PV: The Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement, although it only lasted for a short time, had profound historical value. What were its unique characteristics and what was the greatest value it brought to the August Revolution of 1945 as well as to the later revolutionary stages of Vietnam?
Ms. Le Thu Hien:In 1930, immediately after its founding, our Party led the people to rise up and carry out a large-scale revolution across the country, the peak of which was the Nghe Tinh Soviet.
The Nghe Tinh Soviet was a major event, a brilliant milestone in the golden history of the Vietnamese nation. For the first time in history, the people of Nghe Tinh, mainly workers and peasants, under the leadership of the Party rose up to fight against the colonial and feudal rule, causing their ruling apparatus to shake and paralyze, and establishing the Soviet government - the first worker-peasant state model in Southeast Asia.
Although the Nghe Tinh Soviet only existed for a short time, it had great significance, leaving a good impression of the first worker-peasant state ever in history, responding to the burning desire for independence and freedom of the enslaved people.
The greatest value that the Nghe Tinh Soviet left for the August Revolution of 1945 as well as the Vietnamese revolution was to affirm in practice the leadership and leadership capacity of the working class through its vanguard, the Communist Party; to affirm the strength of the national unity bloc capable of overthrowing the domination of colonialists and feudal lackeys.
The Nghe Tinh Soviet was the first general rehearsal of the national democratic revolution in Vietnam, because through this movement, the basic issues of strategic guidelines and revolutionary methods were tested. The Party built a solid worker-peasant alliance, making them see the strength in the revolutionary cause; trained a team of cadres who were steadfast through fierce challenges, ready to fight to the death with the enemy.
We can affirm the significance of the Nghe Tinh Soviet through President Ho Chi Minh's assessment: "Although the French imperialists suppressed that movement in a sea of blood, the Nghe Tinh Soviet demonstrated the heroic spirit and revolutionary capacity of the Vietnamese working people. Although the movement failed, it trained the forces for the later victorious August Revolution."
PV: The archives of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum have become a red address, a place where many families who are relatives of people who contributed to the revolution in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces place their trust in finding information. Could you share some special stories related to this content?
Ms. Le Thu Hien:We are very pleased that the Museum's archives have welcomed and served many people who came to find information and documents about their relatives who were active during the Nghe Tinh Soviet period and were arrested and imprisoned by the enemy. The Museum's confirmation letter is one of the important documents serving as a basis for resolving the regime and policies for revolutionary activists according to Instruction No. 30-HD/BTCTW dated August 12, 2009 of the Central Organizing Committee.
During these times of providing these confirmation documents, we encountered many special cases with extremely touching stories. One of them is the story of Mr. Tran Tuyen, from Can Loc district, Ha Tinh province, who came to the archives of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum with the desire to find information about his father who had participated in the revolution and was imprisoned by the enemy. With the dedication of the museum staff, fortunately, among the more than 6,000 documents, his file had a photo attached. When receiving these documents, hugging his father's photo, Mr. Tran Tuyen cried and said emotionally: "Some of my brothers and sisters, some of whom are over 70 years old, have just met their father's face. Thank you to the Museum for letting me see my father's face."
Another story is about Mr. Dau Cong Dan, who was from Dien Phong commune, Dien Chau district. He came to the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum with a faint hope of finding information about his father, Mr. Dau Du. During the revolutionary period and even after that, Mr. Dau Du's family and descendants were all considered to be powerful landlords. Mr. Dau Du was wrongly accused, but his descendants did not know where to find information to prove it. When he received the result from the Museum staff that his father's records had been found, Mr. Dan could not hold back his tears. From the Museum's archives, Mr. Dan learned more about his father's activities. In 1928-1929, Mr. Dau Du actively participated in revolutionary activities in Dien Phong commune. He was closely monitored by French secret police, and had to change his name to Dau Gia to continue his activities. He was assigned by the Party organization to work in many places, from Dien Chau district to Do Luong, including having to compete for the position of Bang Ta Tong Ly Trai district in Dien Chau district to protect revolutionary cadres. Only when he found his records at the Museum was Mr. Dau Du cleared of his name and recognized as a revolutionary activist before January 1, 1945. And there are many, many other touching stories related to other pre-uprising revolutionary cadres whose records and documents have been kept by the Museum...
PV: One of the important tasks of the museum is to collect documents and artifacts. For the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum, what are the difficulties and advantages of this work when the events and witnesses took place nearly a century ago? Could you share some meaningful artifacts that the museum staff have collected in recent times?
Ms. Le Thu Hien:Artifacts are the language of the museum, the basis for all professional and technical activities of the museum. Without museum artifacts, there would be no museum, no museum exhibitions and no other museum activities. Therefore, collecting artifacts is a basic professional activity that plays a particularly important role in all museum activities. Collecting artifacts is both a prerequisite and a continuous step for all museum activities, closely linked with other professional activities to form a unified entity for museum activities.
Regarding the unit's collection activities, we received enthusiastic support from Party Committee and People's Committee officials in localities when assigning officials to take the collection team to each family of the Party members - martyrs of 1930-1931. Relatives of the comrades' families also cooperated in providing information to the collection team. However, currently, the collection work is facing certain difficulties. Firstly, the historical witnesses who participated in the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement are no longer there, only the descendants remain, so sometimes the understanding of stories and events related to the lives of the elders is not much. Secondly, the loss and damage of artifacts due to the impact of objective factors such as natural disasters, floods, time, etc. Thirdly, the urbanization process, local customs and practices, the penetration of private collectors, etc. also have a significant impact on the existence of artifacts.
However, with responsibility and enthusiasm, the museum collectors have also tried their best to spend a lot of time on fieldwork, visiting the homes of each relative of the party members - martyrs of 1930-1931 to be able to collect stories, documents, and artifacts related to the life and activities of the Nghe Tinh Soviet soldiers to preserve, maintain and promote educational values.
During our field trips, we have encountered many meaningful artifacts and stories. During our trip in June 2020, we met Mr. Nguyen Xuan Chien, grandson of comrade Nguyen Xuan Hien in Lien Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, and collected an artifact, a rattan suitcase. In the 1930s, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hien participated in the struggle movement in Yen Thanh and was captured by the enemy and imprisoned in Buon Ma Thuot Prison. In prison, despite being tortured, beaten, and chained, he always maintained his integrity and strong fighting spirit, not succumbing to the enemy. To improve his life in prison, comrade Nguyen Xuan Hien used his skillful hands to create many household items. The rattan suitcase was one of the items he made during his time in Buon Ma Thuot Prison and has been with him throughout his life.
Previously, in 2018, by chance we received information about the artifacts of comrade Nguyen Thi Minh Khai - a typical senior cadre of the Party. After that, the museum sent a group of cadres to collect them to Tan An village, Duc Tung commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province, the maternal hometown of comrade Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. Here, the group met the family of Mr. Dao Cuong, who was a neighbor of the family of Mrs. Dau Thi Thu (comrade Minh Khai's mother). After many trips and persuasion, the group successfully collected the wooden mirror used by comrade Nguyen Thi Minh Khai during her time in her maternal hometown of Duc Tung commune, Duc Tho district. This is a valuable artifact that we plan to display during the upcoming renovation of the exhibition house.
PV: The Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum is one of the first three museums established in the country and was honored to have Uncle Ho sign the preface. What is the significance of the museum's opening in preserving and promoting the values of the Nghe Tinh Soviet and how is the propaganda work carried out to make this place a "red address" for revolutionary tradition education?
Ms. Le Thu Hien:Stemming from the need to protect and promote the values of the Nghe Tinh Soviets as well as to commemorate the great contributions of the soldiers who fought and sacrificed heroically for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, in January 1960, the Party Central Committee and the Government directed the Ministry of Culture and Information to decide to establish the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum on the very land where this event took place. This is one of the three earliest museums in the Vietnamese museum system.
After 3 years of construction, on September 12, 1963, the Museum opened to visitors and a few months later, on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the Party's founding (February 3, 1964), President Ho Chi Minh signed the Preface for the Museum. That spoke to the stature and significance of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum for the cause of educating revolutionary traditions for all classes of people, especially the young generation. The birth of the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum in that context had an extremely great significance. This is a place to preserve, display and introduce the values of the Nghe Tinh Soviet heritage, helping the public understand more about a heroic revolutionary period of our ancestors in the early days of the Party.
In recent years, the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum has paid special attention to propaganda and education work to make this place a red address, spreading more widely the Nghe Tinh Soviet tradition to all classes of people, especially the young generation. In addition to improving the quality of explanation and service for visitors, we also organize many activities such as mobile exhibitions, cultural exchanges, thematic talks in localities and schools in the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, organizing experiential education programs for high school students at the museum. These activities are considered to be very suitable for the educational programs of the Education and Training sector and the Culture sector. In addition, we also promote propaganda on social networking sites such as the website with 6.6 million visits, the fanpage with over 3,000 followers; propaganda in newspapers and magazines of the Central and local levels, etc.
PV: Thank you for joining the chat!