Comrade Tran Thi Lien (1910 - 1991)
Tran Thi Lien was born in 1910 in Yen Nghi village, Yen Truong commune, Hung Nguyen district (later changed to De Nhi city - Vinh city, Nghe An province) in a family that was not too poor.
His father was Mr. Tran Khac Am. After graduating from primary school, he worked as a surveyor and participated in the construction of national highways 7 and 9 to Laos. His mother was a small trader at Vinh market. The family was well-off, so they were able to raise 5 children (2 girls, 3 boys) to study properly. As the first daughter, she was still allowed by her parents to finish primary school (Nguyen Truong To primary school - a school exclusively for girls). She was very responsible for her work when her parents were away. In 1927, the Hung Nam organization developed strongly. She and students from schools such as Cao Xuan Duc, Nguyen Tuong To, and Quoc Hoc Vinh actively participated in the movement to demand amnesty for Phan Boi Chau and mourn Phan Chu Trinh.
Ms. Lien often helped her mother look after the goods sold at Vinh market. Here, she met Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhuan. Because they were the same age and often helped their mother look after the goods at the market, these three people easily became close. Gradually, Ms. Minh Khai enlightened her and admitted her to the Tan Viet Party. She participated in the women's cell with Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhuan, organized by Ms. Minh Khai.
During this time working in Tan Viet organization, she metTran Van Cung(brother of teacher Tran Van Tang who taught her younger brother in 1922 at Cao Xuan Duc School). At that time, Tran Van Cung had just returned from attending a training course organized by comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc in Guangzhou (China). Returning to Vinh, Tran Van Cung and other comrades established the first branch of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association (VNTNCMĐCH). The couple held an engagement ceremony.
In the summer of 1928, Mr. Tran Van Cung returned to the country. The two held a wedding ceremony. On their wedding day, Ms. Minh Khai and Ms. Nhuan attended and the gift was just a bouquet of fresh flowers tied with a red bow and Ms. Minh Khai wrote the words: ""true revolution"meaningful, because at that time Mr. Cung belonged to the Youth organization and the two women belonged to Tan Viet, at this time there was a problem of unification in the two organizations. In August 1928, Ms. Lien and her husband went to Hanoi to do business, but in fact, comrade Tran Van Cung was sent to Hanoi by the Youth organization to work. At the end of 1928, the VNTNCMĐCH organization rented house number 5D (Ham Long street, Hanoi) as a secret headquarters and assigned Ms. Lien and her husband to look after this house. House 5D is a one-story brick house, one side is adjacent to houses number 5C, 5B and 5A in the same row, with the same architecture; one side is adjacent to an alley with a path leading to the back to Le Van Huu street. When there is a disturbance, people in the house can sneak out the back, pass through a wall and escape through this alley.
The couple went to Hanoi with two bags of clothes. The organization had bought them some necessary things. Comrade Nguyen Phong Sac had to bring more tables and chairs from his house to set up a normal family and buy some more pots and pans for cooking. Ms. Lien (whose name at that time was Yen) took care of the meals and guarded the cadres who came to work here, such as Ngo Gia Tu, Nguyen Phong Sac, Trinh Dinh Cuu, Do Ngoc Du... In the role of a gentle, honest girl from the Central region, following her husband to Hanoi to work, taking care of the housework, no one suspected anything. Here, Ms. Lien met Ms. Mai Thi Vu Trang, a female revolutionary cadre active in the workers' movement in the mining areas of Quang Ninh and Hai Phong. She greatly admired Ms. Trang - a young girl who did not have a family but was very active in revolutionary activities and once carried a gun from Hai Phong to Nghe Tinh alone for the revolution.
In Hanoi, for work reasons, her husband often went on business trips to Son Tay, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh... She alone looked after the house and welcomed comrades returning from other places. In September 1928, the Northern Youth Union was established, comrade Tran Van Cung was appointed as Secretary. The Union advocated "proletarianization" to promote the propaganda of Marxism-Leninism among workers and train cadres. Comrades were sent to build bases in Hai Phong, Nam Dinh such as Nguyen Duc Canh, Mai Thi Vu Trang...
In March 1929, the first Communist Party cell was established at 5D Ham Long and her husband was appointed as the cell secretary. Ms. Tran Thi Lien clearly remembers that in the evening of mid-March, Mr. Ngo Gia Tu, Trinh Dinh Cuu, Nguyen Duc Canh, Nguyen Phong Sac... came to a meeting at "her house" and after the meeting, everyone left in a very excited mood.
In May 1929, Tran Van Cung was appointed as head of the delegation of the Northern Ky Bo (Ngo Gia Tu, Nguyen Tuan, Duong Hac Dinh) to attend the Youth Congress in Hong Kong.
After the Indochinese Communist Party was founded (June 17, 1929), the Provisional Central Executive Committee sent comrades Tran Van Cung and Nguyen Phong Sac to build the Party base in Central Vietnam. Ms. Lien packed her bags and followed her husband to Vinh. At this time, she was admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party in North Vietnam by comrade Ngo Gia Tu.
Comrade Nguyen Phong Sac and Tran Van Cung returned to Nghe An to meet comrade Vo Mai to establish the Central Indochina Communist Party's Central Region Branch and Nguyen Phong Sac became the Secretary. The branch's base at that time was in Vang village, Vinh city, and Lien and her husband "looked after" this house. Coming here, Lien had the added advantage of being close to her parents' house, so she received a lot of help in all aspects. The village in this area was sparsely populated, the trees were dense and on the outskirts of Vinh city, so few people paid attention. After a short time, the Regional Party Committee's office moved to the First sewer, Co Dau street (now the area to the left of the Vietnamese-German children's cultural house, Vinh city). And when comrade Tran Van Cung was arrested, the Regional Party Committee's office had to move to his house.Le Doan Suuon Tenth Street.
After the Indochina Communist Party distributed leaflets in Nghe An calling on the masses to celebrate the International Day of Opposition to Imperialist War (August 1, 1929), her husband was arrested. Comrade Tran Van Cung's name had been on the special watch list of the French secret police for a long time, so this time they had evidence to arrest him.
On October 14, 1929, comrade Tran Van Cung was sentenced to death by the Southern Court of Nghe An province along with comrades Ngo Thiem and Vuong Thuc Oanh and sentenced to death in absentia Nguyen Ai Quoc, Ho Tung Mau, Le Duy Diem, and Tran Phu. The court then retried and reduced Tran Van Cung's sentence to life imprisonment in Guy Am, and initially transferred to Lao Bao prison.
On the day the Southern Court tried the Tan Viet and Thanh Nien party members, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhuan attended. When the court announced the death sentence for Nguyen Van Loi, Nguyen Sy Sach and Tran Van Cung, Ms. Lien fainted and the other women had to give her first aid.
On the way back, Ms. Nhuan was worried and told Ms. Minh Khai: "If Cung was shot, Lien would lose her revolutionary spirit."Ms. Minh Khai answered firmly:“No way! If that were the case, Lien would surely be more enthusiastic. How could she be discouraged with such a debt to her country?”That's true.
At 4:00 a.m. on December 4, 1929, a group of political prisoners, including Tran Van Cung, Nguyen Sy Sach, Nguyen Ngoc Tuyet, Nguyen Loi, and Vuong Thuc Oanh, boarded the train to Quang Tri. 30 political prisoners were shackled and escorted by soldiers onto the train at Vinh station. Since 2:00 a.m., it had been drizzling. Ms. Lien and her family members were waiting at the train station with gifts, cakes, and clothes, but the escorting soldiers did not allow the prisoners to receive gifts. Luckily, Ms. Loi, a relative of Mr. Tuyet, was quick-witted and disguised herself as a merchant, jumped on the train. On the way, she chatted with them and was finally able to deliver the gifts to the prisoners.
Her husband was exiled to Lao Bao, Lien stayed behind to participate in the women's movement in Vinh city. The Women's Liberation Association was established in late 1930 by Nguyen Thi Nhuan and Nguyen Thi Due under the direction of comrade Le Doan Suu (Secretary of Vinh City Party Committee).
At the end of 1931, she was arrested and the Southern Court of Nghe An province sentenced her to 1 year in prison and 9 months of house arrest (according to Verdict No. 28 dated January 18, 1932). During her time in Vinh prison, she could not feed her daughter due to lack of milk.
In August 1932, after being released, Ms. Tran Thi Lien was active in the Women's Liberation Association. This organization developed strongly, attracting female workers from factories and small businesses... helping them in times of difficulty or donating clothes to political prisoners in Vinh prison who were fighting and had all their clothes confiscated by the enemy.
In April 1933, Ms. Lien asked for permission to visit her husband in Lao Bao. She was accompanied by Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong, wife of comrade Nguyen Sy Sach. Comrade Sach had heroically sacrificed himself during the hunger strike in Lao Bao on December 19, 1929. Ms. Hong asked for permission from the Central Vietnam Apostolic Nunciature in Hue to transfer her husband's remains back to his hometown. But when they arrived in Quang Tri, the French consul there refused, their intention was to leave comrade Sach's grave as a deterrent to political prisoners in Lao Bao.
After visiting her husband, Ms. Lien actively participated in the revolutionary movement. In the role of a cloth merchant, she traveled to Anh Son, Phu Quy... to participate in revolutionary activities. On October 18, 1935, she was arrested in Phu Quy while distributing leaflets. On April 1, 1936, the Southern Court of Nghe An province sentenced her to 2 years in prison and 2 years of house arrest (according to Verdict No. 35).
In 1936, the amnesty movement of the people in the colonies and the motherland grew strongly, the French Popular Front took power and forced the French colonialists in Indochina to release political prisoners. On July 15, 1936, Ms. Lien was released. At this time, comrade Tran Van Cung was also released from Lao Bao prison. Ms. Lien went to Quang Tri to pick up her husband and the two of them went to Nha Trang to live and participate in revolutionary activities.
In April 1938, she and her husband returned to Vinh and stayed at her parents' house in Vang village. At this time, her younger brother, Tran Khac Ho, had just been released from Buon Ma Thuot prison. Comrade Tran Khac Ho was engaged in revolutionary activities in Khanh Hoa and was sentenced to 9 years of hard labor by the Southern Court of Khanh Hoa province (according to sentence number 48 dated October 8, 1931). In Buon Ma Thuot prison, comrade Tran Khac Ho actively propagated the revolution, so the sentence was increased by 3 more years (sentence number 25 dated July 29, 1932 of the Dak Lak provincial court).
Returning to Vinh when the people's movement for democracy and livelihood was on the rise, Ms. Lien actively participated in the Women's organization. Ms. Lien, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhuan, Phan Thi Hao, Dinh Thi Can, Nguyen Thi Hoan (wife of comrade Nguyen Viet Luc)... among 40 people contributed shares to build the "Women's Tailor Shop" of Vinh city. The sewing shop's leadership has 7 people, with Ms. Ngo Thi Hien as the Chairwoman. The sewing shop is actually a women's garment cooperative, with a charter and purpose of operation: To organize common sewing to ensure the material life of members, to teach all unemployed people to come and learn the trade". This sewing shop is essentially a liaison base of the Party and has the economic conditions to support the revolution.
Once again, Lien's name was on the blacklist of French secret police when she and everyone else attended the funeral of comrade on August 27, 1939.Super Sea- Vinh Regional Party Secretary.
After the August Revolution in 1945, from October 1946 to April 1949, Ms. Tran Thi Lien was a member of the Executive Committee of the Women's Union of Nghe An province. From April 1949 to October 1954, she was the President of the Women's Union of Nghe An province.
To create favorable conditions for her husband, comrade Tran Van Cung, to work well at the National Assembly Standing Committee, in May 1955, Ms. Lien transferred to the Social Committee of the Central Union. In 1964, she became an official of the Central Supreme Court.
Comrade Tran Thi Lien passed away on April 7, 1991 at the age of 81.
For her many contributions to the cause of protecting and building the country, comrade Tran Thi Lien was awarded the Third Class Independence Medal by the State.
