Comrade Hoang Van - a loyal cadre of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Comrade Hoang Van (alias The), born in 1896, in Xuan Hoa village, Trang Cat commune (now Thuong Xuan hamlet, Nam Cat commune), Nam Dan district, Nghe An province, in a well-off farmer family. His father was Hoang Ngoc Dam, his mother was Hoang Thi Mi. As a child, Hoang Van studied Chinese and Vietnamese, and when he grew up, he was a famous tailor in the area.
During the history of the nation, the people of Trang Cat have made great contributions to the cause of building and defending the country. When King Ham Nghi issued the Can Vuong edict, the patriotic movement against the French in the Nam Dan area took place fiercely with the uprising of Vuong Thuc Quy and Vuong Thuc Mau in Kim Lien (1886-1887), attracting the participation of many people in the surrounding area, including the people of Trang Cat. At the same time, in Trang Cat at this time, the Can Vuong movement was gathered by three men: Tu Diem, Tu Ca and Bachelor Nguyen Do. The French colonialists used force to suppress and extinguish the movement. At the beginning of the 20th century, the patriot Phan Boi Chau (from Xuan Hoa commune, Dan Nhiem village) initiated the Dong Du movement, aiming to sow the seeds for the revolutionary movement. In Trang Cat, many patriotic people turned to Phan Boi Chau's path of fighting and saving the country. Since the second half of the 1920s, the patriotism of the people of the whole country in general and the people of Trang Cat in particular has been enlightened by the communist ideals spread by Nguyen Ai Quoc, opening the right path to independence and freedom. From the first red seeds in the organization of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association, to the birth of party organizations in many localities in the province, these are extremely important premises that open up a prospect for the liberation struggle to overthrow the rule of imperialism and feudalism.
In Trang Cat, Hoang Van and a group of patriotic youths pioneered enlightenment following the light of the revolutionary path that Nguyen Ai Quoc had chosen. In order to prepare for the establishment of the Communist Party cell in Trang Cat commune, Hoang Van and the patriotic and revolutionary masses established organizations such as the painting ward, the filial piety ward, the planting ward, etc. to help each other in life and propagate the revolution to the people.
An important event in Hoang Van's revolutionary life was in early 1930, according to the introduction of comrade Nguyen Gia Hao.(1), Hoang Van was able to directly talk and discuss withComrade Le Xuan Daoabout the Communist Party, about the path of national liberation struggle. With a patriotic and revolutionary spirit, along with extensive knowledge, Hoang Van and comrade Le Xuan Dao showed a close bond. After two days of talking, at the suggestion of comrade Le Xuan Dao, Hoang Van volunteered to financially support the Party in the form of contributing capital to trade in timber.(2).
After the Nam Dan District Party Committee was established on April 25, 1930, under the leadership of the Party Committee, Party cells were established one after another. With the active support of superiors and the efforts of local revolutionary soldiers, on September 8, 1930, the Conference to establish the Trang Cat Party Cell was held with the participation of 8 Party members. The conference set out many important tasks ahead to lead the revolutionary movement in the commune and elected the Party Cell Executive Committee of 5 comrades, with comrade Hoang Van as Secretary.
The establishment of the Party Cell marked a new turning point for the revolutionary movement in Trang Cat. From here, the mass struggles in the commune were directly led by the Party organization. Under the leadership of the Party Cell, directly by Secretary Hoang Van, a revolutionary movement took place strongly in the locality, leading to the establishment of the Trang Cat Commune Soviet government.
During the period from September to April 1931, the people of Trang Cat joined with the people of the districts in Nghe An province to rise up and fight in different forms. At the same time, the major policies proposed at the Conference to establish the Party cell were organized and implemented. First of all, the work of mobilizing the people to join the revolutionary mass organizations was aimed at isolating the village officials, mandarins, and lackeys. The Red Farmers' Association was an organization that developed widely and quickly. All people in the 7 villages from 18 years old and above, regardless of gender, were admitted to the Red Farmers' Association. The Executive Committee of the Farmers' Association in the villages was called the Village Farmers' Association, in the communes it was called the Commune Farmers' Association. The Party cell directed the election of 3-5 people to the Executive Committee of the Village Farmers' Association to guide the members in their activities. The standing body of the Commune Farmers' Association Executive Committee consisted of 5 people. Other mass organizations such as "Liberation Women", "Communist Youth", "Dong Tu Quan" (Youth) team were born one after another,... Up to the time after the establishment of the Party cell, the whole commune had mobilized 389 members of the associations.(3).
For the youth, the villages have not yet organized an executive committee, but the whole commune selects a number of exemplary youth who are enthusiastic in their activities to mobilize the establishment of a Communist Youth organization. The Party cell assigns party members to monitor and control the movement. In addition to the above organizations, the villages also set up the Red Relief Association to gather poor scholars and rich people in the villages into a force. The Revolutionary Assistance Association is also organized. In villages with good movements, the Party cell promotes the formation of an executive committee to maintain and develop appropriate forms of activities.
At the same time, the Party cell directed the establishment of the Trang Cat Commune Red Self-Defense Team with 59 members.(4). The members of the Red Self-Defense Team are enthusiastic people in the struggles, have good health and brave spirit.
On September 12, 1930, Hung Nguyen farmers, along with workers from Truong Thi and Ben Thuy, held a general demonstration, demanding the district governor to postpone and reduce taxes, reduce fees, reduce working hours, increase wages, etc. Thousands of farmers from the communes and cantons of Nam Kim and Lam Thinh (Nam Dan), including the people of Trang Cat, raised high the hammer and sickle flag and marched straight to Yen Xuan train station, then marched straight to Hung Nguyen district office. The Party cell secretly organized a group of 10 comrades to directly participate in the demonstration.(5).
Implementing the policy of Nam Dan District Party Committee on coordinating actions in the struggle and responding to the call of the Vinh - Ben Thuy Red General Union, the Party cell held a meeting under the chairmanship of comrade Hoang Van to discuss and decide on measures to promote the struggle movement among the masses. Developing the initial victories, the Party cell continued to lead mass organizations to directly fight against the local tyrants in a number of aspects, making demands for rights.
On October 9, 1930, the people in the commune organized a demonstration to suppress the counter-revolutionaries, shouting slogans:“Long live the Communist Party of Vietnam”, “Down with feudal imperialism”, “Down with evil tyrants”.On October 21, 1930, the people of the whole commune gathered to hold a memorial service for the comrades who died in the demonstration on September 12, 1930 in Hung Nguyen district.
On October 30, 1930, with the Red Self-Defense Force as the core, the people of Trang Cat punished Nguyen Long for communicating with French secret agents to arrest revolutionary fighters. On November 5, 1930, the Red Self-Defense Force deployed forces to punish the gang leader Nguyen Mac for inciting a number of anti-revolutionary elements.
On March 15, 1931, farmers from all over the commune held a rally at Cho Moi hamlet to show their strength, to warn some tyrants who were assisting the reactionaries, propagandizing and distorting the Party's policies, and to decide to confiscate some public fields and public lands to distribute to the peasants. The overall result of this climax was the confiscation of 91 acres of public fields that had been seized by the tyrants. The public fund, including 930 quan, 100 bushels of rice, was recovered, 260 bushels of rice and 95 quan of money from the rich were borrowed to help the people starve.(6).
With the above results, the Party cell continued to lead the implementation of policies: Eliminating debts, including debts of clans, villages, hamlets, communes, literary associations, martial arts associations, private debts that were not collected and not paid; regarding land rent, in the villages, tenant farmers harvested half of their share, the other half belonged to the landlord, the landlord had to pay for the harvest before the tenant farmers could harvest.
The Party's policy towards landlords and tyrants was to abolish formalities and bribes, burn all public and debt books, delay or not pay private debts if they were to be collected, and in 1930, farmers did not pay taxes to the feudal government.
Like some other localities in Nam Dan, in Trang Cat, in the face of the strong wave of struggle of the masses, some local leaders were stripped of their power or faltered, or remained silent, some fled. The Soviet government was born, an atmosphere of enthusiasm and solidarity in the villages, further encouraging the will to fight of the masses. Social evils such as: drinking, gambling, theft and superstition were gradually eliminated. At the same time, the Party cell mobilized and organized the people to reform some old customs to suit.
From mid-1931, the French colonialists and their henchmen focused on suppressing the revolutionary movement in Trang Cat very fiercely. In July 1931, comrade Hoang Van was arrested by the enemy and imprisoned in Vinh Prison. On January 16, 1932, the Southern Court of Nghe An province issued Verdict No. 39, sentencing Hoang Van to 9 years of hard labor and 5 years of house arrest.
At Vinh Prison, despite the enemy's barbaric torture and bribery, he continued to participate in organizing political meetings and published the "Prison Newspaper" to encourage fellow prisoners to maintain their revolutionary spirit.(7). For that reason, on July 1, 1932, the Privy Council issued Decision No. 816 and on July 20, 1932, the Resident of Central Vietnam proposed to increase Hoang Van's sentence by 2 years and exile him to Buon Ma Thuot. In 1934, his sentence was reduced by 2 years. On July 23, 1936, Hoang Van was released to return to his village on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the French Republic's National Day.
During the years of imprisonment, the brutal tortures of the enemy could not subdue the revolutionary spirit and the burning patriotic heart of comrade Hoang Van. Returning to his hometown, he continued to contact party members in the commune and his superiors to restore the party cell. In early November 1937, comrade Nguyen Ha Sam, member of the Nam Dan district Party Committee, was sent to Trang Cat commune to organize a conference to restore the party cell. The conference was held at Mr. Hoang Thi's house, in Dong hamlet, Phu Nhuan village, with the participation of 4 comrades, including: Nguyen Ha Sam, Hoang Van, Hoang Chin and Nguyen Chap Trung.(8)The conference discussed two main contents:
First, appoint comrade Hoang Van as Party Cell Secretary.
Second, organize the development of mass movements, develop party members and discuss a number of tasks that the party cell needs to focus on leading such as: Organizing the restoration and development of mass associations, filial piety associations, house-roofing associations, forms of visits when there are filial piety or joy; bringing cadres and party members into the core and making efforts to mobilize and gather people who sympathize with the revolution.
This event marked the restoration of the Party organization in Trang Cat, all 7 villages in the commune also restored the Party organization in their villages. This was the premise for the Party cell, headed by the Secretary, to lead the local democratic movement to achieve great results. Typical examples were the movement to welcome J. Goda, against the 1938 tax increase project,...
Implementing the policy of the Central Region Party Committee and Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on welcoming the Indochina colonial investigation delegation led by J. Goda to Nghe An, from the beginning of 1937, cadres and party members of Nam Dan continued to promote propaganda and mobilize the masses to collect signatures of the petition, and those who were illiterate would use fingerprints. On February 22, 1937, Nghe An Provincial Party Committee issued a notice to mobilize the people of Nam Dan to go to Vinh to welcome the Indochina colonial investigation delegation and submit demands. In Trang Cat commune, comrade Hoang Van and a number of other party members mobilized hundreds of people in the commune and neighboring areas to sign the petition to send to the J. Goda delegation when they arrived in Vinh. Comrades Hoang Van, Hoang Chin, Hoang Duy, along with more than 10 delegates representing the people of the villages in the commune, went all the way to Vinh to honor the reception of the J. Goda delegation. The petitions along with hundreds of signatures and fingerprints of the people of Trang Cat were handed over to the provincial representatives to present to J. Goda and the French Indochina colonial investigation delegation.
In 1938, implementing the Directive of the Central Region Party Committee on“Against the tax increase project”, Nam Dan District Party Committee convened a meeting of all Party cell secretaries in the district in Yen Lao village (Kim Lien). At this conference, the District Party Committee established specialized committees to help the District Party Committee direct the work of training party members, propaganda work, and mobilizing the masses to participate in the movement.“Against the tax increase project”and the revolutionary movement in the coming years. Implementing the direction of the District Party Committee, Trang Cat Party Cell has made efforts to convey the policies of the Regional Party Committee, Provincial Party Committee and District Party Committee to each cadre, party member and people. Next, comrade Hoang Van convened a Party Cell Conference to deploy two necessary actions. One is: Organize a mass rally to protest this project; two is: Hold a meeting to collect signatures on a petition to send to the Court of the Resident and the Central Vietnam House of Representatives to protest the tax increase project. Trang Cat people joined the vigorous struggle movement of the people of Nam Dan district and Nghe An, forcing the puppet government to abolishTax increase project1938.
Implementing the policy of the Party Central Committee, it was necessary to take advantage of legal and semi-legal capabilities to organize and gather the masses, along with using the public press as a means of propaganda and education for the masses. During the years 1937 - 1939, some villages in the commune developed night classes to fight illiteracy. The Democratic Youth Union and the Women's Liberation Association were established. Mutual aid associations such as funerals, weddings, roofing houses, and playing clan games were established quite widely. Through that, the Party cell propagated and educated the Party's policies and guidelines to the people. The above activities brought practical benefits to the masses every day, so they became more and more ingrained and widespread among the people and became a widespread mass movement. On the occasion of welcoming the Year of the Tiger, in February 1939, comrade Hoang Van carried out activities to demand the opening of a festival to worship the Holy Mother in Xuan Hoa village, thereby organizing the propaganda of the Party cell's policies. This event was monitored by French secret police, who considered it a "disguised political activity" organization.
When World War II broke out, due to the enemy's white terror policy, by around April 1941, the Trang Cat Party Cell had only Secretary Hoang Van and 5 party members left and had to retreat into secret activities. In the locality, in the eyes of the imperialists and their lackeys, comrade Hoang Van was a "dangerous former political prisoner" so they were placed under house arrest and monitored very closely. Despite being restrained and placed under house arrest by the enemy, comrade Hoang Van still sought every means of activity to strengthen the party organization, maintain and kindle the revolutionary flame among the masses. In the report of the Nam Dan District Chief sent to the French colonialists, in 1943, comrade Hoang Van "continued to fight for the loosening of control over former political prisoners".(9).
Due to the effects of enemy torture during his imprisonment, along with his relentless revolutionary activities under the extremely strict surveillance and control of the enemy, comrade Hoang Van's health gradually declined and he breathed his last in his hometown in 1943. With his great contributions, comrade Hoang Van was awarded the "Fatherland's Gratitude" certificate by the Prime Minister for "sacrificing his life while fighting the enemy" in 1972; and "sacrificing his life for the cause of revolutionary struggle and national liberation" in 2005.
At the age of 47 and 13 years of Party membership, comrade Hoang Van made great contributions to the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam Branch in Trang Cat. Under the leadership of the Branch Executive Committee, headed by Secretary Hoang Van, the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931 took place vigorously, leading to the establishment of the Soviet government in Trang Cat. Through the years of imprisonment, he was a typical example of the indomitable spirit of a communist, contributing to the victory of the struggle to restore the Party organization and the revolutionary movement of the Communist Party of Vietnam. During the years 1937-1943, the struggle for democracy and people's livelihood, as well as the process of building forces to prepare for the seizure of power in Trang Cat, were integrated into the revolutionary movement of the whole province, associated with the role of Secretary Hoang Van.
As the first generation of party members of the Communist Party of Vietnam, comrade Hoang Van set a shining example of revolutionary ethics of a staunch communist. First of all, he demonstrated infinite loyalty to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the people. He was an example of a strong will and courage to not submit to the enemy. He also demonstrated a spirit of responsibility, perseverance, and high determination for the cause of liberating the homeland, for prosperity, freedom, and happiness for the people.
Note:
(1) Nguyen Gia Hao (1905-1986), from Trang Cat commune, was enlightened about the revolution by comrade Le Xuan Dao and admitted to the Party in Hung Nguyen in June 1930. He was a veteran revolutionary cadre.
(2) Nguyen Gia Hao (1966), Memoirs of the Road to Glory 1928 - 1945, Preserved at the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum
(3),(4),(5),(6),(8) Nam Cat Commune Party Committee (2023), History of Nam Cat Commune Party Committee (1930 - 2020), Nghe An Publishing House, pp. 29; 30; 31; 34; 48
(7),(9) Summary of the revolutionary activist's biography (documents obtained from French secret agents). Translated on November 22, 2002, kept at the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum.
