Summary of the formation and development of the working class and the Vietnam Trade Union organization (part 1)

1. Formation of the Vietnamese working class

Before the 15th century, Vietnam did not have favorable conditions for the development of industry, commerce and commodity economy, but there was a class of craftsmen. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the team of "Employee Workers" appeared. In the early 19th century, the mining industry developed and thousands of "mining workers" worked in coal and tin mines. But those were not modern workers, producing in industrial lines.

The Vietnamese worker force appeared when there was the first colonial exploitation (from 1897 to 1914) by the French colonialists. The concentrated industrial zones in Hanoi, Saigon, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Vinh - Ben Thuy, Hon Gai made the number of workers increase rapidly... The number of workers in 1906 was 49,500 people, including 1,800 professional workers.

Many factories concentrate many workers such as: Hai Phong Cement has 1,500 people, 3 textile factories in Nam Dinh, Hai Phong, Hanoi also have 1,800 people, milling plants in Saigon have up to 3,000 people, especially on the Yunnan - Hai Phong railway line, it has attracted up to 60,000 people. The mining industry (in 1914) had up to 4,000 workers, not including the number of "seasonal workers". The total number of Vietnamese workers before World War I was about 100,000 people.

After World War I ended, the French colonialists carried out the second colonial exploitation (1919-1929) to strengthen the plundering and exploitation of the colonial people to compensate for the losses in the war.

The development of some industries of mining, textiles, transportation, processing... leads to a rapid increase in the number of workers, mine workers and plantation workers in many places concentrate tens of thousands of people. In cities, many factories have over 1,000 workers such as Hai Phong Cement Factory, Nam Dinh Textile Factory.

By the end of 1929, the total number of workers working in French capitalist enterprises was more than 220,000 people, including 53,000 miners, 86,000 workers in industry and commerce, 81,000 workers in plantations growing industrial crops. That is not to mention those working in large and small handicraft factories, tailors, barbers, lavers, cooks, porters at seaports...

Thus, from the investment in colonial exploitation by the French colonialists led to the inevitable and objective birth of capitalist production methods in Vietnam. And that was also the basic condition for the emergence of a new class - the Vietnamese working class.

The majority of workers in our country originated from farmers. Among the 27,505 workers, plantations, and miners in 15 Bac Ky provinces in 1929, there were 24,658 people who were farmers (accounting for 84.6%). Early inheriting the heroic and indomitable tradition of resisting foreign invaders of the nation, the Vietnamese working class enthusiastically fought against French capitalism. However, most of the struggles were still dispersed and spontaneous, lacked leadership organization and only focused on demanding economic benefits and immediate life rights, in forms such as: quitting work to return to their hometowns, absenteeism, demanding salary increases, resisting beatings. Typical are the struggles of Hanoi - Lang Son railway workers, Cao Bang tin - zinc mine workers, Yen The bricks, Nam Dinh yarn weaving. However, there were also some struggles of workers with high national spirit such as the movement to support the Yen The insurgent army, participating in demonstrations demanding the release of patriot Phan Boi Chau, the movement to mourn the

Since Marxism-Leninism was spread in Vietnam, the number of strikes has increased and more importantly, strikes are of a political nature, with organized leadership. If in 1927 there were 7 strikes, then in 1929 there were 24, and in 1930 there were 30 with the number of participants reaching nearly 32,000 people. The strong development of the workers' movement and patriotic movement from 1925 to 1929 was a decisive condition for the birth of Communist and Red Trade Union organizations in Vietnam, especially the birth of the Communist Party of Vietnam in early 1930.

2. Early Trade Union organizations in Vietnam before 1925

In 1921, Comrade Ton Duc Thang embarked on the campaign to establish Ba Son Trade Union. The aim of the association was: Fighting to protect the interests of workers, fighting against capitalist imperialism. The Red Trade Union became the soul of the strike movement of Ba Son workers, Saigon - Cho Lon in the 1920s - 1925s, typically the strike of Ba Son workers in August 1925. This strike supported the struggle of Shanghai workers, China. Therefore, this was the first struggle of our workers with international political significance.

In addition to the Red Trade Union founded by comrade Ton Duc Thang, there is also the Federation of ship drivers in the Far Eastern ports (abbreviated as Hai Vien Trade Union). The motto and purpose of the association is "To seek benefits and help Hai Vien workers, demanding necessary conditions for Hai Vien workers, uniting all workers". Hai Vien Trade Union has attracted most Vietnamese sailors working on ships running from France to Vietnam, China and some other countries.

Around 1922, on ships of the French shipping line, thousands of Vietnamese sailors organized the Friendship Association to help each other when away from their homeland. French sailors and Vietnamese people on ships running from France to Vietnam contacted a part of Vietnamese workers on the mainland of Saigon - Cho Lon. In the meeting to celebrate the victory of the struggle of sailors on 8 French merchant ships docked at Saigon Port in 1922, the slogan "Yearlong Trade Union" was raised. Saigon - Cho Lon responded to that slogan and secretly organized their Friendship Association.

Unlike trade unions in bourgeois democracies, early trade union organizations in Vietnam had to operate secretly from their birth. However, by many clever measures, these organizations have become closely associated with workers and laborers, contributing to shortening the "spontaneous" period of struggle of the Vietnamese workers' movement.

3. Establishment of the Bac Ky Red Trade Union - the predecessor organization of the Vietnam Trade Union

The formation and development process of the Red Union of Tonkin was associated with the activities of leader Nguyen Ai Quoc in the early decades of the 20th century, He laid the foundation and theoretical basis for the birth of mass organizations of the Vietnamese working class. From 1914 to 1917, Nguyen Ai Quoc worked in London and joined the British Overseas Trade Union; at the end of 1917, He returned to France, joined the French Socialist Party and was a member of the French Metal Trade Union; in 1919, he instructed Nguyen Tao (Vietnamese overseas in France) to establish the Vietnamese Sailors' Trade Union in Marseille.

In June 1925, Nguyen Ai Quoc founded the Revolutionary Vietnamese Youth Association in Guangzhou - China and directly taught members. In the book "Duong cach menh", it is mentioned the nature of the tasks of the Trade Union: "Organizing trade unions is primarily for workers to travel with each other to have feelings for each other, secondly to study with each other, thirdly to improve the way workers live better than now, fourthly to preserve the rights of workers, and fifthly to help the nation and help the world." After studying theory, most members returned to the country to operate, developing mass associations such as funerals, mutual affection, clan gatherings... into trade union organizations.

From 1928, the Bac Ky Party Committee of the Vietnamese youth revolution launched the "Proletarianization" movement, the struggle movement of Vietnamese workers became increasingly vibrant, promoting the trade union organization to develop both in form and content of activities and become a revolutionary trade union organization of the working class.

In industrial parks in the northern provinces, many enterprises have trade unions such as: Diem factory, Aviat automobile repair company (Hanoi), Yarn factory, cement factory (Hai Phong), Hon Gai, Quang Yen (Quang Ninh mine area)... Workers working at wharves and train stations also have trade union organizations. In the South, trade union organizations have also been formed and operating, mainly in Saigon - Cho Lon industrial parks and rubber plantations.

In 1929, the workers' movement and trade union activities in our country developed vibrantly, especially in the North. Workers' struggles broke out continuously in many factories, with close coordination and unified action between struggles at one factory and another in the same locality, between these localities and other localities throughout the country, combined with the anti-tax struggle movement of farmers, the market demonstration of small traders, and the lockout of students.

In March 1929, the first communist cell was established in Hanoi. On June 17, 1929, the Indochinese Communist Party was born and took the workers' movement as the core for the revolutionary movement, taking the mobilization of workers as the central work of the Party, the Party sent a series of cadres to factories and mines, grasping the trade unions established by the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association before to propagate communism, disseminate the principles, purposes and charters of the Red Trade Union, and select the active masses to join the Red Trade Union.

In order to further promote the work of mobilizing workers to strengthen unity in the organization and action of the trade union organization, the Provisional Central Executive Committee of the Indochinese Communist Party decided to organize the 1st Conference of Delegates of the Red General Confederation of Labor of Tonkin on July 28, 1929. The Conference was held at the headquarters of the General Confederation of Labor of Tonkin, house number 15 Hang Non street - Hanoi. The Congress was attended by delegates from the General Confederations of Labor of provinces and cities: Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Hai Phong, Dong Trieu mine area, Mao Khe.

The Congress elected the Provisional Central Executive Committee of the Red General Confederation of Labour headed by comrade Nguyen Duc Canh, member of the Provisional Central Executive Committee of the Indochinese Communist Party. The Congress also approved the program and charter of the Red Confederation of Labour and decided to publish the Lao Dong newspaper (first issue dated August 14, 1929, in charge of comrades Nguyen Duc Canh and Tran Hoc Hai). The Provisional Executive Committee also included comrades Tran Hong Van, Tran Van Cac, Nguyen Huy Thao, Nguyen Van Doai...

The establishment of the Bac Ky Red General Confederation of Labor is of great significance to the Vietnamese workers' movement. It is both the inevitable result of the qualitative maturity of our country's workers' movement, and the victory of Nguyen Ai Quoc's labor mobilization policy and the Indochinese Communist Party, and also meets the urgent organizational needs of the Vietnamese workers' movement. The establishment of the first trade union organization of the Vietnamese working class contributes to the growth of the international communist workers' movement. The relationship between the Vietnamese workers' movement and the world workers' movement, especially with workers and the French trade union, has been established by the Red Confederation of Labor.