A Vietnamese soldier in the French Navy
In 1917, after the success of the Russian October Revolution, 14 imperialist countries gathered together and teamed with the reactionary forces in Russia to try to overthrow the Soviet government. On April 16, 1919, though the First World War had come to an end, the French Government still ordered a fleet of five warships, including the France battleship, to move to the Black Sea to join other imperialist countries to overthrow the fledgling Soviet government. One of the crew-members on board the battleship was a young Vietnamese mechanic - Ton Duc Thang.
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From right: Ton Duc Thang, President Ho Chi Minh and visiting President of Guinea Sékou Touré in 1960. A file photo |
The France was the most modern armored cruiser of France at the time. On the ship were various troops and mechanics from different countries, belonging to different social classes. It could be said that the ship was a miniature of the French society then. Ton Duc Thang made new friends on the ship, first with troops from French colonies. He sympathized with them as they were discriminated from troops from France. As for French troops, Thang learned many things from them, including the proletarian class, international solidarity, and especially the French General Confederation of Labor, the organization that united and defended workers for their sakes.
At the end of 1918, troops on the ship learned in joy that the truce on ending the war between France and Germany was signed. However, they were later ordered to sail to the Black Sea for the armed interventions against the Soviet Russia. A lot of French naval troops and mechanics were in favor of the Soviet government and did not want another war. Among those was the young Vietnamese mechanic, Ton Duc Thang.
The mutiny in the Black Sea
Learning the plot of imperialist countries, Ton Duc Thang and troops on the France decided to go against the war. For them, if the First World War was nonsense, then this violent act against the Soviet government was even more groundless.
In those April days of great tension in 1919, Ton Duc Thang came to see Jean, a sailor and a member of the Revolutionary Committee on board the ship. He said to Jean, “We are waiting for the order from the committee for actions.” Jean held Thang’s hands tightly and assigned the mission to him, “Tomorrow, before the meeting occurs, you are to hoist the red flag on top of the ship to signal to the ships of the Red Army that we are friends, not foes.”
At 8 o’clock on April 20, 1919, a solemn fanfare sounded and in the peaceful atmosphere, a red flag was hoisted on top of the flagpole of the France. The flag, hoisted by Ton Duc Thang, was waving in the wind. Most of the troops gathered and solemnly sang the Internationale. That event triggered the uprisings on all French battleships, demanding the government to call the troops home. The struggle ended with success and in May the France battleship was removed from the Black Sea.
The mutiny in the Black Sea of the troops and mechanics on board the France battleship dealt a great blow to the invasion policy of imperialist countries. The nominal action of hoisting the red flag on the ship marked a U-turn in the ideological development in the mind of a revolutionary - Ton Duc Thang, and he decided to join the proletarian revolution.
Later, when he became a leader of Vietnam, Ton Duc Thang said, “I believe that anyone in that historic moment would act the same, for patriotism and hatred for imperialism is, first and foremost, the love for the Russian October Revolution and the hatred for those who opposed it.”
Translated by Huu Duong