General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and former Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi wished the people of the capital a Happy New Year at Ngoc Son Temple on the occasion of the Spring of Dinh Dau 2017. Photo: DUY LINH
Thinking back, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has done a lot of things and gained the people's trust because of his work for the people and the country. That is his character and cultural personality.
“So it is necessary to be practical”In both guiding viewpoints and specific actions, he always gave detailed, easy-to-understand, easy-to-implement opinions, not general instructions. When he persuaded me to become Director of the Department of Culture and Information, he said simply: “Don’t worry that you have never done it before so you can’t do it. No one taught you how to be a Secretary, but you still did not do it badly. You learn while you work. The important thing is that you want to learn and do useful things. Then in your relationship with colleagues, you must be sincere, and we must advise each other to do it.”
When assigning the Department of Culture and Information to prepare the Project of the Cultural Development Program, building elegant, civilized, practical Hanoians to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi, he instructed, in general: The cultural field is broad, everything has culture, is associated with culture. It is not wrong to say that economics, politics, society, people are in culture, are associated with culture, but to the end the issue is still argued. But we do this program not to define nominally, not to talk about general theory but to apply, to apply into practice. So the theory must also be solid, but finding the final conclusion is not our job but the job of the research community. We need to create a change from awareness to action, to push Hanoi culture forward one step. Don't expect to create anything big but must move Hanoi culture forward, towards decent things. Hanoi is doing it, the whole political system is involved, the people are participating but everything is still very messy. So it needs to be practical.
Faced with inconsistent opinions on the goal of developing Hanoi's culture, building elegant and civilized Hanoians in which directions..., he directed that we need to continue thinking to find the most effective method. He said: Experts have researched and discovered the unique features of Hanoi's culture, but is that enough? Is elegant and civilized the most typical qualities of Hanoi? How is the elegance and civilization of the past, "of our ancestors" different from ours today? It is necessary to point out precisely so that we can work together to accomplish this task. When there were rather "academic" opinions exchanged, he listened but only exchanged at a very limited level. He said, because it is difficult, we need to come to you, we need everyone to invest in research. But we need to rely on Uncle Ho's thesis on culture. That is not a cultural theory but a direction for construction, a purpose of operation. Uncle Ho said, “Culture must light the way for the nation, culture must contribute to building a new life, fighting against corruption, changing the lifestyle of the people…”, if we follow that direction, we will surely get results. “I only talk about the direction, how to organize and implement it, in what way, must rely on experts and the people”, Secretary of the City Party Committee Nguyen Phu Trong suggested.
Culture is a broad concept, with diverse content and a wide field. Up to now, there have been more than 400 different definitions. We are not like scientists who research to determine the connotation of the concept of culture. We build culture according to the perspective of building an advanced culture that meets the requirements of the times but must be attached to tradition, so we need a historical and logical perspective. The direction must be determined, the goals must be set, but professional work should be left to professionals.
(General Secretary NGUYEN PHU TRONG)
I am particularly impressed by the practical viewpoint, relying on experts and the people. The work is not only for those in the industry to be assigned to carry out. It was not until the 12th Congress that this idea was built into the Party's guiding viewpoint, into practical guiding principles. Only then did we realize that for such ideas to come into life, it takes time and a change in perception. Secretary of the City Party Committee Nguyen Phu Trong at that time gave profound instructions that were profound in both theory and practice. When drafting the program content to present to the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, we encountered a small problem. Some people disagreed with our preparation, criticized us heavily and asked us to re-prepare. To be fair, this comrade does not understand correctly the values of culture, the movement and change of cultural life, mainly seeing culture as a movement activity, focusing on the political aspect of culture rather than considering the issue from its ontological perspective, so he requested to change the content of the program and this made it difficult for us. I explained and persuaded him but this comrade did not change his point of view.
Summing up the discussion, at that time, Secretary of the City Party Committee Nguyen Phu Trong said very convincingly: Culture is a broad concept, with diverse content and a wide field. Up to this point, there have been more than 400 different definitions. We are not like scientists who research to determine the connotation of the concept of culture, but we build culture according to the perspective of building an advanced culture that meets the requirements of the times but must be associated with tradition, so we need a historical and logical perspective. The direction must be determined, the goals must be set, but the professional work should be left to the professionals. So the Outline was approved. He reminded me privately: "Doing culture is so difficult, but don't be discouraged. The main thing is that practice will prove the correctness and effectiveness of the program. So we need to try."
During his last days at Hospital 108, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was both receiving treatment and researching theories, May 10, 2024
Not only that, he once corrected the incorrect assessment of some people who overemphasized the economy and did not properly evaluate the role of culture. He carefully analyzed the viewpoint of not focusing on directing the development of Hanoi into a leading economic center of the country, but in terms of culture, it is necessary to become a locomotive, a model for the whole country. He said that if we cannot do that, we are making a mistake with Hanoi and the people of the whole country, because Hanoi is the capital, the face of the whole country. This requires arduous and long-term efforts, but the Party Committee and people of Hanoi must persevere to achieve that goal. While the work was being carried out, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Phu Trong was elected Chairman of the National Assembly. He left Hanoi, but his instructions on culture were still being implemented by Hanoi. When the Capital Law was issued, the goal of striving to become the leading center of culture in the country was legalized. That thought affirmed his vision when he was still holding the important position of Secretary of the Party Committee.
In his speech at the 2021 National Cultural Conference, he discussed the idea of Vietnamese culture and people in the integration period in more detail, fully and multi-faceted. The issue of cultural values of the nation, country, family, community and individual was raised in the context of globalization taking place at an increasingly rapid and drastic pace. The spirit of proactive integration to avoid falling behind in culture, which means eliminating oneself from the "big game" of the world, to "stand shoulder to shoulder with the powers of the five continents" was raised more fiercely. "Enlightening the people's spirit, strengthening the people's intelligence", relying on the internal strength of culture to open up and integrate, so as not to lose the strengths of the nation are new requirements. The issue of building a new system of values of Vietnamese culture and people was raised more urgently for the first time. He talked about "losing culture is losing everything". I think that human history has shown many evidences that if a nation loses its internal strength and national identity, its race will be degraded and the nation will fall into the path of self-destruction. But a nation will lose its future if it exists with a crippled and lifeless culture. That situation has been and is a danger to many nations in the world, especially in this period of opening and integration.
The root of a culture with strong vitality, capable of changing the face of a country, as he said, lies in people and correct cultural policies. He said many times that national development always goes hand in hand with social welfare, democracy and justice to bring happiness to the people. More specifically, "human happiness is not only in having a lot of money, eating well, dressing well, but also in the richness of the soul, living in love and compassion, reason and justice".
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong with Hanoi people. Photo: VIET THANH
A respected cultural figureThe passing of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has left a void in society and many people. For a long time, people have seen him as a cultural personality, bringing confidence to society in his steadfastness and way of life devoted to his choices. It can be said that in the current situation, when many people in the leadership team have fallen and degenerated, he is like a star, the most respected cultural personality. The consistency in his ideology, morality, and lifestyle and that of his family not only brings trust in the Party and the State but also in the good things in life. He values honor, dignity, conscience and is alien to all forms of pragmatic, crooked, and hypocritical living.
… Because it is difficult, we are needed, we need everyone to invest in research. But we need to rely on Uncle Ho's thesis on culture. That is not a cultural theory but a direction for construction, a purpose of operation. Uncle said "Culture must light the way for the nation, culture must contribute to building a new life, fighting against corruption, changing the lifestyle of our compatriots...", if we follow that direction, we will surely have results.
I only tell the direction, how to organize and implement it depends on the experts and the people.
(General Secretary NGUYEN PHU TRONG)
Listening to him, some people wondered: He quoted the concepts of dedicated living from the 60s and 70s of the last century but it seemed out of date. I have a different opinion. At that time, the way of living for everyone, always putting the interests of the collective above personal interests, had its own ideal beauty and appeal. That was the most valuable standard of living at that time. Living meaningfully, living for the community and the country at that time became a social morality to the point that a poet contemplated
When in private we feel ashamedThat meaningful lifestyle, a proud symbol of a time, is unfortunately now looked down upon by many people.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong grew up in that atmosphere, chose that way of life and he strived for those criteria throughout his life, but he did not consider them as
single-mindednessHe passed on his enthusiasm to the younger generation, hoping that the younger generation would also choose that beautiful way of life. His choice was like that of a scholar, valuing spiritual values over trivial material benefits. He did not say it, but he kept the spirit of self-cultivation of a scholar very seriously: Enriching himself with wisdom, living a noble and simple life. The quality of a Northern scholar in him was very strong in his choice of lifestyle, his behavior until the last day of his life. He managed his family and governed the country in accordance with the spirit of a gentleman.
A gentleman leaves people, but becomes famous.(A gentleman cannot ignore virtue).
He hated evil, hated corrupt worms as he hated the dregs of society. He persistently fought corruption without excluding any forbidden areas with the spirit of "destroying internal invaders", directing all levels "those who do not want to do it should stand aside" because he wanted a healthy social environment. He wanted to build Vietnamese people in this direction, without losing traditional qualities but also keeping pace with the times. Society recognized his contributions and respected his lifestyle. When he was Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, an old professor gave him a couplet as a message to his student and also to express his trust in him:
Uphold the law, punish the nation/ Lower the hearts of the people, destroy the bandits(meaning: Above, uphold the law and punish the corrupt and corrupt people; Below, unite people's hearts and destroy those who harm the people).
Then when he met the 8th class students of the Faculty of Literature (Hanoi University), at that time he was the General Secretary, the teacher gave him the word
Respecting integrity, promoting the Party's integrity/ Showing talent, showing intelligence, winning people's hearts(meaning: Respecting integrity, uprightness, reviving the Party's spirit; Promoting talented people, intellectuals, uniting the people). Thinking about it, in his life, he did a lot of things and gained the people's trust because of his heart for the people and the country. That was his mettle and cultural personality. When he passed away, he left a void for society and for each person. But the legacy he left behind is not small. Here I am not talking about other big issues but only about the lessons from him as a cultural personality.
Author: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Pham Quang Long - Former Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities
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