Comrade Phan Van Hue - a staunch communist of his hometown Duc Tho
During the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement of 1930-1931, comrade Phan Van Hue made many positive contributions with the Party cell and the Vietnamese people of Yen Ha - Yen Dong, bravely standing up to fight directly against the enemy.
Tung Anh Commune, Duc Tho District, Ha Tinh Province is famous for its beautiful landscapes, the birthplace of famous patriots and scholars such as Phan Dinh Phung, Bui Duong Lich, Pham Van Ngon, etc. and is the hometown of comrade Tran Phu - the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Comrade Phan Van Hue (Tung Anh commune) is one of the typical communist soldiers of Duc Tho hometown in particular and Ha Tinh hometown in general.
Comrade Phan Van Hue (also known as Phan Trong Hue) was born on September 8, 1909 in Yen Hoi village, Yen Dong commune, Viet Yen commune (now Tung Anh commune) [1], Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province. As a patriot and compassionate person, witnessing the oppression of the French colonial government and its henchmen against the people of his homeland, comrade Phan Van Hue soon joined progressive patriotic organizations in the locality. In 1926, comrade Phan Van Hue was one of the members of the Phuc Viet Duc Tho - Huong Son Grand Ancestor. Thanks to the active activities of comrade Phan Van Hue and the Grand Ancestor, progressive patriotic ideas were widely propagated to the people. By the end of 1929, facing new developments in the revolutionary movement and the influence of the Youth Association's activities, comrades Phan Trong Thanh and Phan Van Hue moved to join the Youth Association in Yen Dong.
In early 1930, after the Communist Party of Vietnam was founded, comrade Tran Huu Thieu (aka Lai, Trung Thien) was sent by the Central Region Party Committee to Ha Tinh to build a Party base. He and comrade Tran Hung [2] went to Duc Tho district to learn about the situation. Comrade Tran Hung was the one who directly went to Viet Yen to work. Realizing that comrades Phan Trong Thanh, Phan Van Hue, Bui Thuc Hue,... were young people with progressive patriotic thoughts and were active in the local struggle movement, comrade Tran Hung approached and propagated about the founding of the Party. At the end of March 1930, under the chairmanship of comrade Tran Hung, a conference to establish a Party cell to take on the task of leading the struggle movement of the people of the two communes of Viet Yen Ha and Yen Dong was convened. Notably, the conference to establish this Party cell was also attended by comrade Tran Huu Thieu. The Viet Yen Party cell was established with 5 comrades: Phan Trong Thanh, Phan Van Hue, Bui Thuc Hue, Tran Dinh Lan, Bui Thuc Ky. Comrade Phan Trong Thanh was elected as the first Secretary of the cell. In April 1930, comrade Phan Van Hue was added to the cell committee and was then elected to hold the position of Secretary of the Viet Yen Party cell.
Viet Yen Party Cell is one of the first five Party cells established in Duc Tho district. The establishment of the cell marked a new development step in the revolutionary movement in the two communes of Viet Yen Ha and Yen Dong. Immediately after its establishment, comrade Phan Van Hue and his comrades in the cell promoted propaganda and enlightenment work for party members. Through the enthusiastic activities of the comrades, only a few months later, the cell developed and recruited a number of progressive patriotic people into the organization.
Under the leadership of comrade Phan Van Hue and the Party cell, the Vietnamese people of Yen Ha - Yen Dong continued to promote the tradition of indomitable struggle of previous generations, bravely standing up in the direct struggle against the enemy.
On the occasion of the International Labor Day on May 1, 1930, implementing the policy of the Duc Tho Provisional District Party Committee, comrade Phan Van Hue and the Viet Yen Ha - Yen Dong Party Cell launched a campaign to distribute leaflets in the villages in the area. Under the direction of the cell, the red hammer and sickle flag was hung up, flying high in the wind, leaflets with the content of opposing oppression, demanding tax reduction, opposing forced labor and conscription; worker-peasant solidarity; supporting the international workers' movement, etc. were widely distributed from Van Ho village temple to Duc Tho district capital. Not only was he the leader of the movement, comrade Phan Van Hue was also the one who directly distributed leaflets in the locality. The first appearance of the Party flag also created a big echo, attracting the attention of the masses, promoting the fighting spirit of the people.
In August 1930, taking advantage of the crop shortage, farmers in some villages were severely hungry, comrade Phan Van Hue and the Viet Yen Party Cell led the people to fight to "borrow rice" to relieve hunger. The fight was victorious with 3,600 kg of rice distributed to the masses. The leaders of this fight were comrades: Phan Trong Thanh, Phan Van Hue and Mai Trong Dan.
Next, on the occasion of the International Day against Imperialist War (August 1, 1930), implementing the directive on organizing "demonstrations must be political in nature and demand some economic rights" of the Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee, comrade Phan Van Hue and comrades in the Viet Yen Party Cell quickly carried out propaganda activities and mobilized the masses. As a result, under the leadership of the cell, a large number of people in Viet Yen Ha and Yen Dong communes actively participated in the rally. On the evening of August 1, 1930, the red hammer and sickle flag once again appeared, flying proudly above the Dong Thai communal house. The masses, following the direction of the cell, from all directions began to gather at Muc Van [3].
After listening to comrade Phan Van Hue and other party members' speeches, everyone immediately shouted slogans of struggle: "Down with imperialist war", "Down with exploitation", "Down with suppression of protests", "Abolish poll tax and market tax", etc. After that, the group continued to demonstrate to show their power, while walking and distributing leaflets, creating a strong atmosphere of struggle that made local local authorities afraid and did not dare to act rashly.
Since September 1930, to strengthen the Party's leadership role, comrade Phan Van Hue and the Viet Yen Party Cell directed the promotion of propaganda work and the establishment of patriotic mass organizations. Thanks to the close activities of the comrades, after a short time, the organizations: Red Peasant Association, Women's Association, Youth Association, Red Relief Association, Red Self-Defense Association, etc. were born one after another, attracting a large number of people to participate. Under the leadership of the cell, the people of Viet Yen Ha - Yen Dong enthusiastically participated in major local struggles, such as: the rally and march to demonstrate power to celebrate the October Revolution at Yen Dong Saint's House with hundreds of participants (November 7, 1930); In coordination with the Yen Ho and Thinh Qua people, a rally was held, followed by a march to the district capital with a scale of nearly 2,000 people on the occasion of the anniversary of the Guangzhou Commune (December 12, 1930);...
Besides the task of leading the struggle movement in Viet Yen Ha - Yen Dong commune, Viet Yen Party Cell also did a good job of propagating and developing the Party to other localities such as Yen Trung [4], Phung Cong [5] and many other places in Viet Yen commune.
Faced with the strong development of the wave of struggle in Viet Yen Ha - Yen Dong in particular, and of the Nghe Tinh people in general, the French colonialists and the feudal puppet government implemented many terrorist measures with the desire to suppress this movement. Faced with the relentless pursuit of the gang system and the puppet secret police, in February 1931, comrade Phan Van Hue and a number of party members fell into the enemy's hands. All tricks could not subdue the will of comrade Phan Van Hue, the enemy transferred him from Linh Cam Prison to Huong Khe District Prison with the purpose of isolating comrade Phan Van Hue from the local revolutionary movement [6].
In 1936, after being released, comrade Phan Van Hue continued to contact party members and former political prisoners to continue his activities. In September 1936, upon hearing that the French Popular Front Government was preparing to send a delegation to investigate the situation in the Indochinese colonies, the Party Central Committee advocated launching a movement to collect the aspirations of the masses to present to the delegation. Implementing that policy, although Duc Tho district had not yet restored its organization, party members and former political prisoners proactively organized a meeting at Bui Xa. The conference established the district's Indochina Congress Mobilization Committee consisting of 8 comrades. Comrade Phan Van Hue was one of the 8 members of the Mobilization Committee, actively participating in activities to mobilize the masses to participate in demonstrations; collecting people's opinions to build a "People's Aspiration" to present to the investigation delegation.
Not only being active in the movement of the whole district, comrade Phan Van Hue also returned to his hometown to conduct contact to restore the Party organization. By July 1937, comrades Phan Van Hue, Kieu Huu Thao, Kieu Ngoc Lung had re-established a Party cell in Viet Yen Ha - Yen Dong. This event was a milestone marking the successful restoration of the first Party organization in Viet Yen after being suppressed by the enemy and temporarily dissolved in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement.
In August 1941, comrade Phan Van Hue was arrested by the enemy for the second time. During this arrest, the enemy decided to transfer him from Ha Tinh Prison to Ly Hy detention camp in Thua Thien, in order to completely isolate comrade Phan Van Hue from the Ha Tinh revolutionary movement (August 1941 to November 1942).
On May 19, 1945, the Nghe Tinh Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Mobilization Committee was established, and issued an Action Program in the new situation, including the task of "Promoting the establishment of the Viet Minh front". In June 1945, under the direction of the Nghe Tinh Inter-Provincial Viet Minh Mobilization Committee, the Duc Tho District Viet Minh Liaison Committee was established. Comrade Phan Van Hue was one of the 11 members of the Duc Tho District Viet Minh, assigned to be in charge of the Viet Minh in Viet Yen.
In August 1945, implementing the policy of the Viet Minh inter-provincial Nghe Tinh on preparing for the general uprising, the Uprising Committee of Viet Yen was established. Comrade Phan Van Hue was trusted as Chairman of the Committee. Under the leadership of comrade Phan Van Hue and the Uprising Committee, the people of Viet Yen coordinated with the people of the communes to rise up and seize the opportunity to abolish the feudal colonial government, establishing a revolutionary government of the people in the entire district.
On October 25, 1945, the meeting of Duc Tho district party cadres and members held a meeting and elected a provisional District Party Committee Executive Committee consisting of comrade Phan Van Hue and 5 other comrades. In April 1946, the Duc Tho district Party Congress was convened with the aim of perfecting the Executive Committee and discussing the Party's operational strategies in the new situation. With his contributions and prestige, the Congress elected comrade Phan Van Hue as Secretary of the District Party Committee.
In the following historical periods, comrade Phan Van Hue was assigned by the Party and State to hold many important positions, such as: Deputy Secretary of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee (December 1947 - December 1948), Secretary of Ha Tinh Provincial Branch 1 (May 1949 - June 1949), Head of Ha Tinh Provincial Finance Department (March 1951 - December 1951); Head of Ha Tinh Bank's Administrative Organization Department (October 1956 - September 1959), Director of the Central Bank's Gold and Silver Handicraft Company, etc. In any position, the excellent communist soldier of Duc Tho hometown always strived to overcome difficulties to excellently complete the assigned tasks.
With his great contributions to the national liberation movement, comrade Phan Van Hue was recognized by the Party and State and awarded many noble medals: Second-class Resistance Medal (1961), Third-class Independence Medal, etc. Comrade Phan Van Hue's life of activities is worthy of being a shining example for generations to learn and follow.
------
Note:
[1] Before the August Revolution in 1945, Viet Yen Ha commune included 2 villages: Tung Anh and Trinh Nguyen; Yen Dong commune included 3 villages: Dong Thai, Yen Hoi, Yen Noi.
[2] The Pope, from Vinh Khanh village
[3] Near Can Ky village, now in Tan Dan commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province
[4] Now belongs to Duc Tho Town, Ha Tinh Province
[5] Now belongs to Hoa Lac commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province
[6] According to the Party Profile of comrade Phan Van Hue, the Sentence is unknown.
References:
- History of Duc Tho District Party Committee, National Political Publishing House, 1998.
- History of Tung Anh Commune Party Committee, Ha Tinh Printing Enterprise, 2004.
- Party member's biography and documents provided by comrade Phan Van Hue's relatives.