As Secretary of the Communist Party Branch (CPB) in the South during the time when it was impossible to communicate with the Central Party leaders in the North, or to know that Nguyễn Ái Quốc had returned to Vietnam, and had convened the Eighth Conference to found Vietminh, Trần Văn Giàu had to charter the revolutionary paths for the South to follow and carry out its uprising. Within a short period of time he and his comrades had reorganized and consolidated the old communist cells, mobilizing the Party members in the South and waiting for the right time to seize the government. He thought the Communists in South Vietnam at the time had to be stronger than other pro-Japan political and religious groups in South Vietnam at the time, so as to be be able to lead the masses and topple the ruling classes. Under his directions, the Southern CPB had accomplished the following steps:
1.Reorganized Party members at all levels, especially in the Saigon-Cholon area where Trần Văn Giàu himself was the key leader.
2.Revived the Union, and in April 1944 established the South's General Union, which developed into 40 Union cells with 5,000 worker members.
3. Mobilized many intellectuals, college students, industrialists, businessmen, and some organizations such as the New-Democracy Organization (Tân dân chủ đoàn), The National Language Promotion Association(Hội truyền bá quốc ngữ), and the Youth Magazine group(nhóm báo Thanh Niên).
4. Published The Pioneer(Tiền Phong, and some booklets about Vietnam on the Way to Independence (“Việt Nam trên đường độc lập”), and The Dawn of the Nation(“Rạng đông của dân tộc”); organized politics training classes for Party cadres, of which Trần Văn Giàu was the chief lecturer and trainer.
He viewed the revolution as the cause of the masses, by the masses, and for the masses; so the participation of millions of people was critical. With the support and contribution of other undercover Party members such as Phạm Ngọc Thạch, Nguyễn Văn Thủ, Huỳnh Văn Tiểng, The Youth Pioneer Organization (Thanh niên Tiền phong), a Communist-Party-led organization in disguise was founded to carry out the Party's activities legally. It quickly attracted and mobilized more supporters than any other political organizations in the South, including the Giải phóng/Liberation Communist Party Branch (Xứ ủy Giải phóng), another Communist group. By August 1945 the Youth Pioneer Organization (YPO) had about one million members with its activities spreading among schools, factories and hamlets all over the South.
After Japan surrendered to the Allies, realizing that the time for uprising had come, leaders of the Communist Party Branch in the South decided to form the Uprising Committee on the night of August 15, 1945, and to convene a meeting to discuss the uprising plan for the following day, when the YPO was to carry out its Induction Ceremony in Saigon. During the meeting at Chợ Đệm on August 16 night, the Party members discussed the plan rigorously, but, from the painful lessons of the previous uprising, the Committee agreed that it would be better to wait for news from Hanoi, and to prepare more carefully, and to delay the plan till August 18.
On August 17 the YPO Induction Ceremony was held in Saigon, a political showoff of the forces led by the CPB in the South. However, in lieu of the delayed uprising plan, on August 19 Việt Minh Front leaders (Mặt trận Việt Minh) made their first public appearance, an event organized by the CPB which turned Trần Văn Giàu into the conductor of the whole uprising orchestration that was to take place a few days afterwards.
After the August Revolution succeeded in Hanoi, the second Chợ Đệm meeting was convened on August 20, and the uprising plan was to carry out that afternoon. However, because some members were concerned about the presence of the Japanese forces in Saigon, Trần Văn Giàu decided to choose Tân An as the first province to begin with. The success of the Tân An uprising on August 22 led to the third meeting at Chợ Đệm on August 23 night. A Provisional Administrative Committee for all the South (Lâm ủy Nam Bộ) , headed by Trần Văn Giàu, was formed at this meeting. On August 24 afternoon the armed YPO under the leadership the the CPB seized power in Tân An, Biên Hòa, Thủ Dầu Một, Tây Ninh, and all proceeded towards Sài Gòn. On August 25 there was a huge demonstration in Saigon, and almost all administrative offices and and government agencies were under the control of the CPB.
End of Part II
Sources:
http://vi.wikipedia.org
https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/whoistranvangiau.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/vietnam/2010/12/101217_tran_van_giau.shtml
http://www.diendan.org/tai-lieu/hoi-ky-t-v-giau/
