Comrade Ton Gia Tinh - First Secretary of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee in Nghe Tinh Soviet

The names of places and people in Thanh Chuong have entered the golden pages of history of building and defending the country, and are shining examples for all generations to follow. Comrade Ton Gia Tinh, a young communist soldier and the first Secretary of the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, is one of those people.

Comrade Ton Gia Tinh (alias Menh), was born on November 25, 1911 in Vo Liet commune, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An in a family with a tradition of learning and patriotism. His father, Ton Quang Sinh, was a highly educated and talented person who passed the Chinese Bachelor's degree but did not become an official but instead taught and prescribed medicine to save people. In the early years of the 20th century, he enthusiastically participated in the Dong Du movement initiated by Phan Boi Chau, a patriotic scholar from his hometown of Nghe An. His mother, Nguyen Thi Dinh, worked as a silkworm breeder and weaver, a woman who loved her husband and children.

Inheriting the traditions of his hometown and family and being directly influenced by his father, Ton Gia Tinh showed his intelligence and eagerness to learn from a young age, and soon developed a spirit of patriotism and hatred for the enemy. In 1920, Ton Gia Tinh was sent by his family to Vinh to study at Vinh National School. Being intelligent and bright, at the age of 12, Ton Gia Tinh started tutoring to earn money to support himself in his studies.

On July 14, 1925, the Phuc Viet Association was established at Con Meo Mountain, Vinh - Ben Thuy with the purpose of uniting progressive patriotic forces to carry out a revolution to drive out the invading imperialists and gain freedom for the nation. In order to carry out the Association's policy, Phuc Viet members used many forms such as secretly passing documents to each other, organizing readings of progressive books and newspapers, giving lectures and commenting on poetry to propagate and build bases...

Thanks to that, progressive patriotic ideas were widely disseminated among all classes of people. The activities of the Association had a positive influence on educating students about the tradition of patriotism and hatred of colonial invaders, including students at Vinh National School, where Ton Gia Tinh was studying.

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With the encouragement of progressive teachers, the young student Ton Gia Tinh actively participated in activities in the patriotic student movement in Vinh city. Besides reading progressive books and newspapers such as the newspaper "Vietnam Hon" (1), and being enthusiastic about "Chieu hon nuoc" by Pham Tat Dac (2), he was also an active member of the organization "Thanh nien hoc sinh cach mun", an organization of outstanding youth and students founded by teachers Tran Phu, Ha Huy Tap, Tran Mong Bach, Phan Kiem Huy. He actively participated in the movement to raise money to buy flowers and white cloth to make mourning bands to attend the memorial service of patriotic scholar Phan Chu Trinh, and signed the petition demanding that the French colonialists release Phan Boi Chau.

At the end of 1927, with his active patriotic activities, Ton Gia Tinh was admitted to the Vietnam Revolutionary Comrades Association (in July 1928, the Association changed its name to Tan Viet Revolutionary Party or Tan Viet Party), taking on the task of both participating in activities and propagating and developing party members within the school where he was studying. Thanks to his flexible and in-depth propaganda activities in the patriotic student and youth movement in Nghe An, during this time, comrade Ton Gia Tinh mobilized and recruited 2 more party members into the Tan Viet Party.

By September 1929, a number of progressive members of the Tan Viet Party, under the influence of communist ideology, issued a declaration calling for the establishment of the Indochinese Communist Federation, forming many branches in Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam and even in Northern Vietnam. Progressive Tan Viet Party members in Nghe Tinh such as Nguyen Viet Luc, Le Viet Thuat, and Ton Gia Tinh proactively contacted and worked to maintain and develop the revolutionary movement in their homeland.

His active activities did not escape the eyes of the French colonialists. On December 25, 1929, he was arrested by the French colonialists and imprisoned in Vinh Prison. The French colonialists' prison records kept at P4A93 of the Ministry of Public Security clearly stated: "In 1929, he participated in the Tan Viet Party and was sentenced to 01 year in prison and 01 year of house arrest according to Verdict No. 11 dated January 21, 1930" (3). The French colonialists and their lackeys used all kinds of torture but still only received a shake of the head of not knowing and not liking from him. After several months of imprisonment and torture but not being able to get any information out of him, in March 1930, the lackey government was forced to release him. Immediately after his release from prison, Ton Gia Tinh continued to devote his enthusiasm to the Party, to the revolution of his homeland and was admitted to the Communist Party.

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On March 20, 1930, under the direct direction of the Party Central Committee, the Conference of delegates of Thanh Chuong Communist Party cells was held at Tien Son Temple (now Thanh Long Commune). The Conference elected the Provisional Executive Committee of the Thanh Chuong District Communist Party of Vietnam. Comrade Ton Gia Tinh, a young communist soldier with prestige and experience in his activities, was elected Secretary.

Immediately after establishing the Thanh Chuong Communist Party cell, comrade Ton Gia Tinh and his comrades in the District Party Committee met to discuss and agree on the policy of prioritizing the work of building and developing grassroots Party organizations. The District Party Committee assigned members to go to villages to propagate and enlighten the masses. Comrade Ton Gia Tinh, on behalf of the District Party Committee, went to establish the Communist Party of Vietnam cell in Duong Xuan village. Thanks to the active activities of the comrades, after just over a month, the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee had developed 7 more cells with 55 party members.

In addition to the task of developing local Party bases, in April 1930, comrade Ton Gia Tinh continued to receive the task of the Central Region Party Committee to return to Hung Nguyen to establish contact with Le Xuan Dao, an enthusiastic Tan Viet Party member in Phu Xa to establish the Truc - Lam - Giang Communist Party Cell (4).

On the occasion of International Labor Day on May 1, 1930, implementing the policy launched by the Communist Party of Vietnam and Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, Thanh Chuong District Party Committee held a conference chaired by comrade Ton Gia Tinh. After a period of discussion and consideration of possibilities, the comrades agreed on a plan to hang hammer and sickle flags and distribute leaflets throughout the district. In places with favorable conditions, rallies, speeches and demands were held.

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It can be said that this was the first time in history, under the leadership of the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, farmers stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class and people of the whole country to fight against the oppression and exploitation of imperialism and its henchmen. The first battle image of party members and the masses in Hanh Lam, La Mac... together with the people of Vinh - Ben Thuy on May 1st encouraged the people of Thanh Chuong in particular, and the people of Nghe Tinh in general, to enter a new period, the peak period of the Nghe Tinh Soviet.

On June 1, 1930, Comrade Ton Gia Tinh and the District Party Committee continued to meet, mobilize and organize a demonstration group of more than 3,000 farmers from all over the district, along with women and students, to rally at the feudal government's lair in the district capital, raising demands, forcing District Chief Phan Thanh Ky to personally meet with the mass representatives, bow his head to receive the people's demands and promise to report to the authorities for resolution. The demonstration on a district-wide scale under the leadership of the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, headed by Comrade Ton Gia Tinh, achieved victory, contributing to the increasingly strong development of the revolutionary movement in Thanh Chuong.

In order to promptly report the situation and ask for the Provincial Party Committee's direction for the Thanh Chuong revolutionary movement in the new situation, the District Party Committee sent comrade Ton Gia Tinh to Vinh. However, upon arrival, the Provincial Party Committee's base was exposed, comrade Ton Gia Tinh and a number of other comrades were trapped and fell into the hands of the enemy. The French colonialists and their henchmen transferred the comrade to many places, used torture and whipping, but could not get any clues. After more than 1 year of imprisonment and torture, without getting any further information, the French colonialists transferred the comrade to the Court and sentenced him to 9 months in prison according to Judgment No. 88 dated August 14, 1931 of the Southern Court of Nghe An province (5). In prison, despite torture and torture, comrade Ton Gia Tinh still enthusiastically participated in the movement to fight against the harsh prison regime, mobilizing his brothers and fellow prisoners to maintain their fighting spirit.

In early 1933, after being released from prison, comrade Ton Gia Tinh, along with fellow prisoners Tran Hau Toan and Ton Quang Phiet, contacted the organization to continue revolutionary activities. The organization trusted him with the task of going to Da Nang to contact comrade Nguyen Son Tra to consolidate the base. Comrade Ton Gia Tinh actively participated in organizing the reception of representatives of the French Popular Front of Goda, campaigning for the election of comrade Dang Thai Mai to the Central Vietnam House of Representatives, and participating in seizing power in Da Nang in 1945. After that, he continued to participate in the resistance war against the US to save the country and held many important positions in social work activities in his hometown Nghe An.

Comrade Ton Gia Tinh, a young communist soldier, the first Secretary of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, with his great contributions to the revolution, was honored by the Party and State, awarded the Third Class Independence Medal, the First Class Resistance Medal against France, and the First Class Resistance Medal against America.

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Note:

(1) Newspaper published by the Vietnamese community in France to gather patriotic overseas Vietnamese

(2) Pham Tat Dac was born in 1909, in Dung Kim village, Cong Xa commune, Nam Xuong district, Ly Nhan prefecture (now Hop Ly commune, Ly Nhan district), Ha Nam province.

(4): Truc: alias of comrade Nguyen Huu Nhuong in Trung Can; Lam: alias of comrade Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga in Trung Can; Giang: alias of comrade Le Xuan Dao, aka Le Manh Than in Phu Xa

(3)(5) Prison file of French secret police P4A93, BTXV archive