Emulation movement in the past and at present
Since President Ho Chi Minh's Call for Patriotic Emulation (June 11, 1948), the patriotic emulation movement has created legendary feats of arms in the two national protection wars, as well as enormous achievements in the renewal process. During the resistance war against American invaders, the emulation movement in fighting enemy was reflected intensively in both folk songs and modern proverbs, such as “No matter how the house and door would be broken/ Be determined to defeat the enemy, despite hardship, so as to be happy,” “As the truck is still stuck, no regret to dismantle the house,” and so on. Typical examples of the emulation movement, including “Dai Phong Wind,” “Duyen Hai Wave,” “Three-Best Miss” marked the peak periods of time and will forever be recorded in the national history serving as vivid evidence for the patriotism of the Vietnamese people.
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A worker of Viettel at work |
The emulation forms and approaches of the anti-French and anti-American times are still applied effectively at Garment Corporation 10. These include organizing visits to the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum for workers with outstanding achievements in production and business, organizing ceremonies for typical examples to report their achievements to Uncle Ho, commending good workers at the national flag saluting ceremonies at the beginning of every week, and commending the families of its workers with large achievements in studying, following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morals and working style.
Garment Corporation 10 is a leading enterprise in international integration while maintaining and developing “classic” emulation approaches. This is a very respectable thing. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, General Director of the corporation said, “What it has inherited from the patriotic emulation movement of the past time when it was a military garment workshop, or a state-owned company in the subsidy economy has made up a cultural identity of the business. Up to now, the first generation of workers of the business have kept telling stories that many of them wanted to make more products so they hid inside the workshop after the working hours to continue working through the night. They proudly told that every worker was working hard and seeking to improve their production to contribute more to the nation.”
If today’s life is a picture, that picture moves at a faster pace and is also more complex and colorful. For these reasons, some people no longer feel positive moves of the patriotic emulation movement. Some people even say that emulation today is only something formalistic. But they are completely wrong. Everyday, the People's Army Newspaper publishes a story about normal people who have written so many “fairy tales in the daily life.” These “fairy tales” writers include Professor, Doctor and “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” title holder Nguyen Anh Tri who has had a number of scientific studies benefiting the community; farmers who still live in difficulties but are ready to donate their gardens and land to extend the communal road; female teachers who have devote their youth to children in remote mountainous areas, and many others who commit themselves to the emulation movement to make life better other than to get honor or reward.
Healthy competition
The word “competition” in Vietnam has now been officially accepted as an objective phenomenon in the socialist-oriented market economy. Many Party resolutions have recognized that “competition” is an indispensable part of the market mechanism. These documents also stress, what is particularly important for Vietnam to develop sustainably is “to improve the competitiveness of the economy.”
Competition in the common sense is a contest or rivalry between two or more entities, in which they all want to win all or take a larger proportion. Competition exists naturally in a society or an economy with different components. But journalist Huu Tho, former head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission of Ideology and Culture, first pointed out the needed to clarify the concepts of emulation and competition in Vietnam. In the beginning of the 21st century, journalist Huu Tho once affirmed, “In the past, we did not know the concept of competition as that concept was not accepted. We used to think, competition was a state of existence in the capitalist society. Now, we accept competition, but are determined to create a healthy competitive environment for both social and economic development.”
In fact, healthy competition is always a dream of modern economists. The world has witnessed fierce competitions in free market economies. The law “The great fish eats the small” in the market economy makes small enterprises more vulnerable to bankruptcy, increases social inequalities and widen the gap between the rich and the poor. As enterprises in the market economy give the first and foremost priority to making profits, they brave the laws and social morality to get money by all means, which triggers “dirty money,” trade fraud, counterfeits, smuggling, tax evasion and so on. At present, economists in capitalist economies are trying to put forth a new concept of competition, known as “Competition carries a human face” with the aim of restoring the humanity and reducing the back side of the market mechanism. Unfortunately, the concept exists only at forums.
As soon as we realize both the positive and negative aspects of competition, we find the need to maintain and develop emulation movements at all levels, in all agencies, organizations and economic sectors. Many businesses in Vietnam now effectively combine emulation movements and healthy competition to create their comprehensive strengths for development.
The Military-Run Industry-Telecommunications Group (Viettel) is an example. Among military-run businesses, Viettel is a typical enterprise in emulation movements. When promoting international integration and expanding invest overseas, Viettel has also taken the lead in increasing its competitiveness in order to win over the “big” ones on the international market. From the early days of its establishment, Viettel has known how to “think different, do different” in its organizational apparatus and production and business approaches while always emphasizing “the tradition and nature of the revolutionary soldier.” Viettel has never revealed its know-how, but by observing it from outside one may realize that this enterprise knows how to awaken patriotism of its officers, soldiers and workers, encourage them to devote themselves to great goals for a “triangle of harmonious interests”: personal interests, interests of the business, and interests of the community and country.
Thus, it is clear that, in the transition period and in the current socialist-oriented market economy, if the emulation movement is under the sound leadership of the Party and good management of the State, it can still go along with healthy competition. On one hand, emulation aims to encourage all people to use their talent and energy to together achieve the best results at work and in study. On the other hand, competition encourages an individuals or/and organization to win the most, to get as much as possible without caring about any possible negative impacts on those operating in the same field. Meanwhile, to define “healthy competition,” a scientist says, competition in which people do not blow off the candles of others to shine can be considered “healthy.” In our country, as the Party has both experience and ability in organizing the patriotic emulation movement, we strongly believe that a healthy competitive environment can be built so everyone can shine.
Translated by Thu Nguyen