Communist Review - Profoundly imbued with emotional intimacy, I would like discuss the following issues with leaders and staff of the Communist Review

Firstly: Continuing to gain deeper insight into the role, functions and duties of the Communist Review.

It is necessary to repeatedly reaffirm this issue due to the fact that not all of us have been instilled, and gained deep insight into the role, functions and duties of the Communist Review. When I was working for the Journal, some comrades – even a Deputy Editor-in-Chief, who had been working there for long admitted that they did not fully grasp the Journal’s functions and duties. This is not an exaggeration. Just taking a few common examples like whether an article can be published in the Communist Review or its content might suit another journal; or what publications the journal should have, etc. The opinions are varied. Recently, I have constantly reminded that each individual, agency or unit has to “fulfill their political role” and “fully grasp their assigned tasks” given the reality. To comprehend and follow the above motto is not an easy task. So, what does it mean? It means that each individual, agency or unit has to perform its primary roles and functions, master and strictly comply with principles and regulations, avoid encroachment upon others’ tasks while their own particular responsibility is ignored or not fulfilled.

So what are the Communist Review’s roles, functions and duties? The Politburo’s Decisions and Directives clearly state: “The Communist Review is the theoretical and political agency of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam”. That is to say, the Communist Review, a journal of theory and politics, is the single one of the Party’s Central Committee. This is neither a daily newspaper nor a typical theoretical journal. At present, there are more than 700 press agencies nationwide, among which are more than 450 journals. However, none of those but the Communist Review is the journal of the Party’s Central Committee. Founded by Uncle Ho, the Journal’s first volume was published only a few months after the Communist Party of Viet Nam was born. In its early stage, most of the Party’s General Secretaries were concurrently the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief.

When it comes to theoretical works, there are theoretical research, education and dissemination. Many institutions conduct theoretical research; the Party’s schools and some political ones provide theoretical education; and all revolutionary newspapers play their part in theory dissemination. A journal of theory and politics must take all of the responsibilities namely theoretical research, education and dissemination. Therefore, the Communist Review’s editorial board must be involved in doing research, providing theoretical education and disseminating theory. The more research is done, the more writing and editing competency improves. Writing articles aims at disseminating theory as well as educating and improving the level of theoretical knowledge. As proved to be so challenging, working in the Communist Review requires a range of skills in researching, writing and conveying theoretical knowledge. Theorizing is inherently hard, political theorizing is even harder. Differing from scholastic and academic reasoning, political theorizing is associated with the political line and interrelates closely with politics. Also, Comrade Truong Chinh and Comrade To Huu used to advise and remind this multiple times in the past. On its 40th anniversary in December 1995, Comrade Dao Duy Tung, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, presented the Journal a celebration canvas and said: “The Communist Review must be the flag of political theorizing on the Party’s ideological frontline.”

Accordingly, I hope that whatever task you do must be based on the Journal’s functions and duties, especially in the current period. Please note that, the attraction of the Communist Review is not found in daily news, but in its profound theorizing, persuasion, correctness, and logic of every single argument and article. Politics and theorization is the soul of the Journal, which tends to bring the Party’s guideline to life in a logical and lively way suiting the Journal’s readers who are majorly leaders, managers from middle to high ranking and have a certain level of theorizing. Certainly, the level of literacy, theory, and education among grassroots cadres in Viet Nam has been recently improved, making them the Journal’s target readers. Readers of the Journal are also world-class theorists. In short, the Communist Review’s readers are very distinctive. Due to the fact that the Communist Review is not a popular journal, many people often tie it with the nick names of “long range cannon” or “heavy weapon”.

Secondly: notable achievements and suggestions

The Communist Review has a rich history and a glorious tradition which dated back to the Red Journal (first volume published on August 5, 1930), the Communist Review (1931), the Bolshevists Journal (1934), the Communist Review (1941), the Communist Review (1943), the Journal of Internal Activities (1947) and the Communist Review (1950). After peace was restored in the North, the Journal of Study was released in December 1955 and published monthly. From January 5, 1977, the Journal of Study was renamed the Communist Review and has been regularly published to this day. In the South, the Central Office for South Viet Nam published the Journal of Research and the Tien Phong Journal during the resistance war against the French Colonialists and American Imperialists respectively. Thus, with a history of over 82 years of operation and development, the Communist Review is currently the oldest journal in Viet Nam. On my visit today, I am delighted to see that the Communist Review has experienced a giant step forward, particularly during Doi Moi period.

So great are the Journal’s achievements, that we ourselves – the insiders, not to mention the outsiders, have not seen them all. Since the period of resistance war or even after peace was restored, the Communist Review has never had such a spacious office as today. Also, the Journal’s staff has never been as large and professionally trained as today. In spite of the fact that many former staff of the Journal did not have the opportunities to study and weren’t well-trained, they were professionally competent thanks to their self-studying and enthusiasm for the Party’s political theorizing cause. At present, the Journal owns 15 department-level units, resident offices in the South, the Central and the Central Highlands, a representative office in Can Tho, and four publications. When I was working for the Journal, there were only one publication called the Communist Review and a Journal of the Issues on Peace and Socialism (which was translated from foreign languages). Currently, the Editorial Board has seven members. There was a time when it only had one Editor-in-Chief, one Deputy Editor-in-Chief and one Editorial Commissioner. Working conditions of our staff at that time were really poor. Most of the time we travelled by bike to different places from Ha Noi to Thai Nguyen, Hoa Binh, even as far as Vinh Linh for documentation. At war time, many comrades were cycling, avoiding bombs and falling asleep at the same time.  Spending months in the locality, we could write one article only. In comparison to the past, it is absolutely delightful that we have taken such a long step forward in all aspects.

Over the last year, based on the report of the Journal’s Editorial Board and my observation, I see that you always uphold the glorious tradition of the Communist Review. The Journal has undergone various changes and still kept innovating. Particularly, the Journal has closely adhered to the Resolution of the Party’s 11^th National Congress, and issued a series of fairly systematic political topics. I once suggested leaders of the Journal focus on key topics such as eight basic relationships, new and core contents in the Documents of the Party’s 11^th National Congress. There is a wide range of issues that the Journal can exploit for publicizing. The Journal has closely followed up on the Central’s working schedule to determine the plan for editing, organizing seminars, scientific workshops, providing documents, and contributing ideas to the Central Committee. Before the Central Committee convenes, the Journal holds seminars and workshops on the issues that the Central Committee will discuss. After the Central Committee concludes and issues Resolutions, the Journal re-organizes seminars and workshops to clarify the scientific, theoretical and practical basis of the Central Committee’s decisions. This approach is warmly applauded. Over the past 18 months, 10 seminars and 6 scientific workshops have been organized, which shows your very hard work and dynamism. By means of these activities, the Journal has contributed to the Party’s overall achievements in the work of theorizing and to the cause of national renovation. Today, visiting and working with the Journal, on behalf of the Politburo and the Secretariat, I would like to wholeheartedly praise, warmly congratulate and acknowledge the contribution of all cadres, officials and collaborators of the Communist Review!

Regarding my suggestions, a number of points can be put forward. The limitations of the Journal were specifically mentioned in the report by the Editor-in-Chief and in the statements of the delegates attending this meeting, among which are limited theoretical nature, combating strength, and practicality. We have to face unpleasant truths and fiercely self-criticize in order to learn from our shortcomings. The theorizing cause is proved to be extremely challenging and requires hard work. As far as I remember when visiting the Communist Review, such comrades as Truong Chinh, Le Duan, Pham Van Dong, Vo Nguyen Giap, Nguyen Chi Thanh, etc., all said: Writing an article is demanding, writing one on political theory is even more demanding. You are silent but heroic warriors. Learning to write takes time. Articles that are written within days are probably in favor of quantity instead of quality. The articles that are based mainly on “editing” or “modifying” reports from localities cannot be the ones of high quality!

Thirdly: Direction and upcoming tasks of the Journal.

On agreeing with the report of the Editorial Board, I only highlight and clarify some particular issues. First of all, it must be seen that our upcoming tasks are difficult and laborious. The situation, at both national and international scale, is evolving in a complicated and unpredictable way. Unexpected developments are not rare. In such a context, how can theory fulfill its role to lead, orient, or forecast? Or is the work of theorizing just like “the clown chasing after the three-horse carriage”? It is evident that practice is vast and rich; hence, unless theorizing is developed adaptively, theory will always be the runner-up.

Despite the fact that a number of issues were still subjects of ongoing debates and further research needs to be done, the Party’s 11^th National Congress reached a high consensus on the basic views and guidelines highlighted in the Platform for National Construction in the transitional period towards socialism (supplemented, developed 2011), in the Socio – Economic Development Strategy in the period of 2011 - 2020 and other documents of the Congress. Those have been an important starting point for us to perform, then to review, supplement and develop through practice. Through studying the Party’s 11^th National Congress, you should be able to systemize its new points. Economically, one point of great significance is to “restructure the economy in association with growth model innovation.” Short as it was, the guideline has posed a variety of questions to be explained and answered. Or, about the three strategic breakthroughs; from international economic integration to international integration, the strategy has also raised problems that need studying and clarifying. Moreover, whether it is “active, positive” or “positive, active” international integration; whether it is “object” or “partner”? Who, when, in which circumstance to call “object” or “partner”. Or what is the nature of the public debt crisis in Europe, and the “color revolutions” in North Africa, the Middle East? What do these events indicate? etc. Recently, when visiting Cuba, I gave a speech at Nicole Lopez – a high ranking school of the Cuban Communist Party at their request. There, I presented the Viet Nam Communist Party’s theoretical views on the path to socialism and the practice of socialism building in Viet Nam, which won spontaneous applause. Why did they approve? Probably because I mentioned the key things with which they have been struggling. As far as I know, the leaders of the China’s Communist Party, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, the Japanese Communist Party all expressed their support and appreciation for the theoretical views of the Viet Nam’s Communist Party.

Viet Nam’s Doi Moi has represented impressive historic achievements, and to some extent, so has the theorizing. As one might expect, there still exist many issues that need further research and discussion. We should avoid subjectivism and take precautions of all hostile forces that attack as well as distort the guideline and platform of the Communist Party of Viet Nam. Being considered as the theoretical and political agency of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, also known as the “spokesman” of the Party, the Communist Review must strive harder in researching and publicizing the Party’s platform and guidelines. Additionally, the Journal must constantly improve its strength in theorizing and criticizing; enhance content quality and publication forms, particularly those published bi-monthly; better its theoretical research and practical summary; promote internal and external activities; train and educate its staff as well as its team of collaborators.

In terms of content, the Communist Review must bear in mind its political responsibilities; adhere to the Party’s Platforms and Strategies, guidelines and viewpoints in order to further research, publicize, and bring them to life. At the same time, the Journal staff must make practice-based theoretical summaries, contributing to the development the Party’s guidelines and policies; proactively rectify misperceptions, as well as actively criticize and reject wrong viewpoints. To that end, the Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee, 11^th Tenure on “Some urgent issues on the current Party building” should be implemented. On that basis, each individual must carry out self-assessment on political ideology to figure out whether it is steadfast or negatively affected by anything or if there exists ideological and moral degradation, which is suggested to be done in an enthusiastic and determined manner.  In order to implement the Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee, 11^th Tenure, I recommend that the Communist Review should plan a more comprehensive schedule focusing on disseminating the Party’s guidelines and policies in a more orderly and systematic manner. There should be more practice-based and evidence-based articles, not those “journalizing” reports from localities or branches. In my time, doing an investigation or research took much time and effort. As I could recall, in order to write a complete investigation article, the Chief of the then Journal’s Economic Department led his staff to localities and stayed there for months, conducting research on agricultural production. Also, the section of research – discussion should be further strengthened. This section, known as a forum for exchange of views toward perception and action, has been particularly welcomed by the audience since its birth. It, however, should be noticed that this section is designed to further clarify the Party’s guidelines and platform.

As a soldier of the Communist Party of Viet Nam on the ideological and theoretical front, the Communist Review is obliged to assist the Party in publicizing as well as defending its platform and guidelines, fighting against erroneous views, negativities and corruption. In fact, this task has neither been performed adequately nor met the requirements. The column “Ideological Forum” (originally known as “Party Activities”) was gladly received by readers. Articles for this column are usually short, but difficult to write. Therefore, experienced writers should be invited as a means to criticize the negativities.

Additionally, there should be more articles sharing experience of localities and foreign countries, which are now purely informative. How have communist movements in Latin America or in Europe evolved? How about the Japanese Communist Party? What new theory has China been developing? The Communist Review should conduct research with more theoretical content to answer the above-mentioned questions. Issues, including critical assessments on global communist movements and global capitalism after the public debt crisis, have been recently assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs. I understand that this task is demanding, but I hope that with the available conditions the Journal can successfully fulfill it.

In terms of publication forms, the Communist Review should aim at vibrancy, diversity and attractiveness. During the period of Doi Moi, the Journal decrease its publication time, from one 30 to 20 days per volume, and then two and three volumes a month. At present, the Communist Review has as many as 4 publications with 8 volumes published monthly (Communist Review on the 1^st; Communist Review – Symposium on the 16^th; weekly Special Volume on Event Archives; and fortnightly Electronic Communist Review). These examples show innovations in the forms of publication. However, as I mentioned above, the Communist Review should focus on fulfilling its primary responsibilities and avoiding those of other press agencies.

In such digital age like today, special attention should be drawn on the Electronic Communist Review. As a matter of fact, people now spend more time reading online articles than those in printed format. On my visit to Nhan Dan newspaper this morning, I also highlighted that trend. The Journal should focus on quality assurance of the publications, in which editing has an important role to play. When he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Comrade Truong Chinh often instructed and asked editors to work with care. He himself was a meticulous man; he always paid special attention on correcting every punctuation mark, every capital or lowercase word. Now, it seems to me that we do not act in the same manner and are somehow sloppy or careless. I, therefore, suggest that all reporters and editorial staff of the Journal develop such habit of meticulousness since our Journal is considered as press norms. Errors should not be viewed as technical ones, because sometimes “one false step leads to another”. We have had many lessons in this.

Regarding the article organization, as I mentioned above, a high quality article requires elaboration, meticulousness and labour. It is the case of articles written by both the Journal’s staff and collaborators. When exchanging experience on writing articles, many senior writers shared that at times they outlined the article, then went on doing more research before writing, and then only finalized after months. In various cases, it is necessary to run seminars and invite experts to review and co-author. Hence, there used to be a pseudonym of “Nguyen Viet Chung” (i.e. many people co-authoring one article).

An important part of article organization is the team of collaborators. In fact, over three quarters of the published articles are written by collaborators; as a result, collaboration work should be done carefully. Accordingly, how to mobilize or harness the power of the collaborators is the key to the Communist Review’s success. Moreover, the Journal is for the entire Party. The Journal should proactively raise issues and invite authors to discuss, place an order for an article – even a year or more in advance. Without preparation and time allowance, authors might be reluctant to cooperate, not to mention the substandard quality of articles. Also, inviting contributors to collaborate on writing articles must be well mannered. For high ranking officials, the Editorial Board should show respect by sending letters of invitation with specific orders placed. If done less considerately, through a phone call for example, the chance to obtain articles might be minimized. The Journal has to play an active part in organizing articles since those comrades are all busy with tons of work. Do you agree?

Regarding scientific research, I think, this activity in the Communist Review contributes to editing and organizing articles. The Journal should not put too much emphasis on the national research projects due of its limited qualified workforce. It is great if you can, but distraction might result in undermining the Journal’s ability to do its main tasks – writing and organizing articles. We have a huge advantage that there are now a large number of research institutions. Notably, the Central Theoretical Council is now conducting more than thirty state-level research projects. The Communist Review should make way to refine and harness the results of those studies to organize articles for the Journal. Then, the Journal should have a plan to promote a contingent of collaborators who are reputed scientists, professors, doctors, many of whom are still enthusiastic during their retirement. The problem is how to organize and attract those intellectuals. The Journal should set up a mechanism to attract the “brainpower” of this group, provide them information, develop editing plans, and invite them to collaborate with special royalty payments granted for scientific articles of outstanding quality.

There is one more thing I want to emphasize. Fulfilling the Journal’s functions and duties successfully requires two conditions: Firstly, the Journal’s staff should be passionate about their jobs, particularly, put their articles under full consideration. As an old proverb says “what goes around comes around”, no quality article is written without hard work, constant struggle and serious responsibility. Secondly, the Journal should create favorable conditions for its staff to demonstrate their ability, competence and skills. The Journal’s Editorial Board should make extra efforts. Also, the Government, ministries, departments, and branches should support the Journal in staff development as well as in Party-building. As we can see, our perspectives, logic of theorizing, and political beliefs are demonstrated through our writings. The Communist Review’s officials, reporters, editors must have a firm ideological stance, clear political views, and absolute trust in the Party’s Platform, guidelines, leadership, and the path to the socialism. At the same time, they should acquire a certain level of knowledge and theorizing, which are essential to win over the audience. In short, it is a very difficult task which requires collective care and fostering, as well as individual effort.

There are a few more issues I want to discuss, but unfortunately time is limited. Sharing the same purpose in making the Journal of the Communist Party of Viet Nam more successful, hopefully we will have more discussion in the time to come. I hope and believe that, all of you will always uphold and promote the glorious tradition of the Journal as the theoretical and political agency of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.

May the Communist Review be the ideological flag of the Communist Party of Viet Nam! Wish you and your family health, happiness and success. Also, may I extend my sincere regards to generations of officials and employees of the Journal! ./.

* Excerpted from the Speech by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on his working visit to the Editorial Board of the Communist Review, June 9, 2012, published in the Communist Review No. 837 (July  2012)

This article was published in the Communist Review, No. 947 (August 2020)