111 years since President Ho Chi Minh left to find a way to save the nation: He returned bringing with him many springs.

“…I arrived at Nha Rong Wharf one sunny spring afternoon. Passing by the swaying coconut trees, I watched the waves rippling. Oh, how poignant the sound of the ship's whistle was! I imagined the ship leaving the harbor years ago…”

Every time June arrives, the lyrics of the song "Nha Rong Wharf" by composer Tran Hoan resonate, reminding us of a momentous historical event of the nation, closely associated with the Nha Rong Wharf – where, 111 years ago, on June 5, 1911, the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh boarded the ship Amiral Latouche Tréville, beginning his 30-year journey to find a way to save the country, which ultimately brought freedom to the nation.

"At night I dream of water, during the day I see the image of water."

Faced with the loss of the country and the destruction of the home, witnessing the brutal exploitation of the colonialists and feudal puppets, and the suffering of the working people, the young man Nguyen Tat Thanh soon formed the aspiration to find a way to liberate the nation and had an independent and creative vision compared to his predecessors. He decided to leave to find a way to save the country, with a burning determination: "Freedom for my compatriots, independence for my homeland, that is all I want, that is all I understand" (1).

On June 5, 1911, under the new name Van Ba, the young Nguyen Tat Thanh boarded the ship Amiral Latouche Tréville, leaving Nha Rong port, beginning a journey to find a way to save the country. More than ten years later, in 1923, he answered the Russian poet and journalist Osip Mandelstan: “At the age of thirteen, I first heard the words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity… The French said so, and from that time on, I very much wanted to become acquainted with French civilization, to find what was hidden behind those words…”

On another occasion, in response to American writer Anna Louise Strong, he said: "The Vietnamese people, including my father, often ask each other who will help them escape from French rule. Some think it's Japan, others think it's England, and some think it's America. I think I have to go abroad to see for myself. After seeing how they do business, I will return to help my compatriots" (2).

Over a period of 10 years, from 1911 to 1920, he seized every opportunity to travel to many places around the world. His footsteps left their mark on many countries across the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. In particular, he spent considerable time in the United States, England, and France. He immersed himself in the lives of working people, doing whatever it took to make a living, such as: working as a kitchen assistant, shoveling snow, stoking furnaces, taking photographs, gardening, and doing freelance painting...

The poet Che Lan Vien described these difficulties and hardships of President Ho Chi Minh through these verses: “Do you remember, O cold winds of Paris?/With a single red brick, he resisted an entire season of ice and snow/And the fog of London, do you remember/The drops of sweat he shed in the dead of night?” (The Man Who Sought the Image of the Nation).

Thirty years – that was a long journey filled with countless hardships and challenges that he endured for a sacred and noble purpose: "Finding the image of the Nation." The image of the nation is "the stance of the entire people"; it is independence, freedom, food, clothing, and happiness for the people. This ideal transcends all ordinary associations with geographical space ("A corner of my homeland, familiar for half a lifetime"). This ideal is not a metaphysical dream in distant mists, but a concrete reality, creating the value of human life. Ho Chi Minh's path is the path of lofty, universal humanism, aiming at the fundamental rights that creation has bestowed upon all people worldwide (as he emphasized in the "Declaration of Independence"). But it is a thorny path, traversing "red fire and cold water."

"This is the path to our liberation."

The success of the 1917 Russian October Revolution had a profound influence on his feelings and perceptions. In early 1919, he joined the French Socialist Party. On June 18, 1919, under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, he, on behalf of patriotic Vietnamese in France, sent a petition to the Versailles Conference demanding freedom, democracy, and national equality for the Annamese people. Although the petition was not accepted, it spread widely, creating a great stir in French public opinion and awakening the fighting spirit of colonial countries; at the same time, it gave him the realization that nations seeking liberation could only rely on their own strength.

In 1920, Nguyen Ai Quoc encountered Marxism-Leninism through the "First Draft of the Theses on the National and Colonial Questions". Lenin's theses came to Nguyen Ai Quoc as a new light, further illuminating the path to national salvation that the patriotic young man was searching for. Later, when recounting that important event, Uncle Ho said: "Lenin's theses moved me deeply, excited me, enlightened me, and filled me with so much confidence! I was so happy I almost cried. Sitting alone in my room, I spoke aloud as if I were speaking before a large crowd: Oh, my suffering compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!" (3)

With a correct patriotic stance, he outlined the truth: "To save the country and liberate the nation, there is no other way than the proletarian revolution." And "Only socialism and communism can liberate oppressed nations and workers around the world from the yoke of slavery." This conclusion affirms the profound transformation in Nguyen Ai Quoc's thinking, from a true patriot to a communist - the first communist party member of Vietnam.

From 1921 to 1930, Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) actively propagated Marxism-Leninism within the Vietnamese workers' and patriotic movements, preparing the theoretical groundwork for the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam. With his works "The Indictment of the French Colonial Regime" and "The Revolutionary Path," and especially the publication of the newspaper Thanh Nien (Youth) on June 21, 1925, he laid the political groundwork for the establishment of the Party. During this time, he also focused on organizational and personnel preparation through the establishment of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association (1925) and the organization of numerous training courses for cadres, including sending them to study in the Soviet Union...

When the conditions for establishing the Party were ripe, on February 3, 1930, under his chairmanship, in Hong Kong (China), the unification conference of three communist organizations unanimously agreed to establish a unified party, named the Communist Party of Vietnam. With the birth of the Communist Party of Vietnam and its first political program, the revolutionary line of Vietnam was fundamentally formed, and the correct path to national salvation for Vietnam was basically determined.

The returnee brings with him the seasons of spring.

In early 1941, after 30 years of working abroad, he returned to Vietnam to directly lead the revolutionary struggle. He chaired the 8th Central Committee Conference (May 1941), deciding to shift the revolutionary strategy to suit the rapidly changing international and domestic situation, placing the task of national liberation at the forefront, organizing and mobilizing the entire nation; establishing the Viet Minh Front; building armed forces and base areas, creating vibrant and powerful revolutionary movements throughout the country.

In August 1945, under the leadership of the Party, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese people united as one, maximizing the strength of the entire nation to achieve the victory of the August Revolution of 1945, overthrowing the colonial and feudal regimes and establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam - the first people's democratic state in Southeast Asia.

Subsequently, under the light of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, generations of Vietnamese people have steadfastly followed the path he chose. This is the path of national independence and socialism, a path with a timeless vision that has led our country and people through countless difficulties and challenges, from one victory to another – achieving national independence and reunification; implementing reforms, carrying out industrialization and modernization, and actively integrating into the international community.

These victories are the clearest evidence of the immense, illuminating, and guiding values ​​of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style. At the same time, they demonstrate the intellectual stature and fortitude of our Party in creatively applying, supplementing, and developing Marxism-Leninism and his thought not only in the struggle for national liberation but also in the cause of national renewal, development, and the building and protection of the Fatherland today.

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(1): Communist Party of Vietnam: Political report of the Central Committee of the Party at the 4th National Congress of Delegates, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi, 1975, pp. 5, 6.
(2): Nhan Dan Newspaper No. 4062, May 18, 1965
(3): Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, volume 12, p. 562