Nghe-Tinh Revolt

The uprising of the Nghệ-Tĩnh soviets (Vietnamese: Phong trào Xô Viết Nghệ-Tĩnh) was the series of uprisings, strikes and demonstrations in 1930 and 1931 by Vietnamese peasants, workers, and intellectuals against the colonial French regime, the mandarinate, and landlords. Nghệ-Tĩnh (Vietnamese: [ŋêˀ tǐŋˀ]) is a compound name for for the two central provinces, Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh, where the revolt mainly took place. Demonstrations expressed the general anger against French colonial policies such as heavy taxation and state monopolies on certain goods, as well as the corruption and perceived unfairness of local notables and mandarins. Demonstrators, while violent, were armed with little more than basic farm weapons, and were brutally suppressed by the overwhelming military strength of the French. The revolt waned by the second half of 1931 due to famine and suppression.

The revolt started in March 1930 when five strikes in occurred in Vinh (the provincial capital of Nghệ An) and Bến Thuỷ within two months. The demonstrations spread quickly to the rural areas (districts of Thanh Chương, Nam Đàn and Nghi Lộc) and peasants demanded a moratorium on the payment of personal taxes, for an end to corvée labour and for rich landowners to return the communal lands which they had taken away. When demands were ignored, demonstrations escalated and they soon spread to the adjacent province of Hà Tĩnh.

Economic hardship as well as discontentment with the French colonial administration and the local Annamite authorities had already been growing prior to these strikes and it was only a matter of time before two of the most explosive provinces in Vietnam would rise in protest yet again. Communist groups such as the Annam Communist Party, Indochinese Communist League and the Communist Party of Indochina had also already been mobilising workers and peasants and fanning discontent in these areas. In 1929, pagodas and places of meeting within the village were burnt down by radicals in the rural areas who saw these as symbols of the power of superstition and exploitative village notables. Tensions between the authorities and the students had also increased as a number of Thanh Nien, Tan Viet and other communist student activists were arrested. Also, there was a great deal of mobilization in both Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh, particularly by communist groups, in the form of mass organizations, trade unions, peasant associations, and women’s and youth groups. These various factors were the historical conditions under which the strikes of early 1931 and the demonstrations to follow occurred.

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