Hà Huy Tập

Hà Huy Tập was born on April 24, 1906 in Cẩm Xuyên Hà Tĩnh Province. His first name was Hà Huy Khiêm, and he was also known as Ba. He was the second child in the family and had 5 brothers.

He was taught by his father at a young age. Beside the basic Confucianism learned from his father, he also studied elementary school in Ha Tinh town. After finishing elementary school in 1919 he entered Hue National School. In 1923, he graduated with honors in Diplomacy and was assigned to teach at Nha Trang Primary School (now Nguyễn Văn Trỗi High School) until 1926.

Under the influence of his father, during his time as an elementary school teacher, in addition to teaching the young, he also taught workers and the poor. He paid for books for his poor students out of his salary. His activities were endorsed by a number of young intellectuals and introduced him to a political organization called the Vietnam Society, which later formed the Tân Việt Revolutionary Party.[3][4]

The Tân Việt Revolutionary Party's calls for "breaking the empire" and building a society of equality and charity was clearly opposed to the French colonial government in Vietnam. Thus, in mid-1926, he was sacked and expelled from Nha Trang by the colonial authorities. In August 1926, he found teaching jobs in Cao Xuân Dục primary school In Nghệ An. In March 1927, he moved to Saigon to work, make a living, and teach in An Nam Nguyen school. He also continued teaching poor laborers, thereby propagating the patriotic spirit and the revolutionary idea of independence.

Because of these activities, in January 1928, he was fired again from An Nam school. However, he continued to teach and propagate the revolution from Bà Rịa, Biên Hòa, Sài Gòn, Gia Định.

In July 1928, he went to the North, tasked with communicating with the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association in an effort to unite all anti-colonial organizations in a joint action organization. In December 1928, he was sent to Guangzhou to attend a training session of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association. Impressed strongly with the thought of Nguyễn Ái Quốc and Đường Kách Mệnh, he actively participated in the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association.

On July 19, 1929, he went to the Soviet Union, studying at the Communist International University of the Communist International in Moscow, nicknamed Sinichkin（Синичкин). In late 1929, he was admitted to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik). During this time he drafted the "Indochinese Communist Party Action Plan" and "The History of the Communist Movement in Indochina".

In April 1934, he graduated from the University and returned to Vietnam. On his way he was arrested by the French, then deported to Belgium, after which he returned to China, where he was appointed by the Communist International to join the Foreign Brigades of the Indochinese Communist Party, led by Lê Hồng Phong as Secretary. From 16 to 21 June 1934, the congress of the Indochinese Communist Party Committee and representatives of the Party organizations in the country were organized, including Lê Hồng Phong, 'Hà Huy Tập, Nguyễn Văn Dựt, Nguyễn Văn Tham and Trần Văn Chấn. The conference adopted the Political Resolution and the Resolution on Organizational Matters.

In March 1935, at the First Party Congress in Macau, Lê Hồng Phong was elected General Secretary. Ha Huy Tap was elected to the Central Executive Committee and was appointed as the Secretary of the Overseas Command. In July 1936, the Overseas Committee of the Party met for the first conference, the Central Committee sent him back to repatriate the Party Central Committee and held the post of General Secretary from July 26. He directed the L'Avant garde (1937), the People's Party (1938) in the name of "labor and people" in Cochinchina.

From September 3 to September 5, 1937, the Central Conference met in Ba Dinh, Gia Dinh, where he reported on the leadership of the party from the first Congress to 1937. On March 30, 1938, together with his predecessor Le Hong Phong, he chaired the third meeting of the Party Central Committee at Ba Diem. At this conference, he resigned as General Secretary, but still joined the Central Committee of the Party. His successor was Nguyễn Văn Cừ.

On May 1, 1938, he was arrested while attending International Labor Day in Saigon. He was expelled from Cochinchina and sent to his hometown. By March 30, 1940, he was arrested and sent to Cochinchina for trial. On October 25 of that year, he was sentenced by the French colonial government to five years in prison. At this trial, he and his comrades were represented by young lawyer Nguyễn Văn Huyền, who later served as the Vice President of the Republic of Vietnam, as a defense lawyer.

On March 25, 1941, the French government changed his sentence to death for "being responsible for the spirit of the insurrection of Cochinchina". Also sentenced to death were Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Võ Văn Tần, and Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai. He said: "I have nothing to regret, if I live I will continue to work."

On August 28, 1941, he was executed, along with several other revolutionaries, by the French government at the Garbage Department (now Hoc Mon Hospital, Saigon). The last letter he sent to his family wrote, "Friends of family do not consider me to be dead but to be sad, but to look at me as a living person, but for an indefinite period of time."