Speech by Comrade Le Duan, General Secretary of the Party Central Committee at the 4th Congress of the Vietnam Trade Union

Dear comrades,

On behalf of the Party Central Committee, I warmly welcome delegates from all localities and sectors to attend the 4th Congress of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, and ask them to convey to the working class and all workers in the country the warm and intimate greetings of the Party Central Committee.

I would like to send to international delegates warm greetings to brothers, greetings of fighting solidarity from the Communist Party, the working class and the Vietnamese people.

Our Trade Union Congress is a beautiful image of the unified working class, of the unified Trade Union organization, in a unified Vietnam, the achievement of nearly half a century of revolutionary struggle of the working class and our people.

Nearly half a century has been an extremely vibrant and heroic period of the Vietnamese revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh. It was a continuous struggle process, with revolutionary ups and downs, part by part, leading to the glorious victory of the August Revolution, with two miraculous resistance wars, from resisting French colonialism to resisting American imperialism, lasting for thirty years, ending gloriously with the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975. This historic victory swept away the US invaders, crushed the reactionary regime and henchmen, completely liberated the South, leading to the reunification of the country and the whole country moving towards socialism, opening up a new era that is the most glorious in our nation's history. At the same time, it dealt a very serious blow to the leading empire, breaking a global counter-revolutionary strategy of the US after World War II, contributing to creating a new change in the world's comparative force, deeply impacting the trend and revolutionary process of the era.

We achieved the great victory we have today thanks to a heroic nation, a heroic Party and a heroic working class.

Looking back at the journey we have gone through, we are extremely proud of our country's working class, a class that has always stood at the forefront of the struggle in all periods, a class whose revolutionary nature is more evident than ever when the revolutionary ship encounters dangerous steps, or when the country faces serious challenges, struggling with unprecedented difficulties.

We are proud of the Vietnamese working class, a relatively small team in the early days, who grew up along with the cause of national liberation and social liberation, still standing at the center of the country's historical events, and having the great honor of leading our people to defeat two great empires, both the old colonial empire and the new colonial empire.

For the past three years, a new page in the history of our Fatherland has begun with the increasingly expanding scale of the cause of building socialism throughout the country, with a peak of struggle to reform industry, commercial capital and private enterprises, gradually cooperating agriculture and reforming other economic sectors in the South.

With great excitement and determination, the working class and the working people of our country have shown a very high revolutionary will, continuing to endure the difficulties and deprivations after the war, sparking a large-scale emulation movement, aimed at quickly healing the wounds of war, rebuilding the country, and promoting many new factors in industrial and agricultural production, in economic construction and renovation. Along with the development of the national economy, the working class as well as the Trade Union organization are constantly growing in all aspects.

In the national democratic and people's revolution, the Vietnamese working class excellently fulfilled its important mission to the country thanks to creating an extremely great overall combat strength. Under the light of Marxism-Leninism and the correct Party's guidelines, the Vietnamese working class promoted its revolutionary nature, inherited the nation's very fierce tradition of resilience and built a solid combat alliance with working farmers, combining the quintessence of the nation with the ideology of the era, combining patriotism with true internationalism, linking the cause of national liberation with the cause of proletarian revolution, and becoming a representative of national independence and socialism.

Applying that lesson of victory, promoting the glorious tradition of the class, deeply understanding the role of the master of the country, surely our working class will elevate itself to the level of new tasks, fulfilling historical obligations in the period of the socialist revolution, in the cause of building socialism.

Dear comrades,

Under the light of Marxism-Leninism, summarizing the revolutionary practice of our country and referring to the experience of brotherly countries, the 4th Party Congress set out the general line of the socialist revolution in our country as:

Grasping pro-proletarianism, promoting the collective ownership of the working people, simultaneously carrying out three revolutions: the revolution in production relations, the scientific and technological revolution, the ideological and cultural revolution, in which the scientific and technological revolution is key; promoting socialist industrialization is the central task of the entire transition period to socialism; building a regime of socialist collective ownership, building a large socialist production base, building a new culture, building new socialist people; eliminating the regime of people exploiting people, eliminating poverty and backwardness; constantly raising vigilance, regularly consolidating national defense, maintaining political security and social order, successfully building a peaceful, independent, unified and socialist Vietnam; actively contributing to the struggle of the world's people and for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism".

The most important thing in the Party's guidelines, the red thread throughout the socialist revolutionary process is to build and promote the collective mastery regime, realize the greatest leap of national history, the deepest innovation of the social regime, of the socio-economic, and the most noble rise of each person.

Socialist collective ownership is the common and consistent nature of the new regime, within the mechanism of the new society. In the collective ownership regime, all workers do not passively receive and enjoy democratic rights from any external power, but consciously and proactively play the role of true owners in politics, economy, culture, and society. Workers themselves exercise their right to collective ownership with a reasonable organizational structure, with a reasonable production and distribution regime, with continuous and vibrant revolutionary movements of tens of millions of people. The collective ownership regime is implemented throughout the country, in each locality, each grassroots level, closely linking personal interests with the interests of the collective and of the whole society. For each person, the collective ownership regime ensures the most comprehensive development, the most full rights go hand in hand with the noble obligations that everyone must fulfill.

As the purpose and also the driving force of the entire socialist revolutionary cause, the regime of collective ownership was established from the beginning and constantly perfected, increasingly permeating all fields of activity, increasingly expressed in all social relationships, gradually becoming a natural, constant consciousness and daily lifestyle of each person.

Collective mastery is the nature and bravery of the working class, a representative of advanced production methods and for the new social regime. However, the working class whose team has been and is developing rapidly is also infected with non-proletarian ideology, which is commonly the mindset, customs, and working style of small producers. The process of building a collective mastery is the process of the working class self-creating, washing away manifestations contrary to the ethics and working style of the class, cultivating and promoting its inherent revolutionary nature and constantly training, improving and developing the good qualities of people in the new society. It is also the process of the working class reforming and fostering other classes and working classes according to their image. The leadership role and pioneering mission of the working class is clearly shown in the fact that the working class must be exemplary in terms of awareness and capacity to master the collective, to master the collective first and foremost, and at the same time guide and help other classes and working classes build a socialist collective mastery regime.

The 4th Party Congress clearly stated that the people's right to collective mastery is mainly exercised by the State, and at the same time by mass organizations. Being masters by the State, the working class as well as the working people in general have in their hands the entire social labor force, all the resources of the country, labor tools, materials, capital... and have the most powerful agency to organize production, manage the national economy, distribute material wealth and culture. Being masters by the State, the rights and obligations of citizens, methods and responsibilities of social management are all legalized. The working class must strive to build a socialist state, a State that both reflects the Party's leadership and the people's right to collective mastery, and is a tool for the workers' collective mastery. Only by a State organized by the people themselves, can the will of the people be transformed into an organized and effective force on a social scale.

The working class is mastered by the State and also mastered by the Trade Union. The State and the Trade Union are both organizations of the working class, both aimed at the common goal of building a collective mastery regime for the working people; but each organization implements its own purpose according to its own functions.

The State and the Trade Union have close relations with each other, coordinating closely with each other in the cause of building a new regime, a new economy, a new culture and new people. The Trade Union must speak the voice of workers and represent the consensus between workers and the State. State agencies must truly respect the voice of the Trade Union, considering it as the voice of the masses of workers. Regarding economic, technical, and disciplinary issues in production, issues of politics, society and the lives of workers, the State needs to stipulate the relationship regime between trade union levels and government levels, ensuring that the Trade Union can speak the voice of workers, and at the same time show that the Trade Union is the one connecting workers with the State. It is necessary to study, supplement, and amend the Trade Union Law to ensure the promotion of the collective ownership of workers and laborers.

The consciousness and collective mastery capacity of the working class are most fully expressed and have a decisive effect in the labor and production movement to build a new economy, improve production relations, reorganize the production base, and develop the production force. The working class must uphold before the whole people a labor example that pleases people, has attraction, and attracts all people to work actively and enthusiastically to advance into the production front.

Labor is the meaning of life, conscience and human dignity, the number one standard of collective owners. Labor is the origin, the basis for gradually improving people's lives, to create accumulation for socialist industrialization. Labor results are calculated every minute. Labor waste, laziness and deceit in labor are contrary to the interests of the class and nation. Any attitude or action of anyone who lacks enthusiasm for labor must be severely criticized. Any policies and procedures that restrict the labor movement must be amended promptly. All initiatives in labor and production must be respected and encouraged.

Everyone has the right to work and must work, and also has the right to enjoy according to their ability to work, that is our slogan.

Tightening discipline, mastering techniques, improving labor productivity and moving towards large-scale socialist production is one thing. Strict labor discipline is the ethics and conscience of workers. High labor productivity is the aspiration and ideal of workers. Upholding discipline, mastering techniques, to achieve advanced standards and norms, to have high productivity, good quality, and a lot of savings, that is the career of workers.

Along with labor discipline, it is necessary to practice industrial, precise, urgent, and decisive working styles. The working class and the Trade Union must conduct a persistent and resolute struggle every day, every hour, against the ideology and habits of small-scale production: lax discipline, arbitrariness, rambling, wherever you find it, rough talk, slowness, negligence, irresponsibility...

As collective owners of the whole society, attached to the enterprise for life, workers must consider "the enterprise is home, workers are owners". The immediate and long-term benefits of workers are harmonized with the common interests and future of the enterprise. Workers have the obligation to directly manage the enterprise with the State, and together with the State be responsible for the production and business aspects of the enterprise. Workers must use materials and raw materials sparingly, preserve machinery and vehicles well, take advantage of equipment capacity, create many utility values, meet social needs and achieve high economic efficiency. The voice of workers and trade unions must be respected, reflected in the production plan, in the economic and financial activities of the enterprise, making each enterprise truly become a fortress of socialism, in which the shock soldier is the worker who is the collective owner.

Going hand in hand with production activities, the working class together with the State and Trade Union must organize a new type of distribution typical of the life of the collective ownership regime. In addition to salaries and bonuses based on the principle of labor-based distribution, it is necessary to attach importance to expanding collective welfare and social welfare on the basis of promoting production, improving labor productivity, ensuring care and wholehearted help for the sick and the elderly, and thoughtfully raising children. The lives of each worker's family and each enterprise must be associated with the common life of provinces, cities, districts, wards, and communes, making private life and common life, individuals and collectives, collectives and enterprises harmoniously combined.

At the same time, while striving to fulfill their direct tasks in industry, the working class must make great efforts to coordinate with the collective farming class and working farmers nationwide, creating strong changes on the agricultural front, the leading important production front of our country today, in order to firmly solve the issue of food and foodstuffs, build and improve socialist production relations in parallel with building material and technical facilities for agriculture, bringing agriculture gradually towards large-scale socialist production. The working class needs to develop economic relations with farmers and other workers, setting out role models in production organization, technology and management, discipline and working style. Through their Party, the working class guided and helped farmers build a new economy, gradually raising the awareness and mastery level of farmers to the stance and mastery level of the working class, making the two classes truly the core of the socialist collective mastery regime.

The 4th Party Congress affirmed: from small-scale production straight to socialism, our country must consider the scientific and technical revolution as key, and socialist industrialization as the central task. What is decisive here is to create all sources of accumulation to the necessary level by all means, train a team of workers and technical staff who are synchronous in industry and profession, proficient in production, and enthusiastic in labor.

As the main force of socialist industrialization, the working class must be a pioneer in implementing the scientific and technical revolution in each factory and in industrial sectors, starting from strictly respecting economic standards, norms, processes, and technical regulations, to applying scientific achievements and modern technical advances. From there, the working class spread the effect of the scientific and technical revolution on a large scale of the entire national economy.

Each worker must be proud of their profession, strive to become a skilled worker, move towards achieving proficiency, create new methods, set new records, rise to international standards in each industry and profession, making our country's products more and more to meet domestic needs and increasingly have prestige in the world market.

Equipment and supplies can also be imported from abroad, but workers must be completely our people, Vietnamese workers. Each skilled worker must be guided, mentored, and trained along with many other skilled workers. The Trade Union takes on the responsibility of fostering and training the necessary worker team for the cause of socialist industrialization. The life, career, and maturity of workers are associated with the factory throughout their lives. The Trade Union must monitor and care for that maturity. The Trade Union must launch in the working class and laborers a movement to study culture, study science and technology, practice skills, rise to master economic and technical sectors, occupy the peaks of modern science and technology, especially painstakingly going deep into new industries that our country has built and will build.

Building a new regime, a new economy is a revolutionary festival of the masses, a process of blooming and maturing of the new socialist people. The working class must strive to train themselves to soon become a beautiful example of the new people.

Vietnamese workers must be workers with full awareness and ability to master the collective. Workers must work with all revolutionary enthusiasm, with all professional conscience, with an attitude of always seriously maintaining discipline in labor, ensuring technology in production, with the awareness of constantly striving forward, striving to learn and improve their understanding of technology and science to master nature, master society. With their creative labor, along with the skillful hands and intelligent minds of our people, with the rich resources of the country, the working class and working people of our country must create and will certainly create great achievements in economic and cultural development worthy of the indomitable tradition of a heroic nation.

Vietnamese workers are people who have deep affection for brothers and sisters of the same class and for workers who share the cause of building the country. That affection is the crystallization of noble ideals, wise reason, and pure emotions of the pioneering class. That affection creates sympathy with the broad collective, helps to establish a comprehensive viewpoint and common sense of responsibility, making workers not have to work only for their own salaries and lives and their families, but know how to dedicate the fruits of their labor to the revolutionary cause, to today's generation and future generations. That affection enhances the meaning and happiness of life, making workers happy with the great joys of the country, and knowing how to worry about the common difficulties of the class and nation.

Vietnamese workers are people who know how to build new social relationships, based on labor and love between people, in all fields of activity and everywhere, when producing, studying and when playing, entertaining, at factories, in public places, as well as in families.

Vietnamese workers have a burning patriotism, and at the same time have a noble international proletarian spirit, eliminating all national discrimination, all manifestations of narrow national minds, "showing off" big countries. In the socialist revolution, we must raise the flag of national independence and socialism even higher; must uphold the will of self-reliance, self-strengthening and national pride, strive to build the country's economy into an independent, self-reliant, and prosperous economy, and at the same time, on that basis, participate in the implementation of international assignment and cooperation more and more widely, fulfilling our international obligations.

Dear comrades,

To make the working class fulfill the mission of a pioneering army in the cause of building socialism, building a regime of collective mastery, the Trade Union must perform the function of a school of socialism and communism, a school of collective mastery of the working class.

Trade unions must focus on trying to do well the following tasks:

The top and regular task of the Trade Union is to educate and raise awareness, capacity and responsibility to master socialist collectives for workers, making the ideology of collective mastery become a driving force to promote the revolutionary movement of the working class and laborers.

The most important task of the Trade Union is to organize and encourage workers and public employees to strive to compete in labor, production, and thrift to build socialism with the goal of: improving labor productivity, ensuring product quality, practicing thrift, especially saving raw materials, exceeding the State plan and contributing to promoting management improvement. Labor emulation is an issue within the law of the cause of building socialism. Workers must raise the banner of socialist emulation, consider emulation as their regular task, and take it as a measure of the level of awareness, capacity, and responsibility of each person to master the collective.

Trade unions must work with the State to build and improve management policies and regimes, and more importantly, inspect and supervise state agencies to implement those policies and regimes to ensure the collective ownership of workers as prescribed by law, to help state agencies and state officials properly implement the law, to prevent and eliminate acts of infringing upon the interests and ownership rights of workers and laborers.

The Trade Union is responsible for taking care of the organization of material and cultural life of workers and laborers. In the current difficult life situation, the Trade Union must work with the State to make very high efforts to provide meals and accommodation for workers, do a good job of labor protection, and gradually meet other needs for living and working conditions of workers.

To make the Trade Union truly become a school that masters the collective of workers and laborers, contributing to making the working class mature in all aspects, meeting the requirements of the cause of building socialism, the most basic issue today is to strive to build a strong Trade Union.

Trade unions must take care of training and fostering a large contingent of officials, growing up from the movement to reform and build socialism, from direct production workers, from management officials, scientific and technical officials at the grassroots level. Trade union officials must firmly grasp the Party's guidelines and policies, must understand production, understand technology, and understand economic management.

Trade unions must resolutely eliminate bureaucracy, oppose working in a civil servant style. Trade union officials are not paperwork officials but must be mass organization officials, practical organizers. They must, through practical activities in production and life, create many diverse forms of organization and activities for workers to directly take ownership at production facilities and in each locality. They must go down to the grassroots level, go to production sites, construction sites, farms, factories, mines, and contact workers and laborers to understand the work and life, aspirations and needs of workers and laborers, to work with workers, grassroots trade unions and sectors to find solutions.

It is necessary to urgently improve the organizational capacity and operation of the entire Trade Union organization system, first of all grassroots trade unions. Life is at the grassroots level, revolution is at the grassroots level, material wealth and spiritual wealth created are at the grassroots level. Workers and Trade Unions develop plans and organize revolutionary movements, emulation movements to implement plans are also at the grassroots level. If the movement at the grassroots level is solid, negative manifestations will definitely be eliminated. It is necessary to rely on the worker movement at the grassroots level to strengthen the Party organization, consolidate the government, discover talents, and train cadres not only for the grassroots level but also for the trade union movement, for the whole country. Therefore, building grassroots trade unions is very important. Building upper-level trade unions, industry trade unions as well as local trade union union unions must be aimed at serving the activities of grassroots trade unions.

Dear comrades,

Since its inception, receiving the mission entrusted by the class and nation, the Communist Party of Vietnam has led the people to complete the sacred cause of national liberation, bringing the country forward on the path of civilization and happiness. Party leadership means working-class leadership, because the Party is the brain, the soul, the advisory body of the working-class. The relationship between the Party and the working-class is a flesh and blood relationship; and both the Party and the class are organically linked to the people, to the nation, all are a unified and strong body.

In the revolutionary journey that has passed, the Party has great faith and pride in the Vietnamese working class and the working class is also very proud and loves its pioneering Party. In the new stage of the revolution, the Party is determined to improve combat strength, maintain the revolutionary and scientific nature to fulfill the great duty before history, always worthy of the trust and love of the class and the nation. When the Party is strong, the working class will not stop growing; conversely, the more mature the class is, the more trained it is, the stronger and more steadfast the Party becomes. Along with the cause of industrialization of the country, the working class and the Trade Union organization will become a large and healthy contingent and will supplement the Party with new sources of vitality. The working class should consider it an honor; be even more worthy of the trust and love of the Party and the people!

This congress is a demonstration of the will and strength of the working class to strongly advance into the front of building socialism.

The results of the Congress must become a driving force to promote the emulation movement of the working class, promote new factors, exploit great potentials, overcome difficulties, eliminate negative phenomena, in order to well implement the important tasks outlined in the historical Resolution of the 4th Party Congress and the resolutions of the 2nd and 3rd Conferences of the Central Party, and fully implement the new Constitution and socialist Constitution of the whole country that our State will promulgate.

The Central Party Committee is confident that the working class will always be at the forefront in all revolutionary movements, making the most important contribution to successfully completing the 5-year plan for the second time (1976 - 1980).

All workers and laborers, please enthusiastically move forward to achieve the best achievements to celebrate our Party's 50th anniversary in 1980!

With that belief, I wish the Congress a great success!

Excerpt from the book "Vietnamese Trade Union from the 1st to the 10th Congress" by Lao Dong Publishing House.