The Soviet imprint in the golden pages of the nation's history.

In the book "The Nghe Tinh Soviet" by the Subcommittee for Party History Research - Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, along with important documents from the Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports, the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum has presented a profound understanding of the historical significance of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Uprising.

Among them, the following six are the most typical meanings of the climax:

1 - This was the first revolutionary upsurge of the working class and peasants immediately after the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam. This upsurge was the result of a revolutionary process that began in the 1920s, a process of preparation for the establishment of the Communist Party. It marked the beginning of a new revolutionary phase, qualitatively different from the previous one.

Compared to previous patriotic movements, the revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe Tinh Soviet, was distinctly different in nature, level, purpose, role, tasks, class consciousness, and even in its methods and forms of struggle. It concentrated many characteristic features of revolutionary movements under the leadership of the Communist Party from 1930 onwards. It marked a fundamental shift from spontaneous to conscious struggle within the Vietnamese workers' movement.

Nghe Tinh SovietIt eloquently demonstrated a profound revolutionary and mass character that, nearly a century after the French colonial rule over our entire country, no other patriotic movement could compare to. As a true revolution, the Nghe Tinh Soviet was completely different from other uprisings that were merely conspiracies orchestrated by their leaders and carried out purely through military means, without the participation of the working masses.

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"The movement in Nghe Tinh last September was a major step forward in the revolutionary path. This movement was an enlightened, organized movement, led by the Communist Party and revolutionary organizations. It had deep roots among the peasants, and possessed a clear mass and class character: tens of thousands of people attacked imperialism, feudalism, capitalism, and landlords; hundreds of thousands flocked to schools of struggle and combat, causing the rulers and oppressors to lose their composure and making it impossible to suppress it as quickly as the Yen Bai uprising. This movement was a major step in the anti-imperialist and agrarian movement, with a tremendous impact on the history of the liberation of Indochina."

The French newspaper "Proletariat," October 1931 issue.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet affirmed, in practice, the revolutionary leadership and leadership capacity of the working class and its vanguard party.

In Vietnam, the feudal class had long since lost its historical role. Therefore, although there were progressive local intellectuals and leaders within the feudal class who spearheaded uprisings against the French, they ultimately failed. The bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie, and intellectuals had completely demonstrated their inability to lead the national liberation revolution, as evidenced by the swift failure of the Yen Bai uprising (February 1930). Only the Communist Party of Vietnam, immediately after its founding, launched an unprecedentedly powerful mass revolutionary movement. From this point, the proletariat and its vanguard party seized exclusive leadership of the Vietnamese revolution, raising the banners of national independence and socialism, steering the Vietnamese revolutionary ship into the center of the times.

2 - The Nghe Tinh Soviet was the first general rehearsal of the national democratic revolution in Vietnam. The Nghe Tinh Soviet is an immortal epic in the first chapter of the "golden history" of the Communist Party of Vietnam; it is one of the most representative pages of the eternal heroic spirit of the Vietnamese nation.

It was called a "general rehearsal" because, through this climax, a series of fundamental issues concerning strategic direction and revolutionary methods were tested and yielded valuable experiences for the subsequent revolutionary process.

According to Academician Nguyen Khanh Toan in his book "Some Lessons from the Nghe Tinh Soviet", it is written:

"More important than the Paris Commune to the French Revolution, and more important than the Guangzhou Commune to the Chinese Revolution, the Nghe Tinh Soviet was of special importance to the Vietnamese Revolution.

Paris CommuneIt heralded a new era in world history. It enriched, illuminated, and concretized several issues of scientific socialism, such as the theory and practice of the proletarian revolution and the theory and practice of the dictatorship of the proletariat. However, it did not directly impact the revolution in France or Europe at that time, because there was a half-century gap between the Paris Commune and the period when the proletariat directly and victoriously attacked capitalism. During this time, opportunism and reformism of the Second International leaders prevailed in the European workers' movement. The Guangzhou Commune was a defensive struggle (combat dérrière garde) of the entire revolutionary period from 1923 to 1927, but after that, the Chinese revolution shifted to a new strategy: developing agrarian revolution, establishing guerrilla bases, and building Soviet power.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet held special importance for the Vietnamese revolution in the sense that it directly and comprehensively influenced the later stages of the Vietnamese revolution. After 1930-1931, the Vietnamese revolution developed in the direction thatThe revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931In general, and the Nghe Tinh Soviet in particular, outlined the general characteristics of the movement. This is because the Nghe Tinh Soviet emerged as the highest point of the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931, when the Vietnamese working class gained leadership of the revolution, and when the fundamental element of the revolution—the alliance between workers and peasants—was realized in Vietnam. At the same time, because the Nghe Tinh Soviet was the highest point of the 1930-1931 revolutionary movement, it served as a fairly clear mirror reflecting both the strengths and weaknesses of the movement.

Historical reality proves that, although brutally suppressed by imperialism, the Nghe Tinh Soviet had a profound and far-reaching influence on the development of the Vietnamese revolution. Like a large, ancient tree, though its top was cut off, its roots have penetrated deep into the earth, spreading everywhere, and will sprout and flourish when conditions are right.

The fierce struggle during the revolutionary upsurge of 1930-1931 and the Nghe Tinh Soviet demonstrated the unwavering hatred of Vietnamese workers and peasants towards French imperialism and the Southern feudal regime; the unparalleled courage and immortal heroic spirit of the working class and peasants who dared to "challenge the heavens." Striking directly at the foundations and structures of imperialist and feudal rule, the Nghe Tinh Soviet showed a very high level of national and class consciousness, and the radical revolutionary spirit of the working class and peasants. The Nghe Tinh Soviet worthily continued and highly developed the heroic tradition of our ancestors in fighting invaders and defending the country.

3 - The greatest victory of our Party during the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe Tinh Soviet, was the establishment of a solid worker-peasant alliance. The Nghe Tinh Soviet strongly encouraged our people, primarily workers and peasants, making them feel capable of overthrowing the imperialist and feudal rule and building a new society.

From the very beginning of the revolutionary movement, there was a harmonious combination of the workers' struggle and the peasants' struggle. In some demonstrations (such as the demonstration in Vinh - Ben Thuy on May 1, 1930), the hammer and sickle were joined together, raised high in the fervent revolutionary spirit of the masses. For the first time, workers and peasants joined hands on the battlefield.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet, formed in rural areas and also known as the "peasant Soviet," could not have existed without the leadership of the working class through its vanguard. The leadership of the Party was the most necessary alliance for the peasantry and for the very existence of the Party. It can be said that the Nghe Tinh Soviet was a product of the worker-peasant alliance under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Through the Nghe Tinh Soviet, especially through the struggles of the workers of Vinh - Ben Thuy and their support for the peasants' struggles, the peasantry recognized the working class as its most sincere friend, and saw the Communist Party as the most resolute revolutionary organization in fighting against the oppression and exploitation of imperialism and feudalism, bringing freedom and democracy to the working masses.

Building a strong worker-peasant alliance is the most important factor in maintaining the Communist Party of Vietnam's exclusive leadership of the Vietnamese revolution.

In Vietnam, Confucian thought has long been deeply ingrained in the subconscious of many generations, causing the working people to feel inferior about their status and enslaved fate. Under the light of Marxism-Leninism and the leadership of the Party, the working class and peasants have awakened to class consciousness, clearly seeing the root causes of their poverty and becoming aware of their historical mission. The Nghe Tinh Soviet brought them legitimate pride and unwavering confidence in their own immense strength.

In the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, the revolutionary masses demonstrated a great ingenuity by seizing power in villages and communes once the local ruling class disintegrated or became paralyzed. The Nghe Tinh Soviet government was formed unexpectedly by the Party committees at all levels, but the masses' seizure of power from the disintegrating enemy was essential because society cannot exist without a government for even a day. History entrusted the masses with seizing power in this sudden turn of events, and they accomplished this great feat naturally, despite having never known how to organize a government before. The Nghe Tinh Soviet created a method of seizing rural power primarily through the political strength of the masses, under conditions without imperialist war or civil war between ruling factions in a country with limited land and population.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet was a model of a future society, one that was free, equal, and free from the exploitation of man by man that existed in the Soviet Union. By establishing a Soviet government within a colonial-feudal regime, the working class and peasantry truly deserved to be considered the creators and subjects of history.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet left a profound impression on the people of the whole country. By bringing freedom and practical benefits to the masses, such as distributing public land, abolishing taxes and backward customs, the Nghe Tinh Soviet made it clear to the people that only by overthrowing imperialism and its collaborators, and exercising their own right to self-determination, could they achieve true freedom and happiness. Only a government of the people, by the people, could resolutely fight against colonialism and feudalism, sweep away the harmful remnants of the colonial-feudal yoke, and guarantee the vital interests of the broad masses of working people.

Bringing tangible benefits to the working masses is one of the main factors determining the nature of revolutionary government, and a characteristic of the Nghe Tinh Soviet. The Paris Commune existed for only a short time (72 days), but it also brought some practical benefits to the working people. Therefore, Marx and Engels highly valued the historical significance of the Paris Commune.

Bringing tangible benefits to the working masses proves that such a government is truly a government of the people, representing the democracy of the working class, of the majority, distinct from bourgeois democracy, which is the democracy of the minority, the exploiters.

4 - The Nghe Tinh Soviet was a unique phenomenon in the global national liberation movement. The influence of the Nghe Tinh Soviet resonated not only throughout the country but also shook the world.international public opinion.

In world history, there have been several events that established communes and Soviets: the Paris Commune (March 1871), the Russian Soviet (1905), the Bavarian Soviet in Germany (1919), the Hungarian Soviet (March 1919), the Guangzhou Commune in China (December 1927), and the Java Sumatora Soviet in Indonesia (1926-1927).

The aforementioned Communes and Soviets mostly appeared in capitalist or semi-colonial countries and were primarily workers' Soviets or mainly composed of urban workers (and soldiers, as in Hungary). Only the Nghe Tinh Soviet appeared in a semi-feudal colonial country and in a rural area far from the cities. Some documents refer to it as a "peasant Soviet" for this reason. Could this be the starting point of the national liberation movement, following a new trend on a global scale? It can be said so, because, clearly, no colonial country before had ever experienced such a widespread national democratic revolutionary movement as in Vietnam. And no other place had maintained local power for such a long period as the Nghe Tinh Soviet.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet served as a bridge connecting the Vietnamese revolution with the international revolutionary movement.

At the end of the 1920s, the workers' movement in Europe was strongest in Germany, France, Italy, England, and Spain. National liberation movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America were also surging (China, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Algeria...). The revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931 in Vietnam was a coordinated effort in harmony with the international revolutionary movement. The Nghe Tinh Soviet was a new star appearing in the Eastern firmament, signaling to progressive humanity that from now on, the Vietnamese revolution would become an inseparable part of the international communist and workers' movement, and especially of the national liberation movement in the new era. This was a worthy contribution of the Vietnamese revolution to the general trend of the global revolutionary cause. The revolutionary upsurge of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe Tinh Soviet, was a significant contribution to the world revolutionary movement, not only because it highlighted the unwavering will and indomitable spirit of a colonized nation, but also because it charted the path to liberation, allowing those nations sharing the same fate to recognize their historical role and further strengthen their belief in their ability to create their own history.

With the Nghe Tinh Soviet, the Communist International considered Vietnam the first of six typical cases in the continents of colonial and dependent countries with a truly unique struggle process since the founding of the Communist International.

Even while the Nghe Tinh Soviet was still in existence, the 11th Conference of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (April 1931) recognized the Indochinese Communist Party as an independent branch directly under the Communist International.

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"The vibrant revolutionary movement in Indochina contributed to increasing communist influence in the colonies, especially in the East."

Excerpt from a letter from the Communist International to the executive committees of the Communist Parties (France, China, India) dated February 27, 1931

5. With the revolutionary upsurge of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe Tinh Soviet, for the first time in our country, the peasant issue became an important content in the process of the national liberation struggle; for the first time, the anti-feudal issue was addressed.

The anti-feudal nature of the Nghe Tinh Soviet was of immense significance; it marked a milestone in the history of our people's national liberation struggle, initiating a period of intertwined anti-imperialist and anti-feudalism.

The Nghe Tinh Soviet reclaimed public land and distributed it to the peasants. Public land was a remnant of the rural commune system of ownership. The feudal lords exploited public land to heavily tax and secure preferential land ownership for themselves. Therefore, under feudalism, public land in villages and hamlets retained only the egalitarian distribution of the primitive era, but in essence, it adapted to a class-based society, serving the interests of the ruling class and consolidating the land ownership system of the bureaucratic feudal state. In reality, village and hamlet land had become part of the state's land ownership system, which is why the feudal state maintained and exploited it. However, objectively, once the system of communal land ceased to exist, to a certain extent, the inherent principle of egalitarianism was fought for and protected by the people.

As long as communal land exists, farmers will continue to fight to protect their equal ownership rights and practical interests. The reality in the rural areas of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces has long proven this.

It was no coincidence that the very next day, after the October Revolution succeeded in Russia, Lenin signed two decrees on peace and land. The land issue was one of the most fundamental factors that fueled the strong struggle of the Nghe An - Ha Tinh peasants and ensured the Soviet's continued existence for a period not as short as the Paris Commune or the Guangzhou Commune. Solving the land problem and abolishing taxes were crucial issues of revolution in colonial countries. Although the abolition of land ownership by the feudal landlord class was not officially announced, the distribution of public land, rent reduction, rent cancellation, and debt forgiveness were powerful blows against the feudal exploitation in the countryside. Thus, alongside its predominantly nationalist and anti-imperialist character, the Nghe An - Ha Tinh Soviet clearly demonstrated democratic and anti-feudal characteristics.

The greatness of the Nghe Tinh Soviet lies in the fact that, for the first time in Vietnamese history, the peasants saw that the Party of the working class not only recognized the land issue as a crucial problem of the Vietnamese revolution but also made efforts to solve it.

Since the French colonial invasion of our country, anti-French movements and patriotic organizations have, to varying degrees, relied on the peasantry. However, none of these organizations fully recognized the importance of the land issue, and naturally, none were able to resolve it. If we say that, from the beginning, the Party's policies were fundamentally correct, and that the Party successfully built a worker-peasant alliance, then the Nghe Tinh Soviet, with its land policy, was a crucial building block in the construction of that policy and alliance. The immense historical significance of the Nghe Tinh Soviet lies in this.

6 - The revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe Tinh Soviet, trained a very large and steadfast contingent of cadres for our country's revolution, who survived the fierce trials of the struggle against the enemies of the class and the nation.

The revolutionary fighters of the 1930-1931 period became the active core of the 1936-1939 and 1939-1945 movements. The Nghe Tinh Soviet alone had a massive contingent of cadres and masses: 183 Party branches with 2,011 members, 48,484 members of peasant associations, 8,648 women's liberation groups...

The revolutionary upsurge of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe Tinh Soviet, served to educate the ideology, awaken revolutionary consciousness, cultivate a tenacious fighting spirit, and raise the political level of cadres, party members, and the masses. Nearly two years of this revolutionary upsurge allowed the masses, cadres, and party members to mature rapidly, surpassing the progress made in the preceding decades. It was a leap forward, a historical milestone for our people, marking a shift from a tradition of patriotism based on petty-bourgeois and bourgeois viewpoints to patriotism based on the working-class viewpoint.

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"The greatest achievement of the revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931, an achievement that the subsequent brutal white terror of imperialism and feudalism could not erase, was that it affirmed in practice the leadership and leadership capacity of the proletariat, and at the same time instilled in the vast majority of workers and peasants confidence in their own strength. This was the first decisive victory for the entire subsequent development of the revolution. Directly speaking, without the earth-shattering class struggles of 1930-1931, in which the workers and peasants unleashed their extraordinary energy, there could not have been the high tide of 1936-1939..."

Comrade Le Duan - Former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam