The group of teenagers bearing the surname Ly, after President Ho Chi Minh.

From his time as a patriot to his time as a communist fighter, our President Ho Chi Minh was deeply concerned about the younger generation. Whether Vietnam would achieve glory depended on its youth. Therefore, even when our country was under foreign rule, and Nguyen Ai Quoc had to travel far and wide to find a way to save the nation, he still cared about establishing youth organizations.

After returning to China from Lenin's homeland in 1925, he founded the "Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League," comprised of the first patriotic Vietnamese youth abroad. Alongside this, he also organized and trained a successor force for this youth organization, establishing the first Vietnamese Communist Youth Group in Guangzhou, China. This group consisted of children aged 12 to 15, many of whose parents had been imprisoned or killed by the imperialist regime. These children had suffered greatly in their lives, harbored hatred for the French colonialists, and were prepared to make sacrifices like their revolutionary predecessors. With enlightenment and training, they would soon become patriots and revolutionaries. In his early days in China, Nguyen Ai Quoc used the pseudonym Ly Thuy, so he adopted the surname Ly for the entire group. According to documents archived at the Central Party History Research Department, the first Vietnamese Communist Youth Organization consisted of eight members: Lý Tự Trọng (from Hà Tĩnh); Lý Chí Thông (from Nghệ An); Lý Văn Minh (also known as Đinh Chương Long); Lý Thúc Chất (also known as Vương Thúc Thoại, from Nghệ An); Lý Anh Tự (also known as Hoàng Tợ); Lý Nam Thanh (also known as Hoàn Thanh); Lý Phương Đức (sister of Lý Chí Thông, from Nghệ An); and Lý Phương Thuận (sister of Hoàng Lê Ninh).

After the first Vietnamese Communist Youth Organization was established, Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc paid close attention to and showed special concern for the children. He quickly opened a class to train them to become patriots and future communist fighters. He often taught them Geography and Vietnamese History, and clearly explained to them the role of youth as the next generation contributing to the Vietnamese revolution.

Under the guidance and education of Nguyen Ai Quoc, and thanks to the quick wit, intelligence, and active participation of the youth, the group of Vietnamese teenagers with the surname Ly, founded by Nguyen Ai Quoc, soon became communists of the Vietnamese revolution. When the Communist Party of Vietnam was founded, these members of the youth organization were active contributors to the Party. They volunteered to return to the country to work in factories and agricultural and industrial farms to carry out proletarianization, propagate and enlighten the working class and the working masses about the revolutionary line, mobilize the people to rise up in revolution, and actively contribute to the victory of the Vietnamese revolution.

Among the eight teenagers, Ly Tu Trong was the most outstanding member of the Communist Youth League, quickly becoming a "red seed" of the Party. When the Party organization sent him back to the country under difficult circumstances, he confronted the enemy to protect the Party organization. Arrested and imprisoned in an imperialist prison, he refused to surrender, still holding his head high and boldly declaring: "The path of youth is only the revolutionary path, there is no other path." He fought tenaciously until his last breath.

During the training of the youth, in order to provide them with access to international youth organizations and a good communist education, Nguyen Ai Quoc selected several children from these organizations to study at the Soviet Communist International School. To introduce them, he wrote a letter to the Central Committee of the Moscow Youth League stating: "The heartfelt wish of Vietnamese children is to go to your country, live with you, study with you, and soon become true little disciples of Lenin." He repeatedly wrote letters to international communist youth organizations asking for their support and intervention in resolving the necessary procedures so that his intention could be realized soon. Unfortunately, due to difficult travel and communication conditions and the impending outbreak of World War II, his plan was only realized much later. In 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. To defend the stronghold of Socialism, three of the eight first Communist Youth League members—Ly Nam Thanh, Ly Thuc Chat, and Ly Anh Tu—along with other Vietnamese comrades studying and working in the Soviet Union at the time, volunteered to join the International Division. All three comrades sacrificed their lives on the front line south of Moscow. On December 12, 1986, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR posthumously awarded these soldiers the prestigious Order of the Patriotic War.

The lives and names of the eight first young members of the Ly family became outstanding revolutionary fighters and will forever be shining examples for the younger generation of Vietnam to learn from. The first person who cared for, guided, and trained them to become communist fighters was our beloved Uncle Ho!

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([) Events of the Vietnamese Communist Party -

Central Committee for Research on Intellectual Property, Volume 1, p. 115

Nguyen Xuan Bach -(House No. 3 - Ton Thi Que Street - Hung Phuc Ward - Vinh City)