Sen Communal House Relic - a place for revolutionary struggle discussions during the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement

Revolutionary countryside

Nghia Dong commune borders Song Con Farm and Nghia Thai commune to the West, Nghia Binh commune to the East, Nghia Hop commune to the South (communes in Tan Ky district) and Nghia Khanh commune of Nghia Dan district to the North.

From Vinh city, follow National Highway 1A, to Dien Chau intersection, turn left along National Highway 7 to Do Luong intersection, turn right along Highway 15 to Lat town, continue about 25 km to reach the relic. Sen communal house relic is 110 km from Vinh city.

According to the Tran family genealogy in Nghia Dong commune, Tri Le commune existed since the reign of Le Hy Tong, Chinh Hoa era (1860-1705). At that time, Tri Le commune had 3 villages: Phuong Lien village, Le village and Phuong Vi village.

At the end of the 19th century, Tri Le was divided into 3 communes (called 3 communes but one commune, one village): Tri Le, Tri Chi and Yen Hoa. Tri Chi, according to the old rule, had the nom name of Se village. Yen Hoa, the old Phuong Vy, had the nom name of Ga village. Tri Le commune had the villages of Phuong Lien village, also known as Sen village, Xuan Doai village, also known as Mai village, later changed to Xuan Lien, Mai Linh village, also known as Con Moi and Khe Than.

During the early Le Dynasty, there were ethnic people living in Sen village. The first Vietnamese people to come to Nghia Dong commune were the Phan and Tran families, then the Vu and Nguyen families.

Located in Cu Lam commune, Nghia Dan district; the above administrative status of Tri Le was stable until the August Revolution of 1945.

The ancient Sen village, like other long-standing villages, has a rich spiritual life. Regarding religion, there is Am pagoda worshiping Buddha and the river and mountain gods. In the commune, there are 5 large temples: the main temple worships Cao Son and Cao Cac; the Second Temple worships the local Thanh Hoang; the Third Temple worships the twin Ngoc Nu; the Fourth Temple worships the two Phan brothers who contributed to defeating the "Red Nose" rebels in Quy Chau. The older brother was appointed Do Cong Dao Duc, the younger brother was appointed Vu Ba Dai Son; the Fifth Temple worships Bach Y Cong Chua (the above temples no longer exist). Tri Le only has one large communal house left, called Sen communal house.

Tri Le, Tri Chi in particular and Cu Lam commune in general is a locality with a tradition of patriotism, fighting against foreign invaders to protect the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. After the French colonialists invaded our country, responding to King Ham Nghi's Can Vuong Proclamation, the people of the ethnic groups in Tan Ky and Nghia Dan actively participated in anti-French movements. In Tri Le and Tan Ky, typical examples were Mr. Tran Duy Hoach (aka Quan Hoach), Nhieu Luu... who raised money to buy weapons and food to respond to the Can Vuong cause.

WhenCan Vuong movementIn Northern Nghe An, led by Nguyen Xuan On, the uprising rose up, and the people above brought all their volunteer soldiers to participate. The people of Sen and Se villages continued to contribute money and rice to support the volunteer soldiers and protect the scholars.

In 1930 - 1931, the spirit and wave of struggle of Vinh-Ben Thuy workers and people everywhere in Nghe Tinh poured into the plantations in Tan Ky. Workers in Vuc Rong, Dao Nguyen and Vuc Lo (Tan Ky) secretly gathered to discuss communism, "social" matters, land matters, and struggles. Sen village and Se village (Nghia Dong) were also excited by the "red wave" pouring in from the lowland districts. To cover the eyes of the village dignitaries, farmers often gathered at Sen communal house under the pretext of discussing village matters to talk about the struggles of the people of Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Do Luong, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh... who went to the district capital to demand tax reduction, tax deferral, and the division of public land to the poor. The news that the French colonialists were using planes to drop bombs to suppress the protesting farmers in Hung Nguyen made the people of Nghia Dong even more hateful and angry.

In late 1930 and early 1931, the Soviet movement in the lowland districts was severely terrorized by the French colonialists. Implementing the policy of the Party Central Committee and the Central Region Party Committee, the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee sent cadres, party members, and revolutionary masses who were secretly hunted by the enemy to Tan Ky, Nghia Dan districts and Mon Son area (Con Cuong district) in many different forms. In Cu Lam commune, Nguyen Cong Hoe taught in Tri Chi village, originally a patriot. He went to Dien Chau district to find ways to establish contacts. Later, Phan Dinh Lai and Phan Dinh Lien were also sought out by revolutionary comrades for enlightenment. That was the basis for the early establishment of the Party Cell of Cu Lam commune.

In February 1931, Nghia Dan District Party Committee was established. After that, in Yen Hoa village (Nghia Binh), Tri Le, Tri Chi (Nghia Dong), there were Party cells consisting of Party members from the lowlands and some key cadres in the commune such as: Vu Van Xuan, Nguyen Trong Tiem, Mr. Linh, Mr. Hue, Mr. Trong, Mrs. Lac, Mr. Chong, Tran Con, Mr. Thuan, Mrs. Le...

At the end of February 1931, comrade Vuong Thuc Xuan, an official of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, held a meeting at Mr. Vi Van Ca's house in Khe Than, Tri Le commune, to discuss the establishment of a common leadership committee for Party cells in Tan Ky. The conference elected a leadership committee consisting of 5 comrades: Vuong Thuc Xuan, Nguyen Linh, Le Thach, Nguyen Cong Hoe and comrade Chung. The conference approved the major policy of launching a movement to fight in the whole district against the oppression and exploitation of imperialists and feudalists. At the same time, coordinate and respond to the struggle against the enemy's plot to issue "surrender cards" in the lowland districts. The District Party Committee also advocated borrowing rice from the rich to help the poor, and collecting donations to help party members and families terrorized by the enemy and forced to move to Tan Ky to live.

After the Provisional District Party Committee was established, the Party base in Tri Le was increasingly consolidated.

Party communication and document printing center

The Party cell chose Sen communal house as the center for communication, meetings, and printing of Party documents. Every night, in Sen communal house, under the light of peanut oil lamps, with simple tools, hundreds of leaflets were printed and distributed to the whole commune and localities to expose the crimes of the enemy and call on the people to fight. The Red Farmers' Association was born, including comrades: Trinh Huu Lac, Nguyen Trong Chuyen, Nguyen Trong Khoi, Nguyen Viet Linh, Dao Trong, operating almost openly, attracting nearly 80% of the people to participate.... The Red Farmers' Association chose Sen communal house as the meeting place, to discuss work when necessary.

Under the leadership of the Party, the people of Tri Le commune organized many rallies and speeches at Sen communal house. Faced with the power of the masses, the local authorities in the villages and communes, although not completely disintegrated, largely obeyed the revolutionary cadres. Some power belonged to the people. Many places organized for people to learn the national language, mobilized people to abandon votive paper money, fought against superstition, reduced festivals and sacrifices, borrowed rice from the rich to help people with hunger, supported and helped each other...

In May 1931, more than 300 villagers, including Kinh people and Thai and Tho ethnic groups, gathered at Sen communal house and marched to Se village to fight. The village chief mobilized soldiers holding spears and spears to close the village gate. Faced with that situation, the commanding officers decided to lead the protest group to cheer and demonstrate, and at the same time, explain to the people of Se village and then disperse. Meanwhile, the Deputy Le secretly went to the district to report and request soldiers to suppress. The next morning, dozens of soldiers returned to the village with the village chief to hunt them down. The lowland cadres who came to operate had to retreat to Khe Than to hide. The rest were arrested or placed under strict surveillance.

In June 1931, the District Party Committee organized a "Conference Amplification" at Con Moi to gain experience. Afterwards, the comrades returned to Khe Than to discuss the next plan of struggle. While the District Party Committee was meeting, Chanh Tru went to report to the district official. Khe Than was surrounded by soldiers, they captured comrades Nguyen Linh, Le Thach, Le Nguyet and some people. After this terrorist attack, the revolutionary movement encountered many difficulties.

On July 13, 1931 (May 28, Tan Ty year), at the crowded Sen market, the enemy ordered the execution of three comrades: Nguyen Linh, Le Thach, and Le Nguyet in order to intimidate the people. Undaunted by the enemy's brutal actions, right before being shot, the three comrades shouted the slogan:
"Down with the French imperialists and feudal regime of the Southern Dynasty!
Long live the Communist Party of Indochina!

The enemy closely monitored the people of Sen village. All suspects were arrested and taken to the district for detention and brutal torture. Comrade Nguyen Cong Hoe was sentenced to 3 years in prison and taken to Vinh Prison. They later secretly killed him in prison. The District Party Committee withdrew into the mountains and forests for a short time before losing contact and the movement temporarily subsided.

In mid-1934, under the assignment of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, comrade Vo Nguyen Hien returned to Nghia Dan to direct the re-establishment of the District Party Committee. The meeting held in Tho Loc elected a new Executive Committee with 5 comrades: Phan Dinh Lai, Nguyen Dinh Trac, Lai Van But, Tran Mat, Vo Thuoc, with Phan Dinh Lai in charge.

In September 1934, Nghia Dan District Party Committee organized leaflet distribution to celebrate the day.Nghe Tinh Soviet. In mid-1935, comrade Phan Dinh Lai was elected as Secretary of the Nghia Dan District Party Committee. Two Party cells were established: Tri Chi Party Cell (Se village) and Tri Le Party Cell (Sen village) with three comrades: Nguyen Trong Thuyen as Secretary, Nguyen Sy Khang and Vo Duy Dinh. The existing Party cells at this time also developed a number of Party members. The Tan Ky Party Committee was restored and was able to lead the revolutionary movement in the entire district during the periods: 1936-1939, 1939-1945.

In 1945, under the leadership of the District Uprising Committee, thousands of people from Cu Lam commune gathered at Sen and Se communal houses to hold a rally, then marched to the district capital to seize power.

During the resistance war against the US to save the country, Sen communal house was the place where hundreds of children went to fight to save the country. The units stationed in the village all chose Sen communal house as a place for ideological, cultural and artistic activities.

Sen Communal House is not only a place for spiritual and cultural activities of the community but also a relic associated with the Van Than - Can Vuong movement; a place for meetings, printing, and hiding Party documents; a place where people gathered to fight in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement. With that meaning, Sen Communal House is recognized as a provincial-level Historical - Cultural Relic./.