Thua Thien Hue fought against the French colonialists (1885 - 1916)
After the two announcements of Can Vuong were issued, an armed uprising against the French erupted throughout Central and Tonkin (Can Vuong Movement), lasting from 1885 to 1898.
Unable to bring Ham Nghi emperor back to Hue, panicked at the rising Can Vuong resistance to France, the French colonialists decided to establish a new king instead of Ham Nghi emperor. On September 19, 1885, Prince Chanh Mong - Ung Duong officially ascending the throne at Thai Hoa Palace with the title Dong Khanh.
Dong Khanh ascended to the throne as a puppet king under the control of the French colonialists, and immediately set out to destroy the militant faction headed by Ton That Thuyet, Tran Xuan Soan and Nguyen Van Tuong by demoting all the nobles, confiscating property, hunting down, If caught, kill immediately.
Responding to Can Vuong, in Thua Thien, the rebellion of Dang Huy Cat (8/1885) gathered the soldiers of the two districts of Huong Tra, Quang Dien to prevent the arrest of imperial soldiers, arrest envoys of Quang Dien district, raid on Quang Dien district. Because the insurgent forces lacked a specific plan, they quickly failed.
On November 1, 1888, king Ham Nghi was arrested, and on November 22, 1888, the king was brought back to Thuan An. On November 25, 1888, the king was taken on a ship to Lang Co to be transferred to Saigon. December 13, 1888, king Ham Nghi was put on a ship called Bien Hoa to cross the ocean to Africa. On January 13, 1889, the king arrived in Algeria and began his exile. The patriotic king died here in 1943.
The disintegration of the Can Vuong movement in the 90s across the country sowed the hearts of the educated class the thoughts of melancholy, despair, but the democratic struggle for national salvation was unleashed by progressive Confucian intellectuals.
With its position as the capital of the country, Thua Thien Hue in the early twentieth century was the convergence of many progressive patriotic ideologies, patriotic movements also took place continuously and many famous patriots were present here such as Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, Tran Quy Cap, Huynh Thuc Khang... The activities of patriots have contributed to making the people aware of their oppressed status and standing up to participate in the struggles in response to Duy Tan and Dong Du movements, and most notably, the anti-tax struggle took place massively in 9 central provinces, including Thua Thien Hue in April, 1908.
In particular, during this period, Thua Thien Hue was also a place attached to the adolescence of President Ho Chi Minh during the years when he and his family lived, studied and participated in activities here through two periods of 1895 – 1901; 1906 – 1909.
Continuing the tradition of the continuous struggle of our people, the only revolutionary organization in Vietnam at the beginning of this century was Quang Phuc Hoi which conducted a large-scale uprising in the South of Central region and in Hue in 1916.
Thua Thien Hue continued its struggle against colonialism and feudalism and campaigned for the establishment of the Communist Party (1916-1930).
Thua Thien Hue is the place with the highest concentration of collusion between the French colonialists and the Southern feudal dynasty. After the 1916 uprising in Hue failed, the dominant forces consolidated the government more closely. Duy Tan Emperor - the patriotic king who participated in the Thai Phien - Tran Cao Van revolutionary was exiled to Réunion Island, the French colonialists continued to put puppet kings on the throne: Khai Dinh (1916 - 1925); Bao Dai (1926 - 1945). The French colonialists took over the power, incorporating the Southern Court budget into the French budget of Central, and the French ambassador chaired the meetings of the Council of Ministers. Thus, the power was completely in the hands of the French, turning the Nguyen emperor into their enforced tool.
In 1926, the Governor-General of Indochina transformed the Central Advisory Council into the Central People's Congress, with the democratic face of the Central People's Congress as just a tool for the French colonialists to implement the rule policy.
In December 12, 1929, the Governor-General of Indochina issued a decree to upgrade Hue to the city. Headed by the Governor, who is concurrently appointed by the missionary Thua Thien. The provincial and city governments were all held by the French with the close association of the Southern court officials.
The Nunciature and the French legation dominated all activities of the Hue court and Thua Thien court. In terms of ruling, the French always held a commanding role, and Southern court officials only followed the orders.
During this period, the socio-economic development of Thua Thien Hue had the following characteristics: Economic activities are mainly agricultural. Industry and trade have not developed, only a few developed industries such as printing and construction materials. Hue has not yet become the economic center of the Central region. The situation of social differentiation is deeper and more complicated than many other places, in addition to the people - farmers - workers - trade, Thua Thien Hue has both a Western Quarter for French residents and a palace for thousands of mandarins and the Royal family.
The socio-economic situation had a profound influence on the revolutionary movement for national liberation in Thua Thien Hue.
During this period, Thua Thien Hue began to adopt the path of saving the country according to the proletarian revolution, creating new changes in the struggle.
Through secret routes from France, Guangzhou (China), the influence of the Russian socialist revolution has spread among our people. In Thua Thien Hue appeared many works of Marx and Engels such as: "The Communist Manifesto", "Capitalism" and many articles praising the victory of the Russian October Revolution. The activities of Mr. Nguyen Ai Quoc abroad, along with his works such as: "The sentence of the French colonial regime", "La Paria" newspaper also had a profound impact on the ideological awareness of Hue intellectual youth, guiding them to participate in revolutionary activities.
During this time, the progressive reading movement developed in many parts of the province. A group of patriotic students in Hue has taken the bookstore "Mai Ky" in Ben Ngu as a place to exchange books and newspapers. In rural areas such as Truang (Phu Loc), Phu Vang, Huong Thuy, there are also reading groups. Through the study of progressive newspapers, Thua Thien Hue intellectual youth gradually approached the theoretical basis of Marxism-Leninism, and awareness of the goal and path of the struggle for national liberation was raised to a step.
Several movements fought in Thua Thien Hue during this period:
In 1925, Mr. Phan Boi Chau was arrested in Shanghai, the French colonialists brought him to Hoa Lo prison, Hanoi. Across the country in general, Thua Thien Hue in particular broke out a movement to demand the release of Phan Boi Chau. Facing strong pressure from the public, on December 24, 1925, the sentence was canceled, the colonial authorities sent him to detention in Hue.
On March 24, 1926, the patriot Phan Chu Trinh died in Saigon. Many memorials to Phan Chu Trinh were held in Hue to propagandize patriotism to attract people to participate.
Movement of people of all strata of Thua Thien Hue continuing to develop in the years 1926 - 1927, under the slogan against oppressive kingship, students continued to strike against harsh education policies. Like the strike movement of the Practical Engineering School, Quoc Hoc School, the struggle movement of the rickshaw pullers...
The patriotic movement also took place in the field of journalism and parliament. In the House of Representatives of Central, there were representatives of the people: Huynh Thuc Khang, Nguyen Dang Que... although power was limited, it became a forum for struggle between progressive patriotic forces against feudal colonization.
In the years 1925 many progressive trends from the outside affected Vietnam. The activities of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth Association (Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association) founded by Nguyen Ai Quoc have propagated patriotic and revolutionary ideas, promoting the domestic movement to develop in a new direction.
The patriotic movement thrived, the enlightened political consciousness of the masses was enhanced. It requires a political party to lead the organization. Faced with the urgent demands of the revolutionary movement, the forerunner organizations of the Party were born in the whole country and in Thua Thien Hue.
In June 1925, the Vietnam Youth Revolutionary Association was founded by Mr. Nguyen Ai Quoc in Guangzhou, China. In January 1927, the Association organized a steering agency in the Central and from March 1927, it expanded to the provinces. In July 1927, the Youth Provisional Department in Hue was established by Comrade Nguyen Duc Tinh as Secretary.
After the 1927, strike movement, Tan Viet built a relatively solid base in Hue. The first group of Tan Viet in Hue include Dao Duy Anh, Vo Liem Son, Tran Huu Duan, Pham Van Dai, Nguyen Chi Dieu, Nguyen Khoa Van, Nguyen Hoang. During the persecution of the French colonialists in 1927, most officers of the General Department and Tan Viet were arrested. The Tan Viet Party in Hue until July 8, 1929 almost disbanded.
1929 marked a dramatic change in the Vietnamese revolution in general and Thua Thien Hue in particular. The result of the spread of Marxism-Leninism led to a clear shift in ideology, organization and revolutionary movement, a tendency to turn to communism and the need to establish a Communist Party to lead the struggle for national independence.
In Thua Thien Hue, there also took place the process of advocating the establishment of the Communist Party.
In July 1929, the Communist Party of Indochina was established. In April 1929, Comrade Le Viet Luong the envoy of the Indochinese Communist League came to Hue to reform the Tan Viet Thua Thien Hue province to form the Indochinese Communist League, but it was not until 1930 that the Provisional Party Committee of the Indochinese Communist League was established in Hue.
The birth of two communist organizations in Hue had a positive impact on the revolutionary movement throughout the province. In rural districts of Thua Thien Hue, there has been a clear change, Party members always stick to the grassroots, mobilize the masses to participate in revolutionary activities.
After the Conference in Huong Cang (from February 3 to 7, 1930) consolidating communist organizations into the Communist Party of Vietnam, in localities throughout the country, the work of consolidating communist organizations was expeditiously carried out. In Thua Thien Hue in March 1930, Mr. Nguyen Phong Sac, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of Vietnam, came to Hue to advocate the unification of communist organizations in Thua Thien Hue. This policy was unanimously endorsed by the Indochinese Communist Party and Indochina Communist League.
In April 1930, the unification conference of the Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee met to discuss and announce the unification of the two communist organizations into the Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam of Thua Thien Province led by Le Viet Luong as Secretary. After the Provincial Party Unification Conference, Party branches were established everywhere in the province.
The birth of the Thua Thien Party Committee was a political event of great significance to the provincial revolutionary movement, a decisive factor in bringing the struggle movement to the top, contributing to the people of the whole country to overthrow the feudal colonial regime and complete the national liberation struggle.