Living in peace and independence, enjoying the fruits of the revolution, we are infinitely grateful for the immense contributions of President Ho Chi Minh.

In his twenties, the patriotic young Nguyen Tat Thanh left his homeland in pursuit of national salvation. It was a monumental journey. He travelled across the five continents, studying and learning from the world’s major revolutionary movements, examining various ideologies and liberation paths pursued by workers and the colonised. Ultimately, he embraced Marxism-Leninism, recognising it as the guiding light of the age and the path to national, class, and human liberation.

With profound intellect, he absorbed and creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to the Vietnamese context, constructing a theoretical foundation for national liberation, identifying the revolutionary goals, paths, and methods, while laying all the necessary groundwork for the formation of a revolutionary political party in Viet Nam.

In the spring of 1930, he chaired the founding conference of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (Party) and adopted its first political platform — marking a historic turning point in the Vietnamese revolution. From that moment, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese people rose up to break the chains of colonialism and feudalism, establishing the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam — the first people’s democratic state in Southeast Asia — thus opening a brilliant new era in the nation’s history: the Ho Chi Minh era.

The Party’s founding to lead the revolution was an immense contribution, affirming Ho Chi Minh’s foresight, leadership, intellect, and moral authority. After the success of the August Revolution in 1945, through skilful and flexible political strategies, he guided the Vietnamese revolutionary cause through perilous times — defending and strengthening the nascent revolutionary government while simultaneously building national capacity in preparation for a protracted resistance war against the French colonialists. That war culminated in the 1954 Dien Bien Phu victory “resounding across the five continents and shaking the world.”

President Ho Chi Minh continued to creatively develop Marxism-Leninism alongside the Party, leading the people in socio-economic development, strengthening party building, and consolidating democratic state power. The North gradually became strong in all respects, forming a solid rear base for the southern battlefield.

Liberating the South and achieving national reunification was President Ho Chi Minh’s lifelong desire and deep concern. Before his passing, he left behind a historic testament reaffirming his unwavering resolve and faith in ultimate victory. Fulfilling his final wish, the entire Party, people, and army upheld revolutionary heroism, uniting national strength and immense international solidarity during the resistance against the US. The struggle culminated in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, which completely liberated the South and reunified the country, ushering in an era of independence, unity, peace, and national advancement toward socialism.

Every success and step forward of the Vietnamese revolution is closely tied to President Ho Chi Minh’s enormous contributions. His thought has illuminated and guided the Party and people on every challenging path. In the renewal period, amid complex global developments and domestic difficulties, the Party has remained steadfast in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought — applying and developing it creatively in Vietnam’s reality, achieving historic milestones.

This year’s 135th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh comes at a moment of special historical significance. The country has just solemnly commemorated 50 years since the liberation of the South and national reunification and is now preparing to mark the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and the National Day on September 2.

Living in peace and independence and enjoying the achievements of the revolution, the Vietnamese people are deeply grateful for the boundless contributions of President Ho Chi Minh, who devoted his entire life to the nation with utmost dedication and selflessness. He is a symbol of extraordinary will and perseverance, a model of revolutionary morality — diligent, frugal, honest, upright, and completely selfless.

Ho Chi Minh Thought and the late president’s rich revolutionary legacy remain invaluable national treasures. In remembering and honouring his great contributions, we pledge to loyally and excellently carry forward his great cause, steadfastly follow the path to socialism, continue advancing comprehensive reform, strive for even greater achievements, develop the nation further, improve people’s lives, and elevate Vietnam’s position and role on the international stage.

Looking ahead, the entire Party, people, and armed forces must unite with firm resolve, great effort, and dynamic creativity to accomplish the 2025 development goals, contributing to the successful implementation of the 13th Party Congress’s resolutions and laying a strong foundation for the next development phase. Decisively and effectively implement the “revolution” to streamline the organisational apparatus, reorganise administrative units, and build a two-tier local government model, while focusing on institutional and legal reform to unlock resources and create new space for socio-economic development.

Thoroughly grasp and synchronously implement new Party directives and resolutions with innovation, flexibility, and creativity, ensuring that the Party’s strategic development goals for 2030 and 2045 are rapidly translated into reality. Effectively prepare and organise local Party congresses towards the 14th National Party Congress, thus opening a new era of national prosperity.

The Party, people, and armed forces must further strengthen the movement to study and follow Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and lifestyle, linked with enhancing the building and rectification of a clean, strong Party and political system. Its goal is to practise thrift, combat waste and corruption, improve the Party’s leadership, governance, and combat capacity; and build a service-oriented government and a socialist rule-of-law state truly “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

It is vital to uphold the Party’s deep-rooted bond with the people, based on the principle that “the people are the foundation,” with the people as the centre and the driving force of national renewal. Every policy must derive from the people’s aspirations, and every step of national development must aim to improve their lives. That is the truest fulfilment of President Ho Chi Minh’s lifelong dream: to build a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic, and prosperous Viet Nam.