Nghe Tinh Soviet - the flame that shines forever with the country's mountains and rivers

Fight for the desire for independence and freedom

At the end of the 19th century, our nation was colonized by French colonialists, our people had to endure the situation of "a neck and two yokes", living in misery and suffering, groaning under the shackles of feudal colonialism. Class contradictions and national contradictions in our country became increasingly profound. In that context, the Communist Party of Vietnam was born like a torch illuminating the revolutionary path; completely liberating the leadership line of "the revolutionary path, and implementing revolutionary methods". And this was also the condition for our Party to undertake the historical mission of leading the Vietnamese revolution, placing the Vietnamese revolution in the orbit of the proletarian revolution and becoming a part of the world revolution.

Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement 90 years ago in Nghe An hometown. Historical photo

Under the leadership of the Party, the mass struggle movement broke out strongly with an increasingly large scale. The successive struggles of workers, peasants and working people against colonialism and feudalism took place widely throughout the country, quickly developing into a revolutionary high tide in 1930-1931 with the peak being the Nghe-Tinh Soviet, opening the way for the national democratic revolution organized and led by the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Nghe Tinh is a land with a rich cultural history, the people have a tradition of patriotism, resilience, and indomitability in the fight against foreign invaders. Vinh - Ben Thuy is one of the industrial centers of the country, with a working class that develops in both quantity and quality, so the Nghe An Party Committee and the Ha Tinh Party Committee were soon established to lead the revolutionary movement. This is the prerequisite condition for the struggle movement of the masses in Nghe Tinh to develop into the peak of the revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931.

On December 9, 1961, returning to his hometown for the second time, Uncle Ho took a photo with soldiers of the 30-31 movement, photo Historical documents

Under the leadership of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, on the occasion of International Labor Day, May 1, 1930, workers of the Match Factory, Ben Thuy Sawmill, and thousands of farmers in the neighboring areas of Vinh-Ben Thuy loudly demonstrated to show their power, waving high the red hammer and sickle flag, raising slogans demanding higher wages, shorter working hours, tax reduction, and fighting against political terrorism. This was the first time that workers and farmers stood side by side in the struggle against the enemy, opening the Nghe-Tinh Soviet movement.

On that strong development, on August 1, 1930, a general strike broke out among all workers in the Vinh-Ben Thuy industrial zone. The people of Can Loc and Ha Tinh marched to the district office to fight; on August 30, about 3,000 farmers from Nam Dan destroyed the district office and released political prisoners. On September 1, about 20,000 farmers from Thanh Chuong marched to burn the district office, released political prisoners, and punished evil reactionaries, marking a new era - a period of fierce struggle "for democracy and national independence". After that, many farmers' struggles took place in the form of armed self-defense demonstrations in all localities of Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

In particular, on September 12, 1930, more than 8,000 Hung Nguyen farmers marched to the district capital to demand, shouting slogans against imperialism, colonialism and feudalism. The French colonialists were barbaric, using planes to bomb the demonstrations, killing and injuring hundreds of people. Not faltering before the enemy's bombs, the struggle movement of the Nghe-Tinh people grew stronger and spread to many localities, developing into an armed struggle, paralyzing and disintegrating the imperialist and feudal government systems in many places. Faced with the collapse of the enemy government, the Party cells and the Red Peasants' Associations proactively established, operating and managing all aspects of political and social life in the countryside and performing the tasks of the people's government in the form of the Soviet, implementing many progressive and legitimate policies for the people.

The Red Guards in Hoa Quan - Dong So - Nghe An during the Nghe - Tinh Soviet movement 1930 - 1931. Photo archive

The Nghe-Tinh Soviet Movement became a strong source of encouragement for the workers and peasants throughout the country to rise up and fight. Many struggles broke out in the provinces of Thai Binh, Ha Nam, Quang Tri, and Quang Ngai.

Faced with the seething atmosphere of the revolutionary climax and the blazing Soviet flame, the French colonialists and their henchmen increased their repressive forces and carried out an extremely brutal white terror, drowning our people's struggles in a sea of ​​blood. Many Party bases were repressed, many Party members and the masses were arrested, imprisoned, and killed, and many villages were destroyed and burned down. Therefore, the revolutionary climax of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe-Tinh Soviet, only existed for a short time and temporarily subsided at the end of 1931. However, the image of the red hammer and sickle flag along with a new-style government truly controlled by the people remained deeply engraved in the minds of the masses, a symbol of revolutionary heroism and the aspiration for independence and freedom, fueling our people's determination to carry out the revolution to the end.

Never old lesson about the power of national solidarity

Over the past nine decades since the Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement broke out, our Party has concluded that thanks to the solidarity and steadfastness of the people, the Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement struck an immortal blow that terrified the French Colonialists. Although in this bloody struggle, many sons of Nghe An fell, it was a glorious fall for the nation to rise up.

Nghe Tinh Soviet Monument. Photo: Archive

90 years have passed, the ups and downs of history have never overshadowed the fighting spirit of the people of Nghe An and Ha Tinh at that time. It can be said in other words, the revolutionary climax of 1930-1931, especially the Nghe-Tinh Soviet movement, was a major historical event in the history of the Vietnamese revolution under the leadership of the Party.

The Nghe-Tinh Soviet was the first revolutionary movement of the worker-peasant masses after the birth of our Party, marking a fundamental shift from spontaneous struggle to conscious struggle of the Vietnamese workers' movement; affirming the correctness of the Vietnamese people's choice of the revolutionary path - "To save the country and liberate the nation, there is no other way than the proletarian revolutionary path and using revolutionary violence"; affirming the revolutionary leadership capacity of the working class and its vanguard Party.

Compared to other forms of Soviets in world history: the Paris Commune in 1871 (which only existed for 72 days), the Guangzhou Commune in 1927, the Russian Soviet in 1905, the Bavarian and German Soviets in 1919... The Nghe-Tinh Soviet existed for 7 months and, although still in its infancy, left good marks of the first worker-peasant state, unprecedented in history, responding to the burning desire for independence and freedom of the enslaved people.

Vo Liet Communal House in Vo Liet Commune (Thanh Chuong) is also the place that marked many typical historical events in the Nghe-Tinh Soviet Movement (1930-1931). In 1940, Vo Liet Communal House witnessed the restoration of the Vo Liet Party Cell. In 1945, this was one of the gathering points for the masses to fight for power and the workplace of the revolutionary government. Photo courtesy of Huy Thu

Assessing the great historical significance of the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: “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 forged the forces for the later victorious August Revolution.” Meanwhile, former General Secretary Le Duan affirmed: “Without the earth-shaking class struggles of 1930-1931, in which workers and peasants unleashed their extraordinary revolutionary energy, there would have been no such movement in 1936-1939.”

At the meeting on April 14, 1931, the 11th Plenary Session of the Executive Committee of the Communist International decided to recognize the Indochinese Communist Party as an independent branch under the Communist International. That event marked a great turning point for our Party on the path of leading the people to fight for national independence and socialism, contributing to the common victory of the world revolution. This result proved that the revolutionary high tide of 1930-1931, culminating in the Nghe-Tinh Soviet, was truly the first rehearsal of our people under the leadership of the Party, preparing for the victory of the August Revolution in 1945.

The 1930-1931 high tide, culminating in the Nghe-Tinh Soviet, left a great lesson about the Party's power to attract and gather a large number of people from all walks of life through correct guidelines, policies, and slogans of struggle, meeting the people's burning aspirations. From there, we can draw a valuable historical lesson: whenever the working people feel their own benefits in the policies, strategies, and concrete actions of the leading class, they will actively and voluntarily participate and respond. And it was our Party from the very beginning that helped the people feel their own fundamental and urgent benefits through correct policies and slogans such as gaining independence from slavery, taking land and factories into the hands of workers and peasants, and implementing the first basic democratic and civil rights, thereby arousing and promoting the revolutionary motivation among the people.

Today, in the cause of comprehensive national renovation, implementing the strategy of building and defending the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam, perfecting guidelines, policies, and mechanisms in accordance with the development trend of the times and the aspirations and practical and legitimate interests of the people to form a driving force and combined strength for the cause of renovation is an urgent and great task of our Party and State. The Communist Party of Vietnam promotes noble values, identifies great national unity as both a goal and a top task, a red thread running through the Party's revolutionary line: "Great national unity is a strategic line of the Vietnamese revolution, a great driving force and resource to build and defend the Fatherland. Strengthening the great national unity bloc on the basis of the alliance of the working class with the peasantry and the intelligentsia led by the Party". The lesson of the strength of national solidarity and the worker-peasant alliance in the Nghe-Tinh Soviet movement is forever the flame of Vietnam's strength in the new era, and it is being applied by the Party, Government, State and people of Vietnam in the current fight against "Covid-19".