General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong: Intelligence, talent, courage and morality

Sharing about his excellent student, Professor and People's Teacher Ha Minh Duc was very moderate but also full of pride when mentioning "Mr. Trong" because "he holds an important position, and I am just a teacher".
 

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Professor, People's Artist Ha Minh Duc at the 75th Anniversary of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations. Photo kept at Professor Ha Minh Duc's residence

The quiet, diligent student

I was his homeroom teacher for four consecutive years. I also have some memories of the General Secretary, mainly from when I was still in school and a few times we met. The memories I mentioned about Mr. Trong, I have mentioned in a few places, there may be some overlap.

I was the homeroom teacher of Mr. Trong's class from 1963 to 1967, I monitored the class and I taught the class. During that time, there were also many other people teaching in class K8 such as Mr. Nguyen Tai Can, Mr. Dinh Gia Khanh, Ms. Le Hong Sam, Mr. Nguyen Kim Dinh, Mr. Nguyen Truong Lich... Class K8 had nearly 100 students, including a few from the Library School, there were also brothers and sisters from Germany, the Soviet Union and most of them were students who passed the university entrance exam so the class was very crowded. In such a crowded class, there were also many talented people. There were people who wrote good poems like Mr. Vu Duy Thong, there was Mr. Ngo The Oanh who was in charge of the Magazine before.Verse, there was also Mr. Ly Sinh Su who was also in Mr. Trong's class. I saw that in that class, most of them were journalists. They were very enthusiastic. But Mr. Trong was very quiet, he was quiet and studied hard.

“Remembering the evacuation period/Gathering with friends/The small young man/Only studying hard”(Poem by Ha Minh Duc). It seems that his ambition was set when he was still in school. Maybe he participated in some positions within the class, I don't remember clearly, such as the Youth Union work. He was sympathetic to the Party, so when he was about to graduate, he was admitted to the Party. This was something new and special, because during his studies, he clearly demonstrated the qualities of a Party member, so he was admitted before graduating. When he graduated, Mr. Trong chose the right place, which was to work at the Journal.Communist. At the Magazine, Mr. Trong is also a very good person. From being an employee of the Magazine, after many years, he became the Editor-in-Chief of that Magazine. He wrote many articles. His writing ability is very good.

The times teacher and student met again

I remember one time at the 75th Anniversary of the Union of Literature and Arts Associations, they invited me to give a speech but I refused. They said that you came to speak as a veteran writer, I could not refuse. When I went up to speak, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong was sitting below. When Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong entered the Hall, everyone stood there to welcome him. I was also standing there. On the way in, he saw me, he put his arm around my shoulder and said to me: "Teacher and student, we meet again!"

I met him several times. Every time he was elected General Secretary, I met him because the K8 class had a meeting and I congratulated him. The most notable time was at the banyan tree in the Newspaper campus.People. At that time, he was elected General Secretary for the third time, the K8 class organized a 55th anniversary celebration of graduation and borrowed the newspaperPeopleas the location. The whole class sat waiting for him at the banyan tree. It was so much fun! When he walked towards me, I stood up, he gently pressed my shoulder and said: "Teacher, sit down!". My classmates all rushed to welcome him. Trinh Ho Khoa was leaning on a cane at that time and said: "This is Trinh Ho Khoa!", then he walked over and hugged Mr. Khoa. Ms. Ho Hoa, a student from Saigon, also said: "This is Ho Hoa!", then he also raised his hand in response. He knew many names, even the names of his friends. After that, when we entered the Great Hall, I gave him a congratulatory speech. I said that the class was very honored to have comrade Nguyen Phu Trong as General Secretary for the third time. This was not by chance but due to his worthy qualities, especially those qualities reflected in his four strengths: intelligence, talent, courage and morality. I also said that comrade Phu Trong had many initiatives in many activities.

One is in terms of foreign affairs, there is the image of the Vietnamese bamboo tree, both firm and flexible. The second is in terms of domestic affairs, focusing on the national policy of criticizing and eliminating embezzlement and corruption. The third is in cultural work, as the Chairman of the 3rd National Cultural Conference. The first meeting was in 1946, Uncle Ho said that "Culture must light the way for the nation to go". The second time was during the resistance war, there was the report "Marxism and Vietnamese culture" by Mr. Truong Chinh. The third time was Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong building an advanced culture, imbued with national identity. At that time, he responded and said, "I thank Professor Ha Minh Duc for expressing his clear and standard opinions down to every sentence and every word".

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is a former student of the Faculty of Literature, 8th class, Hanoi University of Science (second person standing from left, taken in February 1965 at Me Tri dormitory, Hanoi) Photo: VNU

General Literature Imprint

The General University used to be very famous. I remember once, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong and some others and I discussed and exchanged for fun why people like to go to the General University. There were also important people sitting there, all of them were either General University students or General University teachers. At that time, everyone said that the reason people like it is because the General University not only teaches that subject but also teaches knowledge about life, that is one. Second, the General University teaches things from which one can think of other things. Third, the General University has very good teachers. I asked Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong for his opinion, and he also agreed with that statement. What I just told was the story of the first time I met Mr. Phu Trong when he was elected General Secretary for the first time, in 2012.

It is not easy to recognize the mark of the Faculty of General Literature in Nguyen Phu Trong because the Faculty of Literature is a general major, not as easy to leave a mark as natural sciences or medicine. But it can be said that Mr. Trong's writing ability is partly due to the Faculty of Literature. This is very important. Writing will leave books for posterity. After Uncle Ho, people often mention Mr. Truong Chinh, Mr. Le Duan, Mr. Pham Van Dong, the fourth person to mention must be Mr. Trong. Mr. Trong has written at least 6 books, I can't remember the exact number. One book is about the Vietnamese revolutionary path to socialism, the second book is about military, one book is about diplomacy, one book is about culture and one book has just been published recently. It is not easy to write such thick books. Writing books is very difficult, not easy.

In addition to his writing ability, Mr. Trong has the ability to use language selectively, appropriate to the context. Mr. Trong's language is refined, literary, and very standard. This must be credited to the Faculty of Literature. Mr. Trong loves literature, he also writes poetry. The Faculty of Literature has supported him in his writing and speaking. Mr. Trong speaks very standardly. Mr. Trong's choice of a graduation thesis on folk materials in To Huu's poetry was not a random choice. He showed his love for the country and the nation. If he only chose To Huu's poetry, it would be love for the nation, but even deeper, he worked on the influence of folk poetry, which means loving the nation twice. He loved folk literature very much. This action showed that feeling right from the beginning. His life was like a highway, straight, wherever he went, he made contributions until he passed away.