Comrade Nguyen Tran Dat - a typical communist soldier of Cam Xuyen district (Ha Tinh)

Cam Binh is located in the Northeast of Cam Xuyen district, one of the localities with a long tradition of patriotism. When the French colonialists invaded our country, the people of Cam Xuyen many times stood together with the people of the whole country to fight against the French. Names such as Tran Cuong, Nguyen Hang Chi... have become examples of patriotism and loyalty for the people to follow.

Comrade Nguyen Tran Dat (Nguyen Dat, Nguyen Tin) was born in 1900 in a patriotic Confucian family in Yen Oc village, Vinh Lai commune, now Dong Nam Ly hamlet, Cam Binh commune, Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province. At the age of 11, his family sent him to study Chinese characters, then continued to study Vietnamese for several years. Continuing the tradition of his hometown and family, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat soon proved to be a good, studious son, eager to learn progressive literature and had patriotic thoughts.

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In the years 1926-1927, the Phuc Viet Association returned to Cam Xuyen to establish a base. Thanks to the activities of the association, the progressive patriotic ideology had a strong and profound influence on the intellectuals and patriotic youth of Cam Binh, including comrade Nguyen Tran Dat.

At the end of March 1930, after the Ha Tinh Provisional Party Committee was established, comrade Tran Huu Thieu (Provisional Secretary) returned to contact a number of patriotic youths and develop the revolutionary movement in Cam Xuyen... Although Cam Binh at this time had not yet developed party members and did not have a communist cell, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and patriotic youths who sympathized with the Party in the village such as Tran Nhon, Nguyen Dinh Tuy... enthusiastically participated in many local rallies and demonstrations.

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In March 1931, Yen Oc Party Cell was established with 5 comrades. Comrade Nguyen Tran Dat was trusted by the Party and assigned to hold the position of Party Cell Secretary. Immediately after that, implementing the policy of the District Party Committee, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and his comrades strengthened the political and ideological education for party members and the masses through documents such as: The Revolutionary Path, the 1930 Political Platform...

Thanks to the propaganda activities of comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and Yen Oc Party Cell, in a short time, the villagers actively joined mass organizations such as Farmers' Association, Self-Defense Force, Women's Union... and united to stand up and fight against the enemy's terrorist policy.

In mid-March 1931, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and the Yen Oc Party Cell called on the people of Yen Oc, Yen Binh, Yen Xa, and Yen Duong to organize rallies to respond to the people's struggle in the two communes of Ha Nhat (Thach Ha) and Van Tan (Huong Khe). After listening to comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and other party members speak at Sim Pagoda, Mu Hue Islet, and Dinh Market, the demonstration group organized a demonstration march. The masses chanted slogans as they marched, attracting more people to participate and making local tyrants tremble in fear.

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Implementing the policy of Cam Xuyen District Party Committee, on the night of April 30, 1931, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and his assigned comrades organized the distribution of leaflets on all the roads in Yen Oc and Yen Binh. On the morning of May 1, 1931, the drums and gongs sounded simultaneously, the people of Yen Oc under the command of Yen Oc Party Cell, headed by comrade Nguyen Tran Dat, united with the demonstration groups of villages in Van Tan commune (Cam Xuyen), Ha Nhat (Thach Ha) to gather at the temple of General Nguyen Bien (Cat Khanh).

The group walked and shouted slogans of struggle:“Long live the spirit of May 1st; Overthrow French imperialism and the feudal Southern Dynasty; Increase wages, reduce working hours…”While the masses were rallying to listen to the speech, the enemy sent soldiers to suppress them and fired threatening shots. However, under the command of the party members, the masses remained in formation, chanting slogans in unison to fight for their rights.

Faced with the strength of the masses, the enemy opened fire on the protesters, killing two people. To preserve their strength, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and his fellow party members agreed to instruct the protesters from the villages to disperse.

In August 1931, to cope with the growing revolutionary movement in Yen Oc, the French colonialists forced the people to contribute bamboo and wood to build camps, fences on all four sides, and set up guard posts with tools of imprisonment and torture such as shackles, swords, and knives. In addition, they also had the local lackeys coordinate with the gangs and coolies to conduct raids, round up, and arrest party cadres.

After a month of enemy searching, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat was captured and imprisoned at Yen Oc station. Here, Nguyen Tran Dat and many other party members were subjected to many brutal torture methods by the enemy, such as hanging them on tree branches and ordering soldiers to beat them hand-to-hand like pounding rice until they fainted; after that, they continued to pour water on them to wake them up and started another round of torture...

Despite facing many tortures, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat still kept his oath to the Party. Unable to get anything out of him, they took him to Ha Tinh Prison, then exiled him to Buon Ma Thuot. At Buon Ma Thuot Prison, despite facing harsh prison policies, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat remained steadfast, and together with his brothers and comrades, stood up to fight to turn the prison into a revolutionary school, to fight against harsh regimes, and to improve living conditions...

After March 9, 1945, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and a number of comrades who were political prisoners in prisons such as Buon Ma Thuot, Kon Tum, and Lao Bao were released. Immediately after returning to his homeland, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat contacted and, together with comrades Tran Huu Duyet, Pham The, etc., started to propagate and mobilize the rich to donate money and rice to help the poor. In May 1945, comrades Nguyen Tran Dat, Nguyen Ky Hoi, Nguyen Han, etc. attended a meeting at comrade Tran Hoac's house and agreed to establish the Viet Minh Front Committee of Yen Oc village.

In mid-August 1945, after the Japanese fascists announced their surrender, they received an urgent telegram from the Viet Minh inter-provincial Nghe Tinh with the following content:“Immediately arrange the seizure of power, establish a provisional revolutionary people's committee, regardless of whether it is the village or the district first. All the blue-clad military posts must be taken over. The plan to seize power depends on the flexibility of the locality.”Comrade Nguyen Tran Dat and comrades in the Viet Minh Front Committee of Yen Oc village held a meeting and assessed: At this time, the system of local officials, village chiefs, and local tyrants was confused and extremely shaken; French soldiers in red and blue uniforms deserted and were ready to join the local revolutionary movement; the uprising forces in Yen Oc were ready to wait for orders.

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On August 17, 1945, under the leadership of the Viet Minh Front Committee of Yen Oc village, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat mobilized the people to rise up and seize power. Faced with the seething spirit and indomitable will of the people, the village chief, local tyrants, and village chiefs did not dare to react but obediently handed over their seals and all kinds of documents and records of the commune to the revolution. The uprising to seize power in Yen Oc was successful.

After the successful uprising to seize power, on February 7, 1946, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat was entrusted by the organization to hold the position of Chairman of the People's Council of Tan Binh commune. In August 1969, due to the influence of the prison regime and old age, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat passed away in his hometown.

With his and his family's contributions to the national liberation revolutionary movement, comrade Nguyen Tran Dat received noble awards such as: First Class Resistance Medal posthumously awarded by Prime Minister Pham Van Dong; Glorious Family Plaque in 1974 posthumously awarded by Minister of National Defense, Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People's Army Vo Nguyen Giap./.

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References:

- History of Cam Xuyen District Party Committee, Volume I (1930-1954), National Political Publishing House, 1997

- History of Cam Binh Commune Party Committee, volume 1 (1930-2005), published in September 2009

- Narration and documentary images provided by comrade Nguyen Tran Dat's family