A large flag was raised at Bach Dang Wharf Park, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, on the occasion of National Day September 2, 2024. (Photo: VU ANH)

Since that Autumn, in the subconscious of the people, in addition to the traditional Spring Festival, there is also the Independence Day. In many families, regardless of the differences between the North and the South, customs, highlands or lowlands, next to the ancestral altar, there is also the altar of the Fatherland with the red flag with the yellow star and a picture of Uncle Ho. Country and Home, those two words have become one! The hatred of the family, the debt to the country, from then on have been mixed in the duty and responsibility of citizens to dedicate themselves to the noble cause of life as President Ho Chi Minh once said: "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom!".

Millions of people, since then, have set out, using their blood and bones to repay their debt to the country, to protect the values ​​of the young republic, to fight and sacrifice to build an independent, free, unified Vietnam; a rich people, a strong country, democracy, fairness, and civilization.

That great turning point was the result of a thousand-year-long struggle of a resilient nation against invasion, occupation, assimilation, and exploitation by feudalism, colonialism, and imperialism. That great turning point marked the leadership role of a genuine Marxist-Leninist political party born from the deepest sharing of the suffering of the working class; matured from the theoretical drawing and practical summarization of the struggle for national liberation in a poor and backward semi-feudal colonial country; existed thanks to its flesh-and-blood attachment to the people, fought and served for the people, and established its own legitimacy and prestige for the people.

The first and eternal lesson - drawn from the failures of patriotic movements and political trends in Vietnam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; from the failures and collapse of the model of real socialism in the world in the 20th century - is the lesson on the correct political line, suitable for reality and the people's hearts; on building a vanguard party of the class and of the nation, constantly innovating the Party's leadership and ruling methods over the political system.

With the motto "People are the root" of our ancestors, from the past ups and downs through many dynasties, we are more deeply imbued with the people's strength during the war years, creatively joining hands to overcome the economic crisis during the subsidy period and post-war period, so that the 6th Party Congress called for "Looking straight at the truth, correctly assessing the truth, clearly stating the truth", courageously abandoning dogmas and stagnation; adhering to objective laws and affirming the path of Innovation.

Each journey, each success and failure, after the miracles in resistance war, nation building, international integration that the world admires, is the crystallization of intelligence, sweat, tears and blood of many generations.

It is also the crystallization of the process of innovating the economic growth model, building and developing a socialist-oriented market economy, of the parallel policy of building and firmly protecting the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the socialist Fatherland from early on, from afar, when the country was not yet in danger; of continuing to perfect the theory of socialism and the path to socialism in our country.

In that journey, there were not without hardships, crises, and "twists"; there were not without friction, debate, and ideological struggles within the Party; there were not without times when the Party made mistakes, had shortcomings, paid the price, and made corrections.

There was a time when President Ho Chi Minh wiped away tears when talking about the mistakes in the Land Reform; there was a time when the Political Report submitted to the 6th Congress had to be fundamentally rewritten because it was far from reality and did not clearly and correctly reflect the spirit of Innovation; there was a time when General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong choked up before the Central Conference because of the Party's shortcomings in personnel work and in leadership and direction, and then firmly and persistently walked with the entire Party to carry out an unprecedented Party building and rectification campaign.

From “Self-criticism” (1939) to “Improving revolutionary morality, wiping out individualism” (1969), from the Testament, the part about the Party (1969) to the Resolution of the 4th Central Committee of the 11th and 12th terms; Conclusion of the 4th Central Committee Conference of the 13th term on Party building and rectification, in the effort to combat ideological, political, moral and lifestyle degradation of “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, perfecting the power control mechanism, the Party’s commitment to resolutely fight corruption and negativity with the spirit of “no forbidden areas, no exceptions”, “handling one case to alert the whole region, the whole field”, “handling one person to save thousands” is a consistent, practical message, supported and trusted by cadres, party members, people and international friends.

From the beginning of the 13th term to August 2024; 18 members of the Party Central Committee were removed from their positions, including 7 members of the Politburo and 1 member of the Secretariat; 8 members of the Party Central Committee were criminally prosecuted. In the first 6 months of 2024 alone, Party committees, inspection committees at all levels and Party cells disciplined 165 Party organizations and 7,858 Party members for violations and wrongdoings. That is the belief from strict discipline, but the numbers also raise big questions about personnel work and personnel resources, which need to be further illuminated and answered by theory and practice.

That war is relentless, because the internal invaders threaten the survival of the Party, the regime, and the revolutionary cause; there is a danger that "the anthill will collapse and the dike will break" (Binh Ngo Dai Cao). More than ever, at crucial moments that decide the fate of the nation, to overcome or seize the opportunity to develop the revolutionary cause, we are required to be steadfast and persistent in our goals, but flexible in our solutions and steps, in specific stages and circumstances, keeping in mind the motto of taking practice as the standard for testing truth.

That reality is nothing other than the prosperity and happiness of the people; the wealth and prosperity of the country. That reality is nothing other than the national and ethnic interests above all; the prestige and international position of Vietnam are increasingly enhanced, respected by the international community; it is a stable, developed, civilized society. That reality is the work of promoting the building of a socialist rule-of-law state in which people and human rights are recognized, honored, and protected.

In a recent meeting with leaders and former leaders of the Party and State, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized: “Never before has the country integrated so deeply and made such positive contributions to world politics, the global economy and human civilization as it does today. However, we are not losing our vigilance against the four threats to the Party's leadership role that generations of Party and State leaders have unanimously identified since 1994; we even identify more complicated developments when comprehensively promoting the renovation process and proactively integrating comprehensively and deeply into the international community..., requiring us to harmoniously handle foreign relations with major countries, minimize pressure to choose sides, and economic sanctions in the context of a highly open economy.”

Celebrating this year's National Day, recalling the first National Independence Day of our nation to see the long transition of history. From the Preliminary Agreement of March 6, 1946 to the Provisional Agreement of September 14, 1946; from the Dalat Conference to the Fontainebleau Conference; from the Geneva Conference to the Paris Conference; from negotiations to join the United Nations and join ASEAN; from negotiations to join the WTO to signing a series of new generation FTAs ​​with important partners in the world,... foreign affairs and diplomacy have demonstrated the maturity, development; the correct direction and intellectual mettle of Vietnam.

But besides that, history also reminds us of the lesson of Power and Strength, of internal and external strength, of national position from foreign policy, economic strength, and national defense and security potential. We can clearly see when, why, and thanks to what the national position became strong.

From the time when the country was fragile in the face of internal and external enemies; then surrounded, embargoed, isolated, up to now, Vietnam with its high international prestige, as a loyal and sincere friend, a reliable partner, an active and responsible member of the international community, has had diplomatic relations with 193 countries, established strategic partnerships and comprehensive strategic partnerships with all 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, with 6 out of 7 leading industrialized countries in the world (G7).

The Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress sets a target of achieving an estimated GDP per capita of 4,700-5,000 USD/year by 2025. The country's GDP growth in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 6.42%. According to June 2024 data from the US credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings, Vietnam is rated at BB+/B with a stable outlook and is forecast to reach a GDP per capita of 4,500 USD/year by the end of 2024.

Practice shows that flexible policies in macroeconomic management, especially controlling inflation, managing interest rates, exchange rates, restructuring, handling weak credit institutions, removing difficulties for businesses, especially breakthroughs in building and perfecting institutions - are what people and the business community expect.

In the field of anti-corruption and anti-negativity, through a comprehensive review, the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption and anti-negativity has discovered more than 300 contents with contradictions, overlaps, obstacles, and inadequacies in hundreds of legal documents that need to be overcome. Practice continues to require the rapid implementation of the 2024 Land Law and the Government is prioritizing the development of 1 new law and amending 7 laws in the financial sector... to serve socio-economic development.

Towards the milestones: 5 years of implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress; 35 years of implementing the Platform for national construction in the transitional period to socialism, 40 years of carrying out the Doi Moi process with valuable lessons and great achievements..., the spirit of Independence Day must be realized in every daily task.

The motto of “self-reliance, self-confidence, self-reliance, national pride” must become the material strength in the journey forward. Great national unity, looking straight at the truth, correctly assessing the achieved results, clearly pointing out limitations, shortcomings, causes, and eliminating development bottlenecks and bottlenecks must be the essence of awareness and action.

The work of Party building and rectification, drastic prevention and fight against corruption and negativity - does not create discouragement, resignation, and stagnation - but is a great cause that must continue to be promoted, despite difficulties and hardships, to clean up the apparatus, create a healthy investment environment, and strengthen people's trust; is the driving force to liberate productive forces, encourage innovation and creativity, discover, cultivate, protect, and honor the buds, the good, the advanced, and affirm the values ​​that have been tested and tempered through practice.

The spirit of National Day is immortal, encouraging and paving the way for us to move towards a new era of development of Vietnam, the Vietnamese people and Vietnamese culture!

According to nhandan.vn