Ha Huy Tap – 18 months as General Secretary of the Party

1. Resolutely innovate political thinking on the basis of creatively applying Marxist-Leninist theory to colonial revolutionary practice to determine the correct strategic line.

Before becoming the Party's General Secretary (July 1936), Ha Huy Tap spent a long time working abroad and made important contributions to the struggle to restore the Party's organizational system after the 1930-1931 revolutionary movement. Like a number of other revolutionary predecessors, Ha Huy Tap did not have the opportunity to fully study the practical situation of the country, and was influenced by the leftist views existing in the Communist International and a number of fraternal Communist Parties.^[1], so in the process of applying Marxist-Leninist theory to colonial revolutionary practice, it was inevitable to stumble. He once harshly criticized the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association and its works.The path of destiny^[2], criticized leader Nguyen Ai Quoc and the guidelines of the Party Founding Conference^[3], defending the viewpoint of emphasizing one-sided class struggle and land revolution in the Resolution of the First Conference of the Party Central Committee andPolitical Platform of the Indochinese Communist Party (Platform Project)October 1930.

“Revolutionary enthusiasm and sense of organization and discipline reduced Ha Huy Tap's creative and independent thinking.”^[4], but with the courage and will of a communist, he changed his perception and resolutely overcame the limitations imposed by historical conditions.

On July 25, 1936, Ha Huy Tap and Le Hong Phong convened a Central Conference to adjust and supplement the Party's resolutions in the spirit of the 7th Congress of the Communist International; decided to move the headquarters of the Central Executive Committee to Saigon. In early August 1937, Ha Huy Tap returned to the country, had the opportunity to directly observe the situation, contact the masses, and listen to reports from localities. In the condition that the Central Executive Committee had not been re-established and had no supporting apparatus, most of the work was undertaken by Ha Huy Tap. From the vivid reality of the mass movement, in his position as General Secretary, Ha Huy Tap resolved a series of issues regarding the strategic and tactical lines of the Vietnamese revolution.

On strategic directionThe Party Central Committee, led by Ha Huy Tap, boldly raised the issue of re-awareness of the nature of revolution in colonies, as well as the relationship between the two tasks of anti-imperialism and land tenure as stated inPolitical Platform of the Indochinese Communist Party (Platform Project)announced at the first conference of the Central Executive Committee of the Party in October 1930^[5].

DocumentsAround the issue of strategy new(10-1936) affirmed: “From the perspective of the oppressed nation, the exploited class, everyone recognizes French imperialism as the main enemy of the people of Indochina. Contrary to the policy of the Trotsky faction declared in the Miliant newspaper No. 2 that: Native capitalism is the most fierce enemy of the people; the struggle of the proletariat must first of all be a struggle against native capitalism (the main enemy is in our country)”. If our country is an independent country, with developed capitalism like in England and France, then the saying that native capitalism is the most fierce enemy of the people is partly true. However, France and Indochina are completely different…”^[6].

Based on the analysis of the social reality of Indochina, the Party Central Committee analyzed the relationship between the two tasks of anti-imperialism and land struggle, emphasized that the struggle against imperialism is the common task of the people of Indochina and put forward a new viewpoint: "National liberation does not necessarily have to be closely linked with agrarian revolution.(TG emphasized). That means it cannot be said that: to overthrow imperialism, it is necessary to develop agrarian revolution, to solve the agrarian problem, it is necessary to overthrow imperialism.. That theory is not valid.... If we develop the struggle to divide the land and hinder the anti-imperialist struggle, we must choose which problem is more important to solve first. That means choosing the main and most dangerous enemy to concentrate the forces of a nation to fight and achieve total victory."^[7]. That is the extremely severe criticism of General Secretary Ha Huy Tap and the Central Executive Committee towardsPolitical Platform October 1930, at the same time initially reaffirming the correct path of national liberation inFirst political platformof the Party and Ho Chi Minh's thought on national liberation revolution in colonies.

DocumentsAround the issue of new strategymarking a profound revolutionary change in the political thinking of General Secretary Ha Huy Tap and the Party Central Committee, a scientific perception based on the creative application of the dialectical materialist method and the specific historical perspective of Marxism-Leninism to the practice of colonial revolution, clearly pointing out that the main contradiction that needed to be focused on resolving in the colonies was the contradiction between the entire oppressed nation and the invading imperialists and their lackeys, correctly resolving the relationship between the two tasks of "national independence" and "land revolution", so that later, when entering the direct stage of mobilizing to save the country from 1939-1945, the Party proposed the policy of "strategic change".^[8], resolutely raised high the flag of national liberation, put the task of national liberation first, temporarily put aside the slogan of "land revolution" and brought the August Revolution of 1945 to success.

With a truly open-minded spirit and determination to overcome rigid and dogmatic thinking, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap closely followed the reality of the Vietnamese revolution and, together with the Central Executive Committee, determined the correct strategic line, contributing to maintaining the Party's sole leadership role in the Vietnamese revolution in the changing international and domestic situation. That is the most profound lesson for the work of building a politically strong Party.

2. Correctly resolve the relationship between strategic goals and immediate goals, determine strategies suitable to the requirements of the 1936-1939 democratic movement.

Revolution is a process, including many different steps of development, each previous step creates the premise and conditions for the next step, moving from step-by-step victory to complete victory.

VI Lenin once said that a radical revolutionary must never forget the ultimate goal, because sacrificing the future for the present is the worst manifestation of opportunism. But on the basis of firmly grasping the strategic goal, one must know how to win step by step correctly. That is the law of revolutionary struggle.

In the documentAround the issue of new strategy(October 1936), the Party Central Committee headed by Ha Huy Tap clearly distinguished between revolutionary strategy and tactics. Revolutionary strategy does not change throughout a period, but tactics need to change depending on the specific historical conditions of each period.

During the 1936-1939 democratic movement, a special period of the Vietnamese revolution, when the demand for protecting world peace and democratic reform, improving people's lives became the urgent aspirations of the masses, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap and the Central Executive Committee decided to temporarily put aside the slogans of "national independence" and "land revolution", and established the Indochina People's Front (later changed to the Indochina Democratic Front) to widely gather all democratic forces against fascism, from the basic masses to the upper classes, from the national forces to a part of the non-national people (the French people with anti-fascist tendencies in Indochina); not aiming to overthrow all the enemies of the nation (the invading French imperialists and their lackeys), but only aiming at the most dangerous part of the enemies of the nation (the reactionary colonial forces that refused to implement the policies issued by the French People's Government); demanding freedom, democracy, food, clothing and peace; thoroughly use public, legal, semi-public, semi-legal forms of organization and struggle, combined with secret, illegal ones.

Ha Huy Tap's views on identifying the enemy, the goal of the struggle, gathering forces and revolutionary methods in the democratic movement were clearly demonstrated from the end of August 1938 inOpen letterabout Indochina CongressTo the Vietnam Nationalist Party, revolutionary parties, Constitutionalist Party, democratic reform groups, friendly associations, worker-peasant-soldier organizations, women's organizations, students, traders, newspapers, mass organizations and all the people of Indochina, and continued to develop in many later documents. General Secretary Ha Huy Tap and the Central Executive Committee affirmed: “Whoever is the most dangerous enemy at the moment will definitely focus the fire on that and attack.”. “The task of establishing a broad anti-imperialist People's Front is to fight together for simple democratic rights.”^[9].

During the period 1936-1939, the Party Central Committee headed by General Secretary Ha Huy Tap successfully resolved the relationship between revolutionary strategy and tactics; issued many resolutions clearly explaining the Party's policies, opposing Trotskyism, aiming to unify ideology and action within the Party to move the mass movement forward.

While emphasizing the immediate goal of the struggle, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap always affirmed that the Party never forgets the ultimate goal of the revolution, does not consider simple democratic rights as everything, but must fight for those goals "to prepare conditions for the national liberation movement to develop".^[10].

While the Trotskyists raised “leftist” slogans, calling for class struggle, opposing the native bourgeoisie to reject the Party’s policy of establishing a front, and accusing the Party of class compromise, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap and the Central Executive Committee resolutely placed the class issue in the national issue, solving the national issue from a class perspective. The General Secretary clearly explained the policy of establishing a broad people’s front, including many different classes and strata, but that was not to eliminate class struggle, but to gather all democratic forces, to highly differentiate and isolate the colonial reactionary forces in order to point the spearhead of the struggle at them. The Party did not abolish the workers’ right to fight against the bourgeoisie to improve living and working conditions, nor the farmers’ right to fight against landlords against high rents and interest rates.

When the Party raised the slogans “Support the French Popular Front” and “Support the Léon Blum Government”, the Trotskyists considered them reformist slogans of “French-Vietnamese harmony”. Against that argument, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap pointed out the revolutionary nature of these slogans. “Support the French Popular Front” means supporting a front that is being participated in by the Communist Party, the working class and the French people. This slogan shows the solidarity of the Vietnamese people with the revolutionary forces in France in the struggle against fascism, preventing the danger of war and protecting world peace. While raising the slogan “Support the Léon Blum Government” to implement the program of the French Popular Front, the Party still strongly opposed them when they went against the interests of the French people and the colonies, and resolutely opposed the barbaric colonial policies of the reactionaries in the colonies.^[11].

Regarding revolutionary methods, the Party advocates taking advantage of public operating conditions to widely gather the masses, combining public and semi-public, but not following publicism (l'égalisme), but still maintaining a part of the Party's secret organization, in preparation for timely withdrawal into secret operations when the situation changes.

The Central Committee Conference of the Party in September 1937 emphasized: "In the mass movement, Trotskyism is the most dangerous. Without thoroughly opposing Trotskyism, it will be difficult to implement the strategy of establishing the Indochinese United People's Front and supporting the World Popular Front against fascism and imperialist war."^[12].

3. Strive to build the Party organization, be exemplary in criticism and self-criticism, promote the sense of responsibility and voluntarily comply with Party discipline.

Before returning to the country, Ha Huy Tap had made important contributions, especially in activities inThe Command is outside., to restore the Party organization that was broken by the French colonialists after the 1930-1931 revolutionary movement. After the Central Conference in July 1936, he returned to the country and directly led the revolutionary movement. The secret Central Party agency was moved from China to Ba Diem, Hoc Mon district, Gia Dinh.

On October 12, 1936, Ha Huy Tap convened a cadre conference to elect a provisional Central Executive Committee, with Ha Huy Tap as General Secretary. The very next day, the Central Executive Committee sent cadres to Central Vietnam, North Vietnam, and Cambodia to restore contacts. Under the direction of General Secretary Ha Huy Tap, party members operating secretly, openly, and semi-openly, escaped from imperialist prisons or returned from abroad, all made efforts to rebuild the Party's base and organizational system. Regional committees were strengthened. The Central Executive Committee was supplemented with two members who had just returned from Con Dao prison (Nguyen Van Cu, Nguyen Chi Dieu).

The Central Executive Committee Conference in March 1937 chaired by General Secretary Ha Huy Tap advocated revising organizational plans, requiring the admission of new party members without age restrictions, focusing on admitting outstanding workers into the Party.Announcement dated March 20, 1937Emphasize the issue of Party purification: Reactionary provocateurs who infiltrate the Party must be secretly expelled immediately. But those who have just been caught revealing Party secrets, causing other comrades to be arrested, agencies to be destroyed, etc., must not be allowed to stay in Party committees at all levels. Party members who are lazy in studying and working, criticizing and helping but are not transferred, must be expelled from the Party. Suspicious people must be suspended from work, after a period of probation, if successful, they will be re-admitted or sent to work elsewhere; pay attention to quality, few Party members but better than many complicated. In the work of developing new Party members, we must admit genuine, enthusiastic revolutionary elements among farmers, petty bourgeoisie and other classes of people. The Party must pay utmost attention to admitting workers; pay attention to admitting working women, foreigners and ethnic minorities. We must be vigilant, guard against provocateurs and reactionaries taking advantage of opportunities to enter the Party. We must expel lazy, hesitant, opportunistic people from the Party...

The expanded conference of the Party Central Committee (August 1937) emphasized the consolidation of established Party organizations, promoting the development of the Party in important economic regions, and “organizing close contacts between Party organizations at all levels.” Party organizations must direct the activities of mass organizations, but “must avoid making excuses, avoid losing the organizational independence of mass organizations,” and must “explain to the people and persuade them to follow us, not use orders to direct mass organizations.”^[13]This conference elected a Central Executive Committee of 11 members and appointed a Central Standing Committee of 5 members.^[14], with Ha Huy Tap as General Secretary.

In the Central Conferences, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap constantly struggled with criticism and self-criticism to overcome the errors in perception and action. In particular, at the Central Conference held in September 1937, General Secretary Ha Huy Tap recognized the "very big mistake" of the Party Central Committee, including Ha Huy Tap himself, was "admitting in principle that mass organizations could use secret methods in special circumstances", causing "mass organizations that could have developed a lot, but on the contrary, in many places they could not develop".^[15]. At the Central Conference held in March 1938, with Ha Huy Tap's participation in preparing the content and draft resolution, that mistake continued to be reviewed with his strict self-criticism. In the handwritten report sent to the Communist International on April 5, 1938, it was written: "due to political mistakes, because the Party advocated that mass organizations must be organized in a public and semi-public manner, while you said "public and semi-public organization is correct, but where there are no such things, thenbegrudgecan temporarily organize secretly"; the Party considered this a tendency to compromise with the tendency of the lonely, leftist elements, so they did not appoint him as General Secretary anymore, but he still had a position in the Secrétariat (Secretariat) and the Bureau Politique (Standing Committee)"^[16]With the responsibility of a communist, Ha Huy Tap set a shining example of self-conscious compliance with Party discipline.

After being arrested twice, on March 25, 1941, the colonial government sentenced Ha Huy Tap to death for “bearing spiritual responsibility for the Southern uprising”, even though the uprising broke out after he had been arrested. Before the imperial court, he firmly declared: “I have nothing to regret. If I were alive, I would continue my activities”.

In just 18 months as General Secretary, Ha Huy Tap worked tirelessly and made great contributions, together with the Central Executive Committee, determining the correct revolutionary strategy and tactics; becoming one of the Party's outstanding theorists. With sharp thinking and high fighting spirit, Ha Huy Tap demonstrated the mettle of a steadfast communist soldier against all the enemy's distorted attacks. In the 16 years from participating in revolutionary activities until his sacrifice (August 26, 1941) at the age of 35, Ha Huy Tap lived a vibrant and glorious revolutionary life, devoted to the communist ideal and the revolutionary cause of the people.

“If I am still alive, I will continue to work,” that was the last testament of the late General Secretary Ha Huy Tap, not only to his contemporaries who were sacrificing and fighting for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, but also to all cadres and members of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the cause of building and defending the country today.