Comrade Le De's contributions to the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement

Comrade Le De (aka Le Duc De), was born in 1893 in a peasant family with a tradition of patriotism in Tien Yen hamlet, Yen Ly Ngoai village, Yen Ly commune, Van Phan canton (now Dien Yen commune), Dien Chau district, Nghe An province. His father was Mr. Le Duc Trac and his mother was Mrs. Ho Thi Chinh.

Comrade Le De was originally a Confucian scholar, passed the provincial examinations and passed the entrance exam; studied Vietnamese and passed the entrance exam, held the position of Tri su and had a position in the village's Literature Association. He was influenced by the patriotic movements against the French and was enlightened by the revolution through his uncle Le Duc Chuong.

In 1925, comrade Le De participated in the local revolutionary youth movement and established reading groups in Dien Yen such as Mr. Le Chuong (Mr. Cuu Cat), Mr. Le Kham (Mr. Mieng Khuom) and Mr. Le Nhu... They used and passed around a number of documents for propaganda such as: The poem "That dieu tran" by Phan Chu Trinh given to Khai Dinh when Khai Dinh went to France, the book "Tinh than bat tu" written in Chinese by Phan Boi Chau praising the heroic spirit of Pham Hong Thai who assassinated Governor-General Mec - Lanh in Sa Dien (Guangzhou, China)...

The groups were divided into regions, frequently changing their meeting locations, focusing on families with conditions and enthusiasm for the movement, then mobilizing local leaders and village chiefs to come and listen. The number of people participating in listening and reading the newspaper increased, some even spent money to buy some books and newspapers such as: Experimental People's Newspaper, Trung Bac Tan Van... to enrich the source of documents and information sent to the people.

In addition, the plays Trung Trac and Trung Nhi were also lent by book and newspaper reading groups to the hamlets' opera troupes to practice and perform throughout the Hoang and Van regions; lullabies to encourage the people's patriotism were also collected, composed and widely disseminated. In 1926, organizations such as the Revolutionary Youth Association and the Tan Viet Revolutionary Party were active in the districts of Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, and Do Luong (Nghe An).

Due to the influence of the new revolutionary movement, Dien Yen youth, despite all difficulties and hardships, enthusiastically sought a way to go abroad to save the country. On July 24, 1926, a group of young people including: Le De, Le Hoe, Le Man, Le Nhu, Le Kham, Le Nhiep, Nguyen Phong Hanh (Nguyen Que) and Nguyen Vy... were selected and gathered at Thuan Duc Pharmacy (Vinh city) to go to Siam (Thailand), led by Mr. Nguyen Nang Tuu (Nghi Loc) - a person with progressive thoughts who established contacts and organized guides to send people abroad to study and participate in revolutionary activities. But the trip was delayed so the comrades had to return and continue their activities waiting for the right time.

After that, Le De was led by comrade Le Phu (aka Le Hai) to China. On January 12, 1927, Le De was arrested by the French colonialists and sentenced to 1 year in prison, and taken to Hoa Lo prison (Hanoi). During his time in detention and beating, they could not get any information from him, so they had to release him. Returning to his homeland, he joined comrades: Nguyen Que (Phong Hanh), Le Kham, Le Man, Le Nhiep, Le Can, Le Lenh, Truong Duc Hap, Le Duc Chuong and Le Nhu (opened a medicine shop selling traditional Chinese medicine at Yen Ly Station, also known as Tue), to carry out revolutionary activities.

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While playing the role of a teacher teaching Vietnamese to children, and sometimes a doctor prescribing traditional Chinese medicine to cure and save people, comrade Le De went to many places, met many people to propagate and mobilize people to participate in distributing leaflets, holding rallies, and demonstrating...

After the Communist Party of Vietnam was born, in June 1930, Nghe An Provincial Party Committee sent Chu Van Bien, Phan Lac and Nguyen Duc Bieu to Dien Chau to establish Yen Ly Party Cell including comrades: Le De, Nguyen Phong Hanh, Le Nhu, Le Man, Le Can, Le Nhiep... with comrade Nguyen Duc Bieu as Secretary. The Party Cell clearly identified the top priority task as widely propagating Marxism-Leninism through Nguyen Ai Quoc's lectures in the book "The Revolutionary Path" to the people. At the same time, it expanded, built and developed Party bases and mass organizations: such as the Communist Youth Union, the Red Peasants' Association, the Red Self-Defense Force... and established many facilities for printing documents, leaflets, posters...

During this time, comrade Le De's house was chosen as the place to print leaflets and Party documents with the content calling on the masses to support the Nghe Tinh Soviet, support the people of Thanh Chuong and Nam Dan to besiege the district office. The leaflets were secretly transferred to the bases.

After the demonstration of the people of Hung Nguyen was bloodily suppressed by the French colonial government on September 12, 1930, the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee initiated a major struggle throughout the province to demonstrate solidarity and celebrate the Russian October Revolution Day (November 7). Implementing the Provincial Party Committee's policy, under the leadership of comrade Nguyen Duc Bieu - Party cell secretary, comrades Le De, Nguyen Phong Hanh, Le Nhu, Le Man, Le Can, Le Nhiep... actively prepared documents, leaflets, banners, slogans, weapons... secretly transferred to the bases to carry out the demonstration.

On the morning of November 7, 1930, the sound of drums from the village communal houses urged everyone to gather. The people of Dien Yen and Van Phan commune gathered at Yen Ly station. Under the leadership of the Party cell, comrade Le De and other party members, the people of the villages gathered according to the communes, holding high flags and slogans, shouting in unison "Support the Soviet government". The demonstration group moved closer to the government office, the people of the villages along the road cheered in response, joining the crowd.

To intimidate the demonstrators, the Commander of Dien Chau Station mobilized soldiers in blue uniforms and legionnaires to focus their guns on the demonstrators. Under the guidance of comrades Le De, Le Duc Bieu, Le Niem, ... the people were still not afraid, raised high the red flag with hammer and sickle, shouted slogans and continued to advance. Facing the people's fighting spirit, the enemy opened fire on the crowd, killing 30 people and injuring dozens. Faced with that situation, comrade Le De and the people decided to temporarily retreat to preserve their forces.

On December 30, 1930, comrade Le De and the Party Cell together with a large number of people gathered to listen to speeches and organize a memorial service for fallen soldiers and revolutionary masses and to encourage and help families whose members died in this struggle.

After the above struggle, the colonialists and their lackeys increased their terror and repression, but the fighting spirit of the masses under the leadership of the Party Cell increased day by day and the struggles, rallies and demonstrations continued to break out. The power and strength of the masses grew stronger and stronger. During this time, the atmosphere in the countryside became more bustling than ever, with production during the day and political and cultural studies at night. Through these classes, patriotic and revolutionary poetry was widely spread and deeply absorbed by the masses.

Faced with the growth of the revolutionary movement in Nghe Tinh in general, and in Dien Chau in particular, the French colonialists concentrated their forces to "suppress the communist rebellion". They sent legionnaires, blue-clad soldiers, porters, lieutenants and secret agents to Dien Chau to stalk and arrest, causing many revolutionary bases to collapse, leaving very few party members.

In early 1931, when comrade Le De was giving a speech to the masses on My Quan field, he was discovered by the enemy and suddenly sent troops to surround and arrest him and take him into custody. On February 2, 1931, the Nam Trieu Court of Nghe An province opened a trial, they sentenced him to 3 years of hard labor and 2 years of house arrest (according to Verdict 36) and exiled him to Kon Tum, on charges of communist propaganda. Here, he was brutally tortured by the enemy, but he always firmly answered "I don't know". After not being able to get any information, after 1 year of detention in Kon Tum Prison, on January 25, 1932, he was released, returned to his homeland and together with comrades Le Man, Le Kham, Le Nhu... immediately started to resume activities to reconnect, build the movement and re-establish the Party cell...

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In July 1936, the Central Conference determined and proposed guidelines and methods for organizing revolutionary struggles in the new period. The Yen Ly Party Cell, with comrade Le De as Secretary, continued to work on building the base; at the same time, it absorbed the policies of the higher levels to disseminate them to the masses and established friendly associations, mutual aid associations to help the poor, organized contracts to raise money to build a revolutionary fund, mobilized people to collect signatures to demand the release of political prisoners, etc.

On October 11, 1939, the Bang Col Tran Huan wanted to make a contribution, so he brought district soldiers and Dien Chau district chief to the house of comrade Le De to search, found a number of banned books and newspapers, arrested him, and sent him to Dien Chau prison with his younger brother Le Mai. About 5 months later, they held a trial and sentenced him to 3 years in prison and 3 years of house arrest according to Judgment No. 326 dated March 4, 1940 and sent him to Vinh prison, for the crime of possessing banned books and newspapers.

On September 13, 1942, after his prison term ended, comrade Le De was released and returned to his locality and quickly participated in revolutionary activities in the Viet Minh movement... During this time, he coordinated with the district military forces to participate in the fight to capture the French colonialist - Gombert, owner of Dao Nguyen plantation in Yen Ly Ngoai commune and two French pilots who escaped from prison in the mountains of Dien Yen commune, and captured the Bang Ta Tran Huan, a lackey of the imperialists in Luy alley - Yen Ly Ngoai...

In August 1945, comrade Le De was a member of the Uprising Committee, leading the local government.

In October 1945, comrade Le De was the Head of the Executive Committee of the Red Farmers' Association of the district.

In 1946, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the Viet Minh Front of the district.

In 1959, with a relapse of his injuries from years of imprisonment and torture in imperialist prisons, combined with heart failure, he passed away at the age of 67, leaving his relatives, friends, comrades, teammates and people in great sorrow.

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With a steadfast belief in the Party's leadership, comrade Le De was a shining example for his descendants in the family to participate in revolutionary activities such as: daughter Le Thi Nghinh, a heroic Vietnamese mother (with two sons, Bui Hai Luong and Bui Van Dat, martyrs fighting against the US, sacrificed in 1972); son-in-law, comrade Bui Van Bay, a pre-uprising revolutionary cadre; son Le Hong Anh, a martyr fighting against the French, sacrificed in 1953.

The life and revolutionary career of comrade Le De, from 1925 to 1947, was a period of vibrant revolutionary activities, imprisoned in many notoriously brutal prisons of the colonial and feudal governments such as Vinh Prison, Kon Tum Prison... No matter the circumstances, he always upheld his integrity, indomitable, steadfast, worthy of being a communist soldier in the heroic Soviet homeland.

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References:

- According to the family artifacts of comrade Le De kept at the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum.

- Comrade Le De's prisoner file is kept at the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum's storage facility.

- According to information provided by comrade Le De's family.

- Book History of Dien Yen Commune Party Committee 1930-2007 - Publishing House of Culture and Information, 43 Lo Duc - Hanoi.

- Book History of Dien Chau District Party Committee 1930-2005 - Labor Publishing House - Hanoi.