Ho Chi Minh's thought on people's war: The source of strength of the Great Victory of Spring 1975, its significance in the current task of protecting the Fatherland

(LĐ online) - Our people's resistance war against the US to save the country ended with the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975, which went down in human history as one of the greatest feats of arms.

Uncle Ho with heroes and warriors of the South. Photo: TL

That victory was not a coincidence but the result of a long process of fighting by the army and people under the wise leadership of our Party. Scientific and dialectical in assessing the enemy and the correlation of enemy and our forces, in assessing the war strategy, in seizing and analyzing opportunities to make strategic decisions and direct the implementation of those strategic decisions.

The core of that military ideology is Ho Chi Minh's military ideology, the core of which is his ideology of people's war. It is that ideology of people's war that enters life, permeates the people, creating a miraculous power, the most vivid manifestation of which is in the historic General Offensive and Uprising of Spring 1975.

• THE HUGE ROLE OF THE MASSES IN THE MODERN VIETNAMESE PEOPLE'S WAR

In the past, our people had fought many wars with the participation of the people at different levels, and defeated many brutal invading forces, including the formidable enemy, the Mongol-Nguyen. But after the victory of the August Revolution, our people had to face completely new enemies, completely different from the enemies of the past.

Right in the early stages of preparing for the resistance war against French colonialism nationwide, President Ho Chi Minh said: In the past, we only fought militarily, but today we fight in all aspects: military, economic, political, ideological, so people call it a comprehensive war. Today's war is complicated and extremely difficult. Without using all the people's strength in all aspects to respond, we cannot win.

Thoroughly implementing President Ho Chi Minh's ideology, throughout the period of resistance against the US to save the country, our Party took great care of the People in all aspects. Under the organization and leadership of the Party, the People of the whole country became a team, the revolutionary offensive movement rose in all sectors and sectors. The fighting strength of the entire Vietnamese people in both the South and the North developed strongly. The contribution of the People's resources and manpower increased day by day.

In the final stage of the war, the people's full strength in all aspects was brought into full play, combined with the strength of the times, the revolutionary strength grew stronger and stronger. Thanks to that revolutionary strength, we created opportunities and when the opportunity came, we quickly launched a General Offensive and Uprising, successfully ending the resistance war against the US to save the country in the spring of 1975.

• INDEPENDENCE, AUTONOMY, MAINTAINING THE PROACTIVE IN WAR

Independence, autonomy and maintaining initiative are two famous viewpoints that He raised in 1921-1922 in the article "Indochina" and the Declaration of the Colonial Union that He drafted. In 1956, in order to maintain independence in planning revolutionary policies, He once again reaffirmed and further developed the above arguments.

He believed that: It is impossible to limit our present and future activities within a purely national framework, that the Vietnamese people must clearly outline their own methods and measures in the struggle against the plots of the American imperialists and the South Vietnamese government to permanently divide our country.

Thoroughly imbued with Ho Chi Minh's thought, the 21st Conference of the Party Central Committee (October 1973) affirmed: No matter what the situation, we must firmly grasp the opportunity and firmly grasp the strategic offensive line. With that guiding thought, from the end of 1973, Military Region 9 counterattacked the enemy's encroachment and in early 1975, we proactively attacked and completely liberated Phuoc Long province, a province with an important strategic position near Saigon. That victory helped us have a practical basis to decide to launch the Central Highlands Campaign. The victory of the Central Highlands created a favorable opportunity for our army and people to liberate Hue - Da Nang and gather forces to liberate Saigon.

Later, based on the analysis of collected documents, the Director of the US Intelligence Agency in South Vietnam, Davidson, bitterly admitted: The superiority of Vietnam's revolutionary war strategy lies in the proactive strategy. America had to dance to the strategic tune of North Vietnam, evaluating that North Vietnam's proactive strategy had a special value... we acknowledge the proactive strategy of the Viet Cong...

The proactive strategy of the Vietnamese revolutionary war has special value as Davidson said, with its ideological basis being President Ho Chi Minh's thesis on proactiveness and mastery of initiative.

• MUST HAVE GOOD ARMY, GOOD PEOPLE, STRONG RESERVE

Based on the goals and motivations of the modern Vietnamese People's War, his People's War ideology systematically mentioned the views on national solidarity, mobilizing the people's strength to fight the enemy; striving to build political forces, on the basis of building armed forces; combining the strength of political forces with the strength of armed forces in the all-people's armed war along with building the People's armed forces consisting of 3 types of troops; promoting the advantages of the new regime, of the large rear and the local rear; striving to build and promote all resources among the people, of the nation, taking advantage of international resources...

Thoroughly imbued with his ideology, our Party has brought the People's War in this period to an unprecedented development with many new contents and forms. In addition, through combat practice, the masses have created many good ways to fight and win, making the fight of our army and people more diverse in types of combat, deeply imbued with the People's character, and rich in the combination of primitiveness and modernity.

The enemy fell into that situation, was increasingly worn out and destroyed, and their will was increasingly weakened. The American authorities, despite their many ambitions and schemes, finally realized that the US could not defeat the enemy and were forced to withdraw their troops. Falling into the People's War situation, the puppet army was attacked from all sides and everywhere, and their fighting spirit was increasingly reduced. Meanwhile, we fought harder and harder.

In the final stages of the war, our position and strength developed strongly. We created a continuous position from the North to the Southern battlefield. The military capacity and the level of joint command of the cadres were improved. The armed forces on the battlefield developed remarkably in both quantity and quality.

By the end of 1973, on the southern battlefield, we had about 320,000 troops, including 244,000 main force troops. In January and February 1975, after the reinforcement of 57,000 troops, our main force on the battlefield had the upper hand (in terms of total troops, the ratio was: enemy 1.7 - us 1, in terms of main force troops: enemy 1 - us 1.03). The important thing was that the fighting quality of our troops was far superior to the puppet army, and the technical component of the army increased rapidly. The strategic mobile main force corps were stationed in key areas.

The transportation system and oil pipelines are connected seamlessly from the rear to the front line, meeting the needs of modern warfare.

Building the rear base according to Ho Chi Minh's ideology, the North brought into play its great strength in the revolutionary war. During the journey of fighting against the US to save the country, cooperatives in the countryside maintained production and provided two million workers to serve the army and other industries.

Before entering the General Offensive and Uprising in Spring 1975, according to the plan approved by the Politburo, in 1975, the frontline was supported with 560,000 tons of material. Entering the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the main army units were fully equipped in all aspects. The main equipment such as weapons, vehicles, food, etc. all exceeded the requirements. This was thanks to agricultural cooperativization and the new countryside, which contributed significantly to consolidating the rear, strengthening the defense force, and providing human and material resources to the frontline. This was truly one of the decisive factors for the great victory of the anti-American, national salvation cause.

Ho Chi Minh's ideology of people's war on the source of strength of the Great Victory in Spring 1975 is an issue of profound significance in the current task of protecting the Fatherland.

Firstly, raise awareness of the role and strength of the masses in the current cause of national defense.

Improve the quality and effectiveness of propaganda and education on patriotism, national pride and traditional values ​​in the struggle to build and defend the country. Raise awareness among all people, first of all cadres and party members, about the position and role of the masses in the development process of the nation as well as in the current revolutionary cause. Party committees at all levels and the entire political system need to clearly understand that the masses are the source of strength of the nation; are the goal of the revolution and also the main driving force, deciding the victory of the cause of building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland. On that basis, have the right attitude and behavior in relations with the people, strive to be worthy of being both a leader and a loyal servant of the people and do a good job of mobilizing the people to implement the Party's guidelines and policies on the task of defending the Fatherland.

For the Vietnam People's Army, it is necessary to continue to perform its functions well, focusing on improving the quality and effectiveness of the performance of the functions of the working army. Proactively innovate the content, form and methods of national defense education in the national education system, raise awareness for the future owners of the country about the relationship between politics and the military; about the glorious tradition of the Vietnam People's Army; about the responsibility and duty of each citizen in the cause of defending the Fatherland. Raise awareness, responsibility and self-awareness of each citizen in contributing human and material resources to the cause of building the all-people national defense and the people's war posture in the new situation.

Second, promote the strength of national solidarity in the cause of defending the Fatherland.

Thoroughly grasp and creatively apply Ho Chi Minh's thought on great national unity in the new situation. Firmly adhere to the goal of national independence associated with socialism in the process of national development, taking the goal of a rich people, a strong country, democracy, equality and civilization as a common point to unite all classes of people. Innovate the content and methods of operation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, creating conditions for all organizations and individuals to contribute to the cause of national construction and defense. Continue to comprehensively and synchronously promote the innovation process, perfect the market economic institution, socialist orientation, harmoniously resolve the relationship between the interests of the State and the interests of the collective and individual workers. Combine the cause of building a new culture and people of socialist Vietnam with promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style among the people. Continuously consolidate and strengthen the great national unity bloc on the basis of maintaining and strengthening solidarity and unity within the Party. Improve the quality and effectiveness of Party building work in accordance with the Resolution of the 4th Central Committee of the 11th and 12th tenures, the Conclusion of the 4th Central Committee of the 13th tenure and resolutions on personnel work, prevent and repel the degradation of political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, and manifestations of "Self-evolution" and "Self-transformation" in a number of cadres and party members. Highly promote the vanguard and exemplary role of cadres and party members, constantly consolidate the people's trust in the leadership of the Party, on that basis consolidate and promote the strength of the great national unity bloc in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland in general, and in the military field in particular.

Third, Build and perfect the law on military and national defense work, to enhance citizens' obligations and responsibilities in the cause of protecting the Fatherland.

To promote the strength of the masses in the current cause of defending the Fatherland according to Ho Chi Minh's thought, one of the important and urgent contents is to create an environment and conditions for people to live and work according to the law. Therefore, along with the process of building a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people, for the people, it is necessary to continue to build and perfect the legal system on national defense, military and ensure fairness among citizens in the cause of defending the Fatherland. Strengthening legal education on national defense and security must go hand in hand with timely detection and strict handling of all manifestations of law violations, harming national security and social order and safety.

For military units, in the process of carrying out mass mobilization work, it is necessary to focus on propaganda and raising people's awareness of the law, especially new laws on military and national defense. On the other hand, it is necessary to constantly improve the quality and effectiveness of propaganda and legal education for soldiers, focusing on innovating the operation methods of legal day models, legal advisory groups, and legal bookcases at grassroots units throughout the army. This is an important requirement to contribute to raising awareness and responsibility of the masses about military and national defense work. Because generations of soldiers who have studied and trained in the army will become the masses active in all areas of social life.

References:

1. Ho Chi Minh - Selected works. Vol. 2... page 413.

2. Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works. Vol. 4... pages 291, 227.

3. Ho Chi Minh - Complete Works. Vol. 6... Page 587.

Source: http://baolamdong.vn/chinh-tri/202504/tu-tuong-ho-chi-minh-ve-chien-tranh-toan-dan-coi-nguon-suc-manh-dai-thang-mua-xuan-1975-y-nghia-trong-nhiem-vu-bao-ve-to-quoc-hien-nay-9ad67b5/