Comrade Nguyen Huu Tho: A model of a loyal and exemplary communist

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Huu Tho visited and worked at Thanh Cong Textile Factory (HCMC) in 1984. Photo: Archive.

On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of President Nguyen Huu Tho's birthday (July 10, 1910 - July 10, 2020), the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Central Propaganda Department and Long An Provincial Party Committee jointly organized a national scientific conference: Comrade Nguyen Huu Tho with the Vietnamese revolution and his hometown Long An.

Born as an intellectual who studied in the French school system, with the aim of training to become a civil servant to serve the colonial government, comrade Nguyen Huu Tho gave up the personal benefits that the colonial government gave him to join the revolution. That shows the patriotism and extraordinary determination of comrade Nguyen Huu Tho, who overcame material temptations, overcame the limitations and constraints of contemporary society, to become a communist soldier, wholeheartedly striving and sacrificing for the revolutionary cause of national liberation, national unification and people's happiness.

Comrade Nguyen Huu Tho is an example of a loyal and exemplary communist. During the years of being captured by the enemy, tortured and exiled in enemy prisons and detention camps, Comrade Nguyen Huu Tho demonstrated a spirit of loyalty, indomitability, wholehearted loyalty to the revolutionary ideals, maintaining the integrity of a communist party member, and believing in the victory of the revolutionary cause.

Lawyer - Chairman Nguyen Huu Tho, alias Ba Nghia, was born on July 10, 1910 in a middle-class civil servant family in Long Phu village, Long Hung Ha commune, Trung Quan district, Cho Lon province (now Ben Luc town, Long An province).

In his concluding remarks at the conference, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh highlighted the contributions of comrade Nguyen Huu Tho, an outstanding son of his hometown Long An. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, from the early days of participating in the revolution, being assigned to work legally in the Intelligence and Movement Committee of Saigon city, with the talent, enthusiasm and humility of a true intellectual, comrade Nguyen Huu Tho became the soul, a very prestigious leader of the peace movement in Saigon-Cho Lon in the early 1950s. In particular, it is necessary to mention the struggle of compatriots in Saigon-Cho Lon and neighboring provinces in January 1950, when student Tran Van On was murdered.

Politburo member and Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh speaks at the workshop. Photo: VGP/Manh Hung

Under the leadership of the delegation of representatives from all walks of life headed by lawyer Nguyen Huu Tho, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young people and students, took to the streets to protest for democracy, freedom of the individual, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. Since then, January 9 has become the traditional day of Vietnamese students.

After the Geneva Agreement was signed, comrade Nguyen Huu Tho mobilized intellectuals and dignitaries to join in establishing the Peace Protection Movement. Under his specific and direct guidance, in a short time, Saigon city established peace protection committees in all markets, schools, factories, inner-city areas and suburban communes of Saigon, creating a strong fighting spirit of the masses against the enemy's plot to sabotage the Geneva Agreement. In February 1950, he also led the demonstration of the people of Saigon, protesting the presence of two American warships in Saigon Port. This was the first demonstration against American imperialism by our people.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, with his talent and prestige, comrade Nguyen Huu Tho became the flag that gathered and united the peace-loving and democratic forces in the South, united to fight against imperialism and its lackeys. This was clearly demonstrated through the event that when the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam was established (December 1960), comrade Nguyen Huu Tho was under house arrest in Phu Yen by the Ngo Dinh Diem government, but the delegates voted and agreed to leave the position of Chairman vacant and would elect lawyer Nguyen Huu Tho to this position.

And after being released from prison, in February 1962, at the First Congress of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, comrade Nguyen Huu Tho was elected Chairman of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. In June 1969, he was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam.

Conference scene. Photo: VGP/Manh Hung

Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, the Central Office for Southern Vietnam and the great role of President Nguyen Huu Tho, the Southern revolution has continuously grown and developed, contributing greatly to the common victory of the people of the whole country, completing the cause of liberating the South and reunifying the country.

After the country was reunified, comrade Nguyen Huu Tho was elected Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (June 1976), Acting President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (April 1980), Chairman of the National Assembly and Vice Chairman of the State Council of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (July 1981).

At the 3rd National Congress of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in November 1988, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. In August 1994, at the 4th National Congress of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, he was honored as Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

In his leadership positions, he always upheld the spirit of democratic, dedicated, responsible, thorough and effective work. Comrade Nguyen Huu Tho made important contributions to the formation of the Party's renovation policy; he was a person with great merit in directing and directly participating in the construction of the 1992 Constitution; many of his proposals and opinions were recognized and effectively applied in practice, especially in the renovation of the State apparatus, the National Assembly and the Vietnam Fatherland Front, contributing to the victory of the renovation cause.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that although he had never met President Ho Chi Minh, Comrade Nguyen Huu Tho always respected and honored President Ho Chi Minh as his great revolutionary teacher. He was worthy of being a loyal student and an excellent successor to the revolutionary career of the beloved President Ho Chi Minh.

“The exemplary moral example of comrade Nguyen Huu Tho will forever be a source of pride and a great source of encouragement for all classes of people, especially Vietnamese youth, to learn from and follow,” Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh emphasized.