Painting by artist Hoang Tuan depicts the successful rally to seize power in Tan An on August 20, 1945 (Photo taken of the painting at the historical site of Tong Than House)
- Reporter (PV): Sir, many documents show that the Vanguard Youth force played a very special role in the August Revolution movement in the South, including Tay Ninh province. Could you share more about this?
Mr. Nguyen Tan Quoc: The Vanguard Youth is a special mass organization that was born during the Japanese coup against the French in Indochina. The Japanese Governor of Cochinchina, Minoda Fujio, and Ida - Acting Minister of Youth and Sports of Indochina at that time, advocated the establishment to gather the Vanguard Youth force from the central level to the villages and communes in order to control this force to serve their political purposes, but the Southern Regional Party Committee (Vanguard Regional Party Committee) "countered the plan", through famous intellectuals at that time such as Le Van Huan, doctor Pham Ngoc Thach, Nguyen Van Thu, Huynh Tan Phat, ... to establish the Vanguard Youth, an organization that took advantage of the public to gather and expand the youth force into a " political army" under the leadership of the Party.
The Vanguard Youth had a headquarters, uniforms, equipment, flags (yellow flag with red star), a choir (the song "Leng Dang" by Luu Huu Phuoc), was sponsored by Japan, and had great prestige. After its introduction to the People, the influence of the Vanguard Youth quickly spread, attracting many social sectors to participate in many military and martial arts training activities and social work.
In the South alone, the Vanguard Youth developed very strongly, including in Tay Ninh (including Tan An and Tay Ninh in the past). This was a force that had been “practiced” in discipline, organization and collective spirit, an extremely important factor when moving to the general uprising spirit.
In Tan An provincial capital (now Tay Ninh), a "Red Guard" (secret self-defense) team was also established to provide support when there was an opportunity to rise up and seize power. Thus, by June 1945, the Provincial Party Committee and the Tan An provincial capital Party Committee had built a reliable team for the revolution, both in terms of secret organization, mass base and public movement.
Thanks to careful preparation, the Vanguard Youth in Tan An and Tay Ninh in the past became the core force, coordinating with the masses and the Viet Minh to quickly seize power with little bloodshed.
Reconstruction model of the 3rd meeting of Tan An Provincial Party Committee at the end of September 1945 to prepare for resistance when the French colonialists returned, at the General's House Relic (Photo: Que Lam)
- Reporter: It is known that Tan An provincial capital (now Tay Ninh province) is one of the places where the first shots of uprising were fired in the South. Can you tell us more about this?
Mr. Nguyen Tan Quoc: The time of the successful uprising to seize power in Hanoi was August 19, in Hue it was August 23, and in Saigon - Gia Dinh and the Southern provinces it was commonly August 25. But in Tan An alone, on the afternoon of August 21, power was seized into the hands of the people.
On the night of August 20 and the morning of August 21, 1945, the Regional Party Committee held its second expanded conference at Cho Dem, deciding to conduct a pilot uprising in Tan An. The preparation time was the night of August 21 and the day of August 22 and 23, and comrade Nguyen Van Hoang was the one who received the order from the Regional Party Committee to direct the pilot uprising in his home province.
However, in the late afternoon of August 21, 1945, when comrade Nguyen Van Hoang had not yet returned to his locality, the provincial capital was filled with rumors that "Dang Tho rebels were rising in Go Cong, Tam Vu, Nhon Thanh Trung" causing panic and chaos among the people. Faced with this situation, the Tan An Provincial Party Committee wisely determined that the above possibility was not possible (because there were no Tho people, that is, Khmer people, here), and that the pro-Japanese counter-revolutionaries might have spread the rumor to "lure the tiger away from the mountain" of the Vanguard Youth force out of the provincial capital to seize control from the Japanese. From there, the Provincial Party Committee decided to take immediate action by immediately taking control of the provincial security force (we had an internal base in this force and had a firm grasp of the attitudes of our soldiers) and mobilizing the Vanguard Youth force to seize power before the reactionaries could act. By 4:00 p.m. of the same day, all offices, residences, barracks, treasuries, arsenals, factories, power plants, water plants, etc. were in the hands of the revolution.
At dawn on August 22, all classes of Tan An people excitedly gathered at the soccer field in front of the District Chief's Palace (now in front of the Provincial People's Committee) for the Tan An Provincial Provisional Administrative Committee, chaired by comrade Nguyen Van Trong, to introduce itself to the people and declare the victory of the revolution, with the government in the hands of the people.
- Reporter: Currently, what vestiges of the August Revolution movement does the province still preserve to educate traditions for today's generation, sir?
Mr. Nguyen Tan Quoc: In Tay Ninh today, there are still many relics considered historical "witnesses" of the August Revolution. A typical example is the Minh Xuan Duong pharmacy, an important secret base that was the "brain" of the province right "under the nose" of the enemy. This is where party members gathered to prepare for the uprising: handing out leaflets, preparing slogans, etc. After the successful uprising, the General Than house became the first public headquarters of the Provincial Party Committee. The current provincial People's Council headquarters used to be the headquarters of the National Self-Defense Force - the predecessor of the revolutionary police.
In addition, Hiep Ninh communal house and Thanh Dong communal house are both "red addresses" associated with the August Revolution in Tay Ninh. During the climax of the general uprising to seize power in August 1945, under the leadership of the Communist Party and Viet Minh Front organizations, the Vanguard Youth used Hiep Ninh communal house as a meeting and training base. On August 25, 1945, hundreds of armed Vanguard Youth gathered at Hiep Ninh communal house to support the masses in marching and demonstrating their power, marching to the center of the town, surrounding the Governor's Palace, occupying offices, forcing the Japanese and French authorities to surrender.
All the relics associated with the August Revolution in particular and the resistance war against foreign invaders in general serve as reminders for future generations to foster national pride as well as the responsibility to preserve the achievements of the revolution.
- Reporter: Thank you!
Moc Chau (implementation)
Source: https://baolongan.vn/thanh-nien-tien-phong-gop-phan-lam-nen-thang-loi-cach-mang-thang-tam-a198967.html
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