vietquoc.com

http://www.vietquoc.com/hcm-04.htm

In 1925, a document called "Proceedings Against French Colonization" was published in Paris by Librairie du Travail (Quai de Jemmapes, 96 Paris). Prefaced by Nguyen The Truyen, one of the 3 members of the group, it included 3 volumes, the first by Nguyen Ai Quoc, the second by Nguyen The Truyen and the third by Nguyen Ai Quoc. Later, the Hanoi regime republished the work without Nguyen The Truyen's preface and without his second volume, giving the impression that the entire work was by Nguyen Ai Quoc. This done, Thanh and his hack writers were ready to claim that he was the sole author of the Proceedings, because they had induced the public to believe that Nguyen Ai Quoc was Nguyen Tat Thanh : "The Proceedings against French Colonization by Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc was published in France in 1925. It dealt with the hardships of the people of Vietnam and other nations under the barbarous rule of French colonialists" (Su That Publ. 2, p. 100).
But Nguyen Ai Quoc, the author of the first and third volumes was Phan Van Truong, not Nguyen Tat Thanh, because in Paris Phan Van Truong used that name publicly and extensively and it is unthinkable that he knowingly transferred that name to Nguyen Tat Thanh, the lowest ranking member of his group of five.
Removing Nguyen The Truyen from the Proceedings facilitated Thanh's claim and represented the first step in deposing the man. The second step was carried out by Dang Xuan Thieu, one of Thanh's underlings. Thieu's hatchet job came in the form of a cheap satirical poem portraying Nguyen The Truyen as a playboy, a womanizer, an empty-talk revolutionary accommodating to French colonialism and brushing aside the cause of the country.
The character assassination was connived at, perhaps urged on, by Thanh whom the victim had offered much assistance and a model of true leadership. Nguyen The Truyen joined the two Phan brothers to fight for reforms in the French colonial policies and promote the interests of Vietnam. He was a member of the French Communist Party but withdrew in 1927 when it became clear that communism was unacceptable. Thanh stayed with the party but continued to get help from Nguyen The Truyen, not only for himself but for his friends who needed a period of training in Paris before going to Moscow.
Nguyen The Truyen was the founder and editor of two papers : one in French, called "Le Paria" (the pariah), the other in Viet language, called "Viet Nam Hon" (the soul of Vietnam). Thanh admitted that somewhat implicitly in a 1926 report that he sent from China to his bosses in Moscow (see below). Dang Xuan Thieu who wrote a poem to smear Nguyen The Truyen, added the following footnote to his work : "Viet Nam Hon - the first 3 words of the 15th verse - is the name of the nationalist party's paper founded by Nguyen The Truyen". But all this did not prevent other Thanh adulators from appropriating the credit for their master. Thus Hong Ha wrote : "Thinking of his compatriots and realizing that awareness would require propaganda and education, Nguyen Tat Thanh decided to create a vehicle in Viet language with the name Viet Nam Hon" (Hong Ha 1, p. 189).
Grabbing the name Nguyen Ai Quoc allowed Thanh to take credit for anything done under that name : organization, demonstrations, 8-point demand, proceedings against French colonial policies, publications. But Phan Van Truong always used his pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc as a representative of his group. This led many Viets living in Paris at the time to regard the name Nguyen Ai Quoc as the name of the group itself. To ensure success, it was necessary therefore for Thanh and his men to discredit not only Nguyen The Truyen but the other two leaders as well, namely Phan Chu Trinh and Phan Van Truong.