Comrade Kieu Lieu - a steadfast communist example in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement

Having gone through a childhood of hardship and suffering, having to work for the Ambassador in Thai Nguyen and the landlord Ky Bao, in 1928, unable to bear the unjust oppression, Kieu Lieu fought back against Ky Bao's wife and returned from Pho Chau to his hometown. Here, Kieu Lieu was introduced by comrade Nguyen Le Tiep to work for his family's My Loi trading house in Huong Son district. During this time, he was treated kindly by the family of Mr. Nguyen Le Khiem (comrade Nguyen Le Tiep's father).

From the stories of comrade Nguyen Le Tiep about patriots such as Phan Dinh Phung, Phan Boi Chau, Hoang Hoa Tham or "The sound of Sa Dien bombs" by martyr Pham Hong Thai and many stories about Russia, about the great revolution of farmers..., the young man Kieu Lieu gradually became enlightened and followed the revolutionary path.

After the Communist Party of Vietnam was founded (February 3, 1930), the Ha Tinh Provisional Provincial Party Committee was also established (March 1930), becoming a great driving force to promote the revolutionary movement of the people of Ha Tinh.

In Huong Son, the Dan Thuy Party Cell (combined from the names of the two communes Dan Trai and Thuy Mai) was also quickly established. The conference to establish the Dan Thuy Party Cell, with the participation of 5 comrades, was held in a remote forest in Duong Ao. The conference admitted 2 comrades, Kieu Lieu and Pham Can, into the Party, and elected the Party Cell Executive Committee consisting of 3 comrades: Nguyen Le Tiep (Secretary); Dinh Van Nghe (Deputy Secretary); Nguyen My Tai (Member). Comrade Kieu Lieu joined the Party with the steadfast belief in making revolution to bring benefits to the people, including himself.

After its establishment, the Dan Thuy Party Cell decided to choose Duong Ao, a mountainous area bordering the three districts of Huong Khe, Duc Tho, and Huong Son, as its base of operations and a location for economic development. The Party Cell quickly implemented a plan to reclaim land and build an initial economic base, while also outlining a plan to print leaflets and Party documents. By mid-April 1930, the Party Cell assigned comrade Kieu Lieu and comrade Pham Can the task of spreading leaflets in the plantation areas of Song Con, Voi Bo, and Ha Tan. In the role of hired porters, the two comrades were resourceful and courageous in overcoming all difficulties to complete the assigned task, despite the enemy's relentless search.

After completing the task of distributing leaflets, comrade Kieu Lieu was commended and trusted by the Party Cell to be assigned to plantations and some rural areas such as Son Pho, Son Ham, Son Tay to build bases, propagate new ideas to workers and farmers, outline the direction of the struggle and call on them to rise up to make revolution and regain power. All these activities were to prepare for the demonstration on August 1, 1930 in Huong Son.

From July 29, 1930, under the leadership of comrade Nguyen Le Tiep, nearly 200 people protested and marched to the house of Nghe An Governor - Nguyen Khac Niem in Son Ha, Huong Son to arrest him. Unable to arrest Nguyen Khac Niem, the people burned down houses. Panicked, the French colonialists suppressed and sent planes to threaten, forcing the protest to disperse. To prepare for the protest on August 1, 1930, comrade Kieu Lieu and comrade Nguyen Le Tiep were assigned by the Party Cell to give speeches and shout slogans of struggle.

At about 8:00 pm on July 30, 1930, drums and gongs sounded continuously from the beginning of the village to the end of the district. People from everywhere poured into the streets, the atmosphere was so loud that it frightened the village elders. From all four sides, the masses poured into Cau Nam, stopping to listen to comrade Nguyen Le Tiep's speech... The atmosphere of boiling hatred for the enemy rose, at about 4:00 am, the protesters marched to the district capital. The district chief ordered the enemy to fire several rounds of bullets into the air, after being pressed by the masses, they fired directly at the protesters. Comrade Kieu Lieu bravely held the flag and advanced, despite the enemy's bullets. He was hit by a bullet and fell down. After 10 minutes, the protesters had to disperse due to the enemy's brutal repression. Due to his injury, comrade Kieu Lieu fell into the enemy's hands and was taken straight to the hospital for treatment, where they concentrated on treating him and interrogating him for his records.

After 1 month of treatment, the secret police came to the hospital and took comrade Kieu Lieu to a closed room to beat and interrogate him. After 3 days of using many brutal torture methods but still unable to get any statement, they returned him to the hospital for treatment. 2 months later, when they realized that comrade Kieu Lieu had recovered, the French colonialists again used the method of seduction and bribery with material things. However, before the steadfast will of the patriot, they could not achieve their goal.

In October 1930, the French colonialists continued to take comrade Kieu Lieu to the Secret Service to extract information. They used tricks to let comrade Kieu Lieu witness the torture of other soldiers right in front of him, in order to suppress the spirit of patriotism. But standing in front of communist examples like the two brothers Nguyen Tri Khoi, Nguyen Tri Khai (from Thach Ha) and many other comrades, despite being beaten and enticed by many tricks but still determined not to reveal, comrade Kieu Lieu seemed to be given more strength, determined to maintain the spirit of a communist.

The French colonialists took him out to fight from 7am to 10am. After this battle, due to being injured and losing a lot of blood, comrade Kieu Lieu was taken to the hospital for treatment for 13 months. Unable to get his statement to include in the file as a basis, the French secret police transferred it to the Southern Court for trial. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison for having"conspiracy to disrupt public order and overthrow the current regime."

From July 1931, comrade Kieu Lieu began his days of imprisonment at Ha Tinh Prison. In the harsh prison, patriotic communist soldiers like comrade Kieu Lieu still united, supported, and loved each other to overcome difficulties and challenges. The comrades still secretly organized activities, trained each other's will, organized propaganda of patriotic songs, shared daily news brought in from outside, and organized forms of struggle such as: cheering, calling out the names of the Southern Dynasty, secret agents; fighting to release shackles... Although after each uprising, the comrades were terrorized and beaten, but the more they were beaten, the stronger the movement became and eventually forced them to give in.

After 3 years of imprisonment, due to serious crimes, comrade Kieu Lieu had to serve 2 more months in prison. After his prison term ended, the French colonialists sent soldiers to take him back to his hometown and hand him over to the Duc Tho District Governor and the Dong Thai village chief for 1 year of house arrest.

At the end of 1934, Comrade Kieu Lieu went to Huong Son and met Comrade Dinh Van Nghe, while the other comrades in the Party Cell were still imprisoned. The two comrades discussed and decided to go to Son Tay, to Voi Bo and Song Con plantations to build a revolutionary base. Comrade Kieu Lieu applied to work as a worker in the French colonial plantations. Here, working together and being close to the workers every day, he actively propagated the revolutionary line, analyzed the blatant exploitation of labor by the colonialists and feudalists against the workers and the working masses. Having been enlightened by the propaganda, the workers stood up together to fight back against the evil wardens when they beat them.

In 1936, comrade Nguyen Le Tiep was released from prison and secretly summoned and gathered comrades Tran Binh, Tran Doan, Ho Hao and Kieu Lieu to discuss, outline the direction of activities, expand the propaganda network, and enlighten the grassroots. Comrade Kieu Lieu, along with comrades Nguyen Le Tiep and Ho Hao, returned to Da Gan area to consider and plan to build dams to get water, reclaim land for farming to create jobs for the people, develop production and build a revolutionary base.

After a period of activity, in 1939, comrade Kieu Lieu was again captured by the enemy, while his wife was pregnant with their first child. After 4 days of torture and beating but could not get any information, on the 5th day, the enemy used psychological measures to entice him if he confessed, he would be released to his wife and children and given food and drink... But like the previous imprisonments, he still firmly refused to confess and went on a hunger strike to avoid the enemy's interrogation. After 1 month, he was taken to Vinh Prison and handed over to the Southern Court for questioning.

After a few days in prison, Kieu Lieu and 30 other comrades were taken by the French colonialists to Linh Cam - Duc Tho station to load rice at Tho Tuong station. After 1 month, he was taken by soldiers in blue uniforms to Ha Tinh prison. Here, he and many other prisoners were forced to work on roads and break rocks in the stadium. Because 3 economic prisoners escaped, the French colonialists forced the entire prison to take off their shirts while working. Comrade Kieu Lieu mobilized his comrades to organize a struggle against taking off their shirts, but the plan was exposed, and he was beaten until he fainted by Doi Phuong, Bep Mao and many soldiers. He was taken to the hospital by 2 soldiers for emergency treatment, and it was from 6am to 4pm that he regained consciousness. After his wounds were bandaged, he was shackled and put in solitary confinement for nearly 2 months.

Comrade Kieu Lieu's health gradually weakened due to the wound from the beating not healing, the bandaging and injection in the cell were difficult, so they sent him to the prison for treatment. 5 months later, his health gradually recovered but his beaten left arm still could not move. For this reason, he escaped exile to Buon Ma Thuot and was arranged by the French colonialists to work in the prison's rice warehouse with the task of pounding rice and arranging the work in the warehouse.

On the morning of March 10, 1945, upon hearing that Vinh city (Nghe An) had been occupied by Japan, the Ha Tinh Consul wrote a letter of surrender and sent it to the Japanese Command Headquarters in Vinh, then sat together waiting for the Japanese army to take over. Like a snake without a head, the puppet feudal apparatus was paralyzed and disintegrated. In Ha Tinh Prison, the number of detainees and those with sentences of 2 years or less were released. Taking advantage of the paralysis of the French government and the Japanese governing apparatus not yet formed, comrade Kieu Lieu and many fellow political prisoners broke into the prison and escaped to operate.

From Ha Tinh Prison, comrade Kieu Lieu returned to Duc Tho, went to Kim Cuong and together with comrade Tran Binh (Provisional Secretary of Huong Son District Party Committee) went to Son Ham, Khe Mo, Khe Che, Son Binh, Tri Yen, Son Diem areas to survey the terrain to establish war zones, both to consolidate and build the economy, organize guerrillas, train to fight the enemy... preparing for the opportunity to seize power.

In July 1945, the Huong Son Party Committee held a Congress to plan the 1945 General Uprising movement, mobilizing people to hold demonstrations in the district to overthrow the old government and build a new government. The Congress established the Huong Son District Provisional Revolutionary People's Committee and elected comrade Tran Binh as Chairman.

On August 19, 1945, the Huong Son District Viet Minh Committee mobilized the masses to demonstrate and demonstrate, and marched to occupy the security guard post to seize power in the district. The uprising committee forced the Japanese military unit at Ferey post to withdraw to Vinh, creating conditions to promote the seizure of power in the communes.

During this time, comrade Kieu Lieu was assigned to Voi Bo plantation to do administrative work. Here, he continued to be trusted by the people and elected as the Chief of the Public Security Department. After a while, he was called back by the Provisional People's Revolutionary Committee and assigned the additional responsibility of being the Honorary Chief of the Public Security Department, protecting the Provisional People's Revolutionary Committee.

In 1946, he was assigned to Kim Cuong commune to establish Kim Cuong Party Cell with 4 comrades and was assigned to be Secretary. Although he held many positions, in every position, Comrade Kieu Lieu fulfilled his duties well.

In 1947, he continued to be assigned the task of establishing a safe zone (ATK) in Mo O. After the ATK was established, he continued to be assigned the task of establishing combat contacts in the communes, bringing the list of liaison members to report to the district.

After the Dien Bien Phu campaign ended, comrade Kieu Lieu was introduced to Kim Hoa commune to work. Here, he was elected to the Party Cell Executive Committee, the People's Council, and became Head of the Rent Reduction Committee. On September 2, 1954, implementing the policy of the superiors, Kim Hoa commune was divided into 3 communes: Son Phuc, Son Mai, and Son Thuy. Comrade Kieu Lieu was elected to the Son Mai Commune Administrative Committee, holding the position of Chairman of the Son Mai Commune Administrative Committee. 3 months later, due to health reasons, comrade Kieu Lieu resigned, and the Executive Committee elected comrade Le Tan to replace him.

In 1956, due to old age and poor health, Comrade Kieu Lieu retired. In 1988, Comrade Kieu Lieu passed away at the age of 83.