Visit the Memorial House of Comrade Phan Dang Luu
(Baonghean.vn) - I visited the Phan Dang Luu Memorial House in Hoa Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District on a warm, sunny April morning. Neighbors were trimming hedges, cultivating trees, tending fish ponds... preparing to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of the revolutionary predecessor, member of the Central Committee of the Indochinese Communist Party.
The comrade's family house is simple with artifacts: a horizontal lacquered board, an antique tray, a wooden cabinet, a wooden chest for books and newspapers, a ceramic jar for rice, a teapot for water lily, a wooden bed... All of them represent the simple life of comrade Phan Dang Luu, a staunch revolutionary soldier.
Phan Dang Luu was born on May 5, 1902. His maternal grandfather passed the bachelor's exam. The royal court invited him to become an official twice, but he refused..When King Ham Nghi issued the Can Vuong Proclamation, he responded to the uprising of Nguyen Xuan On and Le Doan Nha. Phan Dang Luu's father also followed Chu Trac's anti-French uprising.
Phan Dang Luu and his house
As a child, Phan Dang Luu studied Chinese and took the regional exam at Nghe school but failed. He applied to study at Vinh primary school. Hearing the teachers discuss "French civilization", he realized that the French colonialists established the school not to civilize the Vietnamese people, but to transform the youth to serve their ruling policies.
After graduating from primary school, Phan Dang Luu took the entrance exam to the Agricultural Practice School in Tuyen Quang, worked as an intern at the Bac Ky Agricultural Department, Thanh Ba Silkworm Farm (Phu Tho) and then returned to Nghe An Agricultural Department. He contacted teachers in the Phuc Viet Association, actively participated in patriotic activities in Vinh and signed a petition demanding that the French colonialists release the patriotic scholar Phan Boi Chau. Seeing his revolutionary activities, in March 1926, the Agricultural Department transferred him to Dien Chau Silkworm Farm, then to the Silkworm Egg Production Farm in Binh Dinh. He fought with the French director, Parude, demanding that the silkworm eggs be tested and the technique guaranteed to produce good eggs. Phan Dang Luu fought against the director's dishonest actions. Gu-be, the director of the Central Agricultural Department, was angry at his defensive attitude. He frankly answered them: My actions have only one purpose: to protect the rights of my compatriots and to protect my honor, so I am the object of your hatred.
In April 1927, the Resident of Central Vietnam decided to transfer Anh to work at the Cinchona Station in Upper Dong Nai. Less than two months later, they received a report from Ru-lơ, deputy engineer of the Department of Agriculture, in charge of the Cinchona research station, requesting the withdrawal of Phan Đăng Lưu from the Cinchona station, so that his coming here would not only be useless but also harmful. On May 30, 1927, the Resident of Central Vietnam decided to dismiss Phan Đăng Lưu because of his constant opposition and continuous undisciplined behavior towards the French. Upon receiving the decision, Phan Đăng Lưu returned to Nghe An at a time when the Phuc Viet Association was shifting its activities to the direction of the Viet Association.
The Tan Viet headquarters sent Phan Dang Luu and Ha Huy Tap to Guangzhou to find out the attitude of the Youth Association headquarters on the issue of merging the two organizations. Due to the lack of contact, Phan Dang Luu had to return home in May 1929. When he returned to Hai Phong, he was captured by secret police and imprisoned in Vinh prison. The French colonialists and the feudal Southern Dynasty sentenced Phan Dang Luu and 60 Tan Viet party members to 3 years in prison and exiled them to Buon Me Thuot prison. Here, he and his fellow prisoners secretly published the wall newspaper "Doan De Tuan Bao", later renamed Buon Se Vich, to propagate and educate the brothers to unite and maintain the revolutionary spirit. In 1933, when some Nghe party members were released, Phan Dang Luu sent back to his hometown an article denouncing the harsh regime of the French colonial prison in Buon Me Thuot. The French colonialists pursued "Decision No. 860 - C approved by the Resident General, on July 28, 1933, sentencing Phan Dang Luu to an additional 5 years in prison for the crime of false anonymous denunciation and bad intentions."(*) In 1936, the movement for freedom and democracy and the release of political prisoners arose in France and Indochina, the French colonialists were forced to release a number of political prisoners, including Phan Dang Luu. In August 1936, Phan Dang Luu was appointed by the Party to the Provisional Executive Committee of the Central Region Party Committee, in charge of the public and legal struggle movement.
When the Goda delegation came to investigate the situation in Indochina, implementing the Party's policy, he participated in the establishment of the Indochina Preparatory Committee, a congress in Hue to collect aspirations to exchange with the delegation. He led the delegation to present 32 demands to Mr. Goda demanding freedom, food, clothing, and peace. As a true patriot, Phan Dang Luu stood up to run for election in the Central Vietnam House of Representatives. He and a number of intellectuals bought the name of the private newspaper Song Huong, changing it to "Song Huong tuc ban" - the newspaper of the revolutionaries. On June 19, 1937, Song Huong tuc ban was introduced to readers. After 4 months of serving political tasks, in October 1937, Song Huong tuc ban published its last issue and then closed down. After that, Phan Dang Luu chaired another newspaper of the Party.
In November 1939, comrade Phan Dang Luu was added to the Party Central Committee, directing the Southern movement. In July 1940, the Southern Regional Party Committee advocated an uprising in the South. He went to the North to attend the 7th Central Conference and reported to the Central Committee on the uprising policy. Realizing that the conditions were not yet ripe, the Party Central Committee decided to postpone the uprising and assigned Phan Dang Luu to return to convey the policy to the Southern Regional Party Committee.
Upon arriving in Saigon, he was arrested by secret police at 7 pm on November 22, 1940. The next morning, the uprising broke out according to the pre-determined plan of the Southern Regional Party Committee.(**) The uprising was drowned in blood. On March 3, 1941, the Saigon Military Court sentenced Phan Dang Luu to death and imprisoned him in a beheading cell.
During the days of imprisonment in the cell, until the last minute at the firing range, he still maintained his communist spirit.
For Yen Thanh district, Phan Dang Luu's influence on the revolutionary movement of his homeland was enormous. He was one of the first people to sow the seeds, preparing to establish the district Party Committee. His heroic sacrifice had the effect of educating and motivating his contemporaries and the present generation to strive to complete the cause of innovation in the rice land of Yen Thanh, rich in humanistic traditions.
(**)-Nghe An - communist role models. Volume 1 (Nghe An Party History Department) Nghe An Publishing House 1998 page 104.
Phan Xuan Thanh
