Comrade Pham Hong Thai (1895-1924): Heroic son of the Soviet homeland
Pham Hong Thai's real name is Pham Thanh Tich, born into a family with a tradition of studiousness and patriotism in Xuan Nha village, Van Vien commune, Hung Nguyen district (now Hung Nhan commune, Hung Nguyen district), Nghe An province.
His grandfather Pham Trung Truyen and his father Pham Thanh My passed the exams but were only appointed by the Nguyen Dynasty to minor positions to oversee their education. Pham Thanh Tich's grandfather and father were patriotic, but they were content with their careers and devoted to their families. For that reason, King Tu Duc gave his grandfather an ivory plaque with eight words: "National grace, family honor, opening flower, succession". Although his father was a teacher, he was an active scholar in the anti-French scholar movement.
Pham Thanh Tich was very hard-working and studious since he was young. At the age of 14 or 15, he went to That Khe to live with his father to study more. After that, he applied to study French at the Franco-Vietnamese School, but after a few years, he dropped out because he saw that the French mainly focused on slave education. Returning to his hometown, he went to work to help his family and also began the process of realizing his great ambition.
From 1919, Pham Thanh Tich changed his name to Pham Thanh Khoi. He applied to work as a worker in factories in Vinh Ben - Thuy such as the Electricity Factory, the Match Factory and the Truong Thi Railway Repair Factory. He became an active factor in mobilizing workers to strike and protest. Fired by the factory owners, he went to Bac Can province to work as a zinc mine worker and then went to Hai Phong to work as a cement factory worker.
No matter where he was, even if it was only for 6 months or a few years, Pham Thanh Khoi read progressive documents and newspapers at home and abroad, secretly organizing to enlighten his fellow workers about the workers' situation, the exploitative nature of factory owners, and the ruling policies of French colonialism.
On February 17, 1924, Pham Thanh Khoi changed his name to Pham Hong Thai and secretly went to Siam with a number of patriotic youths in the region. At Dang Thuc Hua's Farm, he was introduced to Guangzhou (China). In Guangzhou, he joined the "Tam Tam Xa" organization founded by a group of 7 Vietnamese patriotic youths in 1923.
The organization "Tam Tam Xa" advocated causing a big explosion to awaken the people in the country and shock international public opinion. On the occasion of the Governor-General of Germany stopping in China on his way to Japan, "Tam Tam Xa" prepared a plan to assassinate this Governor-General and Pham Hong Thai volunteered to take on that mission.
On June 19, 1924, Merlin attended a reception hosted by the French authorities at the Victoria Hotel, part of the French Concession. Although the hotel was heavily guarded, Pham Hong Thai, posing as a journalist, slipped through the guard post. When the party began, he threw a grenade at the banquet table, killing and injuring about a dozen guests, but Merlin was only slightly injured.
Facing the enemy's encirclement, comrade Pham Hong Thai jumped into the Pearl River. However, due to the strong currents in this area, he heroically sacrificed himself. Pham Hong Thai's body was reburied by the Sun Yat-sen Government on the mountain in front of Huang Hua Gang, the graveyard of 72 Chinese revolutionary martyrs.
Pham Hong Thai's Sa Dien bomb caused admiration and awakened patriotism among tens of thousands of compatriots in the country. Because of that meaning, although he did not agree with the "Tam Tam Xa" policy of personal assassination, comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc still highly appreciated Pham Hong Thai's brave action; he wrote: "...That act was small, but it signaled the beginning of the era of national struggle, like the swallow signaling the spring".
