People's heart - From core values in Ho Chi Minh's ideology to present-day manifestations
In Ho Chi Minh's ideology, the people's heart is not only a moral district, but a political - strategic district associated with the existence of the Party and the regime. People have repeatedly emphasized: "If it is easy, people will suffer many times, if it is difficult, people will be fine", "In the sky, nothing is as precious as the People. There is nothing stronger in the world than the people's solidarity force". Those teachings have become the guiding principle for all guidelines of the Party: taking the people as the root, relying on the people to build and protect the Fatherland.
Ho Chi Minh affirmed: Our country is a democratic country. All the benefits are for the people. All the power belongs to the people". The people are not only the beneficiaries of policies, but also the subjects that make history, the final judge of the right and wrong of decisions.
President Ho Chi Minh's idea of "people are the root" does not stop at the slogan, but becomes the principle of organizing and operating the state apparatus: all institutions and all levels of management must be designed to better serve the people.
National history is a vivid testament to the truth: when the people's hearts gather, all friends are defeated; when the people's hearts are dispersed, the government is weakened. Lam Son's success is due to the convergence of the strength of farmers, artisans, and patriotic forces, taking "greatness" and "murtitude" to gather people's hearts. The Tay Son movement from "peach flag fabric" has become a wave sweeping away feudal and foreign forces, because it goes hand in hand with the interests of the majority of people. The success of the August Revolution in 1945 showed the greatest truth for the strength of the people gathered under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, opening an era of independence and freedom for the Vietnamese nation. Dien Bien Phu 1954 is the crystallization of the entire people's support, with "people burning the line", "ripe rice grains in half, vegetable stems broken in half". The great victory in the Spring of 1975 was the pinnacle of the strength of great national unity, combining political, military, diplomatic, rear-wing and frontline struggles.
Entering the new development stage, the people's hearts in the new development stage are expressed richly and vibrantly, reflecting great expectations for the future of the country and legitimate concerns about daily life. These manifestations both show the depth of the "people's heart" and require the Party and State to grasp, understand and resolve them promptly.
A bright spot in the people's hearts today is the belief in the Party and the regime that continues to be strengthened, especially in the context of the fight against corruption and negativity being strongly, drastically and substantially implemented. The strict handling of hundreds of cadres at all levels, including senior cadres, along with more than 2,700 corruption and economic cases that were exposed and brought to trial from 2013 to 2024, has affirmed the great political determination to clean up the apparatus. This result is viewed by the People as a "boost of confidence", affirming that the Party always puts the interests of the nation - people and the People first. UNDP's PAPI Report 2023 also noted a marked improvement in people's assessment of transparency, integrity and effective corruption control. This is an important foundation to strengthen the people's heart - something built from fairness, discipline and kindness in public service activities.
Besides belief, another profound manifestation of the people's hearts today is the desire for strong development that spreads throughout society. The aspiration to build a strong and prosperous Vietnam is becoming a leading trend, especially in innovative startup movements, in the spirit of commitment and breakthrough of the young generation, in the proactive transformation of business models of the business community, as well as in the practical contributions of domestic and foreign intellectuals. From the digital economy, green economy, technology startups to educational innovation activities, scientific research... all are creating a new wave of creativity and innovation, clearly demonstrating the people's heart towards the future and their willingness to contribute to the development of the country. This is a particularly important spiritual resource, contributing to the formation of the "soft power" of the nation in the era of national growth.
The people's kindness in the current period is also demonstrated through proactive participation in Party building, building the political system, with an increasingly high sense of responsibility and a increasingly mature people's culture. People participate in giving comments on the Draft Documents of the 13th and 14th National Party Congresses; reflecting inadequacies in life through official channels such as the Vietnam Fatherland Front, National Assembly deputies, online forums of the Government and localities; proactively denouncing corruption, providing information to authorities; participating in social criticism through newspapers, social networks, and socio-professional organizations. These are vivid manifestations of the socialist democracy - where the people are truly "knowing, discussing, doing, checking, supervising and benefiting". The increase in proactiveness and supervision of the People is also an important measure of the quality of national governance and the maturity of modern society.
In addition to faith and aspiration for development, people's hearts also contain legitimate concerns and worries arising from daily life. The rapid development of the economy and urbanization has brought many pressures on employment, income, living costs and security of living resources; environmental pollution in large cities; regional differences in public service; inadequacies in administrative procedures; or specific negative incidents in the apparatus that cause social outrage. These are issues that need to be fully identified and thoroughly resolved, because holding people's hearts is holding water; any delay or lack of attention can affect trust, consensus and social stability - the indispensable foundations of sustainable development.
People's hearts expand, the three interactive spaces are combined
The movement of people's hearts in the new period is no longer limited to the framework of traditional communities, but is expanding according to the modern social structure. The current population is formed, manifested and transformed in three large social spaces - residential space, economic space - modern occupation and multidimensional digital space. These three spaces interact closely, creating a multi-dimensional, dynamic and more complex "people's heart map" than in previous periods.
Residential space - the traditional foundation of the people's heart. Residential space is still the most directly formed place of people's hearts, because it is closely linked to the practical daily life of each person. Issues such as social security, health - education quality, food safety, security and order, living environment, natural disaster response - flood... are the most specific measures of the "people's heart". When people's lives are guaranteed, when children can go to school, when people have better health care, when the living environment is safer and cleaner, then people's hearts will naturally stabilize and move towards a common goal.
Modern economic - professional space: where new social groups are formed. The development of the market economy, extensive international integration and digital transformation have created new social groups: a team of intellectual entrepreneurs, high-tech workers, software engineers, workers in the gig economy, the creative and innovative community, digital economy experts, digital content makers... These are the forces that are increasingly influential in economic and social life and contribute to creating a new look for the modern people.
The people in this space are directly affected by: tax and financial policies; salary and labor market regimes; quality of the business environment; speed of administrative reform; level of transparency, discipline, and integrity of the state apparatus; institutions promoting innovation and protecting property rights.
These new social groups are knowledgeable, sensitive to policy changes and easily affected by global trends. They are also the core force of new labor productivity, of the digital economy, of green transformation, and make important contributions to national competitiveness. This raises an urgent need to perfect market institutions, improve the investment environment, reduce costs of compliance with the law, promote technology startups, protect intellectual property rights, ensure fairness in accessing development opportunities.
Good management of the economic and professional space is to maintain the people's heart in the group of pioneers of growth - those who are creating renewable energy for the country.
Multidimensional digital space - the second social space is full of influence. The digital space today has become the second social space, where people's hearts express themselves most directly, fastest and most multi-dimensional. With more than 78 million internet users in 2024, an average of 6 - 7 hours of social media usage per day, Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest level of digital connectivity in the region. This profoundly changes the way the people's social mood and political and social awareness are formed.
However, this space also contains significant challenges such as fake news, false information, accusations that incite division, insult personal honor, creating negative "crowd effect". The "fast" - direct - multidimensional - sensitive" characteristics of the people's heart in the digital space require mass mobilization work, grasping the situation of the people, orienting public opinion and the Party's media to strongly shift to the digital environment. This not only requires modern technology, but also requires a new approach style: timely - accurate - humane; considering correct information, clean information as an important weapon; protecting people from fake and toxic news; improving the capacity of the "IT campaign" of society; promoting the positive power of the online community.
This is a strategic task to maintain the people's heart in the digital transformation era, because today's digital space is the place where social mood is formed and reflected in real time.
The people's hearts in the new period are the union of three interactive spaces: traditional residential space, modern economic - professional space and multidimensional digital space. When promptly grasped and thoroughly handled, the people's heart becomes a strategic resource, creating the combined strength of the country. On the contrary, if there is a lack of due attention, small changes in people's hearts can lead to major consequences in political and social stability. Therefore, building, preserving and promoting the people's heart is always the number one task of the Party and the political system, as Ho Chi Minh once said: "If the people believe, everything will be successful".
