Requirements for the task of protecting the ideological foundation of the Party in the new situation

Assoc. Prof., Dr. LE HAI BINH
Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee,
Editor-in-Chief of Communist Review

1. Introduction

Protecting the ideological foundation of the Communist Party is a fundamental aspect of the class struggle and national struggle; it is the struggle between proletarian ideology and theory and non-proletarian ideology and theory in the field of social consciousness; it is one of the spearheads of the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the toughest, longest, and most intense struggle in the history of human society.

2. Protecting proletarian ideology is a continuous and ongoing task since its inception

At the time of its inception, when Marxism was considered by bourgeois scholars to be a “specter haunting Europe”, elements opposing Marxism constantly attacked and sabotaged it. Faced with this situation, K.Marx and F.Engels clearly outlined common, cross-cutting requirements, which are needed for the working class to protect the internal affairs and the Party. This requirement is specified in a very important document, the Charter of the League of Communists, where K.Marx and F.Engels wrote: “Each agency of the League must implement necessary measures to ensure the safety of the League and strengthen its activities”(1).

The inclusion of this requirement as a regulation in the Charter is very meaningful, highlighting the importance of internal protection and protection of the party, while also mandating responsibilities for all agencies of the federation to implement and apply measures to meet the tasks required by the specific situation.

In the Manifesto of the Communist Party, K.Marx and F.Engels also emphasized that the ideological struggle must be performed regularly, and resolutely. They used sharp arguments to refute, criticize, and expose non-proletarian viewpoints and ideologies. As they wrote, “Never has there been a moment when the Communist Party forgets to instill in the workers an extremely clear awareness of the fierce opposition between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat”(2).

K.Marx and F.Engels not only set forth general requirements for communists but also engaged in relentless ideological struggles against non-proletarian ideologies in specific contexts, such as combating the Proudhonists in France, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, the Lassalleans in Germany, Bakunin and the anarchists. In their internal protection work, K.Marx warned about “hostile elements within the International, who will undermine the movement in all countries where they have gained a foothold”(3).

Their persistent, uncompromising, and relentless ideological struggle is expressed in famous works such as: Capital, The Class Struggle in France, The Situation of the British Working Class, Anti- Dühring, The Principles of Communism, The Manifesto of the Communist Party, etc., These works have defeated reactionary schools of thought or corrected and persuaded schools of deviant thought as asserted by F.Engels “That program - that is, the Preamble to the International Charter - was drafted by K.Marx with a talent that even Bacunin and the anarchists had to admire”(4).

V.I.Lenin inherited and developed the ideas, viewpoints, and great movement of K.Marx and F.Engels, also setting out requirements suitable to the practical situation of party protection work.

Looking back at the process of building and protecting the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, V.I.Lenin affirmed the necessity and outlined the essential requirements of party protection work. He wrote: “The Party cannot exist, if it does not protect its existence, if it does not resolutely fight against those who abolish it, do not recognize it, abandon it”(5). In his article On The Significance of Militant Materialism, V.I.Lenin requested that “communists must persistently defend the philosophy of Marxism, and continuously and uncompromisingly fight against all trends of idealism, and expose the reactionary nature of trendy philosophical theories hidden under the flashy cover of being the “latest achievements” of bourgeois science(6). During the Open editorial board conference of the Proletarian newspaper, V.I.Lenin clearly stated: “For the proletariat, an elementary task, set forth with urgency, is to protect its party, etc.”(7).

V.I.Lenin not only setting out requirements in the fight to protect the ideological foundation, but also provided specific instructions for addressing and resolving issues of political differences within the party. These include clearly identifying the origin, causes, specific manifestations of the different views, as well as proposing corrective measures as well as warning about the risks and maladies that a ruling party needs to be combat, corrected, and overcome. Throughout V.I.Lenin’s thought is the responsibility of communists in the ideological struggle, advocating a fierce clear, persistent, continuous, and uncompromising struggle, while remaining vigilant and aware of reactionary doctrines and ideas hidden under flashy covers.

With boundless patriotism and love for the people, the ultimate desire is that “our country will be completely independent, our people to be completely free, our people have food, clothing, and are educated”, along with his great intelligence and profound understanding, by applying and developing Marxism - Leninism according to Vietnamese conditions, Ho Chi Minh fought uncompromisingly against wrong and hostile views. With profound experience in international political activities, in the spirit of Marxism - Leninism, President Ho Chi Minh stated that the responsibility of each Party member is protecting the Party: “Our Party is a large collective, unified in thought and action. Each Party member must protect the Party and all its guidelines and policies”(8). That is an essential requirement in the ideological struggle, during any revolutionary period.

In specific conditions, the President set very specific demands in the ideological struggle, which are:

After the Communist Party of Vietnam was established in early 1930, some people such as Ho Huu Tuong, Ta Thu Thau, Tran Van Thach, etc., followed the Trotskyist trend and plotted to establish their own political party to attract and deceive the masses, opposing the revolutionary policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The President requested: “With the Trotskyists, there can be no compromise (...) Every possible means must be used to unmask them as henchmen for fascism, to politically destroy them”(9).

He fought very fiercely against opportunism and revisionism, as in his speech at the Conference of delegates of the Communist and Workers’ Parties of socialist countries (November 1957), where he stated: “We need to strengthen education in the spirit of Marxism - Leninism and fight against opportunistic tendencies such as bourgeois nationalism, chauvinism, dogmatism, and revisionism, especially revisionism”(10).

Not only did the President fight theoretically, but he also applied Marxism - Leninism to direct and lead his followers very scientifically and creatively, contributing to the fight against wrong and hostile views, to protect the ideological foundation of the Party. He consistently upheld and required adherence to the basic principle of the Marxist dialectical method of unifying theory with practice, while avoiding dogmatism, stereotypes, etc. He demanded, “to learn the universal truths of Marxism - Leninism to creatively apply it to the actual situation of our country. Learn to act. Theory goes hand in hand with practice”(11). He clearly pointed out that “The “left” and “right” tendencies are both wrong, will be exploited by the enemy, and are harmful to us and beneficial to the enemy”(12), He criticized those who “hear people say the term “class struggle”, and blindly call for class struggle, without considering the material situation of our country to act correctly”(13). In internal protection, he demanded: “fight compromisingly against factionalism”(14).

In the process of leading the revolution to achieve the Party’s goals and ideals, despite countless difficulties and challenges, President Ho Chi Minh always had specific requirements, which were also valuable instructions for the task of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation. This included the need to strengthen theoretical study, imbibe, absolutely believe in and follow Marxism - Leninism. Fighting to protect Marxism - Leninism means also protecting the Party’s political guidelines, protecting revolutionary achievements. “If the Party wants to be strong, it must have core ideology, everyone in the Party must understand, everyone must follow that ideology. A party without ideology is like a person without intelligence and a ship without a compass”(15). Additionally, in protecting the ideological foundation, the Party’s views, guidelines and policies must be made public and clearly explained so that Party members are consistent in their perception and action. It is also necessary to propagate these policies so that the people clearly understand, agree and implement the Party’s policies and guidelines.

3. The Communist Party of Vietnam always attaches great importance to protecting its ideological foundation and combating wrong views

Since its establishment, along with building and organizing the implementation of political guidelines and taking care of building the Party politically and ideologically, the Communist Party of Vietnam has always attached great importance to protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, and resolutely combating wrong and hostile views.

In each period, especially at critical junctures and difficult times for the revolution, the Communist Party of Vietnam paid increased attention to comprehensively strengthening leadership and directing the fight to protect the Party, with the essential tasks and solutions, suited to the practical situation. The Party’s history has shown that the Party’s leaders recognized early on the crucial requirement of protecting Marxism - Leninism, the Party’s policies and guidelines, and protecting the Party’s internal affairs, leading to resolute and prompt struggle. For example, in the face of sabotage by the Trotskyist forces in the 1930s, in 1937, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap, using the pen name Thanh Huong wrote the work, “Trotsky and the Counter-Revolution”, which exposed the plots, tricks, and reactionary nature of the Trotskyist forces. Next, facing the failure of the Democratic Front’s election for the Cochin County Management Council, in July 1939, General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu writing under the pen name Tri Cuong authored the work “Self-Criticism” to stabilize the Party’s ideology and the revolutionary movement, which highlighted the very important cause of the Trotskyist threat and elucidating their essence and tactics in Vietnam. In the early 1940s, AB elements (the abbreviation Anti-bolchevik), were reactionaries who oppose our Party’s policies. On December 25, 1944, General Secretary Truong Chinh wrote an article in the Liberation Flag newspaper “Work experience, how to recognize an AB element”. The article analyzed experiences to detect the lies and reactionary nature of these elements who opposed the ideology. In the 1960s revisionism appeared in the international communist movement, attacking scientific and revolutionary values, distorting, blackening, and demanding a review of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism. Faced with that situation, at the 9th Plenum of Central Committee III (December 1963), the Party Central Committee discussed and passed a Resolution on the Party’s international duties, which clearly stated the Party’s responsibility to protect the purity of Marxism - Leninism, and fight against revisionism, opportunism, dogmatism, and segregationism in the international communist movement, while resolutely fighting against imperialism, and so on.

In particular, from 1986 through to today, Vietnam has entered the process of comprehensive national renovation with countless difficulties and challenges. The world context has changed significantly, from the collapse of the socialist system in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1990s, leading to a reversal of the world order, to the evolution and consequences of “color revolutions” taking place in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa that began to appear from the late 20th and early 21st centuries (known by different specific names such as “orange/velvet/grain/chestnut/rose/tulip revolutions” in the Middle East, North Africa, “street revolution” (Maidan in Ukraine), “parliamentary revolution” in Georgia, Venezuela, etc.) and the increasingly fierce geo-politic competition among large countries in the world today posing many risks and potential dangers for small and medium-sized countries.

Domestically, the Party not only leads the Vietnamese revolution to build and protect the Fatherland, but also researches and gradually perfects the theory of socialism and the path to socialism in Vietnam. Many new theoretical issues have been summarized, supplemented and developed by the Party such as the Platform for building the country in the transition period to socialism (1991), supplemented and developed in 2011; developing a socialist-oriented market economy, building a socialist law-ruled state in Vietnam, etc.

Along with that are the negative impacts of the market economy; objective difficulties in the process of economic and social development; the situation of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” among a large number of officials and party members; Vietnam’s struggle against corruption and negativity, especially in recent years, etc.

All of these new issues are always exploited by hostile, reactionary, and politically opportunistic forces to distort and sabotage. Based on the Party Platform and the requirements and tasks of the revolution as well as the specific situation of each time, the Party continues to direct the work of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation and combating wrong, and hostile views.

The Party has issued many resolutions, directives, conclusions, etc., on theoretical and ideological work in general and the work of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation in particular with requirements appropriate to each situation. Examples include: Resolution No. 01-NQ/TW on theoretical work in the current period (March 1992); Central Resolution 5 (term IX) on the main tasks of ideological and theoretical work in the new situation; Conclusion Notice No. 94-TB/TW dated December 30, 2002, announced the conclusion of the Secretariat on the task of strengthening the fight against “peaceful evolution” plots in the field of ideology and culture; Notice No. 213-TB/TW, dated January 2, 2009, announced the conclusion of the Secretariat on the Project “Combating wrong views in literature and art”; Directive No. 34-CT/TW, dated April 17, 2009, of the Secretariat on strengthening the fight against conspiracies and “peaceful evolution” activities in the fields of ideology and culture. In particular, on October 22, 2018, for the first time, Politburo XII issued a thematic and comprehensive resolution on this field (Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW on strengthening the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation, combating wrong and hostile views in the new situation). Next, the Secretariat issued Conclusion No. 53-KL/TW dated June 4, 2019, on directing the fight to prevent, handle, remove and destroy fake news, and false, poisonous information on the internet, social networks, etc. The Secretariat pointed out specific requirements such as “Protecting the Party’s ideological foundation is protecting the Party”, protecting the Party’s political platform and leadership guidelines, protecting the people, Vietnam’s socialist law-ruled state, protecting the cause of renovation, industrialization, modernization of the country and international integration, protecting national and ethnic interests, preserving a peaceful environment, stability to develop the country”, along with very basic, comprehensive tasks and solutions that were organized and achieved great successes. Very important results were recorded at the 13th National Party Congress: “Protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, combating and refuting wrong and hostile views, especially on cyberspace, has been focused on the leadership and direction, achieving obvious results”(16).

4. The new situational context and requirements for protecting the Party’s ideological foundation

In the coming years, the trends of globalization, peace, cooperation and development will still play a leading role, because of economic interdependence regardless of political institutions; Many global problems require that all countries join hands to solve them; The important and core issue for countries around the world is still ensuring the security, and lives of their people, etc.

However, the aforementioned trends have also been exposed to obstacles and challenges, such as extreme nationalism, major power hegemony, and increased pragmatism in international relations; There is a tendency to move away from economic integration, expecting independence or integration to be limited at the best to a small group of countries, believing that globalization brings dependence, and many risks to their economies.

The trend of large-power strategic competition between the US - China - Russia and other countries (EU, Japan, India, Australia, Canada, etc., acting as small and medium-sized poles) will intensify with the new and difficult-to- predict characteristics. The relationship in the strategic triangle of the US - China - Russia not only reflects the fundamental contradictions..., but also shows different perspectives and policies on the orientation of building the world order in the future, in which China and Russia support multipolarism and multilateralism, while opposing the US-led order.

Along with the strategic competition between large countries is the struggle for influence over small countries and the direct internal intervention or support of the US and the West in countries with different political regimes or unfriendly relations. Disputes over sea and island sovereignty are becoming more complicated. The prospect of world economic recovery is uncertain, with many potential risks, and continues to be influenced and seriously affected by military conflicts; Non-traditional security issues in the coming time may become more severe and complex with more unpredictable consequences.

Domestically, the achievements in socio-economic development, defense, security, and foreign affairs have affirmed Vietnam’s position in the international arena. Our Party and our country remain steadfast in overcoming all difficulties and challenges, continuing to strive forward and gain important, quite comprehensive results. However, we also clearly realize that the country’s economic situation in the coming time is expected to face many difficulties and challenges, and the goals of development and economic growth will be difficult to achieve as desired; National security and defense will still pose many potential risks, especially in strategic areas, complex issues of culture, society, health, education, etc., cannot be completely resolved in a short time; The problem of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” internally still exists, which will reduce people’s trust in the Party, the State, and the regime.

All of the issues predicted above are and will continue to be “materials”, content, and issues that hostile, reactionary forces and political opportunities at home and abroad will fully exploit to distort and spread wrong news, fake news, and malicious information to carry out plots and tricks in order to sabotage the Party, the State, and the regime in the social network environment; impacting the struggle to protect the Party’s ideological foundation in the coming time.

From now until the 14th National Party Congress, personnel issues and preparation of documents for Party Congresses at all levels towards the 14th National Party Congress, the election of 16th National Assembly Delegates and The People’s Council Delegates at all levels for the term 2026 - 2031, etc., are predicted to be constant topics used by hostile, reactionary, and politically opportunistic forces to fiercely sabotage the Vietnamese revolution.

In particular, in the coming years, Industrial Revolution 4.0 will continue to unfold vigorously, along with the explosive development of social media, the global internet, especially artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Besides the benefits gained, countries around the world in general and Vietnam in particular also face many difficulties and challenges, including new difficulties and challenges in protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, and combating wrong, hostile views. These challenges include the methods and tricks of sabotage activities by hostile, reactionary and political opportunistic forces such as those who will thoroughly exploit and use the internet and social networks as the main means to spread information, upload and spread fake news, along with false, malicious information, and wrong and hostile views to sabotage the ideological foundation, sabotage the Party, the State, the people and the regime; They will use artificial intelligence to spread and distribute one-sided, unverified news, fake news, toxic bad news, and so on, etc.; The challenges come from the country’s outdated level of science and technology compared to the world’s, leading to our dependence on foreign technology platforms, and so on.

From the above characteristics, there are a number of urgent requirements for protecting the Party’s ideological foundation as follows:

Firstly, build, amend, supplement and perfect the legal system for managing the internet, social networks, and artificial intelligence

First, in the face of the very rapid and unpredictable development of artificial intelligence technology, a series of major countries around the world have made proposals to manage AI, with the leader being the EU. On December 9, 2023, the European Union member nations agreed on a set of rules governing artificial intelligence models, serving as the basis for the “Artificial Intelligence Act”. These are the world’s first comprehensive AI-related rules that provide legal oversight of the technology used in today’s popular AI services. Vietnam also needs to promptly research and plan to promulgate legal documents on AI management, ensuring the basic rights of people and businesses while integrating responsibility and ethics in all elements of AI.

Second, it is necessary to quickly improve the institutional system for state management of cyberspace. Due to the rapid development of technology, services, and information content online, the current system of legal documents has proven to have many inadequacies and limitations. It has not been able to keep up with changes in the actual situation and has not fully covered all subjects and activities that need to be managed. Additionally, the regulations for violations and sanctions that lack the power of deterrence. Meanwhile, the process of amending, supplementing and completing legal documents in this field under current regulations takes a long time, leading to the newly-amended and supplemented regulations already being outdated, causing difficulties for management work.

Third, it is necessary to concretize the Party’s views on protecting the Party’s ideological foundation and combating wrong and hostile views into legal regulations, creating a full legal corridor for forces to participate in combating and handling acts, organizations and individuals engaged in activities that sabotage the Party, the State, and the socialist regime.

Fourth, encourage the participants that use social networks to exhibit ethical behavior, strictly adhere to the rules of conduct on social networks, and foster positive habits in user interactions on social-network users, contributing to building a “safe” and “healthy” network environment in Vietnam, it is necessary to review the implementation of Decision No. 874/QD-BTTTT dated June 17, 2021 by the Ministry of Information and Communications on promulgating the Code of Conduct on social networks. Based on the issued code of conduct on social networks and the current reality of conduct on social networks in recent times, it is essential to build, supplement and further perfect the code of conduct on social networks for internet and social-network service providers in Vietnam under the motto “respect - responsibility - safety - healthiness”.

Secondly, train domestic human resources to meet the requirements of the new situation

Developing domestic human resources with sufficient skills (both hard skills and soft skills) to master the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in general and to serve in the fight to protect the ideological foundation of the Party in cyberspace in particular in the coming time; striving for Vietnam to become a powerhouse in science and technology, especially in software engineering, in which AI is one of the technological industries that development needs to be prioritized. The education system needs to strongly follow the trend of Industrial Revolution 4.0 in terms of training methods, training capacity, and the fields that need training, improving the quality of university training; In addition, it is necessary to organize training, and build a contingent of high-quality human resources, a team of excellent experts in network information security establishing several centers of excellence in 4.0 technology training and innovation centers.

Propagate and educate people of all walks of life to understand and implement the rules of conduct and legal regulations when participating in the cyberspace so that everyone can understand and correctly comply with the regulations, distinguishing between official information and untrue and unfounded information that’s purpose is sabotaging the work of building and protecting the Fatherland; Avoiding access to harmful information spread by hostile, reactionary, or politically opportunistic forces in cyberspace. Equipping people with skills, especially the elderly and children, to recognize and prevent fraudulent information, and to know how to protect themselves, and their personal information in cyberspace.

Thirdly, promoting the application of technological solutions and scientific-technical achievements in the work of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, combating, preventing, and handling malicious information, and incorrect, hostile viewpoints

Promoting the application of achievements in science - technology - engineering, especially the results of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (AI technology, Big Data, 4G/5G, etc.) in researching, constructing, and synchronously deploying technical solutions to improve the effectiveness of of monitoring and supervising information, timely detecting, warning, and accurately predicting the flow of harmful information, incorrect, hostile viewpoints, and sources disseminating anti-state information on the internet and social media. Promoting the role and advantages of technical solutions in proactively attacking, fiercely combating, preventing and handling malicious information and wrong, hostile views.

Focusing on investing in and researching information systems to support the tasks of direction, administration, and two-way information exchange to ensure information security and safety; Preventing people from accessing fake news sources, and false and malicious information with wrong and hostile views on the internet and social networks. Researching solutions to prevent from early stages, remotely, and deeply filter bad information sources, and wrong, hostile views.

Fourthly, improving the effectiveness of positive information dissemination, policy communication and the fight against malicious information, and wrong, hostile views in cyberspace

Focus on using new media, modern media, internet media, and social networks to promote the image of the country, the Vietnamese people, the cultural traditions, the revolutionary history of Vietnam, the achievements of the renovation process, and the good practical values of socialism that our Party and people are building.

Strengthen the leadership of the Party and the management of the State over the activities of press and media agencies in the struggle to protect the Party’s ideological foundation, especially on the internet and social networks. Improve the quality, ensure security and safety of information, press, and publishing systems. Build modern, multi-media core press and media agencies to effectively fulfill the function of information dissemination and dominate the information orientation front(16). Promote the role of providing information of websites/electronic portals of state agencies in communicating policies, providing official information, and foreign relation information.

Direct, thoroughly grasp, and enhance the roles and responsibilities of party committees, agencies, and press units from the central to local levels in protecting the Party’s ideological foundation and combating, refuting wrong and hostile views in the spirit of the Resolution of the Party’s 13th National Congress; closely follow the direction of the National Committee’s Steering Committee 35 and the Central Communication and Education Committee in response to important political, cultural and social events, complex and sensitive cases, and “hot” issues to promptly provide, objective and practical reflection; Promote the leading role and ideological orientation of officials, party members and the people, contributing to maintaining political security and ensuring social order and safety.

Strengthen and expand forums for exchange, dialogue, and sharing about the Party’s policies and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws, and major and important political and diplomatic events of the country, to timely orient information, create social consensus, and at the same time, effectively refute wrong and hostile views.

Closely combine and synchronously use all types of journalism and communication, maximizing the strengths of new media methods, electronic journalism and social networks; Promote the posting, sharing, and spreading of official information, “greening” positive information.

The press needs to promote the dissemination of theories about Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s thought, the Party’s guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws to cadres, party members and the people, orienting public opinion; Actively fight to expose plots and tricks, directly refute wrong and hostile views and arguments to protect the Party’s ideological foundation, maintain the ideological battlefield, and strengthen the people’s trust in the Party’s leadership, creating a solid foundation for the country’s development.

Strengthen the education of ethics, political courage, awareness, responsibility, and obligations of the heads of press agencies and journalists in the field of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation. Continue to improve regulations, standards, rules, principles, and ethical standards of journalists and press agencies. Promote social responsibility, political responsibility, legal responsibility, and professional ethical responsibility of journalists for each piece of information, article, and publication. Strictly manage, inspect, and supervise the mass information system, especially news agencies, newspapers(17), the internet, and social networks.

Resolutely rectify and ensure effective licensing and management of electronic information websites, and handle the issue of “newspaperizing magazines” and “ newspaperizing social networks”. Strictly handle press agencies, journalists, and reporters who post information that has not been verified, lacks objectivity, and deliberately “sensationalizing” and “click baiting”, etc., which has a negative impact on public opinion, and is used by hostile, reactionary forces, and political opportunities to distort and sabotage the Party, the State, and the regime.

Diversify the forms and methods of mobilizing the team of writers, artists, and intellectuals to participate in research and the creation of high-quality works, with ideological and artistic value, contributing to clear the flow of patriotism and humanitarianism, the spirit of great national solidarity, contributing to discovering and affirming the good and the beautiful, repelling the bad and the negative; At the same time, criticizing deviant and wrong trends in cultural and artistic life. In particular, it is necessary to promote the patriotic ideology ideas to act and engage of journalists, and the role social criticism role of press agencies, as a basis for the Party and the State to handle shortcomings and limitations, and formulate fundamental, long-term, and effective guidelines, and policies.

Renovate and diversify foreign-relation information content, and propaganda about the sea and islands, border demarcation, landmark placement, and border management. Build and consolidate the image of a dynamic, humane, peace-loving, and responsible Vietnam to the international community; Further enhance the image, position, and prestige of the country and the Communist Party of Vietnam among international friends and people of the world. At the same time, present an authentic picture of the world, in accordance with the Party’s views and guidelines, the interests of the nation and the advanced culture deeply imbued with Vietnamese identity to officials, party members and the people domestically.

Enhance information exchange with international press agencies, foreign organizations, international religious organizations, dignitaries, etc., about the situation of democracy, human rights, religion, and beliefs in Vietnam to enhance mutual understanding and minimize differences in understanding, resolving arising problems related to human rights, religion, and beliefs, and avoiding exploitation by hostile, reactionary, and politically opportunistic forces for distortion and sabotage.

Proactively promote the role of party committees, party organizations, and Steering Committee 35 at all levels in directing the building, consolidation and strengthening of a system of widespread communication channels on the internet and social networks, creating a mainstream flow of positive information, contributing to leading and directing information for officials, party members and the people, especially young people.

Regularly organize large-scale communication campaigns with the extensive participation of the core press system at the Central and local levels and the forces of Steering Committee 35 at all levels to create a mainstream of positive information, leading and directing public opinion; actively and promptly fighting against harmful information, wrong and hostile views on the internet and social networks from the moment that appear.

Strengthen the role of famous and influential people in cyberspace (artists, intellectuals, etc.) in spreading positive, official information and participating in the fight against bad information, wrong and hostile views on the internet and social networks.

Fifthly, comprehensively deploy and coordinate solutions to effectively fight and firmly protect the Party’s ideological foundation

Diversify forms of struggle, synchronously combining technical, legal, economic and diplomatic solutions; maximize the strength of forces, especially the responsibilities of relevant departments, ministries, branches and localities in each specific situation, and unify the coordination and collaboration mechanism among the forces to closely and smoothly make consensus according to the motto that has been repeatedly emphasized by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong: “The superior - subordinate unanimity”, “One voice speaks, a hundred respond”, “One mind from top to bottom”, “Smooth sailing across length and breadth”.

Continue to review and complete legal regulations on foreign exchange management, payment, money-laundering prevention, and prevention of payment transactions for goods and services not in compliance with Vietnamese law, and coordinate the implementation of tax collection, especially for activities on the internet and social networks; strictly manage advertising activities posted on social networking platforms, and strictly handle false advertisements that violate legal regulations.

Promote the role and responsibilities of Vietnam’s representative agencies abroad and international organizations interested in and supporting Vietnam; arouse national pride and self-respect of the Vietnamese community abroad; Leverage the support of international friends. Strengthen mobilization and utilize the support of international public opinion for the Party’s policies and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws in general, and the protection of the Party’s ideology, and combating wrong and hostile views in particular, especially on the internet and social networks.

Further promote the role of intellectuals, scholars, and individuals who are influential abroad and in the Vietnamese community on social networking platforms to spread information and articles, positive views on the Party and the State’s guidelines, policies, and viewpoints to international friends. At the same time, promote the work of supporting and mobilizing the Vietnamese community abroad to access objective and accurate information sources on complex, sensitive cases, “hotly debated” issues, and topics of special concern for public interest to gradually eliminate the tendency of “preferring to listen to one-sided information” from hostile and reactionary forces.

Focus on building a diplomatic combat force with strong political will, aiming for regularity, professionalism, and modernity, and simultaneously enhancing education and training, fostering, and cultivating national spirit, patriotism, and a sense of responsibility for the fight to protect the ideological foundation, protect the Party, the State, the people and the regime; Improve the research capacity, understanding and accurate forecasting of the situation to promptly identify and thwart hostile plots “in the bud”, early and from afar.

Strengthen the inspection and supervision of party committees, party organizations, and inspection committees at all levels, promptly, resolutely and strictly handle violations and deterioration in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle virtues, and show signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” internally.

5. Conclusion

Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought are the ideological foundation, the guideline, and the light illuminating the path for the Vietnamese revolution. They form the foundation upon which our Party has built its correct Platform, guidelines, and policies to lead the Vietnamese revolution to numerous victories in the struggle for national liberation, national unification, and significant achievements of historical significance in the cause of renovation and elevating our country to new heights. From the perspectives of classical theorists and Ho Chi Minh Thought on protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, the current situation and future forecasts, it is essential to clearly define the urgent requirements in this task, as a solid basis to firmly protect the Party’s ideological foundation in the coming time.

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Received: February 12, 2024; Revised: March 14, 2024; Approved for publication: March 22, 2024.

l Endnotes:

(1) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete works, vol.4, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, p.736.

(2), (4) Manifesto of the Communist Party, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, pp.132, 60.

(3) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete Works, vol.33, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, p.748.

(5) V.I.Lenin: Complete works, vol.23, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, p.84.

(6) V.I.Lenin: Complete Works, vol.45, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, pp.9-10.

(7) V.I.Lenin: Complete works, vol.19, ibid., 2005, p.481.

(8) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, vol.12, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.335.

(9) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.3, ibid, 2011, p.167.

(10), (11) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, vol.11, ibid., pp.189-190, 611.

(12) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, vol.8, ibid., p.554.

(13) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, vol.5, ibid., p.312.

(14) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.3, ibid, p.168.

(15) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, vol.2, ibid, p.289.

(16) CPV: Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.II, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p.171.

(17) CVP: Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, vol.I, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p.272.

(18) According to Decision No.362/QD-TTg approving the National Press Development and Management Plan until 2025.