Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai - a model of staunch communist

Cam Quang is a commune located in the North of Cam Xuyen district, with a rich history, culture, patriotism and revolutionary tradition. In the flow of history of the nation, it is impossible not to mention the children of Cam Quang land who did not hesitate to face difficulties, hardships, sacrifices, and contributed human and material resources to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai is one of the typical examples of communist soldiers of Cam Quang hometown in particular, of Ha Tinh in general in the early days of the Communist Party of Vietnam's establishment.

Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was born in 1898 in a poor farming family in Nhan Loc village, Thach Khe Trung commune, Van Tan canton (now Cam Quang commune), Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province.

Growing up in the land of Cam Quang, rich in tradition, and having a progressive patriotic mindset, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was enlightened early. In late 1929 and early 1930, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was a member of the Youth organization, operating secretly in Thach Khe Trung.

In March 1930, after the establishment of the Ha Tinh Provisional Party Committee, a number of Provincial Party Committee members and cadres were secretly sent to the localities to build more Party bases. Comrades Tran Hung and Nguyen Thi Linh Quy, Provincial Party Committee members, were assigned by the Provincial Party Committee to Cam Xuyen to build a revolutionary movement in the northern region of Van Tan commune. In just a short time, the revolutionary movement of the Van Tan commune's people made great strides, and Party cells and patriotic mass organizations were born one after another.

Although Cam Quang commune at that time had not yet developed party members and had no communist cell, comrades Nguyen Huu Thai, Hoang Huu Tin, Nguyen Van Chi, and Tran Viet Nghi had established a secret Red Peasant Association operating in Thach Khe Trung. Thanks to the comrades' energetic propaganda activities, the Red Peasant Association of Thach Khe Trung had gathered many people into wards and associations to support each other in life, such as: Plowing Association, Planting Association, Roofing Association, etc. Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and the Peasant Association also mobilized the people of Thach Khe Trung to participate in the struggles led by the Cam Xuyen District Executive Committee, such as: the rally and demonstration denouncing the crimes of mandarins and bullies at the banyan tree of Gia Hoi village (May 1, 1930); rallies and demonstrations in July 1930, etc.

After the September 9, 1930 demonstration of the Cam Xuyen people was bloodily suppressed by the enemy, the District Party Committee issued a policy to mobilize the people of the communes to attend the memorial rally for those who had sacrificed. Under the leadership of comrades Nguyen Huu Thai, Hoang Huu Tin, Nguyen Van Chi, Tran Viet Tien, more than 200 people of Thach Khe Trung gathered at Quan Kho to attend the ceremony.

When the revolutionary movement in Cam Xuyen was in the development stage, the comrades in the District Party Committee Executive Committee fell into the hands of the enemy one after another. Faced with the difficult situation of the local revolutionary movement as well as the need for leadership from the Party Committee after the organization was destroyed by the enemy, in February 1931, the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee Executive Committee was re-established with comrade Tran Dao as Secretary. After being appointed, the Executive Committee implemented the policy of consolidating patriotic mass organizations and focused on developing Party bases.

On March 20, 1931, the Thach Khe Trung Party Cell was established with 4 comrades. Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was a member of the cell. After its establishment, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and the Thach Khe Trung Party Cell quickly promoted propaganda, education and development of party members. Under the leadership of the comrades, the Thach Khe Trung People's struggle movement was increasingly consolidated, and the masses actively participated in the struggles launched by the cell.

On the occasion of International Labor Day, May 1, 1931, to demonstrate the revolutionary force and solidarity, the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee mobilized the masses to demonstrate and march to the district to make demands and fight for their rights. Implementing the District Party Committee's policy, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and the Van Tan Party members led the people of the entire district to coordinate with the masses of My Due, Tho Ngoa (Cam Xuyen) and Ha Nhat (Thach Ha) districts to gather at the Thuong Tuong Temple (Cam Xuyen town) to demonstrate. While the masses were rallying to listen to the speech, soldiers came to suppress and shot, killing two people and injuring many others.

After the demonstration, the enemy launched a new wave of terror, concentrating forces to hunt down, arrest, and torture party members and patriotic people. In addition, the famine of 1931 also made people's lives even more miserable. In that situation, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and the Thach Khe Trung Party Cell led the people to fight for a number of economic rights to improve people's lives, making the people more confident in the Party's leadership and excited to boost production.

On August 1, 1931, the Provincial Party Committee had a policy of organizing demonstrations in each commune and each canton to rebuild the movement. To implement that policy, the Cam Xuyen District Party Committee held an expanded conference and made a decision: to organize mass rallies in each canton, with demonstrations to suppress the reactionary forces in the district. Immediately after that, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and other party members assigned each other to be in charge of the movement in each canton, preparing for the rally.

On the night of July 31, 1931, under the mobilization and direction of party members, revolutionary leaflets were spread throughout the communes, hammer and sickle flags were planted and flown on the peaks of Nhuoc Thach, Tron, Dong Choac mountains and Gia Hoi communal house. Next, more than 3,000 people from the four communes of Van Tan, My Due, Lac Xuyen, and Tho Ngoa divided themselves and gathered at five rally locations. The sound of drums, gongs, and footsteps of people rushing to the gathering locations made the Tay station, the district chief, and the powerful village chief panic and not dare to go out. After attending the celebration, the people marched to demonstrate their power and then dispersed safely.

To suppress the fighting spirit of the people, in mid-August 1931, the French colonialists and their puppet government gathered soldiers in green uniforms to set up more posts in Cam Xuyen, and at the same time set up hundreds of guard posts with many torture instruments. The enemy, in coordination with the secret police system and local officials, conducted raids, arrested and imprisoned many party members and patriotic people in Cam Xuyen, causing the revolutionary movement in many places to decline.

At the end of November 1931, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was added to the Standing Committee of Cam Xuyen District Party Committee, in charge of Van Tan commune. In his new position, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai stood shoulder to shoulder with the comrades of the District Party Committee to shoulder the Cam Xuyen revolutionary movement in the new situation.

Having lost contact with their superiors, the District Party Committee now had only three comrades left: Tran Dao, Nguyen Huu Thai and Tran Dien. For the time being, when the struggle could not be launched, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and the District Party Committee chose to focus on propaganda and education for the masses through the newspaper "Step Forward". In addition, comrades Nguyen Huu Thai and Tran Dao composed more poems and songs with familiar, easy-to-understand language and were widely propagated, contributing to strengthening the spirit of the people, such as: "Communist propaganda", "Calling on farmers", "Wife advises husband", "Child asks father", etc.

Thanks to the comrades' steadfastness in staying in the area and being flexible in propaganda work, by the end of December 1931, although there were no rallies or demonstrations as exciting as before, the Party bases and patriotic mass organizations in Cam Xuyen were gradually restored. The revolutionary movement was gradually restored in villages and communes such as: Yen Duong, Yen Xa, Thach Khe Trung, Thach Khe Ha, Cam Bao, Gia Hoi, etc.

When the movement in Cam Xuyen had just been restored and was on the rise, the French colonialists and their feudal lackeys continued to mobilize a new wave of raids. During this wave of terror, most of the party members and patriotic masses were arrested by the enemy and taken to Ha Tinh prison and other prisons.

Faced with the difficult situation of the movement, Cam Xuyen District Party Committee at that time only had comrade Nguyen Huu Thai left, but he was still determined to stick with the movement. In May 1932, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai contacted comrade Nguyen Quoc Hai, a Party cadre in Yen Duong, Yen Xa, Thach Khe Trung, to discuss the situation and discuss plans of activities to rebuild the movement. Thanks to the spirit and active activities of the comrades, the revolutionary movement in some villages and communes of Cam Xuyen was gradually restored.

In early July 1932, a conference of about 12 party members was convened at the house of comrade Nguyen Quoc Hai. The conference discussed the direction and tasks for the coming period and elected the District Executive Committee to take on the task of leading the movement in the whole district. Comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was elected as Secretary of the District Executive Committee.

Under the direction of comrade Nguyen Huu Thai, by the end of 1932, the whole district had 10 Party cells and many patriotic mass organizations were re-established. In places where there was no Party organization, the Farmers' Association was established, under the leadership of the District Party Committee. Thanks to that, cultural, social, military and security work in the villages and communes was restored and promoted.

Faced with that situation, the enemy once again focused on terrorizing the villages. Party members and the Executive Committees of the Yen Duong, Yen Xa, and Thach Khe Trung branches all fell into the enemy's hands. Facing the enemy's siege and pursuit, in March 1933, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was arrested. Knowing that comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was a key cadre of the District Party Committee, the enemy imprisoned him in Ha Tinh prison. After 5 years of imprisonment and interrogation without being able to extract any information, in February 1938, the enemy exiled him to Buon Me Thuot Prison.

After the Japanese coup against the French, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and a number of political prisoners were released. Upon returning home, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai quickly contacted the revolutionary base in Cam Xuyen.

On August 13, 1945, facing the new changes and demands of history, Viet Minh Nam Ha [1] held a meeting in Nhuong Ban and decided to establish the Nam Ha Uprising Committee to promote the leadership of the local people in preparing for the struggle to seize power. Comrades: Nguyen Huu Thai, Tran Huu Duyet, Tran Huu Chuong, Ton Sy Khue, Pham The, Nguyen Huynh, Tran Dao, Dang Trong Phuong and Pham The Dong,... were the representatives of Viet Minh Cam Xuyen district attending this conference.

After the conference, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai and the Cam Xuyen Viet Minh promoted the establishment of the District Uprising Committee, and at the same time assigned each other to be in charge of the communes and cantons to prepare everything for the seizure of power in the entire district. Under the leadership of the Uprising Committee, the people of Cam Xuyen enthusiastically participated in the uprising, contributing to the victory of the August Revolution in the entire province. With an important role in the revolutionary movement, on August 25, 1945, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was elected Chairman of the Provisional People's Revolutionary Committee of Cam Xuyen district.

On December 12, 1945, at the Ha Tinh Party Congress, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was elected to hold the position of Secretary of the Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee.

In the following historical periods, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was always trusted by the organization to hold many important positions in the province and the Central.

From September 1947 to September 1948, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was Secretary of the Farmers' Association of Military Region 4.

From June 1956 to March 1959, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was elected for the second time as Secretary of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee.

From February 1961 to 1963, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai was the Head of the Supreme People's Court Department.

At 85 years old and 53 years of Party membership, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai is a typical example of a loyal communist in his hometown of Ha Tinh. In any circumstance, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai always upholds the spirit and spirit of a communist to complete all tasks entrusted to him by the Party and the People. With many great contributions during his revolutionary activities, comrade Nguyen Huu Thai has been awarded many certificates of merit and noble medals by the Party and the Government, such as: Family with merit to the country, Ho Chi Minh Medal,...

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