Verse is a type of folk literature, a form of narrative in verse. During the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement, verse contributed to spreading the spirit and spirit of the Soviet when it exposed the face of the ruling clique, the reactionary policies of the enemy, called on the masses to rise up and fight, and recorded the developments of the revolution. Until now, verse has become extremely valuable historical documents.
Nghe An Newspaper would like to briefly record the research article “Xo viet Nghe Tinh qua ve” by Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao - a person considered as an “Art scholar” and recognized by the Vietnam Book of Records Center as “the person with the most research works on Nghe An folk culture”.
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Portrait of Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao and the books he devotedly wrote over decades.
Photo: Nghe An Newspaper
...The verse not only has a combative, satirical, and topical character, but it also has a deep, lyrical character. The verse fully reflects the outlook on life and the world of our people. Although the language is not refined, the character's psychology and personality are not clearly portrayed, it is correct in terms of social research.
Folk songs in Nghe An are extremely rich. It can be said that folk songsNghe Tinh Sovietappeared in Nghe Tinh before the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement broke out. These were songs calling for and propagating the revolution, such as: "The call of the Indochinese Communist Party", "Quickly reclaim rights", "Bung ra, ta lai lai", "Ku han thuoc tat", "Ku han thuoc tat", "Introducing the Soviet Union", "Talk to father", "Oh my soldiers", "Come on, soldiers in green and red uniforms"...
These songs are all written in the form of folk songs, the content often analyzes the social situation, points out the humiliation of losing the country and freedom, explains the Party's policies and calls on the people to rise up and make revolution.
Verse about social situation:
"The Southern Dynasty mandarins
With a ward empire
It chisels the marrow and carves the bones.
Also brutal
The more brutal
When the time comes to eat
When sentenced to death
When the family farm
Let the officials loot
People suffer because of looting"
(Excerpt from the poem: "Let's stand up").
The poem calls on the people to rise up and make a revolution:
"The Communist Party propagates
Marxism-Leninism
Come on youth cheering,
Come on ladies!
Workers, peasants and soldiers one faction,
I have to agree.
With all my heart,
To fight together,
The final battle".
(Excerpt from the poem: "The call of the Indochinese Communist Party")
Thanh Chuong people crossed the river to besiege and destroy the district office on September 1, 1930. Photo: Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum
The poems with revolutionary propaganda content as mentioned above are more valuable than the poems with narrative nature. Some were composed in the years 1930-1931, others were published shortly after. Articles such as "Dan Hanh Lam destroys Ky Vien's house", "Tell the story of the struggle in Nam Dan", "Tell the story of the struggle in Thanh Chuong", "The years 1930-1931 in Yen Thanh", "The years 1930-1931 in Dien Chau", "September 12 demonstration in Hung Nguyen", "Do Gang in the years 1930 - 1931", "The last days in Dong Son village in the two years 1930-1931", "The revolution of the state", "Burning houses", "The French burn two villages of Phu and Tho", "Vinh prison"... have helped us see the content, nature of the movement, the development of a struggle, the revolutionary enlightenment of the people, the role of the masses, the leadership of the Party, the plots and responses of the imperialists and the feudal Southern Dynasty, the savage terror of the enemy... in a clear, complete, and vivid way.
The authors of these poems are mostly farmers, some are revolutionary soldiers. Because most of the authors of the narrative poems about the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement are farmers, the content is real, real people, the way of reflection is very innocent. Innocence is not naturalism, it helps us see the real development of the struggle, the atmosphere of the struggle and its advantages and disadvantages.
The poem describes the revolutionary atmosphere in the two years 1930-1931 in Nam Dan:
"Everywhere in the homeland
The village has been spread, the streets have been known
Leaflets scattered day and night
Drums ring, bells urge, wooden fish shake a few times
Each person has a long ruler.
People are like stormy seas and pouring rain.
Three armies show the way, wave the flag
Dragged out to the Dan district residence"
(Excerpt from the poem: "Telling the story of the struggle in Nam Dan")
That isAugust 30, 1930 demonstrationDuring that demonstration, 3,000 Nam Dan farmers demonstrated at the district capital, broke into the prison, released political prisoners, and forced the district chief Le Khac Tuong to sign a petition with the commitment: "Nam Dan district chief and official, if they take advantage of the situation, they will not harass the people."
And here is in Thanh Chuong:
"Xuan Lam, Cat Ngan, Dai Dong
Bich Hao, Vo Liet struggle council
The hammer and sickle and red flag are flying high.
The sound of drums and wooden fish lurking by the river
Release prisoners, burn district office
People go like the East Sea flows in
Noisy all over the country roads
Shout out slogans regardless of thorns
Who cares if we live or die tomorrow?
Who cares about guns and bullets with colonialists?
Demand independence, demand rights
Demand to abolish taxes, build a worker-farmer foundation"
(Story of the struggle in Thanh Chuong)
On September 1, 1930, twenty thousand Thanh Chuong farmers loudly protested in the district capital, broke the prison, released political prisoners, and burned the district office. District chief Phan Sy Phang and all the officials and soldiers had to flee.
We notice in the following paragraph not only the spirit but also the slogans and demands of the struggle.
And this is the demonstration on September 12, 1930 in Hung Nguyen. After the demonstrations in Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, Nghi Loc, Can Loc, Duc Tho, Dien Chau... the revolutionary movement rose like a dam bursting. The enemy feared that the movement would spread further, rise further, so they tried to suppress and terrorize. But the more terror they used, the more fervent and fierce the movement became:
“Alas, the net is torn!
The red wave has risen
Get rid of them
The group of people parted the earth and crossed the sky to advance.
The tail of the train is still at the station.
The head of the group was about to pull out to cover the road.
White leaflets on village roads
The bamboo shoots high, the flag flies higher
The road is full of lost souls.
Tell me, I'm dying soon...”
(Excerpt from the poem: "September 12th protest in Hung Nguyen")
The three verses among many verses expressing the enthusiasm and strong spirit of the protesters mentioned above, with fluent words and vivid images, more or less echoing the heroic epic. That is the concrete and great reality of history, of the human soul, the atmosphere of Nghe An and Ha Tinh but also of Vietnam not only in the two years 1930-1931.
In "For months, oh my, the hammer and sickle flags were raised high, the drums and gongs were beating loudly, the Southern Dynasty lost their nerve, the Westerners lost their nerve" (verse "Listen to the words of the mandarins"), "Seeing torn hats and torn clothes, shouting protests loudly, the sky was rumbling, seeing airplanes and bombs. Our people considered the sky as their mother and father, cutting their hands evenly, many died, many were injured" (verse "The sky was moving in all four directions"). The verse showed us the days when the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs controlled the countryside, the new and healthy activities of the Soviet government.
For example in Thanh Chuong:
"The West, feudalism gone"
Village fields, fields and all that belongs to us,
Thanh Lam down to Lieu Nha
Van Giai, Spring Suddenly Passes Tri Tuong
Flyers, proper speeches
Demonstration, reading newspaper, village meeting to fight
Bustling rallies
Bustling Self Defense Practice Tomorrow
This time everyone is the same
What is mine, I enjoy, kill the inhumane
This time is neither holy nor divine.
No heaven, no Buddha, people's rights are exercised"
(Excerpt from the poem "Telling the story of the struggle in Thanh Chuong")
Red Guards in Hoa Quan - Dong So - Nghe An during the Nghe - Tinh Soviet movement 1930 - 1931. Documentary painting: Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum
Here we can draw the following conclusions:
Among the many main characteristics of the verse are the worldly and historical characteristics. The verse about the Nghe Tinh Soviet has both of these characteristics. At the time, it was strong, and as time passed, it became stronger. Because the creators, that is, the authors of those verses, had directly participated in the movement, struggled with the movement, or witnessed it.
Verse is a type of folk literature. The authors in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement used this type, a type very close to the people of Nghe Tinh, trying very hard to learn the folk cultural heritage in terms of performance to create, their works were widely popularized, easy for workers and peasants to understand, easy to remember. With the two remaining types of verses about the Nghe Tinh Soviet, political and narrative, we can think that verse was a revolutionary advantage.
Verses expose the face of the ruling clique, attack the reactionary policies of the enemy, call on the masses to rise up and fight, record the events and developments of the revolution, and now they have become historical documents. It is true that verses, which are a genre with simple words often describing common events in the village, have through the course of history elevated themselves to become a tool of struggle, participating in the broad struggles of the nation.
The verses in 1930-1931 had the effect of educating patriotism, educating the revolutionary path and the spirit of resolute struggle for the people. As for the farmers, in the spirit of going to war at that time, the verses, with their direct reflection, showed all the advantages and disadvantages of the farmers.
Now, in the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country with an open market mechanism, those poems about the Nghe Tinh Soviets, along with poems about patriotism in general, still help us learn about the good qualities of farmers to promote and the weaknesses to overcome.
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