From the worker movement to the leadership responsibility
Born in Hoa An village (now Cao Lanh ward, Dong Thap province), comrade Pham Huu Lau early participated in the patriotic movement, awakened revolutionary ideals and became one of the officials who made important contributions to the revolutionary movement in the South.
At the end of 1929, implementing the organization's policy, he was sent to "proletarize" at Di An Railway Depot. Immersed in the life of workers, he directly propagated Marxism-Leninism, mobilized and enlightened workers, contributing to building revolutionary bases in the labor movement. In November 1929, at the Congress of Delegates of the An Nam Communist Party, he was elected as one of the 5 members of the Provisional Central Executive Committee, representing Nam Ky.
After the Communist Party of Vietnam was born, he continued to be assigned many important responsibilities in building the organization and leading the revolutionary movement. That path of activity soon placed young cadre Pham Huu Lau before the harsh challenges of the colonial regime.
Training in prison, maturity in struggle
In July 1930, on the way to the North to attend a conference, comrade Pham Huu Lau was arrested by the French colonialists and exiled to Con Dao. The years in the colonial prison did not shake the will of the communist. Released in 1936, he quickly resumed contact, participated in mobilizing the masses to fight for democracy. In 1940, he continued to be arrested and exiled to Con Dao. After the August Revolution in 1945, returning to the mainland, comrade Pham Huu Lau participated in building the government and organizing the resistance war.
During the anti-colonial French period, comrades successively assumed many important responsibilities such as Secretary of Sa Dec Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Resistance - Administrative Committee of Sa Dec province, Deputy Secretary of Zone 8 Party Committee, Secretary of My Tho Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Southern Police Department... Through many positions, the outstanding mark of comrade is his steadfastness in building the Party organization, protecting revolutionary forces and mobilizing and gathering the masses.
After the 1954 Geneva Accords, the Southern revolution entered a particularly difficult period. In October 1954, Comrade Pham Huu Lau was elected Deputy Secretary of the Southern Regional Party Committee. After Comrade Le Duan went to the North, he was assigned the task of Acting Secretary of the Southern Regional Party Committee.
In the context of the US - Diem administration promoting repression and revolutionary terrorism, the comrade and the Regional Party Committee collective sought ways to maintain forces, combined appropriate forms of struggle, contributing to maintaining and developing the revolutionary movement in the South.
This is a stage that clearly shows the bravery of a leader in times when the revolution is facing particularly serious challenges.
A life associated with the People
Besides leadership positions, Comrade Pham Huu Lau is also mentioned for his simple, approachable and close-knit lifestyle with the People.
During the years of secret operation, the image of cadres wearing conical hats, rowing boats to "visit the poor, ask about hardship", learning about the lives and thoughts of the people has become a feature remembered by the Southern people.
When seriously ill, the comrade did not choose to go to the North for treatment but decided to stay and continue to be associated with the revolutionary movement in the South. On December 16, 1959, comrade Pham Huu Lau passed away in Cambodia, when he was only 53 years old.
The revolutionary life of the comrade left its mark on many areas, many stages of the Vietnamese revolution, from the workers' movement, building the Party organization to leading the resistance war and protecting revolutionary forces in the arduous years. In May 2024, the Politburo decided to recognize comrade Pham Huu Lau as a typical predecessor leader of the Party and the Vietnamese revolution.
At the Ministry-level scientific conference "Comrade Pham Huu Lau with the Vietnamese Revolution" held in December 2025 in Dong Thap, Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Committee of Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee Pham Nguyen Hoang Vu affirmed that the revolutionary life of Comrade Pham Huu Lau is a valuable source of materials in traditional education, fostering ideals and morality for the young generation.
That recognition places the comrade's life and activities in the common flow of Vietnamese revolutionary history, and at the same time is a source of pride for his hometown of Dong Thap - the birthplace of the cadre who dedicated his whole life to the cause of Vietnamese revolution.
