Thai Lao demonstration September 12, 1930 - festival of struggle
(Baonghean.vn) - The protest group marched majestically and noisily. Many people were working in the fields, holding hoes and rakes, while their pants were rolled up and their feet were covered in mud. The cries of “Exemption from taxes”, “Delay in taxes”, “Increase in wages” attracted more and more people to the festival of struggle.
Chu Trong Huyen • September 11, 2020 08:12
“We can’t just sit there and die, we have to stand up together!…”. The crowds kept coming, in harmony with the voice of Ms. Nguyen Thi Phia.(1). The speech attracted more crowds. They were farmers from various places: Pho Dong, Pho Tu, Quang Xa, Nam Kim (Nam Dan district), Lang Dao, Thinh Qua (Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh); Long Xuyen, Xuan Trach, Mai Son, Dong Chau (Phu Long commune, Hung Nguyen)... All of them kept coming in droves. The sound of footsteps echoed. People kept coming, filling the yard and the lawn in front of Pho Dong temple.
The speech ended with cheers and drums and gongs throughout the villages and communes: Trung Can, Duong Lieu, Hoanh Son, Dong Son (belonging to Nam Kim commune, Nam Dan district)... urgingfarmer, young manlet's go. Really, there is not a single alley that is not awakened.
Having prepared in advance, big and small boats from the two water villages of Van Con and Van Set were mobilized to carry all those who were not used to crossing the bridge. And, close to the North bank there was Yen Xuan train station.
The speech had called forth more people. They all came in droves, their footsteps echoing.
From the end of the hour of the Ox to the beginning of the hour of the Tiger on September 12, 1930, as soon as it was light, the people had crossed to the left bank of the Lam River, standing on the dike. The drum beat was louder than when the floodwaters rose and the dike was about to break.
Then people and people, from the bottom of Thanh Mountain up, from the top of Lieu Market down, people kept coming in. All of them marched to Yen Xuan station, which was 9 kilometers from Vinh center by train. There, at night, informed by the Phu Long district chief, the station master called the French Consulate. So, at dawn, another group of soldiers came in but they could do nothing. Because at that time, the protesters had filled the entire station, stood on the train tracks and the dike. Another woman stood up to give a speech.(2):
– Do you know, living on both sides of the Ca River, for generations, our ancestors plowed the fields, raised silkworms, traded cloth, carried loads on foot, burned coal, dug in mines, worked hard but still remained poor. Recently, because the French imperialists have found every trick, scraped our bones, extracted our marrow, causing us to lose our fields, our homes, to starve and freeze to death. If we continue to sit and endure like this, we will lose our race.
The crowd shouted in unison:
– Down with French imperialism and the Southern feudal regime!
– Increase wages, reduce working hours.
– Tax exemption, tax deferral, military land grant!…
The calls for "tax exemption", "tax deferral", "salary increase" attracted more and more people to join the festival of struggle.
As soon as those shouts ended, the passenger train from Vinh also arrived. Following orders from the Vinh Consulate, the railway managers let the train depart half an hour early, but the protesters still managed to throw many leaflets into the train cars. The soldiers had to stand still to let the crowd act. The station master was forced to cut the telephone wire and was swept away by the protesters.
From there, the group moved like a big storm, sweeping away obstacles along the way, going up to Cho Vuc and then following the communal road, through the villages: Phuc Hau, Phu Xa, Thong Lang, Hoang Can to Thai Lao and then down to the Government office in Cau Duoc.
The demonstrators marched in a majestic and boisterous manner. Many people were working in the fields, carrying hoes and rakes, their pants still rolled up and their feet covered in mud. The cries of “tax exemption”, “tax deferral”, “salary increase” attracted more and more people to the festival of struggle.
The flag bearer had already reached Mung Bridge, and the last group had just crossed Can Market. Just like that, everyone marched forward, aiming to pass the Palace in Duoc Bridge and go down to Vinh Embassy.
The slogans proposed by the peasants were the real interests of the workers and peasants, and were not at all excessive. However, in Vinh at that time, Consul Marty, Governor Pham Ba Pho, Chief of Secret Police Robe, Warden Pơ-tí… were all panicked, in turmoil, and looking for a way to escape after having sent more soldiers to suppress the demonstration. Marty himself telegraphed to the Governor-General (France) about a demonstration in which a large number of people tirelessly participated.
When the group of protesters without guns and ammunition had just arrived at Dong Quan field of Thai Lao village (where the Memorial area is now), a group of 3 planes swooped in and dropped bombs.
Smoke and bullets filled the sky, mixed with sand, grass, and even some of the flesh and bones of the unarmed protesters. A heinous crime committed by the French imperialists against the freedom-loving people who wished to live peacefully on the banks of the Lam River!
Nguyen Nam, a Red Farmers’ Union commander, was seriously injured, blood from his chest soaking his brown shirt. He reached out to hand his stick and a handful of rice wrapped in banana leaves to the person next to him. Looking at the people around him, looking at his fellow farmers who shared the same fate of broken rice and patched clothes, he said with his last breath:
- Everyone go forward, keep going and kill all the invaders!
The protesters obeyed. In the ranks, many carried the fallen man's stick or spear, with a heavier sense of responsibility. The struggle had new slogans:
“Down with the French imperialists who massacred the protesters”,
"Determined to avenge those who died because of enemy bombs."
At the same time, the entire Vinh - Ben Thuy town was on alert. In many places, the Embassy, the Governor's Palace, and the Guardhouse were in chaos. Foreign legionnaires, in red, blue, yellow, and regular soldiers, with all kinds of weapons, were all mobilized by the commanders to protect the offices and the citadel! They sent an army up to the government office, joining the soldiers already there, hoping to block the demonstrators from afar. But before our people could get there, the commanders had run into the village to hide. As for the soldiers, they were pushed aside by the protesters and stood trembling. The demonstrators continued to advance.
In the ranks, many people carried the stick or spear of the fallen person with a heavier sense of responsibility.
Suddenly, our commanders heard a report that Hung Nguyen District Chief Pham Huu Van had left the government office, taking his wife, children, and several officers with him to Vinh, seeking shelter behind the Foreign Legion's machine gun mount.
Receiving that news, Mr. Lu(3)Standing up on a high mound of earth, with his hair cut short and his skin tanned, he declared solemnly and seriously:
– The enemy has abandoned this office and fled. They, the French colonialists and the Southern Dynasty officials, hide their faces, but how can they escape responsibility, how can they erase their crimes? This blood debt, our people will forever force them to pay. We are ready to suffer losses in the struggle to reach the final victory, forcing the colonialists and feudalists to: Return factories to workers, return land to farmers, and give freedom to all working people. This is only the first battle. The path of struggle is still full of hardships and fierceness, but the enemy must pay its blood debt. Our revolution will definitely succeed. We ask our people to return and prepare for tomorrow's battles.
On the afternoon of September 12, under the leadership of several party cells, members of the Communist Youth Union and the Red Self-Defense Force were gathering to help families bury those who had just fallen when a reactionary former village chief, wanting to make a name for himself, immediately went down to the province to report that the masses were demonstrating again. Then the French invaders came to drop bombs again!
On September 12, 1930, with the barbaric massacre of the French empire, 217 of our compatriots died and 125 were injured.
The Thai Lao martyrs fell for the independence of the Fatherland and the happiness of the people. At the same time, the Soviet Government was established in many rural areas in the two provinces of Nghe and Tinh.
(Written in August 1976, according to the story of Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cac (1902-1984), from Hung Long commune, Hung Nguyen)
(1) She has the alias Lam, from Trung Can village, Nam Kim commune, a party member of the merged party cell of two communes: Phu Long (Hung Nguyen) and Nam Kim (Nam Dan).
(2) According to protesters at that time, that person was Ms. Nguyen Thi Quang Thai, the younger sister of Ms. Minh Khai (from her maternal hometown in Dao village, Duc Tho, Ha Tinh).
(3) Chat Lu, also known as Le Xuan Dao, was the organizer and leader of this demonstration, but publicly, before the masses, the Party cell chose Nguyen Ngoc Ngoan as Commander-in-Chief. Comrade Ngoan was at that time the person the Communist Party cell was monitoring for admission.
