Tran Tu Binh - Biography - Early Revolutionary Years

Early Revolutionary Years

In 1927 he signed up to labor on Michelin's Phu Rieng rubber plantation in the distant region of southern Vietnam Cochinchina. This decision was another blow to the family because, even without a school diploma, with his education Tran Tu Binh could have found a respectable job as a village clerk or landlord's agent. Again Tran Tu Binh was determined to break away, to seek adventure, to test his physical and spiritual powers in the totally unfamiliar land. This decision proved crucial for his entire life.

It is during this period working in Phu Rieng plantation that he first met communist revolutionaries and learned about the Marxist-Leninist ideology. In 1929 he joined the Indochina Communist Party. On 3 February 1930 he became the Party Secretary of Phu Rieng and directly led a revolt of more than 5000 workers against the cruel French colonial exploitation at rubber plantation. The movement was repressed by French, Phu Rieng strike leaders were all imprisoned, nonetheless it forced the Michelin company to make certain changes to improve labor's working and living conditions. The Phu Rieng's labor movement 1930, also known as Phu Rieng Do, has become known as the first big labor movement in the history of Vietnam.

After the Phu Rieng Do incident French colonial government sentenced Tran Tu Binh to 10 years on the infamous Con Son prison island. In Con Dao he met many communist revolutionary leaders of Vietnam, i.e. Ton Duc Thang, Hoang Quoc Viet, Pham Van Dong, Le Van Luong, Pham Hung, Ha Huy Giap, Tran Xuan Do, Nguyen Van Phat and took advantage of this opportunity to improve his knowledge of communist ideology and nationalism.