The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)’sleadership over the army is comprehensive and absolute, Party GeneralSecretary Nguyen Phu Trong has affirmed. Thatleadership covers all aspects, including politics, ideology,organisation, and personnel, through a strict, suitable mechanism,emphasised the Party chief, who is also Chairman of the Central MilitaryCommission. He made the statement in an article hewrote in anticipation with the 70 th founding anniversary of the army(December 22). The article is titled “The Party’s leadership is thedeciding factor in all successes, maturity and development of theVietnam People’s Army”. Right in its first politicalplatform in 1930, the Party pointed out that forming a worker-farmerarmy was a matter of urgency, the Party leader pointed. He recalled that in early 1944, leader Ho Chi Minh, or Nguyen Ai Quocat that time, laid stress on the need for the Party committee to takethe leadership over the national main armed force, which was then knownas the Vietnam Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation. In the article, the Party leader reviewed important milestones in theVietnam People’s Army (VPA)’s history, including those in the resistancewars against French colonialists and US imperialists and at the moderntime. In any period, the resolutions and documentsissued by the Party reflected a consistent viewpoint that is the CPV,with its prime leading bodies – the Politburo and Secretariat - performssupreme, overall, and direct leadership over the armed force. He highlighted that over the past 70 years, the Party has maintainedits firm leadership over the army in all circumstances and during everyhistorical period. That leadership was seen as thedeciding factor determining the maturity, fighting capacity andvictories of the VPA, making it a sharp revolutionary tool and a loyalpolitical force of the Party and the fatherland that serves the people,stand by the people and fight for the people. Theleader also emphasised fundamental issues for maintaining andstrengthening the Party’s leadership to ensure the army sticks to itsrevolutionary nature as well as fighting purpose and ideal whilefulfilling its tasks of constructing and defending the fatherland in thecurrent situation. Firstly, the principle of theParty undertaking absolute, overall and direct leadership over the armystays unchanged in any circumstance and conditions. He clarified that the Party comes up with guidelines and orientationsfor the development of the national military and defence strength,define purposes and ideal as well as measures to improve the combatcapacity of the armed forces. The Party also directsthe implementation and realisation of viewpoints and guidelines tobuild a revolutionary, regular, elite and modern army, he added. He underscored that the Party, especially the Politburo andSecretariat, decides major issues relating to the building of a strongarmy in terms of politics, ideology and organisation. Meanwhile, theState concretely manages the army in accordance with the Constitutionand law, he added. “It is the CPV that is the onlyorganisation that leads the VPA,” the Party chief stated, declaring thatthe leadership cannot be undertaken by any individual or any otherpolitical force. He noted that the State managementof the army is based on the principle of democratic centralism under theleadership of the Party. Secondly, it is a need toconstantly improve of the overall leadership and combat power of theParty committee of the army, and the effectiveness of the Party andpolitical affairs, he stressed. It aims to ensurethe army always stands loyal to the Party, the nation, and people andsteadfast in the Party’s goals and ideal, the renewal and building ofsocialism, serving as a key force in the fight against wrongfulviewpoints, protect Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, theParty’s guidelines as well as the State policies and laws. Thirdly, it is the soundness of the State management of the army. TheParty chief explained that the State keeps control of the army by laws,policies and plans, which were created based on Party resolutions andguidelines. It needs to revamp the administrative apparatus from thegrassroots to central level. Reinforcing theParty’s absolute, overall, and direct leadership along with increasingthe State’s management of the army are crucial, closely-linked, andvital to building the “revolutionary, regular, elite, and graduallymodern army”. The Party and State need to supplement, develop,and fine-tune their leading methods and management mechanisms andpolicies for the army while developing a system of healthy and strongParty organisations and reinforcing a military command system at alllevels. Fourthly, efforts to thwart “peacefulevolution” scheme in general and “apolitical army” scheme by hostileforces in particular must be stepped up. The Partychief made it clear that these schemes are an extremely wicked plotagainst Vietnam’s revolution, attempting to separate the army from theParty leadership and disempowering the army as a sharp tool and atrustworthy political force of the Party and State. The lessons learntfrom the former Russia and Eastern Europe still hold their value for us,he wrote. Consequently, the leader asked everymilitary officer, Party member, and soldier to fully and deeplyunderstand that the Vietnamese army is the revolutionary force of thepeople, from the people and for the people under the close leadership ofthe Party. The goal of the army is to fight fornational independence, socialism, and the well-being of people, which isalso the goal and ideal of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Partyleader said. In his article, he stressed that whatit takes to intensify the Party leadership over the army is to build ahealthy and strong military Party Committee in terms of politics,ideology and apparatus. There is a must topersistently implement the Resolution on “Some urgent issues on Partybuilding at present” set at the fourth Plenum of the Party CentralCommittee (11 th tenure) in combination with a campaign to study andfollow President Ho Chi Minh’s moral examples, he said. Mistrust behaviors, degradation in political thinking and ethics,opportunistic lifestyle and attitude, individualism, and violation ofthe State laws and army disciplines must be stamped out. The Party, State and people always believe and wish that the VPA, withits 70 glorious years, will make maximal efforts to build the“revolutionary, regular, elite and gradually modern” army, deserving atrustworthy mainstay of the Party, State and people, he concluded.-VNA