Leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam over the Viet Nam People’s Army

(Bqp.vn) - The CPV exercises the absolute, direct and all-round leadership over the VPA. The CPV’s leadership of the VPA is centrally uniform on the Party Central Committee, and constantly and directly under the Politburo and Secretariat through a system of Party organisations, command organisations and political organisations and political cadres at various levels, and public mass organisations in the military grass-roots units.

The system of Party organisations in the VPA is organised from the Central Military Commission (CMC) to grass-roots organisations and works in the line of the political platform, Party Regulation, resolutions and instructions, and the State's laws. The CMC is appointed by the Politburo, including some members of the Party Central Committee within the VPA and others outside the VPA. The General Secretary of the Party Central Committee is the Chairman of the CMC. Party committees (from the CMC's Party organisations to grass-roots Party cells) are elected by their corresponding Party congresses.

The CMC makes recommendations to the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and Secretariat on military and national defence guidelines and tasks, exercises all-round leadership over the VPA in all areas and coordinates and instructs Party committees directly under the Party Central Committee to implement the CPV's lines, the State's laws and policies, the CMC's military and national defence resolutions and instructions. The CMC executes the direct leadership over the building of the VPA and all-people national defence, and the improvement of quality and efficiency of the Party and political work to maintain and promote the CPV’s leadership over the VPA. The CMC complies with the mechanism of collective decisions on major issues, namely guidelines, programmes, and implementation plans of the CPV’s directives, resolutions, and measures to build the military as well as personnel work. The CMC leads the General Political Department and through the General Political Department to exercise its leadership over Party committees and the system of political organisations, political commissars and junior political commissars at all levels with regard to the Party and political work in order to make the VPA strong in politics, ideology and organisation, capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks.

The system of political organisations in the VPA is composed of the General Political Department and its subordinate political units. The General Political Department takes charge of the Party and political work in the VPA, operating under the leadership of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat, particularly under the direct and constant leadership of the CMC. Based on resolutions and directives of the Party Central Committee, Politburo, Party Central Committee's Secretariat and guidance and instructions of the Central commissions, the General Political Department searches for and recommends the CMC for the decisions on guidelines and execution of the Party and political work in the VPA. Guided by resolutions of the CMC and orders of the Minister of National Defence, the General Political Department determines action plans for the Party and political work to direct, instruct and inspect all the VPA's units for their performance of that work.

The General Political Department directs, instructs and inspects all units in the VPA to conduct the work of Party building, personnel, political propaganda and ideological education, military security, policy and mass mobilisation in the VPA. It also coordinates with functional military and non-military bodies to seek and make recommendations to the CPV and State on the policies regarding the VPA, the Militia and Self-Defence Force and welfare policies for military families. The General Political Department directs and instructs to build and consolidate organisation and operation of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Trade Union, Women's Union, coordinating with the Party and Central organisations and State functional bodies for an effective direction and instruction of the Party and political work carried out by localities, ministries and Central commissions in the realisation of defence and military missions, as well as the building of the Militia and Self-Defence Force and the Reserve. The General Political Department coordinates with related branches to check, inspect and supervise the implementation of the investigation and judicial work in the military. It also directs and participates in theoretical research and performance reviews of the Party and political work in the VPA and the Militia and Self-Defence Force. The General Political Department conducts research and development of military social sciences and humanities, and participates in research on Vietnamese military art and science.

Political organisations in the VPA take charge of conducting the cultivation and education of the CPV's guidelines and directions, the State's laws and policies, directing and instructing units to build pure and sound Party organisations and cells as well as carrying out anti-psychological warfare measures on the ideological and political front to denounce vice and false ideological expressions and allegations of hostile forces. They coordinate with local Party committees, authorities and public mass organisations in educating and mobilising people to fulfil their duties of defending the Homeland.

There are political commissars and political units from regiment to military region level and their equivalents. Units from company to battalion level and their equivalents have junior political commissars. The political commissars and junior political commissars are responsible to their superiors and Party committees for the entire Party and political work of their units, for directly guiding, organising and executing the Party and political work as regulated, and for participating in the development and implementation of their units' work plans.

Commanders, political commissars and junior political commissars are assigned by the CPV, State and the VPA certain authority and responsibilities within concerned areas and are held accountable before law, the Party committees, commanders, political units, their political commissars and junior political commissars at higher levels and their Party committees for all the activities of their units according to the assigned areas of responsibility and tasks, strictly obeying their Party committees' leadership.

Commanders are responsible for complying with and seriously implementing the superiors' orders and instructions, as well as resolutions of their units' Party committees on all activities of their units. In the implementation of their tasks, the commanders have to report to their Party committees on the tasks assigned and propose the guidelines and measures of leadership for the Party committee to discuss and make decisions. When an emergency situation arises, the commanders determine and make timely decisions to fulfil the task, and then report and stand accountable before their superiors and Party committees.

The relations between political commissars (junior political commissars) and commanders are relationships of work coordination. Political commissars (junior political commissars) and commanders must proactively and closely work together in the spirit of solidarity, unity, reliability, respect, and mutual assistance for task accomplishment. Together they must give their mind to the building of pure and sound Party organisations and comprehensively strong units. They have to timely inform and discuss with each other on the resolutions, orders and instructions assigned by their superiors, make joint assessment of situation and propose guidelines and measures of leadership for the Party committees or standing Party committees to make decisions. They also have to build action plans and delegate work and responsibilities for implementing and inspecting the execution of resolutions of Party organisations and units.