A cradle of patriotism and revolutionary tradition
Ninety-five years have passed, yet the blazing revolutionary spirit of the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement continues to burn brightly. Its ideals have been preserved, inherited and carried forward in today’s cause of national construction and defence.
The Nghe An–Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum serves as a centre of education in patriotism and the indomitable revolutionary tradition for generations, particularly the younger generation.
The Nghe Tinh Soviet movement is regarded as the peak of the revolutionary upsurge of 1930–1931. It was the first mass revolutionary movement of workers and peasants organised and led by the Communist Party of Viet Nam. The movement marked a decisive shift from spontaneous to conscious struggle, embodying courage, patriotism and a spirit of revolutionary offensives. It left behind profound lessons for the Vietnamese revolution.
Although brutally suppressed in bloodshed, with thousands of Party members and revolutionaries martyred, imprisoned or exiled, the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement yielded great achievements and invaluable historical lessons for the Party and the revolution.
Assessing its historic significance, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: “Although the French colonialists drowned the movement in a sea of blood, the Nghe Tinh Soviets demonstrated the heroic spirit and revolutionary capacity of the Vietnamese working people. The movement may have been defeated, but it forged the strength that later brought victory in the August Revolution.”
To keep the revolutionary flame of the Nghe Tinh Soviets alive in the hearts of the people of Nghe An and spread it across the nation and to international friends, on 15 January 1960, the Party Committee of the Ministry of Culture issued Decision No. 106-QD/VH establishing the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum under the direct leadership of the Party Committees and People’s Committees of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces.
The museum is considered a “red address” to honour the sacrifice of the Nghe Tinh Soviet revolutionaries for national independence and freedom, to celebrate the cultural heritage of the movement, and to serve the mission of revolutionary education.
Over more than 65 years of growth, the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum, today known as the Nghe An–Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum, has collected, preserved and displayed thousands of precious artefacts and documents related to the revolutionary movement of 1930–1931. Each year, it welcomes tens of thousands of visitors.
The Nghe Tinh Soviet movement remains a landmark in the history of Viet Nam’s revolution under Party leadership. The flag used by the people of Phu Khanh province in demonstrations supporting the Nghe Tinh Soviets in 1930.
The Nghe An–Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum attracts large numbers of visitors, including pupils and students. Weapons used to protect the people during the struggle. The school satchel of Ha Huy Tap, used during his teaching years in Nha Trang and at Cao Xuan Duc Primary School in Vinh. Exhibits showcasing documents and images of revolutionary soldiers. In October 1930, the First Plenum of the Party Central Committee met in Kowloon, Hong Kong, China and adopted the famous Political Theses drafted by Tran Phu. This crucial document applied Marxist–Leninist principles on national and colonial issues, building on the “Brief Political Platform” and “Brief Strategy” written by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc. At this meeting, Tran Phu was elected the Party’s first General Secretary. Under his leadership, the revolutionary movement spread nationwide, reaching its peak with the Nghe Tinh Soviets. The drumbeat and the revolutionary flame of 1930–1931 continue to resonate in the nation’s soul. The movement served as a great rehearsal, preparing forces for the triumph of the August Revolution in 1945. Between May 1 and August 1930, 97 strikes and demonstrations by Nghe Tinh workers and peasants became the “prologue” to the establishment of the Soviet authorities.
The earthen jar of Mai Thi Chuot from Ninh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, used to hide Party documents and leaflets supporting the Soviets. Information and images of Nguyen Sinh Dien and Dang Chanh Ky. The clothing of a tenant farmer and the wooden gong of Can Loc peasants (Ha Tinh) used in the anti-tax movement of 1908. From September 1930, the mass struggle took an unexpected turn, going beyond the forecasts of Party organisations, as peasants in many districts of Nghe Tinh (Nghe An and Ha Tinh) launched successive demonstrations armed with rudimentary weapons, repeatedly attacking district offices. Seals handed over by local mandarins to the Soviet authorities in 1930–1931. A homemade bottle mine used against enemy posts, recreated by Nguyen Lam Yen, Party member and self-defence leader in Thanh Mai commune, Thanh Chuong district. A brick from Con Dao prison, where Le Hong Phong and other revolutionaries of the 1930–1931 movement were incarcerated. The prison uniform of Le Manh Duyet from Anh Son, Nghe An worn during his exile in Buon Ma Thuot.
The museum also reconstructs scenes of revolutionaries being arrested and imprisoned. Shackles used by the French colonialists to torture revolutionaries at Vinh prison. The Nghe Tinh Soviets affirmed the strength of the workers and peasants, demonstrating the heroic spirit and revolutionary capacity of the Vietnamese working people.
Nhan Dan (People) reporter Trung Hanh recapped an excursion to Xuan Thuy National Park in Ninh Binh Province. The park, the first one in Viet Nam to be recognised as a Ramsar site — a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, is often dubbed as the “international bird station.”
