The first Secretary of Hung Nguyen Party Committee, Comrade Le Xuan Dao - a staunch communist soldier of the Soviet homeland

The fighting spirit to overcome all circumstances and the sacrifice of comrade Le Xuan Dao is always a shining example that makes his comrades not give up, that is also the spirit and will of the communists in the Soviet homeland.

“... The communists in Nghe An had to face serious challenges. Without an indomitable spirit, loyalty, and the willingness to sacrifice for the revolution, they could not continue to operate in difficult conditions and could be arrested or eliminated at any time.”(1).

Comrade Le Xuan Dao's birth name was Le Manh Than, commonly known as Chat Lu, born in the year of the Cat (1903) in a farmer's family in Phu Xa village, Phu Long commune, now Long Xa commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province. His father was Le Quyen, his mother was Hoang Thi Chi, both of them lived in Phu Xa village, Phu Long commune.

As a child, comrade Le Xuan Dao was famous for being intelligent, quick-witted, and a good student. After completing primary school at the French-Vietnamese school in Phu Long, his parents sent comrade Le Xuan Dao to Vinh to study in the second grade of the French-Vietnamese primary school. In 1918, his mother, Mrs. Hoang Thi Chi, passed away, and a few months later his father also passed away, leaving behind 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls.

Le Manh Than was only 15 years old at the time, he dropped out of school, continued his father's job of raft rowing to earn money to support his younger siblings. But with the good traditions of his homeland, the education and teachings of his parents during his lifetime, became the sources that contributed to nurturing and nurturing the dream and ambition of revolution in the patriotic young man Le Manh Than.

In the early years of the 20th century, the movement of going abroad to do revolutionary activities took place vigorously in his homeland of Hung Nguyen, associated with the names of comrades Le Hong Phong, Pham Hong Thai, Le Thiet Hung... Not wanting to be tied down in the vicious circle of his homeland, Le Manh Than was determined to go abroad with his fathers, uncles, and brothers who went before him to realize his dreams and ambitions.

In September 1923, Le Manh Than was selected and organized by Mr. Vo Trong An to go abroad to Siam to participate in revolutionary activities, with an identity card bearing the name Le Xuan Dao. This was a major change in the awareness of a patriotic young man, full of revolutionary spirit, willing to put aside personal feelings to go abroad to participate in revolutionary activities.

After a period of studying and training at the Cay Camp in Siam (Thailand), comrade Le Xuan Dao was sent by the organization to Nghe Tinh to help build a revolutionary base. During this time, he joined the Tan Viet Party.

During the process of enlightenment and participation in the first revolutionary activities in his hometown such as organizing the Union for workers in factories, establishing many friendly organizations for farmers... to propagate and mobilize the revolution to prepare for the revolutionary climax of 1930 - 1931, comrade Le Xuan Dao demonstrated a noble and intense revolutionary spirit for the country and the people, working tirelessly day and night, ready to accept hardships, being imprisoned and tortured by the enemy. It can be said that when he was immersed in the struggle movement of the masses, he became more mature and steadfast in the face of all challenges.

After a period of active activities, comrade Le Xuan Dao was followed by secret police. In mid-1927, he was arrested by the French colonialists and imprisoned in Vinh prison with the prisoner number 1602 (2)..Having gone through an extremely harsh prison regime, facing the enemy's plots and tricks and many beatings and tortures, he still refused to confess, maintaining his communist integrity. Because there was no evidence to convict, they eventually charged Le Xuan Dao with the crime of"Going abroad without a letter from the Apostolic Nunciature"then imprisoned him for another 3 months.After being released from prison, Le Xuan Dao continued to participate in local revolutionary activities.

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After the Communist Party of Vietnam was born (February 3, 1930), the Party organization system in Nghe Tinh was also quickly established. In April 1930, the Central Region Party Committee sent comrade Ton Gia Tinh to contact comrade Le Xuan Dao to establish the Truc - Lam - Giang Party Cell, consisting of 3 people: Le Xuan Dao, Nguyen Huu Nhuong, Nguyen Thi Phia, comrade Le Xuan Dao was the Secretary. From here, the revolutionary movement in Hung Nguyen developed strongly.

On September 6, 1930, he chaired a conference of Party cells, with a representative of the Provincial Party Committee coming to direct and discuss plans to organize the historic demonstration on September 12, 1930. The demonstration was bloodily suppressed but marked a brilliant milestone in the history of the Vietnamese revolution, the peak of the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement.

After that demonstration, the French carried out a very brutal policy of white terror. With the heroic sacrifice of the cadres and people of Hung Nguyen and Nam Dan in the struggle on September 12, 1930, the Party Central Committee later chose September 12 as the annual Nghe Tinh Soviet Anniversary.

In a letter to the International Peasants on November 5, 1930, Leader Nguyen Ai Quoc wrote: “Now in some red villages, peasant Soviets have been established.”. The peasant Soviet was a form of government in the countryside based on the worker-peasant-soldier alliance under the leadership of a revolutionary political party: the Communist Party of Vietnam. It was the premise for the construction of the People's Democratic government and people like Le Xuan Dao were the core of the construction of the peasant Soviets of that day.

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In October 1930, the Hung Nguyen Provisional Party Committee was established with comrade Le Xuan Dao as Secretary. In his new position, he worked day and night to propagate and mobilize the masses to participate in the struggle, contributing to bringing new changes to the revolutionary movement in Hung Nguyen.

After a period of active activities, in January 1931, comrade Le Xuan Dao was assigned by his superiors to be the Head of the Central Region Party Committee's Finance Department. This was an extremely difficult task during the period of white terror. The Finance Department's task was to mobilize financial resources for the Party organizations to operate.

Comrade Le Xuan Dao mobilized well-off families, and invited some scholars and intellectuals to cooperate in donating money and gold to the Party organization. With a quick and resourceful style, Comrade Le Xuan Dao went to many places to mobilize a lot of money and weapons for the organizations. In addition, he also discussed methods of protecting documents, propaganda methods and raising Party funds. From that mobilized budget, the Finance Committee purchased more weapons, paper and ink and other equipment to ensure the essential activities of the Regional Party Committee.

When the enemy terrorized the revolutionary movement, Party organizations gradually withdrew into secret activities, comrade Le Xuan Dao was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of Nghe An Province. He shared hardships with the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee, kept his full faith in the Party, in the Party cell, always believed in the role of the Party cell and believed in the final victory of the Party.

In the context that Party bases from the Regional Party Committee, Provincial Party Committee to District Party Committee were successively destroyed, many leading cadres sacrificed or fell into the enemy's net, Le Xuan Dao still maintained an optimistic spirit, being the spiritual support for the organization and for his comrades."With the Party Cell, you will have everything"Your words have created confidence and added spiritual strength to party cadres to continue to stand up and fight in the most difficult and dangerous period.

After establishing contact with the Vinh Regional Party Committee and the Party organizations of Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, and Hung Nguyen districts, comrade Le Xuan Dao returned to Vinh to prepare for the restoration of the Central Region Party Committee. On March 21, 1932, comrade Le Xuan Dao returned to attend the Conference convened by the Regional Party Committee. At that time, all familiar roads were blocked and surrounded by the enemy. He had to find a new path by going through the villages.

On the night of March 24, 1932, when he returned to Hung Nguyen and hid in Ke Tre pagoda in Don Nhuong (now Hung Dao commune, Hung Nguyen district), unfortunately, a traitor found out and reported it to the secret police and the Western garrison. They mobilized soldiers to surround and arrest him. Knowing that he could not escape, Le Xuan Dao pulled out a pistol to fight back. Although the enemy knew he was out of bullets, they were still afraid and did not dare to come and arrest him, so they cowardly shot and killed him..

The sacrifice of comrade Le Xuan Dao is a great loss to the Party, the revolution, and our people. The contributions of comrade Le Xuan Dao to the Party and the Vietnamese revolution were affirmed by the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee:“Comrade Le Xuan Dao’s sacrifice is a great loss to our Party, specifically the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee and the Central Region Party Committee. But the shining example of a man who contributed to organizing the Thai Lao demonstration on September 12, 1930, immortalized in the history of the nation and created the Peasant Soviet, a form of primitive government of the working class in colonial agricultural countries, will last forever. It has motivated and made his comrades not to retreat, determined to rise up and fight to the end to bring the country’s revolution to brilliant success.”(3).

Died at the age of 29, during which more than 10 years of tireless and unyielding activities, comrade Le Xuan Dao made many contributions to the revolution. He held many important positions in the Party such as: First Secretary of the Hung Nguyen Party Committee, Head of the Central Region Party Committee's Finance Department, Member of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee. Regardless of his position, in any difficult period of the Nghe Tinh revolution, he always upheld the spirit, courage, and integrity of a communist.

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Note:

(1) Subcommittee for Research on Party History of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee (2005),Nghe An communist role models episode 2,page 300

(2) Comrade Le Xuan Dao's profile is kept at the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum.

(3) Nghe An Provincial Party Executive Committee (2018)), History of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee (1930-1945) volume 1, Nghe An Publishing House page 85.