General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong: 'Don't let mediocrity and complacency haunt you'

Poet Huu Thinh, former general secretary of the Vietnam Writers Association, sent Tuoi Tre his memories of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's attention to the development of the country's literature and arts.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visits and wishes a Happy New Year to the family of poet Huu Thinh - Photo: NVCC

Tuoi Tre would like to summarize and share with readers.

1. One night in late 1968, it was very cold. In a small thatched house at the foot of Tam Dao Mountain, the Political Department of the 202nd Regiment of the Armored Corps, I covered myself with a blanket, turned down the lights and sat reading the latest issue of the literary research magazine.

In that memorable November 1968 issue of Literary Research magazine, I read and re-read many times the article " Phong vi dan ca, ca dao trong to huu's poetry" by a young author who first appeared under the pen name Nguyen Phu Trong.

I was very surprised, because this is a young author who has a very elaborate research paper, many subtle discoveries, showing a very mature ability to absorb and criticize poetry.

This person must not only love and understand To Huu's poetry very much, but must also be very familiar with and knowledgeable about folk songs.

2. In 1994, when I was working at the weekly Van Nghe , I was fortunate to meet author Nguyen Phu Trong for the first time at a conference on the work Culture and Innovation by Mr. Pham Van Dong that Van Nghe was assigned to organize.

The Culture and Innovation workshop was held not long after that, among the 76 papers submitted, I met author Nguyen Phu Trong with his paper "Socialist orientation is culture". Only then did I know that the author was the deputy editor-in-chief of the Magazine.

It was a very good paper and of course was on the official conference agenda.

In the afternoon, Mr. Pham Van Dong attended. Due to many objective reasons, the program duration was affected, unfortunately author Nguyen Phu Trong did not have the opportunity to present his paper. At the end of the conference, I had to apologize and hope for understanding.

Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong shook my hand and smiled comfortably: "Congratulations on the success of the conference. I sympathize with the organizing committee!" His open smile and friendly handshake relieved my usual concerns as a conference organizer.

3. In March 1995, comrade Nguyen Phu Trong was elected to the Party Central Committee, appointed to the Politburo and assigned to be in charge of the Party's ideological, cultural and scientific work.

Before the 5th conference of young writers, I went to the Central Party Office to invite comrade Nguyen Phu Trong to attend the conference and give a speech at the opening session.

Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong received me very warmly. After greeting me, he looked at his work schedule and said he could not attend the opening ceremony, then asked if I could attend the closing ceremony.

Then on the closing day, Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong's speech to the conference was not long. But those words left an impression on everyone and will be remembered forever.

He said: "We often say that literature must illuminate life, not just be a place where life is manifested. Literature nurtures and elevates people, not a place to express personal feelings and degrade people.

I hope that young writers will clearly demonstrate that to be worthy of being the new hope of the people. Don't let mediocrity and complacency haunt you...".

From there, according to comrade Nguyen Phu Trong, the lesson left by previous generations is great aspirations, noble ideals, harmonizing one's heart with the heart of the entire nation, struggling with the great reality of people's lives, not just going into personal moods, gnawing at thoughts, pessimism, using tricks instead of talent, looking at life with a narrow perspective, even considering literature as entertainment or a game, a trivial passion.

4. During his three terms as General Secretary, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong chaired the 11th Central Executive Committee Conference to issue Resolution 33 (June 9, 2014) on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development.

After 5 years of issuing the resolution, the General Secretary chaired a Politburo meeting to summarize the implementation of the resolution and issued conclusion 76 to continue implementing resolution 33.

Since taking on the responsibility of General Secretary, Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong has restored the organization of meetings with outstanding scientists and artists on the occasion of Tet and personally chaired them, listening to the opinions of intellectuals and artists.

On those Tet occasions, the General Secretary also took time to visit and wish a happy new year to the families of scientists and artists in different fields, which touched everyone.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tong-bi-thu-nguyen-phu-trong-dung-de-su-tam-thuong-de-dai-am-anh-minh-20240721230025476.htm