Thrift is not only the awareness of saving from small to large things, saving public funds of the collective... but also requires alertness, insight, seizing opportunities, luck, competing effectively to enrich the country; at the same time, effectively overcoming challenges, risks, and losses of State and collective assets. Integrity, besides the requirement of living cleanly, not being greedy for money, not flattering superiors, not lying to subordinates... also requires fighting to eliminate corruption, the degradation of ideology, politics, and moral qualities of a number of cadres and party members with positions and power, which affects the prestige of the Party and the superiority of our regime. Being upright, one must be frank, upright, do good, avoid evil; one must also be fair, objective, democratic, close to the masses, close to the grassroots, self-criticize and criticize honestly and frankly...
It can be seen that, although 75 years have passed, Ho Chi Minh's thoughts, profound lessons and example on revolutionary ethics in general and "diligence, thrift, integrity and uprightness" in particular still have great value in the work of Party building and rectification and implementing patriotic emulation movements today.
According to VNA
--------
(1) - (18): excerpt from the work "Diligence, thrift, integrity and uprightness - Ho Chi Minh Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, volume 6, pp.115-131
Source
Comment (0)