Comrade Tran Chi Tin - the red seed of the revolutionary movement in Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province

Comrade Tran Chi Tin was born in 1898 into a poor farming family in Tu My village (now Dinh village, Son Chau commune, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province). He was the 8th generation descendant of the Tran family in Son Chau.

Growing up in a situation where the people were oppressed by the colonial-feudal government, witnessing every day the scene of families and people in the village and commune having to work hard but still not having enough food to eat or clothes to wear, urged Tran Chi Tin to participate in patriotic activities early.

In 1921, after graduating from primary school, due to lack of money to continue studying, he had to quit and apply to become a teacher at Thinh Xa Primary School. Every day, outside of class time, he and the teachers in the school discussed current events, he also read Phan Boi Chau's thesis and Phan Chau Trinh's 10 articles sent to King Khai Dinh. He was also assigned to raise money in the teachers' class to help Phan Boi Chau, and at the same time, contributed shares to rebuild the "Voice of the People" newspaper with Huynh Thuc Khang as editor-in-chief... Those activities contributed to awakening the spirit of patriotism and revolution in the young and enthusiastic teacher - Tran Chi Tin.

In June 1927, he was introduced to the Tan Viet Party by his fellow teachers Tran Cao Truc and Nguyen My Tai, in charge of Truong Thinh Xa and the lower Huong Son area. In October 1927, Tran Chi Tin was appointed as the Tan Viet Secretary of Huong Son district. With the assigned responsibility, he actively mobilized many other comrades to join the Tan Viet organization and built many disguised associations to facilitate operations...

After the Communist Party of Vietnam was born, in mid-1930, Truong Thinh Xa Party Cell was also established with comrade Tran Chi Tin as Secretary. This was also the first cell of Huong Son district.

To prepare for the struggle to celebrate International Labor Day on May 1, 1930 in Huong Son, comrade Tran Chi Tin was assigned the task of spreading leaflets from Ninh Xa village to Xuan Tri village. With the sense of responsibility of a party member and Party cell secretary, he enthusiastically accepted the task without hesitation, secretly going to each village to propagate and mobilize people to follow the Party and the revolution. Early in the morning of May 1, on the top of Nam mountain, the red hammer and sickle flag fluttered high, and white leaflets were spread throughout the villages in the joy of the masses.

With those active activities, comrade Tran Chi Tin was elected to the District's Mobilization Committee, participating in propaganda for the masses to stand up and fight...

At exactly 1 a.m. on August 1, under the leadership of comrade Tran Chi Tin and Party cadres, the demonstration group raised high the red hammer and sickle flag, marching in neat rows along Highway 8 straight up Pho Chau to the district headquarters. The group marched noisily, chanting slogans as they walked:

- Down with French imperialism!

- Down with the Southern Dynasty mandarins!

- Reduce personal tax and land tax!

- Abolish market tax and ferry tax!

At exactly 4:30 a.m., the protesters arrived at the gate of the district office. The gate was tightly closed, the district chief Dang Van Oanh had fled, he had assigned the station chief and some soldiers in blue uniforms to protect the district office. Comrade Tran Chi Tin and the crowd rushed in to break the gate, one person held a flag, another comrade beat a drum to urge the troops and shouted slogans, the voices of the people echoed throughout the district office. In panic, the soldiers in the station initially fired guns into the air to intimidate, but then they fired at the protesters.

The front people fell, the back people advanced, drums beat, the army still urged, the red flag with hammer and sickle waved higher and higher, calling everyone. The fighting atmosphere was intense, the whole district was engulfed in smoke and fire... Despite the enemy's guns and bullets, comrade Tran Chi Tin and the masses still bravely advanced...

After the struggle, nearly 30 people were arrested and sacrificed. Although the Party cell suffered losses in terms of force, it also caused the enemy's government apparatus from the district to the commune to almost disintegrate. The masses moved and met enthusiastically and freely, but those happy days were also very short-lived. The enemy turned to brutal terror, they brought the Foreign Legion to set up a garrison at the head of Tu My village. They believed that Tu My village was the lair of the Communist Party in Huong Son, so they forced the people of Tu My and neighboring villages to contribute thatch, bamboo and necessary materials to build a garrison. However, Tran Chi Tin and his comrades in the Party cell tried their best to mobilize the people to oppose the enemy's plan to build a garrison.

On August 21, 1930, comrade Tran Chi Tin continued to lead the organization of a rally to mourn the death of two workers from Truong Thi and Ben Thuy. The rally turned into a large demonstration in Thinh Xa, Goi My (now An Hoa Thinh commune). To gather the masses, the Mobilization Committee went to Tu My communal house to beat the gong as a signal. The gong rang out all night, the drums resounded throughout several communes. The comrade also mobilized teachers and students of the school to participate. The demonstration group surrounded and burned the residence of the henchman in Goi My, forcing him to flee.

When the movement had been widely developed, the Party cell continued to lead the masses to protest in the district to demand demands. On September 22, 1930, from 1 a.m., the sound of the village gong of Tu My resounded throughout the night, urging the people of the neighboring villages to gather in rows to advance to Pho Chau. Red flags fluttered, slogans echoed across the sky: "Down with French imperialism, Southern Dynasty mandarins, reduce personal tax, land tax, abolish market tax, ferry tax, support Soviet Russia". The protesters surrounded and broke the gate to storm the district office. During this event, French soldiers shot dead 6 people and injured many others.

After those fiery days of struggle, the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement in Huong Son was brutally terrorized by the enemy. Identifying Tu My as the place where the revolutionary movement was boiling, the enemy returned to set up camp here. Many core party members were captured by the enemy, the masses were somewhat confused, the movement temporarily subsided. In October 1930, comrade Tran Chi Tin convened a meeting of party members in Binh Hoa - Son Hoa village (now An Hoa Thinh commune) to discuss the plan to restore the movement, proposing the establishment of a provisional District Party Committee to lead the entire people against imperialism and feudalism. The conference unanimously elected him as Secretary. After that, he was also assigned to be in charge of the newspaper "Dan Cay" (published 5 issues then stopped).

Although operating secretly, the provisional District Party Committee led the revolutionary movement in Huong Son to suppress the enemy, distribute leaflets, organize hunger relief for the people, and prepare for the establishment of the official District Party Committee.

In September 1931, comrade Tran Chi Tin fell into the hands of the enemy and was imprisoned at Pho Chau station. They used many tricks, from seduction, bribery, intimidation to extreme torture, starvation, even bringing his old father to try to shake his will, but he still cleverly maintained his communist integrity in the face of the enemy's brutal torture. After days on the line between life and death due to the enemy's brutality, comrade Tran Chi Tin was allowed to sleep on the porch of the guard post and then transferred to the district prison. After a year of using all tricks from torture to seduction and bribery, there was still no evidence to convict Tran Chi Tin, but it was not until September 1933 that he was released and returned to teach in Nhuong Ban (Cam Xuyen).

Faced with the difficulties of the new situation, he still worked quietly to restore the movement, gather the masses and try to get in touch with the organization. The person who connected Tran Chi Tin with the Party base after being terrorized was his younger brother Tran Binh. In July 1941, he returned to Huong Son to teach, continued revolutionary activities, and together with core party members linked up with the inter-provincial Viet Minh in Nghe An, leading the people to rise up in a general uprising to seize power in Huong Son on August 19, 1945.

After gaining power, in September 1945, he was elected by the District Party Congress as Secretary of the District Party Committee. Later, he was transferred to the army as Political Commissar of the Regiment until his retirement and death in 1987 in Son Chau. For his contributions to the Party's revolutionary cause, he was awarded the Second Class Independence Medal by the Party and the State.

Promoting the family's patriotic and revolutionary tradition, comrade Tran Chi Tin is also a shining example for his siblings and children to learn and follow. His younger brother, comrade Tran Binh, also participated in the uprising to seize power, and was the former Deputy Secretary and Chairman of the People's Committee of Huong Son district (1945), member of the Standing Committee of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee, the first Principal of Tran Phu Political School (1945), Judge of the Supreme People's Court, and a member of the 1st National Assembly. In addition to Mr. Tran Binh, Mr. Tran Chi Tin also has an older sister and a younger brother who are also veteran revolutionary cadres.

Mr. Tran Chi Tin's son, Tran The Loc, also participated in revolutionary activities very early. Mr. Tran The Loc was born on January 2, 1925, in Son Chau commune. Since 1944, he has been a liaison for a number of newly released party members in the district; in early 1945, he was elected as the leader of the Viet Minh in Tu My village. At the age of 20, on September 12, 1945 - exactly on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Day, Mr. Tran The Loc was admitted to the Party. To date, he has just turned 78 years old in the Party.

After the revolution succeeded, he became Secretary of the Party Cell, Secretary of the National Salvation Youth. In September 1946, he was transferred to work as Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Office, Secretary of Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee. After that, he was assigned to the Phuc Dong mechanical workshop, the Central Technical School in Huong Khe, then returned to work for the workers' movement and the Ha Tinh Trade Union throughout the resistance war against France and the US (as a Standing Committee Member, Chief Secretary of the Trade Union Federation, Secretary of the Party Delegation, Head of the Provincial Emulation and Reward Committee until 1976 - when the province merged, he retired). Notably, during his revolutionary and working life, Mr. Tran The Loc had the honor of meeting Uncle Ho 3 times...

With his contributions to the Party's revolutionary cause, comrade Tran Chi Tin's family was awarded the Certificate of "Contribution to the Nation" by the Government. Continuing the revolutionary tradition of his homeland, family, and clan, his descendants have been constantly making efforts, training, and striving to be worthy of the great sacrifices of their ancestors, contributing to writing the golden pages of their homeland's history.