Comrade Le Van Huan (1876-1929): A shining example of chivalry

Orphaned at the age of 2, Huan was brought up by his mother in his maternal hometown, Dong Thai village, Viet Yen Ha commune (now Tung Anh commune).

In 1885, responding to the Can Vuong edict, Phan Dinh Phung raised the flag of uprising right in his hometown. Dong Thai village was attacked by the French, Mrs. Dai had to take her children to Huong Son district, Thanh Chuong district, Nam Dan district (Nghe An)... Huan's studies were interrupted, but thanks to his intelligence, at the age of 18, he went to practice at distant schools and was still known as a good student. During this period, Le Van Huan began to get acquainted with seniors such as Phan Boi Chau in Nam Dan district and Dang Thai Than in Nghi Loc district. The two men went from teacher and student to comrades in the Dong Du movement and their patriotic thoughts had a direct influence on Le Van Huan.

In 1906, the year of Binh Ngo, when Phan Boi Chau had gone abroad and was in Japan, Le Van Huan took the Huong exam at Nghe school, passed with the highest score, and from then on was known as Mr. Giai Huan.

In 1907, Giai Huan went to Hue to take the Hoi exam but failed. His contemporaries believed that he did not do it on purpose because, like Phan Boi Chau, he took the exam to gain fame and prestige for easier activities, not to establish himself.

"The lowest way to make a living is through literature"but !

A friend who took the same regional exam last year, somewhat understood Le Van Huan, so he gave him a couplet:

"You are my brother, you were born before me, you made friends with me, and you also enlightened me;
The fragrance of the school is familiar to all, knowing your talent, knowing your learning, but not knowing your ambition.
(He was born before me, socialized before me, and became enlightened before me;
At school, he made friends, knew his talent, knew his learning ability, but did not know his ambition.

After the Royal examination, Le Van Huan stayed in Hue for a while and became acquainted with some famous patriots in the Central region such as Tran Quy Cap and Huynh Thuc Khang. A year later, Tran Quy Cap played a key role in the Duy Tan movement in Quang Nam (1908) and was executed by the French colonialists. Huynh Thuc Khang and Le Van Huan later met many times.

Le Van Huan's patriotic thoughts were partly absorbed from his friends, and partly influenced by his teacher, Mr. Dong Khe Nguyen Thuc Tu, a native of Dong Chu village, Nghi Loc district, a famous monk in Nghe Tinh for his talent and personality. When he passed away (in 1917), his excellent student, Phan Boi Chau, who was working abroad, composed an epitaph with the sentence: "Kinh su di dac, nhan su nan tam" (A teacher of books is easy to find, a teacher of people is hard to find).

Returning from Hue, Le Van Huan actively participated in the Duy Tan Association. He began to popularize Phan Boi Chau's songs "A te a" and "Hai ngoai huyet thu" in his hometown, encouraging patriotism among scholars and people. Later, he, along with Dang Nguyen Can and Ngo Duc Ke in the "minh xa" faction (publicly active section), opened "Trieu Duong trading store" in Vinh, both to trade and promote domestic goods, raise funds and serve as a contact point for the Association. Le Van Huan also opened Mong Hanh store in Tro market - Duc Tho, specializing in silk trading for the same purpose.

In 1908, the “tax collection” movement broke out in Nam-Ngai and quickly spread to Nghe-Tinh. In Ha-Tinh, the movement arose throughout the province, so strongly that the French authorities were afraid and suppressed it fiercely. Two Confucian scholars, Nguyen Hang Chi (Can Loc district) and Trinh Khac Lap (Nghi Xuan district), were the outstanding leaders, and were both arrested and killed. On this occasion, the French ordered the arrest of a series of patriots and key members of the Duy Tan Association, including Ngo Duc Ke, Dang Van Ba, Dang Nguyen Can and Le Van Huan, and exiled them to Con Dao.

The patriots on the island considered this “hell on earth” a “natural school”, while Le Van Huan considered it a “heroic forest”. In the poem “Ky mau than” (To mother) he wrote:

“…There is an island in the Southeast,
"Close proximity to heroes..."
Translated by Huynh Thuc Khang:
“…In the Southeast there is an island,
A forest of heroes gathered…”

Here, he discussed with some enthusiastic comrades about preparing to organize a revolutionary party, named Phuc Viet.

…After 9 years of exile, in August 1917, Le Van Huan was released and placed under house arrest in his hometown. He worked as a pharmacist, taught, secretly propagated patriotism through poetry and secretly made connections with a number of like-minded people.

At this time, in Trung Le, some Confucian scholars who had participated in or supported the Duy Tan movement showed signs of discouragement. One day, “two Con Lon uncles and four retired uncles” sat drinking together and wrote a poem expressing their discouragement, with the concluding line:

“…The country is nothing to you, little children,
We just write poems with wine.

Le Van Huan immediately responded:

“…Four seas of brothers, who knows,
"We share the same burden, we drink from the same gourd."

Around 1924-1925, he went to Vinh to contact a number of patriotic young intellectuals, including teachers at the National School, then went to Hanoi to meet Ton Quang Phiet, who was then a student at the Pedagogical College, to discuss the establishment of a new revolutionary organization.

In 1925, on the occasion of the French National Day on July 14, Le Van Huan, Ton Quang Phiet, Tran Dinh Thanh, Ngo Duc Dien and a number of others gathered at Quyet Mountain (Ben Thuy) and decided to establish the Phuc Viet Association - the name that had been discussed in Con Dao. Le Van Huan was the number one member of the Association. At the end of that year, Le Duy Diem, a young member, was sent abroad by the Association to contact Vietnamese patriots to expand the Association's scope of activities.

In the country, especially in Nghe Tinh, the Phuc Viet Association developed quite widely and operated quite vigorously. Its members actively spread the ideas of “unity” and “patriotism” among the people. The Association established transformed mass organizations, expanded the movement and organized trade, handicrafts, plowing camps, etc. to increase financial resources and serve as a place of communication. The Association distributed leaflets protesting the French conviction of Phan Boi Chau, which received support from many places. Taking advantage of this, the French colonialists launched a relentless search for the Association’s leaders. At the suggestion of Le Van Huan, to avoid unnecessary losses, the Phuc Viet Association changed its name to Hung Nam and sent Tran Phu to China to meet with the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Youth Association to discuss coordination of activities.

At this time, with a populist policy, the French government established the Central Vietnam House of Representatives. Taking advantage of this policy, prestigious patriots ran for election, hoping to fight openly and legally. Huynh Thuc Khang was appointed as the House Director, and Le Van Huan was also elected as a delegate. But soon, seeing that the House of Representatives was only a puppet organization, due to disagreements with the Resident-in-Chief Fries in a meeting in September 1929, Huynh Thuc Khang announced his resignation as House Director, and Le Van Huan and many others withdrew from the House of Representatives.

To facilitate the unification of patriotic forces, the Hung Nam Association changed its name to the Vietnam Revolutionary Party, then the Vietnam Revolutionary Comrades Association, and discussed merging with the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association, organized by Nguyen Ai Quoc. However, due to disagreements among some leaders of the two associations, the merger failed.

On July 14, 1928, the Vietnam Revolutionary Comrades met in Hue and decided to reform into the Tan Viet Revolutionary Party. The headquarters was moved from Vinh to Hue.

Since the founding of the Phuc Viet Association until now, Le Van Huan has remained a staunch activist. Especially despite his advanced age, he has always supported new things and the young generation, which is not easy for contemporary Confucian scholars.

Dinh Que, a fellow villager, said: “When the young people asked for his opinion on changing the name to Tan Viet, Le Van Huan said: “We are the old generation, only enthusiastic, but we don’t understand much about the revolutionary movement’s policies and methods. You are the new scholars, understanding the world situation, you must consider and study thoroughly, whichever ideology is good, whichever policy can guarantee success, then work together, I agree with it all. I can only help you with two things: one is money, I will mobilize people to donate, two is if there is anyone you disagree with, I will speak for you. I am a sincere person, have a reputation, people listen to what I say, that’s all.” His enthusiastic and honest words were very welcomed by the young people” (According to Nguyen Dinh Chuyen’s memoirs).

In parallel with the Revolutionary Youth Association, the Tan Viet Party was organized widely in many places. Particularly in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, the lowland districts all built "major organizations" (district party committees). Later, most of the Tan Viet Party members became the first nucleus to build communist party cells.

During this time, Le Van Huan was in charge of the Nghe Tinh Inter-provincial Department. Despite his old age, he always followed the movement closely, actively participated in activities, and took care of the propaganda work and finances of the Association.

He translated the books "Capitalism" and "The Three Heroes of Great Interest" from Chinese into Vietnamese with simple, easy-to-understand text, then selected appropriate passages close to reality to include in the training program for members.

In September 1929, when a member of the Vietnam Nationalist Party assassinated a Frenchman who specialized in recruiting plantation workers, Ba Danh, the French government cracked down on Vietnamese revolutionary organizations. Most of the Tan Viet Party's bases were also exposed, and key cadres were arrested. Knowing that the situation could not escape the enemy's net, Le Van Huan arranged to hand over all the work and funds of the Association to Le Tiem, a native of Bui Xa, Duc Tho district, a member of the Tan Viet Nghe Tinh Inter-Provincial Committee.

Sure enough, on September 13, 1929, the Duc Tho district chief sent soldiers to his house to invite him to the prefecture to keep him, then the next morning took him to Vinh. The secret police car and the Ha Tinh guards were waiting, handcuffed him and took him to a closed room to hold serious criminals. When he was escorted from his house, he told everyone that this time he might not return to his hometown, nor to Con Lon. He must have had a plan. The colonial prison regime for political prisoners was very harsh. He went on a hunger strike to protest. The Ha Tinh deputy envoy went to search the prison, he denounced the harsh prison policy, which was not in line with the spirit of a country that called itself free and civilized like France. The deputy envoy replied: "Once in prison, everyone is the same." He continued his hunger strike until 7 days later (September 20, 1929) when he passed away, at the age of 53. The French took his body to the hospital for autopsy and testing, then sent him back to the village, forcing his relatives to come and claim it for burial in Trung Le commune. Currently, his grave has been exhumed and moved to Duc Tho district cemetery.

Le Van Huan was a shining example of chivalry. His death shocked public opinion in the country.

Friends near and far sent letters of condolence and parallel sentences to mourn him. Phan Boi Chau, who was under house arrest in Hue, wrote a couplet of parallel sentences:

"You are so different, what can I do? The wind and rain make a sound, and the sky makes me drunk;
When you become a man, you will also be immortal. The universe is limitless, the moon is always round.

Rough translation:

“You are easy, I am difficult, the wind and rain are whispering, the sky is still clear;
He is a man, she is not bad, the sky and earth are vast, the moon is always full.

Dinh Chi