100 years of the newspaper 'The Miserable' and Nguyen Ai Quoc's contribution to the colonies

100 years ago, on April 1, 1922, the first issue of Le Paria (The Miserable) was published. This was the newspaper of the Colonial Union - an organization representing the indigenous people in all French colonies.Nguyen Ai Quocwith a number of revolutionary activists from colonial countries founded in France on October 9, 1921.

By founding and publishing the newspaper “The Miserable”, Nguyen Ai Quoc-Ho Chi Minh and his comrades created “a new wind blowing to the people of oppressed countries”. Currently, historical documents about the newspaper Le Paria and Nguyen Ai Quoc’s activities during the time of publishing this newspaper are still stored in archives and libraries in France.

However, the historical imprint of the newspaper as well as the historical figures who created the newspaper at that time, from Nguyen Ai Quoc to other figures in the "Five Dragons" group such as Phan Chau Trinh, Nguyen An Ninh, Phan Van Truong and Nguyen The Truyen, are still very present in archives in France.

First, we can mention the archives of the French National Overseas Archives (ANOM) in the city of Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Next is the Francois Mitterand National Library in Paris.

Documents in the form of negative films about this newspaper as well as the revolutionary activities of the Colonial Union were also found in the libraries of major French universities such as: Saint-Genevieve Interuniversity Library of Paris Sorbonne University, Library of Provence Aix-Marseille University. The newspaper "The Miserable" is associated with the name of the patriotic young man Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh, so currently, photos of the newspaper taken at that time are also preserved and displayed at the Ho Chi Minh space at the Museum of Living History in the city of Montreuil, an eastern suburb of the capital Paris. This is also the place where many other important milestones and relics in the revolutionary life of Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh in France are kept.

Milestone marking Nguyen Ai Quoc's political maturity

Around 1918, the young man Nguyen Ai Quoc returned to France after many years of traveling around the world to learn about the lives of working people and the governing methods of the ruling classes of various countries, in order to find a suitable path for national liberation. As soon as he returned to France, Nguyen Ai Quoc became very active in the movements.

Reports from the French secret service at that time noted that, within a short time after returning to France, Nguyen Ai Quoc had become a prominent name among the Annamese intellectuals and the intellectuals of the colonial peoples in France. In 1919, after appearing at the Versailles Conference to present the Annamese people's petition, Nguyen Ai Quoc was placed on a list of people closely watched by the French secret service.

At that time, Nguyen Ai Quoc was especially enthusiastic in participating in political gatherings and debates of political parties and intellectuals from various countries, especially colonial countries. It was from these debates that Nguyen Ai Quoc participated in founding the Colonial Union.

Nguyen Ai Quoc and the founding members realized that in order to gather forces and make their voices heard in France, and for the French people to understand what the French colonial government was doing in the colonies, a newspaper, that is, a communication weapon, was needed.

That is why, when the first issues were first published, in addition to the French name “Le Paria” (The Miserable), the newspaper also had Arabic and Chinese names. It can be said that the newspaper “The Miserable” was a milestone marking the political maturity of Nguyen Ai Quoc and like-minded patriots at that time.

In the newspaper's motto stated in the first issue, the newspaper is not only a mouthpiece, a forum for colonial peoples, condemning the abuse of power as well as the harsh and exploitative policies of the colonial government, but also a place to gather forces, calling for solidarity in the struggle for the material and spiritual progress of the people of colonial countries, aiming at the highest goal of human liberation. This is perhaps the most noble goal of journalists, regardless of the era, that is, in addition to reflecting social reality, it must also contribute to reforming society in a more humane direction.

Great contribution to the revolutionary movement in colonial countries

In 1918, Nguyen Ai Quoc became one of the first colonial citizens to participate directly in French political life when he joined the Socialist Party. By December 1920, after attending the Tours Congress and becoming one of the founding members of the French Communist Party, Nguyen Ai Quoc quickly established himself as an expert on the colonial situation.

The famous photo of Nguyen Ai Quoc speaking at the Tours Congress, next to Paul-Vaillant Couturier, one of the greatest figures and leaders of the French Communist Party later, is still among the most valuable historical paintings of French Communists.

Later documents show that it was Paul-Vaillant Couturier and other major politicians of the French Communist Party who sponsored Nguyen Ai Quoc to publish the newspaper "The Miserable" and then continued to pave the way for Nguyen Ai Quoc to write for the newspaper "Nhan Dao" (L'Humanité), a major newspaper and the mouthpiece of the French Communists.

The archives of the newspaper “Nhan dao” currently preserve those articles, and at the same time acknowledge Nguyen Ai Quoc’s remarkable journalistic talent when he wrote more than 20 articles in the newspaper “Nhan dao” in just over a year. Most of those articles were about the situation in Indochina, but Nguyen Ai Quoc also wrote about the people in the African colonies and the workers’ movement in Türkiye. These journalistic activities not only helped Nguyen Ai Quoc establish his influence and gather like-minded people, but more importantly, as an editorial of the newspaper “Nhan dao” in 2016 commented, Nguyen Ai Quoc helped the newspaper “Nhan dao” itself become more aware of its two missions: being both an organizer and an educator.

In terms of organization, at that time, Nguyen Ai Quoc emphasized a very new way of thinking, that the struggle of French workers must be coordinated and supplemented with the struggle of the colonial people. In each article in the newspaper “Nhan dao”, Nguyen Ai Quoc concluded with a call for French communists to pay more attention to the colonial issue. For the young French Communist Party at that time, this anti-colonialism front was a direction that needed to be organized.

In terms of education, at that time the majority of French people did not understand the situation in French colonies. According to Nguyen Ai Quoc, this lack of understanding led to the proletarians in France being indifferent to the colonies, while the people of the colonies viewed all French people as the same, all as cruel exploiters.

It was this lack of mutual understanding that the colonial governments exploited, divided and weakened the struggle movement. Nguyen Ai Quoc boldly expressed this opinion in the newspaper “Nhan Dao” and this helped the struggle of international communists later become more united and effective.

During this period of journalistic activities, Nguyen Ai Quoc made great contributions to the revolutionary struggle movement in colonial countries, making the colonial issue a major front in the international communist movement, paving the way for later successes./.

Quang Dung