Ren Bishi（1904—1950）

Ren Bishi, was a Chinese proletarian revolutionary, statesman-political leader, organizer; outstanding leader of the CPC and the Chinese PLA; also, the important member of the first generation of collective central leadership of the CPC, Mao Zedong being at the core. Ren Bishi was born on April 30, 1904 in the county of Xiangyin (today Miluo) in the Hunan Province. In August 1920, he participated in the Russian Research Association established by Mao Zedong and other leaders, this Association recommended the first batch of students to go to Shanghai to join the Foreign Languages Society to prepare for studying in Russia and in this period Ren Bishi joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League which was later led by the CPC. In May 1921, he and Liu Shaoqi went to Soviet Russia together to enter the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, which trained revolutionary cadres. In December 1922, he became a full member of the CPC. In August 1924, he was appointed by the CPC to teach Russian to Shanghai University. In January 1925, Ren Bishi attended the Socialist Youth League of China's Third National People's Congress and in this meeting the organization's name was changed from "Socialist Youth League" to the "Chinese Communist Youth League”. In July 1925, he served as the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and as the director of the organization department. In May 1927, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee at the Fifth National Congress of the CPC. In 1927, he attended the Party's August 7th meeting and actively advocated the agrarian revolution and was elected as a member of the Provisional Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. In January 1931, he was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Party Congress. In November 1935, Ren Bishi, He Long and Guan Xiangying were able to break out of the military blockade caused by the KMT army in Sangzhi, Hunan through a joint command of the Second and Sixth Armies and proceeded on with the Long March. During the Long March, Ren Bishi supported the CPC Central Committee, represented by Mao Zedong, and resolutely fought against Zhang Guotao's resolute struggle and led the three main forces of the Red Army to join their forces successfully. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was appointed as a member of the Central Military Commission in the front line headquarters, later served as the Director of Political Department in the Eighth Route Army. Ren Bishi together with Zhu De and Peng Dehuai, and others, have led the Eighth Route Army to the the Shanxi front line to fight against Japan forces. In March 1938, on behalf of the Central Committee of the CPC, he was sent to Moscow in order to conduct CPC’s orderly relations with the Comintern regularly reported the situation of China's Anti- Japanese War and also reported the works and undertakings of the CPC, soon after he achieved to get the strong support of the Comintern. After returning to China in March 1940, he participated in the day-to-day work of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. In September 1941, he was elected as the Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the CPC, assisted Mao Zedong in leading the “Rectification Movement” and the “Large-Scale Production Movement”, and he was entrusted by the Central Committee to preside over the drafting of the "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party” which was approved in 1945. In March 1943, he was elected to the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, together with Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. In 1945, he was elected as a member of the Political Bureau and as the head of Secretariat Organization of the Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC. In March 1947, he together with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai moved to northern Shaanxi headquarters and assisted Mao Zedong in commanding the War of Liberation, in formulating the land policy of the Party of China and in carrying out land reform in liberated regions. In March 1949, he attended the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC in Xibaipo and made an important speech which proposed the shifting of the focus of the Party's work. In April of the same year, on behalf of the Central Committee of the CPC, he made a political report to the First National Congress of the New Democratic Youth League and was elected as the Honorary Chairman of the Central Committee of the Youth League. Marshal Ye Jianying praised him as being the "party camel, who worked long and hard without rest, never seeking enjoyment, never borne grudges against anyone.” He encountered severe illnesses now and then since 1945, in 1949 his condition worsened and he had to be transferred to Moscow for further treatment, after he returned, he attended the first anniversary of the PRC held at Tian’anmen on October 1, 1949, but he died in Beijing on October 27, 1950. His main works are included in the Selected Works of Ren Bishi.