The CPV creatively applies and develops Marxist - Leninist theory on the working-class nature of the Communist Party
1. Supplementation of patriotic movements in the factors leading to the foundation of the CPV
According to Marxist - Leninist doctrine, communist parties are formed based on scientific socialism with the workers’ movement. Although this “formula” had not been generalized by Marx and Engels, it was expressed in many works. Later, V.I.Lenin showed his consent to Karl Kautsky: “Kautsky was right when he said that the social-democratic movement is a combination of the workers’ movement with socialism”(1). At the same time, he summarized and clarified the rule of the Communist parties’ establishment: “The Social-Democratic Party is a combination of workers’ movement with socialism”(2). That is consistent with situations in capitalist countries and the workers’ movement there in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
During the ideological, political, and organizational preparation for the establishment of the CPV, from a very early age, leader Nguyen Ai Quoc was always aware of the creative absorption and application of Marxism-Leninism. He penned: “In any case, it is not possible to prohibit the addition of Marxism’s “historical foundation” by supplementing documents that Marx could not have in his time. Marx built his doctrine on a certain philosophy of history, but which history? European history. And what is Europe? That is not all of humanity. Reviewing Marxism regarding its historical foundation, consolidating it with Eastern ethnography is the task that the Soviets undertook”(3). He affirmed that for the Eastern countries, “nationalism is the great driving force of the country”(4).
The establishment of the CPV is a unique and creative application of the Marxist - Leninist theory of the Communist Party. President Ho Chi Minh summarized and pointed out elements that make up the CPV: “Marxism - Leninism combined with the workers’ movement and the patriotic movement led to the establishment of the Communist Party of Indochina at the beginning of 1930”(5). The combination of the above factors inherited the two-factor Marxist - Leninist doctrine (Marxism-Leninism; the workers’ movement) and complemented the patriotic movement of the Vietnamese people. The affirmation of two elements of Marxism-Leninism and the workers’ movement shows the loyalty to the Marxist - Leninist doctrine on the communist Party’s working class nature; the supplementation of the patriotic movement is essential, in line with the reality of the working class, the workers’ movement in the semi-feudal colonial Vietnam and the reality of patriotic movements of the peasants, the uprising of scholars against the invaders prior to the establishment of the Party.
2. Supplementing expressions of the nature of the Communist Party of Vietnam as a ruling Party
From its establishment until before the 2nd Party Congress (1930 - 1951), the CPV was known as the Party of the proletariat, the only vanguard of the proletariat; the highest form of proletariat organization; the most enlightened, most determined, and most combative force of the proletariat.
The 2nd Party Congress (February 1951) marked an important event in Party building work: firstly, the Communist Party of Indochina changed its name to the Workers’ Party of Vietnam; secondly, President Ho Chi Minh and our Party introduced a new point of view on the Party: “In this period, the interests of the working class and the toiling people and the nation are the same. Because the Workers’ Party of Vietnam is the Party of the working class and the toiling people, it must be the Party of the Vietnamese people”(6). This point of view was also expressed in the Vietnamese revolutionary thesis presented by General Secretary Truong Chinh to the Congress: “The Workers’ Party of Vietnam is not only the vanguard and the advisory force of the working class but also of the working people, which is why it is the vanguard of the whole Vietnamese nation”(7). The new definition of the Party (the Workers’ Party of Vietnam is the Party of the working class, toiling people and the whole nation of Vietnam) made “all classes of working people in urban and rural areas, laborers and intellects recognize the Workers’ Party of Vietnam as their party”(8).
According to the Marxist point of view, the Communist Party can only be the Party of one class, not the joint Party of many classes, nor the joint Party of the whole nation of many classes. Therefore, the Workers’ Party of Vietnam held that the Party of the working class, the working people, and the Vietnamese nation was debated by many delegates at the Congress. Finally, Congress reached a consensus and recorded in the Charter: “THE WORKERS’ PARTY OF VIETNAM is the Party of the Vietnamese working class and working people”(9). That statement is a significant development from the Marxist view of the Party of one class.
Although affirming that the Party is of the working class and working people, the Congress still asserted that the Party is, in fact, the political Party of the working class. This is presented in the Closing Report of the Congress:
“In essence, it is still a revolutionary political party of the Vietnamese working class. This is because it has all the necessary conditions of such a Party:
1. Taking Marxism - Leninism as the ideological foundation.
2. Taking democratic centralism as the organizing principle.
3. Taking criticism and self-criticism as the principle of development, etc.
The Party that possesses essential conditions on the ideological foundation, organization and development principles as aforementioned is the novel revolutionary Party of the working class, the Marxist - Leninist party”(10).
The fact that Ho Chi Minh and our Party emphasized the CPV to be the Party of the whole country, and at the same time, the Party of the nation, the vanguard of the working people and the whole nation, is consistent with the views on class - nation relation in Vietnam which Ho Chi Minh skillfully combined in determining the Vietnamese revolutionary path and also in the Communist Party building.
Later, owing to the consent of the International Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties, from the 3rd Party Congress in 1960 to before the 10th Party Congress in 2006, the wording of the Party returned to that of the Communist International. From the 10th Party Congress until now, the expression of the Party has returned to that of the 2nd Party Congress: “The Communist Party of Vietnam is the vanguard of the working class and at the same time the vanguard of the working people and the Vietnamese people; the faithful interests representative of the working class, the toiling people and the nation”(11).
The above expression of the Party neither lowers the nature of the Communist Party nor changes the concept of the “all-people party”. It goes deeper into understanding the class nature of the Party. That expression reflects the unity of interests of classes, people, and the whole nation in the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland. On the other hand, this expression is not at all contrary to the Marxist - Leninist doctrine of the Communist Party, because even in the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels instructed that “while fighting for power, the proletariat of each country must first seize power, and rise to become a national class”(12) (In the English version published in 1888, the words “rising into a national class” were replaced by “rising to become the leading class in the nation”). When there is a government, the working class, working people are the representative, the owner of the nation, and the Party naturally becomes the vanguard of the working class, the working people, and the nation at the same time.
3. Correctly and creatively solving the issue of classes among Party members
The CPV’s formation and development occurred in a backward agricultural country, a semi-feudal colony. The working class was still small, while the peasantry and other classes made up the most of the population - Party members who were working-class members naturally accounted for a small percentage of the total number of Party members. As of December 31, 2020, Party members who are workers and directly engaged in production are 192,807 out of 5,224,156 (accounting for 3.69%).
At the 4th Party Congress, our Party pointed out: “The backgrounds of cadres and Party members is not the only or the main factor, but it is of great importance because it contributes to ensuring the working class nature of the Party. Having insufficient awareness and not strong enough measures to strengthen the force of basic members, especially workers, in the contingent of Party members is an erroneous tendency, often associated with other right-wing deviations in the Party building work. On the contrary, over exaggerating the role of social background, reasoning that the class orientation in the organization and personnel work is based on cadres and Party members in terms of their backgrounds, undermining the political and ideological education and training of cadres and Party members through mass movements is also a wrong tendency leading to the narrow-mindedness”(13). Our Party also states clearly: “It is important for the Communist Party of Vietnam to assert that position, distinguishing from the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie. This is because most Party members are peasants and petty-bourgeois who started with patriotism and then became revolutionarily enlightened. Emphasizing the working class nature of the Party does not lead to the division between the Party, classes, and the nation. On the contrary, it helps the Communist Party of Vietnam, once it stands firmly on the position of the working class, closely link with the people, most effectively serve the revolutionary cause of the people and the nation”(14).
Currently, in the Party’s policy of developing Party members, our Party recruits the most elite individuals of the working class and recruits other elites in society, especially business people. The Party is implementing the pilot policy of admitting business owners (entrepreneurs) to the Party on the principle of complying with the laws and regulations of the Party according to Conclusion No. 80-KL/TW dated July 29, 2010, of the Secretariat (10th Tenure) on continuing to promote the implementation of Directive No. 07-CT/TW of the Politburo (8th Tenure) in the new situation and Instruction No. 17-HD/TW dated January 30, 2013, on piloting the admission of qualified private business owners to the Party. Up to now, the Party has 6,652 Party members who are private business owners(15). Most of these Party members well abide by the Party’s guidelines and viewpoints, the State’s policies and laws, especially laws on tax, responsibility for creating jobs, taking care of workers’ lives, and other social activities.
The question raised is whether or not this policy is contrary to the Marxist - Leninist theory of the Communist Party. K.Marx did not have the experimental conditions to summarize this issue. At the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern (1921), to build a new type of political Party of the working class, especially building the Party as the ruling Party, V.I.Lenin set out essential criteria to consider and evaluate whether a party is the Party of the working class, bearing the working class nature, ađ being a genuine Marxist party. He penned: “Of course, most Party members are workers. However, whether it is a workers’ Party depends not only on whether the Party includes workers but also on the leaders and the nature of the Party’s actions and political strategy. Only latter factors will determine whether the Party is truly a proletariat party”(16). So, in short, the number of Party members who are workers is significant, but this criterion does not determine the nature of the Party. It is the leadership of the Party, the quality of the strategic cadres of the Party, the Party’s line, and primarily the Party’s actions that define the nature of the Party. Such theoretical instructions on the class composition of the Communist Party are precious to the Party established in a semi-feudal colonial country like ours. At the same time, V.I.Lenin’s instructions have contributed to affirming our Party’s correct and creative policies on the class composition of the Party members, in the condition that ours is the only ruling Party to lead the State and society to socialism.
Endnotes:
(1) V.I.Lenin: Collected Works, Vol.1, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, p.410.
(2) V.I.Lenin: Collected Works, op.cit., Vol.4, p.470.
(3), (4) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, Vol.1, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, pp.509-510, 511.
(5): Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op.cit., Vol.12, p.406.
(6), (7), (8), (9), (10) CPV: Complete Party Documents, Vol.12, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2001, p.38, 160, 490, 444, 159-160.
(11) CPV: Documents of the 11th National Party Congress, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.88.
(12) Marx and Engels: Collected Works, Vol.4, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, p.624.
(13), (14) CPV: Complete Party Documents, op.cit., Vol.37, 2004, pp.780-781, 773.
(15) CPV: Documents of the 12th National Party Congress, Vol.2, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p.189.
(16) V.I.Lenin: Collected Works, op.cit., Vol.41, pp.312-313.
MA. BUI VAN HAI
Institute of Party Building,
Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics
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