https://prole.wiki/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=BenWelkinsProleWiki - User contributions [en]2026-10-26T04:22:18ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.43.11https://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=82822Hồ Chí Minh2025-06-07T05:08:18Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee (CC) of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee (CCSC) of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1976|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|page=43|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied: "''I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand''." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<ref>Report of spy Deveder. Copy kept at Ho Chi Minh Museum</ref><br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations. On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee (EC) of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: "''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh Collected Works|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/Uploads/2018/6/2/14/HO%20CHI%20MINH%20TOAN%20TAP%20-%20TAP%201.pdf|page=488 - 489|quote=Dear Comrades,<br />
<br />
You have received or will receive a copy of the Articles of Association of the Le Paria newspaper. This association, which is being established, will publish a newspaper of the name mentioned and will be a truly anticolonial publication.<br />
<br />
There is no need to emphasize the urgency of this publication. Our friends in the native home are beginning to feel the need to change the status quo in the colonies. [...]|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Politics}}</ref><br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination. <ref>Le Paria no.1 <br />
<br />
April 1, 1922</ref><br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<ref>Documents kept at the Overseas Archives Center (CAOM) in Aix en Provence, SLOTFOM File 15/1.</ref> <ref>Report No. 396.SR, dated May 30, 1922 of the Paris Police Department. Document kept at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.</ref> <br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. <br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''5th Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate.<ref name=":7">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref> The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref> It was here in Moscow that he attended the ''Communist University of the Toilers of the East''.<ref>{{Citation|author=William J. Duiker|year=2000|title=Ho Chi Minh: A life|city=New York}}</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924 :<br />
<br />
"Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc needs to go to Guangzhou. The Eastern Bureau will cover the expenses."</ref> <br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou as a interpreter for the Soviet delegation headed by Mikhail Borodin towards the Nationalist KMT. After the martyrdom of Phạm Hồng Thái in unsuccessfully assissinating the Gouvernor-General of French Indochina - Martial Merlin in Guangzhou 5 months earlier, there was intense revolutionary activity in the city.<ref>{{Citation|author=Đinh Xuân Lâm; Chương Thâu|year=2012|title=Patriotic revolutionary movement in the early 20th century|page=480|city=Hanoi|publisher=Labor Publishers|trans-title=Phong trào yêu nước cách mạng đầu thế kỷ XX|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1925 - Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League (VRYL) =====<br />
Under the new name of ''Lý Thụy'', and the mandate to promote the working class movement in Indochina, he opened a political training class. Under the Communist Youth Corps, most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. To further strengthen the movement, he contacted Vietnamese exile groups in several southern Chinese cities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Alexander Woodside|year=1976|title=Community and revolution in modern Vietnam|page=166|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}</ref> Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the ''League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia''.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the "Special Political Training Class". He took the name ''Vương''. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the [[Communist Party of China]] such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc. Each training session would last about 3 to 4 months. The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China. <ref>{{Citation|author=Various authors|year=1960|title=Uncle Ho|page=95|city=Hanoi|publisher=Văn học Publishers|trans-title=Bác Hồ|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
On June 21 1925, the '''Revolutionary Youth League''' (VRYL) was officially established. The headquarters of the League was located in a rented three-story house on 13 Wen Ming Street, in downtown Guangzhou. The League published pamphlets and periodicals (in Vietnamese) on different political subjects. ''The Road to Revolution'' (''Đường Kách Mệnh''), a training manual for the League's members, was a collection of Ho Chi Minh's lecture notes for the training course.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Various|newspaper=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|title=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|date=2018-11-5|url=https://baotanglichsu.vn/en/Articles/1004/28316/the-revolutionary-road-djuong-kach-menh.html#:~:text=The%20Revolutionary%20Road%20(%C4%90%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Dng%20K%C3%A1ch%20m%E1%BB%87nh)|quote=In 1925, while working underground in Guangxi (China), our nation's leader, Ho Chi Minh under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, selected several young Vietnamese patriots for training as cadres to be sent back to our homeland for revolutionary activity. The original writings he produced for these instruction courses were published in 1927 by the Propaganda Unit of one of the major revolutionary organizations then working toward the goals of revolution and liberation, the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In early January of 1926, Ho Chi Minh was invited under the alias of ''Vương Đạt Nhân'' (王大仁) to the Presidium of the Second National Congress of the Chinese Nationalist Party to attend and speak at the 9th session of the congress.<ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=35 - 37}}</ref><br />
<br />
Along side training cadres, Ho Chi Minh would write articles, correspondences, letters, essays, pamphlets to the Krestintern, [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]] and various revolutionary and nationalist organizations. In September, Ho Chi Minh assigned Nguyễn Lương Bằng (future vice president and first ambassador to the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]) to organize the movement of cadres, leaflets, papers from Haiphong to Hongkong. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Lương Bằng|year=1975|title=Những lần gặp Bác|page=36|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature}}</ref><br />
<br />
In May 1927, the Republic of China government outlawed communists. Ho Chi Minh left Guangzhou for Hong Kong, then to Moscow, then went to Berlin, Brussels, attended the expanded session of the General Assembly of the Anti-Imperialist War League, then went to Italy and from there to Asia.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Party documents|title=Ho Chi Minh's biography|date=2018-4-30|archive-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/tieu-su-chu-tich-ho-chi-minh-52|quote=Tháng 5/1927, Nguyễn Ái Quốc rời Quảng Châu đi Mátxcơva (Liên Xô), sau đó đi Béclin (Đức), đi Brúcxen (Bỉ), tham dự phiên họp mở rộng của Đại hội đồng Liên đoàn chống chiến tranh đế quốc, sau đó đi Ý và từ đây về châu Á.}}</ref><br />
<br />
From July 1928 to November 1929, Ho Chi Minh worked in the patriotic overseas Vietnamese movement in Thailand, with the alias ''Thầu Chín'' (in Thai and Lao, "thầu" means an elderly person and shows respect). <ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Mạnh Trinh|year=2019|title=Hồi ký Lê Mạnh Trinh}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh advocated agitation for overseas Vietnamese and organized them into fraternal associations, organized cultural activities, asked the Thai authorities to open schools for them, Ho Chi Minh traveled mainly on foot and campaigned in almost all areas with overseas Vietnamese in Thailand. Like in many places where he had operated, he published a newspaper - ''Thân ái''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Đặng Văn Cáp|year=2019|title=Hồi ký Đặng Văn Cáp}}</ref><br />
<br />
At the end of 1929, Ho Chi Minh left Thailand, via Singapore to China.<ref>Report of February 18, 1930 by Ho Chi Minh to the Comintern.</ref> During the short period of time between 1929 and 1930, three communist organizations emerged in Vietnam, although newly established, had clear conflicts and competed for the support of the masses. The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), the Annamese Communist Party (ACP) and the Indochinese Communist Federation (ICF).<br />
<br />
<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Bình Chánh Districh People's Committee|title=The birth of the Communist Party of Vietnam branches and the people's movement to fight against French colonialism in the district (1930-1935)|url=https://binhchanh.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/binhchanh/su-ra-doi-cac-chi-bo-dang-cong-san-viet-nam-va-phong-trao-dau-tranh-chong-thuc-dan-phap-cua-nhan-dan-trung-quan-1930-1935#:~:text=T%E1%BB%AB%20th%C3%A1ng%206%20n%C4%83m%201929,%C4%90o%C3%A0n%20(1%2F1930).}}</ref><br />
<br />
On February 3, 1930, in Kowloon (''九龍''), Hong Kong, he unified the three communist party organizations into the Communist Party of Vietnam (later renamed after a few months into the ICP) in a conference held at a worker's house, with five other communist representatives besides himself. <ref>Moise 1988, p.11.</ref><br />
<br />
In 1931, under the pseudonym Sung Man Cho (''宋文初''), Ho Chi Minh was arrested by the Hong Kong authorities with the intention of handing him over to the French in Indochina. The August 9, 1932 issue of L'Humanité reported that he had died of tuberculosis in a prison infirmary, and denounced this as a plot by the French colonialists in collusion with the British to assassinate the leader of the Indochinese communist movement.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=L'Humanité|title=Nguyen Ai Quoc, le vaillant fondateur du PC Indochinois est mort emprisonné|date=1932-8-9|url=https://indomemoires.hypotheses.org/27889|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323164548/https://indomemoires.hypotheses.org/27889|archive-date=2018-9-17|retrieved=2021-3-23}}</ref> <br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=82792Hồ Chí Minh2025-06-05T04:34:12Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1976|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|page=43|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied: "''I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand''." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<ref>Report of spy Deveder. Copy kept at Ho Chi Minh Museum</ref><br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations. On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: "''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh Collected Works|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/Uploads/2018/6/2/14/HO%20CHI%20MINH%20TOAN%20TAP%20-%20TAP%201.pdf|page=488 - 489|quote=Dear Comrades,<br />
<br />
You have received or will receive a copy of the Articles of Association of the Le Paria newspaper. This association, which is being established, will publish a newspaper of the name mentioned and will be a truly anticolonial publication.<br />
<br />
There is no need to emphasize the urgency of this publication. Our friends in the native home are beginning to feel the need to change the status quo in the colonies. [...]|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Politics}}</ref><br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination. <ref>Le Paria no.1 <br />
<br />
April 1, 1922</ref><br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<ref>Documents kept at the Overseas Archives Center (CAOM) in Aix en Provence, SLOTFOM File 15/1.</ref> <ref>Report No. 396.SR, dated May 30, 1922 of the Paris Police Department. Document kept at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.</ref> <br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. <br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''5th Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate.<ref name=":7">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref> The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref> It was here in Moscow that he attended the ''Communist University of the Toilers of the East''.<ref>{{Citation|author=William J. Duiker|year=2000|title=Ho Chi Minh: A life|city=New York}}</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924 :<br />
<br />
"Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc needs to go to Guangzhou. The Eastern Bureau will cover the expenses."</ref> <br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou as a interpreter for the Soviet delegation headed by Mikhail Borodin towards the Nationalist KMT. After the martyrdom of Phạm Hồng Thái in unsuccessfully assissinating the Gouvernor-General of French Indochina - Martial Merlin in Guangzhou 5 months earlier, there was intense revolutionary activity in the city.<ref>{{Citation|author=Đinh Xuân Lâm; Chương Thâu|year=2012|title=Patriotic revolutionary movement in the early 20th century|page=480|city=Hanoi|publisher=Labor Publishers|trans-title=Phong trào yêu nước cách mạng đầu thế kỷ XX|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1925 - Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League =====<br />
Under the new name of ''Lý Thụy'', and the mandate to promote the working class movement in Indochina, he opened a political training class. Under the Communist Youth Corps, most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. To further strengthen the movement, he contacted Vietnamese exile groups in several southern Chinese cities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Alexander Woodside|year=1976|title=Community and revolution in modern Vietnam|page=166|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}</ref> Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the ''League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia''.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
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Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the "Special Political Training Class". He took the name ''Vương''. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the [[Communist Party of China]] such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc. Each training session would last about 3 to 4 months. The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China. <ref>{{Citation|author=Various authors|year=1960|title=Uncle Ho|page=95|city=Hanoi|publisher=Văn học Publishers|trans-title=Bác Hồ|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
On June 21 1925, the '''Revolutionary Youth League''' was officially established. The headquarters of the League was located in a rented three-story house on 13 Wen Ming Street, in downtown Guangzhou. The League published pamphlets and periodicals (in Vietnamese) on different political subjects. ''The Road to Revolution'' (''Đường Kách Mệnh''), a training manual for the League's members, was a collection of Ho Chi Minh's lecture notes for the training course.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Various|newspaper=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|title=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|date=2018-11-5|url=https://baotanglichsu.vn/en/Articles/1004/28316/the-revolutionary-road-djuong-kach-menh.html#:~:text=The%20Revolutionary%20Road%20(%C4%90%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Dng%20K%C3%A1ch%20m%E1%BB%87nh)|quote=In 1925, while working underground in Guangxi (China), our nation's leader, Ho Chi Minh under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, selected several young Vietnamese patriots for training as cadres to be sent back to our homeland for revolutionary activity. The original writings he produced for these instruction courses were published in 1927 by the Propaganda Unit of one of the major revolutionary organizations then working toward the goals of revolution and liberation, the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In early January of 1926, Ho Chi Minh was invited under the alias of ''Vương Đạt Nhân'' (王大仁) to the Presidium of the Second National Congress of the Chinese Nationalist Party to attend and speak at the 9th session of the congress.<ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=35 - 37}}</ref><br />
<br />
Along side training cadres, Ho Chi Minh would write articles, correspondences, letters, essays, pamphlets to the Krestintern, [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]] and various revolutionary and nationalist organizations. In September, Ho Chi Minh assigned Nguyễn Lương Bằng (future vice president and first ambassador to the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]) to organize the movement of cadres, leaflets, papers from Haiphong to Hongkong. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Lương Bằng|year=1975|title=Những lần gặp Bác|page=36|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature}}</ref><br />
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In May 1927, the Republic of China government outlawed communists. Ho Chi Minh left Guangzhou for Hong Kong, then to Moscow, then went to Berlin, Brussels, attended the expanded session of the General Assembly of the Anti-Imperialist War League, then went to Italy and from there to Asia.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Party documents|title=Ho Chi Minh's biography|date=2018-4-30|archive-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/tieu-su-chu-tich-ho-chi-minh-52|quote=Tháng 5/1927, Nguyễn Ái Quốc rời Quảng Châu đi Mátxcơva (Liên Xô), sau đó đi Béclin (Đức), đi Brúcxen (Bỉ), tham dự phiên họp mở rộng của Đại hội đồng Liên đoàn chống chiến tranh đế quốc, sau đó đi Ý và từ đây về châu Á.}}</ref><br />
<br />
From July 1928 to November 1929, Ho Chi Minh worked in the patriotic overseas Vietnamese movement in Thailand, with the alias ''Thầu Chín'' (in Thai and Lao, "thầu" means an elderly person and shows respect). <ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Mạnh Trinh|year=2019|title=Hồi ký Lê Mạnh Trinh}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh advocated agitation for overseas Vietnamese and organized them into fraternal associations, organized cultural activities, asked the Thai authorities to open schools for them, Ho Chi Minh traveled mainly on foot and campaigned in almost all areas with overseas Vietnamese in Thailand. Like in many places where he had operated, he published a newspaper - ''Thân ái''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Đặng Văn Cáp|year=2019|title=Hồi ký Đặng Văn Cáp}}</ref><br />
<br />
At the end of 1929, Ho Chi Minh left Thailand, via Singapore to China.<ref>Report of February 18, 1930 by Ho Chi Minh to the Comintern.</ref> During the short period of time between 1929 and 1930, three communist organizations emerged in Vietnam, although newly established, had clear conflicts and competed for the support of the masses. The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), the Annamese Communist Party (ACP) and the Indochinese Communist Federation (ICF).<br />
<br />
<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Bình Chánh Districh People's Committee|title=The birth of the Communist Party of Vietnam branches and the people's movement to fight against French colonialism in the district (1930-1935)|url=https://binhchanh.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/binhchanh/su-ra-doi-cac-chi-bo-dang-cong-san-viet-nam-va-phong-trao-dau-tranh-chong-thuc-dan-phap-cua-nhan-dan-trung-quan-1930-1935#:~:text=T%E1%BB%AB%20th%C3%A1ng%206%20n%C4%83m%201929,%C4%90o%C3%A0n%20(1%2F1930).}}</ref><br />
<br />
On February 3, 1930, in Kowloon (九龍), Hong Kong, he unified the three communist party organizations into the Communist Party of Vietnam in a conference held at a worker's house, with five other communist representatives besides himself. <ref>Moise 1988, p.11.</ref> <br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
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=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
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=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
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== See also ==<br />
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* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
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=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=82664Hồ Chí Minh2025-05-20T03:28:02Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
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Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
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===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
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In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
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===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
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In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
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By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
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===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1976|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|page=43|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied: "''I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand''." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<ref>Report of spy Deveder. Copy kept at Ho Chi Minh Museum</ref><br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations. On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: "''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh Collected Works|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/Uploads/2018/6/2/14/HO%20CHI%20MINH%20TOAN%20TAP%20-%20TAP%201.pdf|page=488 - 489|quote=Dear Comrades,<br />
<br />
You have received or will receive a copy of the Articles of Association of the Le Paria newspaper. This association, which is being established, will publish a newspaper of the name mentioned and will be a truly anticolonial publication.<br />
<br />
There is no need to emphasize the urgency of this publication. Our friends in the native home are beginning to feel the need to change the status quo in the colonies. [...]|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Politics}}</ref><br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination. <ref>Le Paria no.1 <br />
<br />
April 1, 1922</ref><br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<ref>Documents kept at the Overseas Archives Center (CAOM) in Aix en Provence, SLOTFOM File 15/1.</ref> <ref>Report No. 396.SR, dated May 30, 1922 of the Paris Police Department. Document kept at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.</ref> <br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. <br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''5th Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate.<ref name=":7">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref> The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref> It was here in Moscow that he attended the ''Communist University of the Toilers of the East''.<ref>{{Citation|author=William J. Duiker|year=2000|title=Ho Chi Minh: A life|city=New York}}</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924 :<br />
<br />
"Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc needs to go to Guangzhou. The Eastern Bureau will cover the expenses."</ref> <br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou as a interpreter for the Soviet delegation headed by Mikhail Borodin towards the Nationalist KMT. After the martyrdom of Phạm Hồng Thái in unsuccessfully assissinating the Gouvernor-General of French Indochina - Martial Merlin in Guangzhou 5 months earlier, there was intense revolutionary activity in the city.<ref>{{Citation|author=Đinh Xuân Lâm; Chương Thâu|year=2012|title=Patriotic revolutionary movement in the early 20th century|page=480|city=Hanoi|publisher=Labor Publishers|trans-title=Phong trào yêu nước cách mạng đầu thế kỷ XX|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1925 - Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League =====<br />
Under the new name of ''Lý Thụy'', and the mandate to promote the working class movement in Indochina, he opened a political training class. Under the Communist Youth Corps, most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. To further strengthen the movement, he contacted Vietnamese exile groups in several southern Chinese cities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Alexander Woodside|year=1976|title=Community and revolution in modern Vietnam|page=166|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}</ref> Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the ''League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia''.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the "Special Political Training Class". He took the name ''Vương''. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the [[Communist Party of China]] such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc. Each training session would last about 3 to 4 months. The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China. <ref>{{Citation|author=Various authors|year=1960|title=Uncle Ho|page=95|city=Hanoi|publisher=Văn học Publishers|trans-title=Bác Hồ|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
On June 21 1925, the '''Revolutionary Youth League''' was officially established. The headquarters of the League was located in a rented three-story house on 13 Wen Ming Street, in downtown Guangzhou. The League published pamphlets and periodicals (in Vietnamese) on different political subjects. ''The Road to Revolution'' (''Đường Kách Mệnh''), a training manual for the League's members, was a collection of Ho Chi Minh's lecture notes for the training course.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Various|newspaper=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|title=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|date=2018-11-5|url=https://baotanglichsu.vn/en/Articles/1004/28316/the-revolutionary-road-djuong-kach-menh.html#:~:text=The%20Revolutionary%20Road%20(%C4%90%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Dng%20K%C3%A1ch%20m%E1%BB%87nh)|quote=In 1925, while working underground in Guangxi (China), our nation's leader, Ho Chi Minh under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, selected several young Vietnamese patriots for training as cadres to be sent back to our homeland for revolutionary activity. The original writings he produced for these instruction courses were published in 1927 by the Propaganda Unit of one of the major revolutionary organizations then working toward the goals of revolution and liberation, the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In early January of 1926, Ho Chi Minh was invited under the alias of ''Vương Đạt Nhân'' (王大仁) to the Presidium of the Second National Congress of the Chinese Nationalist Party to attend and speak at the 9th session of the congress.<ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=35 - 37}}</ref><br />
<br />
Along side training cadres, Ho Chi Minh would write articles, correspondences, letters, essays, pamphlets to the Krestintern, [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]] and various revolutionary and nationalist organizations. In September, Ho Chi Minh assigned Nguyễn Lương Bằng (future vice president and first ambassador to the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]) to organize the movement of cadres, leaflets, papers from Haiphong to Hongkong. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Lương Bằng|year=1975|title=Những lần gặp Bác|page=36|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=77255Hồ Chí Minh2024-10-30T04:06:51Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1976|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|page=43|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied: "''I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand''." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<ref>Report of spy Deveder. Copy kept at Ho Chi Minh Museum</ref><br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations. On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: "''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh Collected Works|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/Uploads/2018/6/2/14/HO%20CHI%20MINH%20TOAN%20TAP%20-%20TAP%201.pdf|page=488 - 489|quote=Dear Comrades,<br />
<br />
You have received or will receive a copy of the Articles of Association of the Le Paria newspaper. This association, which is being established, will publish a newspaper of the name mentioned and will be a truly anticolonial publication.<br />
<br />
There is no need to emphasize the urgency of this publication. Our friends in the native home are beginning to feel the need to change the status quo in the colonies. [...]|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Politics}}</ref><br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination. <ref>Le Paria no.1 <br />
<br />
April 1, 1922</ref><br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<ref>Documents kept at the Overseas Archives Center (CAOM) in Aix en Provence, SLOTFOM File 15/1.</ref> <ref>Report No. 396.SR, dated May 30, 1922 of the Paris Police Department. Document kept at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.</ref> <br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. <br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''5th Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate.<ref name=":7" /> The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref> It was here in Moscow that he attended the ''Communist University of the Toilers of the East''.<ref>{{Citation|author=William J. Duiker|year=2000|title=Ho Chi Minh: A life|city=New York}}</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924 :<br />
<br />
"Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc needs to go to Guangzhou. The Eastern Bureau will cover the expenses."</ref> <br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou as a interpreter for the Soviet delegation headed by Mikhail Borodin towards the Nationalist KMT. After the martyrdom of Phạm Hồng Thái in unsuccessfully assissinating the Gouvernor-General of French Indochina - Martial Merlin in Guangzhou 5 months earlier, there was intense revolutionary activity in the city.<ref>{{Citation|author=Đinh Xuân Lâm; Chương Thâu|year=2012|title=Patriotic revolutionary movement in the early 20th century|page=480|city=Hanoi|publisher=Labor Publishers|trans-title=Phong trào yêu nước cách mạng đầu thế kỷ XX|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1925 - Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League =====<br />
Under the new name of ''Lý Thụy'', and the mandate to promote the working class movement in Indochina, he opened a political training class. Under the Communist Youth Corps, most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. To further strengthen the movement, he contacted Vietnamese exile groups in several southern Chinese cities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Alexander Woodside|year=1976|title=Community and revolution in modern Vietnam|page=166|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}</ref> Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the "Special Political Training Class". He took the name ''Vương''. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the [[Communist Party of China]] such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc. Each training session would last about 3 to 4 months. The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China. <ref>{{Citation|author=Various authors|year=1960|title=Uncle Ho|page=95|city=Hanoi|publisher=Văn học Publishers|trans-title=Bác Hồ|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
On June 21 1925, the '''Revolutionary Youth League''' was officially established. The headquarters of the League was located in a rented three-story house on 13 Wen Ming Street, in downtown Guangzhou. The League published pamphlets and periodicals (in Vietnamese) on different political subjects. ''The Road to Revolution'' (''Đường Kách Mệnh''), a training manual for the League's members, was a collection of Ho Chi Minh's lecture notes for the training course.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Various|newspaper=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|title=The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh)|date=2018-11-5|url=https://baotanglichsu.vn/en/Articles/1004/28316/the-revolutionary-road-djuong-kach-menh.html#:~:text=The%20Revolutionary%20Road%20(%C4%90%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Dng%20K%C3%A1ch%20m%E1%BB%87nh)|quote=In 1925, while working underground in Guangxi (China), our nation's leader, Ho Chi Minh under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, selected several young Vietnamese patriots for training as cadres to be sent back to our homeland for revolutionary activity. The original writings he produced for these instruction courses were published in 1927 by the Propaganda Unit of one of the major revolutionary organizations then working toward the goals of revolution and liberation, the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref name=":7">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Japan&diff=77209Japan2024-10-29T03:43:05Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country<br />
|name=Japan<br />
|native_name=日本国（にっぽんこく／にほんこく）<br />
|image_coat=Imperial Seal of Japan.svg|capital=Tokyo|largest_city=Tokyo|image_map=Japan map.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=Japanese|government_type=Unitary parliamentary monarchy|mode_of_production=[[Imperialist]] [[Capitalism]]|leader_title1=Emperor|leader_name1=Naruhito|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Fumio Kishida]]|area_km2=377,975|population_estimate=125,360,000|population_estimate_year=2021|currency=Japanese yen|image_flag=Flag of Japan.svg}}<br />
'''Japan''' (日本) is a constitutional monarchy and a liberal democratic island country in [[East Asia]]. Japan spans an archipelago of 6,852 islands; the four main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu.<br />
<br />
The first written mention of the archipelago appears in the Chinese chronicle, ''the Book of Han,'' finished in the 2nd century AD. The country was unified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1931, Japan invaded [[China]], and later in 1937 Japan reignited hostilities, starting [[World War II]]. Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a seven-year occupation.<br />
<br />
Japan is a member of the [[United Nations]], the [[OECD]], and the [[Group of Seven]]. It is an ally of the United States, and is also a capitalist country. Japan is a highly economically developed country, but suffers from the wealth inequality inherent in capitalism. Japan also has a problem with ultranationalist groups, one being [[Nippon Kaigi]], of which the previous Prime Minister, [[Shinzo Abe]], was a member.<br />
<br />
Despite being a capitalist country and geopolitical US ally, the US still saw them as an economic rival in the 1980s due to their rising economic power, and actively sabotaged their economy.<br />
<br />
Japan has not invaded another country since World War II, as their constitution forbids them from doing so. However, their military bases are of vital importance for the US to maintain their hegemony in east Asia. Prime Minister [[Fumio Kishida]] is planning to double Japan's military spending by 2027 to commit acts of aggression against China.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Hannah Middleton|newspaper=[[The Guardian (Australia)|The Guardian]]|title=Japan’s dangerous military expansion|date=2023-02-06|url=https://cpa.org.au/guardian/issue-2039/japans-dangerous-military-expansion/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205132526/https://cpa.org.au/guardian/issue-2039/japans-dangerous-military-expansion/|archive-date=2023-02-05|retrieved=2023-02-12}}</ref><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Feudal era ===<br />
[[File:Ainu map.png|thumb|Japanese and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian]] colonization of the Ainu people from c. 700 to 1945]]<br />
In the sixth century CE, Japan came into contact with China on a large scale, and its culture was deeply influenced by [[Chinese culture]] and entered into [[feudal society]].<br />
<br />
Feudal civil wars split Japan apart during the 15th and 16th centuries. Lords (daimyo) hired armies of samurai to fight for them. In the early 17th century, the Tokugawa clan defeated all of its rivals. The Tokugawa shogun became the absolute ruler of Japan and reduced the emperor to a figurehead. The [[Tokugawa Shogunate]] also banned guns and foreign books and restricted trade to a single port. Many former samurai became farmers or merchants, and capitalism began to develop.<ref name=":0222">{{Citation|author=Neil Faulkner|year=2013|title=A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals|chapter=The Age of Blood and Iron|page=158–159|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedljwr5izotdclz23o3c5p4di4t3ero3ncbfytip55slhiz4otuls?filename=Neil%20Faulkner%20-%20A%20Marxist%20History%20of%20the%20World_%20From%20Neanderthals%20to%20Neoliberals-Pluto%20Press%20%282013%29.pdf|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=9781849648639|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=91CA6C708BFE15444FE27899217FBA8E}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Meiji Restoration and early empire ===<br />
In 1853, [[United States of America|Statesian]] warships forced their way into Edo Bay, which was called the [[Black Ship Turmoil]] (黒船来航). They signed an unequal treaty with Japan which increased foreign imports to Japan and restricted Japanese exports. Between 1867 and 1869, an alliance of lords overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate and put emperor [[Meiji]] in power, bringing Japan into capitalism. Using heavy taxes and conscription, they industrialized Japan and reformed its army and navy based on [[British]] and [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]] forces. Peasants and former samurai frequently rebelled, and Japan began imperialist acts of foreign expansion.<ref name=":0222" /><br />
<br />
=== Early expansion ===<br />
In 1894, Japan invaded [[Qing dynasty (1636–1912)|China]] and [[Korea]] and started the [[Sino-Japanese War]]. The Qing army was defeated and signed the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki, which required China to cede [[Taiwan Province|Taiwan]] and some other islands to Japan. In 1904, war broke out between two imperialist countries, Japan and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]]. Most of the battles of this war were fought on the territory of China and Korea. Japan eventually won the war.<br />
<br />
=== Second World War ===<br />
The 14-year Chinese war of resistance against Japanese aggression began on 18 September 1931 with the Japanese invasion of [[Manchuria]].<ref>{{Web citation|journalist=You Yang, Shi Xuchen|date=2020-10-15|title=A look back at China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-08-15/A-look-back-at-China-s-War-of-Resistance-Against-Japanese-Aggression-SYEXkRUBIQ/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Japanese invasion united the [[Communist Party of China]] with the [[Kuomintang]], and on July 7, 1937 the Japanese army, claiming that its soldiers had wandered off during maneuvers on Chinese territory, demanded to enter the city of Wanping to search it, and after being refused, launched a heavy attack on the city.<br />
<br />
====== Atrocities committed by the Japanese ======<br />
In northeast China, the Japanese Army established the [[Unit 731|731 Biochemical Unit]] to conduct bacteriological and poisonous gas experiments on Chinese people, including exposing living people to -20 degrees Celsius outdoors for several hours before pouring hot boiling water over them. The unit also released plague-infected rats into villages to study the spread of the disease. More than 3,000 victims of live experiments by the unit alone are registered.<br />
<br />
In December 1937, the Japanese army carried out a massacre after capturing the Chinese capital [[Nanjing]]. The death toll exceeded 300,000, and China designated December 13 as the National Day of Public Sacrifice. Japanese newspapers openly reported a [[Nanjing Killing Contest|killing contest]] between two Japanese soldiers (Toshiaki Mukai and Takeshi Noda), in which the first one to kill 100 Chinese people won. At the same time, Japan stole ancient Chinese documents and artifacts from Nanjing and sent them to Japan itself. [[John H. D. Rabe]], a member of the [[National Socialist German Workers' Party|Nazi Party]] in Nanjing, relied on his status to shelter, along with other foreigners, 250,000 Chinese from Japanese murder. His diaries reveal Japanese atrocities.<br />
<br />
Japan surrendered on 1945 August 9. This decision is often blamed on the [[U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], but was also influenced by the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]'s invasion of southern [[Sakhalin]] and preparation to invade [[Hokkaido]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Ward Wilson|newspaper=Foreign Policy|title=The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan … Stalin Did|date=2013-05-30|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125175559/https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/|archive-date=2022-01-25|retrieved=2022-04-27}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Postwar history ===<br />
After the war, [[United States imperialism|U.S. imperialists]] made Japan into a puppet state and exempted the Unit 731 war criminals from punishment in order to obtain the experimental data of Unit 731. They installed [[Nobusuke Kishi]], a war criminal who oversaw the occupation of Manchuria, as Japan's new prime minister.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The Empire of Japan|page=32|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref> The CIA interfered in at least five Japanese elections between 1946 and 2000.<ref name=":022222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Normalizing Occupation|page=311–2|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref><br />
<br />
To this day, the Japanese [[Right-wing politics|right wing]] refuses to acknowledge Japan's atrocities in China, and history textbooks make no mention of the [[Nanjing Massacre]]. Japan's Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated mainly to World War II war criminals, and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly visited it, causing national outrage in China and Korea. Abe also passed the Conspiracy bill to criminalize actions against [[United States imperialism#Military bases|U.S. military bases]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Curry Malott|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Japan’s Conspiracy bill signals new threats to the anti-U.S. base movement|date=2017-07-13|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/japans-conspiracy-bill-signals-new-threats-to-the-anti-u-s-base-movement/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717181646/https://www.liberationnews.org/japans-conspiracy-bill-signals-new-threats-to-the-anti-u-s-base-movement/|archive-date=2022-07-17|retrieved=2022-11-25}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Government ==<br />
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution prevents Japan from having an army, air force, or navy. Since 1952, Japan has used the [[Japanese Self-Defense Forces]] as an extension of the [[police]] and [[prison]] system. The [[Government of the United States of America|U.S. government]] and Prime Minister [[Fumio Kishida]] are trying to remove the article and rearm Japan. The right-wing imperialist [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]], which has ruled almost continually since the 1950s, also supports militarism and rearmament.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Sarah Flounders|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Japan rearms under Washington’s pressure − a wake-up call to the antiwar movement|date=2022-12-28|url=https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68400/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229040859/https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68400/|archive-date=2022-12-29|retrieved=2023-01-02}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Culture ==<br />
<br />
=== Art ===<br />
<br />
==== Animation ====<br />
<br />
Japanese animation is a staple of Japanese popular culture. After the 1960s, Japan has garnered a reputation for the production of Japanese animation; a particular style of Japanese animation is a mix of foreign and Japanese influence, often referred to by foreigners as ''anime.'' <br />
<br />
The Japanese animation industry was worth 2.4 trillion yen (17.2 billion USD) in 2020.<ref>{{Citation|trans-title=アニメ産業レポート2021|trans-lang=Japanese|title=Anime Industry Report 2021|publisher=[[Association of Japanese Animation]]|quote=Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the anime industry market grossed 2.4 trillion yen in 2020 (96.5%). When broken down into individual categories, the demand for people to stay at home affected the streaming market, which reached its highest profits ever at 93 billion yen (135.8%), and the international market overtook the domestic market for the first time at 1.2 trillion yen (103.2%)}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Japanese animation industry notoriously exploits workers. Japanese animators are commonly overworked for low wages.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.japan-press.co.jp/2008/2557/labor.html|title=Animation workers seek better working conditions|newspaper=[[Akahata]]|date=2007-01-05}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/exploitation-in-the-anime-industry-an-entry-level-animator-in-japan-explains-why-she-earned-175-week-202283.html|title=Exploitation In The Anime Industry: An Entry-Level Animator In Japan Explains Why She Earned $175/Week|author=Alex Dudok de Wit|date=2021-02-24-T17:35}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Religion ===<br />
The dominant religions in Japan are Shinto (the native polytheistic religion of the country) and [[Buddhism]]. Shinto practices are deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. Most Japanese practice both of these religions at the same time. As of 2021, 48.6% of Japanese claim to practice Shinto, 46.4% Buddhism, 1.1% [[Christianity]], and 4% "others." The number of Japanese claiming to follow any religion at all has been declining.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Aaron O'Neill|title=Japan: Religious affiliations in 2021|newspaper=Statistica|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/237609/religions-in-japan/|date=2024-08-30}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global north]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Japan]]<br />
[[Category:Formerly fascist countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Japan&diff=77208Japan2024-10-29T03:42:24Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country<br />
|name=Japan<br />
|native_name=日本国（にっぽんこく／にほんこく）<br />
|image_coat=Imperial Seal of Japan.svg|capital=Tokyo|largest_city=Tokyo|image_map=Japan map.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=Japanese|government_type=Unitary parliamentary monarchy|mode_of_production=[[Imperialist]] [[Capitalism]]|leader_title1=Emperor|leader_name1=Naruhito|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Fumio Kishida]]|area_km2=377,975|population_estimate=125,360,000|population_estimate_year=2021|currency=Japanese yen|image_flag=Flag of Japan.svg}}<br />
'''Japan''' (日本) is a liberal democratic island country in [[East Asia]]. Japan spans an archipelago of 6,852 islands; the four main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu.<br />
<br />
The first written mention of the archipelago appears in the Chinese chronicle, ''the Book of Han,'' finished in the 2nd century AD. The country was unified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1931, Japan invaded [[China]], and later in 1937 Japan reignited hostilities, starting [[World War II]]. Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a seven-year occupation.<br />
<br />
Japan is a member of the [[United Nations]], the [[OECD]], and the [[Group of Seven]]. It is an ally of the United States, and is also a capitalist country. Japan is a highly economically developed country, but suffers from the wealth inequality inherent in capitalism. Japan also has a problem with ultranationalist groups, one being [[Nippon Kaigi]], of which the previous Prime Minister, [[Shinzo Abe]], was a member.<br />
<br />
Despite being a capitalist country and geopolitical US ally, the US still saw them as an economic rival in the 1980s due to their rising economic power, and actively sabotaged their economy.<br />
<br />
Japan has not invaded another country since World War II, as their constitution forbids them from doing so. However, their military bases are of vital importance for the US to maintain their hegemony in east Asia. Prime Minister [[Fumio Kishida]] is planning to double Japan's military spending by 2027 to commit acts of aggression against China.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Hannah Middleton|newspaper=[[The Guardian (Australia)|The Guardian]]|title=Japan’s dangerous military expansion|date=2023-02-06|url=https://cpa.org.au/guardian/issue-2039/japans-dangerous-military-expansion/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205132526/https://cpa.org.au/guardian/issue-2039/japans-dangerous-military-expansion/|archive-date=2023-02-05|retrieved=2023-02-12}}</ref><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Feudal era ===<br />
[[File:Ainu map.png|thumb|Japanese and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian]] colonization of the Ainu people from c. 700 to 1945]]<br />
In the sixth century CE, Japan came into contact with China on a large scale, and its culture was deeply influenced by [[Chinese culture]] and entered into [[feudal society]].<br />
<br />
Feudal civil wars split Japan apart during the 15th and 16th centuries. Lords (daimyo) hired armies of samurai to fight for them. In the early 17th century, the Tokugawa clan defeated all of its rivals. The Tokugawa shogun became the absolute ruler of Japan and reduced the emperor to a figurehead. The [[Tokugawa Shogunate]] also banned guns and foreign books and restricted trade to a single port. Many former samurai became farmers or merchants, and capitalism began to develop.<ref name=":0222">{{Citation|author=Neil Faulkner|year=2013|title=A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals|chapter=The Age of Blood and Iron|page=158–159|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedljwr5izotdclz23o3c5p4di4t3ero3ncbfytip55slhiz4otuls?filename=Neil%20Faulkner%20-%20A%20Marxist%20History%20of%20the%20World_%20From%20Neanderthals%20to%20Neoliberals-Pluto%20Press%20%282013%29.pdf|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=9781849648639|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=91CA6C708BFE15444FE27899217FBA8E}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Meiji Restoration and early empire ===<br />
In 1853, [[United States of America|Statesian]] warships forced their way into Edo Bay, which was called the [[Black Ship Turmoil]] (黒船来航). They signed an unequal treaty with Japan which increased foreign imports to Japan and restricted Japanese exports. Between 1867 and 1869, an alliance of lords overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate and put emperor [[Meiji]] in power, bringing Japan into capitalism. Using heavy taxes and conscription, they industrialized Japan and reformed its army and navy based on [[British]] and [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]] forces. Peasants and former samurai frequently rebelled, and Japan began imperialist acts of foreign expansion.<ref name=":0222" /><br />
<br />
=== Early expansion ===<br />
In 1894, Japan invaded [[Qing dynasty (1636–1912)|China]] and [[Korea]] and started the [[Sino-Japanese War]]. The Qing army was defeated and signed the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki, which required China to cede [[Taiwan Province|Taiwan]] and some other islands to Japan. In 1904, war broke out between two imperialist countries, Japan and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]]. Most of the battles of this war were fought on the territory of China and Korea. Japan eventually won the war.<br />
<br />
=== Second World War ===<br />
The 14-year Chinese war of resistance against Japanese aggression began on 18 September 1931 with the Japanese invasion of [[Manchuria]].<ref>{{Web citation|journalist=You Yang, Shi Xuchen|date=2020-10-15|title=A look back at China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-08-15/A-look-back-at-China-s-War-of-Resistance-Against-Japanese-Aggression-SYEXkRUBIQ/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Japanese invasion united the [[Communist Party of China]] with the [[Kuomintang]], and on July 7, 1937 the Japanese army, claiming that its soldiers had wandered off during maneuvers on Chinese territory, demanded to enter the city of Wanping to search it, and after being refused, launched a heavy attack on the city.<br />
<br />
====== Atrocities committed by the Japanese ======<br />
In northeast China, the Japanese Army established the [[Unit 731|731 Biochemical Unit]] to conduct bacteriological and poisonous gas experiments on Chinese people, including exposing living people to -20 degrees Celsius outdoors for several hours before pouring hot boiling water over them. The unit also released plague-infected rats into villages to study the spread of the disease. More than 3,000 victims of live experiments by the unit alone are registered.<br />
<br />
In December 1937, the Japanese army carried out a massacre after capturing the Chinese capital [[Nanjing]]. The death toll exceeded 300,000, and China designated December 13 as the National Day of Public Sacrifice. Japanese newspapers openly reported a [[Nanjing Killing Contest|killing contest]] between two Japanese soldiers (Toshiaki Mukai and Takeshi Noda), in which the first one to kill 100 Chinese people won. At the same time, Japan stole ancient Chinese documents and artifacts from Nanjing and sent them to Japan itself. [[John H. D. Rabe]], a member of the [[National Socialist German Workers' Party|Nazi Party]] in Nanjing, relied on his status to shelter, along with other foreigners, 250,000 Chinese from Japanese murder. His diaries reveal Japanese atrocities.<br />
<br />
Japan surrendered on 1945 August 9. This decision is often blamed on the [[U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], but was also influenced by the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]'s invasion of southern [[Sakhalin]] and preparation to invade [[Hokkaido]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Ward Wilson|newspaper=Foreign Policy|title=The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan … Stalin Did|date=2013-05-30|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125175559/https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/|archive-date=2022-01-25|retrieved=2022-04-27}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Postwar history ===<br />
After the war, [[United States imperialism|U.S. imperialists]] made Japan into a puppet state and exempted the Unit 731 war criminals from punishment in order to obtain the experimental data of Unit 731. They installed [[Nobusuke Kishi]], a war criminal who oversaw the occupation of Manchuria, as Japan's new prime minister.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The Empire of Japan|page=32|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref> The CIA interfered in at least five Japanese elections between 1946 and 2000.<ref name=":022222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Normalizing Occupation|page=311–2|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref><br />
<br />
To this day, the Japanese [[Right-wing politics|right wing]] refuses to acknowledge Japan's atrocities in China, and history textbooks make no mention of the [[Nanjing Massacre]]. Japan's Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated mainly to World War II war criminals, and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly visited it, causing national outrage in China and Korea. Abe also passed the Conspiracy bill to criminalize actions against [[United States imperialism#Military bases|U.S. military bases]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Curry Malott|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Japan’s Conspiracy bill signals new threats to the anti-U.S. base movement|date=2017-07-13|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/japans-conspiracy-bill-signals-new-threats-to-the-anti-u-s-base-movement/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717181646/https://www.liberationnews.org/japans-conspiracy-bill-signals-new-threats-to-the-anti-u-s-base-movement/|archive-date=2022-07-17|retrieved=2022-11-25}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Government ==<br />
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution prevents Japan from having an army, air force, or navy. Since 1952, Japan has used the [[Japanese Self-Defense Forces]] as an extension of the [[police]] and [[prison]] system. The [[Government of the United States of America|U.S. government]] and Prime Minister [[Fumio Kishida]] are trying to remove the article and rearm Japan. The right-wing imperialist [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]], which has ruled almost continually since the 1950s, also supports militarism and rearmament.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Sarah Flounders|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Japan rearms under Washington’s pressure − a wake-up call to the antiwar movement|date=2022-12-28|url=https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68400/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229040859/https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68400/|archive-date=2022-12-29|retrieved=2023-01-02}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Culture ==<br />
<br />
=== Art ===<br />
<br />
==== Animation ====<br />
<br />
Japanese animation is a staple of Japanese popular culture. After the 1960s, Japan has garnered a reputation for the production of Japanese animation; a particular style of Japanese animation is a mix of foreign and Japanese influence, often referred to by foreigners as ''anime.'' <br />
<br />
The Japanese animation industry was worth 2.4 trillion yen (17.2 billion USD) in 2020.<ref>{{Citation|trans-title=アニメ産業レポート2021|trans-lang=Japanese|title=Anime Industry Report 2021|publisher=[[Association of Japanese Animation]]|quote=Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the anime industry market grossed 2.4 trillion yen in 2020 (96.5%). When broken down into individual categories, the demand for people to stay at home affected the streaming market, which reached its highest profits ever at 93 billion yen (135.8%), and the international market overtook the domestic market for the first time at 1.2 trillion yen (103.2%)}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Japanese animation industry notoriously exploits workers. Japanese animators are commonly overworked for low wages.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.japan-press.co.jp/2008/2557/labor.html|title=Animation workers seek better working conditions|newspaper=[[Akahata]]|date=2007-01-05}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/exploitation-in-the-anime-industry-an-entry-level-animator-in-japan-explains-why-she-earned-175-week-202283.html|title=Exploitation In The Anime Industry: An Entry-Level Animator In Japan Explains Why She Earned $175/Week|author=Alex Dudok de Wit|date=2021-02-24-T17:35}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Religion ===<br />
The dominant religions in Japan are Shinto (the native polytheistic religion of the country) and [[Buddhism]]. Shinto practices are deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. Most Japanese practice both of these religions at the same time. As of 2021, 48.6% of Japanese claim to practice Shinto, 46.4% Buddhism, 1.1% [[Christianity]], and 4% "others." The number of Japanese claiming to follow any religion at all has been declining.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Aaron O'Neill|title=Japan: Religious affiliations in 2021|newspaper=Statistica|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/237609/religions-in-japan/|date=2024-08-30}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global north]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Japan]]<br />
[[Category:Formerly fascist countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_the_Philippines&diff=77207Republic of the Philippines2024-10-29T03:40:11Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Republic of the Philippines|native_name=Republika ng Pilipinas|image_flag=Flag of the Philippines.svg|image_map=Philippines map.png|image_map_size=290|official_languages=Filipino, English|image_coat=Coat of arms of the Philippines.svg|capital=[[Manila]]|largest_city=[[Quezon City]]|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Unitary presidential republic|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=[[Bongbong Marcos]]|area_km2=300,000|population_estimate=109,991,095|population_estimate_year=2021|established_event1=Independence from [[Kingdom of Spain (1874–1930)|Spain]]|established_event2=Independence from [[United States of America|United States]]|established_date1=June 12, 1898|established_date2=July 4, 1946}}<br />
<br />
The '''Philippines''', officially the '''Republic of the Philippines''', is an liberal democratic island country in [[Southeast Asia]]. It is currently occupied by five U.S. military bases.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=[[Jeremy Kuzmarov]]|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=Filipinos Don’t Want Their Country to Be Used As a “Launching Pad” for a U.S. War Against China or Any Other Country|date=2022-12-09|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/12/09/filipinos-dont-want-their-country-to-be-used-as-a-launching-pad-for-a-u-s-war-against-china-or-any-other-country/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216051741/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/12/09/filipinos-dont-want-their-country-to-be-used-as-a-launching-pad-for-a-u-s-war-against-china-or-any-other-country/|archive-date=2022-12-16|retrieved=2022-12-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== U.S. invasion ===<br />
After the end of the [[Spanish–Statesian War]] in 1898, the [[United States of America|United States]] invaded the Philippines and colonized it. When the Filipino people resisted, 126,000 U.S. soldiers were sent, killing at least a million people.<ref>{{Citation|author=Manuel Arellano Remondo|year=1908|title=General Geography of the Philippine Islands}}</ref> General J. Franklin Bell estimated that one-sixth of the population on [[Luzon]], the largest island, was killed,<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=The Espresso Stalinist|title=Philippine-American War|url=https://espressostalinist.com/genocide/philippine-american-war/|retrieved=2022-04-24}}</ref> and some have even estimated that three million Filipinos were killed.<ref>{{News citation|author=E. Ahmed|newspaper=The Nation|title=The Theory and Fallacies of Counter-Insurgency|date=1971-08-02}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1899, the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] a proposal banning Filipinos from becoming U.S. citizens. It also prevented the Philippines from creating an independent government. [[Emilio Aguinaldo]] declared independence and established a government in Manila and fought against 70,000 U.S. troops. When Aguinaldo turned to guerrilla warfare, the USA began a scorched-earth policy against them. By 1902, the U.S. military had 492 stations in the Philippines. The main resistance ended in 1902, but sporadic fighting continued until 1913.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Going Global|page=195–9|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Japanese invasion ===<br />
[[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]] occupied the Philippines, and 1,111,938 Filipinos died during the war.<ref name=":0222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=The Military Opens Doors|page=220|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref> The USA gave nominal independence to the Philippines in 1946 but continued to control it as a [[Neocolonialism|neocolony]].<ref name=":02222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Empire of Bases|page=|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref><sup>:265</sup> The USA continued to occupy 23 military bases with 99-year rent-free leases.<ref name=":02222" /><sup>:271</sup><br />
<br />
The Statesian military fought against the [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] [[People's Army against Japan|Hukbalahap]] resistance movement during and after the Japanese invasion. They organized the Filipino military to fight against the rebels and defeated them in 1953.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Blum|year=2002|title=Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower|chapter=A Concise History of United States Global Interventions,<br />
1945 to the Present|isbn=9781842772201|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=29EED3C6906FF165E08303B9EAF66B4F|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedas5bwprytpzcih6tof3ipede5uzmcvt47tfzwp4cptdau6vmjpy?filename=William%20Blum%20-%20Rogue%20State_%20A%20Guide%20to%20the%20World%27s%20Only%20Superpower-Zed%20Books%20Ltd%20%282002%29.pdf|page=110}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Marcos dictatorship ===<br />
The [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] was reestablished in 1968 and began a [[People's war|protracted people's war]] against the US-backed dictator [[Ferdinand Marcos]]. Marcos suspended habeas corpus in 1971 and declared martial law in 1972. In addition to fighting [[Maoism|Maoist]] rebels, the Marcos regime fought against Moro secessionists led by the [[Moro National Liberation Front]]. Marcos was overthrown in 1986. During this period, the USA used the Philippines as a base for bombing [[Vietnam]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Jose Maria Sison|year=2012|title=Rise and Fall of Marcos Fascist Dictatorship|title-url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dhpjISwB2tuC8D32UEPP_BDKi_JbGYpz/view}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Recent history ===<br />
Bongbong Marcos, the son of the former dictator, was elected in May 2022. He appointed [[Bartolome Bacarro]], who previously fought against the [[New People's Army]], as the military chief of staff.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global south]]<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Countries invaded by the United States]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Malaysia&diff=77206Malaysia2024-10-29T03:38:44Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Malaysia|image_flag=Flag of Malaysia.svg|image_coat=Coat of arms of Malaysia.svg|capital=Kuala Lumpur|largest_city=capital|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Federal parliamentary constitutional elective [[monarchy]]|leader_title1=Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Monarch)|leader_name1=[[Ibrahim Iskandar]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Anwar Ibrahim]]|image_map=Malaysia map.svg|map_width=290|demonym=Malaysian|area_km2=330,803|population_census=34,564,810|population_census_year=2024}}<br />
<br />
'''Malaysia''' is a constitutional monarchy and a federal liberal nation in [[Southeast Asia]] separated into two regions by the [[South China Sea]]: Peninsula Malaysia and Eastern Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia is situated in mainland [[Asia]], bordering [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]] to the north with a maritime border with [[Republic of Singapore|Singapore]] to the south. Eastern Malaysia is located on the island of [[Borneo]] which it shares with [[Brunei Darussalam|Brunei]] to the north and [[Republic of Indonesia|Indonesia]] to the south.<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Colonization ===<br />
The [[Malayan Communist Party]] fought against the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] [[Colonialism|colonizers]] from 1948 until independence in 1957.<ref name=":1222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Singapore|page=249|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref><sup>:249</sup> In 1965, [[Republic of Singapore|Singapore]] seceded from Malaysia.<ref name=":1222" /><sup>:252</sup><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Indonesia&diff=77205Republic of Indonesia2024-10-29T03:36:53Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Republic of Indonesia|native_name=Republik Indonesia|image_flag=Flag of Indonesia.svg|population_estimate=273,879,750|population_estimate_year=2021|population_census=270,203,917|population_census_year=2020|area_km2=1,904,569|image_coat=National emblem of Indonesia.svg|capital=Jakarta|largest_city=Jakarta|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|image_map=Indonesia map.png|map_width=290|official_languages=Indonesian}}<br />
<br />
'''Indonesia''', officially the '''Republic of Indonesia''', is an island liberal country in [[Southeast Asia]].<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Dutch colonialism ===<br />
The [[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Dutch]] [[Slavery|enslaved]] people from Celebes, imprisoned them in secret dungeons, and then sent them to Java. From 1750 to 1811, the population of Banjuwangi in Java dropped from 80,000 to 18,000.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Domenico Losurdo]]|year=2011|title=Liberalism: A Counter-History|chapter=What Is Liberalism?|page=20–21|publisher=Verso|isbn=9781844676934|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5BB3406BC2E64972831A1C00D5D4BFE4|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacebhsj2yxuoudkhkjp6lzgr5jvgyhu76zxe4gw3d65gpg32a6nded4?filename=Domenico%20Losurdo%2C%20Gregory%20Elliott%20-%20Liberalism_%20A%20Counter-History-Verso%20%282011%29.pdf}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Sukarno government ===<br />
In 1948, during negotiations with the Dutch, the [[Communist Party of Indonesia]] (PKI) attempted a revolution. The army killed many of the PKI's leaders and jailed about 36,000 people.<br />
<br />
President [[Sukarno]] tried to form an alliance between the PKI and his [[Nationalism|nationalist]] movement. In 1957, he declared martial law to prevent a communist revolution because 30% of soldiers were in the PKI.<ref name=":12222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Bali|page=|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref><sup>:152–3</sup><br />
<br />
=== Mass killings ===<br />
In October 1965, General [[Suharto]] accused the PKI of organizing a coup attempt after the death of six generals.<ref>{{News citation|author=Vincent Bevins|newspaper=The Atlantic|title=What the United States Did in Indonesia|date=2017-10-20|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411204844/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/|archive-date=2022-04-11|retrieved=2022-05-07}}</ref> He overthrew [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned]] president Sukarno with [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]], [[Australia|Australian]], and [[United States of America|Statesian]] support<ref name=":0">{{News citation|newspaper=Independent|title=Suharto: 'One of the greatest mass murderers of the 20th century'|date=2008-02-03|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/suharto-one-of-the-greatest-mass-murderers-of-the-20th-century-777103.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909040710/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/suharto-one-greatest-mass-murderers-20th-century-777103.html|archive-date=2021-09-09|retrieved=2022-05-07}}</ref> and began mass executions of [[Communism|communists]] and suspected [[Left-wing politics|leftists]]. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] provided lists of thousands of suspected communists to Suharto.<ref>{{Citation|author=Austin Murphy|year=2000|title=The Triumph of Evil|chapter=Introduction|page=41|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil.pdf|publisher=European Press Academic Publishing|isbn=8883980026}}</ref> Trade unionists and ethnic Chinese were also targeted.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Human Rights Watch|title=Indonesia: US Documents Released on 1965-66 Massacres|date=2017-10-18|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/18/indonesia-us-documents-released-1965-66-massacres#|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324004448/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/18/indonesia-us-documents-released-1965-66-massacres|archive-date=2022-03-24|retrieved=2022-05-07}}</ref><br />
<br />
The military killed up to two million people, including 8% of the population of Bali. [[D. N. Aidit]], the leader of the PKI, was murdered while trying to escape to Yogyakarta.<ref name=":12222" /><sup>:154</sup><br />
<br />
=== Invasion of East Timor ===<br />
In 1975, one day after U.S. President [[Gerald Ford]] and Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] finished their visit to Indonesia, Suharto began an invasion of [[Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste|East Timor]]. Indonesian forces overthrew East Timor's government and killed 100,000 to 200,000 people out of a total population of 600,000.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Michael Parenti]]|year=1995|title=Against Empire|chapter=Imperial Domination Updated|section=With Rational Violence|page=16|pdf=http://uploads.worldlibrary.org/uploads/pdf/20180112220352parenti_against_empire.pdf}}</ref> The CIA stated that this may not have been possible without U.S. support. Suharto ruled until 1998.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global south]]<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Countries targeted by CIA coups]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Kingdom_of_Cambodia&diff=77204Kingdom of Cambodia2024-10-29T03:34:06Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Kingdom of Cambodia|native_name=ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា|image_flag=Flag of Cambodia.svg|image_coat=Coat of arms of Cambodia.svg|capital=Phnom Penh|largest_city=Phnom Penh|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Constitutional monarchy|leader_title1=Monarch|leader_name1=Norodom Sihamoni|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Hun Sen]]|image_map=Cambodia map.svg|map_width=260|area_km2=181,035|population_estimate=16,713,015|population_estimate_year=2022}}<br />
<br />
'''Cambodia''', officially the '''Kingdom of Cambodia''', is a constitutional monarchy and a liberal nation in Southeast Asia.<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
In 1969 and 1970, [[Henry Kissinger|Kissinger]] and [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] secretly bombed Cambodia and then overthrew Prince [[Sihanouk]], who had refused to be a [[United States of America|U.S.]] puppet. The bombing destroyed Cambodia's traditional economy and allowed [[Pol Pot]] to take power five years later.<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=[[William Blum]]|year=2002|title=Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower|chapter=A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present|isbn=9781842772201|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=29EED3C6906FF165E08303B9EAF66B4F|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedas5bwprytpzcih6tof3ipede5uzmcvt47tfzwp4cptdau6vmjpy?filename=William%20Blum%20-%20Rogue%20State_%20A%20Guide%20to%20the%20World%27s%20Only%20Superpower-Zed%20Books%20Ltd%20%282002%29.pdf|page=116}}</ref><br />
<br />
Before the US bombing, Pol Pot only had about 5,000 supporters. His recruitment relied on the bombing, and his army grew to 200,000 people when he took power.<br />
<br />
In late 1978, [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] invaded and ousted Pol Pot, pushing him to the border with [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]]. The United States continued to support Pol Pot and gave him international military support. It also helped [[Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979)|Democratic Kampuchea]] keep its seat at the [[United Nations|UN]] even after it collapsed.<ref>{{Web citation|date=2023-05-24|title=Kissinger's secret war in Cambodia reveals mass killings: Intercept|url=https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/kissingers-secret-war-in-cambodia-reveals-mass-killings:-int|newspaper=[[Al Mayadeen]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530171948/https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/kissingers-secret-war-in-cambodia-reveals-mass-killings:-int|archive-date=2023-05-30}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]<br />
[[Category:Countries targeted by CIA coups]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Singapore&diff=77203Republic of Singapore2024-10-29T03:31:17Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Republic of Singapore|native_name=新加坡共和国<br>Republik Singapura<br>சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு|image_flag=Flag of Singapore.svg|image_coat=Coat of arms of Singapore.svg|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|image_map=Singapore map.png|map_width=290|official_languages=Chinese<br>English<br>Malay<br>Tamil|area_km2=733.1|population_estimate=5,453,600|population_estimate_year=2021}}<br />
<br />
'''Singapore''', officially the '''Republic of Singapore''', is a liberal democratic city-state in Southeast Asia. It has no natural resources and relies on foreign trade.<ref name=":12222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Singapore|page=|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref><sup>:254</sup><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== British colonization ===<br />
The [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922)|British]] seized Singapore in 1819 to use as a base for trading with [[Qing dynasty (1636–1912)|China]]. The Second World War severely damaged Singapore.<ref name=":1222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Singapore|page=|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref><sup>:249</sup><br />
<br />
[[Li Guangyao]] of the [[People's Action Party]] won Singapore's elections in 1959. In 1963, he began suppressing the [[Malayan Communist Party]] and [[trade union]] leaders.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
<br />
=== Independence ===<br />
Singapore became independent in 1965.<ref name=":1222" /><sup>:247</sup> It gave major tax incentives to foreign companies starting in 1967. It abolished quotas and [[Tariff|tariffs]] in 1973.<ref name=":1222" /><sup>:253</sup><br />
<br />
Li banned the [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] [[Singapore Association of Trade Unions]] and promoted the [[National Trades Union Congress]]. The NTUC began establishing [[Worker cooperative|cooperatives]] in the 1970s, and the powers of trade unions were limited in 1982.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Ravi Chandren|newspaper=The Socialist|title=Singapore: A historical background|date=2006-06-26|url=https://thesocialist.org.au/singapore-a-historical-background/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031125420/https://thesocialist.org.au/singapore-a-historical-background/|archive-date=2020-10-31|retrieved=2022-09-11}}</ref> Between 1978 and 1997, Singapore only had two [[Strike action|strikes]].<ref name=":1222" /><sup>:253</sup><br />
<br />
== Economy ==<br />
From 1965 to 1990, Singapore's GDP grew by an average of 6.5% per year. Manufacturing grew from 7.2% to more than 75% of exports between 1960 and 1990, but this growth mainly only benefitted the [[Bourgeoisie|ruling class]], which made up 3% of the population.<ref name=":1222" /><sup>:246</sup><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Asian countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Italian_Republic&diff=77202Italian Republic2024-10-29T03:29:07Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox country|name=Italian Republic|leader_name1=Sergio Mattarella|established_date1=17 March 1861|established_event2=Republic|established_event1=Unification|area_km2=301,340|population_estimate_year=2020|population_estimate=60,317,116|leader_name2=[[Giorgia Meloni]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|native_name=Repubblica Italiana|leader_title1=President|government_type=Unitary parliamentary republic|image_map=Map_of_Italy.svg|image_map_size=200|official_languages=Italian|largest_city=Rome|image_coat=Emblem_of_Italy.svg|capital=Rome|mode_of_production=Capitalism|image_flag=Flag of Italy.svg|established_date2=2 June 1946}}<br />
'''Italy''', officially the '''Italian Republic''' (''Repubblica Italiana'') , is a liberal democratic country in Western and Southern Europe. Consisting of the Italian peninsula and various islands in the Mediterranean, most prominent being Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, Italy shares the Alps with [[France]], [[Switzerland]], [[Austria]] and [[Slovenia]]. Italy has two enclaves, that being [[Vatican City]] and [[San Marino]]. It covers an area of 301,340 square kilometers and has a population of nearly 60 million people. Their official language is Italian. <br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Unification ===<br />
{{Main article|Risorgimento}}<br />
<br />
=== Fascism (1922–1943) ===<br />
{{Main article|Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)#Fascism}}<br />
During most of the Interwar period and the [[Second World War]], a [[Fascism|fascist]] regime under [[Benito Mussolini]] ruled Italy, the economy declined, many ethnic groups, particularly in Italian colonies such as [[Libya]], saw heavy repression, and some of the first mass privatizations occurred.<br />
<br />
=== Cold War ===<br />
The USA briefly ended its occupation of Italy in 1947 but returned in 1949 when Italy joined [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]].<ref name=":02222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=The Spoils of War|page=298|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref> Statesian and Italian leaders worried that [[Italian Communist Party|communist]] and socialist parties would come to power.<ref name=":022222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Normalizing Occupation|page=308–9|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1948, the communist [[Palmiro Togliatti]] ran in the Italian general election. The [[CIA]] rigged the election and spread capitalist propaganda,<ref>{{Citation|author=William Blum|year=2004|title=Killing Hope|chapter=Italy, 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood-style|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=https://williamblum.org/chapters/killing-hope/italy|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> causing Togliatti to lose to the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy Party]]. The U.S. military stationed warships around Italy before the election.<ref name=":022222" /><br />
<br />
The CIA interfered in seven more elections in Italy before 2000.<ref name=":0222222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Normalizing Occupation|page=311–2|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Politics ==<br />
Since September 2022, a right-wing coalition of the [[Fratelli d'Italia]], [[Lega per Salvini Premier|Lega]], and [[Forza Italia]] parties have governed Italy.<ref>{{Web citation|author=NPA Antifascist Commission|newspaper=International Viewpoint|title=The resistible rise of the far right in Europe|date=2024-05-19|url=https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8528|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529031140/https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8528|archive-date=2024-05-29}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references/><br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global north]]<br />
[[Category:European countries]]<br />
[[Category:Formerly fascist countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Finland&diff=77201Republic of Finland2024-10-29T03:12:22Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Republic of Finland|native_name=Suomen tasavalta<br>Republiken Finland|image_flag=Flag of Finland.svg|largest_city=[[Helsinki]]|image_coat=Coat of arms of Finland.svg|capital=[[Helsinki]]|image_map=Finland map.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=Finnish<br>Swedish|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=[[Alexander Stubb]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Petteri Orpo]]|area_km2=338,455|population_estimate=5,536,146|population_estimate_year=2020}}<br />
<br />
'''Finland''', officially the '''Republic of Finland''', is a Nordic [[Social democracy|social democratic]] country in Northern Europe. To the northwest, it borders [[Kingdom of Sweden|Sweden]] and to the north, [[Kingdom of Norway|Norway]]. Its entire eastern frontier borders the [[Russian Federation]]. Finland's maritime borders include the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland.<br />
<br />
The country has a total area of 303,815 square kilometers and a population of 5.6 million people with most being ethnic Finns.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Various|newspaper=World Population Review|title=Finland Population 2024|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/finland}}</ref> Finland's official language is Finnish and Swedish.<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
The area in which we now know as Finland was first inhabited around 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age.<br />
<br />
As the Bronze Age came to Finland, the use of agriculture and animal husbandry was slowed by the changing climate.<ref>{{Citation|author=Georg Haggren; Petri Halinen; Mika Levanto; Sami Raninen; Anna Wessmen|year=2015|title=Muinaisuutemme jäljet|page=199, 210 - 211|city=Helsinki}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Grand Duchy of Finland ===<br />
Finland was part of [[Sweden]] for 600 years until being ceded to the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]] in 1808 as an autonomous [[Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)|Grand Duchy]] and approved by the Diet of Porvoo.<ref name=":0">{{News citation|author=Victor Vaughn|newspaper=The Espresso Stalinist|title=The Communist League: The Soviet-Finnish War|date=2011-10-08|url=https://espressostalinist.com/2011/10/08/the-communist-league-the-soviet-finnish-war/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119032311/https://espressostalinist.com/2011/10/08/the-communist-league-the-soviet-finnish-war/|archive-date=2021-01-19|retrieved=2022-05-14}}</ref> It became a Russian protectorate under the ''Diet of Finland'' (''valtiopäivät)'' - an institution that consisted of 4 Estates (the nobility, the clergy, the burghers and the peasants). Finland at this point had no military or independent foreign or economic policy.<ref name=":1">{{News citation|author=[[TheFinnishBolshevik]]|newspaper=ML-Theory|title=The Finnish Communist Revolution (1918) PART 1: Finnish Independence|date=2018-04-03|url=https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/the-finnish-communist-revolution-1918-part-1-finnish-independence/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622100111/https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/the-finnish-communist-revolution-1918-part-1-finnish-independence/|archive-date=2022-06-22|retrieved=2022-07-19}}</ref> In 1854, Finland was dragged into the imperialist war in the Crimea and was bombarded by the French and British navies in the '''''Åland War'''''.<br />
<br />
In the wake of a deadly famine that killed of 15% of the population during the 1860s<ref>{{Citation|author=M. Eric Gershwin; J. Bruce German; Carl L. Keen|year=2000|title=Nutrition and immunology: principles and practice|publisher=Humana Press|isbn=0-89603-719-3}}</ref>, a strong nationalist movement gained momentum that seeked to establish a Finnish identity despite Russification. This campaigne to assimilate the Finns rose to a high point after the Tsar's ''February Manifesto'' - a document restricting the autonomous rights of Finns in the Russian Empire which had major opposition in all strata of Finnish society. <br />
<br />
During the [[Russian revolution of 1905|1905 revolution in Russia]], the socialist organized general strikes among workers to demand for parliamentary reform. Finally, Finland gained its own parliament - the unicameral Parliament of Finland (''Suomen eduskunta)'' of 200 MPs, although it was still controlled by Russia. In 1906, universal suffrage (including for women) was introduced to Finland and its first election was organized the next year in 1907. Finnish [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] and nobility worked with the tsar to oppose the Finnish independence movement, which was led by [[Proletariat|proletarians]].<ref name=":1" /><br />
<br />
In 1916, socialists gained a majority in the Finnish parliament and passed the Power Act, declaring that the Finnish government was sovereign from Russian involvement.<ref name=":1" /><br />
<br />
=== Russian revolution ===<br />
The Finnish government allied itself with [[Alexander Kerensky|Kerensky]]'s provisional government after the [[February Revolution]] of 1917.<ref name=":1" /><br />
<br />
The [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolsheviks]], who took power in Russia in November 1917, supported Finnish independence.<ref>{{Citation|author=Antti Hyvönen|year=1977|title=The Great Events of 1917-18|publisher=Kansankulttuuri|isbn=9516151469|trans-title=Suurten tapahtumien vuodet 1917-18|trans-lang=Finnish}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=P. E. Svinhufvud; E. N. Setälä; Kyösti Kallio; Jalmar Castrén; Onni Talas; Arthur Castrén; Heikki Renvall; Juhani Arajärvi; Alexander Frey; E. Y. Pehkonen.|year=December 4, 1917|title=Finland's Declaration of Independence|quote=To The Finnish People.<br />
<br />
The Finnish Parliament has on 15th day of the last November, in support of Section 38 of the Constitution, declared to be the Supreme holder of the State Authority as well as set up a Government to the country, that has taken to its primary task the realization and safeguarding Finland's independence as a state. The people of Finland have by this step taken their fate in their own hands: a step both justified and demanded by present conditions. The people of Finland feel deeply that they cannot fulfil their national duty and their universal human obligations without a complete sovereignty. The century-old desire for freedom awaits fulfilment now; The People of Finland has to step forward as an independent nation among the other nations in the world.<br />
<br />
Achieving this goal requires mainly some measures by the Parliament. Finland's current form of government, which is currently incompatible with the conditions, requires a complete renewal and therefore has the Government now submitted a proposition for a new Constitution to the Parliament's council, a proposition that is based on the principle that Finland is to be a sovereign republic. Considering that, the main features of the new polity has to be carried into effect immediately, the Government has at the same time delivered a bill of acts in this matter, which mean to satisfy the most urgent renewal needs before the establishment of the new Constitution.<br />
<br />
The same goal also calls for measures from the part of the Government. The Government will approach foreign powers to seek an international recognition of our country's independence as a state. At the present moment this is particularly all the more necessary, when the grave situation caused by the country's complete isolation, famine and unemployment compels the Government to establish actual relations to the foreign powers, which prompt assistance in satisfying the necessities of life and in importing the essential goods for the industry, are our only rescue from the imminent famine and industrial stagnation.<br />
<br />
The Russian people have, after subverting the Tsarist Regime, in a number of occasions expressed their intention to favour the Finnish people the right to determine their own fate, which is based on their centuries-old cultural development. And widely over all the horrors of the war is heard a voice, that one of the goals of the present war is to be, that no nation shall be forced against its will to be dependent on another (nation). The Finnish people believe that the free Russian people and its constitutive National Assembly don't want to prevent Finland's aspiration to enter the multitude of the free and independent nations. At the same time the People of Finland dare to hope that the other nations of the world recognizes, that with their full independence and freedom the People of Finland can do their best in fulfilment of those purposes that will win them an independent position amongst the people of the civilized world.<br />
<br />
At the same time as the Government has wanted to let all the Finnish citizens to know these words, the Government turns to the citizens, as well as the private and public authorities, calling everyone on their own behalf with rapt attention to follow the (law and) order by filling their patriotic duty, to strain all their strength for achieving the nation's common goal in this point of time, which has such an importance and decisiveness, that there have never before been in the life of the Finnish people.|city=Helsinki}}</ref> Finland declared independence from [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russia]] on 6 December 1917 and was recognized on 2 January 1918. A communist revolution began in Finland in 1918 but was defeated by [[Carl Mannerheim]] with [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]] support. Mannerheim supported foreign intervention against the [[Red Army]] and allowed Western countries to launch military operations from Finland. In 1920, the Soviets were forced to sign the [[Treaty of Tartu]], which moved the Finnish border to only 18 miles from [[Petrograd]].<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
=== Second World War ===<br />
<br />
==== Negotiations ====<br />
At the beginning of the [[Second World War]], the Soviet Union negotiated with Finland in an attempt to reduce the threat of [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]]. It offered a mutual defense pact with Finland and cession of the Karelian Isthmus and the Rybachi and Sredni Peninsulas to the USSR in exchange for territorial and trade compensations for Finland. The Finnish government initially supported the proposal but changed its mind after meeting with the kings of [[Kingdom of Norway|Norway]], [[Kingdom of Sweden|Sweden]], and [[Kingdom of Denmark|Denmark]]. A group of Finnish soldiers fired on the [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] at the border, leading the Soviet Union to propose that Finnish troops withdraw a short distance from the Soviet border. There were no Finnish cities or strategic points in the proposed withdrawal area. Finland refused to withdraw its troops and the Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with Finland.<ref>{{Citation|author=Alter Brody, et al.|year=1940|title=War and Peace in Finland|chapter=Origins of the Conflict|page=6–8|pdf=https://ia800104.us.archive.org/11/items/WarPeaceFinland/War%20Peace%20Finland.pdf|city=New York City, [[United States of America|United States]]|publisher=Soviet Russia Today}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== NATO ===<br />
In May 2022, the Finnish government announced that it planned to join the [[Imperialism|imperialist]] organization [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]]. The [[Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism]], opposes this action and wants Finland to remain a neutral country.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Eight reasons why Finland should not join NATO|date=2022-05-16|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2022/05/eight-reasons-why-finland-should-not-join-nato.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516004831/http://www.idcommunism.com/2022/05/eight-reasons-why-finland-should-not-join-nato.html|archive-date=2022-05-16|retrieved=2022-05-22}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Politics ==<br />
The [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] [[Populism|populist]] and [[Nationalism|nationalist]] [[Finns Party]] received 13.8% of votes in the most recent Finnish election. Until recently, it governed in a coalition with the [[Center Party]] and center-right [[National Coalition Party]]. The [[Finnish Resistance Movement]] is the Finnish branch of the [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] [[Nordic Resistance Movement]] and has attacked [[LGBT+|LGBT]] and [[Anti-racism|anti-racist]] demonstrations.<ref>{{Web citation|date=2019-07-22|title=Dissecting Identity & Democracy: the EU’s new far-right super group|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2019/07/22/dissecting-identity-democracy-the-eus-new-far-right-super-group/|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921200918/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2019/07/22/dissecting-identity-democracy-the-eus-new-far-right-super-group/|archive-date=2020-09-21|retrieved=2022-11-23|author=Ellen Rivera, Marsha P. Davis}}</ref> The Finns Party controls the ministries of Economy, Finance, Interior, Justice, and Social Affairs.<ref>{{Web citation|author=NPA Antifascist Commission|newspaper=International Viewpoint|title=The resistible rise of the far right in Europe|date=2024-05-19|url=https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8528|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529031140/https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8528|archive-date=2024-05-29}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global north]]<br />
[[Category:European countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=77186Hồ Chí Minh2024-10-28T13:40:09Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. On April 14, Ho Chi Minh became an off-staff cadre of the Eastern department of the Comintern with a monthly salary of 6 chervonets (60 rubles).<br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''5th Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate. The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref> It was here in Moscow that he attended the ''Communist University of the Toilers of the East''.<ref>{{Citation|author=William J. Duiker|year=2000|title=Ho Chi Minh: A life|city=New York}}</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924</ref><br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou as a interpreter for Mikhail Borodin and began his revolutionary activities with locals.<br />
<br />
===== 1925 - Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League =====<br />
Under the new name of ''Lý Thụy'', and the mandate to promote the working class movement in Indochina, he opened a political training class. Under the Communist Youth Corps, most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. To further strengthen the movement, he contacted Vietnamese exile groups in several southern Chinese cities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Alexander Woodside|year=1976|title=Community and revolution in modern Vietnam|page=166|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the "Special Political Training Class". He took the name ''Vương''. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the [[Communist Party of China]] such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc. Each training session would last about 3 to 4 months. The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China. <ref>{{Citation|author=Various authors|year=1960|title=Uncle Ho|page=95|city=Hanoi|publisher=Văn học Publishers|trans-title=Bác Hồ|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
On June 21 1925, the Revolutionary Youth League was officially established. The headquarters of the League was located in a rented three-story house on 13 Wen Ming Street, in downtown Guangzhou. The League published pamphlets and periodicals (in Vietnamese) on different political subjects. ''The Road to Revolution'' (''Đường Kách Mệnh''), a training manual for the League's members, was a collection of Ho Chi Minh's lecture notes for the training course.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=77185Hồ Chí Minh2024-10-28T13:05:47Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. On April 14, Ho Chi Minh became an off-staff cadre of the Eastern department of the Comintern with a monthly salary of 6 chervonets (60 rubles).<br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''5th Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate. The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref> It was here in Moscow that he attended the ''Communist University of the Toilers of the East''.<ref>{{Citation|author=William J. Duiker|year=2000|title=Ho Chi Minh: A life|city=New York}}</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924</ref><br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou and began his revolutionary activities with locals.<br />
<br />
===== 1925 - Youth Organisation =====<br />
Begining of the year, he opened a political training class. Most of the students were nationalist Vietnamese youth, students, intellectuals, and some of whom were Confucian scholars. The curriculum was divided into 3 issues: World revolution, Vietnamese revolution, and methods of revolutionary mobilization. <br />
<br />
Lectures on world revolution compared the [[Russian revolution of 1917|Russian revolution]] with the British and [[French revolution (1789)|French bourgeois revolutions]]. Regarding the Vietnamese case, lectures analyzed the oppression and exploitation of the native people by French colonialism, pointing out that the main driving force for the overthrow of colonial and feudal system were the workers and peasants. Regarding revolutionary mobilization, there were lessons on agitating, organizing, and mobilization of workers, peasants, women, intellectuals, etc.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was the main lecturer of the courses. He took the name ''Vương''. In addition, the lecturers also included a number of cadres from the Soviet advisory group working in China at that time and a number of cadres of the [[Communist Party of China]] such as Bang Bai (lecturing on agricultural mobilization work), etc.<br />
<br />
The class also published a "wall newspaper" posting students' articles. Sometimes, there are cultural activities or visits to the Whampoa Military Academy, visiting the graves of 72 martyrs on Huanghuagang Hill, who sacrificed their lives during the Xinhai Revolution (1911) in China.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=76391Hồ Chí Minh2024-10-08T12:17:12Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><ref>"From the Annamese peasants to the natives in the Dahomey forests, they have secretly heard that in a faraway corner of the sky there is a people who have driven out their exploiters and are now governing their own land without the need of masters. They have heard that the country is called Russia, that there are brave people, and the bravest of them all is ''Lenin''..."<br />
<br />
Pravda January 27, 1924</ref> At around this time, he also met the Italian socialist Giovanni Germanetto<ref>L'Unità on March 15, 1924</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh collected works|page=480 - 483|city=Hanoi|volume=1}}</ref> and Indian revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy<ref>{{Citation|author=S.R. Mohandas|year=1950|title=Ho Chi Minh, the patriot|page=2 - 3|city=Bombay}}</ref>. On April 14, Ho Chi Minh became an off-staff cadre of the Eastern department of the Comintern with a monthly salary of 6 chervonets (60 rubles).<br />
<br />
In mid June, Ho Chi Minh attended the '''4th Congress of the Communist ''Youth'' International'''. Two days later, he attended the '''Fifth Congress of the Communist International''' as an advisory delegate. The Congress met at the ''Andreyevsky Palace'' in the Kremlin with the participation of ''504 delegates'' from ''49 Communist and Workers' Parties'' representing 1,319,000 communist party members worldwide.<ref>Shorthand of the Fifth Congress of the Communist International (Russian edition). Part I, M, L, 1925, p.32</ref><br />
<br />
Throughout his stay, Ho Chi Minh was frustrated that his trip to Guangzhou was delayed again and again.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh: collected works|page=303 - 304|city=Hanoi}}</ref> Finally, On September 25, he trip was finally approved by the Comintern.<ref>Paper No. 9 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on September 25, 1924</ref><br />
<br />
On November 11, Ho Chi Minh stepped foot in Guangzhou and began his revolutionary activities with locals.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Mao_Zedong&diff=76254Mao Zedong2024-10-06T06:22:15Z<p>BenWelkins: /* Early life (1893–1911) */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Message box/Missing Sources}}{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| image = File:Mao Zedong portrait.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
|honorific_prefix=Chairman| name=Mao Zedong| native_name= 毛泽东<br />
| image_upright =<br />
| image_alt =<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Mao<br />
| nationality = [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]]<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = 26 December 1893<br />
| birth_place = Shaoshan, Hunan, [[People's Republic of China#Semi-colonial_and_semi-feudal_society_.281840.E2.80.931949.29 | Qing dynasty]]<br />
| death_date = 9, September, 1976 (aged 82)<br />
| death_place = Beijing, [[People's Republic of China]]<br />
| death_cause = Heart attack associated with old age<br />
|political_orientation=[[Marxism–Leninism]] <small>(developed what is now known as [[Mao Zedong Thought]])</small> <br> [[Anti-imperialism]]| political_party=[[Communist Party of China]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Mao Zedong''' {{Datebio|birthday=26th|birthmonth=December|birthyear=1893|deathmonth=September|deathday=9th|deathyear=1976}} was a [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] revolutionary who led the Chinese people to [[Chinese revolution|their proletarian revolution]] and served as the supreme leader of the [[People's Republic of China]] from 1949 to 1976. Under Mao's leadership, China's life expectancy increased from 35 to 65 years and industrial production increased by an average of 11% annually.<ref>{{Citation|author=M. Meissner|year=1996|title=The Deng Xiaoping Era. An Inquiry into the Fate of Chinese Socialism, 1978-1994|city=Hill and Way}}</ref> Per capita food production increased by 60% and total food production increased by over 169%.<ref>{{Citation|author=Guo Shutian|year=2004|title=Can China Feed Itself? Chinese Scholars on China’s Food Issue|chapter=China’s Food Supply and Demand Situation and International Trade|city=Beijing|publisher=Foreign Languages Press}}</ref><br />
<br />
Mao's contributions to the development of Marxism-Leninism, military theory, and the theory of communist party organization are known in China as [[Mao Zedong Thought]]. Mao Zedong was also a poet and calligrapher.<br />
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== Biography ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life (1893–1911) ===<br />
Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893 in a middle [[Peasantry|peasant]] family in Shaoshan Valley, modern day Xiangtan County of Hunan Province, under the reign of [[Qing dynasty (1636–1912)|Qing Dynasty]] Emperor Guangxu.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|author=Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji|year=2011|title=Mao Zedong, a Biography. Volume 1. 1893–1949|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Mao_Zedong,_a_Biography._Volume_1._1893%E2%80%931949|chapter=Leaving Home|chapter-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Mao_Zedong,_a_Biography._Volume_1._1893%E2%80%931949#Leaving_Home|publisher=CCCPC Party Literature Research Office, Translated by Foreign Languages Press|volume=1}}</ref><ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/47b3UXeOlls2dqtF1RBQ9euk5nvQ6S5grjQRBfjOFkWIPa1ltVabtooqj1XMsHEO68MSM1QOJ1SrB8XHur3CBi5Ue5vS3PMNKQ December 26: Mao Zedong was born in Shaoshanchong, Xiangtan, Hunan] - Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.</ref> He was born as the third child of Mao Yichang and Wen Suqin, and the first child to survive infancy. From the age of six, Mao worked on his father's land and at a later age served as the family account keeper, performing farm work alongside the laborers hired by his father. Mao Zedong learned from his own experiences the hardships that the Peasantry suffered, as Mao Yinchang enforced a harsh work discipline on Mao Zedong and his younger brothers, even beating them. Such a life ingrained in Mao a rebellious spirit and good work discipline.<ref name=":2" /> <br />
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When Mao Zedong was 14, Mao Yunchang forced him into marriage for the purposes of securing more farm laborers. But, Mao Zedong never accepted the marriage nor lived with his intended wife. Leaving his father no choice to accept his son's de facto unmarried state.<ref name=":2" /> Contrary to his adversarial relationship with his father, Mao's relation with his mother was far more positive. Wen Suqin's influence reflected in Mao's instances of disobedience against his father's exploitative practices towards neighbors and family members. Mao upheld his mother as the kind of person who would help others at their own expense whereas he remembered his father as a person emblematic of private ownership system that disregarded all fraternity.<ref name=":2" /> <br />
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Since his early childhood, Mao studied at a traditional Chinese private school taught by his maternal uncle in Tangjiatuo in Xiangxiang County, living spent most of his childhood living with his mother's family, till he was 8 years old and brought back home to Shaoshan Valley. In the following 8 years, he attended six more private schools in nearby counties, excepting for two years when his father took him out of school to work full time, and even during his studies, being required to help on the side.<ref name=":2" /> Mao later described his early education as "six years of reading Confucian books" and despite initially favoring the thoughts of the ancient philosophers, he came to dislike them in part due to the teaching styles of his teachers. Growing an interest in books and subjects that his teachers disdained, such as the Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms among other works. Mao's studies and personal preferences cultivated in him a great interest in studying history and appreciation of the role that history plays in shaping the world. He read the tales to other children and elderly of the village, and detected the absence of peasant protagonists from the novels and the class dynamic inherent within the absence.<ref name=":2" /> <br />
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In April 1910, during a time of famine and great suffering, the peasants had come to present petitions requesting aid at the governor's office. The governor's men fired on the petitioners, killing fourteen and wounding many more. The outraged masses set fire to the governor's office and other buildings before the Imperial Qing government bloodily suppressed them, beheading them and displaying the heads as warnings against future uprisings over the city's south gate. The news of the uprising and the bloody repressions reached Shaoshan Valley, where despite initial indignation, people quickly began to forget about the news. Mao for his part was immensely shaken by how innocents were driven to desperation and subsequently murdered. The incident stayed with him for the rest of his life.<ref name=":2" /><br />
<br />
In 1911, famine struck Shaoshan Valley, and the hungry peasants organized themselves and began seizing food from the houses of landlords and delivery of merchants, including from Mao Yunchang. Mao Zedong did not sympathize with his father but as a result of his then reformist mindset, felt that the peasants had went about it wrongly.<ref name=":2" /><br />
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Owing to the isolation of his village, Mao's early political development was highly influenced by Reformist thought, like those of his teacher, Li Shuqing, whom he depended on greatly for developments in wider China like the constitutional reform attempt of the crumbling Qing Dynasty. At the age of 17, filled with the need to continue his studies outside his secluded village and hearing that Dongshan School taught modern knowledge, Mao convinced family members to persuade his father to approve of the move. Leaving the environs of Shaoshan Valley for the first time.<ref name=":2" /><br />
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Dongshan Higher Primary School in Xiangxiang County, Hunan Province, taught classical education but also subjects such as Natural Sciences, Geography and the English. It was at the school that Mao became informed that both the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi had been dead for years and the Xuantong Emperor having been enthroned for two years. Hunan Province was a stronghold of reformist thought and their publications were not outlawed unlike more revolutionary outlets, leading Mao to be influenced by the reformist thoughts of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, who advocated for a Constitutional Monarchy.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0">[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/45c61_sYsjwuFPa1aDDw8lcZjnk3omFT8e1bvav0Kglvx1_WFxZpF-EGCPAwByZusnJrNqR7WCn7nNWeNlb-PDQw3lNdl6gFAXixsnC1_4CqCQ9f-nnHKW0L Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1893-1925) Party History Channel] - People's Daily Online </ref> He was not aware of [[Sun Yat-sen]]’s [[Revolution|Revolutionary]] conceptions of establishing a [[Bourgeois democracy|Bourgeois Democracy]] in place of the old order, which had in fact became the dominant political trend across the country.<ref name=":2" /><br />
<br />
After coming in possession of an edition of ''Xinmin congbao'' (New People’s Miscellany), the journal edited and published by Liang Qichao, Mao made his earliest political commentary. Advocating for a Monarchy with laws written by the people and Monarch favored with public approval, as opposed to a Monarchy where the laws are written by the Monarch and who enjoys no public support. With Britain and Japan as the former while China fell under the latter. Young Mao also put emphasis on great personalities, believing that China should strive to create individuals learned from Western history.<ref name=":2" /><br />
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In the spring of 1911, due to Mao's excellence in learning, his teacher, He Langang, took Mao with him to the Provincial Xiangxiang Middle School in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. On the eve of the Bourgeois Democratic 1911 Revolution, Changsha was a hub of the Province's revolutionary activity, with even the local military forces aligning with the revolutionaries. Changsha was Mao's, then 18, first encounter with revolutionary thought, becoming a dedicated reader of the revolutionary publication ''Minli bao'' (People’s Journal). Expanding his world and political view greatly.<ref name=":2" /> Far from the Imperial Reformist he had been, Mao had become a fervent Republican and lead his fellow students in act of disobedience against Imperial laws, by cutting the legally mandated queue haircuts. News of the Guangzhou Uprising in 27 April 1911 shook the whole of China, including Hunan, where students such as Mao were driven into excitement. It led Mao to write an article supporting Sun Yat-sen, proposing that the revolutionary leader be welcomed home to serve as President but in a display of his still developing political consciousness, advocated also that the Imperial reformist Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao be in the same government. <ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> <br />
<br />
On 10 October 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out and revolutionaries seized the government of Hubei Province, quickly asking revolutionaries in Hunan to rise up in solidarity with them. A representative came to the Xiangxiang Middle School and gave a speech elucidating them on the Uprising, leading Mao and students to eagerly join in the fight for a Republic. Mao was set to leave for Wuhan to join the revolutionary armies gathering there when revolutionaries in Changsha successfully launched their own uprising and established a revolutionary government on 24 October 1911. Mao immediately joined the revolutionary army of the new government, but rather than a student detachment, he opted to join the regular army. Becoming a private in the left platoon of the First Battalion, 25<sup>th</sup> Brigade, of the Hunan New Army.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> <br />
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During his time in the army, Mao would receive military training and a salary, latter of which he would use to purchase newspapers, journals and books to keep apace of political developments across China. It was while reading an article in the ''Xianghan xinwen'' (Xianghan News), that Mao would first encounter the term 'socialism'. The article itself had only been advocating reformism but Mao would become interested in the concept, reaching out to friends and acquaintances for their thoughts. Mao only served in the army for little over half a year since in little over two months after the Wuchang Uprising, majority of China had declared independence from the tottering Qing Dynasty and a peace process began between the Revolutionaries and the Qing. Resulting in a Republic being declared and the last Qing emperor forced into abdication. The conciliationist attitude of the revolutionaries unfortunately resulted in Yuan Shikai, a Qing official and general, becoming provisional president of the new Republic rather than Sun Yat-sen.<ref name=":2" /> <br />
<br />
After leaving the army, Mao resumed his quest for knowledge. He applied for entrance examination of the police academy, the soap-making technical school, the politics and law institute, and the public high school before entering the Hunan Provincial Senior Middle School for a short time. Chafing at the inflexible rules and limited curriculum, Mao left the school and opted for self-study, lodging at the Xiangxiang Guild Hall and securing study material, like the political and scientific works of the West, from the Provincial Library.<ref name=":2" /> Mao spent half a year studying in such a manner before circumstances changed, with his father refusing to financially support his unorthodox learning methods and rampageous disbanded army units coming to board at the Xiangxiang Guildhall, rendering the Guild Hall ill suited for peaceful living.<ref name=":2" /><br />
<br />
=== '''College and developing political consciousness (1912-1919)''' ===<br />
Mao, now 20, resolved to return to school and continue his studies that way when he became aware of the Hunan Provincial Fourth Teachers’ Training College offering free education, cheap housing and a teaching post for graduates. Mao passed the entrance examination and enrolled into the Training College's five year program. The Fourth Teacher's College was subsequently merged with the First Teacher's College located in the southern suburbs of Changsha, delaying Mao's graduation by several months.<ref name=":3" /><br />
<br />
The First Teachers College, also known as Hunan Provincial Normal School, was a storied institution, whose history and incarnations stretched back to the 7th century CE, which endeavored to mold its students into ideal people and whose constitution advocated for up-to-date educational approach. The faculty were noted for their progressive outlook and great knowledge and during Mao's time, many progressive students of all ages but especially the young enrolled there. Earning the School the reputation of being the cradle of progressive youth. A teacher of particular importance was Yang Changji, Mao's ethics teacher. Yang had studied both in Japan and England, and toured Germany and Switzerland before returning to China. Despite being offered a government post, Yang declined and preferred to teach instead, seeing it his duty to guide young mind. He advocated thorough investigations while studying, and the fusion of Chinese and Western knowledge. Yang would be of great influence to young Mao.<ref name=":3" /> <br />
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It was at the College that Mao further developed his political consciousness and became friends with like-minded people. His studies at the College encouraged Mao to put great emphasis on practical work and analysis of the world. Mao kept apace of current events by spending his college allowance to buy materials such as journals, newspapers, maps and reference works. Coming to earn a reputation among his fellow students as an expert in contemporary affairs.<ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji|year=2011|title=Mao Zedong, a Biography. Volume 1. 1893–1949|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Mao_Zedong,_a_Biography._Volume_1._1893%E2%80%931949|chapter=The College Student|chapter-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Mao_Zedong,_a_Biography._Volume_1._1893%E2%80%931949#The_College_Student|publisher=CCCPC Party Literature Research Office, Translated by Foreign Languages Press|volume=1}}</ref><br />
<br />
For all Mao's development, at that time he still continued to hold Imperial Reformists such as Zeng Guofan and Kang Youwei and the opportunist Yuan Shikai to be as respectable as Sun Yat-sen. Not yet seeing all for who they truly were.<ref name=":3" /><br />
<br />
Despite the formation of the Chinese Republic, the various ills that gave impetus to the Revolution of 1911 had not been resolved. Instead, the opportunist Yuan Shikai actively hampered progress since becoming the Provisional President by suspending the provisional constitution of the republic and disbanding parliament. In January 1915, Japan proposed the extortionist '21 demands' in return for assisting Yuan Shikai in assuming the throne in a restored Monarchy. They issued their ultimatum on 7 May, and on 9 May Yuan's government made rapid response in favor of the deal. Protests started across the nation at the gross betrayal of the country, and the First College was no exception to the sentiment. The students including Mao compiled statements and articles condemning the bargain.<ref name=":3" /><br />
<br />
A confrontation between the people and the Yuan Government was building as Yuan redoubled his efforts to establish his own imperial dynasty, even declaring himself emperor, in face of popular disapproval and the people's wish to preserve the republic. The national sentiment was so great that even pro-Monarchist forces like such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tang Hualong were forced to side against Yuan, at least publicly, in hopes of co-opting the popular movement. The southern provinces of China declared independence from the Yuan government and established military councils, prepared to fight against the Yuan warlord government. The country stood at the precipice of a second democratic revolution. Instead, Yuan died on 6 June 1916, only eighty-three days after his proclamation as emperor. Immediately conciliators set about to lull the people back to inaction. Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui, Yuan's associates would assume political power after Yuan's death and proclaimed the restoration of the republic's provisional constitution and parliament while Liang Qichao used his standing as an anti-Yuan leader to facilitate reconciliation between the prospective revolutionaries and the collaborators.<ref name=":3" /><br />
<br />
After the people of Hunan expelled Tang Xiangming, the provincial inspector-general appointed by Yuan Shikai, Mao lamented to a friend that there had been outbursts of violence and bloodshed and compared it to the French Revolution. Mao's still developing understanding considered peaceful resolutions as the best outcome and he was taken in by the machinations of Liang, Li and Duan.<ref name=":3" /> <br />
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In the wake of Yuan Shikai's death, a former Qing general, Zhang Xun, would also make a failed attempt at an imperial restoration. Attempting to re-enthrone the last Qing emperor. Both ventures disturbed China's progressive intelligentsia, questioning why a republican system could not set roots in China. They came to the conclusion that the ideology of the Feudal system had not been combated and defeated, and that the masses, who still mostly operated under such ideology, were not able to take active part in the struggle for national salvation. This marked the beginnings of the New Culture Movement as they set about trying to transform the culture and consciousness of the nation. Out of the movement arose the ''New Youth'' magazine by [[Chen Duxiu]], a future founder of the [[Communist Party of China]]. After being introduce to ''New Youth'' by Yang Changji, who also wrote for it, Mao was greatly taken by the thoughts expressed in it. It was at the school that Mao also first came into contact with inklings of Materialist philosophy through the dualism of the Kantian school, comparing neo-Confucianists favorably to Immanuel Kant. The encounter with materialism, however diluted, facilitated Mao's growth towards a nascent dialectal worldview. No longer seeing 'great harmony as something viable in society.<ref name=":3" /><br />
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In summer of 1917 Mao and his friend, Xiao Zisheng, would go on a summer field trip to study the real conditions of China. Traveling 900 li (450 km) for over a month and conversing with people from all walks of life in towns and villages, from peasants to magistrates, and academics to priests. Mao would make more these field trips and they served as the beginnings of Mao's method of investigation and study into the facts of life.<ref name=":3" /><br />
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In October 1917, the student's association held their annual elections and voted Mao to various posts, some of which were previously held by staff members. Using his new posts, Mao sought to revitalize the college's evening school for workers<ref name=":3" /><br />
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In November 1917, in light of of Zhang Xun's attempted restoration, more chaos beset China in the form of a civil war between the Northern Warlords and the Southern Provinces. After a battlefield defeat, a warlord army withdrew to the vicinity of Changsha driving to inhabitants to panic, fearing a looting. The college proposed to disperse the students to east of Changsha, but Mao instead proposed that students who were undergoing military training should mobilize to defend the college. The college authorities acceded to the proposal and a volunteer corp was formed. The retreating soldiers passed by the college. On 18 November however, Mao organized the several hundred volunteers into three detachments and had them take positions on hilltops in the Houzishi area. The students were mostly armed only in wooden rifles, but Mao had arranged that the local police force would use their weaponry while the students set off fire crackers. The unexpected confrontation devastated the morale of the shattered army and they surrendered, averting the feared sacking of Changsha. Victory in Mao's very first military engagement.<ref name=":3" /> <br />
<br />
'''1918'''<br />
<br />
On April 14, together with Xiao Zisheng, He Shuheng, Cai Hesen and others, he initiated the establishment of Xinmin Society.<br />
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In June, graduated from Hunan Provincial First Normal School.<br />
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In August, he went to Beijing for the first time to organize Hunan's work-study program in France. During his stay in Beijing, he served as the librarian of Peking University, and with the help of [[Li Dazhao]] and others, he began to accept the ideological influence of the Russian October Revolution.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Peking University Library|title=Mao Zedong|url=https://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/bggk/bgjs/lishiyange/maozedong|retrieved=2023-07-19}}</ref><br />
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'''1919'''<br />
<br />
On April 6, he returned to Changsha from Shanghai.<br />
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In May, in response to the May 4th Movement , the Hunan Student Union was established to lead the anti-imperialist patriotic movement of Hunan students.<br />
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On July 14, the journal "Xiangjiang Review" edited by the Hunan Student Union was launched in Changsha. From July to August, he continuously wrote and published the long article "The Great Union of the People".<br />
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On October 5, his mother, Wen, died of illness, and upon hearing the news, he rushed back to Shaoshan from Changsha. On the 8th, "Mother's Essay" was written in front of the mother's spirit.<br />
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In December, he went to Beijing for the second time to lead the campaign to expel Zhang Jingyao, a warlord in Hunan. During his stay in Beijing, he read Marxist books such as The Communist Manifesto .<br />
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'''1920'''<br />
<br />
In May and June, he met [[Chen Duxiu]] in Shanghai and discussed with him the Marxist books he had read.<br />
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At the beginning of August, together with Yi Lirong and others, he founded the Cultural Publishing House in Changsha to spread Marxism and new culture.<br />
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From August to September, he participated in the preparation for the establishment of the Russian Research Association.<br />
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On November 25, wrote to Luo Zhanglong , proposing that Xinmin Society, "It is better to become a combination of doctrines. Doctrines are like a flag. Only when the flag is erected can everyone have something to look forward to and know where to go."<br />
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In November, organized the Changsha Communist Group with He Shuheng and others.<br />
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On December 1, he sent a letter to Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng and other members who were working and studying in France<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/1c39dvqg0EeCuM91x0e3k_tlsCESFcu8uSTL4TQDFia5QqhnIrXBb9su2RpFWDUYACbqtMyLkzSGkaDBBMPzxzI-s6KPDA0kKzEcXCMjnIo9oWat3szC Work-Study Scholars in France] - Xinhua.net</ref>. The letter stated that he accepted Marxism and followed the path of the Russian October Revolution. He prepared to build the Socialist Youth League in Changsha. He then got married to Yang Kaihui.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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=== Communist Start & Beginning of Military Career (1921 - 1930） ===<br />
'''1921'''<br />
<br />
From January 1st to 3rd, together with more than ten people including He Shuheng, Peng Huang, Zhou Shizhao , Xiong Jinzheng, held the New Year's meeting of members of the Xinmin Society in Changsha Chaozong Street Cultural Publishing House. At the meeting, it was proposed that the Xinmin Society should take "transformation of China and the world" as its common purpose, and agreed to use "Russian-style" methods to transform China.<br />
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From July 23 to early August, together with He Shuhen, he attended the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in Shanghai as a representative of the Changsha Communist Group.<br />
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In August, he returned to Changsha and served as the director of the Hunan Branch of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Organization. He founded Hunan Self-study University with He Shuheng .<br />
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On October 10, the Hunan branch of the Communist Party of China was established and served as secretary.<br />
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'''1922'''<br />
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In May, the Hunan District Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China was established and served as secretary.<br />
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From September to December, he organized and led a series of strikes by the Guangdong-Han Railway workers, the Anyuan road and mine workers, and the Changsha mud and wood workers, pushing the Hunan labor movement to a rapid climax.<br />
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'''1923'''<br />
<br />
In April, he left Changsha and arrived in Shanghai to work in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
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In June, he attended the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Guangzhou and was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee, a member of the Central Bureau, and served as the Secretary of the Central Bureau.<br />
<br />
On September 16, in accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and entrusted by Lin Boqu, the deputy director of the General Affairs Department of the Kuomintang headquarters, he returned to Changsha to prepare for the establishment of the Hunan Kuomintang organization.<br />
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'''1924'''<br />
<br />
In January, he attended the first National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang in Guangzhou and was elected as an alternate member of the Central Executive Committee.<br />
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In February, he went to Shanghai and served as a member of the Shanghai Executive Department of the Kuomintang and secretary of the Organization Department.<br />
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In December, he returned to Hunan to recuperate.<br />
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'''1925'''<br />
<br />
In February, when he returned to Shaoshan, he recuperated from his illness and launched a peasant movement at the same time.<br />
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In September, went to Guangzhou to participate in the preparations for the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang.<br />
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In October, he served as the acting director of the Central Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang.<br />
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On December 1, the article " Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society " was published.<br />
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On December 5, the editor-in-chief of the Kuomintang Central Propaganda Department publication " Politics Weekly " was launched.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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'''1926'''<br />
<br />
In January, he attended the Second National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang and continued to be elected as an alternate executive member of the Central Committee.<br />
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On March 18, he delivered a speech entitled "The Significance of Commemorating the Paris Commune " at the gathering commemorating the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Paris Commune at the Guangzhou KMT Political Workshop.<br />
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In March, Chiang Kai-shek created the Zhongshan ship incident in Guangzhou , and advocated a counterattack with Zhou Enlai and others.<br />
<br />
From May to September, he hosted the Sixth Peasant Movement Workshop of the Kuomintang and served as the director.<br />
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In November, he went to Shanghai to serve as the Secretary of the Peasant Movement Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Soon he went to Wuhan and founded the Kuomintang Central Peasant Movement Workshop.<br />
<br />
In December, he attended the first workers' congress and the first farmers' congress in Hunan province in Changsha.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/45d1GZiQpz0WFcWR579pvVGwAIuBatoLiskG75Z310XehxG0ZLVa6Y7aqiTyWbWOkPb7SM4m_5Vwg7l95RnBNCPgahFfqKpBpHEXDwxMyq5-uuREUVgzD4h8 Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1926-1931) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref><br />
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'''1927'''<br />
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From January 4th to February 5th, he inspected the peasant movement in five counties of Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, Hengshan, Liling and Changsha in Hunan.<br />
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In March, he published the " Investigation Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan "; he attended the Third Plenary Session of the Second Central Committee of the Kuomintang in Wuhan.<br />
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On April 12, Chiang Kai-shek launched a counter-revolutionary coup in Shanghai.<br />
<br />
From April 27th to May 10th, he attended the Fifth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and was elected as an alternate member of the Central Executive Committee. The meeting criticized Chen Duxiu's rightist mistakes.<br />
<br />
On July 15, Wang Jingwei launched a counter-revolutionary coup in Wuhan, Ninghan merged , and the Great Revolution failed.<br />
<br />
On August 1, the Nanchang Uprising broke out. Together with Song Qingling and other 22 Kuomintang Central Committee members, they jointly issued the "Central Committee Members' Declaration", condemning Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei for betraying the national revolution.<br />
<br />
On August 7, he attended an emergency meeting held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Hankou, and put forward the idea that power grows out of the barrel of a gun, and was elected as an alternate member of the Provisional Political Bureau of the Central Committee. After the meeting, he went to Hunan to lead the Autumn Harvest Uprising on the border between Hunan and Jiangxi .<br />
<br />
On September 9, the Autumn Harvest Uprising on the border between Hunan and Jiangxi broke out. When going to the headquarters of the third regiment of Tonggu Xiaojia Temple in Jiangxi, passing Liuyang Zhangjiafang, he was caught by the Qingxiang team of the regiment defense bureau and escaped with wit on the way.<br />
<br />
In September, after the Autumn Harvest Uprising was frustrated, he led the uprising troops to march towards the middle of the Luoxiao Mountains .<br />
<br />
In October, arrived at Maoping, Ninggang County, Jiangxi, and began to establish the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base .<br />
<br />
In November, he was wrongly accused by the Political Bureau of the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and was removed from his position as an alternate member of the Political Bureau.<br />
<br />
'''1928'''<br />
[[File:Mao 3 rules painting.png|thumb|Mao during the [[Chinese Civil War|Civil War]]]]<br />
In April, he led his troops to join forces with the remaining troops of the Nanchang Uprising Army led by Zhu De and Chen Yi and the peasant army of the Southern Shonan Uprising in Long City, Ninggang County, Jiangxi Province .<br />
<br />
In May, he served as the party representative and secretary of the Military Commission of the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army ''(later renamed the Chinese Red Army), which was jointly organized by the two troops.''<br />
<br />
In July, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee at the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
In October, he drafted a resolution for the Second Hunan-Jiangxi Boundary Congress of the Communist Party of China, proposing the idea of "armed separatism of workers and peasants ".<br />
<br />
On November 25, he wrote a report to the Central Committee on behalf of the Front Committee of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China, summarizing the experience of the Jinggangshan armed separatism of workers and peasants.<br />
<br />
In December, presided over the formulation of Jinggangshan "Land Law".<br />
<br />
'''1929'''<br />
<br />
In January, Zhu De and Chen Yi led the main force of the Fourth Red Army to march to southern Jiangxi and western Fujian. In the spring of 1930, two revolutionary bases in southern Jiangxi and western Fujian were initially formed.<br />
<br />
In April, presided over the formulation of the " Land Law " of Xingguo.<br />
<br />
In June, he attended the Seventh Congress of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China held in Longyan. His correct opinions on the tasks, political work and military work of the Red Army were not accepted . Others are in charge. After the meeting, he left the main leadership position of the Fourth Red Army, went to western Fujian to recuperate and guide local work.<br />
<br />
In July, guided the convening of the first Congress of the CPC in West Fujian.<br />
<br />
In September, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a letter of instruction to the Front Committee of the Fourth Red Army, affirming Mao Zedong's correct proposition on the Red Army's strategy of action and building a strong people's revolutionary army.<br />
<br />
In December, presided over the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China in Gutian Village, Shanghang County, Fujian Province, made a political report at the meeting, and drafted the resolution of the meeting (that is, the resolution of the Gutian Conference). The General Assembly re-elected Mao Zedong as Secretary of the former Party Committee.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/ef41lepOlKVUI6KqdtRtOuAAqar2rLjVZxZqIdtlJEZXO6ZHsIhcZ_PJOpNe_ZjiAZHcjhQbkabQKtmFn1XRHN7IV-eHgX3t9MPQXGXyN8g Fourth Red Army Big Nines] - Guangming.com</ref><br />
<br />
'''1930'''<br />
<br />
In January, wrote the article " A single spark can start a prairie fire ", expounding the theory of the Chinese revolutionary road of encircling the city from the countryside and seizing power by armed forces.<br />
<br />
In May, conducted an investigation in Xunwu, Jiangxi; at the same time, he wrote an article " Against Bookishness ", proposing that "without investigation, there is no right to speak".<br />
<br />
In August, he served as the general political commissar of the Red Front Army and the secretary of the General Front Enemy Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
In September, he was elected as an alternate member of the Politburo at the Third Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
From December 30 to January 3 of the following year, together with Zhu De and others, he commanded the Red Front Army to smash the first "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang army.<br />
<br />
=== The Long March and the War to Resist Japanese Imperialism (1931 - 1940) ===<br />
'''1931'''<br />
<br />
On January 7, the enlarged Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, and was elected as an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (did not attend the meeting). Wang Ming entered the Political Bureau of the Central Committee with the support of representatives of the Communist International.<br />
<br />
From April to May, together with Zhu De and others, he commanded the Red Front Army to smash the second "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang Army.<br />
<br />
From July to September, the third "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang army was crushed.<br />
<br />
From November 1st to 5th, he was squeezed out at the first congress ( Southern Jiangxi meeting ) held by the party organization in the Central Soviet Area, and was accused of "narrow empiricism", "rich peasant line" and "extremely serious consistent right- wing opportunism ".<br />
<br />
In November, he made a report at the First National Congress of the Chinese Soviet; he was elected as the chairman and chairman of the People's Committee at the first meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic.<ref name=":1">[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/55dfKe2dQNS8Z7ANwabKeuK4M3HdUKEplIzM7rOLAhdDz5KZ-JApZ1Z1xHuAH7g2ChwUFd1TagcX3Py2ysanDlkBzA1JlQXuLmHfbjn5O-YMHNQoS8GhYpTG Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1926-1931)] - News of the Communist Party of China </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1932'''<br />
<br />
In January, I went to the ancient temple of Donghua Mountain on the outskirts of Ruijin, Jiangxi to recuperate.<br />
<br />
In March, after the Red Army failed to attack Ganzhou, they stopped recuperating and rushed to the front line to command.<br />
<br />
On April 15, the "Declaration of War Against Japan" was issued.<br />
<br />
On May 9, Tong Xiangying issued "The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic Opposes the KMT's Selling of Songhu Agreement".<br />
<br />
In June, together with Zhu De, he commanded the First Red Army and the Fifth Red Army to return to southern Jiangxi from western Fujian.<br />
<br />
In October, at the meeting of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China held in Ningdu, Jiangxi, he was hit by the wrong leadership of the "Left". After the meeting, he was dismissed from the position of general political commissar of the Red Army and went to Changting, Fujian to recuperate.<ref name=":1" /> <br />
<br />
'''1933'''<br />
<br />
In late January, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee moved to the Central Revolutionary Base.<br />
<br />
In early February, the provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China comprehensively implemented the "offensive line", eliminated the influence of Mao Zedong's active defense line in the central base areas, and launched the so-called struggle against the " Luo Ming line ".<br />
<br />
On May 30, Tong Xiangying and others issued the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic's "Declaration on Selling out Pingjin for the Kuomintang".<br />
<br />
On June 1, Tong Xiangying and others issued the "Instructions on Land Survey Movement" of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic.<br />
<br />
In August, made a report on "Smashing the Five "Encirclement and Suppression" and Soviet Economic Construction Tasks" at the Economic Construction Conference of the Seventeen Counties in the South of the Central Soviet Area held in Ruijin.<br />
<br />
In October, he wrote the article "How to Analyze Rural Classes", which became the standard for classifying rural classes.<br />
<br />
In November, he conducted investigations in Changgang Township of Xingguo County and Caixi Township of Shanghang County successively, and wrote "Investigation of Changgang Township" and "Investigation of Caixi Township".<br />
<br />
'''1934'''<br />
<br />
In January, he was elected as a member of the Politburo at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China. Made a work report at the Second National Congress of the Chinese Soviet. Continue to be elected as Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic.<br />
<br />
On June 19, Tong Xiangying and others published the "Declaration of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic on Selling North China for the Kuomintang".<br />
<br />
On July 15, Tong Xiangying and others published the "Declaration for the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to Go North to Anti-Japanese War".<br />
<br />
On the evening of October 18, he led the security squad to leave Yudu and embark on the Long March.<br />
<br />
At the end of November, the Red Army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Xiangjiang. On the 30th, crossed the Xiangjiang River with the First Field Column of the Military Commission.<br />
<br />
On December 12, at the emergency meeting of the heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Hunan Passage, it was adopted that the Red Army was urged to abandon the original plan to join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps in western Hunan and instead advance to Guizhou, where the enemy was weak.<br />
<br />
'''1935'''<br />
<br />
From January 15th to 17th, he attended the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Zunyi, Guizhou , and was co-opted as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. The meeting ended the rule of Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and actually established a new central leadership represented by Mao Zedong.<br />
<br />
In March, he formed a three-member military command group with Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang.<br />
<br />
From March to May, together with Zhou Enlai and others, he commanded the Red Army to cross the Chishui River four times , cross the Jinsha River skillfully , and seize the Luding Bridge by flying , winning decisive victories in the strategic shift.<br />
<br />
On June 15, Tong Xiangying and others issued the "Declaration for Opposing Japan's Annexation of North China and Chiang Kai-shek's Traitorous Country".<br />
<br />
In June, he led the Red Front Army to join the Red Fourth Front Army in western Sichuan. Soon, he fought against Zhang Guotao's escapism and separatism .<br />
<br />
On October 19, he led the Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to Wuqi Town, Yan'an, Shaanxi . The Red Army successfully completed the Long March .<br />
<br />
In December, he attended the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Wayaobao , northern Shaanxi. The meeting determined the strategy of establishing the anti-Japanese national united front .<br />
<br />
On December 27, he made a report on "On the Strategy of Opposing Japanese Imperialism" at the meeting of party activists , expounding the strategy and policy of the Anti-Japanese National United Front.<br />
<br />
'''1936'''<br />
<br />
On January 25, together with Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai and other 20 generals of the Red Army, they jointly issued the "Letter to All Generals and Soldiers of the Northeast Army for the Red Army's Willingness to Join Forces with the Northeast Army in Anti-Japanese War", proposing specific methods for organizing the national defense government and the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, and suggested sending representatives to each other Negotiate together.<br />
<br />
From February to May, together with Peng Dehuai, he led the main force of the Red Army across the Yellow River.<br />
<br />
In March, five points of opinion were put forward to the Nanjing authorities to stop the civil war and unanimously resist Japan.<br />
<br />
On June 1, together with Zhu De, he issued 20 propositions on saving the country and the people.<br />
<br />
On June 12, he and Zhu De issued a declaration, expressing support for the " Guangdong Incident " and proposing eight programs for resisting Japan and saving the nation.<br />
<br />
From July to October, he met with American journalist Snow many times in Yan'an, northern Shaanxi , answered his questions about the Chinese revolution and the Red Army of Workers and Peasants, and introduced his own experiences.<br />
<br />
On August 10, he attended the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and made a report on the relationship between the two parties of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the issue of the united front.<br />
<br />
On August 25, he drafted the "Letter from the Communist Party of China to the Chinese Kuomintang", calling for a unified resistance to Japan.<br />
<br />
On December 7, he served as the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
On December 12 <ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/274bAy3rBGeX2Zh1YonADY9VQxrbpUeDtCw-fMAB28xtAQhHRGb9DPf2DI3BL8-bKaQSk82amgftAwx4WYIwWh3o5TH5mDEPfVPk Xi'an Incident] - People's Daily Online </ref>, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng carried out " military remonstrance " in Xi'an and detained Chiang Kai-shek. Mao Zedong and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China analyzed the complicated political situation at that time, determined the policy of peacefully resolving the Xi'an Incident , and sent Zhou Enlai and others to Xi'an to participate in the negotiations to promote the peaceful settlement of the incident.<br />
<br />
In December, he wrote "Strategic Issues in China's Revolutionary War".<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/971bjRWYCTlHcKVIUeYweZ3aS1vRrIo8xD20lgLBmHB03AljT0HeW0bP-aEyJMGdY2e1H11RhOqiXFyr8DAcNsyYpZgSotmAqjBN65f7W9kWcvDzcEbwXonk Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1932-1936)] - News of the Communist Party of China</ref> <br />
<br />
'''1937'''<br />
<br />
On January 13, stationed in Yan'an with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission.<br />
<br />
On February 9, he attended the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The meeting discussed and passed the "Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Kuomintang", and put forward five national policies and four guarantees. This document actually became the program of the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation negotiations.<br />
<br />
In March, met with American journalist Smedley and answered some questions she raised about the Sino-Japanese War and the Xi'an Incident.<br />
<br />
From April to July, he taught dialectical materialism at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, two of which were later organized into "On Practice" and "On Contradiction".<br />
<br />
In May, at the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he made the report "The Mission of the Communist Party of China in the Anti-Japanese Period" and the conclusion of "Struggle to Win Millions of People into the Anti-Japanese National United Front".<br />
<br />
On July 7, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out and the National War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began.<br />
<br />
On July 23, he published "Principles, Measures and Prospects for Opposing Japan's Offensive", proposing the principles and policies of resolutely resisting the Japanese War and opposing compromise and concessions.<br />
<br />
From August 22nd to 25th, attended the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Luochuan, northern Shaanxi, emphasized the principle of independence in the united front, clarified the strategic policy of independent mountain guerrilla warfare, and served as secretary of the newly formed Central Military Commission of the CPC .<br />
<br />
On August 25, jointly issued an order with Zhu De and Zhou Enlai on the reorganization of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army . Subsequently, he directed the Eighth Route Army to go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War.<br />
<br />
On November 12, he made a report on " The Situation and Tasks of the Anti-Japanese War after the Fall of Taiyuan in Shanghai " at the meeting of activists of the Yan'an Party , comprehensively expounding his opinions on the united front and the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.<br />
<br />
In December, attended the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and delivered a speech, reiterating and adhering to the principles and policies determined at the Luochuan meeting in response to Wang Ming's right-leaning capitulationist idea of "everything goes through the united front".<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/09c8JgYPSUxL659ejxJWPaaazHLKyYdaX57UZz0KsAHWaKsJe4Da1TRNKlohdsfIQ4sVYPJMF-ITojN56t4nla8GP_dxQWiyJn4vLK6gJ1eW-X7fdVxY9cma Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1937-1940)] News of the Communist Party of China </ref><br />
<br />
'''1938'''<br />
<br />
In the spring, a decision was made for the Eighth Route Army to enter the plains from the mountains of North China to carry out guerrilla warfare.<br />
<br />
In May, the article "Strategic Issues in Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Warfare" was published.<br />
<br />
From May 26th to June 3rd, gave a lecture on "On Protracted War" at the Yan'an Anti-Japanese War Research Association. Comprehensively analyze the era of the Sino-Japanese War and the basic characteristics of both sides, refute the theory of quick victory and national subjugation, and expound the general policy of the protracted war in China's Anti-Japanese War.<br />
<br />
From September 14th to 27th, he attended the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Wang Jiaxiang conveyed the instructions of the Communist International, saying that the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China should be headed by Mao Zedong to solve the problem of unified leadership. Mao Zedong made a long speech at the meeting.<br />
<br />
From September 29th to November 6th, attended the Sixth Plenary Session of the enlarged Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and made a political report and conclusion of the meeting on "On the New Stage". The meeting approved the line of the Politburo headed by Mao Zedong.<br />
<br />
'''1939'''<br />
<br />
On February 2, he spoke at the Party, Government and Military Production Mobilization Conference in Yan'an, calling for his own efforts to overcome economic difficulties.<br />
<br />
On February 5, gave a speech on "Opposing Capitulationism" at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
In late April, wrote the article "May 4th Movement".<br />
<br />
On May 4, gave a speech on "The Direction of the Youth Movement " at the Yan'an Youth Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the May 4th Movement .<br />
<br />
From July to August, he made several reports, condemning the diehards of the Kuomintang for creating anti-communist friction and calling for continued unity in the war of resistance.<br />
<br />
On September 16, I talked with three reporters from Central News Agency, "Sweeping Daily" and "Xinmin Daily", reiterating the self-defense of "I will not be attacked if people do not attack me; in principle.<br />
<br />
On October 4, the "Communist" was published, stating that the united front, armed struggle, and party building are the three magic weapons for the Chinese revolution to defeat the enemy.<br />
<br />
On December 1, drafted a decision for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on absorbing a large number of intellectuals.<br />
<br />
On December 21, wrote the article " Memorial Bethune " for the "Norman Bethune Memorial Book" compiled and printed by the Political Department of the Eighth Route Army and the Ministry of Health.<br />
<br />
In the same month, he co-authored "The Chinese Revolution and the Communist Party of China".<br />
<br />
From December to March of the following year, the leader repelled the first anti-communist climax of the Kuomintang diehards.<br />
<br />
'''1940'''<br />
<br />
In January, "On New Democracy" was published, which systematically discussed the theory and program of the New Democratic Revolution.<br />
<br />
On March 6, drafted instructions for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the issue of political power in the anti-Japanese base areas, proposing to implement the "three-three system".<br />
<br />
On March 11, he made a report on "Current Strategic Issues in the Anti-Japanese United Front", summed up the experience of repelling the first anti-communist upsurge, and put forward the strategic thinking of "developing progressive forces, winning over middle forces, and opposing stubborn forces" and rational, Beneficial and moderate principles.<br />
<br />
On May 4, he drafted an instruction from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Southeast Bureau and the New Fourth Army, emphasizing the need to let go of the expansion of the army to resist the attacks of anti-communist diehards, and pointed out that the policy of struggle should be adopted to "deal with possible sudden nationwide incidents."<br />
<br />
In late June, he made a report at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, analyzing the international situation and its impact on China's War of Resistance, and pointed out that we should not only be alert to sudden incidents launched by the diehards of the Kuomintang, but also strive for a better situation.<br />
<br />
In November, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Ye Ting , Xiang Ying replied to He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi 's "Hao Dian" telegram ("Jia Dian"), clearly refuting Hao Dian's unreasonable accusations against the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.<br />
<br />
In December, he talked with comrades who came back from the front to study at the Central Party School , emphasizing the importance of cadres being proficient in Marxism-Leninism.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/09c8JgYPSUxL659ejxJWPaaazHLKyYdaX57UZz0KsAHWaKsJe4Da1TRNKlohdsfIQ4sVYPJMF-ITojN56t4nla8GP_dxQWiyJn4vLK6gJ1eW-X7fdVxY9cma Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1937-1940)] News of the Communist Party of China </ref><br />
<br />
=== The End of the War of Anti-Japanese Resistance and a New China is born (1941- 1950 ) ===<br />
'''1941'''<br />
<br />
In early January, the Southern Anhui Incident occurred.<br />
<br />
On January 20, he drafted an order for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China to rebuild the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, and made a speech on the Southern Anhui Incident to Xinhua News Agency reporters, and solemnly proposed twelve measures to solve the Southern Anhui Incident.<br />
<br />
On May 1, the " Government Program for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region ", which was reviewed and rewritten and approved by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was released, stipulating that the construction of political power in the border region should implement the "three-three-system" principle.<br />
<br />
On May 8, drafted the "Summary on Repelling the Second Anti-Communist Upsurge" within the party instructions, and put forward the strategic thinking of "fighting against fighting, pulling against pulling" and winning over the centrists.<br />
<br />
On May 19, at the Yan'an cadre meeting, he made a report on " Reforming Our Study", which proposed to oppose subjectivism and clarified the ideological principles of seeking truth from facts.<br />
<br />
On August 1, drafted the "Decision on Investigation and Research" for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
From September 10th to October 22nd, he attended the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and made a report against subjectivism and sectarianism.<br />
<br />
On September 26, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made the "Decision on the Advanced Study Group" and established the Central Study Group with Mao Zedong as the leader.<br />
<br />
In autumn and winter, he successively presided over the editing of the party's historical literature collections such as "Since the Sixth National Congress", "Before the Sixth National Congress" and "Two Lines".<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/ca21_rzu4oz9hNSo9ONLY8dp9zMlNMql22DMS6RcgbfOt9JjKslA8ex5m2xenDScEKVWla0bdbPYfadlLTsxy-PNiRJFhKFE4P5LSFeKPTOZmDaAaO-q5CMC Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1941-1945) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1942'''<br />
<br />
On February 1, at the opening ceremony of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he made a report on "Rectifying the Party's Style of Work".<br />
<br />
On February 8, made a speech on "Opposing Party Stereotypes" at a cadre meeting convened by the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
In May, delivered a speech and made a conclusion at the Yan'an Literature and Art Workers Symposium.<br />
<br />
On September 7, he wrote an editorial for the Yan'an "Liberation Daily", discussing that streamlining the army and streamlining administration is an extremely important policy.<br />
<br />
In December, submitted a long written report on "Economic Issues and Financial Issues" to the senior cadre meeting of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, discussing the general policy of financial and economic work of "developing the economy and ensuring supply".<br />
<br />
'''1943'''<br />
<br />
On March 20, at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, he was presumed to be the chairman of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the chairman of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.<br />
<br />
On May 26, at the cadre meeting held by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he made the "Report on the Dissolution of the Communist International".<br />
<br />
On June 1, drafted a decision on leadership methods for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
On July 1, he sent a letter to Kang Sheng, pointing out that the work of "anti-rape" should be investigated and studied, distinguish right from wrong, educate the masses, and oppose "forced, confessed, and believed".<br />
<br />
On July 12, he wrote the editorial "Questioning the Kuomintang" for the "Liberation Daily" in Yan'an, exposing the conspiracy of the Kuomintang diehards to attack the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.<br />
<br />
From early September to early October, presided over the meeting held by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China during this period, criticizing Wang Ming's "left" adventurism mistakes during the ten-year civil war and right opportunism mistakes in the early days of the War of Resistance. Speech and make a summary.<br />
<br />
In December, the inscription "Seek truth from facts" was completed for the auditorium of the Central Party School.<br />
<br />
'''1944'''<br />
<br />
On April 12 and May 20, he gave lectures on study and the current situation at the senior cadre meeting of the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the first department of the Central Party School.<br />
<br />
On May 15, Lin Boqu, who had negotiated with the Kuomintang representatives in Xi'an, submitted a written opinion drafted by him as the specific content of the negotiations. The opinion paper puts forward 20 opinions on issues concerning national politics and pending cases of the two parties.<br />
<br />
On May 21, at the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he was elected as the chairman of the Central Committee and the chairman of the Bureau of the Seventh Plenary Session.<br />
<br />
On June 5, the drafted "Instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Urban Work" was discussed and approved at the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
From June to August, he met many times with members of the Northwest Visiting Group of Chinese and foreign journalists and members of the US Army Observation Group stationed in Yan'an, and expounded on issues such as the Chinese Communist Party's anti-Japanese policy and the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.<br />
<br />
On September 8, delivered a speech "Serving the People" at Zhang Side's memorial service.<br />
<br />
On October 31, presided over the meeting of the Presidium of the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and decided to send Wang Zhen and Wang Shoudao to lead the troops to the south to "establish a base with Hengshan as the center".<br />
<br />
In November, Zhou Enlai and Hurley, the personal representative of US President Roosevelt , held several talks on the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and reached a five-point draft agreement. This draft agreement was rejected by Chiang Kai-shek.<br />
<br />
'''1945'''<br />
<br />
On April 20, he attended the last meeting of the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The meeting basically passed the "Resolution on Certain Historical Issues" , which was revised many times by Mao Zedong.<br />
<br />
From April 23 to June 11, presided over the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, delivered an opening speech ("The Destiny of Two Chinas") and a closing speech ("The Foolish Old Man Moved Mountains"), and submitted "On Coalition Government" to the conference Written political report. The Congress decided to use Mao Zedong Thought as the guideline for all the work of the whole party.<br />
<br />
On June 19, he was elected chairman of the Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
In July, he held talks on the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party with six people including Chu Fucheng and Huang Yanpei, members of the National Political Council. Talking about the "new road" of democracy, jumping out of the "cyclic law" of the rise and fall of political parties and groups.<br />
<br />
On August 9, the statement "The Last Battle Against the Japanese Invaders" was issued.<br />
<br />
On August 13, he delivered a speech titled "The Situation after the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War and Our Policy", proposing the policy of tit for tat and fighting for every inch of the Kuomintang to strive for domestic peace and democracy.<br />
<br />
On August 28, he went to Chongqing for peace talks with Chiang Kai-shek.<br />
<br />
On September 2, the Japanese government formally signed the instrument of surrender. China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ended victoriously.<br />
<br />
On October 10, the Minutes of the Meeting between the National Government and the Representatives of the Communist Party of China (referred to as the " Double Ten Agreement ") was signed in Chongqing. On the 11th, return to Yan'an.<br />
<br />
On October 17, at the Yan'an cadre meeting, he made a report on the Chongqing negotiations, pointing out that the Chinese revolution "has a bright future, but the road is tortuous."<br />
<br />
On December 28, drafted the "Establishing a Solid Northeast Base Area" instruction.<ref>[https://www.hudong.com/page/reference_snapshot?wiki_doc_id=8372826320516163274&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdangshi.people.com.cn%2Fn%2F2013%2F1202%2Fc85037-23714604.html&collect_params=%22%7B%5C%22search_query%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22search_id%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22source%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22doc_title%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22doc_id%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22view_id%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22first_classify%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22second_classify%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22third_classify%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%7D%22 Chronological table of Mao Zedong's life (1941-1945)] . People's Daily Online</ref> <br />
<br />
'''1946'''<br />
<br />
In April, he wrote "Some Estimates on the Current International Situation".<br />
<br />
On June 26, the Kuomintang army aggressively attacked the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains, and a full-scale civil war broke out.<br />
<br />
On July 4, the Southern Front Field Army made a strategic decision to "fight a few victories on the inside and then move to the outside."<br />
<br />
On July 20, drafted the inner-party directive of "Smashing Chiang Kai-shek's Attack with Self-Defense War".<br />
<br />
On August 6, he met with American journalist, Strong, and put forward the famous assertion that "all reactionaries are paper tigers".<br />
<br />
On September 16, he drafted the instruction "Concentrate Superior Forces and Annihilate Enemies Individually" for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
On October 1, he drafted an inner-party directive for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, summarizing the experience of the three-month war.<br />
<br />
On November 18, the name "People's War of Liberation" was used for the first time in the party directive drafted for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
'''1947'''<br />
<br />
On March 18, he led the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army to withdraw from Yan'an, and began the one-year battle in northern Shaanxi.<br />
<br />
From March to August, he led the Northwest Field Army to successively win the battles of Qinghuabian, Yangmahe, Panlong, and Shajiadian, smashing the key attacks of the Kuomintang on the liberated areas of northern Shaanxi.<br />
<br />
From July 21st to 23rd, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Xiaohe Village, Jingbian County, Northern Shaanxi Province, and the idea of resolving Chiang Kai-shek's struggle in five years (from July 1946) was proposed. Before and after this, the three armies of Liu Deng, Chen Su, and Chen Xie were deployed to cross the Yellow River and switch to a strategic offensive.<br />
<br />
In October, the " Manifesto of the Chinese People's Liberation Army " was drafted, and the slogan "Down with Chiang Kai-shek and liberate the whole of China" was put forward.<br />
<br />
In November, the "How to Divide Classes" and "Decisions on Some Issues in the Land Struggle" drafted in 1933 were reissued to the whole party to guide the correct development of the land reform movement in the liberated areas.<br />
<br />
From December 25th to 28th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (i.e. the December meeting) was hosted in Yangjiagou, Mizhi County, northern Shaanxi, and a written report "Current Situation and Our Tasks" was submitted to the meeting, and the top ten military forces were proposed. Principles and the three major economic programs of New Democracy.<br />
<br />
'''1948'''<br />
<br />
On January 18, drafted a draft decision on "Several Important Issues Concerning Current Party Policies" for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
On March 23, the war in northern Shaanxi was over, and the Yellow River was crossed eastward to the North China Liberated Area.<br />
<br />
On April 1, he delivered an important speech at the Caijiaya Jinsui Cadre Meeting in Xing County, Shanxi, clarifying the party's new democratic revolution general line and land reform general line.<br />
<br />
From April 30th to May 7th, he presided over an enlarged meeting of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee in Chengnanzhuang, Fuping County, Hebei Province, and put forward several opinions on leading the war to the Kuomintang-ruled areas, developing production, and strengthening discipline.<br />
<br />
On May 1, he sent a letter to Li Jishen and Shen Junru , proposing to establish a democratic coalition government and hold a new Political Consultative Conference first.<br />
<br />
On May 27, he arrived at Xibaipo Village, Pingshan County, Hebei Province, where the Central Working Committee of the Communist Party of China is located.<br />
<br />
From September 8th to 13th, he hosted a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Xibaipo, and made important reports on issues such as war, nation-building, and finance and economics.<br />
<br />
From September to January of the following year, he organized and commanded the three strategic decisive battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin, gathering and annihilating the main force of the Kuomintang army to the north of the Yangtze River.<br />
<br />
On December 30, he wrote the 1949 New Year's message "Carrying the Revolution Through to the End" for Xinhua News Agency.<br />
<br />
'''1949'''<br />
<br />
In March, he presided over the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and proposed guidelines and basic policies for realizing the shift of the party's work focus, winning national victories, and building a new China.<br />
<br />
On March 25, he led the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army to be stationed in Beiping.<br />
<br />
On April 21, when the Nanjing government refused to accept the "Domestic Peace Agreement", he and Zhu De jointly issued the "Order to March to the Nation".<br />
<br />
On April 23, the People's Liberation Army occupied Nanjing and wrote the poem " Seven Laws: The People's Liberation Army Occupies Nanjing ".<br />
<br />
From June 15th to 19th, he attended the first plenary meeting of the preparatory meeting of the new CPPCC and delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.<br />
<br />
On June 30, the article "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" was published.<br />
<br />
On July 4th, Cheng Qian was called again, and he praised Cheng's policy of opposing Chiang Kai-shek and Guangxi and peacefully resolving the Hunan issue, and made arrangements for related matters.<br />
<br />
From September 21 to 30, he attended the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, delivered an opening speech, and was elected chairman of the Central People's Government. The meeting adopted the "Common Program " drafted by Zhou Enlai and reviewed and revised by him many times.<br />
<br />
On October 1, the People's Republic of China was established and presided over the founding ceremony.<br />
<br />
On December 5, the "Instructions on the Army's Participation in Production and Construction Work in 1950" was issued.<br />
<br />
On December 16, he arrived in Moscow and visited the Soviet Union for the first time . On February 14, 1950, China and the Soviet Union signed the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance."<br />
<br />
From December to early next year, specific arrangements were made for the liberation of Tibet.<br />
<br />
'''1950'''<br />
<br />
From June 6th to 9th, he presided over the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, submitted a written report on "Struggling for a Basic Improvement in the National Financial and Economic Situation", and made a speech on "Don't Attack from All Sides".<br />
<br />
On June 28, the Eighth Meeting of the Central People's Government Committee was presided over and the " Land Reform Law of the People's Republic of China " was passed.<br />
<br />
In early October, he presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and made a decision to "resist US aggression, aid Korea, defend the country".<br />
<br />
On October 8, an order was issued to form the Chinese People's Volunteers, ordering the volunteers to immediately dispatch to North Korea to aid the Korean people, and appointed Peng Dehuai as the commander and political commissar of the Volunteers . Then he personally directed the first to third campaigns.<br />
<br />
After October, launched and led the suppression of counter-revolutionary movement.<ref>[https://www.hudong.com/page/reference_snapshot?wiki_doc_id=8372826320516163274&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdangshi.people.com.cn%2Fn%2F2013%2F1202%2Fc85037-23714655.html&collect_params=%22%7B%5C%22search_query%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22search_id%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22source%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22doc_title%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22doc_id%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22view_id%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22first_classify%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22second_classify%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%2C%5C%22third_classify%5C%22%3A%5C%22%5C%22%7D%22 Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1946-1950)] . People's Daily Online</ref><br />
<br />
=== Building up New China (1951 - 1960) ===<br />
'''1951'''<br />
<br />
In February, at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the idea of "three-year preparation and ten-year planned economic construction" was put forward.<br />
<br />
On May 20, the article "We Should Pay Attention to the Discussion of the Movie "The Legend of Wu Xun"" was published in the form of an editorial in "People's Daily".<br />
<br />
On May 24, a banquet was held to celebrate the signing of the "Agreement on the Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet". So far, the whole territory of mainland China has been liberated.<br />
<br />
In September, presided over the formulation of the "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Mutual Assistance and Cooperation in Agricultural Production (Draft)".<br />
<br />
On October 12, the first volume of " Selected Works of Mao Zedong " was published. The second and third volumes were published in April 1952 and April 1953, respectively.<br />
<br />
In December, the "Three Antis" campaign against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy was launched.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/ecc8Dimf9sWViFFtAnjCxFb28FRUpvnonR9Ay_mKBa4t8ctBg8WBV6O11_k5ddH6-0hUwB9wBwI5JFCWXKFZVZ9uv33axJsfUb9d1hjvlbKiX9tt38_KkMmQ Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1951-1956)] - News of the Communist Party of China</ref><br />
<br />
'''1952'''<br />
<br />
In January, he presided over the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee and passed the "Decision on Carrying out the Study Movement for Ideological Transformation of People from All walks of life".<br />
<br />
On January 26, he drafted instructions for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on launching the "Five Antis" campaign (the "Five Antis" are against bribery, against tax evasion, against theft of state property, against cutting corners, and against theft of national economic intelligence).<br />
<br />
On April 6, drafted the "Instructions on Tibet Work Policy" for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
On August 9, the "Outline for the Implementation of Regional Ethnic Autonomy of the People's Republic of China" was released.<br />
<br />
In September, the general line for the transitional period began to be conceived.<br />
<br />
'''1953'''<br />
<br />
On January 13, the Constitution Drafting Committee of the People's Republic of China was established and served as the chairman.<br />
<br />
On March 26, drafted instructions for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on opposing the ideology of Han chauvinism.<br />
<br />
On June 15, he spoke at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and made a relatively complete statement of the party's general line during the transition period.<br />
<br />
On July 27, the Korean armistice agreement was officially signed in Panmunjom .<br />
<br />
On September 7, he talked with some representatives of the democratic parties and business circles, pointing out that state capitalism is the only way to transform capitalist industry and commerce.<br />
<br />
On October 15 and November 4, he had two conversations with the head of the Rural Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He pointed out that the rural work departments at all levels should regard mutual assistance and cooperation as extremely important matters.<br />
<br />
'''1954'''<br />
[[File:Mao voting.png|thumb|Mao voting in the 1954 election]]<br />
In January, began to preside over the drafting of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China in Hangzhou.<br />
<br />
On March 23, presided over the first meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee, and proposed the first draft of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.<br />
<br />
From September 15th to 28th, he attended the first plenary session of the first session of the National People's Congress, delivered the opening speech "Strive for the Construction of a Great Socialist Country", and was elected as the Chairman of the People's Republic of China.<br />
<br />
On September 28, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China was formed and served as its chairman.<br />
<br />
On October 16, wrote the "Letter on the Research Issues of the Dream of Red Mansions" to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and relevant comrades.<br />
<br />
On October 19, in a conversation with Indian Prime Minister Nehru , he proposed that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence should be extended to all state relations.<br />
<br />
'''1955'''<br />
<br />
On January 15th, Liu Shaoqi, [[Zhou Enlai]], and [[Deng Xiaoping]] were instructed: "We should thoroughly criticize Hu Feng's bourgeois idealism, anti-party and anti-people literary thought."<br />
<br />
In March, he delivered an opening speech and conclusion at the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, calling on cadres to delve into the issue of socialist industrialization and become experts in this area.<br />
<br />
On May 12, at the Supreme State Council, the policy of eliminating counter-revolutionaries was proposed.<br />
<br />
On June 9, wrote an inscription for the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square: The people's heroes will live forever.<br />
<br />
On July 31, he made a report on "About the Issue of Agricultural Cooperation" at the meeting of secretaries of the provincial, municipal and autonomous regional party committees convened by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
From September to December, presided over the editing of the book "The Socialist Upsurge in Rural China", and wrote two prefaces and 104 notes.<br />
<br />
From October 4th to 11th, presided over the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and passed the "Resolution on Agricultural Cooperative Issues".<br />
<br />
On October 29, the executive members of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce were invited to discuss the socialist transformation of private industry and commerce.<br />
<br />
On December 16, the draft directive of the Central Committee on intellectual issues was revised, and it was proposed to train intellectuals in large numbers and pay attention to absorbing high-level intellectuals into the party.<br />
<br />
'''1956'''<br />
<br />
On January 20, he spoke at a conference on intellectuals held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, calling on the whole party to study scientific knowledge, unite with non-party intellectuals, and strive to quickly catch up with the world's advanced scientific level.<br />
<br />
On January 25, chaired the Supreme State Council to formally discuss and approve the "National Agricultural Development Program (Draft) from 1956 to 1967" ''(forty articles)'' .<br />
<br />
From February to March, successively listened to the reports of 34 central working departments, and conducted systematic investigation and research on economic construction issues.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of April, "On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" was reviewed and revised.<br />
<br />
On April 25, at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he made a report on " On the Ten Major Relationships ".<br />
<br />
On April 27, cremation was carried out after the signature died.<br />
<br />
On April 28, at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" was proposed.<br />
<br />
On August 22, he presided over the Seventh Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and proposed two work priorities, one is socialist transformation, and the other is economic construction. The main focus of the two is still construction.<br />
<br />
From September 15th to 27th, hosted the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and delivered an opening speech. During the Eighth National Congress, the importance of strengthening economic construction was emphasized again.<br />
<br />
On September 28, he was elected chairman of the Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
On November 15, he made a speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: Our economic construction has retreated and advanced, but the main thing is to advance.<br />
<br />
In December, "Revisiting the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" was revised.<br />
<br />
'''1957'''<br />
<br />
On February 27, made a speech on "Correctly Handling Contradictions among the People", and put forward two kinds of contradiction theories.<br />
<br />
On March 12, he spoke at the National Propaganda Work Conference of the Communist Party of China and announced the start of rectification within the party.<br />
<br />
On April 30, leaders of various democratic parties were invited to have a discussion and asked them to help the Communist Party rectify the movement.<br />
<br />
On May 15th, he wrote the article "Things Are Changing", and then launched the anti-rightist struggle, and made a serious mistake of magnification.<br />
<br />
From September 20th to October 9th, he presided over the Third Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. At the meeting, he raised objections to the discussion of the main contradictions in Chinese society in the resolution of the Eighth National Congress, and believed that it should return to the proposal of the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party<br />
<br />
In November, led the Chinese party and government delegation to visit the Soviet Union, participated in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution , and attended the representative meeting of the Communist Party and the Workers' Party . During the period, it was proposed that within 15 years, the output of China's major industrial products should catch up with that of the United Kingdom.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/3d8fGQKZLf8UIJhgOqtIn2VUfa9cteY9YwFe70NZ32DNSBigrS277q1nIWoxPbGAH6yDTNbzSkwvxPfSLLbbdxMx4zmcd1-jjzxdYUVyz_GzqLc3CX3kmhTG Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1957-1961)]</ref><br />
<br />
'''1958'''<br />
<br />
In January, hosted the Nanning Conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and drafted the "Sixty Articles of Working Methods (Draft)". Criticize "anti-rash advance" at the meeting.<br />
<br />
In March, hosted the Chengdu Conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The meeting continued to criticize "anti-rash advance", and the various economic indicators formulated were greatly improved.<br />
<br />
From May 5th to 23rd, hosted the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The meeting changed the relevant conclusions of the first meeting of the Eighth National Congress, arguing that the struggle between the two classes and the two roads is still the main contradiction in the country. The meeting passed the general line of "go all out, strive for the top, and build socialism more quickly, better and more economically".<br />
<br />
From July 31 to August 3, he held talks with Khrushchev, the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee who was visiting, and rejected the Soviet side's suggestion of establishing a joint fleet and a long-wave radio station that violated China's sovereignty.<br />
<br />
From July to August, deployed the bombardment of Kinmen.<br />
<br />
On August 6, inspected Qiliying People's Commune in Xinxiang, Henan. When it comes to "the name People's Commune is good".<br />
<br />
From August 17th to 30th, an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was hosted in Beidaihe, and the "Resolution on the Establishment of People's Commune in Rural Areas" was passed.<br />
<br />
From November 2nd to 10th, he presided over the first Zhengzhou meeting and began to correct the "Left" errors in the "Great Leap Forward" and the People's Commune Movement. During the meeting, he wrote a letter to the party committees at the county level and above, requesting to study "Problems of the Socialist Economy in the Soviet Union" and "Marx Engels on Communist Society".<br />
<br />
From November 28 to December 10, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Wuchang, and the "Resolution on Several Issues Concerning the People's Commune " was passed.<br />
<br />
'''1959''' <br />
<br />
From February 27th to March 5th, he presided over the second Zhengzhou meeting. From March 25th to April 5th, he held an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Seventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee in Shanghai to continue to correct "left" errors.<br />
<br />
In April, according to Mao Zedong's opinion, the first meeting of the Second National People's Congress passed a resolution that he would no longer serve as the chairman of the country and Liu Shaoqi would be the chairman.<br />
<br />
From June 25th to 28th, I went back to my hometown Shaoshan.<br />
<br />
From July 2 to August 16, hosted the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Eighth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee in Lushan. The enlarged meeting of the Politburo originally planned to further correct the mistakes of the "Left", but in the later period and at the Eighth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, it mistakenly launched a criticism of Peng Dehuai and others.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/0599mt14ZXxwIG8QT5S3ZuwBtlaVFGBM5yzt242up9DDdUebpaZ9dx_x5lPo6IGC2PvYkmwu7mEwzTdugelquJYOBGY32UeKnqlBgccpzGSjWks2gp40ylPO Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1957-1961) Communist Party News Network] </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1960'''<br />
<br />
In March, the fourth volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" was approved in Guangzhou. Published in September.<br />
<br />
On March 30, he drafted the "Instructions on Combating Bureaucracy" for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
From June 14th to 18th, he presided over an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in Shanghai, wrote the article " Ten Years Summary ", re-emphasized the principle of seeking truth from facts, and proposed to seriously study the laws of socialist revolution and construction.<br />
<br />
From July 5th to August 10th, presided over the work conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Beidaihe to study international issues and domestic economic adjustment issues.<br />
<br />
On November 15, he drafted the "Instructions on Thoroughly Correcting the "Five Winds" Issues" for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. ''("Five Styles", that is, communist style , exaggerated style , command style, cadre special style and blind command style.)''<br />
<br />
=== Adjusting, consolidating, enriching, educating and improving New China and the launch of the Cultural Revolution (1961 - 1970) ===<br />
'''1961'''<br />
<br />
From January 14th to 18th, he presided over the Ninth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and called for the great promotion of investigation and research. This meeting officially approved the eight-character policy for adjusting the national economy. After the meeting, he organized and led three investigation teams to conduct in-depth investigations and researches in the rural areas of Zhejiang, Hunan, and Guangdong.<br />
<br />
From May 21st to June 12th, presided over the work meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to discuss and revise the "Regulations on the Work of Rural People's Commune (Draft)" ''(namely, the sixty agricultural articles)'' . It stipulates that the supply system will be abolished; whether or not to run a canteen is entirely up to the members to discuss and decide.<br />
<br />
From August 23rd to September 16th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China hosted a work conference in Lushan to discuss issues such as industry, food, finance and trade, and education. The meeting emphasized the earnest implementation of the eight-character policy of economic adjustment.<br />
<br />
On September 29, it proposed "three-level ownership, team-based", and the basic accounting unit of the rural people's communes was delegated to the production team.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/e07fGrGoUsW0yOSpQ8me6eJph38Qpr4eaEy2amSAo-XaC-gZZ__Frl8P32Z49TzdvXHjOKL69U3j0cAYmiDTZDYxuclShWxs56kRImKp7dMDqRgX0WpZLJWU Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1957-1961) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1962'''<br />
<br />
From January 11th to February 7th, he presided over the enlarged Central Work Conference of the Communist Party of China ''(also known as the "Seven Thousand People Conference ")'' and delivered an important speech on the issue of democratic centralism .<br />
<br />
From July to September, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Work Conference and the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee were held successively in Beidaihe and Beijing, criticizing the so-called "dark wind", "going alone" and "reversing the verdict" and making comments about class, situation, contradictions and inner party The speech on the question of unity further developed the erroneous thesis that class struggle is the principal contradiction in socialist society.<br />
<br />
'''1963'''<br />
<br />
From February 11th to 28th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a working conference, which decided to carry out the "Four Cleans" movement in rural areas and the "Five Antis" movement in cities.<br />
<br />
On March 5, the inscription "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng" was published in the "People's Daily" .<br />
<br />
In May, presided over the formulation of the "Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's Decision on Several Issues Concerning Current Rural Work (Draft)" ''(referred to as the "Ten Articles")'' in Hangzhou , as a programmatic document to guide the "Four Cleans-ups" in rural areas.<br />
<br />
On December 16, I heard Nie Rongzhen's report on the ten-year plan for science and technology, and pointed out: Without science and technology, productivity cannot be improved.<br />
<br />
In December, the first instruction on literary and artistic work was made.<br />
<br />
'''1964'''<br />
<br />
On February 13, a symposium on educational work was convened to propose ideas for reforming the educational system.<br />
<br />
In May, when listening to the report on the third five-year plan , he put forward the idea of two fists ''(agriculture, national defense)'' and one butt ''(basic industry )''; he also proposed the strategic layout of dividing the country into first, second, and third lines.<br />
<br />
On June 15th and 16th, watch the Beijing and Jinan military training report performances.<br />
<br />
On June 16, at a small meeting held at the Ming Tombs in Beijing, he gave a speech on cultivating successors to the cause of the proletarian revolution.<br />
<br />
In June, he again issued instructions on literary and artistic work, and the literary and artistic circles expanded to other areas of ideology, erroneously carrying out excessive political criticism.<br />
<br />
On October 16, China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated.<br />
<br />
From December 15th to 28th, presided over the central working conference to discuss and formulate "Some Issues Presently Raised in the Rural Socialist Education Movement" (referred to as "''23 Articles")'' , and partially correct the "Leftist", but mistakenly stated that "the focus of the movement is to rectify those in power within the party who are taking the capitalist road."<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/d8e9fooguaBoQe9ohz_xjMzFcqqmXMJqPTHTdatP9jphVcyMJxbEUMX2yYcGS9tpuHRKOCNLzV5aTYbj42udcxsSn006JIa1ALB_naHba5UdPGSpoqr5jqGv Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1962-1968) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1965'''<br />
<br />
From May 22nd to 29th, go back to Jinggangshan.<br />
<br />
On July 27, he met Li Zongren, the former acting president of the Kuomintang government , and his wife who had returned from overseas.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of November, the article "Comment on the New Historical Drama "Hai Jui Dismissed from Office" was approved to be published, which opened the prelude to the "Cultural Revolution".<br />
<br />
'''1966'''<br />
<br />
On March 12, he sent a letter to Liu Shaoqi, proposing "preparing for war and famine for the people".<br />
<br />
At the end of March, he falsely accused the "Outline of the Report on Current Academic Discussions" formulated by the Five-member Cultural Revolution Group chaired by Peng Zhen.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/d8e9fooguaBoQe9ohz_xjMzFcqqmXMJqPTHTdatP9jphVcyMJxbEUMX2yYcGS9tpuHRKOCNLzV5aTYbj42udcxsSn006JIa1ALB_naHba5UdPGSpoqr5jqGv Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1962-1968) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref> <br />
<br />
On May 7, the "May 7 Instructions" were issued, proposing that the People's Liberation Army "should be a big school", that all walks of life should focus on their own professions, "learn other things at the same time", and "education should be revolutionary" and so on.<br />
<br />
On May 16, the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the "Notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" formulated by Mao Zedong, which made a serious miscalculation of the political situation of the party and the country at that time.<br />
<br />
From August 1st to 12th, presided over the convening of the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and passed the "Decision on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution". During the meeting, Mao Zedong's "Bombarding the Headquarters—My Big-Character Poster" written on the 5th was printed and distributed, criticizing "Rightist Revisionism" The enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in May and the convening of this meeting marked the full launch of the "Cultural Revolution".<br />
<br />
From August 18th to November 26th, he met eight times in Beijing with teachers, students and Red Guards from all over the country.<br />
<br />
'''1967'''<br />
<br />
In January, expressed support for the "January Revolution " in Shanghai. Since then, the wind of seizing power has spread all over the country.<br />
<br />
On January 23, the "Decision of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to Resolutely Support the Revolutionary Left Masses" was issued.<br />
<br />
On February 11th and 16th, Tan Zhenlin , Chen Yi , Ye Jianying , Li Fuchun , Li Xiannian , Xu Xiangqian , Nie Rongzhen , etc. were dissatisfied with Lin Biao and Jiang Qing 's perverse actions, and strongly criticized the wrong practices of the "Cultural Revolution" in order to "make a big noise." in Huairen Hall. After listening to the report of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, Mao Zedong expressed his dissatisfaction.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/d8e9fooguaBoQe9ohz_xjMzFcqqmXMJqPTHTdatP9jphVcyMJxbEUMX2yYcGS9tpuHRKOCNLzV5aTYbj42udcxsSn006JIa1ALB_naHba5UdPGSpoqr5jqGv Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1962-1968) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1968'''<br />
<br />
On January 16, he made important instructions on the so-called "Notice of Wu Hao and others leaving the Communist Party" and other materials sent by Jiang Qing and others: "This matter has long been clarified, and it was the Kuomintang's rumors and slanders", which made their attempt to frame Zhou Enlai fail.<br />
<br />
From October 13th to 31st, he hosted the Twelfth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Under extremely abnormal circumstances, he made the decision to expel Liu Shaoqi from the party. <br />
<br />
On December 22, the directive "It is very necessary for educated youth to go to the countryside and receive re-education from poor and lower-middle peasants" was published in the " People's Daily ", and the upsurge of educated youth going to the mountains and countryside began.<br />
<br />
'''1969''' <br />
<br />
From April 1st to 24th, he presided over the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, approved the theories and practices of the "Cultural Revolution", and designated Lin Biao as his successor in the party constitution.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/fb60ClI3JHlc4l0zj9GW9jJxcLOq6-1tYKY8CmWYXNlZGWi2llLv2ZmkaaWRZ3qt-mW544mOKfzQj2czKV5fE0yrR_TjeVRJogRWMeGEyrlDt3U_PJIMAx9J Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1969-1976) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref><br />
<br />
On April 28, he was re-elected as the chairman of the Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
'''1970'''<br />
<br />
On April 24, China's first artificial earth satellite was successfully launched. <br />
<br />
On May 20, published the statement piece "People of the World Unite, Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their lackeys !" <br />
<br />
From August 23rd to September 6th, hosted the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Lushan, and wrote "My Opinion", exposing and defeating Lin Biao and Chen Boda's conspiracy to seize power <br />
<br />
On December 18, he met with American friend Snow and expressed his welcome to the visit of US President Nixon to China.<br />
<br />
=== The Cultural Revolution and Mao's twilight years (1971 - 1976) ===<br />
'''1971'''<br />
<br />
From August to September, during his tour in the south, he had many conversations with the local party, government and army leaders to expose Lin Biao's conspiracy. On the way, he vigilantly changed his action plan several times, and returned to Beijing on September 12 to smash the counter-revolutionary armed coup plot of the Lin Biao clique.<br />
<br />
On September 13, Zhou Enlai and others decisively dealt with Lin Biao's defection. When Zhou Enlai asked whether to intercept Lin Biao's landline, Mao Zedong said: "Let him do it."<br />
<br />
On October 25, the 26th UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution to restore all legal rights of the People's Republic of China in the UN and expel the representatives of the Chiang Kai- shek clique.<br />
<br />
On November 14, he received comrades who participated in the symposium in Chengdu, and rehabilitated the so-called " February Adverse Current ".<br />
<br />
'''1972'''<br />
<br />
On January 10, attended Chen Yi 's memorial service.<br />
<br />
On February 21, met with US President Nixon who was visiting China; on the 28th, China and the United States issued a joint communiqué in Shanghai, deciding to realize the normalization of Sino-US relations.<br />
<br />
On September 27, he met with Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka ; on September 29, the Chinese and Japanese governments issued a joint statement announcing the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan and the formal establishment of diplomatic relations.<br />
<br />
'''1973'''<br />
<br />
In March, it was proposed to restore Deng Xiaoping's position as vice premier of the State Council.<br />
<br />
From August 24th to 28th, he presided over the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, allowing a group of older generation proletarian revolutionaries to re-enter the Central Committee, but at the same time, the power of Jiang Qing Group was also strengthened.<br />
<br />
On August 30, he was elected chairman of the Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China.<br />
<br />
In December, Deng Xiaoping was proposed to serve as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army. He also proposed to rehabilitate He Long , Luo Ruiqing , Yang Chengwu , Yu Lijin , and Fu Chongbi .<br />
<br />
'''1974'''<br />
<br />
On January 18, it was approved to forward the materials of " Lin Biao and the Way of Confucius and Mencius". The campaign of " criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius " began.<br />
<br />
On February 22, met with Zambian President Kaunda , during the conversation he proposed the idea of " three worlds ".<br />
<br />
On July 17, he criticized Wang Hongwen , Zhang Chunqiao , Jiang Qing , and Yao Wenyuan for engaging in gang activities at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee , raising the issue of the " Gang of Four " for the first time.<ref>Mao's Last Revolution, page 397</ref><br />
<br />
On September 29, with the approval of Mao Zedong, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China rehabilitated He Long<br />
<br />
On October 4, Deng Xiaoping was proposed to be the first vice premier of the State Council.<br />
<br />
On November 12, he issued instructions to Jiang Qing 's letter, criticizing her ambition of " forming a cabinet ", and clearly pointed out that "don't let you form a cabinet ''(be the backstage boss)'' ".<br />
<br />
'''1975'''<br />
<br />
From January 13th to 17th, the first meeting of the Fourth National People's Congress was held in Beijing. The meeting reaffirmed the realization of the four modernizations within this century, elected members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress with Zhu De as the chairman , appointed The State Council consisted of Zhou Enlai as Premier and Deng Xiaoping as Vice Premier. After the meeting, Zhou Enlai became seriously ill, and the work of the State Council was actually presided over by Deng Xiaoping.<br />
<br />
In February, with the support of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping began to lead the adjustment and rectification of railways and education.<br />
<br />
On May 3, the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China were convened in Beijing to talk, emphasizing the need to practice Marxism-Leninism , to unite, to be aboveboard, and to criticize the "Gang of Four" again.<br />
<br />
On July 14, he made a speech on literature and art issues, pointing out that the party's literature and art policy should be adjusted.<br />
<br />
In late November, after reviewing and approving the "Speech Points for Greetings", the so-called "Criticizing Deng and Countering the Rightist Overturning the Verdict" campaign was launched.<ref>[https://baike.baidu.com/reference/113835/fb60ClI3JHlc4l0zj9GW9jJxcLOq6-1tYKY8CmWYXNlZGWi2llLv2ZmkaaWRZ3qt-mW544mOKfzQj2czKV5fE0yrR_TjeVRJogRWMeGEyrlDt3U_PJIMAx9J Chronology of Mao Zedong's Life (1969-1976) News of the Communist Party of China] </ref> <br />
<br />
'''1976'''<br />
<br />
On January 8, Zhou Enlai passed away in Beijing.<br />
<br />
On January 21 and 28, Hua Guofeng was proposed to be the acting premier of the State Council and to preside over the daily work of the central government.<br />
<br />
From late March to April 5, millions of people in Beijing spontaneously came to Tiananmen Square for several days, laying wreaths and poems, mourning Zhou Enlai, and denouncing the " Gang of Four ." Mao Zedong mistakenly approved the report trying to cover up the Tiananmen incident<br />
<br />
On April 7, according to Mao Zedong's proposal, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee passed the "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Comrade Hua Guofeng's Appointment as the First Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Premier of the State Council" and "Resolution on Removing Deng Xiaoping from All Posts Inside and Outside the Party".<br />
<br />
On September 9, Mao died in Beijing.<br />
<br />
==Library works==<br />
<br />
* (1926) [[Library:Analysis of the classes in Chinese society|Analysis of the classes in Chinese society]]<br />
* (1927) [[Library:Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan|Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement In Hunan]]<br />
* (1928) [[Library:Why is it That Red Political Power Can Exist in China|Why is it That Red Political Power Can Exist in China]]<br />
* (1930) [[Library:Oppose Book Worship|Oppose Book Worship]]<br />
* (1937) [[Library:On guerrilla warfare|On guerrilla warfare]]<br />
* (1937) [[Library:Win the Masses in Their Millions for the Anti-Japanese National United Front|Win the Masses in Their Millions for the Anti-Japanese National United Front]]<br />
* (1937) [[Library:On practice|On practice]]<br />
* (1937) [[Library:On contradiction|On contradiction]]<br />
* (1937) [[Library:Combat liberalism|Combat liberalism]]<br />
* (1940) [[Library:On New Democracy|On New Democracy]]<br />
* (1942) [[Library:Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art|Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art]]<br />
* (1943) [[Library:Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership|Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership]]<br />
* (1945) [[Library:The Destiny of Two Chinas|The Destiny of Two Chinas]]<br />
* (1947) [[Library:The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention|The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention]]<br />
* (1963) [[Library:Where do correct ideas come from?|Where do correct ideas come from?]]<br />
* (1963) [[Library:Statement supporting the American Negroes in their just struggle against racial discrimination by U.S. Imperialism|Statement supporting the American Negroes in their just struggle against racial discrimination by U.S. Imperialism]]<br />
* (1964) [[Library:On Khrushchov’s Phony Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World|On Khrushchov’s Phony Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]]<br />
* (1964) [[Library:Talk On Questions Of Philosophy|Talk On Questions Of Philosophy]]<br />
* (1966) [[Library:Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung|Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communists]]<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Former heads of state]]<br />
[[Category:Marxist theorists]]<br />
[[Category:Socialist rulers]]<br />
[[Category:Mao Zedong Family]]<br />
[[Category:Chinese communists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=76253Hồ Chí Minh2024-10-06T06:19:16Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] as '''''Uncle Ho'''''. In his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese and is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally discovered [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1924 =====<br />
In January 1924, the news of [[Lenin]]'s death shocked Ho Chi Minh.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1995|title=Ho Chi Minh's collected works|page=474|quote=We were having breakfast in the restaurant on Tverskaya Street when we heard that Lenin had died. None of us wanted to believe it, but we saw it, we saw that the flag of the Moscow Soviet had been lowered. A great emotion flooded our souls. The meal was interrupted for no one was hungry anymore: Lenin had died. I never got the chance to meet Lenin, and that was the great sorrow of my life.}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]<br />
[[Category:Featured page]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Cameroon&diff=76252Republic of Cameroon2024-10-06T06:02:02Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country|name=Republic of Cameroon|native_name=République du Cameroun|image_flag=Flag of Cameroon.svg|image_map=Cameroon.png|map_width=320px|largest_city=[[Douala]]|image_coat=Coat of arms of Cameroon.svg|capital=[[Yaoundé]]|official_languages=English<br>French|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=[[Paul Biya]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Joseph Ngute]]|area_km2=475,442|population_estimate=26,545,864|population_estimate_year=2020}}<br />
<br />
'''Cameroon''', officially the '''Republic of Cameroon''', is a liberal country in [[Africa]]. It was formed in 1961 from a union of two former colonies, [[British Cameroon (1918–1961)|British Cameroon]] and [[Territory of Cameroon (1918–1960)|French Cameroon]]. Although it is independent in name, its government is directly controlled by [[French Republic|France]].<ref name=":0">{{News citation|author=Amba Leaks|newspaper=[[Red Africa]]|title=Ambazonia: The Struggle for Liberation in Cameroon|date=2022-07-11|url=https://redafrica.net/2022/07/11/ambazonia-the-struggle-for-liberation-in-cameroon/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712012550/https://redafrica.net/2022/07/11/ambazonia-the-struggle-for-liberation-in-cameroon/|archive-date=2022-07-12|retrieved=2022-07-12}}</ref><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Colonization ===<br />
Before the [[First World War]], Cameroon had been colonized by [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]], [[Kingdom of Portugal (1139–1910)|Portugal]], and the [[Netherlands]]. After the war, the territory was split between [[French Republic (1870–1940)|France]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922)|United Kingdom]]. From 1928 to 1931, Africans fought against [[racism]] and forced labor in the [[Kongo-Wara rebellion]].<br />
<br />
In 1944, [[Trade union|unions]] were legalized. Over 20 workers were killed in a railroad [[Strike action|strike]] in September 1945. In 1948, the left-wing [[Union of the Peoples of Cameroon]] was founded, and it had 100,000 members by 1955. [[Republic of France (1946–1958)|French]] authorities banned the party in 1955 after a rebellion, and the [[British]] banned it in 1957.<br />
<br />
In 1956, colonial authorities began pacification programs, forcing villagers to leave their land and go to cities where they could be monitored more closely. Up to 120,000 people were killed during this period.<ref>{{News citation|author=Jeff Bigelow|newspaper=[[Liberation School]]|title=Train wreck exposes role of imperialism in Cameroon|date=2017-01-12|url=https://www.liberationschool.org/cameroon-train-wreck-exposes-ongoing-legacy-of-imperialism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508123223/https://liberationschool.org/cameroon-train-wreck-exposes-ongoing-legacy-of-imperialism/|archive-date=2021-05-08|retrieved=2022-06-20}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Independence ===<br />
French Cameroon became independent in 1960. British Southern Cameroon was briefly part of [[Federal Republic of Nigeria|Nigeria]] before uniting with French Cameroon. No representatives from South Cameroon approved this union the leaders of the region protested against the French-speaking government. President [[Ahmadou Ahidjo]] made Southern Cameroonian [[John Ngu Foncha]] Prime Minister. In 1972, under pressure from France, Southern Cameroon's autonomous status was revoked and it began to be assimilated.<br />
<br />
In 2015, Cameroon banned Southern Cameroon's common law and teachers and lawyers began to protest. In December 2016, the government began using lethal force against the protests. On 1 October 2017, Southern Cameroon declared independence and formed the [[Federal Republic of Ambazonia]]. The Cameroonian government killed over 800 Ambazonians on that day.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:African countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global south]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Swiss_Confederation&diff=76251Swiss Confederation2024-10-06T06:00:18Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox country<br />
| name = Swiss Confederation<br />
| native_name = Confédération suisse (French)<br>Confederazione Svizzera (Italian)<br>Confederaziun svizra (Romansh)<br>Confoederatio helvetica (Latin)<br />
| image_flag = Flag_of_Switzerland_(Pantone).png<br />
| image_coat = 541px-Coat_of_Arms_of_Switzerland_(Pantone).png<br />
| capital = None (de jure)<br>Bern (de facto)<br />
| largest_city = Zürich<br />
| mode_of_production = [[Capitalism]]<br />
|government_type=Federal assembly-independent directorial republic|leader_title1=Federal Council|leader_name1=[[Viola Amherd]] (President)<br>[[Karin Keller-Sutter]] (Vice President)<br>[[Guy Parmelin]]<br>[[Ignazio Cassis]]<br>[[Albert Rösti]]<br>[[Élisabeth Baume-Schneider]]<br>[[Beat Jans]]|leader_title2=Federal Chancellor|leader_name2=[[Viktor Rossi]]|image_map=Switzerland map.svg|map_width=260| official_languages = [[German]], [[French]], [[Italian]], and [[Romansh]].<br />
| area_km2 = 41,285<br />
| population_estimate = 8,703,405<br />
| population_estimate_year = 2021<br />
}}<br />
<br />
The '''Swiss Confederation''', also known as '''Switzerland''', is a landlocked mountainous liberal nation located in the heart of [[Europe]] bordered by [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]], [[French Republic|France]], [[Italian Republic|Italy]], [[Republic of Austria|Austria]] and [[Principality of Liechtenstein|Liechtenstein]]. It is known for its banking system as well as being supposedly neutral; not involving itself in any foreign war since 1815. However, this neutrality has not prevented it from engaging in [[imperialism]].<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Napoleonic era ===<br />
The [[French Revolution]], that erupted towards the end of the 18th century, inspired the Swiss [[bourgeoisie]] to begin revolutionary action to put an end to [[feudalism]] in Switzerland. Disturbances took place in [[Geneva]], [[Valais]], and [[Vaud]] in 1792, whilst in Basel the [[Rauracian Republic]] was formed, but was swiftly annexed by [[French First Republic (1792–1804)|France]] in May 1793.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=A. N. Chistozvonov, G. P. Dragunov|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Switzerland|chapter=Switzerland|section=Late 18th century and early 19th century}}</ref><br />
<br />
The French Army entered Switzerland in spring 1798 and captured [[Bern]] on March 5; leading to the proclamation of the Helvetic Republic on April 12 in [[Aargau]]. The new Swiss state had a constitution modeled after the French constitution of 1795, making Switzerland a centralized, unitary state. The defensive agreements concluded with France involved Switzerland in the [[Napoleonic Wars]], causing Switzerland to become a battleground during the [[War of the Second Coalition]].<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
A struggle developed in 1802 between the unionists and the federalists and on February 19, 1803, [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] issued the Act of Mediation which restored the old pre-1798 system of Switzerland with some changes. Following the defeat of [[First French Empire (1804 – 1815)|Napoleonic France]], the Act of Mediation was repealed and Switzerland declared on December 29,1813 its intent to observe strict neutrality. This decision was included in the new constitution drafted in September 1814 and ratified by the diet in August 1815. The [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815 also recognised Swiss neutrality as well as granting Switzerland the lands of [[Valais]], Geneva and [[Neuchâtel]].<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
=== Industrialisation ===<br />
In the 1830s the liberal bourgeoisie began agitating to eliminate feudal relations and centralize the state which put them at odds with the clerical faction. Between 1843 and 1845 seven [[Catholicism|Catholic]] cantons established a [[reactionary]] bloc, the [[Sonderbund]], which in 1847 provoked a short civil war in which the federal government was victorious. The victory of the bourgeoisie was affirmed in the 1848 constitution which established a centralized federal state and its power was extended by the 1874 constitution; this centralization allowed for the swift establishment of capitalism.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
Switzerland's role as a middle man in international trade allowed for the swift accumulation of [[capital]] which helped it usher in the [[Industrial Revolution|industrial revolution]]. Light industry expanded substantially in the 40s and 50s, and [[Agriculture|agricultural]] production became more specialized allowing for butter and cheese to become important exports. Between 1825 and 1874 the length of the railroad system increased from 25 km to 1,500 km and continued to expand, increasing freight and passenger travel in Switzerland rapidly, and in 1898 the railroads were bought by the state from the private sector. During this time Switzerland also became a hub for political refugees and several sections of the [[International Workingmen's Association|First International]] were created in the country.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
At the end of the 19th century several new industries established themselves in Switzerland such as machine building and between 1888 and 1910 the number of persons employed in industry rose from 543,000 to 811,000, helped by an influx of foreign workers. By the beginning of the 20th century [[monopoly capitalism]] had become firmly entrenched with Swiss Assets abroad in 1914 amounting to 7.5bn francs. The first [[Proletariat|working class]] disapproval began to make itself known at this time, the largest of which being a general strike in Zürich in 1912, this pressure allowed for some minor protections for workers to be implemented in 1911.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|author=G. P. Dragunov, D. Z. Iakukhin|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Switzerland|chapter=Switzerland|section=The period of monopoly capital}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== World Wars ===<br />
When the [[First World War]] began in 1914 Switzerland immediately reaffirmed its neutrality and took advantage of the conflict to reap profits by selling war material to both sides. However, the standard of living for workers declined significantly in the war years with an almost 30% drop in wages leading to an increase in strikes in 1917. During the war, Switzerland also became a hub for [[Socialism|socialist]] conferences with the Zimmerwald left being directed in part by [[Vladimir Lenin]].<ref name=":1" /> The [[Russian revolution of 1917|October Revolution]] helped grow the strike movement in Switzerland and from November 12 to 14, 1918, a general political strike took place; involving about 400,000 persons, which was suppressed by the army. However, the government did give in to some demands such as [[proportional representation]] in the assembly and a 48-hour working week.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|author=G. P. Dragunov, D. Z. Iakukhin|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Switzerland|chapter=Switzerland|section=From 1918-1939}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Swiss government briefly established relations with the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] in March 1918 and a Soviet mission was sent in June but it was expelled on November 12,1918 under the false charge that the Soviets were taking part in Swiss working class demonstrations; the Swiss then broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union which would not be resumed until 1946. Switzerland joined the [[League of Nations]] in 1920 with the stipulation that it would not involve itself with military matters. In 1923 it established a customs union with the microstate of Liechtenstein leading Switzerland to handle most of the states foreign affairs from then on.<ref name=":2" /><br />
<br />
In 1931 Switzerland was gripped by the [[Great Depression]] leading to an economic crisis in which the [[class struggle]] was exacerbated; leading to strikes which were brutally repressed. The suppression of the socialist movement and a wave of arrests of [[Communism|communists]] followed, whilst in contrast the government allowed [[Fascism|fascist]] groups such as the [[National Front (Switzerland)|National Front]] to set up and grow. In 1936 the Swiss economy upsurged due to an increase in exports to neighbouring [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]] and [[Fascist Italy]] along with a refusal to take part in sanctions against the fascist powers. Swiss trusts such as Nestlé continued to expand abroad in this time whilst the [[Reformism|reformist]] [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland]] (SP/PS) influenced the [[Trade union|trade unions]] to side with the bourgeoisie and establish a labour peace with an agreement to not strike.<ref name=":2" /><br />
<br />
During the [[Second World War]], beginning in 1939, Switzerland had a complex relationship with the Nazi regime since while officially neutral, Switzerland had economic and political ties with Nazi Germany. The Swiss government maintained a policy of strict neutrality during the war, but it also profited from trade with the Axis powers and had a history of accepting stolen [[Judaism|Jewish]] assets.<ref>Halbrook, S.P. (1998). Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II. Rockville: Sarpedon Publishers.</ref><ref>Harvey, D. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> Additionally, the Swiss government's policies towards Jewish refugees were often discriminatory, with strict quotas and regulations that made it difficult for Jewish refugees to enter Switzerland.<ref>Blacklisted: The Secret War between Big Business and Union Activists" by Ross Fitzgerald (2020)</ref> The Swiss government's policy of neutrality during the war can also be seen as a way to protect its own economic interests, rather than a political stance against the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime, which is an example of capitalist system's tendency to prioritize [[profit]] over moral considerations.<ref>Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.</ref><br />
<br />
=== Cold War ===<br />
Swiss industrial capacity rose during the war, as did the gold reserves in the [[Swiss National Bank]] which rose from 2.2bn francs in 1940 to 4.8bn francs in 1945. A large part of this growth was as a result of the exploitation of workers whose standard of living in the war years declined by 10-13% which led to strikes in 1946-47, which granted a few minor concessions such as a small old age and disability pension in 1947 and a minimal decrease in the working week from 48 hours to 47.5 in 1950 (later reduced to 43.2 hours in 1975). In the 1950s, the backdrop of the [[Cold War]] led to a suppression of the socialist movement in the, led by the [[Swiss Party of Labour]], when an occupational blacklist known as the [[Berufsverbot]] was introduced. The Berufsverbot lasted until the 1970s and whilst active it allowed the growth of reactionary [[Nationalism|nationalist]] groups in the country.<ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=D. Z. Iakukhin|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Switzerland|chapter=Switzerland|section=Since 1945}}</ref><br />
<br />
During the Cold War Switzerland was firmly tied to the interests of [[Imperial core|the West]] and imperialism although it still pursued relations with the socialist camp and promoted trade and scientific collaboration with the East. Switzerland joined the [[Organization for European Economic Cooperation]] in 1948, the [[European Free Trade Association]] in 1959, and the [[European Council]] in 1963. In 1972, Switzerland signed an agreement with the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), the precursor to the EU, concerning the reciprocal elimination of tariffs but refused to join the EEC due to its official neutrality. Despite joining the [[United Nations]] late, Switzerland was active in its organisations throughout the Cold War as well as signing the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in 1963, the [[Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty]] in 1969 (ratified 1977) as well as the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972.<ref name=":3" /><br />
<br />
Switzerland was one of the last countries in Europe to give women the right to vote aside from [[Principality of Liechtenstein|Liechtenstein]], [[Vatican City State|Vatican City]] and to some extent [[Portuguese Republic|Portugal]], which also put it behind most of the rest of the World as well.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Céline Stegmüller|newspaper=Swissinfo|title=The introduction of women’s suffrage worldwide|date=2021-02-04|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/democracy/the-introduction-of-women-s-suffrage-worldwide/46325798|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422152143/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/democracy/the-introduction-of-women-s-suffrage-worldwide/46325798|archive-date=2024-04-22}}</ref> The male population only voted in favour of [[women's suffrage]] at the federal level on February 7, 1971, which allowed the first women into parliament on October 31 when 11 women (5.5%) were elected. A previous referendum on February 1, 1959 rejected the proposal by 654,939 (67%) no vs. 323,727 (31%) yes and the successful vote in 1971 only passed it by a vote of 621,109 (66%) yes vs. 323,882 (34%) no. At the cantonal level the right to vote varied by canton with some cantons allowing women to vote locally at various times from 1957 onwards whilst the most [[Conservatism|conservative]] canton, [[Appenzell Ausserrhoden]], only allowed women to vote in 1990 by a federal court decision.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch|title=Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right to Vote|url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326060714/http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html|archive-date=2024-03-26}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Climate ==<br />
<br />
=== Glaciers ===<br />
Switzerland's glaciers have lost 10% of their total volume in 2022 and 2023 due to little precipitation during the winter and high temperatures in the summer, the second-worst decrease since records began.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Swiss Academy of Sciences|title=Two catastrophic years obliterate 10% of Swiss glacier volume|date=2023-09-28|url=https://scnat.ch/en/uuid/i/b8d5798e-a75e-5a7d-a858-f7a6613524ed-Two_catastrophic_years_obliterate_10_of_Swiss_glacier_volume|archive-url=https://archive.ph/xqgYP|archive-date=2023-09-29|retrieved=2023-10-27}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:European countries]]<br />
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]<br />
[[Category:Global north]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Equatorial_Guinea&diff=76250Republic of Equatorial Guinea2024-10-06T05:58:59Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div><blockquote>''Not to be confused with [[Republic of Guinea|Guinea]], [[Guinea-Bissau]] or [[Independent State of Papua New Guinea|Papua New Guinea]].''</blockquote>{{Infobox country|name=Republic of Equatorial Guinea|native_name=República de Guinea Ecuatorial<br>République de Guinée équatoriale<br>República da Guiné Equatorial|image_flag=Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg|image_coat=Coat of arms of Equatorial Guinea.svg|capital=Malabo|largest_city=Malabo|government_type=Unitary dominant-party presidential republic|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=[[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Manuela Roka Botey]]|image_map=GNQ_orthographic.svg|map_width=320px|area_km2=28,050|population_estimate=1,679,172|population_estimate_year=2022}}<br />
<br />
'''Equatorial Guinea''', officially the '''Republic of Equatorial Guinea''', is an [[Africa|African]] liberal country bordered by [[Gabonese Republic|Gabon]], and [[Republic of Cameroon|Cameroon]].<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Spanish colonial rule ===<br />
Equatorial Guinea declared independence from [[Kingdom of Spain|Spain]] in 1968.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Stephen Zunes|newspaper=Black Agenda Report|title=African Dictatorships and Double-Standards|date=2008-07-09|url=https://blackagendareport.com/content/african-dictatorships-and-double-standards-0}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Independence ===<br />
[[Francisco Macías Nguema]] ruled from independence up until the 1979 coup in which he was killed by his nephew [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]]. Obiang has ruled Equatorial Guinea ever since the 1979 coup with [[United States of America|US]] backing, despite the regimes numerous human rights violations.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:African countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Democratic_Republic_of_S%C3%A3o_Tom%C3%A9_and_Pr%C3%ADncipe&diff=76249Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe2024-10-06T05:54:17Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox country|name=Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe|native_name=República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe|image_flag=Flag of São Tomé and Príncipe.svg|image_coat=Coat_of_arms_of_São_Tomé_and_Príncipe.svg|capital=São Tomé|largest_city=São Tomé|government_type=Unitary semi-presidential republic|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=Carlos Vila Nova|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=Patrice Trovoada|image_map=Location_São_Tomé_and_Príncipe_AU_Africa.svg|map_width=320px|area_km2=964|population_estimate=220,372|population_estimate_year=2023}}<br />
<br />
'''São Tomé and Príncipe''', officially the '''Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe''', is an island liberal democracy off the coast of West [[Africa]] and in the Gulf of Guinea. The nation is comprised of two archipelagos with the two main islands - São Tomé and Príncipe.<br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Colonization ===<br />
The islands were uninhabited until the arrival of the Portuguese colonialists in 1470. In the 16th Century, São Tomé was used as a base by the [[Kingdom of Spain|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese Republic|Portuguese]], to transport slaves from Africa to the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] in the [[Transatlantic slave trade]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=David Keys|newspaper=Black Agenda Report|title=Details of Horrific First Voyages in Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Revealed|date=2018-08-22|url=https://blackagendareport.com/details-horrific-first-voyages-trans-atlantic-slave-trade-revealed}}</ref><br />
<br />
In the 1950s, the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP) was formed by São Toméans to achieve independence.<br />
<br />
In November 1974, Portugal's new regime's representatives met with the MLSTP in Algiers and worked out an agreement for the transfer of sovereignty.<br />
<br />
July of 1975, the country became independent.<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
[[Category:Countries]]<br />
[[Category:African countries]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=Communist_Party_of_Vietnam&diff=76248Communist Party of Vietnam2024-10-06T05:35:48Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox political party<br />
| name = Communist Party of Vietnam<br />
| native_name = Đảng Cộng-sản Việt-nam<br />
| logo = [[File:Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam.svg|frameless|175px]]<br />
| colorcode = red<br />
| founder = [[Ho Chi Minh|Hồ Chí Minh]]<br />
| general_secretary = [[Nguyễn Phú Trọng]]<br />
| foundation = 3 February 1930<br />
| newspaper = ''[[Nhân Dân]]''<br />
| political_orientation = [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxism–Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br>[[Socialist-oriented market economy]]<br />
| website = [http://en.dangcongsan.vn/ en.dangcongsan.vn]<br />
| international = [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties]]<br />
| youth_wing = Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union</br>Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organization<br />
| womens_wing = Vietnam Women's Union<br />
| student_wing = Vietnamese Students' Association<br />
| country = Vietnam<br />
}}{{Communist parties}}<br />
<br />
The '''Communist Party of Vietnam''' (''Vietnamese'': Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam) is currently the ruling and solely legal political party in [[Vietnam]]. It is the [[Vanguard party|vanguard]] party of the the [[proletariat]], the Vietnamese working class and nation. It was formerly known as the Communist Party of Indochina and the Vietnam Labor Party. The official ideological foundation of the party is [[Marxism–Leninism]] and [[Ho Chi Minh Thought]].<ref>"The Communist Party of Vietnam - the Vanguard of the Vietnamese working class, simultaneously the vanguard of labourers and of the Vietnamese nation, the faithful representative of the interests of the working class, labourers and the whole nation, acting upon the Marxist-Leninist doctrine and Ho Chi Minh's thought, is the leading force of the State and society."<br />
<br />
Article 4 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam</ref><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
<br />
=== Background and foundation ===<br />
Ho Chi Minh founded the ''Intercolonial Union'' in 1921 and the [[Peasants' International Congress]] in 1923 to oppose [[French Third Republic|French]] [[colonialism]]. Created in 1924, the [[Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association]] was an illegal proletarian organization that agitated workers in mines, factories and plantations. They also worked with [[Peasantry|peasants]] and the [[petty bourgeoisie]]. In May 1929, they held a congress in [[Hong Kong]] and the Bắc Kỳ delegation from northern Vietnam proposed to dissolve the association and form a communist party. This proposal was not accepted, so the Bắc Kỳ delegation left and formed the [[Indochinese Communist Party]]. In October, the Nam Kỳ branch of the VRYA from the far south of Vietnam created the [[Annamese Communist Party]]. In February 1930, Ho Chi Minh convened a meeting of the the VRYA, ICP, and ACP in Hong Kong, where the three organizations were unified into the Communist Party of Vietnam.<ref>{{Citation|author=S. Horrison|year=1976|title=An Outline History of the Viet Nam Workers' Party (1930–1975)|chapter=The struggle to set up the Party of the Vietnamese working class. The August 1945<br />
Revolution and the founding of the Democratic<br />
Republic of Viet Nam (1920-1945).|page=7–14|pdf=http://bannedthought.net/Vietnam/CommunistParty/AnOutlineHistoryOfTheVietnamWorkersParty-1976.pdf|city=[[Hanoi]]|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== French colonial period ===<br />
By March 1931, the party had 2,400 members. On 11 April 1931, the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Third International]] recognized the Communist Party of Vietnam. In June, Ho Chi Minh was arrested by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] in Hong Kong but escaped and arrived in the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] in 1933. Hundreds of revolutionaries were killed by French authorities between 1930 and 1933. The first national congress of the party was held in [[Macau Special Administrative Region|Macau]] in March 1935. In July 1935, [[Lê Hồng Phong]] was invited to the seventh congress of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Foreign Languages Publishing House|year=1986|title=History of the Communist Party of Vietnam|page=38–48|pdf=https://www.bannedthought.net/Vietnam/CommunistParty/HistoryOfTheCommunistPartyOfVietnam-Hanoi-1986-OCR-sm.pdf|city=[[Hanoi]]}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Political role ===<br />
As the sole leading political party in Vietnam, the Communist Party has immense influence on the political, economic, social and cultural life of Vietnam.<br />
<br />
Its highest organ is the '''''National Congress''''' consisting of over 1,300 delegates from across the country. This body will then elect the '''''Central Committee'''''. This committee will then elect the '''''Politburo''''', the '''''Secretariat''''', the '''''Central Inspection Commission''''' and the '''''General Secretary'''''.<br />
<br />
== Further reading ==<br />
<br />
* ''[[Library:An Outline History of the Vietnam Workers' Party|An Outline History of the Vietnam Workers' Party]]''<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
[[Category:Communist parties]]<br />
[[Category:Communist Party of Vietnam]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71836Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-14T13:40:10Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the Communist Party of France in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the Vietnam Independence League, which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous Phan Bội Châu whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71835Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-14T13:37:58Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
Under the new name of Chen Vang, Ho Chi Minh was given a safe permit by the Russian SFSR's ambassador in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's safe permit to the USSR|quote=Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic<br />
Travel permit No. 1829<br />
<br />
Bearer: CHEN VANG<br />
Born: February 15, 1895 in Indochina.<br />
Occupation: photographer.<br />
Going to: Russia.<br />
This permit is valid only while traveling.<br />
Berlin, June 16, 1923<br />
<br />
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany.<br />
<br />
Signed:<br />
Stephan Bratman Bradovsky.}}</ref> He was also given a temporary residence permit by the German police to stay in Berlin.<ref>{{Citation|author=German Police|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's temporary residence permit|quote=PERMIT NO. 5316 JUNE 1923<br />
VALID FOR A TRIP FROM BERLIN THROUGH THE BORDER GUARDS<br />
<br />
Name: CHEN VANG<br />
Where: from abroad<br />
Purpose: to go home<br />
Time: indefinitely<br />
<br />
This document is valid from 18-6-1923 to 22-6-1923<br />
Berlin, 18-6-1923<br />
<br />
Chief of Police}}</ref> On June 25, Ho Chi Minh was given the visa to go to the USSR.<ref>{{Citation|author=Soviet Border Guards|year=1923|title=Ho Chi Minh's entry visa to the USSR|quote=ENTRY VISA NO. 361370<br />
<br />
Mr. CHEN VANG<br />
Destination: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.<br />
Border station: Petrograd Commercial Port.<br />
Purpose of trip: Professional work.<br />
Duration of stay in Russia: 1 month<br />
<br />
Berlin, June 25, 1923<br />
Signed on behalf of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Germany}}</ref> With the help of the representative agency of the Russian SFSR in Berlin, he boarded the Soviet ship Karl Liebnek departing from Hamburg to Petrograd. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=56}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On June 30, Ho Chi Minh finally stepped foot in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Moscow after a short stay in Petrograd. From Moscow, Ho Chi Minh would still wrote in Le Paria and actively participated in the political life in the city. In October, he brifely met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and Zhang Tailei. <ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|section=10|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71834Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-14T13:14:41Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xiao San|year=1982|title=Xiao San's memoirs}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Hoàng Tranh|year=1987|title=Ho Chi Minh and China|page=6 - 7|city=Beijing|publisher=Liberation Army}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1923 - Soviet Union =====<br />
On January 8, Ho Chi Minh opposed the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany by the French army, saying:<br />
<br />
"''The proletariat of the world will never accept this''!"<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=306|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref> He would spend the rest of his stay in Paris by writing for La Vie Ouvrière, handing out propaganda leaflets and attending communist meetings. By mid June, the secret police that followed him had discovered that Ho Chi Minh had completely vanished. In order to be able to leave safely, Ho Chi Minh went to work in early morning, going to the library in the afternoon, attending meetings in the evening, and went home at night, so that the French secret police could get used to his "''modus operandi''". He also monitered their steps: they only followed him from his boarding house to his workplace, to his reading room, to his meeting place. After that, confident that he had not gone anywhere, they left. On the evening of June 13, Ho Chi Minh boarded a bus to attend a meeting in the suburbs of Paris. About 30 minutes later, he quietly walked around to the train station. A trusted comrade was waiting there, handing him a first-class train ticket as luxury passengers were less likely to be suspected by the secret police and a small suitcase.<ref>{{Citation|author=T.Lan|year=1976|title=Telling stories on the road|page=18|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71382Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-05T06:27:55Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh met with future leaders of the Chinese revolution including Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen and Xiao San. After some convincing, he was able to coax them into joining the French Communist Party.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71381Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-05T06:14:07Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1922 - Le Paria =====<br />
In early January of 1922, Ho Chi Minh with the helps of the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies,''''' created "Le Paria" - the newspaper of the colonies' oppressed. He was editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece.<br />
<br />
On February 20, Ho Chi Minh along with members of the communist party commemorated the late [[anarchist]] revolutionary ''Louise Michel'', a brave communard who would inspired the used of the anarchist black flag. <br />
<br />
On April 1, the first issue of Le Paria was printed. The front featured French, Arabic and Chinese writings. Le Paria denounced the political abuses of power, administrative despotism, and economic exploitation of which the people in the vast overseas territories were victims. It called on them to unite to fight for their own material and spiritual progress, exhorting them to organize for the purpose of liberating the oppressed from the forces of domination.<br />
<br />
The next month, Ho Chi Minh would work as a photographer for Lainé on 7 Compoint, 17th Arrondisement. He asked to work in the morning so he'll have free time to write later. He later that day attended the May Day protest on 33 La Grange aux Belles.<br />
<br />
An especially infuriating event for the Vietnamese occured in May at Marseille. The French organised the "''Achievements of civilization''" gallery to show off their so called "progress". One of the items displayed was the Nguyen dynasty king Khải Định, a head of state. Understandably outraged, Ho Chi Minh wrote the scathing story of "''The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc''" in which the soverain of Annam is visited by the spirit of the Vietnamese female rebel from the 1st century before his departure to the gallery. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1922|title=The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=61 - 65|quote=Oh, look, unfortunate child, look around you. Can you see China waking up, Japan modernizing, and Siam living independently? Have you noticed that the whole world is moving forward and that only your people are stuck— thanks to you and your ministers—in the wretched depths of ignorance and slavery?<br />
<br />
Look at Korea, Egypt. and India; all those countries that are rising up to<br />
claim their rights, justice, and freedom. That’s when you… Hush… Listen! Can you hear that? Can you hear these clamoring voices? They are coming—they are coming in great numbers, all those Annamites killed in the European war. They have come to claim what you and your protectors promised to them and their brothers. You must answer them. Oh! They become indignant, and walk away.<br />
They turn their backs to you and are heading towards the other side. Do you see them? There, where the sun rises in great splendor and where the flag of Humanity and Work proudly floats. Well, there lies the spirit of the dead and the future of the people you have served so poorly!<br />
<br />
The rooster is about to crow. The polar star is traveling through the sky. The<br />
enchanting music is calling for me. Farewell!”<br />
<br />
A clammy sweat flows down the forehead of the royal sleeper. He wants to<br />
shout, but he cannot. Fear paralyzes his voice.<br />
<br />
A eunuch entered the room, made three bows, and yelled in a woman’s<br />
voice:<br />
<br />
“Your Lower-Majesty! Here is the order of departure sent by the Upper-Résidence.}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71351Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-04T07:15:59Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes were waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71350Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-04T07:12:44Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life in Vietnam ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work as a kitchen assistant for the merchant ship ''Amiral Latouche Tréville'' which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
===== 1918 - Patriot =====<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1919 - Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
====== Claims of the Annamite people ======<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
====== Journalist career ======<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
==== 1920 - First Vietnamese Communist ====<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in ''Cochin'' Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== 1921 - Active Propagandist =====<br />
Early in 1921, Ho Chi Minh was admitted to ''Cochin'' Hospital to have an abscess in his shoulder removed. Many people visited, including Vigné d'Octon, a famous French naturalist and socialist. After 2 months, he was discharged. <ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><br />
<br />
During the year of 1921, Ho Chi Minh both worked as photographer and a journalist at multiple leftwing newspaper outlets, with articles that were even circulated in Indochina.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Defeated People of Indochina - La Vie Ouvrière, No.101, April 8|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=20 - 21|quote=[...] not very far into the future as you say, the proletariat of the Metropolis will have done its duty: it will have kicked out all the parasites, and being emancipated, it will have emancipated its Indochinese brothers; liberated from the imperialist yoke. The latter will no doubt be proud and happy, more proud and happy than you can ever think of, contributing to rebuild, along with the workers of France, their common Fatherland.<br />
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make the defeated people of Indochina pay<br />
the bills. Use any means to do so. If the people’s safes are empty, one can always<br />
start looking in the tombs of dead kings.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Indochina (Excerpts) - La Revue Communiste, No. 14, April|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=22|quote=Morally and physically poisoned, gagged and penned up, this human herd<br />
may be thought to be forever destined to the altar of the capitalist god, to have<br />
stopped living and thinking, to be of no use in social transformation. Not at<br />
all! The Indochinese are not dead, they still live, they will live forever. Systematic<br />
poisoning by colonial capitalism has not stamped out their vitality, even less<br />
their consciousness. The wind from working-class Russia, revolutionary China<br />
or militant India has cured them of intoxication. It is true that they don’t get<br />
educated by books or speeches, but in another fashion. Suffering, destitution<br />
and brutal oppression are their only educators, and while the Socialists are<br />
remiss about their education, the colonial and native (mandarin) bourgeoisie<br />
are paying it affectionate attention. The Indochinese are making tremendous<br />
progress and, occasion permitting, will show themselves to be worthy of their<br />
masters. Under a mask of passivity, they hide something that is seething, rumbling and will, when the time comes, explode formidably. It is up to the elite to hasten the coming of that moment. The tyranny of capitalism has prepared the ground: the only thing for socialism to do is to sow the seeds of emancipation.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=The Rights of the “Poilus”, La Vie Ouvrière, No.105, May 7|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=24|quote=“The ‘poilus’ have rights over us,” said “Father-Victory” Clemenceau. “The<br />
‘poilus’ have rights over us,” repeat the Annamite victims. For the former, the<br />
poilus have the sacred right to be killed in defending the treasure chests; treasure chests made with the sweat of their workers and filled with the blood<br />
of their soldiers. For the latter, the poilus—or what remains of them—these<br />
sacred rights, granted by colonial capitalism, consist of continuing bourgeois civilization, i.e., poisoning the native people after having massacred many of them for the benefit of capitalism.<br />
<br />
According to the Indochinese newspapers, opium licenses will be granted to the widows of French soldiers killed in the war, as well as to French cripples.<br />
<br />
Hence, the colonial government has committed two crimes of “lèse-humanité” at the same time. On the one hand, it is not satisfied with carrying out itself the dirty work of poisoning and wants to delegate this task to the poor victims of the fratricidal butchery. On the other hand, it considers the life and blood of its victims worthless and believes it can “reimburse” the loss of a limb or the mourning of a dead relative by simply throwing them a rotten bone|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6}}</ref> On May 28, or Bloody Week ('''''semaine sanglante'''),'' Ho Chi Minh participated in a demonstration organized by the SFIC at the Pere Lachaise cemetery to commerate the fall and masscre of communards during the [[Paris Commune]]. The police repressed the demonstration but luckily, Ho Chi Minh was able to escape.<br />
<br />
Due to his efforts, he was held in high regards by the Vietnamese overseas communities in Paris. Not only with his countrymen but fellow brothers and sisters from colonized nations greatly admired him as a trustworthy comrade.In late Ho Chi Minh along with Algerian, Morrocan, Tunisian, Malagasy comrades created the '''''Union intercoloniale – Association des indigènes de toutes les colonies''''' to further strenghthen the solidarity between the oppressed nations.<br />
<br />
On Christmas, exactly a year after establishing the French Communist Party, the party held its '''First Congress in Marseille.''' Ho Chi Minh was elected as member of the Colonial Committee of the Executive Committee of the FCP. Howevever, 2 secret police agents in plain clothes was waiting and tried to apprehend him but Ho Chi Minh was able to get into the Meeting Hall in time. The congress adopted Ho Chi Minh's Draft Report "''Communism and the colonies''".<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1921|title=Communism and the colonies|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=43 - 44|quote=1° That it must reject any proposal that is economic or political in nature<br />
that only constitutes an improvement, a reform or progress of any kind,<br />
because in a capitalist regime, they can only serve the present political<br />
power by helping its consolidation.<br />
<br />
2° Considering that the French Colonies are not only considered by the<br />
dominant classes as an inexhaustible granary of an abundance of raw<br />
materials for the production of which the natives are considered simple<br />
beasts of burden, but that these overseas countries are also and above<br />
all considered by our class adversaries as being destined to provide the<br />
principal contingent of counter-revolutionary troops.}}</ref> <br />
<br />
Exiting the hall, members of the city council and of the National Assembly gathered around and escorted Ho Chi Minh to safety infront of the plain-clothed secret agents. The next day, on ''Ami du peuple'' was the socialist's condemnation of the Marseille police: <br />
<br />
"''The working class of France will not turn a blind eye to the dishonorable and illegal actions displayed by the gendarme against Nguyễn Ái Quốc. The Communist Party of France wholeheartedly stands in solidarity with Nguyễn Ái Quốc and the native proletariat - victims of colonial terror. If they desire to silence us or any member of the congress, they'll have to cross our dead bodies first before touching a hair on the Annamite representative.''" <ref>{{Citation|author=Evgeniy Kobelev|year=1983|title=Ho Chi Minh|chapter=The Communist|page=123 - 124|city=Moscow|publisher=Youth Guard}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71240Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-03T03:58:26Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Chữ quốc ngữ:'' Hồ Chí Minh; ''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref> <br />
<br />
===== Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. In fact, ''Nguyễn Quang Lâm'', pseudonym “Jean,” was a French intelligence agent that acted as a Vietnamese intellectual to record the activities of Ho Chi Minh.<br />
<br />
From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
===== Claims of the Annamite people =====<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
===== Journalist career =====<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
On January 8 1920, Ho Chi Minh and a number of Vietnamese intellectuals attended a meeting of the ''French Geographical Society'' to discuss the right of self-determination of the Korean people, which mentioned the Indochina issue.<ref>Letter from Pierre Götzde, Inspector General of the Indochinese people in France, to the Minister of Colonies dated October 12, 1920.</ref> 6 days later, Ho Chi Minh would spoke to the ''Camarades de la 14c jeunesse'' on the topic of t''he social progress of the peoples of Asia and the requests of Annam'', at 3 rue du Château, with 70 people attending. <ref name=":5">Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
On February 11, Ho Chi Minh presented the topic of ''[[Bolshevism]] in Asia'' at the Conference of Communist Youths in the second Arrondisement. He also talked about the issue of common land in both China and Vietnam.<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On [[International Workers' Day]], Ho Chi Minh with the Socialist Party group in ''le Kremlin - Bicêtre''. He took the stage and mentioned the issue being discussed in the newspaper L'Humanité: "The Socialist group's program of activities demands that the colonized be stopped from being sent to France."<ref name=":5" /><br />
<br />
On July 17 1920, Ho Chi Minh for the first time had accessed to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical of ''L'Humanité''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions For The Second Congress Of The Communist International|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/05.htm|quote=Recognition of internationalism in word, and its replacement in deed by petty-bourgeois nationalism and pacifism, in all propaganda, agitation and practical work, is very common, not only among the parties of the Second International, but also among those which have withdrawn from it, and often even among parties which now call themselves communist. The urgency of the struggle against this evil, against the most deep-rooted petty-bourgeois national prejudices, looms ever larger with the mounting exigency of the task of converting the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national dictatorship (i.e., existing in a single country and incapable of determining world politics) into an international one (i.e., a dictatorship of the proletariat involving at least several advanced countries, and capable of exercising a decisive influence upon world politics as a whole). Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more. Quite apart from the fact that this recognition is purely verbal, petty-bourgeois nationalism preserves national self-interest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital.<br />
<br />
Thus, in countries that are already fully capitalist and have workers’ parties that really act as the vanguard of the proletariat, the struggle against opportunist and petty-bourgeois pacifist distortions of the concept and policy of internationalism is a primary and cardinal task.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/sw/volume03.htm}}</ref> In this document, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] criticized all the erroneous arguments of the leaders of the [[Second International]] on the national and colonial issues and strongly condemned chauvinistic ideology, narrow-minded and selfish nationalism. At the same time emphasizing the task of the Communist Parties to aid the revolutionary movements of colonized nations, the solidarity between the [[proletariat]] of capitalist countries and the working masses of all nations to fight against the common enemy of [[imperialism]] and [[feudalism]]. It was at this crossroad that Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary path was forever changed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh|year=1960|title=The Path Which Led Me To Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1960/04/x01.htm|quote=There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
At first, patriotism, not yet communism, led me to have confidence in Lenin, in the Third International. Step by step, along the struggle, by studying Marxism-Leninism parallel with participation in practical activities, I gradually came upon the fact that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery.|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref> In mid August, Ho Chi Minh was sicked and had to stayed in Cochin Hospital.<ref>{{Citation|author=Lê Thị Kinh|year=2003|title=Phan Châu Trinh qua những tư liệu mới|page=109|publisher=Đà Nẵng|volume=II}}</ref> <br />
<br />
On Christmas in the city of ''Tours'' (240km from Paris), Ho Chi Minh participated in the 18th Congress of the Socialist Party as a representative a the Indochinese people. When the Presidium introduced Ho Chi Minh, the entire Congress stood up and applauded for it was the first time a Vietnamese had participated in a congress of a French political party. He was also the only native among the colonial delegates present at the congress. Ho Chi Minh met with Clara Zetkin - the famous German revolutionary, member of the Standing Committee of the Comintern.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacque Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=31|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
A journalist took a photo of him and printed it in Le Matin. The next day, the police came to Ho Chi Minh. Socialist Party members intervened, the secret police did not dare enter the meeting room and Ho Chi Minh still attended the congress properly.<br />
<br />
At the afternoon session of the congress on the 26th, after the invitation of the President of the Congress Goude, Ho Chi Minh spoke. In his speech, he condemned French colonialism, which, for its own benefit, had used bayonets to conquer Indochina and that over the past half century, the Indochinese people had not only been oppressed and exploited humiliating manners. He also denounced the atrocities committed by the colonialists in Indochina, and argued that "the Socialist Party must operate practically to support the oppressed natives", that "the Party must propagate socialism in all colonial countries... correctly assess the importance of the colonial issue...".<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh ended his speech with an passionated appeal: "In the name of all humanity, in the name of all socialists, both right and left, we appeal: Comrades, save us!"<ref>Speech by Nguyen Ai Quoc, printed in the 18th Congress of the French Socialist Party, published in Paris, 1921.</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1920|title=Speech at the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=18 - 20|publisher=Foreign Language Press|volume=I}}</ref><br />
<br />
On the 29th, the Tours Congress voted to decide whether the Party would stay in the Second International or join the Third International. When asked why Ho Chi Minh had voted to join the Third International, he replied:<br />
<br />
"I cannot comprehend what you implied by proletarian strategy, tactics, and many other points! But I do understand one thing clearly: the Third International pays great attention to the issue of colonial liberation... Liberation for my countrymen, independence for my homeland, that is all I ever desired, that is all I understand." <ref name=":6">L'Humanité, December 30, 1920</ref><br />
<br />
The next day, Ho Chi Minh and those who advocated joining the Third International announced the establishment of the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC).<ref name=":6" /> From that moment on, Ho Chi Minh became a [[communist]]. And as one of the founders of the French Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was also the first Vietnamese communist.<br />
<br />
At the end of 1920, Ho Chi Minh participated in a rally at the Wagram meeting room to protest against the United States government for illegally sentencing to death two Italian-American workers, Sacco and Valzetti, and demanded their freedom.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jean Lacouture|year=1967|title=Hồ Chí Minh|page=17 - 21|city=Paris|publisher=Seuil}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71194Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-02T06:25:37Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref> <br />
<br />
===== Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists in the French Section of the Workers' International such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
===== Claims of the Annamite people =====<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
===== Journalist career =====<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71193Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-02T06:23:35Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (''Hanzi'': 胡志明; May 19th, 1890 — September 2nd, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is colloquially known in Vietnam by the nickname '''''Uncle Ho'''''. Although throughout his life, he has used from 50 to 200 pseudonyms in order to conduct his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dennis Duncanson|year=1957|title=Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong 1931–1932|page=85|publisher=The China Quarterly|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Aside from being a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, a poet and a journalist highly critical towards [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]]. He wrote many books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese is also a polyglot. Ho Chi Minh is famous for his 30 years of traveling around the globe, learning from western bourgeois regimes and finally stumbled on [[Marxism–Leninism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] and its lackeys in the 1960s. He passed away in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79. In 1976 - one year after the Liberation of Saigon, the city was name '''''Ho Chi Minh City''''' in honor of the former revolutionary and father of the nation.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref> <br />
<br />
===== Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists in the French Section of the Workers' International such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 2|page=39|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> By now his activities were closely monitered by the French authorities. From June 7 to 11, Ho Chi Minh was living on 10 rue de Stockholm in the 8th Arrondisement.<ref name=":4">French Secret Service Files</ref><br />
<br />
===== Claims of the Annamite people =====<br />
On June 18 1919, as he was staying at 56 rue de Monsieur de prince in the 6th Arrondisement<ref name=":4" />, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity. While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam, now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general, and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble claims:'' <br />
<br />
''(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.'' <br />
<br />
''(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans, and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of the Annamite people.'' <br />
<br />
''(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.'' <br />
<br />
''(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.'' <br />
<br />
''(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.''<br />
<br />
''(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical and professional schools for the use of the natives.'' <br />
<br />
''(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.'' <br />
<br />
''(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives’ needs and wishes.'' <br />
<br />
''The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves: for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently, by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty to France and to Humanity.'' <br />
<br />
''In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:''<br />
<br />
''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<ref>L'Humanité on August 16, 1919</ref> He was now seen as a serious threat to the colonial government of French Indochina.<br />
<br />
===== Journalist career =====<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to 6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, to live with the lawyer Phan Văn Trường and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=The Native Question - L'Humanité, August 2|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=4 - 8|quote=In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and<br />
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is justice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.|publisher=Foreign Language Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Indochina and Korea - Le Populaire, September 4|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|chapter=Indoctrinating Yellow People’s Minds|page=9 - 11|quote=During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea<br />
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government, greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be “bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most powerful people in the colony.<br />
<br />
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref><ref>Documents of the French Archives</ref><br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time.<ref>Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SPCE/364</ref> Back in Paris, Ho Chi Minh wrote to exposed the lies and distorted arguments in discussions at the French Parliament by Outrey, September 18, 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Ái Quốc|year=1919|title=Letter to Outrey|title-url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B13-Ho-Chi-Minh-Volume-1-1st-Printing.pdf|page=12 - 15|quote=Who do you represent? Is it the twenty million Annamites who do not know you, even by name, except for a few civil servants or a few beggars, or the handful of your voters in Cochinchina? Do not say that Indochina is being bullied by France, but rather by the bad French who live off it, which is not the same thing. Do you understand the nuance? Since you spoke of freedom and peace in your sentence quoted above, let me ask you if, after having compared it with the law of July 29, 1881, one can maintain that the natives’ system of press—organized by the decree of December 30, 1918 and by articles 214 to 217 of the new Annamite penal code (Journal Officiel de l’Indochine of August 1, 1917)—is not a regime of complete muzzling and hiding light under the bushel, and consequently does not confirm from one end to the other what I have said, on the occasion of which you perfidiously blamed Le Populaire before the House. Please note that I am not arguing with you about words. I am referring you to the texts. You are brainwashing our yellow heads just as the Germans tried, in vain, to brainwash the white heads in the Ardennes.11 And remember well that they had one of your former colleagues in the Civil Services of the Colonies, a graduate of the Colonial School, as their collaborator. Ah, you are so fond of invoking anti-French activities. Here they are, the real ones, then. You would have done better to keep quiet about the use of the Annamites in France. When the government consulted General Pennequin and another general on this question, did you not vigorously oppose the execution of the project, saying that it was unfeasible, that there were not enough Annamite soldiers to defend Indochina, etc… You were afraid that my compatriots, during their stay in France, would not fail to compare the arrogance of the French of Indochina with the exquisite courtesy and the great savoir-vivre of the French of France. The prestige of the colonialists first, the country second, am I right?|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|isbn=978-2-491182-94-6|volume=I}}</ref>He also met with Pierre Pasquier, an official of the French colonial ministry over the erecting of a memorial in ''Nogent'' to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<ref>When Pierre Pasquier asked: <br />
<br />
''“How will the establishment of a memorial to the martyrs of Indochina in Nogent affect the people of Annam?”,'' <br />
<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc replied:<br />
<br />
''“Emotionally, it is not clear, but it would be better if more material care were to be paid to soldier's wives and children.”''<br />
<br />
He added:<br />
<br />
''“After 10 years, America granted autonomy to the Philippines, and Japan just granted autonomy to Korea after 14 years. Why hasn’t France done anything for Indochina?”''<br />
<br />
Centre des archives d'Outre-mer - SLOTFOM 15/1<br />
<br />
</ref> Ho Chi Minh was a frequent visiter to the ''Sainte Geneviève'' library and the ''Jardin du Luxembourg''.<ref>Report of the spy Jean</ref><br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization. He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<ref>{{Citation|author=Jacques Duclos|year=1970|title=Paris Days|chapter=Uncle Ho in France|page=28|city=Hanoi|publisher=Literature Publishing House}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71168Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-01T07:43:22Z<p>BenWelkins: /* Activism in France */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism abroad ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref> <br />
<br />
===== Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists in the French Section of the Workers' International such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<br />
<br />
===== Claims of the Annamite people =====<br />
On June 18 1919, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''1. General amnesty for all natives sentenced to political imprisonment;''<br />
<br />
''2. Reform of the legal system in Indochina by granting natives the same legal guarantees as Europeans; the complete abolition of the special courts which serve as instruments of terror and oppression for the most honest elements of the Annamese people;''<br />
<br />
''3. Freedom of the press and freedom of speech;''<br />
<br />
''4. Freedom of association and assembly;''<br />
<br />
''5. Freedom of residence abroad and freedom of emigration;''<br />
<br />
''6. Freedom to study, establishment of technical and professional schools in all provinces for natives;''<br />
<br />
''7. Replacement of the system of decrees by the system of laws;''<br />
<br />
''8. Permanent delegation of natives, elected by natives, to the French Parliament to inform the latter of their wishes.''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<br />
<br />
===== Journalist career =====<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to no.6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, Paris, to live with Phan Văn Trương and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of colonialism. Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time. Back in Paris, he had a dispute with Pierre Pasquier over the erecting of a memorial in Nogent to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization.<br />
<br />
He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71167Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-01T07:40:12Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. After two weeks off from his job as a furnace stoker due to a cold, Ho Chi Minh went to work at the Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing in London.But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor. Ho Chi Minh also learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his stay in England.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Political life in France =====<br />
At the end of 1917, Ho Chi Minh moved to France at the height of the [[First World War]]. His goal was to meet up in Paris with the [[Liberal]] revolutionary leader Phan Chu Trinh which he succedeed. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=18|quote=After leaving London, Ba wrote to me.<br />
<br />
The gist of it was:<br />
<br />
"I met Phan Chu Trinh. Did you know? He was sentenced to death. Thanks to the intervention of the Human Rights Association and Mr. Jaurès, Phan was released and went to Paris. I also met lawyer Phan Văn Trương and others. I told them: While King Duy Tân was in revolt in Huế, the people of Thái Nguyên and many other places were in revolt, what are we doing here?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> He also joined the ''Groupe des Patriotes Annamites'' (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots). It was in France that Ho Chi Minh met Michele Zecchini, member of the Italian Socialist Party, which at that time represented the revolutionaries of the colonies alongside the French Socialist Party.<br />
<br />
According to Michele Zecchini, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh was the authorized representative of the ''Overseas Workers' Association'' and was hiding in a rented room on ''la rue de Charonne''. At that time, his comrades in the Socialist Party had not yet found him legal papers. So Zecchini arranged for him to move to a new place, in the 13th Arrondisement, at the house of a Tunisian friend named Moktar. As the war was not over, and there were constant raids and arrests of deserting colonial soldiers. To ensure his safety, Ho Chi Minh had to limit his movement. When Moktar was not home, he was not allowed to light the lamp or make a fire. Every evening, Moktar would come home from work, make dinner for him, save some for the next day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michele Zecchini|year=1970|title=Le caligraphe|page=26|publisher=Planète-action magazine}}</ref><br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh later that year visited the island of Réunion to visit the former king Thành Thái who was under house arrest. He had left a good impression on King and recalling this, in 1947, he remarked:<br />
<br />
“''I am old now and have no intention of returning to political life. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh was a representative of the revolutionary movement of the Vietnamese people and to me he was no stranger. As early as 1918, when he fled abroad, he came to see me on Réunion. From that point on, I saw him as an enthusiastic and wise nationalist.''” <ref>National Salvation Newspaper, No. 748, published on November 6, 1947</ref> <br />
<br />
===== Socialist Party =====<br />
In 1919, he began to use his second best known name - ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''. When joining the Socialist Party, Ho Chi Minh had the opportunity to be close to and work with famous French political and cultural activists in the French Section of the Workers' International such as ''Marcel Cachin, Paul Vaillant Couturier, Leon Blum, Raymond Lefebvre, Jean Longuet, Gaston Monmousseau'', etc.<br />
<br />
===== Claims of the Annamite people =====<br />
On June 18 1919, Ho Chi Minh petitioned for recognition of the civil rights and of the right to self-determination of the Vietnamese in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks and to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. <ref>''To Your Excellency the President of the United States, Delegate to the Peace Conference.''<br />
<br />
''Your Excellency,''<br />
<br />
''On the occasion of the victory of the Allies, we take the liberty of sending you, enclosed, a record of the demands of the Annamese people. Trusting in your magnanimity, we hope that you will support us before the competent authorities. Please accept our expression of deep respect.''<br />
<br />
''On behalf of the Annamese Patriots''<br />
<br />
''Nguyen Ai Quoc''<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh's letter to President Wilson from 56 Monsieur le Prince, Paris</ref><br />
<br />
''1. General amnesty for all natives sentenced to political imprisonment;''<br />
<br />
''2. Reform of the legal system in Indochina by granting natives the same legal guarantees as Europeans; the complete abolition of the special courts which serve as instruments of terror and oppression for the most honest elements of the Annamese people;''<br />
<br />
''3. Freedom of the press and freedom of speech;''<br />
<br />
''4. Freedom of association and assembly;''<br />
<br />
''5. Freedom of residence abroad and freedom of emigration;''<br />
<br />
''6. Freedom to study, establishment of technical and professional schools in all provinces for natives;''<br />
<br />
''7. Replacement of the system of decrees by the system of laws;''<br />
<br />
''8. Permanent delegation of natives, elected by natives, to the French Parliament to inform the latter of their wishes.''<br />
<br />
The petition failed but would lead to Ho Chi Minh's popularity back in Vietnam and cement his position as a figure head of the anti-colonial movement back home.<br />
<br />
===== Journalist career =====<br />
In July 1919, Ho Chi Minh moved to no.6 Villa des Gobelins, 13th Arrondisement, Paris, to live with Phan Văn Trương and Phan Chu Trinh. At around this point, he was an editor and publisher of many articles on ''L'humanité, Le Populaire, Courrier Colonial'' exposing the terrors of colonialism. Ho Chi Minh also had the opportunity to meet leaders of independence movements across the world that congregated in Paris.<br />
<br />
In September, due to his popularity, Governor-General of Indochina Albert Saraut personally invited Ho Chi Minh to meet him which is recorded by the latter to the former the following day.<ref>{{Citation|author=Thu Trang|year=2002|title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc in Paris (1917 - 1923)|page=420|quote=To Mr. Albert Saraut, Governor-General of Indochina <br />
Dear Mr. Governor-General!<br />
<br />
Following the conversation with you yesterday, I would like to enclose with you a statement of the Annamese demands. Since you kindly told me that you always want to clarify all issues, I would like to ask you to let me know which of our eight demands have been fulfilled, and which documents we should refer to in order to prove it. Because I would like to affirm that all eight demands are intact and none of them have been satisfactorily resolved.<br />
<br />
Please accept them.<br />
Nguyen Ai Quoc<br />
6 Villa de Gobelin, Paris|city=Hanoi|publisher=National Political Publishing House|trans-title=Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Paris (1917 - 1923)|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh visited Germany for a few week at this time. Back in Paris, he had a dispute with Pierre Pasquier over the erecting of a memorial in Nogent to commerate the fallen Vietnamese soldiers of the war.<br />
<br />
In the last months of 1919, the Third International Committee of the French Socialist Party was established. The purpose of this Committee was to mobilize the Party to join the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]] and to defend the [[Russian revolution]], which was being fiercely attacked by bourgeois governments, including the French government of Clemanceau.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh actively participated in the activities of this organization.<br />
<br />
He often went to the meeting room of the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge in the Latin Quarter, the meeting room of the Musée near the Luxembourg Palace, the cinema on Chateau d’eau Street in the 10th Arrondisement, etc. to attend the meetings of the Third International Committee. During the meetings, Ho Chi Minh often informed his French friends about the situation in Vietnam and the crimes of the French colonialists there.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh and a number of members of the French Socialist Party went to collect money in the streets of Paris to help the Russian revolution overcome a famine, a consequence of the French Government and the governments of the Allied countries besieging the [[Russian SFSR]]. Along with collecting money, he also participated in distributing leaflets of the French Socialist Party calling on French [[Proletariat]] to condemn the French Government's armed intervention in Russia.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71166Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-01T04:50:22Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father. <ref>{{Citation|author=D'Hémery|year=1992|title=Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genese d'un exil|page=132}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=9 - 12|quote=Mr. Dân, sixty-two years old and lives in Nha Trang, the owner of a small, clean and busy shop, with many children. He greeted me warmly and told me a story: "I have two sons who are in the National Defense Army and a daughter who is a medic. I have three more children; twenty-two, twenty and sixteen years old, all members of the National Salvation Youth Union. All three of them wanted to join the National Defense Army. When the Nation needs them, I am ready to sacrifice my children. Perhaps that will make their mother sad, but women are always like that.<br />
<br />
I should also tell you that my wife is also a member of the Women's National Salvation Union. As for me, I was the treasurer of the local Viet Minh chapter. My whole family works for the movement. The whole village was like that. Everyone was Viet Minh, Viet Minh, Vietnam, Vietnam, Viet Minh - There can be no new Vietnam without the Viet Minh."<br />
Dân was smooth-spoken and started the conversation very skillfully. It was not easy to bring him back to the story that I was particularly interested in. But I managed.<br />
"Yes, I still remember that Ba fellow. I certainly remember him even though it was thirty odd years ago. I was staying with my boss in Saint-Adresse, a suburb<br />
of Le Havre, and one day the old boss brought home a young man, thin, in ragged clothes but looking smart. His name was Ba. <br />
When you meet a fellow countryman in a foreign country, you can easily become close friends. We were the same.<br />
[...]<br />
Ba spent his time tending to the flowers with the gardener or was looking at the newspapers. After three days of his stay, he asked me: "Dân, do you know how to write in Vietnamese?". I was a little embarrassed but answered honestly: "No, I don't know actually." <br />
Ba immediately explained and encouraged me to learn it. I followed his instructions. Ba was the same, he learned French from the maid. Today I can read and write thanks to Ba. To repay him, I sometimes took Ba to the movies or the circus.<br />
<br />
We lived together for a month. One afternoon the old boss came home from work and said to Ba: "There is a ship going around Africa. There are no passengers. Only goods. Would you like to work as a waiter for the officers on board? There aren't many of them, and they are all good folks, you won't find it too hard on the ship. Do you agree?"<br />
Ba happily accepted. Then I told him: "Listen Ba, the climate in Africa is very hot, hotter than here even. And a cargo ship is very unstable, you're going to get seasick. It is absolutely foolish to go, especially alone, without any companions..." Ba said to me: "You should not say that. I am still young and strong, I can endure this hardship. And I want to see the world". The next day, Ba boarded the ship, he wrote to me two or three times, telling me countless stories, talking about the black Africans, the Arabs, talking about Tenerife falls, Lisbon, about the exotic parrots...|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal and Reunion<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=12|quote=The ship left Le Havre. It stopped in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and the ports of Africa as far as the Congo. Wherever it went, Ba would paid close attention. Every time the ship docked, Ba would find himself marvelled by the citíe. When he returned, he had his pockets full of photographs and matchboxes. He loved to collect these items.|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=We stopped at Tenerife Fall at dusk, the sea was calm, the island was like a giant lampshade on the sea, sparkling above, marine blue below. That was all there was, but Ba was stunned. He kept repeating: "Bốn, look at how beautiful it all is! Majestic!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=13|quote=When arriving at Dakar, the sea was very rough indeed. The ship was unable to reach the shores of Senegal. They could not lower the canoes because the waves were so massive. To communicate with the ship, the French on the shore forced the black people to swim to the ship. Around four black people jumped into the choppy water. One after another, they were swept away by the currents. Everyone considered the scene to be normal. But it deeply traumatised Ba as he weeped for the fallen men. Surprised, I asked him why? Ba sadly answered:<br />
<br />
“The folks in France are mostly good. But the French colonialists are cruel and inhumane unlike them. They are like that everywhere they go. In Vietnam, I also saw the same tragedies happen in Phan Rang. The French maniacally laughed while our people drowned. For the colonialists, the lives of the colonized, whether yellow or black, is not worth a penny.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''.<ref>Telegram No. 125.S of the Chief of Saigon Secret Police to the Chief of Hue Secret Service and the Director of the General Secret Service of the Hanoi Governor's Palace. The telegram sent from Saigon on November 13, 1923, stated:<br />
<br />
“''In the urgent process of carring out with all responsibility, we have found that in the archives of the original letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam, dated December 15, 1912 in New York, signed by Paul Tat Thanh, son of Junior Doctor Nguyen Sinh Sac. The letter arrived in Cochinchina at the end of 1912. At that time, Nguyen Sinh Sac was already here. Mr. Sac had not had any contact with his son for a long time, only very rarely did he mention his son.''”</ref> He worked multiple jobs in New York City<ref>{{Citation|author=David Delingher|year=1966|title=Delingher's interview with Presiden Ho Chi Minh|quote=When you return to the United States, you can report that I have worked for someone in Brooklyn with a monthly salary of $40, and now as President of Vietnam, I receive $44. [...]<br />
I didn't work too hard on myself and use some of my free time to study and visit areas of the city.}}</ref> and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. He found another job as a furnace stoker. But his most important position was a pastry chef in the Carlton Hotel in London.<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=14 - 16|quote=Mr. Nam is a famous doughnut maker in the city of Vinh. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas National Salvation Union. He has five sons, two of whom are in the army and two of whom are in the militia.<br />
<br />
Mr. Nam recounted:<br />
<br />
"Before, I worked at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket, Westminster, a famous luxury restaurant in London. There were about a hundred cooks of all ranks. There were French, English, Germans, Russians, Asians and I was a Vietnamese there. Mr. Auguste Escoffier, the king of chefs, who received the Medal of Honor, was in charge of the kitchen. [...]<br />
<br />
"Yes, now let's talk about Ba. About a year before the Great War, I met a young Asian man in the cleaning room. I didn't pay attention to him because I thought he was Chinese. On the third day, he himself came to speak to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I was very glad to meet a fellow countryman. From that day on, we became close friends.<br />
<br />
"Who brought you here, to England?" – I asked Ba.<br />
"I came here alone to learn English."<br />
"That's good, but English is very difficult to learn. I've been in this city for two years now and I only know how to say Yes and No."<br />
"You have to learn, right? So how about we learn together."<br />
"Where did you work before coming here?"<br />
<br />
"On the first day, I got a job shoveling snow in a school. It was very tiring work. My body was covered with sweat and my hands and feet were numb. After eight hours of this work, I was exhausted and hungry. I had to quit. The headmaster was a good man. He paid me sixpence for the day and said with a smile: "It's alright, this job is beyond you." Two days later I found another job. This time I had to light the furnace. At five o'clock in the morning, another man and I went down into the cellar to light the fire. All day long we poured coal in the furnace. It was very scary there and always pitch dark. I didn't know what they did upstairs for I never went up there. My friend was a quiet man, perhaps he was mute. He didn't say a word during the two days of work. He smoked while he worked. When he needed me to do something, he gave me a signal. But not a word. It was sweltering in the cellar, bitterly cold outside, and without enough clothes, I was always sick. So I took two weeks off work. With the money I had saved, I paid for my room, bread and butter, and six lessons in English. When I had only sixpence left, I went to applied here."|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71165Hồ Chí Minh2024-09-01T01:46:14Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering [[Anna Louise Strong]] in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71110Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-31T11:36:05Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|page=5|quote=“One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.”|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=6 - 7|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"<br />
<br />
All day long, Ba was drenched in water and sweat, and completely covered in coal dust. People saw that Ba had to use all his might to finish the tasks. Moreover, because he was not used to the job, he had to finish peeling the radishes and potatoes. He did not know how to do it so I taught him. I remember one time when he was peeling asparagus. It was the first time Ba had seen asparagus. He started peeling it bare, and just then I arrived. I hurriedly threw all the peeled asparagus into the basin and I showed him how to do it correctly. Thanks to that, nothing awfuled happened.<br />
<br />
Every day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the work was finished. Ba would be exhausted. But while we rested or played cards, Ba read and wrote until midnight. In terms of hierarchy, Ba was below us, we were the ones with positions, and Ba was just the kitchen assistant. But because Ba was knowledgeable – he helped my illiterate friends write letters home to their families and he never used foul language, he was loved by all of us.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class. <ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|chapter=Section 1|page=8|quote=There were two passengers – young soldiers who had been discharged from the army and were returning to France. I did not understand why these two men had become close friends with Ba. They helped him pick vegetables and in the evening they lent him small books, taught him how to read and write in French. And Ba taught them Vietnamese and occasionally gave them a cup of coffee. He was surprised: <br />
<br />
"Hey Mai, there are also good French folks!"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=Stories of president Ho's life and work|title-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|chapter=Section 1|chapter-url=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|page=8|quote=Seeing prostitutes coming to make money on board, Ba said to me:<br />
"Why don't the French "civilize" their own people first before going to "civilize" us, right Mai?"|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 15th, 1911</ref>, Dunkerque<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated August 26th, 1911</ref>, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused. <ref>{{Citation|author=Nguyễn Tất Thành|year=1911|title=Ho Chi Minh's admission into the Colonial School|quote=[...] It would an honour, by your great kindness, to be admitted to the Colonial School as a boarder as I am currently an employee of the Charles Reunion Company. [...]}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71109Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-31T10:58:17Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=p.5|quote=Mr. Mai from Haiphong, a former employee on the French ship who recounted:<br />
<br />
"Around the end of 1911 or 1912 - I don't remember exactly - I was working in the officers' mess on the ship which was docked in Saigon to pick up cargo and passengers.<br />
One afternoon, a young man boarded the ship. After a moment of hesitation, he<br />
asked for a job. We replied that there was no more positions and that even if there was, we had no right to hire him.<br />
We laughed because the young man looked like a student and not a<br />
worker like us. We would whispered to each other: "What kind of work can a guy like that do?"<br />
I don't know why I felt sorry for him so I said: <br />
"Follow me, I will take you to the ship's owner. Perhaps he will have work for you."<br />
<br />
The ship's owner asked, <br />
"What can you do?"<br />
"I can do anything!" – The young man replied.<br />
"Alright then, I will make you a kitchen assistant. Tomorrow morning, come here to get your position."<br />
The young man said his name was Văn Ba. Because I had helped him with that small task, he was very close to me, and because he was very likable, I was also very close to him. Whatever I could do, I tried to help him, because he didn't know anything yet. Besides, he was a brave and patient man. As a kitchen assistant on the ship, every day he had to work from four in the morning, cleaning the big kitchen on the ship, and at night lighting the stoves. Then he carried coal and went down to the hold to get vegetables, meat, fish, water ice, and other goods. The work very hard because due to the heat from the kitchen and freezing in the hold.<br />
Especially when he had to carry a heavy bag and climb the stairs while the ship was rocking on the waves.<br />
After that, he had to clean up for the French kitchen staff. After that, he picked vegetables, washed the pots and pans, and reheated the stove. The work lasted all day.<br />
The kitchen had to take care of seven or eight hundred people, both staff and passengers. There were many copper pans so big and heavy that Ba had to drag them across the floor. And the pots were so high that he had to climb on chairs to clean them. He had to always hear:<br />
"Ba, bring the water!"<br />
"Ba, clean the pans!"<br />
"Ba, add coal here, add coal there!"|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille. <ref name=":3" /><br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“''For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “''The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 8th, 1911</ref>, Colombo<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 14th, 1911</ref>, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated June 30th, 1911</ref> and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911<ref>The travel log of the ''Amiral de Latouche-Tréville'' dated July 6th, 1911</ref> after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class.<br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre, Dunkerque, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused.<br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71108Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-31T10:26:53Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>{{Citation|author=Chouquet|year=1908|title=Chouquet's letter to the Resident-Superior of Annam|quote=Hue, August 7, 1908.<br />
Following your letter No. 526 dated August 4 of this year, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept into the National School a student named Nguyen Sinh Con, a native of Nghe An, a student of the French-Vietnamese School in Thua Thien Province.<br />
Signed<br />
Chouquet.|publisher=Centre des archives d'Outre-mer}}</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=p.5|quote=One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille.<br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “''liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore, Colombo, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911 after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class.<br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre, Dunkerque, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused.<br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71107Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-31T10:23:00Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=DOCUMENTS COMMEMORATING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AND HEAVY TAXES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.|quote=On May 14, 1908, the protesters marched to Tam Giang Bridge - the gateway to Song Cau provincial capital, but were again met by French troops. Hundreds more people were killed and dozens were arrested. At this point, the anti-tax protest in Phu Yen completely collapsed.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>''Principale Chouquet's letter on August 7th, 1908. Centre des archives d'Outre-mer''</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=p.5|quote=One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille.<br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “''liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore, Colombo, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911 after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class.<br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre, Dunkerque, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused.<br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71106Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-31T10:20:59Z<p>BenWelkins: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=":2" /> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=TÀI LIỆU TUYÊN TRUYỀN KỶ NIỆM 110 NĂM PHONG TRÀO CHỐNG SƯU CAO, THUẾ NẶNG Ở CÁC TỈNH MIỀN TRUNG (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>''Principale Chouquet's letter on August 7th, 1908. Centre des archives d'Outre-mer''</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=p.5|quote=One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille.<br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “''liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore, Colombo, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911 after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class.<br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre, Dunkerque, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused.<br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71046Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-28T07:37:57Z<p>BenWelkins: added the years 1911 and 1912. Will put in the sources at a later time</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]]. <ref>{{Citation|year=1923|title=Osip Mandelstam interview with Ho Chi Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=TÀI LIỆU TUYÊN TRUYỀN KỶ NIỆM 110 NĂM PHONG TRÀO CHỐNG SƯU CAO, THUẾ NẶNG Ở CÁC TỈNH MIỀN TRUNG (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>''Principale Chouquet's letter on August 7th, 1908. Centre des archives d'Outre-mer''</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|author=Trần Dân Tiên|year=1975|title=The stories of President Ho's life and work|section=Section 1|page=p.5|quote=One day I (Lê) invited Thành to eat ice cream. He was very puzzled. It was the first time that he had tasted ice cream.<br />
After a few a moments, he suddenly asked me:<br />
<br />
"Le, do you love our country?"<br />
I was surprised and replied: "Of course I do!"<br />
"Can you keep a secret?"<br />
"Yeah sure?".<br />
<br />
“I want to go out there and see France and other nations. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
I asked him where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.<br />
<br />
Drawn in by his enthusiasm, I agreed. But after some thinking, I was not brave enough to go with him and to keep my promise.<br />
<br />
A few days later, I did not see my friend ever again. At that time, I guessed that he had gone abroad and asked myself how had he done it? I honestly have no idea. Many years passed, I finally found out that my enthusiastic, passionate young friend was Nguyen Ai Quoc and had become our President Ho.|pdf=https://thuviensach.vn/img/pdf/5354-nhung-mau-chuyen-ve-doi-hoat-dong-cua-ho-chu-tich-thuviensach.vn.pdf|city=Hanoi|publisher=Sự Thật Publishers|trans-title=Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille.<br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
<br />
===== First voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh, under the name of ''Văn Ba'', had left from Saigon to travel to France. The purpose of his departure was only revealed to him more than ten years later when answering the Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam:<br />
<br />
“For us, all white folks were French, said so the French. And from that time, I really wanted to get acquainted with their civilization, to find out what was hidden behind those words of “''liberty, equality and brotherhood''”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Ogoniok no.39|title=Meeting a communist - Nguyễn Ái Quốc|date=1923-12-23}}</ref><br />
<br />
Another time, when answering Anna Louise Strong in 1965, he said: “The Vietnamese people, including my father, at that time often asked among ourselves who would be the one to save Vietnam from French domination. Some people thought it would be the English, others thought it would be the Americans. I had to go abroad to see it for myself. After examining how they operate, I will return to help my compatriots”. <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Báo Nhân dân (People's daily)|title=no.4062|date=1965-05-18}}</ref><br />
<br />
The Amiral Latouche Tréville would carried Ho Chi Minh to Singapore, Colombo, through the Suez Canel to Port Sa'id and finally reaching the habor of Marseille on July 6, 1911 after a month at sea. Whilst waiting for the ship to unload its cargo Ho Chi Minh witnessed the poverty of the ubran [[Proletariat]]. He realized that not all Frenchmen were the same and that the colonialists in Indochina didn't represent the French working class.<br />
<br />
===== Second voyage =====<br />
In mid July, Ho Chi Minh was on sea again, this time travelling towards the port of Le Havre, Dunkerque, and back to Marseille. In mid September, he would wrote a petition to the French President and the French Minister of Colonies expressing his wishes to study at the ''école Coloniale'' located in Paris but was refused.<br />
<br />
===== Third voyage =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh went back to Saigon on the Amiral Latouche Tréville in early November and sent the little money he had to his father.<br />
<br />
===== Voyages of 1912 =====<br />
Throughout 1912, Ho Chi Minh would truly embarked on a worldwide journey across the globe to places such as the continent of Africa, stopping at ports in several countries such as Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Congo, Dahomey, Senegal, Reunion. The sufferings of [[Colonialism]] were deeply felt by Ho Chi Minh and would leave a lasting impression on him. <br />
<br />
===== In America =====<br />
In late December, Ho Chi Minh arrived in the [[United States of America]] under the new name of ''Paul Tất Thành''. He worked multiple jobs in New York City and at in [[Massachusetts]]. At Boston, he worked as a baker for the Parker House Hotel and witnessed the terrible conditions of African-American workers. It is also known that he visited Harlem and attended the meetings of the African-American activist Marcus Garvey. However, his stay in America was relatively short as he would leave for [[England]] in early 1913.<br />
<br />
===== In England =====<br />
Ho Chi Minh's ship stop at the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, to Le Havre and then to South Hampton. After arriving in England, in order to make a living, he worked as a snow shoveler for a school. The work was too hard and tiring, so he had to quit. He found another job as a furnace stoker. From 5am, he had to crawl down to the basement to light the fire, pouring coal and changing coal in the furnace all day, living in the dark, stuffy and scary. But right from the first days in England, Nguyen Tat Thanh immediately started learning English. Every day, early morning and afternoon, that is, before and after working hours to earn a living, he diligently studied by himself. Every week, on his day off, he studied English with an Italian professor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71024Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-27T05:05:40Z<p>BenWelkins: finish early life</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]]. <ref>{{Citation|year=1923|title=Osip Mandelstam interview with Ho Chi Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=TÀI LIỆU TUYÊN TRUYỀN KỶ NIỆM 110 NĂM PHONG TRÀO CHỐNG SƯU CAO, THUẾ NẶNG Ở CÁC TỈNH MIỀN TRUNG (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>''Principale Chouquet's letter on August 7th, 1908. Centre des archives d'Outre-mer''</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
In February 1911, Ho Chi Minh finally embarked on his journey towards Saigon and beyond. He invited a friend to join him but was refused<ref>{{Citation|title=Trần Dân Tiên: Những mẩu chuyện về đời hoạt động của Hồ Chủ tịch, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1975, tr. 13-14|quote=“- I want to go out there and see France and other places. After examining their accomplishments, I will return to help our people. But if I go alone, it would be extremely risky, like how you get sick... Do you want to go with me?”.<br />
<br />
When his friend asked where he would get all the money. Thành would hold out his two hands:<br />
<br />
“Here, here it is... we will labor. We will do anything to live and to go”.}}</ref> so he applied to work for the steamship Amiral Latouche Tréville which was going to Marseille.<br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71023Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-27T04:52:05Z<p>BenWelkins: /* Early life */ expand + links, references</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
<br />
===== Kim Liên - family =====<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
===== Huế and the death of his mother =====<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
===== Young student =====<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1905, Ho Chi Minh was admitted into the French-Native primary school in Vinh city (12.5km from his birth place). Here, he was introduced to the ideals of the [[French Revolution]]. <ref>{{Citation|year=1923|title=Osip Mandelstam interview with Ho Chi Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21|quote=At the young age of around 14 or 15 was when I first heard of the phrase: liberté, egalité, fraternité.}}</ref> Not long after in June of 1906, he went to Huế again with his father. Ho Chi Minh began to attend a ''cours préparatoire'' at the French-Viet primary school in Thừa Thiên province. <ref>{{Web citation|title=Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế|url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
By the time he was attending the higher ''cours élémentaire'', protest and unrest were rampent in Huế due to high taxes on the [[Peasants]]. Ho Chi Minh, now an 18-year-old, joined the protestors. The demonstration however, was brutally repressed and hundreds of weaponless peasants were massacred by the colonialist troops.<ref>{{Web citation|title=TÀI LIỆU TUYÊN TRUYỀN KỶ NIỆM 110 NĂM PHONG TRÀO CHỐNG SƯU CAO, THUẾ NẶNG Ở CÁC TỈNH MIỀN TRUNG (1908 – 2018)|date=2018-02-26|url=https://dailoc.quangnam.gov.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=107&NewsViews=2819#:~:text=Ng%C3%A0y%2014%20th%C3%A1ng%205%20n%C4%83m,m%E1%BB%9Bi%20ho%C3%A0n%20to%C3%A0n%20tan%20r%C3%A3.&text=%C4%90%E1%BA%A7u%20th%C3%A1ng%204%2C%20nh%C3%A2n%20d%C3%A2n%20Th%E1%BB%ABa%20Thi%C3%AAn%20bi%E1%BB%83u%20t%C3%ACnh.}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh was subsequently expelled from the primary school and was closely monitered by the French colonialist afterwards. He then attended the higher ''cours moyen'' at the prestigious Quốc Học - Huế highschool by the alias of ''Nguyễn Sinh Côn''. <ref>''Principale Chouquet's letter on August 7th, 1908. Centre des archives d'Outre-mer''</ref> He has by now, became very conscious of the oppression dealt by the colonialists on the native Vietnamese and is also inspired by the rebelious acts against the French by king Thành Thái and Duy Tân.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ký của La Hoài, đăng trong Tập san Hội ái hữu Quốc học, số 2. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
===== Teacher =====<br />
In the summer of 1909, Ho Chi Minh moved to Quy Nhơn province (400km from Huế) to study the ''cours supérieur'' at the French-Viet primary school in Quy Nhơn province by his new teacher - Phạm Ngọc Thọ. <ref>Hồi ức của bà Phạm Ngọc Diệp, chị ruột ông Phạm Ngọc Thạch. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh</ref> He would moved again to Saigon in 1910 but ran out of cash. This prompted him to teach physical education at the privately owned Dục Thanh School in Phan Thiết (175km from Saigon). <ref>{{Citation|title=Hồi ức của các ông: Nguyễn Quý Phầu, Nguyễn Đăng Lầu, Từ Trường Phùng, học sinh Trường Dục Thanh năm học 1910 - 1911. Tài liệu lưu tại Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh|title-url=https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkinshttps://prole.wiki/w/index.php?title=H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh&diff=71022Hồ Chí Minh2024-08-27T03:44:23Z<p>BenWelkins: Undo revision 70919 by CriticalResist (talk) added 5 references to early life</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox revolutionary<br />
| name = Hồ Chí Minh<br />
| image = File:Uncle Ho.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Portrait of comrade Ho Chi Minh<br />
| nationality = [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]]<br />
| birth_name = Nguyễn Sinh Cung<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|5|19}}<br />
| birth_place = Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19}}<br />
| death_place = Hanoi, North Vietnam<br />
| death_cause = Heart failure<br />
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Thought]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Ho Chi Minh'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Vietnamese: Hồ Chí Minh, “the one who shines”</ref> (May 19, 1890 — September 2, 1969) was a [[Vietnam|Vietnamese]] [[Revolution|revolutionary]]. He is known in Vietnam by the nickname ''Uncle Ho''.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Communist Party of France]] in 1920, studied in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1923, joined the [[Communist International]] in 1924, and carried out revolutionary activities in [[Republic of China|China]] from 1924 to 1927. In 1930, he founded the [[Communist Party of Indochina]], and in 1941 he initiated the establishment of the [[Vietnam Independence League]], which led the struggle against the [[France|French]] [[Colonialism|colonialists]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] [[imperialism]]. <br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh was elected [[President]] and [[Prime Minister]] of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in March 1946, Chairman of the Central Committee of the [[Vietnam Labor Party]] (now the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]) from February 1951 to 1969, and led the war against France from 1945 to 1954, and the [[Vietnam War|war against the]] [[United States of America|United States]] in the 1960s. He died in [[Hanoi]] on September 2, 1969, at the age of 79.<br />
<br />
Aside from being a politician, Ho was also a writer, a poet and a journalist. He wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.<br />
<br />
== Life ==<br />
<br />
=== Early life ===<br />
In 1890, Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung and raised in Kim Liên village, in the province of Nghệ An as a child of a rural teacher named [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]] (his father) and of a weaver named Hoàng Thị Loan (his mother). At that time, Vietnam was suffering from French colonialism steming in 1858. Despite many struggles of resistance, the French colonialists consolidated its occupation by 1884. However, many uprisings of rebels seeking to re-establish the feudal system still persisted including those of Phan Đình Phùng (1885 - 96) and of Hoàng Hoa Thám (1884 - 1913).<br />
<br />
He was the third child in the family. The eldest sister was borned in 1884, named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and his older brother, borned in 1888 was named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Gia phả họ Nguyễn Sinh ở làng Kim Liên. Tài liệu lưu tại Khu di tích Kim Liên - Nghệ An], additional text.</ref><br />
<br />
He and his family lived in the village of Hoàng Trù where his grandparents would teach [[Confucianism]] and writing to the children of the village. There, Ho Chi Minh was exposed to the Vietnamese stories, songs and fairytales. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Ban Nghiên cứu Lịch sử Đảng Tỉnh uỷ Nghệ - Tĩnh: Những mẩu chuyện về thời niên thiếu của Bác Hồ, Nxb. Sự thật, Hà Nội, 1985, tr.15-16]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1895, his father took the family to Huế by foot through the rural countryside. They would lived in an army barrack near the Governor's building as his father was preparing for an entrance examination to become a Mandarin. 3 years later, in 1898, his father would move the family to Dương Nỗ village, 7km from Huế, to teach children and Ho Chi Minh himself to write in Chinese characters. The family would live in the abandoned home of Nguyễn Sĩ Khuyến. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/Tư liệu của Chi nhánh Bảo tàng Hồ Chí Minh Thừa Thiên - Huế]</ref><br />
<br />
In 1901, as Ho Chi Minh had moved into Huế again with his mother while his father and brother had gone to Thanh Hóa to attend the entrance exam, his mother gave birth to the fourth child - Xin. Unfortunately, Xin would died due to malnutrition and his mother would soon died as well. Devastated, he would moved to Kim Liên with his grandmother for a little while. Not long after, he was informed that his father had passed the entrance exam as a ''Phó bảng'' "Junior Doctor".<ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Quốc triều khoa bảng lục, Long cương tàng bản, xuất bản năm Thành Thái thứ 18 – Bính Ngọ (1906)]</ref> As per [[Confucian]] tradition, his father gave him a new name: ''Nguyễn Tất Thành''.<br />
<br />
By now, Ho Chi Minh was attending formal classes with the scholar Vương Thúc Quý, a son of a rebel who fought the French, and then had gotten good with Chinese characters. The scholar was also regionally famous and had intellectuals visiting him, chief among them was the infamous [[Phan Bội Châu]] whom Ho Chi Minh would take inspiration from to fight for an independent Vietnam. <ref>[https://tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn/c-mac-angghen-lenin-ho-chi-minh/book/ho-chi-minh/tieu-su-cuoc-doi-va-su-nghiep/ho-chi-minh-bien-nien-tieu-su-tap-1-1951890-1929-21/ Phan Bội Châu niên biểu, Nxb. Văn - Sử - Địa, Hà Nội, 1955, tr.30]</ref><br />
=== Activism in France ===<br />
In 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Vietnam to seek for ways to achieve [[national liberation]] of his country. He traveled to France, visited various French colonies in Africa, went to the United States and many Latin American countries. He also went to England, [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], then finally returned to France.<br />
<br />
Ho Chi Minh learned [[Esperanto]] between 1914 and 1917 in his visit to Britain.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[China Radio International]]|title=Ho Chi Minh kaj Esperanto|date=2006-12-27T14:53:21Z+08:00|url=http://esperanto.cri.cn/1/2006/12/27/1@51427.htm}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1919, Ho Chi Minh joined the [[Socialist Party of France]] and studied social theory, the French and North-American revolutions, the [[Commune of Paris]], and the [[October Revolution]] in Russia. In June 1919, he presented a 8-point platform in the [[Paris Peace Conference]], demanding freedom from colonial interference in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In 1920, it was the first time Ho Chi Minh had access to Lenin's article ''Theses on the national and colonial questions'', published in the periodical ''L'Humanité'', the newspaper organ of French Socialist Party. In December of that same year, Ho Chi Mihn participated of the 18th Congress of the FSP, in which the French Communist Party was founded.<br />
<br />
=== Vietnamese independence movement ===<br />
In 1924, Ho Chi Minh traveled to China, in the city of Guangzhou. Along with other revolutionaries from parts of Asia, including [[Republic of China|China]], [[Korea]], [[British Raj|India]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], he founded the Association of Oppressed Peoples of Asia.<ref name=":0" /> In the same year, he traveled to [[Moscow]] to speak in support of [[national liberation]] at the 5th Congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, ¡presente! − a WW statement|date=2023-05-19|url=https://www.workers.org/2023/05/71039/}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1925, Ho Chi Minh helped develop the Association of Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth, what became the embryo of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].<br />
<br />
In 1931, the Hong Kong police arrested Ho Chi Minh at the request of France.<br />
<br />
In 1935, the first National Congress of [[Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV]] was established.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ho Chi Minh, Pedro de Oliveira|year=2020|title=Ho Chi Minh: vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã|publisher=Anita Garibaldi|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F1CE2894533FCF97DD818701AB172421|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><br />
<br />
In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France by simply saying, "We are free".<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Preface|page=12|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref><br />
<br />
=== Anti-French Resistance War ===<br />
<br />
=== Resistance War against the United States ===<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|Library works by Ho Chi Minh]]<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
=== Notes ===<br />
<references group="lower-alpha" /><br />
[[Category:Anti-imperialists]]<br />
[[Category:Communist leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Marxists]]<br />
[[Category:Esperantists]]</div>BenWelkins