To Huu

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Tố Hữu (1920-2002) was Vietnam's most famous and influential revolutionary poet. He published five collections of poems, the first of which was the 1946 collection entitled Poem, which included many of his most popular and influential works that were written during the anti-French period from 1937 to 1946.

Huu was born as Nguyen Kim Thanh in Phu Lai Village in central Vietnam.

Around the age of 18 he was incarcerated by the French colonial authorities for his involvement with the communist movement. He escaped from Dac Lay prison in 1942 and rejoined the communist underground.

To Huu moved quickly and successfully through what became the Communist Party of Vietnam. During the pre-unification period (before 1975) To Huu was most influential in setting cultural policy in North Vietnam, especially in deciding the bounds of what was permissible for intellectuals and artists to publish and perform during this tightly controlled period. His control of intellectual and artistic production was matched only by Truong Chinh and Ho Chi Minh himself.

He continued to hold many important party and government posts, including member of the Political Bureau (the Politburo), Secretary of the Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers (as the government cabinet was then called), and the same post that was later renamed Deputy Prime Minister.

During his career Huu was awarded the Gold Star Order, the 60-year membership badge, and the Ho Chi Minh Award, the highest award for literary and artistic accomplishments conferred by the Vietnamese state.

However, Huu's steep rise in the party and government was matched with an even steeper decline. To Huu was blamed for the disastrous 1985 attempt at monetary reform and the ruinous inflation that resulted from its unsuccessful implementation. Inflation had risen 700% by 1986. Huu had to step down from his position as deputy prime minister and basically played no further political role in Vietnam.

However, his poetry is still considered to be the best example of the revolutionary aesthetic, and is recited by schoolchildren throughout Vietnam. Despite his political fall from grace, To Huu is still the Communist Party's poet-laureate.