Visit the Memorial House of Comrade Phan Dang Luu
(Baonghean.vn) - I visited the Memorial House of Comrade Phan Dang Luu in Hoa Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District on a warm, sunny April morning. Neighbors were trimming hedges, planting 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 lilies, 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 and was invited by the royal court to become an official twice, but he refused..When King Ham Nghi issued the Can Vuong Edict, he responded to the uprising of Nguyen Xuan On and Le Doan Nha. Phan Dang Luu's father also followed the uprising against the French of Chu Trac.
Phan Dang Luu and his house
As a child, Phan Dang Luu studied Chinese characters 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 enlighten the Vietnamese people, but to transform the youth to serve their ruling policies.
After graduating from primary school, Phan Dang Luu entered the Practical Agricultural School in Tuyen Quang, worked as an intern at the Bac Ky Agricultural Department, Thanh Ba Silkworm Farm (Phu Tho) and then returned to the 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 the 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 techniques to produce good eggs were guaranteed. Phan Dang Luu fought against the director's dishonest actions. Gu-be, the director of the Central Agricultural Department, was angry with his defensive attitude. He frankly answered them: My actions have only one purpose: to protect the interests 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 Canh-ky-na 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 Canh-ky-na research station, requesting Phan Dang Luu to be withdrawn from the Canh-ky-na station, because his coming here would not only be useless but also harmful. On May 30, 1927, the Resident of Central Vietnam decided to dismiss Phan Dang Luu because he often opposed and had continuous undisciplined behavior towards the French. Upon receiving the decision, Phan Dang Luu 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 Thanh Nien 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 on July 28, 1933, sentencing Phan Dang Luu to an additional 5 years in prison for false anonymous denunciation and malicious intent." (*) In 1936, the movement demanding freedom and democracy and demanding the release of political prisoners arose in France and Indochina, forcing the French colonialists 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 and implement the Party's policy, he participated in establishing the Indochina Preparatory Committee and held a congress in Hue to collect aspirations to discuss with the delegation. He led the delegation to present 32 demands to 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 and changed 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 its political mission, 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 the Southern uprising. 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 7:00 p.m. on November 22, 1940. The next morning, the uprising broke out according to the pre-arranged plan of the Southern Regional Party Committee.(**) The uprising was drowned in a sea of 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 shooting range, he still maintained his communist spirit.
For Yen Thanh district, Phan Dang Luu's influence on the revolutionary movement of his hometown 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 current generation to strive to complete the cause of innovation in the rice land of Yen Thanh, rich in humanistic traditions.
(**)-Nghe An, communist examples. Volume 1 (Nghe An Party History Department) Nghe An Publishing House 1998 page 104.
Phan Xuan Thanh
