Endeavor to make the self-defense militia forces remarkably strong to meet the ever higher demands of the anti-U.S. national salvation struggle.
Our people’s anti-U.S. national salvation resistance war is going through a violent stage. The U.S. aggressors, who have experienced bitter military setbacks and are seriously isolated in the political arena, are frantically striving to accelerate their war of aggression in the hope of eventually reaching a turning point and concluding the war to their advantage, and at the same time to establish conditions for protracting and enlarging the war if this is necessary.
They continue to supply troops, weapons, and materiel to the South Vietnamese battlefield, plotting to raise the total number of U.S. expeditionary troops to 500,000 or more this year. They are waging the second “strategic offensive” and keep implementing their old schemes with more ruthless and perfidious tricks. Following heavy defeats in the previous dry season, they are striving to improve their plans of action, to coordinate more closely their “search-and-destroy” operations, and to launch attacks on our bases along with implementing their “pacification” and people-herding program in important areas. They are using most of the U.S. troops in large-scale operations and relegating a great portion of rebel troops whose morale is low to the “pacification” role. They are striving to attack our basic people’s organizations, our basic organizations in the rear, and use aircraft to bomb, strafe, and spray poisonous chemicals more ruthlessly.
It is clear that the neocolonialism of the U.S. imperialists is the most ruthless and reactionary form of imperialism. On the South Vietnamese battlefield the U.S. imperialists are exposing themselves as the most stubborn and bloodthirsty international gendarme of the present era. However, the more they increase troops and the more strongly they step up the war of aggression, the more shameful their defeats will be.
The recent U.S. military operations aimed at “searching and destroying” our forces or attacking our bases have failed. They have been unable to eliminate the liberation troops’ strength and (?recover) our bases; on the contrary, they have been dealt deadly blows by the South Vietnamese armed forces and people. Many U.S. companies, battalions, and even brigades have been destroyed. The major victories of liberation troops in Tay Ninh, Binh Dinh, and Quang Ngai, in the high plateaus, in the Tri-Thien zone, and so forth, testify to this. The “pacification” plan of the U.S. imperialists and lackeys has failed repeatedly. They have been unable to implement their plot to control and oppress the people. Basically, our liberated areas have been maintained and some of them have been continually enlarged.
The two main fronts of the Americans, the “search-and-destroy” and “rural pacification” fronts, have continually gone bankrupt. The more they increase their troops in South Vietnam, the heavier their losses will be, the lower the rebel troops’ morale will become, and the more confused the situation of the rebel authorities will be. The cities under their control cannot be stabilized, their important routes are continually being cut, and their major bases are continually being attacked. The U.S. imperialists have become bogged down more and more deeply into the mire of the people’s war in South Vietnam.
In such a situation the U.S. imperialists will frenziedly attack the north, even though their war-escalation acts are despised and condemned by the people of the world, including the progressive American people. They will further accelerate in a more violent manner the war of destruction. They will use their air force to attack more strongly our communication and transportation lines, our industrial zones, our irrigation projects and dams and dikes, populated areas, and political and economic centers. They will use their navy to strengthen their sea blockade and bombard our coastal areas. They are attempting to use their infantry to launch adventurous raids on the northern side of the 17th parallel.
Along with their military acts the Americans continue to use the “peace negotiation” smokescreen to fool the American people and the world’s peoples and cover up their dark designs. Like a seriously wounded wild beast, the U.S. imperialists are gyrating furiously and hopelessly before breathing their last breath.
Our army and people must always be vigilant, heighten their revolutionary vigilance, and be deeply aware of the nature of the enemy and his schemes. We must strengthen the spirit of steady determination to fight and win under all circumstances, develop our efforts to a high degree, be resolved to foil all new schemes of the U.S. imperialists, and strive for ever greater achievements.
Under all circumstances our people are resolved to respond at all costs to President Ho’s appeal: “For the sake of the fatherland’s independence and of responsibility to the peoples who are struggling against U.S. imperialism, all of our people and soldiers are united and of the same mind, unafraid of sacrifices and hardships, and resolved to fight until complete victory.”
In connection with this expression of determination our armed forces must perform the following immediate tasks: 1) endeavor to defeat the U.S. imperialists’ war of destruction, defeat their air and navy forces, protect socialist North Vietnam, and achieve greater victories; 2) wholeheartedly support the liberation struggle of the southern compatriots; 3) be prepared in all fields and be ready to deal the U.S. aggressors lightning counterblows if they dare to expand the limited war to the north; and 4) positively participate in building socialism according to the new situation and join the people in building the north and making it increasingly strong and steady and worthy of being the revolutionary base for the entire country and the large rear for the large frontline of South Vietnam.
Our tasks are very difficult but also very glorious. To fulfill these historic tasks, we must strive to build our heroic people’s armed forces into a very strong army so that it will fight very well and achieve victories in all battles and be capable of defeating all enemies, including the U.S. imperialists.
We must endeavor to build our armed forces into a strong army that includes strong and mobile regular forces, strong local forces capable of engaging in major battles in localities, and strong national self-defense militia forces.
I wish to point out here the need to make the self-defense militia forces remarkably strong to meet the ever higher demands of the anti-U.S. national salvation struggle. To make the self-defense militia forces strong and widespread is a very important task for strengthening the armed forces and consolidating North Vietnam. This is because the self-defense militia forces are one of the three categories of troops formed along the party’s military line and, moreover, because under the practical conditions of modern wars--the present war of destruction as well as the limited war which the enemy might provoke in the future--there is no longer a marked difference between the frontline and the rear, and mobilization of the people to participate in the fighting is leading to new demands for killing the enemy on the frontline and at the same time protecting our large rear. For this reason it is very necessary to make the self-defense militia forces steady and strong.
Moreover, from the comprehensive national defense viewpoint a well-organized and strong armed force must always go along with a steady and strong economy and a rear rich in human strength and wealth. Therefore, if we are to maintain the law of equilibrium between concentrated armed forces and the potentials of human strength and wealth of the country, we must endeavor to develop the self-defense militia forces so as to make these production-adhering armed forces larger numerically and of higher quality.
In the present situation in the north, we are fighting the U.S. aggressors’ air and navy forces and are not fighting enemy infantry troops. We have a pretty large permanent army, but we do not now need a large permanent army. For this reason, we must take great care to build the self-defense militia forces which will make it possible for us to make adequate preparations to resist the enemy’s limited war and to achieve success in our national defense and economic building tasks.
Therefore, building and making the self-defense militia forces stronger is one of the most important measures for making North Vietnam steady and strong in all fields and for satisfactorily associating military demands with economic demands. Our party’s line is the people’s war line. North Vietnam is not large and has a population of about 17 million. So we must be deeply aware of the importance of building self-defense militia forces.
Can we build an outstandingly strong and large self-defense militia force? We are entirely able to do so because we have many new favorable conditions. They are:
a--Our people’s high patriotism and profound love for socialism: After more than 12 years of reform and socialist construction, North Vietnam has made great strides. The laboring people have really become masters of the country. Political and spiritual unanimity among our people is firmer and steadier than ever before. Our beautiful social system is educating each worker, collective peasant, intellectual laborer, and all other citizens of all ages and of both sexes to develop high patriotism and profound love for socialism. The people’s tradition of indomitable struggle and the revolutionary heroism which our party is developing to a high degree are training millions of new men ready to kill the enemy and sacrifice everything for the independence and reunification of the fatherland and for socialism, and are creating a new militant strength.
b--New possibilities for improvement of equipment: Our self-defense militia forces once fought and vanquished the enemy with rudimentary weapons. In the future, rudimentary weapons will continue to be a very important trend in equipment for the self-defense militia forces. But this does not mean that we will not endeavor to improve the weapons of the self-defense militia forces. Today, North Vietnam’s material and technical bases are more developed compared with the past, and its local economy is becoming increasingly firm and strong. This new condition permits us to improve the weapons of the armed forces and to provide these forces, including the self-defense militia forces, with better weapons than before. The fact that the self-defense militia forces have high political and ideological standards and are equipped with good weapons will make it impossible for any enemy to defeat them.
c--New possibilities in the art of fighting the enemy: In the anti-U.S national salvation resistance war our people’s patriotic armed forces in the south as well as in the north have further developed experiences in fighting the enemy and applied tactics very skillfully and creatively.
Today on the South Vietnamese battlefield not only the regular forces but also the local forces and militia units are in a better position to wear down and annihilate U.S. and rebel troops, to attack their mechanized units, to shoot down their aircraft, to launch raids on their airfields, to destroy their installations and logistic bases, to cut communications lines, and to attack cities to destroy the enemy’s leading organs.
In the North Vietnamese theater not only the regular forces but also the local forces and militia units are capable of downing the enemy’s supersonic jetplanes, protecting targets and roads and bridges, and annihilating enemy rangers. Not only are the self-defense militia forces skillfully using rudimentary weapons, but they know how to handle a number of modern weapons satisfactorily. Their technical and tactical standards are much higher.
The new, very important developments in Vietnamese military art, which have combined great heroism with creativeness, have helped our armed forces to know not only how to concentrate their strength on destroying the enemy but also how to use a limited number of troops to fight and defeat a large, strong, and fully equipped enemy unit, inflicting heavy losses and casualties on the enemy. These men, outstanding developments, along with the improvement of equipment, are opening new possibilities for the self-defense militia forces, possibilities which will make them an armed force with an immeasurably great and strong militant strength.
d--Our party’s correct and creative leadership: Our party has a correct and creative military line and many rich and unique experiences. Our party leadership from central to basic chi bo levels is the surest and most decisive guide to (?make) self-defense militia forces grow in an outstanding manner. In almost all hamlets, villages, and factories, construction and forest exploitation sites, and state farms in the north there are now steady, strong party organizations serving as staff. In all rural areas there are cooperatives supporting the armed forces at the basic level.
Only when basic party organizations understand and resolutely implement the party Central Committee’s policies will we be able to carry out the following slogan with its full meaning according to the new requirements: “Each citizen is an enemy-killing combatant, each house is a combat cell, each village or factory is a fortress, each chi bo is a leader on the anti-U.S. national salvation front.” Once this slogan is implemented it is certain that we will score greater achievements in resisting the present war of destruction of the enemy and make good preparations for resisting a limited war in the future if the U.S. imperialists dare send infantry troops to attack North Vietnam.
Dear comrades, our party advocates the building of strong self-defense militia forces in quantity and quality at all costs. Quantity and quality are closely related and must be given great attention to transform the self-defense militia forces into strong and widespread armed forces with a firm political quality, good fighting strength, and a high degree of combat readiness.
We must attract the masses into combat organizations and into supporting combat in localities, thus making the self-defense militia forces fully acquire a widespread mass character. Attention must be paid to attracting more and more women into the ranks of the self-defense militia forces, because the women of our country make up half the population and possess a high revolutionary spirit and a tradition of fulfilling their national and household tasks.
While increasing the number of self-defense militia forces it is necessary to hold firm to the requirements for strengthening them and raising their quality, to build the self-defense militia forces’ positions and to concentrate leadership in important areas. It is necessary to base ourselves on the characteristics of each area: rural area or city, mountain and jungle area or delta, coastal area or area along lines of communications, area close to critical points or in the rear, and elsewhere in order to achieve concrete and appropriate building, especially with regard to organization, equipment, and training.
To raise the quality of the self-defense militia forces we must thoroughly understand the basic principles regarding the policy of our party of building all armed forces, which is to consider political and ideological development as the base. It is necessary to strengthen political education and to make all cadres and combatants fully conscious of the new situation and tasks and the determination of all our party and people to fight and defeat the U.S. aggressors and their lackeys in all forms of their war of aggression. It is necessary to vigorously develop love for country and socialism, to increase hatred, and to build a very high spirit of determination to fight and win. It is necessary to mobilize the self-defense militia forces to strive to learn from the valiant examples of the heroic units and heroes of our people’s armed forces, to develop efforts to struggle on all combat and production fronts, and to resolutely do their utmost to satisfactorily fulfill the most difficult tasks.
Along with political and ideological development, it is necessary for self-defense militia forces to acquire an appropriate organizational system and an increasingly improved equipment system. At present self-defense militia forces are organized according to village, enterprise, and street. This is appropriate. However, they must also be based on the combat tasks, conditions, and characteristics of each locality and equipment capabilities in order to move a step forward to determine the organizational system in a concrete manner.
With regard to equipment, the general trend is still to pay great attention to developing rudimentary weapons, and at the same time to gradually equip the self-defense militia forces with a number of modern or relatively modern weapons, especially in critical areas.
Each locality must make a concrete study of how to equip the self-defense militia forces in the task of countering the war of aggression to enable them to fulfill various tasks in various areas such as shooting at enemy aircraft, protecting coastal areas, attacking enemy commandos, attacking enemy raiders, insuring communications and transportation, and so forth, and how to equip the self-defense militia forces for the task of preparing to counter the limited war to enable them to successfully attack the enemy’s infantry and mechanized units and so forth.
Therefore, we must base ourselves on the concrete objectives and combat task of each locality and on our equipment capabilities to determine the rational equipment of self-defense militia forces.
Special attention must be paid to military training and to training self-defense militiamen so that they can fight well. Knowing how to fight well is a matter of great importance. Therefore we must pay special attention to providing military training for self-defense militiamen. So far remarkable progress has been made in the performance of this task, especially in the technical field. Yet, generally speaking, the content of training still has failed to fully develop the combat capability of the self-defense force and to enable all self-defense militiamen to firmly grasp fighting methods.
In the days ahead it is necessary for responsible agencies and leading military and administrative officials to extensively study the problem, and, on the basis of our military line and military thinking, combat objectives, actual organizational conditions of the self-defense militia force and its equipment, terrain conditions, and so forth, to determine the content of military training and to raise further the quality of military training. The recapitulation and dissemination of the combat experiences acquired by the self-defense militia forces in both parts of the country must be regarded as an important matter.
To satisfactorily carry out these tasks it is necessary to firmly grasp the importance of training and improving cadres and to unceasingly improve leading and directing organs to insure that all localities have cadres and organs which steadfastly lead and direct military training. Bold steps must be taken to admit into cadre corps brother and sister members of the self-defense militia force who have been tested. Efforts must be made to improve cadres and show them how to exert leadership and direct and manage the forces and weapons in their respective localities and units.
It is necessary to insure that military organs at the basic level are properly organized and at the same time capable of fulfilling their responsibility to assist party committees in satisfactorily leading the performance of the military task, mobilizing all the people to fight the aggressors, and satisfactorily guiding the self-defense militia movement. On the basis of building the self-defense militia forces so that they develop in an outstanding manner, it is necessary for us to concentrate all efforts on carrying out fully the following concrete task.
A--To satisfactorily carry out the task of opposing the war of destruction and score many bigger successes. Opposing the war of destruction involves many important tasks such as shooting at enemy aircraft, conducting people’s air defense, countering the enemy’s shelling of our coastal areas, countering enemy raids, opposing espionage warfare, opposing psychological warfare, annihilating enemy rangers, insuring communications and transport, protecting irrigation dams and dikes, and so forth.
We must organize the self-defense militia units so that they fire more effectively at enemy aircraft. It is necessary to fight the tendency to slight the efficiency and achievements of brother and sister members of the self-defense militia force in shooting at enemy aircraft. This tendency is highly incorrect and is contrary to the party’s people’s war viewpoint and to the actual situation.
Efforts must be exerted to recapitulate the valuable experiences acquired by self-defense militia units which have shot down enemy aircraft, to improve antiaircraft fire, and to raise the combat quality of the self-defense militia cells on duty. On this basis it is necessary to maintain only an adequate number of militia members on duty. In so doing we can save manpower and at the same time achieve good results.
People’s air defense must be further strengthened. Recently many localities satisfactorily performed the air-defense task. Yet a number of localities failed to conduct air defense satisfactorily, and 90 percent of the casualties suffered by these localities were found to have occurred outside shelters. In addition to making observations, sounding the alarm, and aiding compatriots in making initial dispersion, it is necessary to use experiences regularly and to disseminate among the people the best methods of taking precautionary measures against and evading enemy air raids. In particular, it is necessary to dig more shelters, foxholes, and communications trenches.
In insuring communications and transport it is also necessary to develop initiatives, raise the organizational level, use manpower and material power rationally, and save as much human and material resources as possible.
B--To closely coordinate the task of opposing the war of destruction with the task of preparing ourselves for opposing a limited war.
Preparing ourselves for opposing a limited war is an important task of all our party, people, and army. By satisfactorily opposing the enemy’s war of destruction we can create favorable conditions for preparing ourselves for defeating all adventurous acts of the U.S. aggressors, including a situation in which they daringly use their infantry to attack the north. Therefore, it is necessary for us to closely coordinate the immediate fighting task with the task of making preparations for protracting combat which is entrusted to the armed forces in general and to the self-defense militia forces in particular. While concentrating leadership on opposing the enemy’s war of destruction, all localities must work out plans for organizing defense and fighting against the enemy on the ground in accordance with the policy and intentions of superiors.
It is necessary to prepare local troops and self-defense militia in all fields and make them ready to collaborate with regulars to defeat enemy troops on the mainland from the very beginning. It is necessary to work out a plan for developing these preparatory tasks, for determining what tasks must be fulfilled immediately, what tasks must be carried out only after careful preparations to correctly enforce the policy of associating the economy with military aspects and combat with production.
C--It is necessary to satisfactorily carry out the task of setting up a reserve force so that, when required, the regular force can be supplemented quickly. To do so it is necessary to keep a firm hold on the guerrilla and self-defense militia forces. It is necessary to step up the three-readiness movement among youths and the three-responsibility movement among women. It is necessary to realize that widespread military training for militiamen is aimed not only at training militiamen in how to fight and defend their villages and hamlets, but also at training them to fill the regular force.
It is necessary to intensify the political education and military training of guerrillas and self-defense militiamen so that they will reach a firm political level, have good military knowledge, good health, and be prepared to fulfill their duties on the front. On the other hand, we must also mobilize the people to fully enforce the party and government policy toward families whose children have been drafted and the families of wounded soldiers and dead heroes in order to put the soldiers’ minds at ease while they are fighting the enemy.
D--It is necessary to strongly develop the self-defense militia force’s role as a shock force on the production front.
Our anti-U.S. national salvation resistance is being undertaken while the north is pursuing its socialist construction. That is why it is necessary to thoroughly understand the party policy of closely associating the economy with the military and combat with production. Since the war is entering a fierce phase more difficulties will be encountered in production.
We must strongly encourage the selfless labor spirit of all the people and thoroughly develop the self-defense militia’s role as a shock force on the production front. Self-defense militiamen and militiawomen must volunteer for duty in dangerous areas, work with a high sense of responsibility, and achieve the highest output to encourage the majority of compatriots to follow suit. We must treasure the production achievements by self-defense militiamen in the anti-U.S. national salvation task.
E--It is necessary to further accelerate the task of building combat villages. This is a very important task, because combat villages are firm fortresses, linked battlegrounds for the people’s war in our country. Their building must satisfy the requirements of the struggle against the war of destruction, insure good preparations for the struggle against local war, and insure production in each locality under all circumstances. Combat villages must become the battleground for the attack and defense of all three categories of troops, and at the same time for support for the people so that they can cling to their hamlets and carry out production even while fierce fighting is being waged.
The building of combat villages is in many respects an arduous struggle. It is necessary to have four-good party branches, a firm and strong political force of the masses, a powerful body of self-defense militiamen, and a plan for developing the topographic situation and combat projects. We must consider the correct situation, duties, and characteristics of each area in working out a plan for building suitable combat villages, building them step by step, and determining what tasks must be carried out immediately and what tasks can be postponed to satisfactorily relate military requirements to production requirements.
Recently various military zones have led the building of combat villages and have achieved initial results. In the future they must make greater efforts. At this conference you comrades have recalled some valuable experiences. The method of classifying combat villages, as set forth by the military zone, is an important innovation.
Comrades, your conference has the objective of recapitulating local military tasks, including leadership and command of the local force and self-defense militia force. You comrades have correctly noted that leadership over local military tasks must not separate the local force from the self-defense militia force.
At present in the north of our country each province is a large economic unit, embracing both agriculture and local industry, with a population of hundreds of thousands of people, or more or less a million people or (?even) 2 million people. Each province has important military tasks and an armed force which is much bigger and more powerful than before, embracing both the local force and the self-defense militia force, thus how each province in the north of our country produces and fights is a very big problem.
Here I wish to stress the leading role of various party committees, from province down to basic level, especially the role of provincial committees and party branches, in local military tasks. Provincial party committees must keep a firm hold on military tasks and delve more deeply into the task of studying and thoroughly understanding the party’s military line so that our party’s leadership of the war can achieve increasingly great victories. Leadership of local military tasks requires a firm grasp of local characteristics, creative application of the party’s military line, drawing up of a practical plan for combat and for building the armed force now and in the future, and the drafting of a plan for closely relating the struggle against the war of destruction to preparations for the struggle against the local war and for satisfactorily relating the military tasks to production tasks, and so forth.
It is necessary to know how to closely associate various branches and organizations to fulfill the military tasks set forth by the party. It is necessary to know how to mobilize the masses and their organizations to participate in combat and recall experiences in time to advance military tasks. Provincial party committees must heighten their sense of responsibility and develop their role as staff to local military organs to satisfactorily fulfill the aforementioned tasks. District party committees must closely follow the basic party committees in order to supervise them and help them thoroughly understand and fully apply the decisions of superiors on military tasks.
Basic party committees responsible for directly leading production and combat are in charge of leading and uniting the masses in undertaking the people’s war and building the people’s armed forces in each locality and basic unit. Only through satisfactory leadership over military tasks can basic party committees insure that the power of the party’s military line is developed to a high degree. Therefore, basic party committees, especially chi bo, must thoroughly understand the situation of the revolutionary and military tasks of the party and must be aware of the U.S. imperialists’ wicked plots and of the great military and economic potentials of their localities. They must strive to lead various branches and organizations in satisfactorily fulfilling all military tasks entrusted to them by the party.
Comrades, for more than 20 years in each stage of advance of the revolution, the self-defense militia forces have always fulfilled their duty as an army which has fought well, carried out production and other tasks satisfactorily, and deserved to be an important strategic force in the revolutionary and armed struggles in our country. On this occasion I ask you comrades to convey to all men and women members of the self-defense militia forces the friendly “determination to win” salutations from the party Central Committee and the Supreme Military Council.
The more self-defense militiamen and militiawomen members take pride in their glorious achievements, the more they must be grateful to the party and the people for having taken pains to educate, train, feed, and improve them. They must be fully conscious of their great and honorable responsibility to the historic anti-U.S. national salvation struggle and must endeavor to seriously follow President Ho’s advice: “Be loyal to the party, faithful to the people, and prepared to make sacrifices and to fight for the independence and unification of the fatherland and for socialism. Fulfill any task, overcome any difficulty, and defeat any enemy.”
Also on this occasion all of us convey to the southern compatriots and the South Vietnam Liberation Armed Forces, including the self-defense militia units, our salutations of determination to fight to defeat the U.S. aggressors. We have the strength of militant solidarity of 31 million compatriots from North to South Vietnam. We have the wide and strong sympathy and support of brotherly socialist countries and the progressive people throughout the world. We will certainly be victorious. The U.S. imperialists will certainly be defeated.
I hope that you all will enthusiastically move forward, be brave and courageous and creative in combat and production, and accomplish more glorious feats of arms in order to further enrich the glorious tradition of the heroic Vietnam self-defense militia forces.