Professor Tran Van Giau: The mark of a personality: Courage and character (Part 3)

Professor Tran Van Giau had a life full of glory and pride. During his revolutionary career, Professor, People's Teacher, Hero of Labor Tran Van Giau - former Secretary of the Southern Party Committee, former Chairman of the Southern Resistance Committee, used all his enthusiasm, strength, and intelligence to devote his whole life to the independence, freedom, and prosperous development of the country. Not only was he a veteran revolutionary and a great scientist, he was also a teacher of many generations of Vietnamese students and teachers.

Lesson 3: Courage and personality

Tran Van Giau is a veteran revolutionary who seems to have been present and devoted his whole life to the arduous and glorious journey of our Party in the struggle for national independence and nation building over the past nearly a century.

Comrade Tran Van Giau and the leaders of Tan An Provincial Party Committee - the first uprising site in the August Revolution in the South

Southern Resistance: A Historic Decision

The August Revolution succeeded, on September 2, 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born, but only nearly 3 weeks later, the French colonialists, hiding behind the British army, returned to launch a war to re-establish colonial rule in Vietnam. The people of the South were the brave pioneers who confronted the French invaders. Tran Van Giau stood at the forefront of that vanguard army...

What Tran Van Giau said on the day of “Independence Day” took place. Once again, Tran Van Giau’s bravery and will were demonstrated by “a historic decision” – the Day of Southern Resistance.

Faced with the French open war of aggression, on the morning of September 23, 1945, the Southern Regional Party Committee and the Southern Administrative Committee held an emergency meeting to discuss the implementation of the Central Party's resistance policy at No. 107 Cay Mai Street in Cho Lon (now Nguyen Trai Street). The conference analyzed the French colonialists' plots and aggressive actions, the British imperialists' complicity, and decided to establish the Southern Resistance Committee with Tran Van Giau as Chairman.

House number 269 Cay Mai street was the site of an emergency meeting convened by the Regional Party Committee. The conference unanimously agreed to establish the Southern Resistance Committee.

Two streams of opinion argued fiercely: One side argued that France had blatantly revealed its plot to re-invade our country, so we had to urgently call in troops and the people of Saigon and the South to stand up and fight back immediately to protect the country's independence, and at the same time report and request the Central Committee's orders. The other side proposed a truce, only a general strike, and a market strike, awaiting the Central Committee's orders.

Finally, the conference decided to simultaneously ask for the opinion of the Party Central Committee and President Ho to launch the People's Resistance War, "the generals at the border cannot wait for the king's order to fight the enemy when the enemy attacks across the border", if they do not fight back immediately, if they do not fight back immediately, the enemy will have time and conditions to expand their invasion, but they will never stop, they will lose land and revolutionary prestige. Of course, they will fight and negotiate as their ancestors did if they have the conditions. On the morning of September 23, 1945, Chairman of the Southern Resistance Committee Tran Van Giau sent an appeal: "All compatriots, old and young, men and women, take up arms and charge forward to repel the invaders! Dear soldiers, militiamen, and self-defense members! Hold your weapons in your hands, charge forward to repel the French colonialists, save the country. The resistance war has begun!". It was not only an order but also the determination of an entire nation that would never be enslaved again.

Appeal of the Southern Resistance Committee (Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Museum)

Following the situation closely, the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh regularly gave timely and close instructions to the resistance war in the South. On September 23, 1945, after receiving a telegram from the Southern Resistance Committee, President Ho Chi Minh urgently convened a Central Party Standing Committee meeting, approved the Southern Vietnam's determination to resist and sent a Central delegation to the South to join the Regional Party Committee in directing the resistance war. On September 26, 1945, through the Voice of Vietnam Radio , President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to the people of the South, affirming the determination to resist of the Party Central Committee, the Government and the people of the whole country:

Hey Southern compatriots!…

We will definitely win because we have the united force of the entire nation.

We will definitely win because our struggle is just…

Obviously, the decision of the Southern Regional Party Committee with Tran Van Giau as Secretary in the early morning of September 23, 1945 was the milestone of Autumn, the twenty-third day, the beginning of our nation's sacred resistance war, the event from which the South was honored as "The Fatherland's Bronze Citadel".

The outstanding student of President Ho Chi Minh

Portrait of Professor Tran Van Giau's life and career is worthy for future generations to study and follow.

Mentioning some events in some historical turning points of the nation shows Tran Van Giau's mettle. Through that, his personality is also revealed. However, there was a time when historians and many opinions from many different circles did not properly approach historical truth, causing many troubles and ups and downs in Tran Van Giau's life. However, mettle is here and personality is here... Talking about Tran Van Giau's personality, we cannot help but mention the virtue of loyalty. In addition to loyalty to family, to the only partner, to relatives, to homeland, it is also loyalty and perseverance with ideals, with the chosen path. Professor Tran Van Giau has thousands of pages of books written about patriotism, about the Party, about Uncle Ho, about the Communist International,...

Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Quoc Dung - former Director of the Regional Political Academy II, when researching Professor Tran Van Giau, said: "Tran Van Giau deserves to be an excellent student of President Ho Chi Minh. Here we do not dare to compare with Uncle Ho, but they are people who have been thoroughly educated in Marxism-Leninism with methodology and intelligence, so they are close to each other. That is the role of individuals in history."

Especially later when our Party launched the campaign "Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's moral example", despite his old age and weak health, Professor Tran Van Giau was still very interested and whoever came to visit, he always advised: "To learn from Uncle Ho, first of all, you must be an example, set an example, keep yourself good and clean".

Associate Professor, Doctor Phan Xuan Bien recalled: “Professor Giau was my teacher’s teacher. As someone fortunate enough to be close to the professor, my first impression was that he was a working man. Working seriously with all his heart, intelligence, conscience and responsibility. When the Faculty of History, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities - where Tran Van Giau was the first Dean, was awarded the title of Hero, he attended and expressed his wish to visit Uncle Ho once more. The reason he gave was that in the last days before his death, Uncle Ho asked: “Where is Uncle Giau now?”

After Uncle Ho passed away, the funeral organizing committee invited Professor Giau to Ba Dinh Hall, standing next to the coffin during the funeral. Professor Giau said: "Before he passed away, he remembered me, this time, because of his old age and weak health, it will be difficult to have the opportunity to go out again, I want to visit him one last time." That day, President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum was closed again, my friend who took him there said or asked the Management Board to open the door for the Professor to visit? He shook his head: "Don't go against the rules!". Then he reached the last limit allowed, the Professor suddenly knelt down to pay respect to Uncle Ho and shed tears... Admirable for a great personality!"./.

The most outstanding feature of Tran Van Giau's personality is that he is a harmonious blend of a patriotic soldier, a professional revolutionary, an exemplary teacher and a profound scholar. His personality and mettle are expressed through 80 years of activities, but perhaps the most prominent and clear are two historic decisions in the great historical year of the nation in 1945. Lenin once said: "Uprising is not a joke". There is only one revolutionary principle, what is important is how the organization applies it to historical conditions. The Southern Regional Party Committee, represented by Secretary Tran Van Giau, has applied it very creatively and wisely."

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Duc Cuong - President of Vietnam Historical Science Association

(to be continued)

Thanh Nga

Lesson 4: Returning to the place of departure

Source: https://baolongan.vn/giao-su-tran-van-giau-dau-an-mot-nhan-cach-ban-linh-va-nhan-cach-bai-3--a203489.html