And on June 5, 1911, on the ship Amiral Latouche Tréville from Nha Rong Port, Nguyen Tat Thanh decided to leave his beloved Fatherland to find a way to save the country.
Nha Rong Wharf in the early 20th century. From here, on June 5, 1911, the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh left the country on the ship Admiral Latouche-Tréville to fulfill his ambition of liberating the country from the yoke of colonialism and imperialism. Photo: VNA archive
With the new name Van Ba, working as a kitchen assistant on the Amiral Latouche Tréville, Nguyen Tat Thanh left as a laborer, starting his career with nothing. During his 30-year journey to find a way to save the country and liberate the nation, Nguyen Tat Thanh-Nguyen Ai Quoc traveled through 3 oceans, 4 continents, 30 countries, hundreds of cities, overcame countless hardships and thorns and did many jobs to make a living, with a burning determination: "Freedom for my compatriots, independence for my Fatherland".
On that 30-year journey, there were so many stories about Uncle Ho and his revolutionary life that today, every time we read or listen to him again, we understand and love him infinitely more and are deeply grateful for his immense contributions to the great and glorious revolutionary cause of our Party and our People... "Far away, flying high" is one of thousands of stories about Uncle Ho's revolutionary life.
The story goes that: The great October Revolution had an incredibly magical appeal. Ever since hearing the news of the success of the Socialist Revolution, Uncle Ho immediately had the intention of going to Russia, although at that time he did not fully understand the extremely great significance of that revolution. At that time, going to Russia was a very difficult and dangerous task. After the Red Army had repelled the armies of 14 imperialist countries and suppressed the reactionaries in the country, Russia was surrounded by the imperialist countries.
There were people like the French poet Raymond Lophevoro and some other workers who secretly ventured to Russia, but on their way back, their ship sank and they died in the Baltic Sea. Many people who got close to Russia were captured and killed by international reactionaries. There was no danger. But how to solve the difficulties? First of all, how to get from Paris (France) to the border without being caught by the French secret police? How to get through Germany and Poland?
Being close to the workers on a regular basis, Uncle Ho knew that they were very generous. Some examples: At a rally in Paris to raise funds to help Russia, which was suffering from famine and disease, the speakers were Madame Sovorin, Comrade Casanh and Comrade Cutuyrie. When they heard about the fundraiser, all of them, as one, poured out whatever they had in their pockets and donated it all, no one counted whether they had donated a little or a lot. That was a very noble expression of international proletarian sympathy!
An old worker named N. who worked at the power plant often accompanied Uncle Ho to rallies. One day, when they were walking home from a meeting, comrade N. whispered to Uncle Ho: “Hey, man! I’ve worked all my life and saved a little money. I have no wife or children, when I die, I’ll leave that money to help you make a revolution.”
Now, if he wanted to go to Russia, the only way was to ask the workers for help. With that in mind, Uncle Ho sought to get acquainted with the train drivers. After many days of searching and exploring, he went to meet comrade X. who worked at the locomotive of the Paris-Berlin train. Hearing that Uncle Ho wanted to go to Russia, comrade X. happily agreed to help him right away. Comrade X. said: “Okay, we will hide you in a place on the train, even the secret police won’t be able to find you! But our train only goes to Berlin.” He narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then comrade X. continued: “No problem! I will discuss with the German train workers to help you.”
So the first step was successful. But there were still many difficulties. How could we abandon the secret police who followed us day and night like shadows? The German workers could help, but would the Polish workers be willing to help us? And who would be in charge of the Paria newspaper? The Asian and African comrades helped with the articles, some with the money to make the newspaper, but we needed someone who did not have a busy family like us to take charge of everything, such as collecting money, urging on articles, secretly sending the newspaper to the colonies, selling the newspaper for propaganda right in Paris... It was truly "a jumble of a hundred things in my heart"!
After a few months of wandering around, the plan was not yet completed, when one day Uncle Ho was called by the Central Committee of the French Communist Party and told: "Comrade, you will be attending the Fifth Congress of the Communist International, as a representative of the colonial people." That good news made Uncle extremely happy! The secret police had a firm grasp of the "rules" of Uncle Ho's activities. In the morning he went to work. In the afternoon he went to the library. In the evening he attended a meeting. At night he went home to sleep. Uncle Ho also had a firm grasp of their "rules" of activities: They only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that Uncle Ho had not gone anywhere, they returned home to enjoy family time.
That day, with both hands in his pockets, Uncle Ho leisurely boarded the bus to attend a rally in the suburbs of Paris. About half an hour later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there and gave him a first-class train ticket (because first class was only for the most luxurious and least suspicious passengers) and a small suitcase... Uncle Ho tried to calm down, but only when the train passed the French-German border did his heart stop pounding. Surely the secret police in charge of guarding Uncle Ho would be "rewarded" by the colonial minister! And the minister himself was so angry that he "got cancer". When passing through the German territory occupied by the French, he saw the colonial scenes again. To the Germans, the French militarists here were also arrogant and domineering, just like the French in our country... A few French wounded soldiers got into the wrong first-class carriage and were immediately chased off the train by a French officer waving his cane...
Although it had been six years since the war, Berlin was still very hungry (perhaps it was the same elsewhere). Everyone looked pale and haggard. The inflation of paper money was terrible, one price in the morning and another in the evening. If you used paper money to buy a newspaper, the paper money would pile up and become larger than the newspaper! Uncle Ho's entire fortune was only less than 1,000 francs, but when calculated in German currency, he had become a millionaire...
President Ho Chi Minh is the beloved leader of the working class and the Vietnamese people, an outstanding cultural figure, an outstanding soldier of the international communist and workers' movement. His entire life and career are shining examples for the entire Party and people to follow. "Flying away" is one of the stories told about Uncle Ho when he was working abroad. Through this, we see that, despite difficulties, hardships, being surrounded, followed, and stalked by secret agents, with determination to overcome, Uncle Ho found every way to overcome them to fly away, to the cradle of the Russian October Revolution, with Lenin to find a way to save the country.
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(*) According to "Telling stories while walking" by author T.Lan, National Political Publishing House - Truth, 2015.
Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/xa-chay-cao-bay-post326545.html
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