The predecessors of our Party were all outstanding intellectuals, many of whom were great cultural and educational figures: President Ho Chi Minh, General Secretary Truong Chinh, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh, First Vice President of the Council of Ministers To Huu... Therefore, in the process of leading the implementation of revolutionary tasks, our Party did not consider culture as a means to serve politics, but culture was also a goal that needed to be built and nurtured in accordance with the spirit of the Outline of Vietnamese Culture, which emphasized: "We must complete the cultural revolution to complete the social transformation".
If we do not reform a healthy and progressive social culture and raise the intellectual level of the people through education, culture and arts, then propaganda, mobilization and implementation of any revolutionary task to develop the country will be very difficult. Suppose that the situation of hedonism, laziness, superstition, polygamous families... as in feudal colonial society continues, how can cadres, party members and people have enough mind and time to overcome many difficulties right after the August Revolution? Let's ask, if we do not promote patriotism, revolutionary heroism, thrift, integrity, impartiality, and collective spirit over selfish individualism..., how can our army and people have enough material, human resources, and determination to win after 21 years of fighting against the US and its puppets?
Looking back at the Vietnam War, scholars at home and abroad all have the same opinion: One of the factors that helped our army and people win was thanks to the reawakening of the patriotic cultural tradition, combined with the new progressive culture of socialist culture to become a sharp spiritual weapon. For example, in the field of literature and art, if you ask veterans who participated in the resistance war against the US to save the country, they will recall enjoying the song "The Truong Son Stick" (Pham Tuyen), the poem "Vietnam's Posture" (Le Anh Xuan)...; so that many people wrote applications to join the army with blood, going to the battlefield with the mindset of Hero Le Ma Luong: "The most beautiful life is on the front line fighting the enemy!". Looking at the other side, literature and art under the US puppet regime with sentimental "yellow music" songs, movies full of carnal pleasures, how could soldiers have fighting spirit, the will to endure hardship and sacrifice; Desertion and surrender before a fight happen all the time, which is understandable.
Today, when the war has ended and our country has been carrying out the Renovation process for more than 35 years, due to the negative side of the market economy, the influence of foreign culture has changed many good cultural and ethical values, to the point that many people wish: "If only the economy today had the ethics of the past". What is worrying is that domestic and school violence, youth falling into social evils, selfish lifestyles, laziness in working hard and only focusing on enjoyment... are not just isolated phenomena and incidents.
Experiences of developed countries show that individuals, families, agencies, units and the whole society cannot find happiness and sustainable development if they only pursue material values and economic growth. At this time, culture will play a regulatory function to help regulate society to operate stably for the common goal of the community. Talking to us, Prof. Dr. Dinh Xuan Dung, former Vice President of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art, emphasized: “Culture permeates the entire social life, is the values and standards that have become intrinsic needs, controlling and adjusting the thoughts, feelings, behaviors and relationships of each person and the whole community, creating personal values, becoming the spiritual foundation, orientation and having the power to regulate society for sustainable development. The regulatory power of culture does not stop at personal and community relationships but also has the function of regulating relationships of the whole society, of a country, of a nation.
In each historical period, culture has specific tasks; however, culture is always the spiritual foundation and at the same time the driving force for sustainable national development. On the path of socialism, it becomes increasingly clear that culture is an element that cannot be overlooked, a part of the organic whole: Politics-Economy-Society-Culture.
The 93-year history of our Party has proven the truth that Uncle Ho concluded: "Apart from the interests of the Fatherland and the people, our Party has no other interests." Therefore, the Outline of Vietnamese Culture raises the issue of the Party leading culture, which is ultimately very beneficial for the country, the people, and the proper development of Vietnamese culture.
There is no need for statistics, just comparing the cultural and social life before and after the August Revolution will show that the Party's cultural leadership has achieved many successes, demonstrating the superiority of our regime. For example, before 1945, only the aristocracy and bourgeoisie had the conditions to enjoy modern and rich works of art; the majority of the population occasionally enjoyed folk art. Later, despite the fierce war, the Party and the State tried very hard to meet the artistic needs of the masses through cultural institutions, forms of performance, and mobile performances, etc.; thereby eliminating the gap in enjoyment in society.
There are many other examples that can be cited, but in general, our Party sincerely wants to improve people's knowledge and ensure human rights in culture (the right to enjoy culture, the right to create and express culture, the right to respect diverse expressions of culture); unlike the colonialists and feudalists who only want to maintain the policy of keeping people ignorant, suppressing national culture, and promoting hedonistic culture, in order to maintain their oppression.
Our Party represents the interests of the nation, so preserving traditional culture is inevitable because, as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said: "Culture is the identity of a nation. If culture remains, the nation remains. If culture is lost, the nation is lost." National cultural identity here needs to be understood as closely linked to the Party's viewpoint, representing the legitimate interests of the Vietnamese nation. It is necessary to affirm the good values in national cultural traditions, especially the tradition of patriotism and great national solidarity, the spirit of independence, self-reliance, and national pride, expressed in the tangible and intangible cultural values of the ethnic groups in the Vietnamese national community. This is the basis, the endogenous resource for us to filter and accept imported values in the context of deep integration today.
It is easy to summarize a series of dialectical relationships: Political regime and leadership methods create a cultural environment; cultural environment has a great impact on the formation of personality and human qualities; and ultimately, people decide success or failure in all work. As the spirit of the 13th Party Congress Document emphasized: Building culture is building people; culture must arouse the aspirations of the entire nation in the process of building a strong country.
In the context that our country has only one ruling Party, the issue of building Party culture, especially the ruling culture is expressed in the following aspects: Ideals, political thinking, leadership methods, exemplary vanguard nature... According to Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Dinh Phong, Senior Lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics: "President Ho Chi Minh once said on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Party's founding: "Our Party is moral and civilized". The implication is that he wanted to talk about Party culture. His words let us realize that from the time the Party was born until then, thanks to Party culture, the revolution was victorious. Therefore, his words also sent an important message that from then on, we must build Party culture, especially the ruling culture".
Faced with the situation where a significant number of cadres and party members (including high-ranking cadres) have degraded and become corrupt, causing the Party to lose its reputation and legitimacy and eroding the people's trust in the Party, the work of Party building and rectification is extremely important and needs to be carried out resolutely, continuously and without pause. Among many goals and solutions, strengthening Party building and rectification in the cultural and ethical fields is truly important and is considered the root of the problem. Because if Party organizations and party members lose their integrity and do not maintain revolutionary ethics, they will certainly degenerate in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle, leading to corruption and negativity. If the Party wants to be clean and strong, first of all, the Party itself must be like a "lighthouse" of culture. Building Party culture, making the ruling party demonstrate the best and most outstanding aspects of national culture from traditional to modern and approaching the cultural quintessence of humanity, expressed in each Party organization, each cadre, Party member, especially at the strategic level, key cadres. Therefore, each cadre and Party member must be a cultured person, representing the good qualities of the Vietnamese cultural value system, the standard of Vietnamese people in the new era.
Once firmly established, Party culture will not only prevent corruption, negativity, and degeneration within the Party and the public apparatus; but will also have the power to spread to the outside world, leading the entire society to learn Party culture, the highest manifestation of which is revolutionary morality, which is the "treasure" of our Party. Only then will the Party not need to shout or issue orders but still attract the masses to believe in the Party's leadership, just as the old saying goes: "Good wine needs no bush"./.
Photo: Document - VNA - Vu Toan
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