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Hồ Chí Minh

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Hồ Chí Minh
Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh
Born
Nguyễn Sinh Cung

(1890-05-19)May 19, 1890
Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina
DiedSeptember 2, 1969(1969-09-02) (aged 79)
Hanoi, North Vietnam
Cause of deathHeart failure
NationalityVietnamese
Political orientationMarxism-Leninism
Ho Chi Minh Thought

Ho Chi Minh[a] (Chữ quốc ngữ: Hồ Chí Minh; Hanzi: 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a Vietnamese revolutionary. He is colloquially known in Vietnam as Uncle Ho. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.[1] Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards colonialism and imperialism. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered Marxism–Leninism.

Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the Soviet Union in 1923, joined the Communist International in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in China from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the Communist Party of Indochina, and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the French colonialists and Japanese imperialism.

Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the Communist Party of Vietnam) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the war against the United States and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in Hanoi on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.

Life[edit | edit source]

Early life in Vietnam[edit | edit source]

Kim Liên - family[edit | edit source]

In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).

He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. [2]

He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach Confucianism and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. [3]

Huế and the death of his mother[edit | edit source]

In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. [4]

In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a Phó bảng "Junior Doctor".[5] As per Confucian tradition, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành.

Young student[edit | edit source]

By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. [6]

In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the French Revolution.[7] Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a cours préparatoire at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. [8]

By the time he was attending the higher cours élémentaire, protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the Peasants. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.[9] Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher cours moyen at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of Nguyễn Sinh Côn. [10] He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.[11]

Teacher[edit | edit source]

In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the cours supérieur at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. [12] He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). [13]

In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused[14] so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. [15]

Activism abroad[edit | edit source]

First voyage[edit | edit source]

Ho Chi Minh, under the name of Văn Ba, had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:

“For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood”. [7]

Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots”. [16]

The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore[17], Colombo[18], through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id[19] and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911[20] after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran Proletariat. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. [21][22]

Second voyage[edit | edit source]

In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre[23], Dunkerque[24], and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the école Coloniale located in Paris but was refused. [25]

Third voyage[edit | edit source]

Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. [26]

Voyages of 1912[edit | edit source]

Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe[27] to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion[28][29]. The sufferings of Colonialism were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.[30]

In America[edit | edit source]

In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the United States of America under the new name of Paul Tất Thành.[31] He worked multiple jobs in New York City[32] and at in Massachusetts. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for England in early 1913.

In England[edit | edit source]

Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.[33] Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned Esperanto between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.[34]

Political life in France[edit | edit source]

At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the First World War. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the Liberal revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. [35] He also joined the Groupe des Patriotes Annamites (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.

1918 - Patriot[edit | edit source]

According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the Overseas Workers' Association and was hiding in a rented room on la rue de Charonne. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.[36]

Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:

“I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.” [37]

1919 - Socialist Party[edit | edit source]

In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - Nguyễn Ái Quốc. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau, etc.[38] By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, Nguyễn Quang Lâm, pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.

From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.[39]

Claims of the Annamite people[edit | edit source]

On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement[39], Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President Woodrow Wilson. [40]

Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:

(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.

(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.

(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.

(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.

(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.

(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.

(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.

(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.

The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.

In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:

Nguyễn Ái Quốc

The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.[41] He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.

Journalist career[edit | edit source]

In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial exposing the terrors of colonialism.[42] Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.[43][44]

In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.[45][46] Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.[47] Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.[48]He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in Nogent to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.[49] Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the Sainte Geneviève library and the Jardin du Luxembourg.[50]

In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the Communist International and to defend the Russian revolution, which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.

Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.

Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the Russian SFSR. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French Proletariat to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.[51]

1920 - First Vietnamese Communist[edit | edit source]

On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the French Geographical Society to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.[52] 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the Camarades de la 14c jeunesse on the topic of the social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam, at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. [53]

On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of Bolshevism in Asia at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.[53]

On International Workers' Day, Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in le Kremlin - Bicêtre. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."[53]

On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article Theses on the national and colonial questions, published in the periodical of L'Humanité.[54] In this document, Lenin criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the Second International on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the proletariat of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of imperialism and feudalism. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.[55] In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in Cochin Hospital.[56]

On Christmas in the city of Tours (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.[57]

A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.[58]

At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".

Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"[59][60]

On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied: "I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." [61]

The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).[61] From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a communist. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.

At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.[62]

1921 - Active Propagandist[edit | edit source]

Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to Cochin Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. [63]

During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.[64] [65] [66] On May 28, or Bloody Week (semaine sanglante), Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the Paris Commune. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.[67]

Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations. On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its First Congress in Marseille. Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "Communism and the colonies".[68]

Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on Ami du peuple was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: "The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative." [69]

1922 - Le Paria[edit | edit source]

In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies, created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.[70]

On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination. [71]

The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.[72] [73]

An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "Achievements of civilization" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. [74]

Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.[75][76]

1923 - Soviet Union[edit | edit source]

On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:

"The proletariat of the world will never accept this!"[77] He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "modus operandi". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.[78]

Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.[79] He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.[80] On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.[81] With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. [82]

On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Tailei. [83]

1924[edit | edit source]

In January 1924, the news of Lenin's death shocked Ho Chi Minh.[84][85] At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto[86][87] and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy[88].

In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the 4th Congress of the Communist Youth International. Two days later, he attended the 5th Congress of the Communist International as an advisory delegate.[89] The Congress met at the Andreyevsky Palace in the Kremlin with the participation of 504 delegates from 49 Communist and Workers' Parties representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.[90] It was here in Moscow that he attended the Communist University of the Toilers of the East.[91]

Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.[92] Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.[93]

On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou as a interpreter for the Soviet delegation headed by Mikhail Borodin towards the Nationalist KMT. After the martyrdom of Phạm Hồng Thái in unsuccessfully assissinating the Gouvernor-General of French Indochina - Martial Merlin in Guangzhou 5 months earlier, there was intense revolutionary activity in the city.[94]

1925 - Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League[edit | edit source]

Under the new name of Lý Thụy, and the mandate to promote the working class movement in Indochina, he opened a political training class. Under the Communist Youth Corps, most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. To further strengthen the movement, he contacted Vietnamese exile groups in several southern Chinese cities.[95] Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including China, Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, he founded the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.[96]

Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the "Special Political Training Class". He took the name Vương. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the Communist Party of China such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc. Each training session would last about 3 to 4 months. The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China. [97]

On June 21 1925, the Revolutionary Youth League was officially established. The headquarters of the League was located in a rented three-story house on 13 Wen Ming Street, in downtown Guangzhou. The League published pamphlets and periodicals (in Vietnamese) on different political subjects. The Road to Revolution (Đường Kách Mệnh), a training manual for the League's members, was a collection of Ho Chi Minh's lecture notes for the training course.[98]

Vietnamese independence movement[edit | edit source]

In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including China, Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.[96] In the same year, he traveled to Moscow to speak in support of national liberation at the 5th Congress of the Comintern.[89]

In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.

In 1935, the first National Congress of CPV was established.[96]

In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".[99]

Anti-French Resistance War[edit | edit source]

Resistance War against the United States[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Dennis Duncanson (1957). Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932 (p. 85). The China Quarterly.
  2. ↑ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An, additional text.
  3. ↑ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16
  4. ↑ liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế
  5. ↑ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)
  6. ↑ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1
    “At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.”

    Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1923-12-23). Ogoniok no.39.
  8. ↑ "Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế".
  9. ↑
    “On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.”

    "DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)" (2018-02-26).
  10. ↑
    “Hue, August 7, 1908.
    Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.
    Signed
    Chouquet.”

    Chouquet (1908). Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam. Centre des archives d'Outre-mer.
  11. ↑ Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh.
  12. ↑ Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh
  13. ↑ Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh.
  14. ↑
    ““One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.
    After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:

    "Le, do you love our country?"
    I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"
    "Can you keep a secret?"
    "Yeah sure?".

    “I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.

    I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:

    “Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.

    Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.

    A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.””

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). The stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 5). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  15. ↑
    “Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:

    "Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.
    One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he
    asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.
    We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a
    worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"
    I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said:
    "Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."

    The ship's owner asked,
    "What can you do?"
    "I can do anything!" – The young man replied.
    "Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."
    The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.
    Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.
    After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.
    The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:
    "Ba, bring the water!"
    "Ba, clean the pans!"
    "Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"

    All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.

    Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). The stories of President Ho's life and work (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (pp. 6 - 7). [PDF] Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  16. ↑ no.4062 (1965-05-18). Báo Nhân dân (People's daily).
  17. ↑ The travel log of the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville dated June 8th, 1911
  18. ↑ The travel log of the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville dated June 14th, 1911
  19. ↑ The travel log of the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville dated June 30th, 1911
  20. ↑ The travel log of the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville dated July 6th, 1911
  21. ↑
    “There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised:

    "Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of president Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 8). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  22. ↑
    “Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:
    "Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of president Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 8). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  23. ↑ The travel log of the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville dated July 15th, 1911
  24. ↑ The travel log of the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville dated August 26th, 1911
  25. ↑
    “[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]”

    Nguyễn Tất Thành (1911). Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School.
  26. ↑ D'Hémery (1992). Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil (p. 132).
  27. ↑
    “Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.

    I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."
    Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.
    "Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb
    of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba.
    When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.
    [...]
    Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually."
    Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.

    We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"
    Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (pp. 9 - 12). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  28. ↑
    “The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 12). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  29. ↑
    “We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 13). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  30. ↑
    “When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:

    “The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.””

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 13). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  31. ↑ Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated: “In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.”
  32. ↑
    “When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]
    I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.”

    David Delingher (1966). Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh.
  33. ↑
    “Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.

    Mr. Nam recounted:

    "Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]

    "Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.

    "Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.
    "I came here alone to learn English."
    "That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."
    "You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."
    "Where did you work before coming here?"

    "On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (pp. 14 - 16). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  34. ↑ "Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto" (2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00). China Radio International.
  35. ↑
    “After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.

    The gist of it was:

    "I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"”

    Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 1' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 18). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  36. ↑ Michele Zecchini (1970). Le caligraphe (p. 26). Planète-action magazine.
  37. ↑ National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947
  38. ↑ Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 2' (Vietnamese: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch) (p. 39). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 French Secret Service Files
  40. ↑ To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference. Your Excellency, On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect. On behalf of the Annamese Patriots Nguyen Ai Quoc Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris
  41. ↑ L'Humanité on August 16, 1919
  42. ↑
    “In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and
    arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1919). The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2, vol. I. Foreign Language Press. ISBN 978-2-491182-94-6
  43. ↑
    “During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea
    and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.

    As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.

    And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1919). Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4, vol. I: 'Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds'. Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-2-491182-94-6
  44. ↑ Documents of the French Archives
  45. ↑ Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364
  46. ↑
    “To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina
    Dear Mr. Governor-General!

    Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.

    Please accept them.
    Nguyen Ai Quoc
    6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris”

    Thu Trang (2002). Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923) (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)) (p. 420). Hanoi: National Political Publishing House.
  47. ↑ Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364
  48. ↑
    “Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1919). Letter to Outrey, vol. I. Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-2-491182-94-6
  49. ↑ When Pierre Pasquier asked: “How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”, Nguyen Ai Quoc replied: “Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.” He added: “After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?” Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1
  50. ↑ Report of the spy Jean
  51. ↑ Jacques Duclos (1970). Paris Days: 'Uncle Ho in France' (p. 28). Hanoi: Literature Publishing House.
  52. ↑ Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 Report of the spy Jean
  54. ↑
    “Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.

    Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.”

    Vladimir Lenin (1920). Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International. Moscow: Progress Publishers. [MIA]
  55. ↑
    “There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”

    [...]

    At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.”

    Ho Chi Minh (1960). The Path Which Led Me To Leninism. Foreign Languages Publishing House.
  56. ↑ Lê Thị Kinh (2003). Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới, vol. II. Đà Nẵng.
  57. ↑ Jacque Duclos (1970). Paris Days: 'Uncle Ho in France' (p. 31). Hanoi: Literature Publishing House.
  58. ↑ Trần Dân Tiên (1976). Stories of president Ho's life and work (p. 43). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  59. ↑ Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.
  60. ↑ Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1920). Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International, vol. I. Foreign Language Press.
  61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 L'Humanité, December 30, 1920
  62. ↑ Jean Lacouture (1967). Hồ Chí Minh (pp. 17 - 21). Paris: Seuil.
  63. ↑ Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364
  64. ↑
    “[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.
    In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay
    the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always
    start looking in the tombs of dead kings.”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1921). The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8, vol. I. Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-2-491182-94-6
  65. ↑
    “Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd
    may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have
    stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at
    all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic
    poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less
    their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China
    or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get
    educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution
    and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are
    remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie
    are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous
    progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their
    masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1921). Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April, vol. I. Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-2-491182-94-6
  66. ↑
    ““The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The
    ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the
    poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood
    of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these
    sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.

    According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.

    Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1921). The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7 (p. 24). Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-2-491182-94-6
  67. ↑ Report of spy Deveder. Copy kept at Ho Chi Minh Museum
  68. ↑
    “1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature
    that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,
    because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political
    power by helping its consolidation.

    2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the
    dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw
    materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple
    beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above
    all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the
    principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1921). Communism and the colonies (pp. 43 - 44).
  69. ↑ Evgeniy Kobelev (1983). Ho Chi Minh: 'The Communist' (pp. 123 - 124). Moscow: Youth Guard.
  70. ↑
    “Dear Comrades,

    You have received or will receive a copy of the Articles of Association of the Le Paria newspaper. This association, which is being established, will publish a newspaper of the name mentioned and will be a truly anticolonial publication.

    There is no need to emphasize the urgency of this publication. Our friends in the native home are beginning to feel the need to change the status quo in the colonies. [...]”

    Ho Chi Minh (1995). Ho Chi Minh Collected Works (pp. 488 - 489). Hanoi: National Politics.
  71. ↑ Le Paria no.1 April 1, 1922
  72. ↑ Documents kept at the Overseas Archives Center (CAOM) in Aix en Provence, SLOTFOM File 15/1.
  73. ↑ Report No. 396.SR, dated May 30, 1922 of the Paris Police Department. Document kept at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.
  74. ↑
    “Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?

    Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to
    claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.
    They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!

    The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The
    enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”

    A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to
    shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.

    A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s
    voice:

    “Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.”

    Nguyễn Ái Quốc (1922). The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc (pp. 61 - 65).
  75. ↑ Xiao San (1982). Xiao San's memoirs.
  76. ↑ Hoàng Tranh (1987). Ho Chi Minh and China (pp. 6 - 7). Beijing: Liberation Army.
  77. ↑ Thu Trang (2002). Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923) (p. 306). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  78. ↑ T.Lan (1976). Telling stories on the road (p. 18). Hanoi: Sự Thật Publishers.
  79. ↑
    “Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
    Travel permit No. 1829

    Bearer: CHEN VANG
    Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.
    Occupation: photographer.
    Going to: Russia.
    This permit is valid only while traveling.
    Berlin, June 16, 1923

    Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.

    Signed:
    Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.”

    Stephan Bratman Bradovsky. (1923). Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR.
  80. ↑
    “PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923
    VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS

    Name: CHEN VANG
    Where: from abroad
    Purpose: to go home
    Time: indefinitely

    This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923
    Berlin, 18-6-1923

    Chief of Police”

    German Police (1923). Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit.
  81. ↑
    “ENTRY VISA NO. 361370

    Mr. CHEN VANG
    Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
    Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.
    Purpose of trip: Professional work.
    Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month

    Berlin, June 25, 1923
    Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany”

    Soviet Border Guards (1923). Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR.
  82. ↑ Trần Dân Tiên (1975). Stories of President Ho's life and work: 'Section 2' (p. 56).
  83. ↑ Hoàng Tranh (1987). Ho Chi Minh and China. Beijing: Liberation Army.
  84. ↑
    “We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.”

    Ho Chi Minh (1995). Ho Chi Minh's collected works (p. 474).
  85. ↑ "From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is Lenin..." Pravda January 27, 1924
  86. ↑ L'Unità on March 15, 1924
  87. ↑ Ho Chi Minh (1995). Ho Chi Minh collected works, vol. 1. Hanoi.
  88. ↑ S.R. Mohandas (1950). Ho Chi Minh, the patriot (pp. 2 - 3). Bombay.
  89. ↑ 89.0 89.1 "Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement" (2023-05-19). Workers World.
  90. ↑ Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32
  91. ↑ William J. Duiker (2000). Ho Chi Minh: A life. New York.
  92. ↑ Ho Chi Minh (1995). Ho Chi Minh: collected works (pp. 303 - 304). Hanoi.
  93. ↑ Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924 : "Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc needs to go to Guangzhou. The Eastern Bureau will cover the expenses."
  94. ↑ Đinh Xuân Lâm; Chương Thâu (2012). Patriotic revolutionary movement in the early 20th century (Vietnamese: Phong trào yêu nước cách mạng đầu thế kỷ XX) (p. 480). Hanoi: Labor Publishers.
  95. ↑ Alexander Woodside (1976). Community and revolution in modern Vietnam (p. 166). Houghton Mifflin.
  96. ↑ 96.0 96.1 96.2 Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira (2020). Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã. Anita Garibaldi. [LG]
  97. ↑ Various authors (1960). Uncle Ho (Vietnamese: Bác Hồ) (p. 95). Hanoi: Văn học Publishers.
  98. ↑
    “In 1925, while working underground in Guangxi (China), our nation's leader, Ho Chi Minh under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, selected several young Vietnamese patriots for training as cadres to be sent back to our homeland for revolutionary activity. The original writings he produced for these instruction courses were published in 1927 by the Propaganda Unit of one of the major revolutionary organizations then working toward the goals of revolution and liberation, the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.”

    Various (2018-11-5). "The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)" The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh).
  99. ↑ Vijay Prashad (2017). Red Star over the Third World: 'Preface' (p. 12). [PDF] New Delhi: LeftWord Books.

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”
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