Close ties with people- source of Party’s strength

* All Party activities are aimed at serving the homeland, the people 

The Communist Party of Vietnam gathers the most outstanding elements of the working class, working people and the nation as a whole. The Party comes from the people and serves the people’s interests, and it is this close relationship that constitutes the strength of the Party as well as of the nation. 

The relationship between the Party and the people is a naturally two-way and reciprocal one. The masses need the Party’s leadership to go the right way in order for the revolution to gain success, while the Party needs the people for their great physical and spiritual power so that it can navigate the revolution. 

President Ho Chi Minh has repeatedly affirmed in his numerous writings that “the Party has no other interests than that of the homeland, the class and the nation,” and “All the guidelines, mottos and policies of the Party are aimed at the only goal of enhancing the people’s living standards.” The unity between the Party’s objectives and interests and the people’s goals, interests and aspirations serves as a firm foundation for the close relationship between the Party and the people. 

* The Party strives to build an administration which is really “of the people, by the people and for the people”; develop the linkage between the Party and the masses through the relations between the administration and the people 

Following its foundation, towards the goal and ideal of winning back independence and freedom for the homeland, the Party set its first mission which was to seize power. Under the Party’s leadership, the Vietnamese people successfully carried out the August Revolution in 1945, toppling the colonialist and feudal administration and establishing the people’s government. For the first time in history, the people become the real owner of the country. The first National Assembly elections held on January 6, 1946 and the public’s participation in building the 1946 Constitution were the most outstanding manifestation of the people’s mastery of the country. 

As a ruling Party, the most important contact channel between the Party and the people is the relationship between the State and the people. Therefore, the Party has always made strengthening the State its leading important task, so that the State is really the people’s tool to serve the people’s interests and all officials and employees in the State apparatus are the “people’s servants”. 

Under the Party’s leadership, all officials and employee in the State apparatus are keeping close contacts with the people, listening to and respecting the people’s opinions. They are also under the monitoring of the people. At the same time, the Party leads the State in conducting inspections and supervisions, preventing and punishing such negative phenomena as bureaucracy, corruption, irresponsibility which do harm to the interests of the country and the people. As a result, the relations between the Party and the people have been strengthened. 

* The close relationship between the Party and the people is demonstrated in the ties between the Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organisations 

The Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organisations in Vietnam play a special role in uniting all walks of life and serve as a bridge between the Party, the government and the people. Deeply aware of this, immediately after its foundation, the Party attached importance to mass mobilization work, enlightening the masses on revolutionary ideas and encouraging them to join revolutionary organisations. Such mass organisations as the Workers Association for National Salvation, Peasants Association for National Salvation and Women Association for National Salvation gathered in the Viet Minh Front, and when the opportunity came, joined the revolutionary armed forces in the uprising to topple the colonial and feudal administration and build the first government of workers and peasants in Southeast Asia. 

Throughout 30 years of the two resistance wars against French colonialists and US imperialists, the Party was able to mobilize the entire nation to actively participate in the fight for national liberation and defence. Under the Party’s leadership, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member mass organisations gathered and united people from all walks of life, be they workers, farmers, intellectuals, women, youth, the elderly, ethnics and religious followers as well as overseas Vietnamese, who contributed their labour and wealth to the fight against foreign invaders, bringing about the final victory. 

During nearly 30 years carrying out the Doi Moi (renovation) policy, the Party has unceasingly worked to strengthen and reform the organisation and operation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organisations. As a result, the Front and its member organisations have remarkably improved the efficiency of their work in uniting the masses in implementing the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws, actively engaging in socio-economic development, external relations and national defence-security as well as in safeguarding the Party and the people’s administration. 

* The close bond between the Party and the people is reflected in the ties between Party cadres and members and the masses 

President Ho Chi Minh has repeatedly emphasized that personnel is the factor decisive to the success of the revolution, and being a Party cadre means to serve as a loyal “public servant”. The Party, State and socio-political organisations all stipulate in their statutes and regulations the standards for their cadres and Party members, requiring them to constantly foster their own morality and political will while keeping close contact with the masses. Cadres and Party members are also subject to the public’s supervision. 

As part of a drive launched over recent years to strengthen the Party, the Party has put in place regulations on things that Party members are not allowed to do as well as requirements that Party members, whether they work at enterprises or State agencies, maintain contacts with the Party organisations in the area where they live, and set an example for others in carrying out their citizen duties. The campaign “Following the moral example of President Ho Chi Minh” has helped strengthen the Party’s organisation and stimulate Party members to improve their behaviours as well as increase the public’s supervision of cadres and Party members. 

Thanks to all those efforts, the relationship between the Party and the masses has been further fortified, as has the people’s trust in the Party. 

The 85-year history of Vietnam’s revolution has testified to the fact that the inseparable links between the Party and the masses are of vital significant to the Party and the revolution, and these ties have been unceasingly fortified through all periods of the revolution. 

It is thanks to the close bond with the masses that the Communist Party of Vietnam has been able to lead the Vietnamese nation through countless hardship and challenges to achieve great accomplishments.