Comrade Tran Dao - Secretary of Cam Xuyen District Party Committee in 1931

Comrade Tran Dao (Tran Xuan Dao, Tran Dac Dao, alias: Dong Phong, Thieu Quang) was born in 1900 in Yen Duong village, Van Tan commune (now Yen Hoa commune), Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province.

Although the land of Yen Duong - Yen Hoa is poor, the people here are very patriotic and studious. Born into a middle-class family, comrade Tran Dao was given all the conditions by his parents to attend classes in Chinese and Vietnamese. After completing his studies, he did not choose the path of taking the mandarin exams, but returned to his hometown to teach and became a teacher loved and respected by the people in the area.

In early 1930, comrade Tran Hung (alias Hoang, from Duc Tho) was assigned by the Provincial Party Committee to go to Phung Luyen village [1] to both teach and build an organization. Comrade Tran Dao was the first young man that comrade Tran Hung came into contact with.

Realizing that Tran Dao was a sentimental person and always had a burning desire to contribute to the cause of liberating his homeland from the oppression of the colonial feudal government, comrade Tran Hung often visited his house and talked with him. After that, comrade Tran Dao quit his teaching job and spent a lot of time studying Party documents and leaflets and officially embarked on the revolutionary path.

During this time, comrade Tran Dao was assigned by comrade Tran Hung with a number of tasks such as: distributing leaflets, planting red flags on major commemorative days. Comrade Tran Dao completed each task bravely and intelligently.

In October 1930, after a period of probation, comrade Tran Dao was admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party. After officially joining the Party, he was assigned by his superiors to promote the establishment of local Party cells and patriotic mass organizations to suit the new fighting situation.

With his efforts and prestige, comrade Tran Dao recruited two more outstanding people into the Party, namely comrade Tran Dac Dien and Tran Lan. In November 1930, Yen Duong Party Cell was established with comrade Tran Dao as Secretary.

After its establishment, comrade Tran Dao and his comrades in the cell continued to divide the work of expanding the area of ​​operation, organizing propaganda, mobilizing and recruiting party members. Thanks to that, by December 1930, Yen Xa and Thach Khe Ha cells were established, taking on the task of leading the local people's struggle movement.

However, when the revolutionary movement in Cam Xuyen was in the development stage, the comrades in the District Party Committee Executive Committee fell into the hands of the enemy one after another. On December 22, 1930, in order to shake the revolutionary spirit of the Cam Xuyen people, the French colonialists took comrade Nguyen Dinh Lien - Secretary of the District Party Committee from Ha Tinh prison to be executed in Cam Xuyen district.

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Faced with the difficult situation of the local revolutionary movement as well as the need for leadership from the Party Committee after the organization was destroyed by the enemy, in February 1931, comrade Tran Dao organized a conference of delegates. After assessing the situation and discussing operational policies in the new situation, the conference elected the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee Executive Committee, consisting of 3 comrades. Comrade Tran Dao was elected by the conference as Secretary.

Comrade Tran Dao and his comrades in the Executive Committee actively carried out propaganda activities, consolidating mass organizations and Party bases. Thanks to his prestige and energetic activities, in a short time, Comrade Tran Dao directed the restoration of many Party cells in villages and communes in the district. By June 1931, the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee had 23 cells with 117 Party members.

Not only paying attention to the work of building the Party organization and patriotic mass organizations, comrade Tran Dao also closely directed the people's struggle movement. He directed the Party cells to organize many rallies and speeches to expose the crimes of the feudal colonial government, to propagate the Party's policies... Participating in those rallies, the people were further educated in patriotism and revolution, and were ready to participate in the struggles led by the Party. Thanks to that, the struggle movement of the Cam Xuyen people was gradually consolidated after a period of being terrorized by the enemy.

Typical of the struggle movement of the Cam Xuyen people during this time are two rallies to listen to speeches and demonstrations of the masses of Van Tan commune, Cam Xuyen in coordination with the people of Thach Ha district (March 1931); the rally and demonstration with the participation of more than 15,000 Cam Xuyen masses in coordination with Ha Nhat commune (Thach Ha) on May 1, 1931...

To meet the requirements of leading the mass movement in the new situation, on June 25, 1931, the Cam Xuyen District Party Congress was convened in Yen Nhan village (now Yen Hoa commune). With his great contributions to the local revolutionary movement, comrade Tran Dao was officially elected by the Congress to hold the position of Secretary of the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee.

Comrade Tran Dao was also assigned by the Provincial Party Committee to help the struggle movement of the Ky Anh people. With the contribution of Comrade Tran Dao, the Party cells and mass organizations in Ky Anh were gradually consolidated after a period of disintegration due to enemy terror.

However, in the face of the wave of struggle of the people of Nghe Tinh, the French colonialists and their puppet government carried out many policies of arrest and terror in order to suppress this strong revolutionary wave. Because the general movement of the whole province was severely terrorized, although comrade Tran Dao and the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee actively consolidated the organization and built the mass movement, the revolutionary situation in Cam Xuyen encountered many difficulties.

At this time, the District Party Committee had only three comrades left: Tran Dao, Tran Dac Dien and Nguyen Huu Thai. Being closely sought and captured by the enemy, the comrades decided to leave their families and secretly go deep into each base. Not yet able to organize rallies, comrades Tran Dao and Nguyen Huu Thai composed many poems and songs to continue to propagate and educate the people about patriotism and revolution.

The articles: “Communist propaganda”, “Calling on farmers”, “Wives advising husbands”… with easy-to-understand language were widely disseminated among the masses. With the energetic and creative activities of the comrades, the spirit of patriotism and the mass movement in Cam Xuyen were still maintained. Although they could not organize demonstrations and struggles as vigorously as before, the Party bases and mass organizations in villages and communes such as Gai Hoi, Yen Binh, Yen Oc… were gradually restored.

The revolutionary movement had just been rekindled when the French colonialists and their puppet government continued to send French secret agents with blue-clad soldiers to Cam Xuyen to hunt down and arrest party members and patriotic people. In March 1932, during a meeting, comrade Tran Dao was surrounded and arrested by French soldiers. Knowing that comrade Tran Dao was a key cadre of the District Party Committee, the enemy used many tricks to bribe and torture but could not extract any information from him. Therefore, from March 1932 to March 1940, comrade Tran Dao was imprisoned by the enemy in Ha Tinh prison, then his sentence was increased due to his participation in political struggles in prison and he was exiled to Quang Nam.

In 1940, comrade Tran Dao was released. Upon returning to his hometown, he continued to make contact to continue his activities. However, in August 1941, after being identified as a typical Party cadre in Cam Xuyen, comrade Tran Dao was again imprisoned by the enemy.

In March 1943, comrade Tran Dao was released from prison and established contact with Party organizations to continue his activities. After the Japanese coup against the French on March 9, 1945, comrades Tran Dao, Nguyen Huynh, and Nguyen Dinh Hai met to discuss ways to lead the masses to help each other and solve the immediate famine.

After the establishment of the Nghe Tinh Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Front (May 19, 1945), the Viet Minh organization of Cam Xuyen district was also strongly developed from the district down to the cantons. In May 1945, comrades Tran Dao, Nguyen Huynh, Pham The Dong and Nguyen Thuan quickly grasped the situation and held a conference in Cat Khanh village to establish the Viet Minh General Committee of Van Tan canton.

On August 8, 1945, the Viet Minh Nghe Tinh Congress was held to discuss the uprising plan. The Congress also agreed to divide the districts in the two provinces into 6 sub-regions and assigned responsible cadres. Cam Xuyen District was one of the districts in sub-region 6, also known as Viet Minh Nam Ha sub-region.

Implementing the directive “Japan and France are fighting each other and our actions” of the Central Party Standing Committee and the Uprising Order of the Viet Minh Leadership Board of Nghe Tinh province, on August 13, 1945, Viet Minh Nam Ha held a meeting in Nhuong Ban (Cam Xuyen) and decided to establish Uprising Committees at all levels, urgently preparing the necessary conditions for the uprising to seize power. Representing Cam Xuyen district at this meeting were comrade Tran Dao and 8 other comrades.

On August 14, 1945, comrade Tran Dao and comrades in the Viet Minh of Cam Xuyen district held a meeting and decided to establish the Uprising Committee, mobilizing the masses to prepare for the uprising to seize power. Under the leadership of comrade Tran Dao and the Uprising Committee, the people of Cam Xuyen unanimously rose up to successfully seize power on August 17, 1945.

On May 25, 1945, the Provisional People's Revolutionary Committee of Cam Xuyen district was officially introduced to the masses. The Committee consisted of 3 comrades: Nguyen Huu Thai (Chairman), Ton Sy Khue (Vice Chairman) and Tran Dao (Secretary).

After the August Revolution in 1945, comrade Tran Dao was trusted by the organization and assigned to hold many important positions, such as: Vice Chairman of the Resistance Administrative Committee and Deputy Secretary of Cam Xuyen District Party Committee (from December 1946 to July 1947); elected as a member of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee (August 1947 to November 1948);... In 1949, comrade Tran Dao was transferred to the Central Committee to hold the position of member of the Central Agricultural Mobilization Committee and undertake agricultural mobilization work (September 1949 to May 1955).

After retiring, comrade Tran Dao returned to his hometown and continued to be active in local political and social organizations, such as: Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ha Tinh province (1967). In 1969, comrade Tran Dao passed away due to old age and the consequences of being in an imperial prison.

Comrade Tran Dao, the Secretary of Cam Xuyen District Party Committee in 1931, was a typical communist soldier of Cam Xuyen hometown. Participating in the revolution since the Party was first established, comrade Tran Dao's life was an example of courage, intelligence and efforts to overcome all difficulties and hardships to successfully complete the tasks assigned by the Party, State and People. With his contributions, comrade Tran Dao was recognized by the Party and State and awarded many noble awards: Second-class Independence Medal, First-class Resistance Medal, etc.