Comrade Nguyen Khac Van with his active activities in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement

Boi Son commune (formerly Bach Duong commune, Nam Duong district, Nghe An province) is located in the west of Do Luong district, where the poetic Lam river flows through. This land has been considered a border area, a "fence" of the Fatherland for generations.

With convenient transportation by both land and water, Boi Son has long been considered an important strategic location in the fight against foreign invaders. Like the people of the whole country, many of Boi Son's children followed the call of patriotism, soon participating in the fight against the French, actively responding to the uprising of Dr. Nguyen Nguyen Thanh (from Dong Son, Do Luong)... Especially, in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement in 1930 - 1931, representing the loyal and indomitable children of Boi Son's homeland was comrade Nguyen Khac Van.

Comrade Nguyen Khac Van was born in 1908 in Nhan Boi village, Boi Son commune, Do Luong district, Nghe An province, the youngest son in a poor farming family. Every day he had to witness the extreme and miserable life of his relatives around him, under the oppression and exploitation of French colonialists and feudalists, so he always nurtured a desire to rise up and fight to change his destiny, as well as gain independence for his homeland.

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In 1927, a group of educated young people in Nhan Trung village (now Lam Son commune) campaigned to establish the Phuc Viet association, including comrades Dang Sy Doi (Doctor), Cao Tien Tue (doctor), Ton Quang Phiet (Elementary School Assistant)..., introduced and admitted the Phuc Viet association, actively participated in local patriotic and revolutionary movements such as propaganda, leaflet distribution, rallies, demonstrations...

In March 1930, after the Communist Party of Vietnam was born, the Bach Ngoc Party Cell (Boi Son) was established under the name Bach Truat Party Cell, with comrade Dang Sy Doi as Secretary. This was one of the earliest Party cells established in Anh Son district.

Under the direction of the Party Cell, the whole commune launched a movement to fight for the reduction of high taxes and duties, against oppression and exploitation... The movement took place vigorously and widely in the villages. On that basis, the Party Cell launched and established mass organizations such as: Red Peasant Association, Youth Union, Women's Union, Red Self-Defense Force (Red Guard)...

With the introduction of comrade Dang Sy Doi - Secretary of Bach Truat Party Cell, comrade Nguyen Khac Van wrote an application to join the Red Self-Defense Team along with other youths in the commune such as comrades Le Van Bieu, Nguyen Huy Da, Nguyen Khac Van... who are excellent, loyal, brave, good at martial arts, and in good health. With their youth, the Self-Defense Team always volunteered to be exemplary leaders in activities such as production days, meeting nights, cultural studies, especially focusing on forging weapons and practicing martial arts.

The team's training location is the dike area along the Lam River, or the ravines in the forest. These are secretive areas, so when there is trouble, the comrades can escape, avoiding the enemy's pursuit to preserve their strength. The team is trained in martial arts by Mr. Le Soi - a former scholar of Dr. Nguyen Nguyen Thanh in Dong Son. The Red Self-Defense Team regularly patrols, guards, and protects villages during rallies and demonstrations demanding people's rights and democracy, truly being an effective tool that greatly contributes to the local revolutionary movement.

In June 1930, the villages began the tax collection period. Implementing the Party cell's policy, it was to call on the people to gather to petition for tax deferral and reduction, because that year's winter-spring crop failed due to prolonged drought. One mid-summer afternoon, suddenly the sound of five-string drums was heard in the communal house yard to call on the people to gather and sign the tax deferral petition. Unexpectedly, at the same time, the Anh Son district chief, accompanied by a team of soldiers, had just arrived at the village gate to inspect the tax collection.

The district chief was angry, thinking that this village dared to oppose the state, so he ordered the soldiers to disperse the crowd and hunt down and arrest a series of elite people, party members, and association members and bring them to the village chief's house for preemptive attacks.

Quickly grasping the situation, the Red Self-Defense Force led by comrades Nguyen Khac Van, Le Van Buong, Le Van Can, Le Khac Co... immediately mobilized forces to surround the village chief to prevent them from doing whatever they wanted. A fierce struggle took place. The enemy had the village chief, the patrol and the henchmen with modern weapons, guns and ammunition. On our side, the revolutionary forces were few and unequal, with primitive weapons such as spears, halberds, sticks... so in the end, they were captured by the enemy and taken to Anh Son Palace for interrogation and imprisonment. At this time, the atmosphere of white terror was widespread and extremely brutal.

Faced with the fierce struggle movement of the French people and the Southern Dynasty government in Anh Son, they increased their terrorist and repressive forces. They sent soldiers in red and blue uniforms to station in villages and hamlets, established a group of porters, set up guard posts, and a dense apparatus of local mandarins... patrolling strictly to suppress and hunt down cadres in order to suppress all activities of the Party cell and the Farmers' Association... The water broke the bank, and the climax of the struggle rose up again throughout Anh Son district.

Next, on July 15, 1930, the Anh Son Government Committee organized a large demonstration in response to the struggle on May 1, 1930, International Labor Day, of Vinh - Ben Thuy workers. People from Nhan Boi and Tap Phuc villages (Boi Son) and other communes such as Bach Ha, Thuan Trung, and Yen Lang gathered at Truong Con Doi (Da Son) to participate in the demonstration and make the following demands:

- Request to postpone tax until October, abolish market tax and ferry tax

- Release those arrested

- Compensation for those shot dead in Ben Thuy

On this occasion, comrades Nguyen Khac Van, Le Van Buong, Le Van Can, Le Khac Co... who were imprisoned in Anh Son district were released because the enemy did not find enough evidence to convict them.

Faced with the strength of the protest group, at Truong Con Doi, Anh Son district chief Ha Xuan Hai had to accept a document asking the people of Anh Son district to delay tax collection, with the deadline to pay in full by October.

On September 8, 1930, Anh Son District Committee organized a large demonstration in the entire district, with the aim of demanding that Anh Son district chief implement the demands of the masses that were signed in the document dated July 15, 1930. On the evening of September 7, 1930, under the direction of the Party cell, in Nhan Boi and Tap Phuc villages (Boi Son), the Red Self-Defense Team met to discuss the plan to spread leaflets and hang Party flags on tall trees in the village to encourage the struggle of the local people. The atmosphere of the struggle preparation was extremely urgent and exciting. At exactly 12 o'clock in the quiet night, the comrades in the Red Self-Defense Team took action, quickly moving to the village communal house yard and assigned the following tasks: Comrades Le Van Buong and Le Van Can prepared spears and weapons to guard outside. Comrade Nguyen Khac Van hung the 2-meter-wide hammer and sickle red flag on a pole planted on the roof of Nhan Boi village communal house (Boi Son).

Another flag was hung by comrade Le Van Buong on the top of an ancient banyan tree in front of the Tap Phuc communal house (Boi Son). The red flags fluttered in the wind as if challenging the tyrants. After the village chief went on patrol and saw leaflets scattered everywhere, and red hammer and sickle flags planted on the roofs of communal houses, he angrily ordered the soldiers to take them down and shouted loudly: “This time we must punish the communists who are causing trouble”…

Early in the morning of September 8, 1930, after hearing the command from the five-string drum sound resounding throughout the villages of Anh Son district, comrade Nguyen Khac Van joined the crowd that was bustling through Hoi Quai to the district headquarters, holding high slogans to protest against oppression and terrorism, demanding the withdrawal of the military post... When arriving at Con Doi field, the French sent planes to bomb the protest group, killing and injuring dozens of people. Faced with the unfavorable situation, the command ordered the crowd to disperse to avoid damage.

Next, in October 1930, implementing the policy of the District Party Committee, the Party cell mobilized all the people of Boi Son commune to demonstrate and warn the secret police and the lackeys of the village chiefs.

Next, in October 1930, implementing the policy of the District Party Committee, the Party cell mobilized all the people of Boi Son commune to demonstrate and warn the secret agents and the lackeys of the village chiefs and village chiefs. After that, hundreds of people gathered at Cau Vong Nhan Boi (Boi Son commune) to attend a rally to listen to the cadres give a speech about the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement. The rallying masses shouted slogans:

- Overthrew the feudal imperialists of the Southern Dynasty!

- The army has brutally suppressed!

- Support workers and farmers in Vinh - Ben Thuy!

When the rally and demonstration were almost over, the soldiers and henchmen in the station just found out, they aggressively hunted down and opened fire on the dispersed protesters, Mr. Tran Van Lai from Tap Phuc village was hit by a bullet and died in Kenh field. Comrade Nguyen Khac Van saw this and rushed forward with his spear, but was shot and wounded in the thigh by soldiers of Phuc Hau station, and was rescued by the people, carried home for treatment and waited for an opportunity to continue his activities.

By mid-1931, the French colonialists had severely suppressed the revolutionary movement in Anh Son in general and Boi Son in particular. They carried out a campaign of white terror, mobilized soldiers in green and blue uniforms, many secret agents, and built military posts, searched day and night, and arrested communist soldiers with the motto "it is better to arrest the wrong person than to let them go". From then on, most party members were sacrificed or imprisoned in prisons. Party cells and organizations such as the Red Peasant Association and the Self-Defense Force faced difficulties and challenges in the face of the enemy's siege and arrest. To preserve their strength, comrade Nguyen Khac Van and his comrades in the Red Self-Defense Force had to temporarily retreat into the deep forest to hide, stick with the people and villages to continue their activities and maintain the revolutionary movement...

In 1945, comrade Nguyen Khac Van continued to participate in secret activities to organize the seizure of power in the locality... His enthusiastic activities contributed to the victories in the heroic Soviet homeland of Nghe Tinh.

References:

• Book of history of Boi Son commune Party Committee - Nghe An Publishing House, 2015.
• Book of communist examples – National Political Publishing House, 2010.
• History book of Nghe An Party Committee - National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1998.
• According to the family of comrade Nguyen Khac Van.