Ta Thu Thau

Tạ Thu Thâu (1906–1945) was a Trotskyist, the leader of the Fourth International in Vietnam.

Ta Thu Thau was born in a small hamlet at Tan Binh, 17 km south of Longxuyen, the capital of An Giang province in Southern Vietnam. His family were poor and leading a semi-peasant life-style. His father was an itinerant village carpenter and when his family was established in Longxuyen, Ta Thu Thau went to primary school, and by working as a servant during holiday periods was able to continue his studies further. he was a brilliant student who went to France for university studies in 1927. Like many of his generation revolutionary nationalism was passing over to marxism and communism. Arrested during a protest demonstration against the execution of the Yen Bay rebels in front of the Elysee Palace on 22 May 1930, he was arrested and expelled back to Vietnam. Several left opposition groups were formed - the Communist League formed in Western Saigon in May 1931, Left opposition and Indochinese Communism. These groups united and Ta Thu Thau was acknowledged as the most able leader of the trotskyists in Vietnam. In 1932 the French colonial authorities arrested many members of the stalinist Indochinese Communist Party and the trotskyists. All left-wing activity in Indochina was clandestine.

However, in 1933 the Saigon trotskyists and stalinists formed an electoral bloc for the elections to the Saigon Municipal Council. The common 'workers slate' was successful and the trotskyists Tran Van Thach and stalinist Nguyen Van Tao scored the highest votes. Though struck down by the Colonial authorities, this success indicated the growing popularity of the revolutionary groups. The other main activity of the united front was the publication of the legal newspaper 'La Lutte'. The united front split in 1937 over the issue of the 'popular front' policy of the Comintern and under pressure from the stalinist Comintern via the French Communist Party.

La Lutte became an openly trotskyist paper and in 1939, the trotskyist candidates, Ta Thu Thau, Tran Van Thach and Phan Van Hum scored 80% of the vote, defeating three constitutionalists, two stalinists and numerous independents. The Indochinese Communist Party vote in this election was one per cent. The Saigon stalinists split but the trotskyists also split. When the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed in the summer of 1939, the French authorities declared the Communist Party illegal and in Indochina, all the leaders of the communists and the trotskyists were rounded up. The revolutionary movement was decimated. The larger of the two currents, the communists managed to continue their underground activity and rebuild. The trotskyists were virtually eliminated as a political force. Ta Thu Thau was arrested and incarcerated in Poulo-Condore during the war.

After the end of World War II, Ta Thu Thau reconstituted the 'La Lutte' or Struggle group and became the foremost leader of Vietnamese Trotskyism, but in the events of the August Revolution of 1945, and under the impact of the re-establishment of French colonial rule and repression from the communist led Vietminh, his political current lost any significant influence. Ta Thu Thau, along with other prominent trotskyists and nationalists, was assassinated by the Viet Minh in 1945.

ources

*Richardson, A.(Ed.) (2003) "The Revolution Defamed: A documentary history of Vietnamese Trotskyism", London: Socialist Platform Ltd.
*Hemery, D. (1974) "Révolutionnaires Vietnamiens et Pouvoir Colonial en Indochine: Communistes, trotskystes, nationalistes à Saigon de 1932 à 1937",Paris: François Maspero.
*Hammer, E. (1954) "The Struggle for Indochina", Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
*I. Milton Sacks, 'Marxism in Vietnam' [Chapter 4] in Trager, F.(1959) "Marxism in South-East Asia", Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
*Anh Van and Jacqueline Roussel (1947) "National Movements and Class Struggle in Vietnam", London: New Park Publications [English translation 1987] .
*Bà Phuong-Lan [Bui-The-My] (1974) "Nhà Cách Mang:Ta Thu Thâu", Saigon: Nhà Sách KHAI-TRĺ [in Vietnamese] .
*Ngo Van (1995) "Revolutionaries they could not break: The fight for the Fourth international in Indochina 1930-1945", London: Index Books.
*Huynh kim Khánh (1982) "Vietnamese Communism 1925-1945", London: Cornell University Press.

See also

* International Communist League (Vietnam)

External links

* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/thau.html A Short biographical article by Ngo Van Xuyet]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/onviet.html An article on La Lutte]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner/vietnam.html Loren Gouldner on Ngo Van and the trotskyist movement in the 1930s]