1919
According to a French intelligence report, Nguyen Ai Quoc received a letter from French newspaper L’Humanité and went to the office of La Dépêche Coloniale newspaper.
1945
In a letter to soldiers in southern and south central provinces, President Ho Chi Minh said: “In the past three months, you have sacrificed a lot to safeguard every inch of the country’s land. People in the northern and north-central regions and I feel a deep resentment against the French colonialists who have invaded our country and killed our people.
“But at the same time, the people and I have been excited to hear news of victories from you. We have been touched by the soldiers’ sacrifices on battlefields. I believe that with such brave soldiers and people’s unity, our country will never again fall in the hands of foreign invaders.
“You soldiers on the front line will never be left alone for behind you is a huge force of people who are ready to support you. A final victory will surely come to us soon.”
1954
In an interview to Regards, which was published in Nhan Dan (The People), President Ho Chi Minh said: “We try our best to claim peace, independence, democracy, and unification for our country … We want to set up an economic and cultural relationship with France on the basis of equality, sincerity, mutual trust, and mutual interest.”
1958
The President attended the first National Assembly’s ninth session, which passed a resolution asking the Government to draft a bill on marriage and family and submit it to the house for approval.
While awaiting the bill, the Government was asked to take measures to deal with some emerging marriage and family problems.
December 1958
In “Revolutionary virtues” published in Hoc Tap (Studying) newspaper, the President said: “We learn Marxism-Leninism to know how to treat everything and everybody in a proper manner and how to apply its theories to the country in a creative manner. We must learn and practice it. Theory must go hand in hand with practice.
“There are some people who claim that they are imbued with Marxism-Leninism but fail to apply it in resolving actual problems. Their words and actions do not match since they have learnt the doctrines for form’s sake, not for applying them to actual revolutionary activities … Revolutionary virtues should not be taken for granted but must be built day by day …”
To emphasize the need for building revolutionary virtues, the President cited a proverb: “A pearl needs to be polished to be shining; gold needs to be refined to be pure.”
By Duong Trung Quoc* and his assistants
*The author is a historian and member of the National Assembly
