Professor Pham Nhu Cuong - from patriotism to the path of a Marxist theorist

Professor Pham Nhu Cuong was born in 1928 in Thuong Truy, Nam Kinh commune, Nam Dan district, a famous land of learning that has produced many talented people for the country. His hometown is famous for cotton growing, weaving and is a famous land of fabric guild singing, with the dish of Canh Dan (a type of small mussel) and Kep Dan rice paper, which he loved since he was a child. The upright nature, disregard for fame and fortune, and the spirit of studying and overcoming difficulties of the people of Nghe An have been deeply ingrained and become a special trait of his personality, as in a poem that Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong, son of Professor, People's Teacher Nguyen Lan, wrote for him on the occasion of his 70th birthday:

"Cannot forget the teacher, the upright man

As the name teacher - parents gave

Seventy years – in a flash!

No shame in the days lived

His life is full of exciting pages,

Leaving indelible marks on me…”

During his childhood, living in the days of seething revolutionary fighting, although he had not yet had direct contact with the revolution, the things he saw and heard in daily life soon reminded the young Cuong of the fate of the people who lost their country. The education he received in the French-Vietnamese school also left him with a deep sense of freedom and democracy. He hated the oppression and harassment of the official class in society and dreamed of having a free job in the future, not being a paper-scraping civil servant."go early with an umbrella, come back home with an umbrella at night"in the protectorate or governing apparatus of the Southern Dynasty.

Professor Pham Nhu Cuong - Head of Philosophy Department (Hanoi University of Science) (1980 - 1987)

In 1944, after graduating from the National School of Hue, he went to Hanoi to study at Van Lang School. Once, while taking a canoe from Tuyen Quang to Hanoi, when he arrived at Doan Hung, a Viet Minh armed propaganda team boarded the canoe to distribute leaflets and called on everyone to participate in national salvation activities. What made a strong impression on the young Pham Nhu Cuong was that in the team there was a young woman of the Tho ethnic group (now called Tay) wearing an indigo blue shirt, black trousers with a Sten submachine gun on her shoulder, whose mission was to support and protect the team. He felt ashamed because he turned out to be an educated man but not as good as a young woman of the ethnic group. The thought of having to meet the Viet Minh urged him even more.

He invited his friends to go with him to find the Viet Minh, but no one dared. Alone, he met his old teacher in the first grade of primary school, the head of the Viet Minh in Anh Son, his hometown, and expressed his wishes and asked for his help. Very quickly, he was arranged to participate in activities among the youth and students. The first memorable memory in his revolutionary life was being assigned to be a speaker for the Viet Minh in a public meeting attended by several hundred people at Do Luong Stadium. That day, relying on the strong momentum of the Self-Defense Organization and the masses, he calmly and cleverly dealt with a group of Japanese soldiers who came out to threaten and disrupt the meeting. It can be considered that he had successfully overcome the first challenge in his revolutionary life.

After the August Revolution in 1945, Pham Nhu Cuong fled home to join the army. During the 8 years of war (1946 - 1954), he fought on the fiercest fronts of Quang Tri province. He held many important positions in the army such as: Head of the Political Department of the Binh Tri Thien Front, Deputy Political Commissar of the 325th Division, then crossed the dangerous Truong Son mountain range to become Deputy Political Commissar of the Central Laos Front. Those years were fierce but beautiful. He was trained and matured through combat, through work, and was close to many brave and resourceful generals and colonels such as Nguyen Son, Le Thiet Hung, Tran Van Quang, Tran Quy Hai, Ha Van Lau, Tran Sam, Hoang Sam, Le Nam Thang... During this time, the classic works of Marxism - Leninism:The Communist Manifesto, Imperialism - the Highest Stage of Capitalism… he began to explore, search, and research, even though his political awareness at that time did not allow him to deeply understand those theories.

In 1954, an important turning point came to Pham Nhu Cuong's life. He was on the list of mid- and high-ranking cadres inside and outside the army sent by the Central Committee to study Marxism-Leninism at the Communist Party of China's Advanced Party School. From here, a new period began in his journey of theoretical understanding. He was officially selected by the Party to be trained to become a Marxist theorist. For the first time, he was systematically exposed to Marxist-Leninist philosophical viewpoints, Marxist-Leninist political economy, Party building, and operational experience from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China.

In 1956, he returned to the country when the political situation was extremely complicated. After mistakes in land reform and organizational rectification, our Party began to correct its mistakes. This reality created an urgent need to improve the theoretical level of cadres and party members. The Party had a policy of shifting the study at Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School from mainly studying guidelines and policies to systematically studying the basic subjects of Marxism-Leninism. To form a cadre framework for the new subjects, along with many other comrades, Pham Nhu Cuong was transferred to the Philosophy Department of Nguyen Ai Quoc High-level Party School. He officially participated in research and teaching theory. In the first two courses, to gain experience, he worked as a teaching assistant for Soviet and Chinese experts.

In 1960, when he was the Head of the Philosophy Department of the Nguyen Ai Quoc High-Level Party School, he was sent to further his education at the Soviet Union High-Level Party School. This is the cradle with a long tradition of training and fostering Marxism-Leninism. Listen to lectures"follow the wind"of some Russian professors through French translation, for the first time he felt that he could not trust the teacher absolutely. Not everything the teacher taught was true."eternal truth"

Returning to Vietnam in May 1964, Pham Nhu Cuong received the decision of the Central Party Secretariat to appoint him as Director of the Institute of Philosophy at the age of 36. That heavy responsibility made him worried and anxious, especially at that time, the field of Philosophy was still too new. The situation of the Institute of Philosophy was having many complicated problems regarding ideological work and cadres. Some key cadres of the Institute agreed with Khrushchev's revisionist viewpoint, thereby criticizing our Party's attitude and viewpoint in the fierce Sino-Soviet debate at that time.

In the context of deep divisions in the viewpoints and policies of the international communist movement and the reflection within our Party, Pham Nhu Cuong's responsibility at that time was to change the political orientation of the Institute, ensuring that the Institute of Philosophy must be a reliable stronghold of the Party in the field of ideology and theory. How to stabilize the ideology of cadres, unite the agency and propose a new working program of the Institute to attract comrades to work? Writing about this difficult period, the bookInstitute of Philosophy, 35 years of construction and growthpublished in 1997, commented:“In the complicated situation at that time, with his cautious, objective, and honest attitude, comrade Pham Nhu Cuong united the entire Institute, gradually stabilizing the Institute into different research topics... The biggest lesson of the period 1964 - 1975 was: taking the Party's ideology as a foothold, taking the completion of professional tasks as a glue, both uniting and fighting... And to realize the above, the cautious, objective, tolerant, and courageous attitude of the head of the agency and the attitude of all cadres who knew how to overcome narrow prejudices and inferiority complexes in personal relationships to cooperate with each other in the common cause were of decisive significance.”.

During his time working at the Institute of Philosophy, in addition to his management work, in terms of scientific research, Professor Pham Nhu Cuong engaged in the following areas: dialectical materialism, historical materialism, the struggle against bourgeois ideology and neo-colonial culture in South Vietnam. He also participated in the Political Issues Subcommittee of the Central Theoretical Committee, and was assigned to write about the theory of the transitional period to socialism in Vietnam.

In the 70s, the country had a system of institutions for teaching and training cadres on Marxism-Leninism with the Nguyen Ai Quoc High-level Party School as the core. In some universities and colleges, there was also a Marxism-Leninism department, including the Philosophy department. The rapid development of science and of the scientific intellectuals in our country at that time created a requirement for formal university training in Marxism-Leninism majors. In September 1976, the Central Party Secretariat decided to establish the departments of Philosophy, Political Economy, and Law at Hanoi University. The directors of the Institutes of Philosophy, Political Economy, and Law under the Social Sciences Committee were appointed to concurrently hold the positions of Heads of the respective departments. This also stemmed from the viewpoint of closely combining teaching with research, unifying the organization of teaching and research. Prof. Pham Nhu Cuong, who was then the Director of the Institute of Philosophy, was appointed Head of the Philosophy Department of Hanoi University of Science.

The establishment of the Faculty of Philosophy in the early days encountered many difficulties. The facilities were poor, and the staff had to be reorganized and rearranged based on the transfer of teachers from the Institute and other departments. The main work at the Institute of Philosophy and the concurrent work at several other units kept him busy. Recalling those days, Professor Pham Nhu Cuong still silently thanks his brothers and sisters: Duong Phu Hiep, Nguyen Quang Thong, Nguyen Huu Vui, Nguyen Dinh Xuan, Nguyen Anh Lich... who spent a lot of time and effort helping him lay the first bricks as the foundation for the Faculty of Philosophy. They worked enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. Partly because they felt the importance and honor of being the first to contribute to the birth of a new, formal training major at a prestigious university at that time. Partly because they trust and love the leader, the head of the department who has professional prestige, a lot of experience in management and organization, is devoted to the common work, lives honestly, and is affectionate with everyone around him.

Nominally, he was the Dean of the Faculty until 1988, but since 1978, Prof. Pham Nhu Cuong has been appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Social Sciences Committee. In 1981, he was appointed as Deputy Head of the Central Science and Education Committee in charge of social sciences. In 1985, he was appointed as Chairman of the Social Sciences Committee. Due to the heavy workload, he did not have much time for the Faculty. The work of the Faculty was mainly undertaken by the Vice-Chairmen and the staff of the Faculty at that time.

Up to now, after nearly 40 years of construction and development, the Faculty has made a long step forward. Many students of the Faculty have supplemented the staff working in propaganda, research, and teaching Philosophy at research institutes, universities, and many other agencies. Many have matured and taken on many key positions at the Central and other units. New majors have been opened, the number of students, graduate students, and researchers is increasing. The Faculty of Philosophy is also the cradle that nurtured the birth of many other majors such as: Psychology, Sociology, Management Science, etc. In the conference celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi in 2006, Prof. Pham Nhu Cuong attended, shared, and rejoiced at the growth and prestige of the Faculty. One issue he raised at the conference was widely agreed upon by scientists and was also his major concern after nearly 50 years of studying philosophy: that is, to change the way of teaching philosophy to help readers have a correct thinking method so that they can think proactively, independently, and creatively. The product of philosophy training should not only be people with research ability, but also have the ability to think to create new philosophical arguments, theories, and schools, as a basis and worldview for the development of social sciences and humanities in particular and for the development direction of the nation and the country in general.

Professor Pham Nhu Cuong has held many important positions: Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the Vietnam Social Sciences Committee, National Assembly delegate, then member of the Party Central Committee. He chaired and participated in many domestic and international seminars and conferences, visited and gave presentations at many universities in India, Japan, the US, Thailand, etc. Despite his busy management work, he still diligently researched science. He is the author, co-author, and editor of 10 books, of which 4 were published in Moscow. Some notable books include:Contribute to the renewal of awareness of socialism(1993), The spread of Marxism-Leninism in Vietnam(1993), Critique of the ideology and politics of neocolonialism(1984), Economic problems of the transition to socialism in economically underdeveloped countries (1986), Philosophy – Natural Science – Scientific and Technological Revolution(1987), Change your thinking style(1999).

He also participated in implementing many key state-level projects such as:On the Soviet model of socialism during Stalin's time(1994 - 1995), Concept of socialism in Vietnam before renovation(1994 - 1995)Stalin's theory and practice on the question of the socialist state(1993 - 1994)Lenin's New Economic Policy and its application to innovation in our country (1996), Renewing awareness of the historical development of Marxist doctrine(1996).

According to him, scientists must diligently enrich their knowledge by reading books, which store human knowledge in the words and sentences of their predecessors. To do science, one must have independence in thinking and aim to create and discover objective truths. He often takes to heart the saying of F. Engels that he admires:“The history of science is the history of the gradual elimination of stupidities… or of the replacement of those stupidities by new, but less and less absurd, stupidities.”.And throughout his life and career, he devoted himself to living, working and dedicating himself to that truth.