Nguyen Van Ben was born in 1923 in Viet Tri, Phu Tho. He describes how he first came in contact with nationalist ideas via some family acquaintances during World War II, who at that time were actually part of the Democratic Party. He talks about protests and nationalist activity in and around Viet Tri. He also mentions the relations with Japanese forces in the area, including their disarmament and the way one informant (chi diem) for the Japanese was treated. He became a member of the self-defense militia in Viet Tri, and describes several battles and activities against the French in the second half of the 1940s. He then talks about the rent reduction and interest reduction campaigns in Phu Tho, as well as the later classification of the population in class categories (landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants, etc.). He gives a relatively detailed explanation of how each household was assessed in order to be put into one or the other of those categories.