Nguyen Van Tran:
Outrages described in humor
Nguyen Van Tran, or Bay Tran, was born in 1914 to a middle class family in Cho Dem, Long An province. During the three years (1927-1930) at the Truong Vinh Ky High School, Nguyen Van Tran was deeply impressed by Vietnamese patriots like Phan Chu Trinh and Nguyen An Ninh in their quests to regain independence for Vietnam from the French colonists.
When the communist movement reached Saigon, Nguyen Van Tran joined the communist party with the firm belief that "the international communist revolutionaries will lead the way in liberating the peoples of colonized countries." Until his retirement in 1976, Nguyen Van Tran had held a number of prominent positions: Commissar of Zone 9 Military Headquarters and Secretary of Zone 9 Party Committee, Delegate to the Second Party Congress, Instructor at the Nguyen Ai Quoc college (Party training center) and People's University of Hanoi, Deputy Head of the Central Committee on Propaganda and Training.
Gradually after the whole country fell under communist rule in 1975, the life-long communist Nguyen Van Tran realized the goal of the Vietnamese Communist Party was not to serve the Vietnamese people and the nation of Vietnam. On the contrary, the whole country is to serve the upper layer of the Party structure while the Vietnamese society deteriorates at an alarming rate.
Nguyen Van Tran could have spent his retirement quietly in the relative comfort customarily provided by the Party to its former high-ranking cadres, he, however, chose to speak out on behalf of the Vietnamese people suffering under the weight of the Party, and especially on behalf of those who had sacrificed their lives for what they thought would gain freedom and dignity for their fellow citizens.
In a humorous tone, Nguyen Van Tran unveiled the dark reality of life in the communist society on the Youth magazine and Laughing Youth weekly in the early 1980s. He also wrote "Making Newspaper" in 1977, "My hometown, Cho Dem" in 1985, "Stories at the Ly Garden" in 1988, "Truong Vinh Ky, the Man and the Truth" in 1994.
In 1995, with the book "Writing to Mother and the National Assembly," Nguyen Van Tran directly disclosed the cruelties of the Party leaders which have cost the nation and its people dearly for decades. In a classified report to Party General Secretary Do Muoi, and Politburo members Dao Duy Tung and Le Kha Phieu, Party investigators wrote: "This book has a very reactionary content. It is harmful because it distorts, smears, insults, and harshly condemns our Party leadership in all areas (politics, economy, culture, literature) very systematically (by listing mistakes over a number of relevant periods). The book displays an attitude of bitterness and naked hatred. In other words, he wants to 'get in the ring' with our Party and our regime."
Nguyen Van Tran was one of the dissidents singled out by Party chief Do Muoi at the Eighth Party Congress last summer. He has been facing constant harassment by the Party's public security forces.