Red Self-Defense Team

Speaking of the Nghe Tinh Soviet means speaking of the Party's leadership, the worker-peasant alliance, the Soviet government—the image of the first worker-peasant state in Southeast Asia; and the Red Self-Defense Teams, which functioned to protect the Party, protect the Soviet government, and maintain security and order in the villages where Soviet governments were established.

The locations and facilities of Party organizations, the executive committees of communes and the Ministry of Agriculture, mass organizations, meetings, and other Party organizations were all strictly guarded and protected by Red Self-Defense forces. During rallies and demonstrations, when cadres gave speeches, propagated revolutionary ideas, and encouraged the masses to participate in the struggle, Red Self-Defense members deployed multiple protective perimeters.

In villages under Soviet administration, the Red Self-Defense Force was tasked with maintaining security and order, strictly enforcing laws, discipline, and directives from the Party branch, the Village Agricultural Committee (the rudimentary government organization), and mass organizations. Simultaneously, the Red Self-Defense Force was responsible for detecting and preventing attacks and sabotage by spies, collaborators, and garrison soldiers. Guard posts and watchtowers at the village entrances were always manned day and night, acting as eyes and ears for the Party committee, government, and villagers. The signal was a continuous ringing of gongs or the rapid beating of drums to allow villagers to react promptly. To protect demonstrations, the Red Self-Defense Force was assigned the following tasks: arresting reactionary elements, guarding and blocking enemy routes, and monitoring the movements of officials from the prefectures, districts, and military outposts. During the Red Self-Defense demonstrations, armed with makeshift weapons (spears, hammers, sickles, sticks, etc.), they occupied district towns, government offices, and military barracks, resisting soldiers who came to suppress them, protecting the struggling masses, and punishing the wicked colonialists and their henchmen who had committed many crimes. This served both to prevent further atrocities and to deter and warn dangerous elements exercising the power of the Soviet government.

On September 13, 1930, at Con Market in Thanh Chuong, Nghe An Province, the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee organized a memorial service for the martyrs who died in the massacre by the French colonialists in Thai Lao, Hung Nguyen the previous day. Over 20,000 people attended. The organizing committee mobilized 1,000 Red Self-Defense Force members to form an honor guard and provide security. The Red Self-Defense Force members stood in neat rows before the platform bearing the inscription "Memorial to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty to protect and defend the rights of the suffering working people of Annam."

At many other rallies, the Red Guards were mobilized and used as an honor guard, a symbol of the Soviet government's exercise of power. The presence of the Red Guards in all activities of the revolutionary government during this period served as an encouragement of morale and fighting spirit, and a reliable support for the working class and peasants in their unequal struggle against the enemy...

Thai Binh (Compiled)