The struggle of ethnic minorities in Western Nghe An in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement

The Nghe An Provincial Party Committee chose Con Cuong, a mountainous district in the southwest of Nghe An, with a long history and cultural tradition, to build a revolutionary base.

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After its founding, the Communist Party of Vietnam led the working class and peasants to rise up and fight on a national scale, reaching its peak in the struggle of the people of Nghe Tinh in 1930-1931.

The beginning of the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement was the demonstration of Vinh - Ben Thuy workers and farmers on International Labor Day, May 1, 1930. From political struggle, the masses demonstrated with rudimentary weapons. On August 1, 1930, hundreds of people in Can Loc, Ha Tinh stood up to fight and won. After that, the period of armed struggle began with the demonstration of more than 3,000 farmers in Nam Dan on August 30, 1930, forcing the District Chief to sign the people's petition. On September 1, 1930, in Thanh Chuong, a demonstration of more than 20,000 farmers in 5 communes broke out. From September 7 to 8, 1930, thousands of farmers in Can Loc, Thach Ha, and Cam Xuyen districts demonstrated and marched to Ha Tinh provincial capital to fight. On the morning of September 12, 1930, about 8,000 farmers from three communes: Phu Long, Thong Lang (Hung Nguyen district) and Nam Kim (Nam Dan district) raised high the red flag of hammer and sickle to fight. Panicked, the French colonialists used planes to drop bombs on the protesters, killing 217 people, injuring 125 people, and arresting dozens of people. From September onwards, the mass struggle movement changed beyond the expectations of the Party committees at all levels. Protests with rudimentary weapons, supported by the red self-defense team, and farmers from many districts in Nghe Tinh continuously attacked the district office. The fighting strength of the people of Nghe Tinh completely shook and collapsed the enemy's ruling apparatus. The Red Peasant Association Executive Committees (Commune Farmers' Associations) took charge of managing the communes and villages. When self-governing governments were established in villages and communes, it was also the time of the 1930-1931 revolutionary movement organized and launched by our Party. The Nghe Tinh Soviet reached its peak and became a symbol of that movement.

To implement the above policy, core leaders such as Le Xuan Dao, Le Manh Duyet, and Nguyen Huu Binh went to Dong Khua, Bau village, and Mon Son to contact comrade Vi Van Khang, a young man of the Thai ethnic group, who was educated locally, to build a revolutionary base, creating an important change in the locality.

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… Those two comrades discussed with me the plan to establish a Party cell in Mon Son, then I contacted comrades: Vi Van Khang (Mon Son), Vi Van Hanh (Mon Son), Nhan Lai (Thanh Chuong). These three comrades and I established the first Party cell Executive Committee in Mon Son (named Mon Son Party Cell) recognized by comrades Binh and Luat. After that, the comrades assigned the task of organizing the base, as a result, Dong Khua village had three groups with more than ten people including youth, women…[1]

Memoirs of Comrade Le Manh Duyet

In April 1931, the Mon Son Party Cell was established at the house of comrade Vi Van Khang, with comrade Vi Van Khang as Secretary. During this time, the house of comrade Vi Van Khang's family was not only a meeting place and place for the Party Cell's activities, but also a place to print revolutionary documents and leaflets, and a base to hide cadres of the Regional and Provincial Party Committees to direct the movement in the locality.

Comrade Vi Van Khang's house was later recognized as a National Historical and Cultural Relic according to Decision No. 152/QD-BT dated January 25, 1994 of the Ministry of Culture and Information and is a red address contributing to educating the people about patriotism and revolutionary traditions.

After the Party Cell was established, with the leadership and tireless efforts of comrade Vi Van Khang and his comrades in the cell, mass organizations such as the Red Farmers' Association, Red Self-Defense Force, Women's Union, etc. were also established one after another, promoting the development of the Con Cuong people's struggle movement.

Under the leadership of the Central Region Party Committee and Mon Son Party Cell, on August 9, 1931, more than 300 people of the Thai, Dan Lai, Ly Ha, and Kinh ethnic groups marched around the commune to demonstrate their power, following the call of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee to "quickly unite firmly, the proletariat fiercely fight to overthrow capitalist society".

Comrade Vi Van Lam and Comrade Vi Van Quy were the ones who hung the hammer and sickle red flag on the banyan tree of Con Chua, posted slogans, and hung the flag in Luc Da, Cua Rao, and Ben Cho. This was the first time the Party's hammer and sickle red flag appeared in the struggle movement of the people in the mountainous areas of Con Cuong district.

Starting from Bai Canh village to Con Chua banyan tree (Mon village), passing Hua Na village (Luc Da), the protestors marched, shouting slogans of “against high taxes and heavy levies”, “against the oppression of the working masses”, and surrounded the house of Ba Uon, an evil political group in the area. Frightened by the strong struggle of the people, Ba Uon’s family members fearfully gave 500 kg of rice and money to the revolution. The protestors divided the rice among the local people to relieve hunger and provided supplies for the Phuc Son (Anh Son) people who were taking refuge in the forest.

Faced with the fighting strength of the ethnic minorities of Con Cuong, the local tyrants and village and hamlet chiefs had to flee or lie still. The Party cell and the Red Farmers' Association independently managed the activities of the villages and hamlets and fought to protect the land of ditches and camps. The struggle of the Muong Qua people in general and Mon Son people in particular under the leadership of the Party cell initially achieved victory.

In early 1932, the French colonialists and their lackeys sent soldiers to suppress the struggle movement as well as increase the arrests, imprisonment and shooting of party members of the Mon Son Party Cell. Comrades Vi Van Khang, Tran Ngan, and Vi Van Hanh were arrested by the enemy and imprisoned in the Tuong Duong prison. In the imperialist prison, the party members and patriotic masses of the Con Cuong homeland still upheld their revolutionary spirit and did not succumb to the enemy's torture.

94 years have passed, Mon Son is still the bright spot of the struggle of the ethnic minorities in Western Nghe An in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement of 1930-1931. Although it was established after the branches such as Tho Loc - Cu Lam in Nghia Dan (late 1930), the Mon Son branch in Con Cuong was a Party organization of ethnic minority comrades and the Party Secretary Vi Van Khang himself was also a Thai ethnic. The establishment of the Mon Son branch ignited the revolutionary fire among the ethnic minorities. From here, the revolutionary movement in the mountainous areas of Western Nghe An joined the wave of struggle in the lowlands.

Right from its establishment, the Party cell called on the Thai, Tho, Kinh ethnic groups in the region to join revolutionary mass organizations. Under the leadership of the Party cell, almost every village established organizations: Communist Youth Union, Women for National Salvation, and Red Self-Defense. Mon Son alone had 5 Red Peasant Associations. Although the movement did not last long and the Soviet government was not yet clearly established as in the lowlands, the activities of the Red Peasant Associations to protect the people's rights left an indelible mark in the history of the struggle of the Mon Son - Luc Da ethnic minority.

Every April, Con Cuong district and the people of Mon Son ethnic groups organize a festival to celebrate the founding of the Mon Son Party Cell to show gratitude for the contributions of senior party members, as well as to contribute to educating the people, especially the younger generation, about historical traditions.

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