Article "Practicing thrift" by General Secretary To Lam

General Secretary To Lam stated that in order to bring the country firmly into a new era, the entire Party, people and army must strive to practice thrift and fight waste.

Illustration photo. (Source: Vietnam+)

Vietnam News Agency respectfully introduces the article "Practicing thrift" by General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam.

TO LAM
General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam

Saving and anti-waste are two organically linked elements, two pillars to prosperity and wealth for the whole family, country and society.

Practicing thrift and fighting waste is something that needs to be done in the lives of each individual and the whole society, and is the “cornerstone” that contributes to building a civilized and sustainably developed society. It must be a common responsibility and needs to become a way of life and a daily culture for each of us.

Vietnamese culture is a culture associated with the promotion of a frugal and simple lifestyle. Since then, the practice of thrift among Vietnamese people has been summarized in folk songs and proverbs, passed down from generation to generation[1], such as " Eat smart to be full, dress smart to be warm", "Better to save less than waste" , " Don't leave your fields fallow/Every inch of land is worth an inch of gold"; "Don't neglect corn and potatoes when the harvest is good/When the harvest fails, who will be your companion"; "Eat in moderation, use wisely"; "Save money in advance/In case of need, don't bother anyone"...

President Ho Chi Minh - the Teacher of the Vietnamese revolution is a shining example of practicing thrift.

President Ho Chi Minh. (Photo: VNA)

Immediately after leading the successful August Revolution, facing the threat of famine, illiteracy, and foreign invaders, at the first meeting of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam held on September 3, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh raised 6 urgent issues, in which he especially emphasized the launching of a movement to increase production and savings to fight hunger and build the country.

Uncle Ho has repeatedly explained clearly about thrift so that everyone can understand correctly and practice it well: “What is thrift? It is saving, not being extravagant, not wasteful, not being indiscriminate…; Thrift is not stingy. When it is not advisable to spend, then not even a penny should be spent. When there is something worth doing, something that is beneficial to the people, to the Fatherland, then no matter how much effort or money is spent, one should be happy. That is true thrift. Thrift must resolutely fight against luxury… Therefore, luxury is a sin against the fatherland, against the people” [2] . Uncle considered thrift an important art of social life. He emphasized the need to save labor: “one person does the work of two or three people” [3] ; Save time: “ Work must be on time, do not come late, leave early. Work quickly, thoroughly. Each day's work should be finished that day, do not wait until tomorrow. Remember: People have used their sweat and tears to pay us during those hours. Anyone who is lazy is deceiving the people” [4] . Uncle Ho asked the Government to save money, save people's strength, save the blood of soldiers, officers and people: “We must know how to appreciate human strength as our most valuable asset. We need to wholeheartedly take care of the health and use the labor of our people reasonably” [5] , “When wealth is gone, we can make more; time passes, time comes again. But soldiers sacrifice blood and bones, sometimes even their lives” [6] , so “we must preserve every drop of blood of our compatriots to build the future of the Fatherland” [7] . Or, be economical with words: “say less, do more” [8] , “start with action” [9] .

During the revolutionary stages, our Party and State paid special attention to the issue of practicing thrift, considering it a top national policy. During the war, under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, with the example set by Uncle Ho, cadres and Party members, spending reasonably and practicing thrift, every citizen tightened their belts, fasted, and sacrificed all personal material interests to concentrate on the front line, helping to concentrate resources to liberate the country.

Entering the period of innovation, our Party has had many policies and issued many Directives on this issue, such as Directive No. 21-CT/TW, dated December 21, 2012 of the Secretariat of the 11th tenure on promoting thrift practice and combating waste; Directive No. 27-CT/TW, dated December 25, 2023 of the 13th tenure Politburo on strengthening the Party's leadership in the work of practicing thrift and combating waste; Directive No. 42-CT/TW dated January 16, 2025 of the 13th tenure Politburo on strengthening the Party's leadership in the work of educating on thrift, integrity, uprightness, impartiality and selflessness; Directive No. 05-CT/TW, dated May 15, 2016 of the Politburo on promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style clearly defining "Organizing study, thoroughly grasping and propagating extensively...   Ho Chi Minh's viewpoints and moral examples on:…. diligence, thrift, integrity, uprightness, impartiality and selflessness" ; Regulation No. 37-QD/TW, dated October 25, 2021 of the Central Executive Committee on things that party members are not allowed to do, not allowing party members to "Organize weddings, funerals and other personal and family events that are lavish, wasteful or for profit purposes".

General Secretary To Lam. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

Institutionalizing the Party's policy, the Standing Committee of the 10th National Assembly issued the Ordinance on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness in 1998; which was upgraded to the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness by the 11th National Assembly in 2005 and amended and supplemented by the 13th National Assembly to issue the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness in 2013; the 2013 Constitution also stipulates that "Agencies, organizations and individuals must practice thrift, combat waste, and prevent and combat corruption in socio-economic activities and state management" (Article 56); annually and periodically, the Government issues a comprehensive program on practicing thrift and combating waste.

Implementing the Party's policies and the State's laws and policies, practicing thrift throughout the Party, people and army, we have achieved many positive results.

Organizations and individuals, especially cadres and party members, have focused on implementing savings in regular spending, enhancing the role of leaders in practicing savings. Some agencies and units, when organizing congresses or anniversaries, have issued written notices to “practice savings, do not accept congratulatory flowers .”

Many review and summary conferences have been organized by all levels and sectors in a concise, simple, time-saving manner, without using paper documents, and organized online meetings to save costs.

The use of shared vehicles for senior officials on business trips has also been implemented in many places. The situation of abandoned land and “suspended” planning has been gradually resolved. The management and use of working headquarters have basically been carried out in accordance with the purpose, norms and standards.

Many businesses have strengthened the management of norms related to production costs, especially indirect costs, to lower product prices; cut production and business costs, and strengthened the management of consumption norms to improve production and business efficiency.

In particular, from the end of 2024 to present, implementing the conclusions of the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat have led and directed the basic completion of the arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus of the Party, Government, National Assembly and Fatherland Front agencies at the central and local levels; thereby reducing focal points, saving costs, creating conditions for the immediate implementation of the policy of exempting and reducing tuition fees for students.

In addition, according to preliminary calculations, when implementing the policy that the 11th Central Conference of the 13th tenure agreed on merging provinces, not organizing district level and merging commune level, only saving annual regular expenses.

According to preliminary calculations, the savings in regular expenditures of the State Budget in the period of 2025-2030 is more than 20,000 billion VND/year; from 2030 onwards, each year will save over 30,000 billion VND. That is, we have not calculated the specific value of more than 18,500 headquarters of agencies and units that no longer have the function of "office" when implementing the two-level local government model.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the first meeting of the Steering Committee for Waste Prevention and Control. (Source: VNA)

Besides the results, the practice of saving still has many shortcomings, limitations, and very low efficiency. Saving policies and strategies have not really been effective; waste and loss of assets and state budget have been and are happening on a large scale, causing many serious consequences.

Practicing thrift has not become a regular habit; thrift has not become a permanent awareness of a part of cadres, party members, civil servants, public employees and people.

Waste does not only exist in state agencies but also in the social activities of the people. The trend of using foreign goods, luxury goods, branded goods, giving gifts with great value; the mentality of enjoyment of a part of the people, especially the young, while the average income of the whole country has just surpassed the average income threshold, low labor productivity... are worrying manifestations of the practice of saving.

Besides cadres and party members who always uphold the Party spirit, set good examples, take the lead in practicing thrift, fighting waste, have a high sense of responsibility in managing, using, and saving public assets, and do not fall into the "vortex" of power, money, luxury, and enjoyment... there are still a number of cadres and party members, including leaders, who lack a sense of responsibility, enjoy life, and love material things, causing loss of funds and assets, waste in consumption, and use of public funds for personal spending and interest groups.

The main cause of the above-mentioned shortcomings and limitations is due to the low sense of responsibility and determination of some agencies, organizations and individuals, which is not regular and lacks determination; the policies, regulations and rules are not complete, clear and have many loopholes.

Practicing thrift and combating waste is sometimes formal and perfunctory. Some ministries, sectors and localities have not been truly proactive in developing solutions to implement thrift practice and combat waste in the fields and scopes assigned to them for management.

The law on practicing thrift and combating waste has not really been put into practice, the regulations are still general, leading to a lack of effective mechanisms and measures in implementation.

The program of practicing thrift and fighting waste is still formal, not yet applied to the real life of each agency, unit, locality, family and individual, and has not yet set out specific goals, targets and evaluation criteria.

Many wastes and violations have been discovered but have been slow to be handled; there has been no timely recognition or reward for those who practice thrift or detect waste, leading to poor compliance with the law. Inspection and examination of thrift practice and waste prevention at all levels and sectors have not been very effective.

The 11th Central Conference of the 13th tenure has highly agreed on historic decisions, including continuing to reorganize the political system, merging some provinces, not organizing at the district level, merging communes, creating the premise for fundamental changes in the practice of thrift in our country in the new period.

To achieve the highest requirements in the new revolutionary stage agreed upon by the 11th Central Conference, which are “high-quality development, rapid development and sustainable development”, “proactive, self-reliant and autonomous in development” to achieve the highest goal of “ stabilizing, developing and improving people's lives” , successfully implementing the two 100-year goals, along with arranging a streamlined, strong, efficient, effective and efficient apparatus, it is necessary to focus on implementing well a number of issues, as follows:

The first,   Unifying awareness, practicing thrift, and fighting waste is one of the most fundamental solutions for the country to overcome all storms in the context of the international situation with many fluctuations, directly and multi-faceted impacts on socio-economic development and ensuring social security .

Historical facts have proven that thrift is one of the key factors that create great potential for our entire Party, people and army, despite being an economically poor country with difficult material lives for the people, even in the context of "famine", we still "tighten our belts", focus on the resistance, save rice for the battlefield and defeat the powerful colonialists and imperialists, liberate the nation and unify the country.

General Secretary To Lam delivers the closing speech at the 11th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

In the face of new difficulties and challenges, with the tradition of resilience and indomitability, with the unity of the entire political system and the entire population, promoting the practice of thrift and fighting waste will create a source of endogenous strength, a great internal force to promote the sustainable development of the economy, helping the country move forward steadily, achieve strategic goals, and at the same time take better care of people's lives.

Therefore, all citizens, agencies, units, organizations and enterprises need to have specific plans and rationalize revenue and expenditure; cadres and party members, especially leaders and managers, must be exemplary and mobilize their families and people to actively participate; all sectors, all occupations, all households and all people must promote production and business, improve productivity, quality and efficiency of production and labor, thoroughly practice thrift, and minimize waste of time, money, property and effort.

Second, strongly implement fundamental solutions to create substantial changes in practicing thrift and fighting waste .

The focus is: (i) Focus on perfecting institutions, creating a basis for thoroughly overcoming waste caused by institutions, removing barriers, difficulties, and obstacles that hinder development, clearing bottlenecks to create a foundation for development, especially issues related to bidding, budget, public investment, private economy, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and the Revolution in streamlining and streamlining the apparatus of the political system. Early research, amendment and supplementation of the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness, creating a comprehensive and solid political and legal basis for practicing thrift in all sectors, all professions, all cadres, party members and people.

(ii) Minimize administrative procedures and compliance costs, create the greatest convenience for people and businesses; switch from pre-inspection to post-inspection, eliminate the "request-grant" mechanism; decentralize and delegate authority to competent agencies and localities to resolve and take responsibility. By 2025, ensure that 100% of administrative procedures related to businesses are performed online, smoothly and effectively; 100% of administrative procedures are not limited by provincial administrative boundaries.

(iii) After arranging the organization of the political system to be lean, compact, and strong, in order to operate effectively, efficiently, and effectively, the most fundamental factor is to focus on building a team of cadres with the right knowledge, skills, and working attitudes to achieve the highest efficiency in each field they are responsible for. In particular, management skills, task execution; passion, enthusiasm, and responsibility in each job, each assigned task; standard culture in communication, behavior, proactive awareness of saving... are requirements for cadres in the new organization.

(iv) Tighten discipline in financial and budget management and use; practice thrift, combat waste, effectively use state financial resources in conjunction with mobilizing social resources and streamlining the apparatus. Strengthen management and use of public assets, ensure compliance with standards, norms, regimes and requirements of tasks, focus on arranging and handling assets, especially houses and land in conjunction with streamlining the apparatus. Resolutely and thoroughly save on unnecessary expenditures to ensure resources for natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control, supplement development investment capital and economic development; strive to further increase the rate of breakthrough expenditures for science and technology development, innovation, national digital transformation, and support for private economic development.

General Secretary To Lam delivers the closing speech at the 11th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

(v) Create a legal corridor and resources for the private economy to develop, promote the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation throughout society, create conditions for all people to have the opportunity to contribute, increase labor productivity, and enrich themselves, their families and society.

Third, build a culture of thrift; make practicing thrift and fighting waste become "self-conscious", "voluntary", "daily food, water, clothes".

Research, launch and maintain the annual “National Day of Thrift Practice” to promote and spread the movement throughout society to raise awareness of thrift practice. Promote the campaign “Studying and following the ideology, morality and lifestyle of Ho Chi Minh”; promptly commend and praise exemplary cadres, soldiers and people who have initiatives in work and economic development that bring practical results in thrift practice; have strict sanctions against groups and individuals, first of all the heads of agencies and units in the political system and party members who have not fully implemented the Law on Thrift Practice and Anti-Waste.

Continue to promote the fight against corruption, waste and negativity, considering this as one of the fundamental solutions contributing to building a culture of thrift.

In his report to the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, VI Lenin emphasized, “In any case, we must streamline the state apparatus, and be as frugal as possible. We are frugal in   in every aspect, even school expenses. We had to do this because we knew that if we did not save heavy industry, if we did not restore heavy industry, we would not be able to build any industry at all, and without industry, in general, we would perish, no longer an independent country” [10];

Beloved President Ho Chi Minh emphasized, “In the process of building socialism, thrift is a great policy, a great morality, a way of working and living that must never be neglected” [11] ; to bring the country firmly into a new and successful era, our entire Party, people and army must strive to practice thrift and fight waste.

Overview of the national conference to disseminate and implement the Resolution of the 11th Central Conference. (Photo: Phuong Hoa/VNA)

[1] See also: Vu Ngoc Phan, Vietnamese proverbs, folk songs, and folk songs, Literature Publishing House, 1996; Phuc Hai, Selection of Vietnamese proverbs, folk songs, and folk songs, Thoi Dai Publishing House, 2014; Mai Khanh, Vietnamese idioms - proverbs, folk songs, and folk songs, Literature Publishing House, 2022...

[2] Ibid., Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, volume 6, pp.122-124

[3] Ibid., Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, volume 4, p.181

[4] Ibid., Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, volume 5, p.122

[5] Ibid., Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, volume 13, p.70

[6] Ibid., Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, volume 7, p.335

[7] Ibid, vol. 4, Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, p.229

[8] Ibid, vol. 5, Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, p.217

[9] Ibid, vol. 3, Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, p.457

[10] Ibid., VI Lenin, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, volume 45, pp. 333-334

[11] Nhan Dan Newspaper, No. 2149, February 5, 1950, p.2

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bai-viet-thuc-hanh-tiet-kiem-cua-tong-bi-thu-to-lam-post1041836.vnp