Comrade Le Nhu (1900-1985): Shining with a resilient and exemplary spirit in the revolutionary cause

Yen Ly village used to have 3 villages. Above the national highway - National Highway 1, was Thuong village, two villages Dong and Ngoai were located below the road. Later, Yen Ly merged with My Quan village of My Nao village to form Dien Yen commune. Next to the national highway leading to the center of the three villages Thuong, Trung and Ngoai, there was a market named Huyen market. Local people often called it after the location where the market was located, Ly market and mispronounced it as Lu market.

Cho Lu, also known as Huyen Market, is the largest market and has the most goods in the North Dien Chau region. It is called Huyen Market because in the past, the three districts of Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, and Quynh Luu were all part of the same administrative unit, Dong Thanh District. The name Huyen Market marks a period when the headquarters of Dong Thanh was located there, before it was moved to Quy Lang, now Lang Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District.

Le Nhu's village, Yen Ly, was colloquially known as Yen village. The first people who came to recruit people and establish the village named it that way, thinking that their village would always have a peaceful scene. But in reality, under the feudal - colonial period, the people here rarely enjoyed a peaceful scene. A few years after Le Nhu was born, the French opened the railway, building Cam Bao bridge for trains to go next to the old reinforced concrete bridge on Thien Ly road. The newly built bridge was the largest iron bridge in the north of the district, located close to his village. Later, they built a train station, also called Yen Ly station.

Then the sound of iron wheels grinding on the rails was eerie, the sound of steam engines on the train's head was rumbling, the train whistle was hurriedly overpowering the car horn. It emitted behind it thick black smoke and the strange, pungent smell of coal and oil. That was also when Provincial Road 48 from his village to Phu Quy - Ke Bang - Muong Noc was opened for trucks carrying salt and alcohol up, and bringing back forest products such as: precious wood, honey, ant wings, agarwood, marble, aluminum ore, tin ore, gold and opium. Yen Ly became the administrative, traffic and commercial hub of the North Dien Chau region.

Le Nhu grew up when the Governors General of Indochina and then Klobucopxki came one after another to exploit Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia for the first time, proposed by their predecessor, Pol Dume. The intersection of Highway 48 and National Highway 1 railway at the beginning of Le Nhu's village was the place that witnessed the colonial government's protection through plunder of his homeland.

"Dong Thanh is mother and father
"If you are hungry and have ragged clothes, go to Dong Thanh"

No one knows when that song originated and how poor other places are, but Yen Ly's money in Dong Thanh district is still a relic of a coastal area bordering hills with Hon Tro, Con Nhan, Bo Luy, names that seem to compete with poverty. When Le Nhu was young, there was no project to bring water to the fields, the land was salty. Part of the area was occupied to open roads. Villagers had to work hard to build roads and bridges. The fields were narrowed, the output per capita decreased, and taxes increased over time.

Le Nhu's family was one of the well-off families in the area and also had a tradition of showing compassion for the poor. His father, Le Hap, studied Chinese characters, failed the Tam Truong exams, then opened a school to teach, and was later recruited to work at the post office, sometimes holding the position of station chief, and when he was old, he became the village's first chief. His mother, Le Thi Pho, was the daughter of a well-off, disciplined farming family. They had many children. When he was young, Le Nhu studied Chinese characters with his eldest brother, then attended the French-Vietnamese school in Phu Dien, passing the primary school exam in 1921. Mr. Hap had also retired at this time, and the retirement allowance of a primary school employee was meager. Nhu's eldest brother was always sick and died at the age of 33. Le Nhu had to drop out of school, apply to a teacher training class, and after graduating, became a teaching assistant at a general school teaching the Kindergarten and Preparatory classes.

The Hoang Truong area where he taught had less fertile land than Yen Ly. His students were children in brown shirts and barefoot, and their daily meals consisted of more potatoes and vegetables than rice balls. Teacher Le Nhu wanted his students to understand why their hometown was poor, so he tried to prove it in his lectures. However, before their young minds could absorb his ideas, the secret police had already heard them.

The thing is, at that time in Nghe An there was the Phuc Viet Association and in Guangzhou (China) there were Vietnamese patriots, headed by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, who established the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association. Both advocated expelling the French colonialists, regaining independence for the nation, and building a people's democratic state.

At the same time, Phan Boi Chau was taken to Hanoi by the French colonialists in Hangzhou (China), sentenced to life imprisonment and exiled to Hue. A year later, Phan Chu Trinh returned from France and died in Saigon. News of these great patriots increased the hatred of the enemy and the desire to rise up and fight of the people, especially in places where the Dong Du and Duy Tan movements had developed strongly, such as Nghe An, where Van Phan and Hoang Truong were also hot spots.

Local revolutionary organizations immediately launched a movement to mourn Phan Chu Trinh and demand the removal of Phan Boi Chau's sentence. In the countryside as well as where Le Nhu taught, the movement grew very strong and was widely supported by the masses. Le Nhu was closely monitored, and then the school principal asked him to write a resignation letter.

Having nothing to do at home, he opened a tutoring class to teach a few children, essentially as a place for communication and activities. Vo Mai, a native of Van Phan village, had just returned from Guangzhou. Mai went there to attend a training class opened by the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association, where leader Nguyen Ai Quoc was the direct instructor. Now that he was back, Vo Mai was assigned by his superiors to be the liaison to organize the Youth Party cell in the Hoang Truong - Yen Ly area. On the basis of that mass movement, Vo Mai's work met with many favorable conditions and soon had results. Le Nhu was elected to the provisional Executive Committee, in charge of the organization and communication work of this Youth Party cell.

In the fall of 1929, after the first branch of the Indochinese Communist Party was established in Hanoi, Tran Van Cung, who had attended the training course in Guangzhou and was also a founder of the Indochinese Communist Party in Hanoi, contacted Vo Mai to establish a Party branch here, also consisting of young people from the two communes of Van Phan - Hoang Truong. Le Nhu was admitted to this branch. In March 1930, the Indochinese Communist Party branch in Van Phan - Hoang Truong was transformed into the branch of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Le Nhu was officially recognized as a member of the Communist Party from then on.

A month later, Le Nhu was arrested by the French colonialists and imprisoned at Vinh Prison. He was not released until early 1934. In 1936, while working for the birth of the Democratic Front in his hometown, he was re-arrested by the enemy, imprisoned at Phu Dien Prison and then taken to Vinh, and imprisoned for a total of nearly 5 months. In 1937, after the Party was restored, he was elected to the provisional Executive Committee of Dien Chau Palace Party Committee, in charge of the public movement. He directly mobilized donations to help the Palace's Democratic Women's Association buy a number of wide-width fabric weaving looms located at the Phu Dien intersection and in Yen Ly to serve as a liaison for the movement and to raise funds for the organization. At the same time, the Executive Committee of the Indochinese Democratic United Front in the Palace also organized to help the women with a number of spring stalls, selling peace fans, freedom cakes, and loving jams... to propagate the Party's struggle policy during that period.

On March 22, 1937, Le Nhu participated in the Mass Management Group to welcome Goda, the French Government's envoy to inspect the situation in Indochina when he visited the Dien Palace infirmary. From then on, more public activities were organized. Along with the establishment of the Education Promotion Association, Dien Chau Palace opened two private schools. Le Nhu was also a key cadre in charge of campaigning against the imperialist war and defending Indochina under the Party's direction. That was a long time to be outside and to work as much for the Party as Le Nhu had since he joined the Party. In early 1940, Le Nhu was captured by the enemy and sent to camps in Dak Lay, Dak To, Kon Tum province, and then to Buon Ma Thuot. He was not released until July 1945.

In August 1945, Le Nhu was appointed as the Secretary of the secret Viet Minh of Van Phan General and was in the leadership of the uprising to seize power and then the provisional People's Committee of Dien Chau Prefecture. In April 1946, he was elected Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Dien Chau Government.

From the days when he was a teacher, through many secret activities, many dangerous periods of imprisonment, being released from prison and then rushing back into activities, until becoming the Chairman of the revolutionary government of a province, Le Nhu always maintained a resilient and exemplary spirit, striving with the highest efforts to contribute as much as possible to the revolution, so he was loved by friends, comrades, and trusted by superiors.

After a month as Chairman of Dien Chau district, Le Nhu was appointed as a member of the Central Financial Inspectorate. In October 1947, he was again appointed as Chairman of the Viet Minh and Vice Chairman of Lien Viet in Nghe An province. From July 1949 to 1960, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, and from 1949 to June 1954, he held the position of Chairman of the Provincial Administrative Resistance Committee. From August 1954 to June 1956, he was in the Nghe An Provincial Land Reform Committee and directly directed the work in Anh Son district (Nghe An) and Thach Ha, Can Loc (Ha Tinh). Because he was judged to have not yet classified enough landlords as prescribed by the higher-level Land Reform Committee and because his family was classified as belonging to another exploitative element in his hometown, he had to go to work for a while.

In December 1955, he was elected to the Inter-Zone IV Fatherland Front Committee. In April 1956, he held the position of Chairman of the Nghe An Provincial Fatherland Front Committee. In December 1971, he was elected to the position of member of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and continued to hold the position of Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee and Chairman of the Nghe An Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Association until 1974. From then until the merger of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, he was still elected to the Provincial Fatherland Front Executive Committee as an advisor.

Since 1974, as a retired cadre, Mr. Le Nhu has returned to his residence in Kenh Bac block, Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city with a simple life, simple manners, close to everyone. There was a time when he took on the position of cell committee member of the block's Party cell. When he was nearly 80 years old, many days he still rode his bicycle to attend meetings in the ward and city. There was also a time when he also took on the position of Head of the Elders' Group of the block and took care of all work. Le Nhu had only just finished primary school in Chinese and French, but he still studied and improved himself every day, so he was relatively fluent in both of these foreign languages. During his time working at the Central Inspectorate, when necessary, he interrogated a number of captured French prisoners, making them respect his communication skills. At a very old age, he still maintained his previous daily lifestyle well.

With such virtue and dedication, Mr. Le Nhu was awarded by the Party and State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front:

- First Class Medal of Resistance Against France
- First Class Medal of Resistance Against America
- First Class Independence Medal
Along with many other noble Medals and Badges

In his final years, he and his wife, Le Thi Bien, lived with their children and grandchildren in a low, three-room tiled house with wooden pillars and cork-plastered walls. The most valuable furniture in the house was an old rosewood sofa set that the Provincial People's Committee Office had given him when he retired. There, he breathed his last on August 8, 1985.

Chu Trong Huyen