At 22, Engels went to Manchester in the UK, to work in a trading company where his father owned shares. Here, outside of working hours, Friedrich Engels often visited the living quarters of workers, so he understood the working people, on that basis, he wrote works such as The situation of the working class in England, The situation of England and the British Constitution and in these works, he assessed the great role of workers in the development of society.
At the same time, he also realised the following paradoxes exist: Workers are those who produce material wealth for society but lack material wealth (lack of food necessities, clothing, stay and travel). According to Engels, there is a social injustice because in society exists class antagonism, so there is still oppression and exploitation.
According to Engels, the capitalist society is not the best. Therefore, Engels and Marx think that it is necessary to reform and liberate society. For them, social emancipation is the emancipation of all individuals, because society cannot liberate itself without liberating each individual.
With this point of view, it can be seen that the views of Marx and Engels on human liberation and social liberation, have remarkable progress compared to the views in history because it aims to liberate all particular individuals in society.
Based on the materialist point of view, Engels said that to build a communist society in which the first stage is socialism, economic development must first be developed, because economic development is the most important condition and premise for the development of other fields and aspects of social life.
Inheriting and creatively applying the views of Engels on the liberation of workers, the Communist Party of Vietnam led the masses of the people, overthrew the yoke of feudal and colonial domination, and liberated the people from oppression and slavery.
The Doi Moi (Renewal) process initiated and led by the Party is to continue the cause of liberating the working people, in the spirit of Engels, to bring democracy, prosperity, freedom and happiness to the people, that is to build socialism with core values such as: “Wealthy people, a strong nation, a society of democracy, justice and civilisation”, "comprehensive human development”, “no one is left behind”. It is a society in which development is truly for the people, not for profit, which exploits and tramples on human dignity, as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed.
To realise that humane goal, the Party has advocated comprehensive development in all fields, especially economic, political and social development.
Economically, it is the implementation of industrialisation, modernisation, and international economic integration, to increase labour productivity, improve production and business efficiency, produce more social wealth with better quality, and meet the increasing needs of the people.
At the same time, attention has been paid to building and perfecting a socialist-oriented market economy - this is an economy that both obeys the laws of the market and is led and directed by the good nature of socialism, linking economic growth with social justice and social security, paying attention to environmental protection in the process of industrialisation and modernisation for sustainable development.
In terms of politics, it is to build a clean and strong Party, so that the Party is truly
“ethical and civilised” as President Ho Chi Minh advised; is to build and perfect the law-governed socialist State of the people, by the people and for the people, all power belongs to the people. This is the people's tool to build socialism.
Regarding culture, it is building an advanced culture imbued with national identity. Culture is both a goal and a driving force of development, closely linking economic and political development with cultural development. Engels' thought on the emancipation of the working people shows a deeply humane spirit and remains valuable in the current context.
