The moment General Secretary Le Duan witnessed Uncle Ho writing 'A few words left behind'

Uncle Ho's Last Will and Testament

The first day Uncle Ho wrote his will

During his revolutionary career, Uncle Ho wrote many important documents. As for the words he left behind before leaving this world, he spent a lot of time on them.

According to Mr. Vu Ky (former personal secretary of Uncle Ho), "During a period of 4 years, from May 10, 1965 to May 19, 1969, Uncle Ho spent a total of 28 sessions, most of which lasted two and a half hours each, writing his Will.

In 1965, the first lines of the Will were written by Uncle Ho from 9-10am, Monday, May 10. Also at this time on May 11, 12, and 13, Uncle Ho continued to write the Will.

On May 14, from 6am to 9am, Uncle Ho visited farmers in Xuan Phuong commune, Tu Liem district, Hanoi, harvesting winter-spring rice. It was almost 10am when he returned home in time to attend the Politburo meeting to discuss cadre training, so that day he did not continue writing the manuscript as scheduled.

In the afternoon, from 2-4 p.m., Uncle Ho continued writing the "Top Secret" document and typed it himself. At exactly 4 p.m. on May 14, 1965, Uncle Ho finished typing the Will and it was also the time for him to make an appointment with General Secretary Le Duan.

But Uncle Ho typed the words "Hanoi May 15, 1965" before Ho Chi Minh's signature. Next to it, on the left is the witness signature of comrade Le Duan.

Thus, the witnessing of General Secretary Le Duan took place between 4pm and before 6pm on May 14, 1965, because at exactly 6pm the Central Committee came to wish Uncle Ho a happy 75th birthday.

Then from 7:30 p.m., Uncle Ho attended a rally of children in the capital to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam Young Pioneers and to wish him a long life of 75 years.

At exactly 9:00 p.m. that day, upon returning to the stilt house, Uncle Ho handed over the large envelope containing the draft Will and the typed Will signed by General Secretary Le Duan to Mr. Vu Ky and told him, "Keep it carefully. Remember to give it back to me next year, on May 10."

Early in the morning of May 15, 1965, Uncle Ho visited China and the Soviet Union for a month. That 15th was also the day he finished writing his Will.

There is a coincidence of the number 15 (February 15, 1965, Uncle Ho visited Nguyen Trai in Con Son - Hai Duong) that Mr. Vu Ky said "Historians may have to devote many pages to this random event".

In 1966, from May 10 to 15, from 9 to 10 a.m. every day, Uncle Ho still spent time writing the "Top Secret" document. According to Mr. Vu Ky, Uncle Ho read very attentively every sentence, every word of the Will that he finished typing at 4 p.m. on May 14, 1965.

Uncle Ho did not write anything more, but only added a particularly important sentence "There must be comradely love for one another" after the passage "Within the Party, it is necessary to practice broad democracy, regularly and seriously self-criticize and criticize, which is the best way to consolidate and develop the solidarity and unity of the Party".

Through studying the original, there is also the phrase "serving the Fatherland" that Uncle Ho wrote in the margin to add after the phrase "serving the people" and Uncle Ho opened parenthesis "I added HCM".

The sentence "must have comradely love and affection for one another" and the phrase "serve the Fatherland" were written in blue-black Cuu Long ink pen. In addition, Uncle Ho corrected some spelling mistakes due to typing errors with a blue ballpoint pen.

For example, in the sentence "over time, many trees will form a forest, which will be good for the landscape and beneficial for agriculture", Uncle Ho changed the word "good" to "beneficial".

In 1967, from April 14, Uncle Ho went on a business trip abroad and did not return until June 30, so the "absolutely secret" document was kept in another place by Mr. Vu Ky.

In 1968, from May 10 to 19, every day, Uncle Ho spent an hour, from 9 to 10 am, continuing to write the document “Top Secret”. This year, Uncle Ho supplemented and revised many parts of the Will and wrote 6 more pages.

From May 10 to 18 of that year, Uncle Ho wrote and revised his Will in the stilt house. On May 19, he wrote it at the West Lake motel.

Because at 6pm on May 18, after dinner, Uncle Ho secretly left the Presidential Palace to go to West Lake to avoid the birthday celebration. On his birthday that year, Uncle Ho calmly prepared for his departure.

Consider every idea, every word

In 1969, from May 10 to 20, Uncle Ho still regularly spent 1 hour every day, from 9 to 10 am, to review and revise his Will.

On May 10, due to attending the Central Conference held at the West Lake guest house and returning to the stilt house after 9:00, for the first time in 4 years of writing the Will, Uncle Ho postponed the time from 9:30 to 10:30.

That day, Uncle Ho rewrote the entire opening part of the Testament on the back of the last page of the newsletter (special reference news) - Saturday issue, May 3, 1969, published by Vietnam News Agency.

This newsletter consists of 15 pages, A4 size, mimeographed. This manuscript was written by Uncle Ho with a blue-black Cuu Long pen. He used a red pen to correct and add words, and red ballpoint pen to underline and number.

And on May 12, because in the morning he attended a Politburo meeting, he moved the time to write his Will to the afternoon, from 3-4 pm. During these days, he mainly focused on revising the introduction and writing more of his 1968 Will.

Thus, the Will was drafted by Uncle Ho on May 10, 1965 and May 20, 1969 was the day he reviewed it for the last time.

During those 4 years, every mid-May, Uncle Ho spent almost an hour every day reviewing, correcting, and adding necessary parts, sometimes writing a few more pages, or correcting a few sentences, sometimes just changing a few words in the Will.

With responsibility to posterity, Uncle Ho considered every idea and every word, but every idea and every word was simple, sincere, pure, and natural, like the life he lived.