August Revolution in Tay Ninh - Events and witnesses: Southern people's hearts and the revolutionary torrent (Part 1)

Exactly 80 years ago, along with the whole country, the people of Tay Ninh and Long An rose up to seize power. Before analyzing this event, it should be noted that in 1940, the Southern uprising broke out and failed. Although it failed, the uprising proved the accuracy and correctness of the Resolution of the 6th Central Conference, temporarily putting aside the land slogan, actively preparing forces to switch to armed struggle to seize revolutionary power for the people. The Southern uprising proved that in order to overthrow the colonial and imperialist rule to gain independence and freedom for the nation, it is necessary to have a revolutionary uprising, armed violence of the entire people, not just a simple political struggle. The 8th Central Conference in Pac Bo (Cao Bang) in 1941 stated that the Southern uprising "was the gunshots signaling a nationwide uprising, a step of armed struggle of the peoples in an Indochinese country". Historical reality happened exactly like that. Let's look back at historical events through documents and witnesses.

Lesson 1: Southern people's hearts and the revolutionary torrent

In the autumn days 80 years ago, the August Revolution (August Revolution) in 1945 overthrew the colonial-feudal-fascist regime, seized power for the Vietnamese people, broke out and quickly spread throughout the three regions, at that time called "three regions": North, Central and South, and within just one week (August 19 to August 25, 1945) was completely victorious throughout our country.

Trung Pagoda, Ba Den Mountain - where the Conference of 20 communes was held to implement the policy of long-term resistance in 1945

Simultaneous uprising

Official documents and historical records confirm that, at that time, in the South, uprisings took place in all provinces almost simultaneously with Saigon city, where under the direct leadership and direction of the Southern Regional Party Committee - the Communist Party of Vietnam , they seized power and established the Provisional Administrative Committee of the South with Professor Tran Van Giau (hometown in Tan An province) as Chairman. The uprisings in the Southern provinces all had a common characteristic of using violence by the masses of all classes, under the leadership of the Party, to seize power on their own. This basic force took advantage of the opportunity from the general situation, especially after the Japanese coup against the French that occurred 5 months ago, to mobilize and stir up a large and strong mass movement.

In fact, the uprisings that led to the August Revolution in the South were directed by the Regional Party Committee to pilot the uprising to gain experience in Tan An province (later Long An , now Tay Ninh) to "probe" the reaction of the Japanese army before spreading to the whole region. After the Southern Uprising in 1940, Tan An, like many other provinces, suffered heavy losses in the revolutionary movement. It was not until mid-1944 that it was overcome and stabilized. The provisional provincial Party Committee was established. Before the August Revolution, the provincial Party Committee had 19 branches. After March 9, 1945, Japan staged a coup against France, and the Party Committee hastily prepared for the uprising to seize power. The provisional provincial Party Committee firmly controlled the Vanguard Youth Organization and through the public and enthusiastic activities of this force, gathered the masses.

Chosen by the Regional Party Committee as a pilot, Tan An province quickly prepared carefully. By the afternoon of August 21, 1945, the uprising broke out and quickly won victory. Due to the good work of military propaganda, there was no reaction from the enemy government. The Japanese troops stationed here also maintained a neutral attitude. On August 23, a demonstration was held in the town, thousands of farmers from the communes came to participate with the people to celebrate the victory of the uprising, at the same time showing the spirit of the revolution.

In the old Tay Ninh province, under the leadership and organization of the Provincial Party Committee, the uprising took place and won on August 25. Up to now, after 80 years, there are no witnesses to the historical event of the August Revolution. However, on the occasions of the 60th and 70th anniversaries of the August Revolution, the authors of this article had the opportunity to meet and collect documents from two pre-uprising cadres who were present at the Tay Ninh provincial office on August 25, 1945. The witnesses included two old men with the last name Lam: Lam Phuoc Ton and Lam Quang Vinh. Interestingly, the two men had the same last name, the same second name, the same pre-uprising cadres, and were both present at the Tay Ninh provincial office on the first day of the revolution to seize power, but were completely unrelated to each other.

Mr. Hai Ton was from Bac Lieu, had a high school diploma, and worked for the French in Cambodia; and Mr. Hai Vinh was from Tay Ninh, in An Hoa, Trang Bang. Mr. Hai Ton said that he was enlightened about the revolution by Mr. Tran Van Dau, a leader of the Viet Minh in Tay Ninh, and was brought into the organization of the "Com Quan Party group" in late 1944, when he worked at the French Mimot rubber plantation in Cambodia but often went to the Binh Linh and Cha La rubber plantations because his wife was there.

National unity

Mr. Tu Dau's house - where the Conference to establish the Movement Committee to seize power in 1945 in Tay Ninh was held

After joining the Viet Minh, Mr. Hai Ton moved to Quan Com, located at the intersection of Binh Minh and Tua Hai, Binh Minh ward today. This was the revolutionary base of the Provincial Party Committee, led by Mr. Huynh Van Thanh (Muoi Thanh), a progressive journalist in Saigon, who had to temporarily take refuge in Tay Ninh after the Nam Ky uprising. Dan Quyen Newspaper, the predecessor of Tay Ninh Newspaper published during the French resistance in 1946, was named by him, along with Mr. Pham Tung (Nam Tung), Tran Van Manh (Hai Manh), Tran Van Dau, Tran Kim Tan, Nguyen Cong Bang, etc. These people were all party members, living in many other places, only occasionally meeting at Quan Com under the name of "tree drivers" to meet with forest ranger Pham Tung to ask for "inspection stamps" on forest products. "Permanently residing" at Quan Com were Mr. Hai Khoanh and his wife, the restaurant owner, and Mr. Hai Ton, Bay Mi, Bay Cua, as employees of the restaurant.

At the end of 1944, Mr. Muoi Thanh contacted the Southern Regional Party Committee, learned about the action program of the Viet Minh and established the Tay Ninh Viet Minh Front with the content of activities to gather and unite the entire people against colonialism and fascism to liberate the nation. Before the August Revolution, they often met to coordinate and mobilize workers of Thanh Dien Sugar Company, workers of rubber plantations, civil servants, and intellectuals of provincial agencies of the French colonial government. When the Japanese fascists staged a coup against the French in March 1945, in Tay Ninh, the Japanese army only took control of security and military affairs, while the French government apparatus remained intact. At that time, the provincial Viet Minh leaders mobilized Mr. Lam Thai Hoa, a very influential person with the French government and army in Tay Ninh, to join forces with the French Republican Guards in "San-da citadel" (now the Provincial Military Command) and the Vanguard Youth force. On August 23, Mr. Muoi Thanh chaired a conference to establish the Uprising Leadership Committee at Mr. Tu Dau's house in Tay Ninh town, assigning tasks to each member to organize and mobilize mass forces to participate in the rally at Tay Ninh Stadium on August 25.

Early in the morning of August 25, forces from all directions around the town marched into the stadium. The wings of the communes in the "Five Dragons" Ben Cau area, traveling by the Vam Co Dong river, gathered at Thanh Dien Sugar Company from the afternoon of August 24, commanded by Mr. Hai Manh. The wings of Vinh hamlet and Quan Com were organized by Mr. Tu Dau; the wings of Truong Hoa, actually Binh Linh and Cha La because these localities were then hamlets in Truong Hoa commune, were guided by Mr. Lam Phuoc Ton. The wings of the Republican Guard - Vanguard Youth were commanded by Mr. Lam Thai Hoa and Lam Quang Vinh.

Regarding this rally, the book French Colonial Regime in Cochinchina by researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu (Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House reprinted in 2018) wrote: “In Tay Ninh, before the day of taking power, the Uprising Committee sent people to contact the Japanese military commanders to persuade them to maintain a neutral attitude, and to persuade the police guarding the Provincial Governor's Palace to side with the revolution. On the 23rd, two cadres were sent to Saigon to ask for instructions from the Regional Party Committee, one stayed to attend the rally, the other returned immediately to summon cadres, party members and key members to organize a rally on the morning of the 25th to support the Viet Minh Front to come out publicly. The rally received an unprecedented response from the masses at the stadium. After listening to the cadres' speech, the group marched through all the streets of the town to demonstrate their strength and chant slogans in support of the revolution. At 2:00 p.m., they marched into the Provincial Governor's Palace, forcing him to peacefully hand over power to the revolution. absorb, not bleed

(to be continued)

Nguyen Tan Hung - Dong Viet Thang

Lesson 2: "Our position is that Vietnam is completely independent"

Source: https://baolongan.vn/cach-mang-thang-tam-o-tay-ninh-su-kien-va-nhan-chung-long-dan-nam-bo-va-dong-thac-cach-mang-bai-1--a201470.html