Comrade Le Viet Thuat (1902-1932): Struggling with the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement
Comrade Le Viet Thuat became a party member and was the Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party Cell of the Truong Thi Factory in 1929. After the Conference to establish the Indochinese Communist Party (February 3, 1930), Vinh Provincial Party Committee was formed with comrade Le Mao as Secretary and comrade Le Viet Thuat as a member of the Vinh Provisional Provincial Party Committee.
On an autumn evening in 1930, on the bank of the Lam River in Ben Thuy area, porters discovered Le Viet Thuat's clothes but no body. They shouted "Thuat drowned" and hired people to search but could not find the body. His family held a funeral for their son who "died unjustly".
But at that time, in the whole Ben Thuy area, only Le Mao and Nguyen Loi knew that Thuat did not die but created a fake scene to facilitate revolutionary activities.
Le Viet Thuat was born in 1902 in a poor family in De Thap Street (now Ben Thuy Ward), Vinh City, Nghe An Province. At the age of 14, he followed his elders to work as a worker in the Match Factory. In the same village and working with him were Le Mao, Nguyen Phuc, Nguyen Loi, Nguyen Thi Due... Witnessing the hard labor and beatings of the Match Factory owner every day, he was extremely angry and he began to be enlightened about class and national consciousness.
After the establishment of the Phuc Viet Association, he was admitted to the Association and became a member of the Trade Union. He enthusiastically took the lead in the struggles for the practical daily rights of the workers at the Match Factory. In addition, he, together with Le Mao and Nguyen Phuc, mobilized the people of De Thap Street to fight against the local landlords who imposed excessive surcharges and appointed progressive people as town chiefs. After that, the Trade Union assigned him to work at the Sawmill and Truong Thi Railway Factory to build a revolutionary base.
On June 17, 1929, the Indochinese Communist Party was established in the North and developed its organization in the Central region. ComradesTran Van Cung, Nguyen Phong Sac went to Nghe An with Vo Mai to establish the Central Indochinese Communist Party, headquartered in Lang Vang (now Dong Vinh ward), Vinh city. Comrade Nguyen Phong Sac paid special attention to the Vinh - Ben Thuy workers' movement and met and brought Le Viet Thuat, Le Mao, and Le Doan Suu as the core to organize the Indochinese Communist Party base among the working class.
From a Tan Viet Party member, Le Viet Thuat became a Party member and Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party Cell of the Truong Thi Railway Factory in 1929. After the Conference to establish the Indochinese Communist Party (February 3, 1930), Vinh Province was formed byLe Mao as Secretary, Le Viet Thuat is a member of the Vinh Provincial Party Committee.
"For the first time in our country's history, workers, farmers and soldiers joined hands in the middle of battle."
Le Viet Thuat, Le Mao, and Le Doan Suu directed the demonstration to celebrate International Labor Day on May 1, 1930. Comrades Nguyen Loi and Hoang Trong Tri were assigned to directly command the workers and farmers participating in the demonstration. Under the leadership of the Party, "For the first time in the history of our country, workers, farmers, and soldiers joined hands in the middle of the battle." After the incident of faking drowning to facilitate revolutionary activities, Le Viet Thuat was assigned by the Regional Party Committee to build the movement in Ha Tinh. In December 1930, he was elected as a member of the Central Region Party Committee. While comrades Nguyen Phong Sac and Le Mao attended the Party's National Conference in Hong Kong, Le Viet Thuat returned to the Regional Party Committee office with comrades Le Doan Suu (Secretary of the Ben Thuy Regional Party Committee), Nguyen Phuc... to direct the movement in the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, aiming to maintain the Soviet achievements and deal with the enemy's new plots and tricks.
Since April 1931, the leaders of the Regional Party Committee were sacrificed and captured by the enemy one after another. Faced with the brutal terror and cunning plots of the enemy such as carrying yellow flags, issuing surrender cards, establishing ethnic councils, moral organizations... comrade Le Viet Thuat, the head of the Regional Party Committee, sought every way to limit the loss of lives and property of the masses, and protect the Party organization, revolutionary organizations and groups.
The enemy offered high rewards to anyone who could capture Le Viet Thuat and Nguyen Loi. Since comrade Nguyen Phong Sac was arrested (May 3, 1931), Le Mao was shot dead, and the communication line with the Central was cut off, Le Viet Thuat was busy consolidating the Central Region Party Committee. At the end of June 1931, the Central Region Party Committee held an expanded meeting and elected 3 additional members: Phan Thai At, Le Xuan Dao, and Nguyen Xuan Thanh. Thus, with the 4 old members: Le Viet Thuat, Nguyen Tiem, Nguyen Loi, and Mai Kinh, the Central Region Party Committee had 7 members to direct the movement in the 2 provinces. But by December 1931, comrades Phan Thai At, Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Nguyen Loi, and Nguyen Tiem were all arrested. In early 1932, the Central Region Party Committee was exposed, and comrade Le Viet Thuat, the last Secretary of the Central Region Party Committee, fell into the enemy's hands.
After a period of suffering torture from the enemy at Vinh Prison, comrade Le Viet Thuat sacrificed his life in March 1932.