UK researcher Kyril Whittaker offers incense in tribute to late President Hồ Chí Minh at the Vietnamese Embassy in London. VNA/VNS Photo

LONDON — President Hồ Chí Minh’s dedication to the Party and the people of Việt Nam as well as of the world striving for freedom, peace, independence, and socialism was boundless, said Kyril Whittaker, UK researcher of Vietnamese politics and history.

In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 134th birth anniversary of the late leader, Whittaker, who is also a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), said from a very young age, Hồ Chí Minh was aware of the brutal exploitation of the Vietnamese people at the hands of French colonialists and as he traveled the world trying to find a solution to Vietnamese independence, he became aware of the struggle of the working class and colonial peoples worldwide.

From his early days witnessing the brutal exploitation of Africans in French Dahomey and the vicious racism in the US, to his studies at the University of the Toilers of the East, he became a revolutionary fighter with a profound awareness of the struggles of not just the people of Việt Nam but also of the whole world, the researcher said.

The Vietnamese late leader stated in his article The Path Which Led Me to Leninism that through study and practical experience, step by step he saw that only socialism and communism could free the oppressed peoples of Việt Nam and the world. To this end, President Hồ Chí Minh dedicated his whole life to the Party and people of Việt Nam as well as the international struggle for peace and socialism.

According to Whittaker, regardless of whatever faced him, President Hồ Chí Minh kept fighting, and even in the worst of times, he would always struggle for others. Whilst in prison he would teach socialism, write letters of appeal for the illiterate, and help keep up other people’s spirits.

Whittaker cited his favourite poem written by President Hồ Chí Minh whilst in prison Listening to the Sound of Rice Pounding, saying that it encapsulates best the dauntless spirit of Hồ Chí Minh, a communist who always worked for the people and not for himself, who struggled on and maintained that hard work must be faced head-on and overcome.

To his very last days, President Hồ Chí Minh’s thoughts were of the people of Việt Nam, of national reunification, independence, freedom, peace, and socialism in Việt Nam and around the world, the researcher said.  

Commenting on the values of Hồ Chí Minh Ideology and Việt Nam’s application of it today, the UK researcher said the ideology is encapsulated in the policies of the Party and the State of Việt Nam.

It contributes to encouraging unity and laying the foundations for the Communist Party of Việt Nam and the State today, he said, noting that the application of Hồ Chí Minh Ideology is also reflected in the fight against corruption.

In terms of encouraging learning, President Hồ Chí Minh stated that learning is a lifelong continuous process, Whittaker said, noting that the Vietnamese State now encourages this learning in several ways, through its education system and various organisations linked to the State.

Concerning patriotism and proletarian internationalism, the Vietnamese State has developed the foreign policy of ‘Bamboo Diplomacy’, a concept based on the traits of bamboo prescribed by Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng as having ‘strong roots, sturdy stems, and flexible branches’, the researcher said.

Vietnamese foreign policy is based upon concrete values and positions which are unchangeable and lie with the Vietnamese State, namely its independence, socialism, peace and freedom such as the defence policy of ‘four no’s’, he said, adding that these ‘strong roots’ are alongside with being flexible and open to furthering its international partnerships and friendships around the world, promoting economic cooperation and scientific knowledge exchange.

The researcher said Việt Nam is firm on the path of building the socialist State and socialist people as stated by President Hồ Chí Minh: “To build socialism, we must first of all have socialists”. VNS