During the past struggle for national independence and liberation and the current Renewal process, the Party has always encouraged intellectuals to make a practical contribution to national development.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Canh – a university lecturer in Ho Chi Minh City – recalls that Vietnamese intellectuals have stood shoulder to shoulder with the people through difficult periods, devoted themselves to the common revolutionary cause and built up their trust in the Party leadership.

During the process of national construction and development, Prof. Canh says the Party has adopted many suitable policies to bring into full play the strength of intellectuals.

At the first session of the provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 3, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh pointed out the urgent need to defeat three enemies: hunger – illiteracy- foreign invaders. He said that an illiterate nation was a “weak nation” and that priority would be given to eradicating illiteracy first and then driving out foreign occupiers.

Associate Professor of history Le Mau Han notes that in the early days of the revolution, President Ho, with his wisdom and tact, invited many Vietnamese intellectuals living abroad to return and work for the homeland. They were national patriots and were trained in revolutionary ideology by President Ho and the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Mr Han says intellectuals made marked contributions to national development during the past two wars of resistance against the French and US aggressors. They were revolutionaries like Truong Chinh, Pham Van Dong, Vo Nguyen Giap, Tran Van Giau, Tran Huy Lieu and Dang Thai Mai, and those in the feudal regime like Phan Ke Toai, Bui Bang Doan and Pham Khac Hoe, and patriots like Tran Dai Nghia, Dang Van Ngu, Nguyen Van Huyen, Ho Dac Di, Pham Ngoc Thach, Ton That Tung, Luong Dinh Cua and Hoang Xuan Han.

Many intellectuals voluntarily left behind happy lives, steady jobs and high incomes to follow the Party and President Ho, devoting themselves to the revolution.

“A nation cannot develop without intellectuals. The Party recognised this from the beginning and introduced many policies to recruit them for the nation,” says Mr Han.

Despite wartime hardships, the Party and State built two universities in liberated areas, established a dormitory-school in Nanning, China, and sent students to socialist countries overseas to train human resources for the post-revolutionary period.

Since the Renewal process began in 1986, the Party has espoused a modern view on intellectuals. The Party Central Committee issued a resolution in 2008 detailing the building of the contingent of intellectuals to help speed up the process of national industrialisation and modernisation.

The resolution says, “The Party attaches great importance to gathering intellectuals and recognised Vietnamese intellectuals abroad as a potential human source for the nation…… The Party eradicates prejudice about the past and origin of Vietnamese intellectuals abroad, and highly values their strength.”

MA Do Nguyen Tran Tinh of Ho Chi Minh City National University says this resolution is a step toward realising Ho Chi Minh’s Thought and the national tradition of “looking for talent”.

The reality is that intellectuals are currently working in all sectors and their active participation in developing a knowledge-based economy is great importance to the current process of international integration.