1.1. General understanding
In Vietnamese, patriotism means “chủ nghĩa yêu nước” and nationalism means “chủ nghĩa dân tộc”
which are both positive and have similar meanings while in some capitalist countries those concepts are totally different (Pham, 2014). It has been argued that patriotism could be understood as the positive nationalism which is distinct from negative or malign nationalism (Gustafsson, 2014). Therefore, in this research, to avoid the unexpected misunderstandings, the researcher would like to use the word patriotism only.
The word patriotism is developed from the Greek “patria,” or fatherland (Bar-Tal & Staub, 1997). Stephen Nathanson in 1993 defined patriotism as involving “special affection for one’s own country; a sense of personal identification with the country; special concern for the well-being of the country; willingness to sacrifice to promote the country’s good”. Later in 1994, Druckman introduced another definition of patriotism in which it was understood as a “strong attachments and loyalty to one's own group without the corresponding hostility toward other groups. In other words, patriotism entails a citizen’s feelings of attachment to one’s nation”.
Combining these two definitions, I, personally, understand patriotism as love of one’s country, identification with it, and special concern for its well-being and that of compatriots. In comparison with nationalism, patriotism reflected one’s love of country and its major symbols and was politically a more neutral form of national attachment (Davidov, 2010). This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural,
political or historical aspects during national emergencies, tragedies, crises, or wars, patriotism often has a mawkish and romantic feel (Tearns, Borna & Oakenfull, 2003).
One of the most primary procedures for promoting patriotism among people is to have them learn some bit of history of the way a nation was born, who are the heroes, which leaders rule the country, and so on by using books, songs, films, movies, photos, etc.,. (Karmakar, 2016).
1.2. Vietnamese patriotism
In Vietnam, patriotic emotion associated with the spiritual consciousness of the country, the homeland, the national pride, a product of thousands of years of building and defending the country (Hoang, Tran, 2014). The Vietnamese national values are explicitly shown in the national motto
“Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Independence – Freedom – Happiness”. The national history is connected closely with the protection of the country from invaders and the past means that Vietnamese absolutely understand the painful position of slaves. Firstly, independence and freedom are the most important values which are transferred by Ho Chi Minh thoughts such as
“Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom” (Nguyen, 2016). Besides, the national values are also obviously expressed in the goal of socialism in Vietnam which states “prosperous people, strong country, democracy, justice and civilization” (Nguyen, 2016). In other words, the
“prosperous people” is the most important notion which could be only obtained once the country is independent and free. Therefore, Vietnamese people from the moment when they were born, are taught that “study and practice to build a strong Vietnam” is a sacred duty which represents the patriotism.
Patriotism, in fact, deeply rooted in Vietnamese society. From the 3rd century BC till now, Vietnam had more than 20 Wars of Independence and more than 100 revolutionaries (Le, 2018).
The very first manifestation of patriotism is proud of noble origin. “Con Rong Chau Tien” is the
most popular fairytale in which Vietnamese people are the descendants of Lac Long Quan – a Dragon – and Au Co – a fairy. They are strong, beautiful, and undefeatable. The early period of Vietnamese history, the patriotic feeling was associated with the loyal to the King (Le, 2014).
Therefore, the image of “one’s nation”, somehow, was not clear.
The father of the new Vietnamese political system platform based on a form of civic patriotism – socialist patriotism, developed by Marx and Lenin - is Ho Chi Minh. Socialist patriotism promotes people living within Marxist-Leninist countries to adopt a "boundless love for the socialist homeland, a commitment to the revolutionary transformation of society and the cause of communism" (White, 2004). On August 19, 1945, the Vietnamese people rose up in a general uprising to eliminate feudalism and colonialism and open a new era of national development. Their victory was the result of a prolonged, difficult struggle under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh (VOV5, 2018). It is important to understand the role of Ho Chi Minh in employing the sense of patriotism in the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh, before becoming the great leader of Vietnam, he had studied in France as a young scholar which lead him to becoming an adherent to Marxism-Leninism, and he personally admired the French Revolutionary motto of "liberty, equality, fraternity" (Lacouture, 2018). He had traveled from London to France and then China and some other countries in 30 years to see how the communist system in the world was (Ho Chi Minh Museum, 2004). He also believed in the role of patriotism as he had said: “In the beginning, it was patriotism and not communism which impelled me to believe in Lenin and the Third International” (Warbey, 1985). Therefore, after the collapse of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1941, the Vietnamese Communist movement since the 1940s fused the policies of proletarian internationalism and Vietnamese patriotism together. Ho Chi Minh was responsible for the incorporation of Vietnamese patriotism into the Party. The incorporation
of Vietnamese patriotism into the Communist Party's agenda fits in with the longstanding Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule (Huynh, 1989).
Nowadays, for all the Vietnamese generations, the love of the motherland, the native country is a particularly sacred and deep feeling. It is also associated with human love, faithful friendship, the mother and motherhood. It is defined as a “noble tradition” as every Vietnamese, descendant of the dragon and fairy, all have a “passionate patriotism” (Ho Chi Minh, 1954).