Struggling to abolish the shame of a lost nation, poverty and underdevelopment in a country like Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh realised the need to awaken the conscience of all people and religions to unity on principle and to unite them into a bloc to build and defend the nation. He hoped his people, regardless of beliefs or non-beliefs, religions or non-religions, all understood that they are Vietnamese and bear the responsibility for the community and their ancestors.

In 1924, Ho Chi Minh said “Nationalism is a great motive force”. In his view, nationality is placed above the stance of the working class by creatively combining patriotism and pure internationalism. That is “Nationalism towards Communism”, he concluded.

In addition, Ho Chi Minh Thought on unity deeply originated from the patriotic traditions of Vietnamese people. In 1942, after returning to the country to lead the national liberation revolution, he wrote, “History taught us a lesson: When our people are united as one, our nation is independent and free. Likewise, when our people are not united, our nation is invaded by foreign enemies. Therefore, we must unite under the banner of the Viet Minh front to chase away imperialists and restore independence and freedom.”

In Ho Chi Minh Thought, unity is an extremely precious tradition of our people, which ensured the victory of the Vietnamese revolution. He thought: “In the sky, there is nothing more precious than people. In the world, there is nothing more powerful than the aggregate strength of our people,” and “Great unity is the winning power. Thanks to the great unity, the revolution ended and the resistance war was successful. Now if we are united together, our political struggle will be successful and the country will be unified.”

After the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established, despite fighting three enemies at the same time, namely hunger, illiteracy and foreign invaders, Ho Chi Minh kept an eye on mass organisations and religious sects. On September 3, 1945, one day after Vietnam proclaimed independence, he planned to meet with various social organisations representing Catholics, Buddhists, farmers, businesspeople, children and young people. At the first meeting of the provisional government, he pointed out six urgent tasks to be done. In the sixth task, he stressed: “Colonialists and feudalists carried out a policy of splitting Catholics and Buddhists to make it easier to rule. I propose that the Government declare beliefs are free and Catholics and Buddhists are united.”

Throughout his life, he always kept an eye on people’s belief and religious activities. When returning to Pac Bo Cave, (his working place and residence during the resistance war), he drew a picture of Buddha and ordered the building of a pagoda for local Buddhist followers. He also sent letters and telegrams to cardinals and pastors to stir up patriotism among Catholics. He also sent a message of congratulations to ethnic people in Hoa Binh mountainous province for their accomplishments and spirit of joining the resistance war.

He also kept a close watch on democratic and social parties so that they could develop their role in encouraging people from all social strata to join the resistance war and promote the great national unity.

It is safe to say that Ho Chi Minh realised the objective truth of the great national unity and believed in his fellow countrymen, regardless of their religion or non-belief. He appealed to unity without discriminations among religions, fractions, elderly, youth, men and women, considering it a long-term strategy, not a temporary plan.

Ho Chi Minh symbolised the flag of the great national unity bloc. He strove unceasingly to consolidate the bloc on the basis of the workers and peasantry alliance, led by the working class, to gather and unify all social strata, fractions, religions and ethnic groups to encircle and isolate enemies and smash their plans to bring our resistance war to victory.

Before passing away, in his Testament, he wrote, “Thanks to its close unity and total dedication to the working class, the people and the homeland, our Party has been able, since its founding, to unite, organise and lead our people from success to success in a resolute struggle. Unity is an extremely precious tradition of our party and people. All comrades, from the Central Committee down to the cells, must preserve their unity and oneness of mind, regarding the party as the apple of their eye.”

Obviously, Ho Chi Minh Thought on unity, which once became the strategy of the Vietnamese revolution, has created an invincible strength for our nation to accomplish any tasks, overcome any difficulties and defeat any enemies. That is the aggregate strength of the nation, in combination with the strength of the era to drive our nation to independence, freedom and happiness.

It can be said that his thoughts on national great unity and the establishment of the national unified front was a big achievement of Ho Chi Minh. He gathered genuine revolutionary organisations, promoted the strength of the entire nation, made use of the support of people from all walks of life and built international solidarity. All this turned the Ho Chi Minh-initiated motto “Unity, Unity, Great Unity” and “Success, Success, Great Success” into the great physical and spiritual strength to defeat hostile forces, and build and defend the nation.