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The Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets Project: An Evolving Experiment in Public Research Posts

Conflict between a Catholic priest and a Colon in Tương Dương?

Published July 3, 2020 by admin

Last week, one set of important additions to the list of pre-1932 Catholic Churches were the following four sites in Tương Dương District, Nghệ An:

• Nà Hỳ: Catholic Village
• Khe Kiền: Catholic Village
• Canh Trap: Catholic Church
• Khe Hỳ: Catholic Village

These sites are noted on the 1920 Carte des missions catholiques, with spellings consistent for the time: Na Hi, Ke Kien, Canh Trap, and Ke Hi. I have learned when searching for these sites on modern maps to add an “h” after the initial “k” to produce the modern Vietnamese “khe” or “ravine”. It took me a long time of searching to find out anything about these communities during the colonial era, until I stumbled across a reference at the Institut de Recherche France-Asie (https://www.irfa.paris/fr), archives affiliated with the Missions étrangères de Paris, the organization that managed the Catholic Church in colonial Indochina south of Thanh Hoa.
Apparently, a missionary decided to evangelize among and serve the small number of Catholic families (ethnic Vietnamese? Hmong? Thô?) in far western Tương Dương district. I quote,

En 1890, [Pierre Marie Théodore GUIGNARD Pierre (1864 – 1930)] réunit quelques familles et en 1892, laissant Van Loc à un autre, il va s’installer à Canh-Trap, au confluent du Song Ca et d’un torrent, à 185 kms. de Vinh. Il y construit maison et oratoire, groupe des catéchumènes et les instruit. Entre temps, il achète des terrains à Khe-Kien, puis à Khe-Hy ; il y jette les bases de nouvelles stations, ainsi qu’à Na-Hy, et cela malgré les oppositions d’un mandarin, et plus tard d’un colon français qui mit tout en oeuvre pour entraver l’évangélisation des montagnards. Ainsi, de 1892 à 1895, il réussit à grouper 650 fidèles dans ces quatre postes. En 1904, son évêque venait bénir une belle église à Canh-Trap. Lorsqu’il quitta ce poste en 1906, il y avait quatre paroisses avec quatre prêtres résidents. Depuis longtemps, en effet, il était miné par la fièvre ; il redescendit dans le bas Ngan-Ca, à Van Loc, comme curé de la paroisse et chef du district.

[In 1890, [Pierre Marie Théodore GUIGNARD Pierre (1864 – 1930)] reunited a few families and in 1892, leaving Van Loc to another [priest], he moved to Canh-Trap, at the confluence of Song Ca and a torrent, 185 kms away from Vinh. There he built a house and an oratory, [brought together] a group of catechumens and instructed them. In the meantime, he bought land in Khe-Kien, then in Khe-Hy; he laid the foundations for new stations there, as well as at Na-Hy, despite the opposition of a Mandarin, and later of a French settler who did everything to hinder the evangelization of mountain people. Thus, from 1892 to 1895, he managed to group 650 faithful in these four posts. In 1904, his bishop came to bless a beautiful church in Canh-Trap. When he left this post in 1906, there were four parishes with four resident priests. For a long time, in fact, he had been plagued by fever; he went back down below Ngan-Ca, to Van Loc, as parish priest and district chief.]

I wonder if the French settler is “Dulcé”, whose concession appears in Con Cuông? The only references to a Dulcé I have found so far is for an Albert Dulcé who cooperated on a coal mine in Tonkin before World War I (See http://entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/Charbonnages_de_Dei-Dhan.pdf) and a vague reference to a phosphate mine in Nghe An in 1931, along with several other settlers such as Lejeune, Frossard, and Bui Huy Tin (see http://www.entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/Chrome_et_nickel_IC.pdf). Dulcé is cited as giving testimony to the 1931 Commission d’Enquête on page 71 of Antlöv, Hans, and Stein Tønnesson. Imperial Policy and Southeast Asian Nationalism, 1930-1957. 1995. and on page 129 of James C. Scott’s Moral Economy of the Peasant (New Haven: Yale UP, 1976).

Why would Dulcé try to chase Father Guignard from Cahn Trap? How did this influence events in Tương Dương in 1930 and 1931?

I better re-read my Bảo tàng Xô viết Nghệ Tĩnh,. Nhân dân các dân tộc ở Môn Sơn, Con Cuông trong cao trào Xô Viết Nghệ Tĩnh: kỷ yếu tọa đàm khoa học kỷ niệm 75 năm ngày thành lập chi bộ Đảng Môn Sơn, huyện Con Cuông-Nghệ An (2007).

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Updates to maps and other content, finally!

Published June 27, 2020 by admin

With much excitement, and some apologies for the long silence, I announce an important update to the Nghệ-Tinh Soviets website! Some health problems at home and the transition to on-line teaching created challenges for me during the first six months of the year.

Please find much-expanded lists and maps of: the protests of the Nghệ-Tinh  Soviets (now over 400), the Catholic Churches and Villages of Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh (over 200), and the Concessions of Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh (almost 40). I will soon update both the timeline of the protests as well and add a map layer of secondary features, such as the location of mines, springs, pagodas and temples, and transportation centers (primarily, the train stations and the trams, or portering way-stations).

The next big project will focus on creating polygon layers to show the kinds of agriculture and industry practiced in Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh in 1930 and which communes experienced crop failures and typhoon damage during the two big typhoons of the 1920s. These projects will take a lot of time, so please be patient.

If you have any family stories to share about the Nghệ-Tinh Soviets, please share them with me.

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Sneak preview of the Martin Troyes Letter Database

Published August 27, 2019 by admin

After a long silence, and much hard, hard work, I present you with a sneak preview of the Martin Troyes Letter Database, a sortable table of summaries of all of the letters and other documents from Lt. Martin Troyes: https://thenghetinhsoviets.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=28&action=edit. Thanks so much to my outstanding research student Cam Wade! A serious revision soon.

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Lt. Martin Troyes’ Journaux de Marche / After Action Reports

Published July 11, 2019 by admin

I just included on the Martin Troyes page a transcription and translation of the informal Journaux de Marche / After Action Reports that came in the Troyes Letters for the period 24 September 1930 to 23 November 1930 that Troyes produced from the garrison in Hà Tĩnh where he and his men made their base while deployed to suppress the early actions of the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets. Producing this spreadsheet took a while because Troyes’ handwriting is (perhaps understandably) quite messy!

Two projects follow from this: mapping the various routes he took and correlating the events described in the Journaux de Marche with his personal letters, because he provides much more and more colorful detail in the letters than in the kind of accounting he does in the Journaux. I have already noticed one curiosity…he writes home on 22 November 1930 and indicates to his family that he has liked being distant from higher command and then almost immediately is posted to  Thanh Thủy, Hà Giang! Did he get to ask for the assignment, or did someone read his mail?

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Monthly and regular reports from the Troupes de l’Indochine

Published June 22, 2019 by admin

So, working through some more of the materials in box 15 H 104 from the CHETOM archives in Toulon, I am looking through a series of monthly and regular reports, in no particular order, from the Troupes de l’Indochine in Hanoi to the Ministry of Colonies in Paris. Here are the highlights:

General Gaston Billotte. Troupes de l’Indochine. État-Major. 3e Bureau., “Rapport sur les Opérations Dans Le Nord-Annam Du 1er Au 15 Décembre 1930,” December 17, 1930, CHETOM.

Troupes de l’Indochine. État-Major. 3ème Bureau. Générale Billotte, “Rapport Spécial Du 16 Novembre Au 15 Décembre 1930,” n.d., CHETOM.

“14h00 8 December Chef de Batallion de Subdivision secondaire Vinh-Hatinh [Lambert?] met with a communist demonstration at common house of Cho Con (6km west of Van Gi); force used to disperse crowd.” —> There is a sharp increase in activity mid-December.

“Night of 10/11 December, a reonnaissance party from Linh Cam encounters a surprise demonstration at Tri Hu Duong, 7km. to the East of Linh Cam. 3 dead, 3 injured.”

“11 December, 1000 person demonstration 10 km. Northwest of HaTinh; Legion and Garde indigène disperses them.

“12 December, 10h00, 3000 demonstrators attack a section of Garde indigène commanded by Lt. Greber of the Legion; 33 dead and 51 prisoners.” —> This is a significant loss of life.

General Gaston Billotte. Troupes de l’Indochine. État-Major. 3e Bureau., “Compte Rendu des Évenements militaires survenus en Annam pendant le mois d’Octobre 1931,” November 5, 1931, CHETOM.

“Some linhs (native guardsmen) arrested because of connections between prisoners and communists in Ha Tinh.”

“Post at Nam Huan relieved (26 Sept.) and at Can Loc And Lai Thanh (2 Octobre).”

“Strong typhoon damages outposts on 4 October.” —> This will certainly create more misery for local people, although at least the harvest had been brought in.

General Gaston Billotte. Troupes de l’Indochine. État-Major. 3e Bureau., “Compte Rendu des Évenements militaires survenus en Annam pendant le mois d’Novembre 1931,” December 2, 1931, CHETOM.

“20th November, section of the 5th Legion at Kisnnan returns to Vinh.” —> Where is Kisnnan?

“10e BMIA (Battalion mixte d’Infanterie de l’Annam) at Linh Cam returns to Hue, relieved by (5th) Legion” —> the French Foreign Legion has more and more of a role in suppressing the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets in both Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh.

“Sections at Yen Trung and the Blockhaus of km10 return to Ha Tinh” —> Interesting retreat of force back to the urban center in Hà Tĩnh town.

“Patrols frequent, esp. at Hanh Lam near Do Luong” —> I will have to look at this area more closely.

“Bridge at Lang Khe (3km to Thanh Qua) repaired by Legion” —> We noted the destruction of the bridge in a previous blog post.

“Chef de Battallion LAMBERT travels 19 November to Cua Rao to inspect Thô section.” —> Hmm…deploying non-Vietnamese as police, an interesting and common tactic.

4th Bataillon of the 5th Légion is in Vinh in mid-November.

Troops at Linh Cam relived by Légion on the 26th November

MinCol. visist primary military posts in Indochina 31 Oct – 5 Nov. 1931

Still some propaganda distribution and a red flag in Quang Ngai

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Looking at 1:25000 maps: Thanh Chương and Lương

Published June 15, 2019 by admin

Let us continue with an examination of two more of the Service géographique 1:25000 maps, this time “Thanh Chương” (Chef de Brigade Grossard, “Thanh Chương,” Carte des Deltas de l’Annam (Hanoi: Service géographique de l’Indochine, 1907) and “Lương” (Chef de Brigade Malandain, “Lương,” Carte des Deltas de l’Annam (Hanoi: Service géographique de l’Indochine, 1907). My apologies for the long delay in another post, but I had some distractions over the previous two weeks.

The map of Thanh Chương doesn’t have anything too surprising in comparison to the other maps in the series, with three exceptions: the abandoned village of Mỹ Lương, a previously unknown concession, and a named pagoda.

Mỹ Lương has caught my attention for a long time and I am quite interested in learning the history behind this “abandoned village”. Over a period of 100 years, to the present day, the space and land appear abandoned and disused, as if some kind of great disaster occurred there that has never healed. Thus,

The village as marked on the 1:25000 Service géographique map as abandoned:

The village as marked on the 1:50000 Army Map Service map “Cam Ngoc 6046-1” at 18.75611111N, 105.40833333E (18°45’21.83”N, 105°23’8.90″E):

And today on Google Earth:

What happened here, I wonder, and does it somehow reflect a larger problem that influences the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets?

The mystery concession is situated perhaps 500 meters to the East of Nghĩa Đông at 18.75 N and 105.5 E:

I don’t see it noted on any of my other maps, and it may not have existed in 1930 as the map is drawn from information in 1906, but I will add it to the Concessions map but as “East of Nghĩa Đông Concession” for the time being. Less clear than an earlier example of a concession about which I didn’t previously know, there is perhaps a visual artifact on the concession either on 1:50000 Army Map Service map “Pho Chau 6046-2” ̣See “Phố Châu, Sheet 6046 II,” Vietnam (Washington, DC: Army Map Service, 1971):

…and on Google Maps as Nam Thanh, Nam Đàn District, Nghệ An, Vietnam:

Like the abandoned village of Mỹ Lương, I wonder if there is memory of this small, isolated concession?

The Service géographique maps rarely name specific pagodas, so when the geographers did so, the pagodas must have had special importance. In this case, the Thanh Chương map identifies a Pagoda Cơ Yên, which today is called the Đền Bạch Mã in Thanh Khê, Võ Liệt, Thanh Chương District, Nghệ An, Vietnam at 18.77944444N, 105.34805556E (18°42’46.03”N, 105°20’52.82″E)

There are a couple of other places that are interesting. Usually on the 1:25000 Service géographique maps, markets are noted as (Me) or marché. On this maps (and others, I assume), two markets have their Vietnamese names instead: Chợ Ro at 18.72638889N, 105.38916667E (18°43’34.50”N, 105°22’8.09″E) and Chợ Ổ at 18.69861111, 105.42444444 ̣18°41’54.66”N, 105°25’28.44″E).

In contrast, I know that there’s a military outpost at Thanh Quả 18°44’6.99”N, 105°20’44.78″E (18.73527778N, 105.34583333E), but there’s no mention of it on the map. Curious. Perhaps in 1907, it didn’t yet exist.

The Luong Map doesn’t have too much of interest at all. There is a customs post (Poste de Douanes) at 18.82111111N, 105.30305556 (18°49’16.12”N, 105°18’11.45″E), in Xã Thanh Tiên, Thanh Chương District, Nghe An, Vietnam. More interesting perhaps are the clay quarries at 18.84388889, 105.47972222 (18°50’37.69”N, 105°28’47.40″E) and a listed freshwater spring (source) just to the West. It seems that the clay quarries may still function, but I wonder if the spring still runs?

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A bloody week in December 1930

Published May 27, 2019 by admin

Here is where our broad-ranging exploration becomes much more serious about what happened during the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets. Today, we examine the following document:

General Gaston Billotte. Troupes de l’Indochine. État-Major. 3e Bureau., “Rapport sur les Opérations dans le Nord-Annam du 1er au 15 Décembre 1930,” December 17, 1930, CHETOM. 15 H 104.

This report, marked secret, is in fact a copy of a report that the Ministry of War received on 21 February 1931 from Indochina, I assume because of the mounting worry in Paris about the growing magnitude of the rebellion, its increasing violence, and the growing negative reaction to how the French put it down around the world. For background, see:

Foster, Anne. “French, Dutch, British, and US Reactions to the Nghệ Tĩnh Rebellion of 1930-1931.” In Imperial Policy and Southeast Asian Nationalism 1930-1957. Edited by Hans Antlov and Stein Tönnesson. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Studies in Asian Topics.vol. 19. Richmond: Curzon, 1995.

The report describes the following:

  • “Les ‘petits éléments’ detached from the garrisons at Phú Đình and Ha Tinh returned to post on 5 and 10 December respectively.” —> This is quite useful as it helps me establish where the French set up temporary garrisons, most especially important when the Cordone sanitaire, or, zone of restriction, is set up in July 1931. I will have to make a new map layer of these garrisons.
  • “Lang Khe bridge (3 kilometers north of Thanh Qua) cut by the rebels on 1 December repaired by the legionnaires.” —> I will add this to the chronology and to the map of protests. This also shows that the 5th Foreign Legion had begun operating by this time. I wonder, is this a predecessor to the Cầu Dùng?
  • “8 December, the battalion commander of the secondary subdivision of Vinh-Hatinh on return from inspecting the post at Thanh Qua collided with a demonstration at the Cho Con village hall (5 kilometers west of Van Giai). The escort had to use the weapons to disperse the crowd.” —> I will add this to the chronology and to the map of protests.  It looks as if this is now Xóm 7, Cát Văn, Thanh Chương District, Nghe An, Vietnam (18.87084 N, 105.284744 E)
  • “On the night of 10 and 11 December, a reconnaissance patrol from the Linh Can surprised a communist demonstration at Thieu Dong (7 km. east of Linh Can). They exchanged fire [NB implying the communists had weapons]; 3 dead, 3 injured.” —> I will add this to the chronology and to the map of protests. Linh Cảm is listed in the Vietnam Gazetteer as 18.516667 N, 105.5666667 E (Sơn Lễ, Đức Thọ, Hà Tĩnh, Vietnam)
  • “11 December morning, a big demonstration occurred about 10 kilometers Northwest of Hatinh; about 1000 were arrested by the Legion and Native Guard. “—> I will add this to the chronology and to the map of protests.  This is unclear, but it may be a demonstration at Đức Thọ or Lạc Thiện in Hà Tĩnh. 1,000 people arrested! Where did they put them all? This begins to seem like the period when hundreds of people would be packed in tiny jails. Circumstantial reports indicate that sometimes the jails were simply ‘cleared’ before new detainees placed in them.
  • “12 December, a detachment of Native Guard operating within Cát Ngạn canton under the orders of adjudant Greber (of the Legion) attacked by 3000 communists…they were chased away, leaving behind 33 dead and 51 prisoners; the adjutant and two native guards injured.” —> I will add this to the chronology and to the map of protests.  This is somewhere around 18.8666670000 N, 105.2666670000 E….which on Google Earth turns up a ruined-looking village….

Thus, in just a period of under a week, 36 deaths and 54 injuries of Vietnamese and three injured among the French. The question becomes, how accurate are these reports? Do I simply accept all of them as accurate? I would think a French report would downplay death and injury, so perhaps in the end, the various Vietnamese and French reports will balance one another out to give an accurate figure.

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Looking at old maps and old military reports

Published May 25, 2019 by admin

Over the next few weeks (or perhaps even months), I plan to examine two sources in detail: the Cartes des Deltas de l’Annam [Maps of the Deltas of Annam] and documents from the Troupes de l’Indochine [the pre-WWII colonial military command in Indochina] collected from the archives of CHETOM in Toulon, France. Let me introduce both.

The Cartes des Deltas de l’Annam are 1/25000 scale that the Service géographique de l’Indochine [the Geographic Service of Indochine] in Hanoi produced gradually of the coastal areas of central Vietnam between 1898 and 1940, with serious revisions undertaken around 1907 and 1937. Their range extends about 40 kilometers from the coast, whereafter one must use the 1/100,000 scale maps. The 1/25000 maps are full color, photogravure maps in sheets usually 1 x 1 meter, and in my opinion, beautiful.

Most importantly, they provide a cypher of the past, and a membrane connecting precolonial and colonial Vietnam. Every market, pagoda, cemetery, bridge, significant tree, government facility, spring, waterfall, and of course village receives notation. Here is the legend for the maps:

Unfortunately, I think that they are still protected by copyright, but I will dare show you a selection of Feuille (sheet) no. 4, “Phủ Tĩnh Gia”:

You see a wide variety of natural and man-made features, but the map predates the creation of Yên Mỹ Lake (Hố Yên Mỹ). Interestingly, there is a very large concession at the bottom-left of the map; since this is in Thanh Hóa, it doesn’t concern us, but what is interesting is how that space has remained the same, with the village of Yên Mỹ growing around it, and the dam of Hố Yên Mỹ forming the bottom edge:

We ask, what is the “campement” just to the northeast of Yên Mỹ? Why is there a village with no houses at Đồng Qui Ặp, to Yên Mỹ’s southeast ? So, I will “read” the maps and add the features to the MapsMarker map on this site. I am sure that we will discover some interesting things together that are important for understanding the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets.

The other group of documents that we will examine are orders and analysis from records of the Troupes de l’Indochine retained at the CHETOM (Centre d’Histoire et d’Etudes des Troupes d’Outre-Mer) in Toulon. These concern directly the military suppression of the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets, but I don’t think researchers have used them much because they used to be hard to find (a long time ago held at   Versailles, then transferred to Vincennes, and finally to Toulon), and the CHETOM, while very friendly and helpful, is a small operation. Here’s en example of what we’ll look at, but again, I don’t have permission to reproduce the documents, so I can’t show them all:

This document from 17 December 1930 addresses the relief of an outpost by the French Foreign Legion and the killing of 33 demonstrators. I think that these documents will greatly enhance the timeline, but also unfortunately the death toll…

Okay, let’s get started!

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In faraway Anh Sơn, the final concession…

Published May 22, 2019 by admin

The final concession dossier I have is that of the Compagnie Frères Lejeune (Réne (? – 1930), Louis, and Georges), according to http://entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/Lejeune_freres-Vinh.pdf successful miners, foresters, planters, and wholesalers whose careers ended with the collapse of the world economy after 1929 and the death of René in 1930. This is a comparatively early concession, relatively remote in comparison to other concessions, and marginal in its potential relationship to the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets. But, because it endures through 1932, I feel that it should be included as part of the concessions in Nghệ An.

The final concession dossier I have is that of the Compagnie Frères Lejeune (Réne (? – 1930), Louis, and Georges), according to http://entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/Lejeune_freres-Vinh.pdf successful miners, foresters, planters, and wholesalers whose careers ended with the collapse of the world economy after 1929 and the death of René in 1930. This is a comparatively early concession, relatively remote in comparison to other concessions, and marginal in its potential relationship to the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets. But, because it endures through 1932 (when “a Chinese” from Nam Định purchased it for a pittance), I feel that it should be included as part of the concessions in Nghệ An for our purposes.

Ðông Cốc was not difficult find. It appears in maplanida.com, although not, interestingly, in the Vietnam Gazetteer. It appears in the American Map Service 1/50000 map “Lang Rao” no. 6047-III, 1965.  It is easy to spot along the Sông Con. Something interesting visually are the two small hills a few hundred meters west from the river within the concession.  A 1911 plat map in the dossier indicates southern hill called Con Ben and the other Con Nghe. On Con Ben, a small pagoda is indicated. In contemporary satellite photographs, the two hills are forested. I wonder what they were in the past? Does the pagoda still exist? They look as if they may have been hill forts or something in the distant past.

The concession house is noted about halfway along the riverfront. Phú Cốc village is at the lower end.

The dossier originates in Centre des Archives nationales d’outer-mer Indochine. Resident supérieur de l’Annam (RSA). M8 “Colonisation” no. 34  for Lejeune Frères and their concession at Ðông Cốc (or Phú Cốc, Lương Sơn, Anh Sơn) depending which document one examines. In 1907, Lejeune Frères initially claimed 1,000 hectares, but a letter of 30 December 1913 indicated that a concession of only 240 hectares was granted.

A letter of 17 March 1911 in this dossier describes a concession enclosed by a palisade of stakes and barbed wire, a three level brick house, a “vast” stable for 54 bovines, mostly buffalos, and ten houses for workers. Entreprises-coloniales informs us that the concession had 50,000 (!!!) coffee plants under cultivation in 1930.

A letter of 11 June 1907 indicated that a forestry society (La Lationienne) had already asked to place the area around Ðông Cốc into a forest reserve for their exploitation (of valuable lim trees in a forest to the west), but the Resident-supérieure in Huế promoted a compromise whereby the Lejeune brothers would receive the riverside land in concession and La Laotienne the forest.

What this concession makes me wonder is, who ran the concessions in the absence of its owners, and does presence of Vietnamese managers have anything to do with how most concessions appear relatively untroubled during the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets? Also, this concession is really cheek-by-jowl with its village, but who lived in the village this far out? Vietnamese? Highlanders? This will require more investigation.

Ðông Cốc was not difficult find. It appears in maplanida.com, although not, interestingly, in the Vietnam Gazetteer. It appears in the American Map Service 1/50000 map “Lang Rao” no. 6047-III, 1965.  Something interesting visually are the two small hills a few hundred meters west from the river.  A 1911 plat map in the dossier indicates southern hill called Con Ben and the other Con Nghe. On Con Ben, a small pagoda is indicated. In contemporary satellite photographs, the two hills are forested. I wonder what they were in the past? Does the pagoda still exist? They look as if they may have been hill forts or something in the distant past.

The concession house is noted about halfway along the riverfront. Phú Cốc village is at the lower end.

The dossier originates in Centre des Archives nationales d’outer-mer Indochine. Resident supérieur de l’Annam (RSA). M8 “Colonisation” no. 34  for Lejeune Fères and their concession at Ðông Cốc (or Phú Cốc, Lương Sơn, Anh Sơn) depending which document one examines. In 1907, Lejeune Frères initially claimed 1,000 hectares, but a letter of 30 December 1913 indicated that a concession of only 240 hectares was granted.

A letter of 17 March 1911 in this dossier describes a concession enclosed by a palisade of stakes and barbed wire, a three level brick house, a “vast” stable for 54 bovines, mostly buffalos, and ten houses for workers. Entreprises-coloniales informs us that the concession had 50,000 (!!!) coffee plants under cultivation in 1930.

A letter of 11 June 1907 indicated that a forestry society (La Lationienne) had already asked to place the area around Ðông Cốc into a forest reserve for their exploitation (of valuable lim trees in a forest to the west), but the Resident-supérieure in Huế promoted a compromise whereby the Lejeune brothers would receive the riverside land in concession and La Laotienne the forest.

What this concession makes me wonder is, who ran the concessions in the absence of its owners, and does presence of Vietnamese managers have anything to do with how most concessions appear relatively untroubled during the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets? Also, this concession is really cheek-by-jowl with its village, but who lived in the village this far out? Vietnamese? Highlanders? This will require more investigation.

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The Macquin Concession…another in quiet Phú Quý

Published May 20, 2019 by admin

Today, we turn to the Centre des Archives nationales d’outer-mer dossier Indochine. Resident supérieur de l’Annam (RSA). M2 “Colonisation” no. 80 (marked M7 no. 80 on dossier, so perhaps the entry at the CAOM is not correct) concerning Mr. Gustave Macquin and his concession at Xóm Cát Mộng, Xã Nghĩa Hiếu, Huyện Nghĩa Đàn, Nghệ An, Việt Nam (18.81053 North, 105.3 East). There is less information than the previous Monier dossier, but it does, with the help of the invaluable http://entreprises-coloniales.fr/, give us insight into the group of concessions in the north-central part of Nghệ An province.

It took a great deal of time to find Xóm Cát Mộng. As with the previous Monier Concession, no luck with maplandia.com, in the Vietnam Gazetteer, etc. A Google search turned up a trucking company using that as an address, and listed the commune; I then turned to American Map Service 1/50000 map “Nghĩa Hưng” no. 6047-I, 1967 and looked until I found the curve in the road indicated on one of the three plat maps included in the dossier, which also described a nearby hill called Lên Mộng, underneath of which the hamlet name, Cát Mộng, is indicated, and confirmed by neighboring village of Làng Đông.

On a plat map from 1917 in the Macquin dossier, one sees a prosperous, multi-cultivar farm, with coffee bushes, tung trees, candlenut bushes, and jute, and a mature and wide area in saplings of unknown plants. At the edge of the property, forest predominated, with some areas recently harvested. Another map indicates the presence of a spring to the North of the main house, along with a “remarkable” tree. Today, the site of the main house appears to be some kind of factory, with a furniture store (Đồ Gỗ Duy Khánh) across the road. The stream emanating from where the spring would have been edges a cemetery.

There is one small site of debate…a certain Mr. Nguyễn Thị Thuộc in a letter of 23 May 1924 indicates that since 1918, Macquin had given him use, or usufruct, of some of the land and had unsuccessfully asked for a bonus on his production, but that Macquin never responded to his requests. The RSA wrote in the marginalia that such a request was “enôôôôôôôrme” and that the affair would not be followed.

In a decree of 28 March 1924, a significant portion of the concession of 378 hectares granted to Gustave Macquin on 13 June 1915 not under development returned to the local administration. The concession appears to continued to operate, but seems to have been wrapped up in a larger series of financial scandals that emerged after 1932 as concessionnaires went bankrupt and productive concessions purchased for a song. 

There is an entire an interesting history with which I will obviously have to familiarize myself about the settlement of the valley of Phú Quý in which this concession has a place and which a certain Mr. Frédéric Walthert (and his wife Cécile née Mange, who died in 1931 at 42, and their seven children Andrée, Claire, France, Christiane, Renée, Jacques and Jean-Pierre) seems to have played the most considerable role. This is presented quite clearly at http://entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/Walthert-Phu-Qui.pdf.

I wonder, as with Monier, if Macquin originated near Lyons? The Macquin dossier lacks a birth certificate. Useful to see Jean Vavasseur-Desperriers, Jean-François Eck, Hubert Bonin, Catherine Hodeir, and Jean-François Klein.L’esprit économique impérial: 1830-1970. Groupes de pression et réseaux du patronat colonial en France et dans l’empire. Saint-Denis: SFHOM. Société française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 2008.

In the early 1920s, Walthert had accumulated a huge amount of capital to build a refrigeration plant at Bến Thủy with the help of Paul-Augustin Lapique, which went bankrupt. He then turned his attention to Phú Quý and became its greatest promoter, including the construction of a power plant and the rapid acquisition of enormous quantities of land, much of which he had to abandon in the mid-1930s, again in bankruptcy.

The latter extract also provides a transcription of a letter presumably written by Macquin from 1928 in which he praises the keen promotion for Phú Quý provided by Walther and encourages the Résident of Vinh to commit more development support for Phú Quý.

There is a whole cluster of concessions at this location, and yet no significant activity occurs here during the Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets, despite, or perhaps because of, its comparative wealth. This is an important anomaly, much like the concessions in the far west of Hà Tĩnh. Significant ethnic minority population? Employment opportunities? This will definitely need much, much more attention as a point of comparison to other parts of Nghệ-Tĩnh!

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