To Huu, 82; Revolutionary Poet, Former Official in Vietnamese Government

To Huu, Vietnam’s best-known Communist revolutionary poet and a former Politburo member, has died. He was 82.

Huu died Monday at Military Hospital 108 in Hanoi after a long illness, a family member said Wednesday. His funeral is planned for Friday.

He is to be buried at the elite Mai Dich Cemetery, reserved for senior Communist Party officials.

Huu was born in October 1920 in the imperial capital of Hue as Nguyen Kim Thanh and began writing poetry at age 6. He became active in politics and joined the Communist Party in 1938.

At age 19 he was imprisoned by the French, but he escaped three years later.

Fighting alongside Ho Chi Minh, Huu publicly proclaimed, “I am both a revolutionary and a poet. For me, poems are a weapon for the revolution,” the Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper reported.

One of his most famous poems, “Since Then,” described his awakening to communism as the moment when the “sun of truth shone on my heart.” His works continue to be taught in schools throughout his homeland.

In postwar Vietnam, Huu held a number of senior government posts. He joined the elite Politburo in 1976 and was appointed deputy prime minister in 1980 but was ousted from the government in 1986 for mishandling the economy.

He is survived by two daughters and one son.