Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, Uprightness - according to Ho Chi Minh's thought

Illustration photo, source: Tuyengiao.vn.

One day after reading the Declaration of Independence giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, on September 3, 1945, at the Northern Government Office, President Ho Chi Minh chaired the first meeting of the Government Council. At this important meeting, President Ho Chi Minh outlined six urgent tasks for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

It is noteworthy that in the fourth task, after stating: “The colonial regime has poisoned our people with alcohol and opium. It has used every trick to corrupt our nation with bad habits, laziness, cunning, embezzlement and other bad habits. We have an urgent task to re -educate our people. We must make our nation a brave, patriotic, hard-working nation, a nation worthy of an independent Vietnam”, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “I propose to launch a campaign to re-educate the people’s spirit by implementing: DILIGENCE, THOUGHT, INTEGRITY, RIGHTEOUSNESS”. In the busy work of the early days of the country’s founding, Uncle Ho’s emphasis on: “DILIGENCE, THOUGHT, INTEGRITY, RIGHTEOUSNESS” is enough to show how much he valued these “four virtues”.

President Ho Chi Minh visited Hung Son Cooperative, Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province (1954). Photo archive

Two years later, in his work New Life (March 1947), President Ho Chi Minh clearly stated that the necessary task during the resistance war for national construction was to practice a new life. The purpose of the new life was to make our people's lives more materially abundant and their spirits happier, so that the lives of all our compatriots could be rich and abundant and to build a prosperous Vietnam.

In the work, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized the need to practice “Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness”, clearly stating that practicing a new life is the task of all sectors, all classes, and all people. In particular, he clearly pointed out what “Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness” are. “…practicing the new life is Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness. The army must be diligent in training and fighting. The people must increase production and work diligently, then the resistance will certainly win, so it must be Diligence. Soldiers must save ammunition, each bullet is an enemy. The people must save materials, only then can the army and the people evacuate. That is why it must be Thrifty. Everyone must be clean, not greedy, not use public property for private purposes, then everything will run smoothly. Therefore, everyone must be Honest. Every citizen must forget home for the sake of the country, enthusiastically support the resistance, strive to increase production, eliminate those who sell out the country and harm the people, determined to make the Fatherland unified and independent. That is Uprightness” - He wrote in the work.

In October 1947, when writing the work "Improving the way of working", President Ho Chi Minh also emphasized that: Every party member, first of all every cadre, must honestly self-criticize and correct his own shortcomings. Put the interests of the Party and the nation above all else. Resolutely fight against complacency, selfishness, arrogance, and boastfulness. Must practice the slogan: "Impartiality, diligence, thrift, integrity, and uprightness!".

Uncle Ho participates in labor at Thong Nhat Park, Hanoi. Photo: TL

And two years later, in 1949, President Ho Chi Minh wrote the work Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Righteousness, consisting of four articles under the pen name Le Quyet Thang, published in the newspaper “Cuu Quoc” on May 30, May 31, June 1, and June 2, 1949. In this work, he considered the “four virtues” as the foundation of the New Life, the foundation of Patriotic Emulation, and explained the “four virtues” in the whole of heaven, earth, and human beings and the relationship of seasons - heaven; of directions - earth; of virtue - human beings. He affirmed: “Heaven has four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter/ Earth has four directions: East, West, South, North/ Human beings have four virtues: Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Righteousness/If one season is missing, the sky cannot be made/If one direction is missing, the earth cannot be made/If one virtue is missing, the human being cannot be made”.

In 4 articles, President Ho Chi Minh continued to clarify the connotation of the four virtues: Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness. In the article “What is Diligence?”, Uncle Ho clearly explained: “Diligence means diligence, hard work, and perseverance. A knife sharpened diligently will be sharp. A field weeded diligently will yield good rice. That is very easy to understand. Diligence in studying will make you learn quickly. Diligence in thinking will make you creative. Diligence in working will definitely bring success. Diligence in activities will make you healthy.” Uncle Ho pointed out: “If you want the word Diligence to have more results, you must have a plan for all work. That means you must calculate carefully, arrange neatly… Therefore, diligence and planning must go hand in hand. Planning must go hand in hand with division of labor”; “Diligence and diligence must go hand in hand. Diligence means perseverance and endurance.” He also affirmed: “Laziness is the enemy of diligence... Therefore, laziness is also the enemy of the nation. Therefore, lazy people are guilty of their compatriots and the Fatherland.”

In the article What is Thrift, He analyzed: “What is Thrift? It is saving, not being extravagant, not being wasteful, not being messy and not being stingy or in other words, not being wasteful. In which, Need must go hand in hand with Thrift “like two legs of a human being”; because “Thrift” without “Need” will not increase, will not develop. He explained how to save, and analyzed further: “Time also needs to be saved like wealth. If wealth runs out, it can still be made more. When time has passed, it can never be pulled back. Can anyone pull back yesterday? If we want to save time, we must do everything quickly and promptly. We should not be slow. We should not “put it off today and tomorrow”. At the end of the article, he concluded the result of thrift: “The result of NEED plus the result of SAVING is: the army will be full, the people will be warm and well-off, the resistance will quickly win, national construction will quickly succeed, our country will quickly become rich and strong on par with the advanced countries in the world. The result of NEED and SAVING is that great. Therefore, patriots must compete to practice thrift.”

In the article What is Integrity, Uncle Ho analyzed that “Integrity” means being clean, not greedy for money and property. Behaviors that lead to greed for status, fame, delicious food, and a peaceful life are all “dishonest”. The word “Integrity” must go hand in hand with the word “Frugal”. Because luxury gives rise to greed, greed will lead to dishonest, therefore, cadres must practice the word “Integrity” first, to be a model for the people. He pointed out: “People must know their rights, must know how to control cadres, to help cadres practice the word “INTEGRITY”. The law must severely punish dishonest people, regardless of their position or profession”. He concluded: “A nation that knows how to be frugal, knows how to be honest, is a nation rich in material things, strong in spirit, a civilized and progressive nation”.

The last of the four virtues is Righteousness. In the article: What is Righteousness, He explained: “Righteousness means not being evil, it means being straightforward and upright. Anything that is not straightforward and upright is evil”. He concluded: “Diligence, Thrift, and Integrity are the roots of Righteousness”; “Like a tree needs roots, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits to be complete. A person must be Diligent, Thrifty, and Integrity but also Righteous to be a completely exemplary cadre”.

Later, in his Testament, Uncle Ho once again emphasized: "Every party member and cadre must truly imbue revolutionary ethics, be truly thrifty, honest, impartial and selfless."

President Ho Chi Minh was an exemplary communist, always consistent between words and actions. During his lifetime, he lived simply, from words, actions, style, from the way he dressed to his daily activities, even when he held the position of President. The clothes he wore consisted of only a few khaki suits of the same style, some of which had torn collars that had been patched over and over again. He did not allow them to be changed. Once, he sincerely told a senior Party leader: "Hey, uncle! The Party Chairman and the President of the country wearing a shirt with patched shoulders like this is a blessing for the people, don't throw away that blessing." In 1954, when he returned to live in the Presidential Palace, he refused to live in the Governor-General's house and chose the electrician's house. In July 1968, the Politburo met and issued a Resolution on the organization of four major holidays of the year: Party Founding Day; National Day; Lenin's Birthday and President Ho Chi Minh's Birthday. Upon hearing this news, he suggested: “I only agree with three-quarters of the Resolution. I do not agree to make May 19 a major anniversary next year. Now that students are about to enter the new school year, you should use the paper, ink, and money used to promote Uncle Ho's birthday to print textbooks and buy school supplies for the students, instead of wasting them.

“A person with four virtues: Diligence, Thrift, Integrity, and Uprightness/If one of them is missing, he cannot become heaven/If one of them is missing, he cannot become earth/If one of them is missing, he cannot become a human” - His teachings still resonate forever. The problem is how to implement his teachings well?

According to Professor, Doctor Hoang Chi Bao, the Party must focus on education, especially among cadres and party members, especially those with important responsibilities. On the basis of incorporating ethics into the content of Party building, it is necessary to promote education on honor, integrity, and shame when falling into evil and dishonest things.

In June 2021, at the conference to review 5 years of implementing Directive 05 of the Politburo on "Promoting studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle", General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized that one of the ways to study and follow Uncle Ho is to maintain integrity, honor, purity and clarity. Because integrity is the foundation of human morality.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: "Purity and integrity are what integrity is. An honest person, no matter what the circumstances, will not be moved by greed, nor will he want to crave material things. Moreover, it is the spirit of impartiality, "putting public service first" and knowing how to forget himself to do things for the common good. An honest person always keeps his personality intact, his reputation good, does not take advantage of his position to take public service for private gain, to harass or exploit his fellow human beings. An honest public servant must be: virtuous, talented, know how to respect his profession, be happy with everyone, be fair and impartial; know manners, know good from bad, right from wrong. In the end, an honest person is someone who is talented and virtuous, worthy of his title, his rank, his position.

Integrity is also seeing other people's and the country's property without the desire to illegally appropriate it. That is, knowing how to judge, where the limit is between public and private, and not daring to do bad things, things that go against national law and morality. Especially not covering up bad things, meaning complete virtue. Without integrity, one would dare to take anything; without shame, one would do anything regardless. A person who comes like that will not only bring disaster to "his reputation and his life" but also ask, what disaster will not come? Moreover, if he is an official but he is determined to take everything, doing everything by all means, how can the world not be in chaos, the country not be lost?

Nguyen Ha

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/thieu-mot-duc-thi-khong-thanh-nguoi-post248361.html