Two brothers, comrade Nguyen Doan Buu and Nguyen Doan Cau, with their contributions to the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement.

Thanh Lien is a commune on the right bank of Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province, famous for its beautiful landscape with the Thap But mountain range, Tro Voi, Cao Dien dam, the clear Giang river, Duc Nhuan rice fields... This is also a land rich in cultural, patriotic and revolutionary traditions of Thanh Chuong district in particular and Nghe An province in general.

Comrade Nguyen Doan Cau (born Nguyen Doan Thuong, also known as Nguyen Cau, 1904-1985) and his brother Nguyen Doan Buu were from Duc Nhuan village, Cat Ngan commune (now Thanh Lien commune), Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province. Growing up in Thanh Lien land with a long tradition, their parents sent them to study Chinese and Vietnamese at an early age, Nguyen Doan Cau and his brothers nurtured a love for the country, a desire to liberate their homeland from slavery.

In 1928, the Tan Viet Grand Ancestor in Thanh Chuong was established and carried out propaganda work, awakening national consciousness through progressive patriotic literature and poetry. Comrade Nguyen Doan Buu was admitted to the Tan Viet organization during this time.

Implementing the organization's policy, comrade Nguyen Doan Buu actively participated in mobilizing local people to establish guilds, in order to unite and help each other in life and serve the propaganda work of progressive patriotic literature. With the propaganda and mobilization of his brother, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau also enthusiastically participated and became one of the active members of the organization.

In March 1930, after its establishment, Thanh Chuong District Party Committee sent party members to villages and communes to promote the development of grassroots party organizations as well as mass organizations. In April 1930, Cao Dien Party Cell was established with the task of propagating, enlightening, and organizing the masses to fight within Chua village, Van village, Bau village, and Dinh village. The Party Cell assigned party members to expand their activities to Duc Nhuan commune.

In May 1930, the Party Cell admitted comrade Nguyen Doan Buu (alias Di). At the end of July 1930, the Cao Dien Party Cell had 8 members. In order to have conditions to organize and mobilize mass struggles, the District Party Committee split it into two Party Cells. The Duc Nhuan Party Cell was established with comrade Nguyen Trong Duong as Secretary. Nguyen Doan Cau was admitted to the Duc Nhuan Party Cell, given the alias Y, and became one of the core forces that actively contributed to the work of building revolutionary mass forces in Thanh Chuong in general and Cat Ngan commune in particular.

After the cell was established, Duc Nhuan cell and party members focused on propaganda work, mobilizing the masses to participate in the Farmers' Association, Youth Union, Women's Liberation, Mutual Aid Association and Red Self-Defense Organization as the core for later revolutionary struggles.

At the end of August 1930, Thanh Chuong District Party Committee continued to discuss and analyze the enemy's plot and decided to organize a demonstration on a district-wide scale on September 1, 1930. After the conference, implementing the resolution of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, Duc Nhuan Party Cell held a meeting to assign specific tasks to each comrade. To prepare for the demonstration, comrades Nguyen Doan Buu - Nguyen Doan Cau and comrades in the cell carried out the work of cooking jelly to print leaflets at Mr. Tinh's house.

Comrade Nguyen Doan Cau was in charge of writing leaflets and notices, while Comrade Buu was in charge of printing. To be more careful, in addition to leaflets and notices written in Quoc Ngu, Comrade Nguyen Doan Cau also wrote leaflets in Chinese characters for propaganda and mobilization. After printing, the leaflets and notices were distributed to each member for safekeeping to serve the demonstration.

On the night of August 31, 1930, comrades Nguyen Doan Buu - Nguyen Doan Cau and the Duc Nhuan Party Cell led the people to gather to listen to the Party Cell's speech on the crimes of the French colonialists and their puppet government. Early in the morning of September 1, the Duc Nhuan village protest group began to move and join the Cat Ngan commune group. Leaflets were scattered everywhere. Red flags were planted on the roofs of communal houses, tall trees and mountain tops. The fierce fighting spirit of the Thanh Chuong people caused the enemy government in the district, commune and village to quickly disintegrate.

District chief Phan Sy Bang had to abandon his seal and flee. The historic demonstration on September 1, 1930 by the people of Thanh Chuong is considered the starting point marking the birth of the Nghe Tinh Soviet government in the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931. The enthusiasm, quick-wittedness and bravery of the people of Duc Nhuan in general and of comrade Nguyen Doan Cau in particular contributed to the victory of the struggle on September 1, 1930 by the people of the entire district.

Faced with that situation, the Commune Farmers' Committees in the villages were established one after another and organized the implementation of work contents according to the Party's slogans. The Duc Nhuan Commune Farmers' Committee was also established with 5 people, including comrade Nguyen Doan Cau. The Duc Nhuan Commune Farmers' Committee openly organized classes to learn the national language, fought to demand that the local landlords return a part of the public land to be distributed to the people, and abolished the "extra charges and overpayments"...

Faced with the strong development of the struggle movement in Thanh Chuong, the French colonialists and the feudal government of the Southern Dynasty of Nghe An province implemented a series of terrorist policies to suppress the movement. At the end of 1930, the Central Region Resident General ordered the warden Pơty and the lieutenant colonel Hồng Quang Địch to bring the foreign legionnaires and the blue-clad soldiers to reinforce the posts in Thanh Chuong. The commander of the Cho Chua post, Egơlông, mobilized soldiers to Đức Nhuận to round up and arrest party members. On this occasion, comrades Nguyễn Định, Nguyễn Doãn Bửu, Nguyễn Trọng Đường and Đăng Quyên were captured by the enemy and taken to the district prison.

Then, due to being tipped off by secret agents, on February 3, 1931, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau fell into the enemy's hands. The enemy captured and imprisoned him at Dao Ngan station, then moved to Do Luong station. After several months of detention and torture at Do Luong station, comrades Nguyen Doan Buu and Nguyen Doan Cau were taken to Nhi Tay cell of Vinh prison.

On August 7, 1931, due to the overcrowding of political prisoners in Vinh prison, the two comrades were again taken to Thanh Qua prison in Thanh Chuong district. Wherever they were, the two brothers Nguyen Doan Buu and Nguyen Doan Cau always upheld the spirit of communists. However, due to the harsh prison regime, comrade Nguyen Doan Buu sacrificed himself right on the floor of Thanh Qua prison.

At the end of 1932, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau was released and allowed to return to his hometown under house arrest. Although he was under house arrest and always under the surveillance of the village chief, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau secretly contacted the Party base to continue his activities. In the files of the French secret police kept at the Ministry of Public Security, it was written about him as follows: “In 1937-1938, he was a member of the Cat Ngan General Department in the People's Front, actively promoting propaganda in Thanh Chuong district.

In August 1945, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau joined the Viet Minh organization in Duc Nhuan village. Under the leadership of Viet Minh, self-defense teams and national salvation organizations of youth, women, the elderly and farmers were established and attracted many people from all walks of life to participate. After receiving orders from Viet Minh Nghe - Tinh to seize power and establish a provisional government, on August 23, 1945, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau, on behalf of Viet Minh Duc Nhuan village, stood up to give a speech and called on the people to fight.

After listening to comrade Nguyen Doan Cau's speech, comrades in the Viet Minh Duc Nhuan front led the villagers to join the Cat Ngan demonstration group and march to Thanh Chuong district office. Faced with the brave spirit of the revolutionary masses, district chief Nguyen Chuong had to hand over his seal to the Viet Minh and surrender.

After the August Revolution in 1945, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau actively participated in many activities and tasks in his hometown: Head of the Giang Market Post Office Traffic Station (1945); Head of the Minh Son Commune Popular Education Teachers' Group (1926-1948); Manager of the Hanh Lam Agricultural Cooperative (1960-1961)...

In 1985, due to old age and the consequences of years of torture and imprisonment in imperialist prisons, comrade Nguyen Doan Cau passed away, mourned by his family and comrades in his hometown.

In recognition of the great contributions of the two comrades and their families to the national liberation movement, comrade Nguyen Doan Buu was posthumously awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Fatherland according to Decision No. 293/QD-TTg dated September 17, 1961. Comrade Nguyen Doan Cau was recognized and approved for preferential treatment for revolutionary activists before January 1, 1945.

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Joining the revolution early, comrades Nguyen Doan Buu - Nguyen Doan Cau are shining examples of patriotism, ready to sacrifice personal interests for the independence and freedom of the country. The names and contributions of comrades Nguyen Doan Buu - Nguyen Doan Cau in particular, and of the Nghe Tinh Soviet soldiers in general, will always live forever in the golden pages of the nation's history, contributing to fostering patriotism, love of homeland, and national pride for all classes of people, especially the young generation.

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References:

- History of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee (1930-2010), Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi, 2010;

- History of Thanh Lien Commune Party Committee (1930-2015), Nghe An Publishing House, 2016;

- French secret documents about comrade Nguyen Doan Cau;

- Documents provided by comrade Nguyen Doan Cau's family.