The Party is in my heart.

February 3rd, 2010 marked the 80th anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. This was the first major and important event of the year for the country. On this occasion, Party members of the Party Committee of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities shared their personal memories of their early days in the Party ranks and contributed ideas for Party building.

* Associate Professor Le Mau Han: The 80-year journey of the Communist Party of Vietnam has affirmed the correct values ​​in Ho Chi Minh's thought.

I remember that on the 30th anniversary of the Party's founding, President Ho Chi Minh said: "Our Party is moral, it is civilized." His words were concise yet profound. And those who study history, even now, increasingly recognize the profound and accurate value of that statement. It can be seen that the birth, growth, strength, and successes achieved by the Communist Party of Vietnam throughout its struggle for national liberation and nation-building are inextricably linked to the immense role of the nation's pioneering revolutionary, President Ho Chi Minh. His thoughts have accompanied our Party since its early days and continue to accompany the Party and the nation in its new stage of development, retaining their full value.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2010/02/03/lemauhan.jpg" border="0" alt="Associate Professor Le Mau Han - 50-year Party member, former Head of the History Department, Hanoi University. (Photo: NA/USSH)" title="Associate Professor Le Mau Han - 50-year Party member, former Head of the History Department, Hanoi University. (Photo: NA/USSH)" width="580"/>

In 1911, Nguyen Tat Thanh, a progressive young man, embarked on a journey to find a path to national salvation and liberation. He left with only the baggage of being a son of the Vietnamese people, a nation that had formed early in history, a people with an early sense of solidarity and mutual support, a deep awareness of their territory, national sovereignty, and the will to fight to protect their lives. This was also the strength, the driving force, and the goal of our people's struggle. President Ho Chi Minh stated: the victory of the Vietnamese revolution is the victory of the will and aspiration for independence and freedom of our nation. These strengths and immense spiritual values ​​of the nation were elevated to a new level by Ho Chi Minh based on the study and absorption of Eastern and Western civilizations, through the study of the strategies and lessons learned from major revolutions around the world since the 17th century. Finally, Nguyen Tat Thanh was overjoyed to encounter the ideas of Marxism and the October Revolution. While many values ​​of Marxism have not yet been realized, it must be acknowledged that the goal of Marxism is to build a classless society, a society where human freedom is guaranteed – a noble goal. In studying Marxism and the October Revolution, Ho Chi Minh was not dogmatic but incredibly creative, skillfully applying these principles to the practical situation of the Vietnamese revolution. It can be said that the content of Ho Chi Minh's thought is comprehensive, possessing the stature of a doctrine – a doctrine of revolution, of liberation leading to independence and freedom.

* Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Van Ham: Being a member of the Party is an honor and a source of pride.

When I became a student at the University, many of my friends and I were determined to become Party members. This was also the aspiration of an entire generation of young people at that time. The Party branch wholeheartedly supported this aspiration. After much effort and hard work, as a fourth-year student in the History Department, I was considered for Party membership by the Party branch. I still remember that day: June 5th, 1967.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2010/02/03/nguyenvanham.jpg" border="0" alt="Associate Professor Nguyen Van Ham - Party member of the Archival Studies and Office Management Department. (Photo: NA/USSH)" title="Associate Professor Nguyen Van Ham - Party member of the Archival Studies and Office Management Department. (Photo: NA/USSH)" width="580"/>

My Party admission day is associated with a very profound memory. At that time, I and two other comrades, all fourth-year students, were seconded to the Archives Department of the Prime Minister's Office, evacuated to the Tuyen Quang Resistance Zone (ATK), to conduct research and write our graduation thesis. From the ATK back to Dai Tu, Thai Nguyen, the school's evacuation location at the time, we had to cycle over the Khe Pass, a distance of several kilometers. Going up the pass was arduous but safe; going down wasn't as strenuous but was very dangerous. The two of us came up with the idea of ​​finding a large branch to tie to the back of our bicycles to help slow us down, then slowly releasing the brakes to descend the pass. By the time we reached the bottom, we were unrecognizable because we were covered in dust. When we arrived back at the school, everyone was overjoyed. The very next morning, my Party admission ceremony was held in a classroom partially submerged underground to avoid enemy bombs.

The induction ceremony was solemn and sacred, yet also very simple. We divided up the tasks of hanging pictures of Karl Marx, Lenin, and President Ho Chi Minh, and displaying the Party flag. We even cut out the words "Long Live the Vietnam Labor Party" from student notebooks and pasted them on the wall. That induction ceremony, along with the arduous journey down the Khe Pass to get back to school in time for the ceremony, has become an unforgettable memory for me. Even more fortunate was that I was retained and became one of the first people to establish the Archival Studies department at Hanoi University, continuing to dedicate my life to the place where I grew up.

Throughout my life, being a member of the Party, and now having been a Party member for over 40 years, has truly been an honor and a source of pride for me.

After joining the Party, my aspiration is to uphold the pioneering and exemplary spirit of a Party member. Working wholeheartedly for the collective, completing any assigned task, offering sincere advice and assistance to colleagues... these are my guiding principles as a Party member. I believe that the Party's ability to gain the trust of the people and its strength depends on its genuine Party members. Therefore, Party development among young cadres and students must be one of the key priorities of our school's Party Committee. This will not only motivate and support young people in self-improvement but also contribute to strengthening the Party. Regarding the teachers and Party members in our school, given the school's unique characteristics, I believe the best way to educate students about traditions is through intellectually and humanely-oriented lectures, and through the moral example set by the teachers themselves.

* Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam: The intellectual level of the Party must be raised.

This year is marked by many significant national events, one of the first being the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam – an event that ushers in a new spring for the nation, in a new decade of the 21st century. Eighty years may not seem like a very long time for a party, but it is a special milestone for a party that has experienced 80 years of development intertwined with the historical progress of the entire nation and the Vietnamese revolution, spanning from the 20th to the 21st century. This is the ruling party, the Communist Party, an organization playing the most crucial and fundamental role throughout the nation's historical development.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2010/02/03/lambanam.jpg" border="0" alt="Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam - Party member of the History Department branch, former Deputy Secretary of the University Party Committee. (Photo: NA/USSH)" title="Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam - Party member of the History Department branch, former Deputy Secretary of the University Party Committee. (Photo: NA/USSH)" align="left" width="214"/>

Fifty years ago, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam Labor Party, President Ho Chi Minh said: "Our Party is truly great!" In 1945, at only 15 years old and with just over 5,000 members, the Party mobilized the masses to achieve the brilliant victory of the August Revolution. Many generations of revolutionary fighters and Party members shed blood and sacrificed for this great cause. From then until now, over the past 80 years, our Party has grown stronger and stronger. More and more young cadres, scientists, and intellectuals are striving to join the ranks of the Party.

For me personally, someone who has been a Party member for over 30 years, my entire youth was spent in the Party ranks. At that time, joining the Party was a significant and sacred event for young people. We joined the Party with only one purpose: to be among the elite, to fight for the revolutionary cause, the cause of the nation. When I joined the Party in 1978, my father, the political commissar of a regiment, was overjoyed to learn that I, then a soldier, had strived to join the Party. He wrote me a congratulatory letter. Becoming a Party member is sacred, but I always believe that maintaining that title and living up to it throughout my life is far more important. Therefore, for me, even though I have been a Party member for over 30 years, I always think that time is only a part of my entire career and my entire life. And one more important thing: from this moment until the day I leave this world, I must always strive to be worthy of the noble title - the title of a Party member.

I think that in its upcoming development, the Party needs to focus on two major issues: Firstly, it must ensure that the Party is truly clean. If the Party is not clean, it will lose the people's trust and its strength.

Secondly, the Party must raise its intellectual level. The Party's intellect is crucial in determining the direction of development for an entire nation as the ruling party. The practical lessons of our Party over the past 80 years show that the blood-and-flesh relationship between the Party and the people is the most important factor in the victory of the revolution. If the Party earns the people's trust, then its ideology will truly permeate their lives. The Party belongs to the nation and the people, but it does not stand above the nation or the people. If the people do not consider the Party organization as their own, then the Party's strength will diminish. And the Party's intellect can only be multiplied when it knows how to utilize the intellect of the entire nation to create a greater intellect.

* Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hai Ke: We came to the Party with a pure love.

If the Communist Party of Vietnam turns 80 years old, I will have the honor of being a party member for 30 years. In other words, the title of a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam has been an important part of my life and perhaps the most precious part of our entire generation. And speaking of that, we can cry, we can rejoice, and we can be proud. The years as a member of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and later as a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam were the most beautiful years of my youth.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2010/02/03/nguyenhaike.jpg" border="0" alt="Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hai Ke - Party member of the History Department Party branch. (Photo: NA/USSH)" title="Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hai Ke - Party member of the History Department Party branch. (Photo: NA/USSH)" width="580"/>

I still remember those days at Hanoi University, for our generation, including Nguyen Hai Ke, Le Chi Que, Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Le Kim Boi, Hoang Van Nhung, and others, becoming a Party member was a source of pride, profound emotion, and self-confidence, a testament to our personal growth and connection with the regime. That pride is hard to describe; therefore, when we talk about it, we feel as if we are returning to something sacred. For those born and raised under the regime from 1954 onwards, the aspiration to become a member of the Communist Party was an extremely sacred and pure aspiration.

I am proud that those years instilled in our generation a strength that today's era calls "soft power." Under normal circumstances, this strength may seem hidden, but whenever we face obstacles, this soft power amplifies and propels us to overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties. I am proud that our generation has worthily inherited the legacy of genuine communist party members from the previous generation. This is not fanciful, romantic, or idealistic, because I know that within the thousand-year-old character of the Vietnamese nation, the nation "gave birth" to the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the nation's essence "gave birth" to genuine party members, becoming the strategic leadership with a vision that penetrates the nation's temporary obstacles on its path to survival, on the long and arduous journey of a nation and people that has encountered many storms and tribulations in its development. We lived and walked with that belief, without any hint of arrogance or complacency. Even then, we may not have fully understood the long and arduous struggle of the transitional period, from a small-scale, impoverished, and backward agrarian society to a civilized, modern, equal, free, and fraternal society.

The starting point and driving force behind all our endeavors is simply an incredibly pure belief. We should definitely be grateful for that!

We were fortunate enough to remain in the North, but many generations of friends from after 1954, who went to the battlefield and dedicated themselves to the struggle to liberate the South and unify the country, have perished. Those generations were so pure-hearted. The journey towards a just, equal, and civilized society is a long and arduous one, fraught with obstacles. Here and there in life, at times of sadness and disappointment, we always find a way to overcome it with that initial, unwavering faith. These are some of my thoughts and reflections on the occasion of the Party's 80th anniversary and my own 30th anniversary as a Party member.

As party members, citizens, and scientists, the greatest aspiration of our generation is to constantly explore and discover the objective truth of science and life. As members of a ruling party, a leading party, we must understand that, through science and with responsibility to social life, social and humanities scientists must always reflect and explore to uncover the major issues of Vietnamese social sciences and humanities, especially in this era of industrialization and modernization.

Summarizing the history of social sciences and the socio-cultural life of the country is extremely important and serves as a prerequisite for identifying future directions. Vietnamese social scientists, including myself, must find in this the strengths that are both universal and unique to Vietnam, distilled and accumulated over thousands of years, to answer the question: today, in the process of integration, what advantages do Vietnamese social sciences, Vietnamese society, and Vietnamese people have? Integration is not about becoming like others, but about being equal to humanity while maintaining and inheriting what is unique to the Vietnamese people, able to unleash their own strength, the essence of the Vietnamese people, to contribute to the common richness of humanity. This is the responsibility of social scientists, including the role of Party members, because Party members and Party organizations are essentially the fighting command center recognized by society for the past 80 years. That recognition is demonstrated by the victorious struggle for national independence, the building of a just and civilized society, and integration with the world. That task is extremely arduous, extremely challenging, but also incredibly glorious. Therefore, the path of striving and self-improvement, or "cultivation" in the sense of morality, is a rigorous process of training not only for individuals but also for the Party organization, with the support and scrutiny of the entire society.

•Thanh Ha (perform)