In-depth
A cross-cultural political training school
  • | dtinews.vn | July 08, 2010 09:35 PM

In the 14th installment of a series on Ho Chi Minh, Laura Lam explores how he developed his version of communism.

>>Part 1: Paris, my two worlds
>>Part 2: A journey in search of freedom
>>Part 3: Nguyen the Patriot
>>Part 4: Indochina and little emperors
>>Part 5: The rise of patriotism
>>Part 6: Finding a compass
>>Part 7:
Young Ho Chi Minh with Grand Chef Escoffier
>>Part 8:
Young Ho Chi Minh in America
>>Part 9:
Ho Chi Minh versus Albert Sarraut
>>Part 10: The path of destiny
>>Part 11: Moscow’s resolution on Indochina
>>Part 12: Lenin and Peoples of the East
>>Part 13: From Moscow to Canton

Special Political Institute at 13 (now 248-250) Wen Ming Street, where Nguyen Ai Quoc held classes between 1925 and 1927.
A classroom at the Institute
Nguyen Ai Quoc’s desk

The primary goal of the Revolutionary Youth League in Canton was to promote national independence and social revolution. Nguyen Ai Quoc followed Lenin’s model of “a future world revolution” but focused more on the question of nationalism. This was evident in both his writings and practice, and clearly reflecting his patriotism.

The League required all members to eventually take part in the armed struggle for the liberation of the country, before participating in the world revolution.

With patriotic youths arriving from Indochina in steady streams, Quoc moved his Special Political Institute to a new location. He rented two attached houses in a building on Wen Ming Street, close to the Chinese Communist Party’s headquarters. The two main instructors at the institute were Quoc and Ho Tung Mau. Students received additional lectures from members of the Soviet mission (Vasily Blucher, P.A. Pavlov, M.V. Kuibyshev, V.M Primakov) and members of the Chinese Communist Party (Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Li Fuqun). Known to the participants as Comrade Vuong, Quoc was the most popular teacher at the school.

With three classrooms accommodating up to fifty students, a course at the Institute lasted from three to four months. Within the League, Quoc also established a children and adolescents group (Thieu Nhi Doan) and a women’s group (Phu Nu Doan).
At the end of the training, Quoc would accompany the graduates to the tomb of Pham Hong Thai, where they took an oath to serve and be loyal to the revolutionary cause. Most would return to Indochina. The first five graduates, including Le Hong Phong, were sent to Moscow for further training.

By the end of 1926, the Special Political Institute had trained more than seventy students. For teaching materials, Quoc published a sixty-page booklet titled Duong Kach Menh (Revolutionary Path), which provided an introduction to Marxism-Leninism with the Vietnamese application. This allowed the students to learn about social reforms, anarchism, Gandhi’s philosophy, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s principles of governing. Concerning the “behavior” and “quality” of the revolutionary man or woman, Quoc’s approach was very similar to that of Lenin, which required a high standard of morality and ethical rules of conduct. This was in sharp contrast to the impersonal and ruthless approaches adopted by other leaders in the Russian and Chinese radical movements. This was Nguyen Ai Quoc’s version of Communism -- a blend of Asian ethics, Confucianism, and European modern ideas on socialism.

After the graduates returned to Indochina, their mission was to spread the revolutionary ideas and transmit this new model of Communism interpreted by Nguyen Ai Quoc. They would recruit more patriotic youths for training in Canton. By 1928, the Revolutionary Youth League had trained more than 300 men and women for assignments in Indochina. In the following year the number of graduates went up to more than 1700.

Quoc created the weekly journal Thanh Nien in 1925. All the writings were presented in a simple and clear style, accompanied by Quoc’s cartoons and sometimes Chinese ancient sayings. In addition, the League also founded the biweekly Linh Kach Menh (Revolutionary Soldier) and the monthly Viet Nam Tien Phong (Vietnamese Vanguard).

In March 1925, Dr. Sun Yat-sen died of liver cancer and Chiang Kai-shek, military adviser and commander of Whampoa Military Academy, succeeded him. Chiang Kai-shek turned against his former allies and terminated the alliance among the Kuomingtang, the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Communists. When members of the Kuomingtang attempted to remove him, Chiang Kai-shek ordered an attack on the Canton Commune and killed 600 men, women, and children. He also ordered the assassinations of 5700 Communists and their sympathizers in Shanghai. Vietnamese students in the Whampoa Military Academy were also murdered by Chiang Kai-shek’s order.

In early May, 1927, Quoc was warned of his imminent arrest. He immediately escaped to Hong Kong by train. Just after he left his residence, the police came and searched for him.

In late 1927 Quoc returned to Moscow. He gave a talk to the military commission of the German Communists. Returning to the Stalin School, Quoc met many of his compatriots and one was Nguyen The Vinh. He would send Vinh to France to establish a network of communications with Indochina by recruiting agents from personnel working on French cruise ships going to the Far East. The new secret network was soon set up between France and Indochina through Singapore.

While waiting for his new mission, Quoc spent time in the Crimea, published The Revolutionary Path, and attended a conference on anti-imperialism in Brussels. During 1928 and 1929 he traveled on missions to Moscow, Berlin, and Paris. He also visited Switzerland, Italy, Ceylon, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

Quoc united his people in various continents and in February 1930 he formed the Vietnamese Communist Party. Later it was called the Indochinese Communist Party.

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