Communist Review - In recent decades, many Vietnamese and foreign scholars have deeply studied basic aspects of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle. However, there is a very prominent issue that reflecting the universal value and unique dedication of His thought, morality and lifestyle of renovation has not been properly mentioned. Therefore, clarifying the values of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle of renovation becomes an urgent task amid Vietnam’s active implementation of the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress, with the determination to comprehensively and synchronously promote the renovation work and to arouse the will and aspiration of developing into a prosperous and happy country.

Always and constantly renovating for the national sake - a red thread throughout President Ho Chi Minh's great career and great life of noble sacrifice and striving

President Ho Chi Minh devoted his whole life to his people and his country. Uncle Ho said: “I only have one desire, the ultimate desire is to make our country completely independent, our people completely free, all compatriots have food to eat, clothes to wear, anyone can study.”⁽¹⁾ It was his passionate patriotism and sense of responsibility for the nation’s destiny that motivated him to cherish intensely the spirit of incessant renovation from a very early age.

As early as 1911, when the country was still immersed in the long night of slavery, Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh decided to find the right path to save the country, with a new direction, a new approach and a new way of action. Tramping to the West, he absorbed new ideological trends, examined typical revolutions in the world. He “bathed” himself in the revolutionary movement of the proletariat and the struggle of the oppressed and exploited peoples; finally, he came to Marxism-Leninism and found out the truth to save the country and the way to liberate the nation. It was the first great renovation of Nguyen Tat Thanh - Ho Chi Minh, made with a genius premonition, a rigorous, scientific, historical and revolutionary examination and conclusion with the decisive significance to the national destiny.

President Ho Chi Minh creatively applied Marxism - Leninism and the experiences of world revolutionary movements, especially the Russian October Revolution. He renovated his thinking in building and constantly perfecting the strategic directions and revolutionary tactics; he renewed the leadership method and managed the Party's guidelines and policies’ implementation, led the entire Party and people to gain independence and freedom; he had also built the revolutionary State, implemented the cause of resistance war and national building; defeated wars of aggression, maintained our nation's independence, sovereignty and unity; step by step brought the North to socialism, overcome poverty, backwardness ...

President Ho Chi Minh’s renovative and creative thought in the process of applying and developing Marxism - Leninism in accordance with the conditions of Vietnam and the colonial countries, especially the thought on the ruling Communist Party, on the colonial revolution, on the great national unity and the National Unified Front building, on the people's democratic state, on the people's whole-nation and total war, on building democracy socialism in a semi-feudal colonial country,... are important contributions to the world’s revolutionary theoretical treasure, but also refresh, enliven and increase the potential vitality of scientific socialism. The reality of Vietnamese revolution from 1941, when President Ho Chi Minh returned home to directly lead the revolution to 1969, when Uncle Ho passed away was a continuous renovative work of the Party and Vietnamese people following the flag and the guidance of the renewal “General Architect” Ho Chi Minh.

Before passing away, President Ho Chi Minh predicted the world context, the country situation, and drew the basic outlines of the post-war comprehensive national building in the spirit of renovation, which were expressed in his great Testament. He foresaw the tasks that the whole Party, the entire people and military must strive to fulfill with determination, from the tasks of developing the economy, culture and society, taking care of people, constantly improving the people's material and spiritual life, paying attention to and fostering the young generation, preparing the next revolutionary generation for the future, fulfilling international obligations...; to the tasks of building and rectifying the Party and paying careful attention to educate and develop party cadres and party members... This is the summary of experience, historical lessons, the forecast and orientation of the country development in the renovative spirit. President Ho Chi Minh's Testament is the most general and comprehensive outline of the great transformation work to remove the old and obsolete things, and to create new values and new life. The President Ho Chi Minh’s thought crystallized in the historical Testament is the ideological and spiritual foundation of the renovation cause which has been initiated and led by the Party since the 6^th National Party Congress. The Vietnamese revolutionary practice has affirmed that President Ho Chi Minh's thought is the embodiment of renovation and a model for designing and constructing great works of the Vietnamese revolutionary cause according to the renovative spirit and determination.

Renovation in Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle

The term and the thought of ​​ “renovation” was early mentioned by President Ho Chi Minh in his book “Revolutionary Path” in 1927; then, he repeated and further clarified in many articles and speeches, most notably “Modifying working style” (1947), “New life” (1947), “Mass Mobilization” (1949), especially in his sacred Testament (1965 - 1969) left to the whole Party and people before he passed away. President Ho Chi Minh's articles and speeches exude a viewpoint system on fundamental value and orientation of renovation.

Firstly, according to President Ho Chi Minh, renovation is the essence of revolution and development. In “Revolutionary Path”, Uncle Ho pointed out: “Revolution is breaking old things into new things, breaking bad things into good things”⁽²⁾.  Talking about the national building after the victory of the resistance war against the US imperialists, he emphasized: “This is a fight against old and bad things to create new and good things”⁽³⁾.

Secondly, renovation must be for the country and for the people. The renovative philosophy and truth in President Ho Chi Minh's thought is for the sake of the country and the people. He always said: “Truth is what is for the sake of the country and the people. What is contrary to the interests of the Fatherland and the people is not the truth”⁽⁴⁾;  “Whatever is beneficial to the people, we must do our best. Whatever harms the people, we must do our utmost to avoid”⁽⁵⁾.

Thirdly, renovation must originate from the objective needs of reality and be suitable for practical conditions and effectively deal with the requirements of practice. President Ho Chi Minh always considered reality as the starting point of thinking and acting, the verification of scientific truth. He said: “Theory is to bring the facts in history, experience, and struggles to examine and compare them very carefully and clearly, make them into conclusions, which then need to be brought back to prove with practice. That is true logic”⁽⁶⁾.  Therefore, researching and creating new things must always be associated with reality, focusing on summarizing practice, and taking practical effectiveness as a measure of the correctness of renovation.

Fourthly, renovation is a long, complicated and arduous career which must be steadfast, resolute, persistent to choose the appropriate steps. President Ho Chi Minh once said that defeating imperialism and feudalism is relatively easy, defeating poverty and backwardness is much more difficult; struggling to eliminate the old things and build the new things is an extremely big, heavy, complicated and difficult work. Therefore, there must be meticulous planning with careful preparation and sure implementation.

Fifthly, according to President Ho Chi Minh, renovation is not a full negation, but a succession and development. Old and bad things must be abandoned, old and not bad but troublesome things must be corrected appropriately, old but good things must be further developed, new and good things must be done.

Sixthly, the power of renovation is from the people. President Ho Chi Minh always advised: “To gain victory in this huge war, it is necessary to mobilize, organize, educate, and rely on the whole people”⁽⁷⁾; simultaneously, to combine the national strength with the power of the times in the spirit of Vietnamese revolution as part of the world revolution and that Vietnam is willing to be a friend of democratic countries.

Seventhly, the Party is the soul of renovation; cadres and party members must take the lead in the cause of renovation. The Party must creatively apply Marxism-Leninism to Vietnam's revolutionary practice to implement the proper guidelines and policies. Ho Chi Minh taught: “The world is changing day by day, our people are making more and more progress, so we must continue studying and practicing to keep up with the people’s progress”⁽⁸⁾. President Ho Chi Minh’s theoretical system on renovation is expressed simply and understandably, but also contains the depth and height of his thought, and the quintessence of his renovative morality and lifestyle.

For President Ho Chi Minh, the thought of renovation is  revolutionary and scientific on the basis of Marxism - Leninism, combined with the quintessence of national and human culture, reflecting and addressing the objective needs of the nation’s reality; the renovative morality is to serve the Fatherland and the people, to put the national interests first and foremost, for an independent, peaceful, unified, democratic, and prosperous Vietnam; The renovative lifestyle is the steadfast, creative, democratic, practical and effective, walk-the-talk manners, which brings real results to the country and the people. Those are the sustainable values of President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle on renovation.

President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle lead and illuminate the renovation path of the Party and people of Vietnam

In the mid-80s of the 20th century, due to many objective and subjective reasons, the country fell into a serious socio-economic crisis, people's life was extremely difficult. Facing such a situation, the Communist Party of Vietnam was determined to launch and lead the renewal process. As pondering and finding a renovation path, especially to renovate the national development’s thinking, the Communist Party of Vietnam is deeply aware that to renovate its thinking, the Party must firmly grasp the revolutionary and scientific nature of Marxism-Leninism, inherit the valuable legacy of President Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary ideology and theory. Drawing lessons from the revolutionary practice of the country, the 6^th National Congress of the Party in 1986 - The Congress unleashed the renovation path on the basis of thoroughly grasping the President Ho Chi Minh’s core viewpoints, emphasized the lessons of “taking the people as the root”, deriving from practice, respecting objective laws, combining the national strength and the power of times, and building the Party on par with tasks⁽⁹⁾.

Over 35 years of renovation cause; with the steadfastness and creative application of Marxism-Leninism, the Communist Party of Vietnam paid special attention to inheriting and concretizing President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle of renovation, formulated the Platform for National Construction in the Transitional Period towards Socialism (1991); the Platform for National Construction in the Transitional Period towards Socialism (supplemented and developed in 2011), and  Documents of Party congresses and Central Committee meetings from 1986 to the present. The Party's renovation guideline has always been deeply imbued with President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle of renovation and clarified the basic perceptions of socialism and the path to socialism in Vietnam, becoming a banner leading the whole Party and people to overcome numerous difficulties and challenges, develop the economy, culture and society, strengthen national defense and security,  expand foreign affairs, positively and actively integrate deeply into the international community, build a clean and strong Party and political system, create great achievements of historical significance. The practice of more than 35 years of renovation has eloquently proven that to adapt and successfully deal with the problems that socialism is facing on the difficult and challenging development path, Vietnam must constantly learn from President Ho Chi Minh by developing the qualities demonstrated during his long revolutionary struggle ⁽¹⁰⁾.

Entering the 3rd decade of the 21st century, Vietnam has great opportunities but also faces many difficulties and challenges. The 13^th National Party Congress set out the goal of rapid and sustainable national development, striving “by 2025, on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification, Vietnam will become a developing nation with modernity-oriented industry and surpass the low-middle income level. By 2030 which marks the 100^th anniversary of the Party’s founding, Vietnam will become a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income level. By 2045 which marks the 100^th anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam will become a developed nation with high-income level”⁽¹¹⁾. To successfully achieve that goal, the whole Party and people continue to comprehensively and synchronously promote the cause of renovation. President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle with sustainable values and strong vitality continues to illuminate the cause of renovation of Vietnamese Party and people. The great values in his thought, morality and lifestyle on renovation need to be thoroughly grasped, creatively applied and further promoted.

Firstly, it is necessary to be steadfast, consistent and constantly creative to build the country along the socialist path towards the goal of “prosperous people, strong country, democratic, equitable and civilized society”. In order to have a successful renovation, the ideal of national independence associated with socialism must be firmly adhered, the ideological foundation must be Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought, the renovation guideline and the principles of Party building. Vietnam must be steadfast, persistent, constantly creative, and “renovating” without “changing color”, determined not to fall into dogma or conservativeness. It is necessary to combine a profound and comprehensive summary of the country's renovation practices with accurately grasping and forecasting the rapid changes of the times and new development trends of the world; updating new knowledge, absorbing the human cultural quintessence, especially the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the successful lessons of other countries suitable to Vietnam's conditions; constantly perfecting the renovation policy to reflect and properly address Vietnam’s objective practice requirements as well as in line with the trend of the times. Renovation must be continuous, creative and solid - that is the inheritance and development of President Ho Chi Minh's renovative and dialectical viewpoints in the new historical context.

Secondly, the moral foundation of renovation is the supreme interest of the nation, the people, and the human happiness. Putting national independence, sovereignty, unity and wealth the first and foremost; taking the right to mastery, the interests, the full development and the happiness of Vietnamese people as the principles of renovation. People are the subject of renovation and the beneficiaries of its fruits, as well as the goal and the driver of renovation. That is the human nature of renovation according to Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle, and the sustainable value and intense vitality of renovation. Separating from the moral foundation, renovation has no meaning.

Thirdly, renovation and development are an objective historical movement law, the human needs and aspirations. Globalization together with the explosive development of information technology and the global infrastructure systems bring countries closer to each other and become mutually dependent. Extensive international cooperation and integration has become an irreversibly big trend. President Ho Chi Minh’s thought and guidance on closely associating the Vietnamese revolution with the world revolution, on strengthening international cooperation and combining national strength with the power of the times on the basis of peace, friendship, equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit… remain intact values orienting the renovation path. Although enlisting external resources is very important, President Ho Chi Minh always advised that internal resources are decisive, external resources must be combined with internal resources to multiply the national synergy; cooperation and integration must maintain independence and autonomy, promote the spirit of diligence and self-reliance.

Finally, renovation is a long and arduous revolutionary process. In order to achieve that goal, the Party, its cadres and members as the leading force, must renew themselves, and set an example for renovation, especially in thinking and leadership style to strongly promote the strength of the whole Party and the people. President Ho Chi Minh is a great example, passing on great lessons about renovation lifestyle; sensitively grasping historical developments, actively taking advantage of opportunities, upholding principles and boldly creating, timely renovating, associating theory with practice⁽¹²⁾.

President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle are unified, crystallized into the theory and practice of renovation. “Ho Chi Minh's theoretical contributions are both topical and practical, meeting the contemporary revolutionary needs, have lasting value, being important suggestions and inspirations for future revolutionary generations. Understanding and creatively applying the system of President Ho Chi Minh’s viewpoints and theories is capable of adapting to the current new developments of history, living and promoting long-term effects in the revolutionary cause of Vietnamese people and the whole world’s people”⁽¹³⁾./.

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(1) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, Vol. 4, p. 187

(2) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 2, p. 284

(3) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 15, p. 617

(4) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 10, p. 378

(5) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 4, p. 65

(6) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 5, p. 273

(7) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 15, p. 617

(8) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, ibid., Vol. 10, p. 377

(9) Documents of the 6th National Party Congress, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1987

(10) National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam's National Commission for UNESCO, International Conference: President Ho Chi Minh – The hero of national liberation, an outstanding cultural celebrity, Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi, 1991, p. 183

(11) Documents of the 13th National Party Congress. National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, Vol. I, p. 112

(12), (13) Pham Van Dong: Ho Chi Minh - the quintessence and mettle of the nation. National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, p. 219, 180 - 181

This article was published in the Communist Review No. 966 (May 2021)