The consistent spirit of the great unity bloc was crystallized by President Ho Chi Minh in a simple but extremely profound advice: "Unity, unity, great unity/Success, success, great success". His teachings have become a strategic motto, shaping the development law of the Vietnamese revolution.
The Vietnam Fatherland Front was born and strengthened from the demands of practice in gathering the strength of the people, connecting the Party's will with the people's hearts, to turn the spirit of solidarity into the power of action of the revolution.
In the flow of history, the formation and development of the Vietnam Fatherland Front is a journey of constantly expanding, consolidating and strengthening the great national unity bloc. This is also a process of gathering forces from spontaneous to conscious, from dispersed to concentrated, unified, from immediate goals to the nation's long-term aspiration.
The National Museum of History currently preserves hundreds of photos associated with the life and career of President Ho Chi Minh, including the photo "Uncle Ho catches up with the song Ket Doan". The photo was taken by photographer Lam Hong Long. This is a photo recording the image of President Ho Chi Minh catching up with the song "Ket Doan".
The late photographer Lam Hong Long was born in 1926 in Phuoc Loc commune, Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan province. He participated in the revolution before 1945. In April 1951, he was captured and imprisoned by the enemy in Phan Thiet prison, Nha Trang and Da Nang. During his imprisonment, despite being brutally tortured, he did not submit, did not confess, and kept the organization's secrets.
In 1954, from the South, he gathered in the North and wished to see Uncle Ho. What he never thought of became his daily work. He was assigned a particularly important task of photographing Uncle Ho. So a son of the South was honored to be present at many events, recording images of the activities of the Father of the nation... And photographing Uncle Ho became a joy, a passionate career, very attached to his life and followed him throughout his career. For more than 40 years as a photojournalist for Vietnam News Agency, he has taken many photos of President Ho Chi Minh.
Documents from the Vietnam History Museum record the confidences of photographer Lam Hong Long: "On the evening of September 19, 1960, I was assigned by the agency to take photos of the Hanoi Capital People's Congress, celebrating the success of the 3rd National Party Congress, at Bach Thao Park. For the first time, I was nervous when I saw Uncle Ho appear. That night Uncle Ho and delegates from both home and abroad came to listen to the symphony music night. According to the people's wishes, Uncle Ho stood on the podium, holding chopsticks to catch the rhythm of the song "Ket Doan". At that time Uncle Ho held chopsticks to catch the rhythm, heading towards the orchestra and choir, turning his back towards the camera lenses of domestic and foreign journalists. At first, I didn't know how to shoot, because I had no experience, so I was very worried. But thanks to my observation and understanding of Uncle Ho's personality, which is always concerned, close and in harmony with the common joy of the masses, Uncle Ho always turned his face I predicted that when Uncle turned his face towards the audience, I would take a beautiful photo, with Uncle and the masses. At that time, most reporters ran to the stage to take pictures, to clearly see Uncle's face. Some others also chose the same angle as me, but because it was too long, the music was about to end, they were impatient to leave their position, move to the inner corner of the musician's position to take pictures. Left alone, I anxiously waited. Indeed, when the music was about to end, in the section "Progress quickly follows the free flag that is sounding, rising to the sun to build a new life, in a new democracy", Uncle immediately turned to my lens, in the position of the conductor catching the beat very beautifully.
The National Museum of History currently still preserves a very precious artifact, the conductor's wand that President Ho Chi Minh used to catch the rhythm of the "Ket Doan" song.
Another time, Uncle Ho started the song "Ket Doan" when he visited Thanh Hoa in early December 1961. In a conversation with 30,000 officials, soldiers and people at Thanh Hoa town stadium, Uncle Ho started the rhythm for tens of thousands of people to sing the song "Ket Doan" loudly. Listening to Uncle Ho speak, everyone deeply understands the kind, respectful words of encouragement as well as the very accurate criticisms of shortcomings and defects that Uncle Ho pointed out. Uncle Ho taught that: "To build socialism successfully, our people must raise the spirit of mastery. Everyone must fulfill the duty of a master: Be thrifty to build the country, build socialism. To build socialism, there must be people imbued with socialist morality".
The image of President Ho Chi Minh catching up with the song "Ket Doan" has become a symbolic image affirming the strength of the great national unity bloc. This is the fulcrum to maintain political stability, social order and belief in the path of the country's progress.
