The flag bearer leading the protest in Khanh Son - Nam Dan during the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement

Comrade Luu Dao (alias Minh), was born in 1914 into a poor peasant family in Hoanh Son village, Nam Kim commune (now Khanh Son commune), Nam Dan district, Nghe An province. His father was Mr. Luu Van Dan, a patriot with anti-French ideology, who participated in the Can Vuong movement. His mother was Ms. Dang Thi Thiu, a hard-working woman who devoted herself to her husband and children.

As a child, Liu Tao was an intelligent and studious boy. At the age of 10, Liu Tao was sent by his father to study 2 years of Chinese characters and 3 years of Vietnamese characters at Nam Kim communal school. After passing the preliminary graduation exam, he continued to the district school to take the exam for the second grade of the first year, studying and working as a teaching assistant for several children to earn a living. During his time at school, Liu Tao was close to and enlightened by comrade Nguyen Van Tinh (later the Executive Committee of the General Committee, Secretary of the Hoanh Son Party Cell)...

Immediately after the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam, in Kim Lien village, comrade Nguyen Xuan Thanh (Chat Bay) - a worker at Truong Thi factory, a representative of the Central Region Party Committee was sent to preside over the establishment of the Nam Dan Party Committee on April 25, 1930 and elected a provisional District Party Committee Executive Committee at Mr. Vuong Thuc Dam's house. After a short time, due to the Party's correct guidelines and the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses, many Party cells in the villages were established.

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On June 27, 1930, Nam Dan District Party Committee sent comrades Le Cong Canh, Nguyen Sinh Dien, Phan Dinh Dong, and Vuong Xuan to contact comrade Nguyen Xuan Tinh to establish the Hoanh Son Party cell - coded "H", including comrades: Luu Dao, Nguyen Van Tinh, Nguyen Duc Thuy, Nguyen Duc Yet, Nguyen Van Chau, Nguyen Xuan Dong, and Nguyen Kiem, with comrade Nguyen Van Tinh as Secretary.

Immediately after its establishment, the Hoanh Son Party Cell paid special attention to propaganda and education work for the masses through such forms as: mobilizing the masses to fight for the return of public land by the landlords, reducing high taxes, spreading the national language, distributing leaflets, hanging hammer and sickle flags in public places, organizing many rallies and speeches... Therefore, the revolutionary movement in Hoanh Son spread more and more widely and strongly. Organizations such as the Peasant Association, the Red Self-Defense Force, the Red Relief Association, the Women's Liberation Association... were soon established.

Being a member of the Party, Comrade Liu Tao always promoted the assigned role and responsibility, regardless of the difficulties and hardships. He joined the masses to propagate and call on people to participate in demonstrations and fight for their rights...

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During the demonstration on September 12, 1930, under the direction of the Khanh Son Party cell, comrade Luu Dao held the flag at the head of a demonstration group of about 100 people, carrying sticks, spears, raising high the red flag with hammer and sickle, banners and slogans, and hurriedly crossed the ferry at Lieu market, Van Ru ferry, gathering at Yen Xuan station to join the demonstration with thousands of other people from Hung Nguyen and Nam Dan. Faced with the overwhelming momentum of the people, the French colonialists hastily responded, sending planes and soldiers from Vinh to suppress and bomb, killing and injuring hundreds of people.

Under the leadership of the Party cell, the people of the whole commune organized a rally, attended the memorial service for those who died on September 12, 1930, and called on the people to resolutely and uncompromisingly fight the enemy with the slogan: "Villages must not be destroyed, all taxes must be abolished, protesters must not be shot or killed, landlords' land must be divided among the peasants, and compensation must be paid to the families of the victims.”.

To suppress the mass struggle movement that was surging everywhere, on October 3, 1930, the French sent 120 blue-clad soldiers and legionnaires to the village to search and burn the house of Nguyen Duc Thuy - who they suspected of being a communist; took all the belongings, and arrested comrade Nguyen Van Tinh - with the crime of leading the movement in the village. They destroyed comrade Luu Dao's house where he taught and used it as a fort, fenced off a brothel... Faced with the dangerous situation, comrade Luu Dao was on a propaganda mission in Thuong hamlet when he was ordered to take refuge in the deep forest, waiting for the French to retreat before continuing to the villages to expose the enemy's crimes.

To boost the spirit of the local struggle movement, the villagers had a funeral for the late Hien - an elderly man, the Party cell wanted to take this opportunity to turn it into a large demonstration. Under the direction of comrade Nguyen Van Tinh (Khanh Son Party Cell Secretary), with the policy of mobilizing each person to make a paper lantern for the funeral, comrade Luu Dao was assigned the task of going to Vinh to buy wax to distribute to everyone. That night, with thousands of mourners, all had wax lanterns that lit up the whole sky. As planned, the funeral was held solemnly and solemnly and then turned into a speech - comrade Nguyen Van Tinh stood up to read the eulogy and encouraged the family as well as mobilized the people to rise up and fight against the oppression and exploitation of the colonial feudal government apparatus...

The strong struggles of the masses caused the feudal colonial government to shake and disintegrate. The village chiefs left their jobs and remained silent, some followed the revolution. The Party cells and the Red Peasant Association in the villages and communes gained control of their localities. The village chiefs in Khanh Son did not dare to show any signs of opposition. The Red Peasant Association truly became the core, the Self-Defense Force was the right-hand man of the new government, a reliable support for the people. The material, cultural and social life was raised to a new level. Mutual aid groups were organized to help families in difficulty...

Through the struggle movement, many party members and cadres in Hoanh Son matured, such as comrade Nguyen Van Tinh who was elected to the Executive Committee of the General Committee, and comrade Luu Dao who was now the Secretary of the Red Farmers' Association...

In early 1931, frightened by the uprising of the masses, the colonial feudal government tried to terrorize them. They increased the number of soldiers in blue uniforms, secret agents, and notoriously evil officials in repression, in an attempt to drown the Soviet movement in blood. In the villages, they stationed soldiers right in the commune and established a group of lieutenants, deputy lieutenants, and porters to guard day and night.

To punish the reactionary Vietnamese traitors who worked for the enemy, on the night of April 24, 1931, the Party cell including comrades Nguyen Van Tinh, Luu Dao, and Nguyen Duc Yet organized and led the people of the lower communes to surround and burn down the houses and suppress the Bang Tong and Bo Xu. As a result, Bang De escaped while Bo Xu was shot dead by the people, both husband and wife. After that, the protesters went to the house of Mrs. Hinh (a notorious and evil landlord of Hoanh Son land) to take rice and gather it in the garden of Ngang pagoda to distribute to the poor.

After the incident, soldiers from Duong Lieu station came to the village to surround and hunt down communists. They burned houses, cut down trees... and took Luu Dao's father to Hoanh Son station to hang him, beat him, and interrogate him, but he insisted on answering "I don't know". They couldn't get anything out of him, but they still took him to Nam Dan to be detained (sentenced to 11 months in prison) and offered rice and silver rewards to anyone who could capture comrades Luu Dao, Tinh, Yet, Thuy, Kiem...

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Despite the enemy's terror, search and capture, comrades Luu Dao, Nguyen Tinh, Nguyen Duc Yet... were still determined to complete all tasks assigned by the Party. Every day, they had to go deep into the hamlets to learn, mobilize and build bases, distribute leaflets... and at night they slept at the house of a liaison officer in Kenh hamlet...

As usual, on the night of August 12, 1931, when the comrades were on their way from Yen Phuc village, they were suddenly surrounded by a group of patrolling soldiers and taken to the Vinh secret police station for interrogation.

On January 29, 1932, the Southern Court of Nghe An province opened a trial, sentencing comrade Luu Dao to 3 years of hard labor and 2 years of house arrest (according to sentence 41) and exiled to Lao Bao for communist activities.

In imperialist prisons, despite facing many insidious plots and tricks of the enemy, comrade Liu Tao and the communist soldiers always upheld the spirit of a communist soldier, maintaining an undying belief in the revolution led by the Party.

In 1935, comrades Luu Dao, Pham Nghiem, Nguyen Duc Thuy, and Nguyen Xuan Dong returned from prison to find contact with comrades in Duong Lieu, Trung Can, Pho Tu, etc. to rekindle the flame of revolutionary struggle in Khanh Son.

During the August Revolution of 1945, comrade Liu Dao continued to fight side by side with his comrades to participate in the activities of the secret Viet Minh Front in Dong Son, Hoanh Son, building Party bases... contributing to the victories of the revolutionary movement in his homeland.

Through the years of heroic and arduous struggle in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement, when facing the enemy as well as in imperialist prisons, comrade Luu Dao - a Party member in 1930 still maintained the integrity of a communist soldier, worthy of being a shining example for generations to learn and follow./.

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References:

- According to comrade Luu Dao's memoirs kept at BTXVNT.

- Prison records are kept at the BTXVNT Storage Warehouse.

- LSDB book of Khanh Son commune 1930 -2010 - Labor Publishing House - Hanoi 2010.