Nguyen Xuan Linh and his leadership role in the August Revolution in Nghe Tinh

Loyal communist soldier

Nguyen Xuan Linh was born in 1906, but according to his self-declared biography, he was born on September 9, 1909 in his hometown (Xuan La village, now Xuan Hoa commune, Nam Dan district). During his secret revolutionary activities, he had the aliases Lang, Hoi, and Cung.

His father was a Chinese bachelor Nguyen Xuan Xuong (1876 - ?), his mother was Nguyen Thi Yen. His mother died early, Nguyen Xuan Linh followed his father when he was a teacher in Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province. At first, he studied Chinese with his father, then studied at the French - Vietnamese school (Duc Tho), graduated, and was assigned to teach at Thai Yen school, one of the earliest elementary schools opened in Duc Tho.

As a patriotic young man with early revolutionary awareness, Nguyen Xuan Linh was admitted to the Communist Party of Vietnam in April 1930 and was assigned to work in Huong Khe district.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Linh. Photo: Document

In October 1930, he was arrested while distributing leaflets in Duc Tho, sentenced to 3 years in prison and 1 year of probation (later the Resident of Central Vietnam added 8 more months in prison - Verdict No. 139 - October 14, 1930), but was only detained inVinh prisonexactly 1 year then released.

After being released from prison, Nguyen Xuan Linh returned to Nghe An and continued to work to restore the Party organization in Vinh when both Ben Thuy and Vinh Regional Committees had been destroyed by the enemy since August 1931. In December 1931, the Vinh Provisional Regional Committee was restored, with Nguyen Nhat Tan as Secretary and two members, Nguyen Xuan Linh and Nguyen Duc Ba. The Regional Committee published the newspaper "Revolutionary Wave" to propagate the Party's policies, condemn the French colonialists' vicious reformist policies and encourage and guide the masses to fight, most of which were written by Nguyen Xuan Linh under the pen names Nam or Xuan.

By mid-March 1932, the Vinh Regional Party Committee was again broken by the enemy, leaving only Nguyen Xuan Linh. Once again, he was determined to restore the Party organization. In mid-April 1932, he convened a cadre conference to restore the Regional Party Committee. He was elected Secretary of the Vinh Regional Party Committee. The Regional Party Committee operated for 5 months, until September 1932 when it was again broken by the enemy.

Nguyen Xuan Linh was arrested in Vinh, sentenced to 13 years of hard labor and 6.5 years of probation (according to Judgment No. 246 dated November 22, 1932 of the Nghe An Court), then exiled to Lao Bao, Buon Me Thuot. On September 21, 1943, he was released from prison and brought back to Vinh under probation. Here, he continued his activities, rebuilt the Party base, and participated in the establishment of the Central Region Party Committee. On the night of April 17-18, 1944, he was arrested again in Dien Chau (according to Wanted Order No. 1889 dated March 1, 1944 of the Hue Secret Service), and imprisoned in Vinh until March 1945, when the Japanese ousted the French, he was released from prison.

About Nguyen Xuan Linh during his years in prison, Mr. Dang Thi (former member of the Party Central Committee, former Secretary of Inter-Zone 4), his cellmate, wrote:“Nguyen Xuan Linh has been imprisoned for more than 13 years. He has endured all kinds of torture and suffered all kinds of pain under the brutal prison regime of the colonialists and their lackeys. He is also a staunch communist who dares to confront the enemy, and is often present in the struggles to improve prison conditions and oppose all cruel acts of the prison guards from Lao Bao to Ban Me Thuot.” “I respect him for his age and Party membership, for his mature experiences, and his dedication, especially his sincere attitude and correct viewpoint.”

The leader of the August Revolution in Nghe Tinh

When Nguyen Xuan Linh was released from prison (March 1945), Japanese fascists had replaced the French colonialists to rule all of Indochina. In Nghe An and Ha Tinh, after the coup on March 9, 1945, the Japanese army replaced the French army, set up a pro-Japanese puppet government and implemented a very harsh policy of rule and exploitation. The famine was terrible. In the first three months of 1945 alone, Nghe Tinh had more than 100,000 people starve to death.

Japan overthrew the French and occupied Hanoi in March 1945. Photo: Archive

At this time, the international and domestic context had undergone many great and rapid changes. The fascist faction was about to be completely defeated. Seizing the opportunity, the Party Central Committee issued a directive to Japan and France to fight each other and our actions. The Viet Minh in many localities led the people to destroy Japanese rice warehouses to relieve hunger and prepare forces to rise up and seize power.

Meanwhile, the Party Committees of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces had not yet been restored. Thousands of party members and the masses had just been released from prison but still had no organization to continue their activities. The party members still had no contact with the Central Committee. After returning from prison, everyone was eager to promote the movement, preparing for an uprising to seize power. However, because each person operated in a different area, at different times, in different prisons; when arrested, when released, each person had different circumstances and conditions... so there were many different opinions on the restoration of the Party Committee.

In that situation, to restore the Party Committees carefully and firmly requires time. But the opportunity for uprising is coming very close, very quickly. If we do not grasp and take advantage of it well, it will never come again. Nguyen Xuan Linh and a number of former political prisoners in the two provinces of Nghe - Tinh deeply realized this, so they advocated the establishment of the Nghe - Tinh Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Mobilization Committee to gather forces and build the movement in the two provinces. This was Nguyen Xuan Linh's great initiative and contribution to both overcome the leadership crisis of the revolutionary movement and pave the way for the restoration of the Party organization in Nghe - Tinh.

On May 19, 1945, the conference to establish the Nghe Tinh Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Front Mobilization Committee was held in Vinh city. Nguyen Xuan Linh was appointed as Head of the Mobilization Committee and responsible for liaising with the Central Committee.

Less than a month later, Nguyen Xuan Linh contacted the Central Committee and received the Japanese-French directive to shoot each other and our actions to deploy locally.

Directive of the Central Committee of the Indochinese Communist Party on March 12, 1945 “The Japanese and French fighting each other and our actions”. Photo: Document

The Nghe Tinh inter-provincial Viet Minh quickly gathered its team and urgently organized activities; established the Pham Hong Thai Printing Factory, published the Resistance newspaper to propagate, educate, and call on the masses to join the Viet Minh; exposed the nature of Japanese fascism and the deceitful tricks of the pro-Japanese government; disseminated and explained the guidelines and policies of the Party Central Committee and the Viet Minh; strengthened solidarity and unity within the Party...

Under the leadership of the inter-provincial Viet Minh, the anti-Japanese struggle movement was gathered and developed. From May to July 1945 in Nghe An, there were 259 struggles. In Ha Tinh, struggles broke out in all districts. Along with the development of the movement was the completion of the Viet Minh organizational system and national salvation organizations such as the National Salvation Youth, National Salvation Women, National Salvation Culture, etc. Especially, the establishment of armed propaganda teams to prepare forces for the general uprising.

On August 8, 1945, Nguyen Xuan Linh chaired the Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Congress to review the situation and discuss plans to prepare for the general uprising. The Congress elected the Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Executive Committee with Nguyen Xuan Linh as Secretary. This was the highest leadership of the general uprising in the August Revolution in Nghe Tinh.

The congress had just ended when news of Japan's surrender to the Allies was received. The inter-provincial Viet Minh issued an uprising order:“Immediately arrange the seizure of power, establish a People's Revolutionary Committee…" and distributed leaflets calling for:“Let us unite under the red flag with the yellow star of the Viet Minh, rise up to overthrow the traitorous Vietnamese government, establish a revolutionary people's government, and prepare our forces to deal with all reactionary forces.”

On August 21, 1945, the revolutionary government was officially established in Vinh city - Nghe An province capital.The August Revolutionended victoriously under the direct leadership of the Nghe Tinh inter-provincial Viet Minh with Nguyen Xuan Linh as Secretary.

People participated in the uprising to seize power in Vinh city in August 1945. Photo: Document

Epilogue

In early October 1945, the provisional Nghe An Provincial Party Committee was established, Nguyen Xuan Linh was appointed as Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Central Regional Party Committee.

In December 1949, he became a Standing Committee Member, then Deputy Secretary of the Inter-Zone IV Party Committee, and Chief Justice of the Inter-Zone Military Court.

From 1951 to 1955, he was Secretary of the Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee. After that, he was a member of the Inter-Zone Standing Committee in charge of mass mobilization and Director of the Forestry and Natural Products Corporation.

In December 1957, he was assigned to inspect the work of correcting errors in the Land Reform.

In December 1959, he was again appointed as Secretary of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee for the second time, until May 1972 when he was transferred by the Party Central Committee and the National Assembly to Hanoi to assume the position of Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Secretary of the National Assembly Standing Committee until his retirement in January 1978.

He died in Hanoi on March 10, 1988, at the age of 82.

In his hometown of Nghe Tinh, he was always present during the most difficult times since the revolutionary cause was led by the Party. He was the leader in building and restoring the Party organization. He was the one who built the Viet Minh in Nghe Tinh province, organized the general uprising to abolish the old government, and built a new government. He was also the one who directed the resistance organization, especially during the destructive war of the American invaders. And, let me add, he was a leader who paid great attention to culture and education. He was the founder and Honorary President of the Ha Tinh Literature and Arts Association as a poet.

To conclude the article, I would like to quote Mr. Vo Thuc Dong, former Secretary of Inter-Zone IV Party Committee, former Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, talking about him:“... With an optimistic spirit and a strong belief in victory, he and many comrades in prison refused to submit, united and fought together...”, “... He also exuded another valuable virtue. That was the style of interacting with people of different political views. His way of judging people and work was both principled and flexible..., both emotional and reasonable, both calm and resolute. Thanks to that, he and other comrades were able to gather the largest force as quickly as possible, before, during and after the August Revolution of 1945...”.