Comrade Nguyen Tu Van with heroic contributions to the Soviet movement in Thanh Chuong

Comrade Nguyen Tu Van (alias Son), born in 1902, in Hoa Quan village, Vo Liet commune, Thanh Chuong district (now Thanh Huong commune, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province).

Nguyen Tu Van was born into a poor peasant family with many siblings. His father was Nguyen Van Khoi. His mother was Dau Thi Nho, a hard-working woman who took care of her husband and children with all her heart.

Born and raised in a country of misery and slavery, the people of the whole country in general, and the people of Hoa Quan in particular, all groaned under the brutal colonial feudal regime. The entire Hoa Quan village had about 100 households, with 307 acres of rice fields, of which the fertile fields were all in the hands of landlords and rich farmers, nearly 30 acres of land were reserved for festivals and worship at communal houses, pagodas, and shrines. The dry fields in deep valleys were reserved for the people to cultivate.

In addition, the village magnates were rampant, suppressing heavy taxes and imposing high taxes. The people were also suffering in many ways because of forced labor, conscription, and miscellaneous labor. "The last straw broke the camel's back", this situation fanned the flames of struggle among the people throughout the country.

After the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3, 1930), under the direct direction of the Central Party Branch of Central Vietnam, the Conference of delegates of Thanh Chuong communist branches was held at Tien Son Temple (now Thanh Long Commune) on March 20, 1930. The conference elected the provisional Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Thanh Chuong District, and at the same time, decided to convert the Indochinese Communist Party branches in the entire district into Communist Party branches of Vietnam. The provisional district Party Committee considered the work of Party building and the development of grassroots Party organizations as the top priority, assigning cadres to villages and hamlets to propagate and enlighten, making the masses understand the Party and the revolution [1].

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The vibrant activities of the Party organization had a great impact on the young man Nguyen Tu Van and the patriots in Hoa Quan. He soon became aware of the revolution and began to participate in struggles and demonstrations in the village, commune, and district.

Under the leadership of the District Party Committee and Party cells, revolutionary events continuously took place in Thanh Chuong, lasting from March to July 1930, in many localities throughout the district and with the active participation of comrades Nguyen Tu Van, Nguyen Tu Kien, Dau Dinh Linh, etc. However, in Hoa Quan, because there was no direct Party organization to lead, the flame of revolutionary struggle had not yet been ignited. However, the elite masses in Hoa Quan were noticed, selected, and nurtured by the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee into red seeds, to prepare for the establishment of a grassroots Party organization, Nguyen Tu Van was one of those seeds.

In early May 1930, comrade Nguyen Huu Vien from Vo Liet, a teacher in Hoa Quan commune, a Propaganda officer of Thanh Chuong District Committee, was assigned to return to distribute leaflets and promote the construction of bases in Hoa Quan area. Implementing the policy of the District Committee, Nguyen Huu Vien coordinated with Nguyen Tu Van to carry out a demonstration on July 15, 1930, directing the people of Hoa Quan commune to march to the District Office. However, due to information being leaked, the demonstration was quickly suppressed.

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After a period of active and enthusiastic activities, in early August 1930, comrade Nguyen Tu Van was honored to join the Party. Also during this time, at the Nguyen Tu family temple (now in hamlet 1, Thanh Huong commune), under the chairmanship of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, the Hoa Quan Party Cell was established, with the code name HQ [2]. The cell had 8 party members, including comrades: Nguyen Tu Van, Dau Dinh Linh, Nguyen Tu Kien, Dinh Van Tiem, Le Nhu My, Nguyen Xuan Phon, Nguyen Huu Vien and Nguyen Thi Sen. Comrade Nguyen Tu Van was elected as Secretary, Nguyen Tu Kien as Deputy Secretary [3].

The birth of the Hoa Quan Party Cell was an important turning point, opening a new page in the history of the revolutionary struggle of the Hoa Quan People, because from here on, the movement to fight against oppression and exploitation by colonialists and feudalists in Hoa Quan had a Party organization directly leading it.

With a strong political stance and intelligence and flexibility, comrade Nguyen Tu Van organized many demonstrations, mobilized the masses to fight and trained cadres for the Party such as:

On August 10, 1930, the Party Cell led the masses to demonstrate and destroy the Hoa Quan Forest Ranger Station; destroy the Hoang Nghia Dau and Hoang Nghia Cau plantations in Dong Hoa to reclaim some land for the people.

On August 15, 1930, the Party Cell mobilized over 60 people to participate in a demonstration at Thanh Qua station.

On August 20, 1930, the Party Cell organized a demonstration to demonstrate its power under the order of the General Department, gathering 110 people with spears and sticks under the command of comrade Nguyen Tu Van to pass through Dong Du - Thanh La villages (now Thanh Linh commune)[4].

Promoting that spirit, the Hoa Quan Party Cell led the local masses and the people of Thanh Chuong district to participate in the demonstration to rob the District Office. On the night of August 31, 1930, the drums of Hoa Quan commune were brought to the top of Sung Bo mountain to await orders. The militia of the villages blocked all roads, cutting off the enemy's supply route to Thanh Chuong, protecting and guiding the demonstration through. At 1 a.m. on September 1, 1930, as planned, when the drums of command rang out one after another on the high mountain peaks of Xuan Lam commune, on Tien mountain, Vo Liet commune and Nguoc hill, Ngoc Son commune, in Hoa Quan, the drums beat rapidly on Sung Bo mountain, along with the sound of gongs, bamboo clappers and cheers, further urging the masses to participate in the demonstration.

The crowd marched towards the District Office with red flags, hammers and sickles, spears, clubs, etc. The overwhelming momentum frightened the soldiers and henchmen at the District Office, who quickly fled. The demonstration ended in victory. The enemy government collapsed, and in its place was the formation of the Soviet government. The demonstration on September 1, 1930 was considered the starting point, marking the birth of the Soviet government in Nghe Tinh - the peak of the 1930-1931 revolutionary movement nationwide.

After this demonstration, taking advantage of the victory, the Hoa Quan Party Cell continued to organize the masses to march to demonstrate their power, dig ditches to fight drought, open schools to teach the national language, suppress local tyrants, making them afraid and paralyzed. The enemy government collapsed, to manage the villages, the Party Cell established the Red Peasant Association, the Communist Youth Union, the Women's Liberation Association, the Red Self-Defense Force, confiscated public land and communal rice that the landlords and tyrants had appropriated, abolished taxes, reduced main rent, abolished secondary rent, eliminated high debts, eliminated backward customs, etc. Order and security in the villages were stabilized, all matters in the villages were resolved by the Peasant Association. There was not a single tyrant in the village.

On September 12, 1930, implementing the policy of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, the Party Cell led the masses to participate in a rally and demonstration against the French terrorist policy at Phuong market, Vo Liet commune and held a memorial service for 3 masses who died in the demonstration on September 1, 1930. On September 29, 1930, the Party Cell continued to organize and lead the masses to hold a memorial service for those who died in the demonstration on September 12, 1930 at Hoa Quan communal house.

On October 25, 1930, Secretary Nguyen Tu Van and the Hoa Quan Party Cell mobilized more than 300 people to join the struggle to demand that local officials and local landlords return the charity money, cancel public debts, and take back public land and distribute it to poor farmers.

Faced with the power of the people, they had to return 300 quan of charity money, declare the abolition of 400 quan of interest from the association of sacrificial offerings to the saints and gods, cancel the interest debts of the rich landlords and peasants, abolish land rent, and at the same time burn all the books in the hands of the village chiefs. This result greatly encouraged the fighting spirit of the people, making them believe more in the leadership of the Party cell.

Following that success, the Party Cell decided to assign the Red Peasant Association to take charge of the struggle to confiscate rice from landlords and distribute it to the poor on December 2, 1930. Also in December, the Cell continued to direct the establishment of the Red Relief Association with 30 members to help people in times of difficulty, while at the same time propagating and mobilizing people to learn the National Language.

In early 1931, powerless against the power of the masses, Village Chief Phan Ba ​​Uyen, Chief Le Ba Dung, Deputy Village Chief Nguyen Tu Don... requested Western soldiers from Dai Dinh garrison to suppress the movement, while also increasing the number of porters. On the other hand, they secretly sent spies to investigate and find out about active and important figures in communist organizations to prepare plans to suppress and arrest communist party members and revolutionary masses.

Knowing that comrade Nguyen Tu Van was one of the key cadres of the Hoa Quan Party Cell, they classified him as an extremely dangerous subject and sent secret agents to search everywhere. They burned and destroyed the houses of comrades Nguyen Tu Van, Nguyen Tu Kien, Nguyen Huu Vien,...

The brutal actions of the enemy caused many losses to the Hoa Quan Party Cell and made its operations difficult. During a campaign of suppression and pursuit, party members and revolutionary masses were captured one after another by the enemy, such as Mr. Dau Dinh Linh, Le Ba Tuan, etc. The remaining four, comrades Nguyen Tu Van, Nguyen Huu Vien, Mr. Phan Doan Dua and Nguyen Quoc Ha, were lucky to escape the enemy's pursuit and retreated into the forest to operate secretly.

During the day, the comrades worked in the deep forest, and at night they returned to spread leaflets and propaganda slogans, in order to maintain and enhance the fighting spirit among the masses at this difficult time, and at the same time, receive food from the people to maintain their activities. Knowing about these activities, the French colonialists and their henchmen ordered martial law, built guard posts, and arrested cadres and party members who returned to the village at night to spread leaflets and receive food. In the strict situation, although the movement had subsided, the masses still found ways to bring rice and potatoes to supply, wholeheartedly protecting the cadres and the revolutionary masses.

To relieve the comrades in Hoa Quan, Thanh Chuong District Committee advocated mobilizing the masses to demonstrate and show power, arrest and sentence the local leaders. Thanks to that, many comrades such as Nguyen Tu Van, Nguyen Huu Vien, etc. were able to return to work to rebuild the movement. The comrades went to Thanh Nha to find the Headquarters, discussed the plan to restore the Ngoc Lam area (Thanh An) [5], and at the same time, used the whole district's self-defense force to arrest the Ngoc Lam village chief, Canh Ky. The revolutionary spirit here was restored and grew stronger.

In April 1931, Nguyen Tu Van joined the District Committee in the plan to organize the restoration of the Hoa Quan area. They took the Self-Defense Party Cells of Giap Nhat, Giap Nhi, Giap Tam, and Giap Tu and divided them into three groups, each group was assigned the task of capturing a number of officials and local officials who oppressed the people and caused losses to the revolutionary movement. Early the next morning, the groups captured the village chief Phan Ba ​​Uyen and the deputy head of the group Nguyen Van An.

The group led by comrade Nguyen Tu Van captured Phan Ba ​​Tiu and Nguyen Tu Khai and took them into the forest to execute them. After this incident, the remaining officials were afraid and did not dare to act rashly. Party organizations and mass organizations were gradually restored.

On the night of May 1, 1931, implementing the directive of the District Committee, the Hoa Quan Party Cell mobilized over 100 people from Hoa Quan and Thanh Khiet under the command of comrade Nguyen Tu Van, coordinated with the militia in the district to march and demonstrate to capture the Thanh La tyrants. As a result, 4 evil tyrants were destroyed.

During this time, comrade Nguyen Tu Van was assigned to be the Secretary of the General Team. However, at that time, the French colonialists and their henchmen increased their forces, set up more posts in Thanh Chuong district, determined to prevent and suppress the revolutionary movement. Therefore, the revolutionary movement encountered more and more difficulties.

At the end of July 1931, the enemy, led by General Nguyen Tien Tinh (Soan), along with a number of soldiers in green and blue uniforms, returned to the village and stationed themselves at the house of comrade Nguyen Tu Kien [6]. They established the Chief, Deputy Village Chief, five village chiefs, village chiefs, clan representatives and porters, and tried to suppress and terrorize the revolutionary movement. They hunted down, arrested, burned down, robbed and tortured not only those who directly participated in the revolution but also their relatives. The enemy's fierce terror forced many families to abandon their homes and gardens to seek refuge. The Hoa Quan Party cell once again had to take refuge in the forest to avoid persecution and continue its activities.

From August 1931, Thanh Chuong district was in an extremely tense situation. Due to the information of two traitors in the Ha Giang Party Cell (Quang Xa), the District Party Committee office was surrounded, and a number of District Party Committee cadres were caught in the enemy's net. The District Party Committee office had to move to Ro Con (Ngoc Lam mountain). The communists in Thanh Chuong had to fight in extremely difficult circumstances.

The soldiers and the Gang went deep into the forest to hunt down agencies, cadres, party members and block the supply routes for cadres. Rice and salt were all gone. Living in the open, having to move frequently, cadres and party members had to endure hunger, cold, and illness. However, everyone tried to strive, not to interrupt the connection with the people and the Party [7]. Comrade Nguyen Tu Van and other loyal cadres, party members, and masses such as Phan Doan Dua, Nguyen Quoc Ha, Nguyen Huu Vien... continued to stay in the forest, despite hunger, thirst, and hardship. Realizing that this situation could not last, comrades Nguyen Tu Van, Nguyen Huu Vien, and Nguyen Quoc Ha found their way to Veu village (Anh Son) to connect with their superiors to find a solution.

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In February 1932, comrade Nguyen Tu Van was captured by the enemy. Knowing that he was one of the key cadres of the Party, the enemy tried to entice him, used all means of bribery and torture in order to find and capture the remaining comrades, but they failed before the steadfast and indomitable will of the loyal communist soldier, determined to maintain his loyalty and protect the secrets of the Party organization.

On July 9, 1932, the Southern Court of Nghe An province sentenced comrade Nguyen Tu Van to death, according to verdict number 172. After that, they took him back to his hometown, Hoa Quan village, to be shot, to deter the communists and revolutionary masses there. He died at 9:00 a.m., December 27, 1932.

With 30 years of life, although short, the revolutionary activities of comrade Nguyen Tu Van are always associated with a journey of struggle full of excitement, glory and pride.

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According to the records of the Security Records Department - Ministry of Public Security, during his revolutionary activities, Nguyen Tu Van participated in the assassination of 9 dangerous enemies. His contributions helped to weave a heroic Thanh Chuong Soviet, entering the history of the struggle of the nation and homeland as an immortal epic. He sacrificed, but the name and image of a loyal communist soldier who fought and sacrificed his whole life for the revolutionary cause of the Party, for the independence of the nation, and the happiness of the People will always be remembered by generations.

Respecting and being grateful for Nguyen Tu Van's great contributions, the Party and the State recognized him as a pre-uprising cadre. His name is solemnly engraved on the stele at the Memorial House of the Soviet Martyrs of Nghe Tinh 1930-1931 in the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum, serial number 1025.

The life and career of comrade Nguyen Tu Van is an example of courage and resilience for generations of cadres, party members, young generations, and descendants to learn from and follow./.

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