Peng Pai (1896-1929)

Chinese proletarian revolutionary; outstanding leader of the Chinese peasant movement. Original name Peng Hanyu, alias Wang Zi’an, Meng’an etc., native of Haifeng, Guangdong Province. In 1917, he went to Japan to study. In 1918, he studied politics and economics at Waseda University, actively participated in the anti-imperialist patriotic activities of Chinese students abroad.

After the October Revolution, he began to study socialist theories. He returned to China in May 1921 and soon joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League, initiated the Socialist Research Society and the Association of the Laborers’ Sympathizers to propagate revolutionary ideas. In January 1923, the Haifeng County Peasant Association was established and he was elected president. In May of the same year, the Haifeng County Peasant Association was expanded to Huizhou Peasant Federation with Peng Pai as president. In July, it was reorganized into the Guangdong Provincial Peasant Association and he was elected the chairman of the Executive Committee and became one of the pioneers of the Guangdong Peasant Movement.

At the beginning of 1924, he became member of the CPC and in the same year he joined the KMT in his personal capacity and served as secretary of the Peasant Department of the Central Committee of the KMT. In July, the Guangdong Revolutionary Government established the Peasant Movement Training Institute in Guangzhou, Peng Pai serving as the director of the first to fifth sessions of the institute. In 1925, he served successively as secretary of the Hailufeng Special Branch of the CPC, member of the CPC Guangdong District Committee, head of the CPC Agricultural Commission, executive member of the Guangdong Provincial Party Department of the KMT and Minister of Peasants. In January 1926, he published Report on the Haifeng Peasant Movement. Mao Zedong called him "the king of the peasant movement" and the leader of the Chinese peasant movement. In 1927, after the failure of the Great Revolution, he participated in the August 1 Nanchang Uprising and served as a member of the Front Committee of the CPC Central Committee.

Subsequently, he was elected member of the Provisional Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the August Seventh Conference of the Communist Party of China. In November, he led the third armed uprising of the Hailufeng peasants and established the first red government—Hailufeng Soviet Government.

At the Guangzhou Uprising in December, he was appointed as the People's Commissioner of Land of the Guangzhou Soviet Government. After the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising, he continued to lead the Nanchang Uprising and the rest of the Guangzhou Uprising to carry out guerrilla armed struggles in Hailufeng, Puning, Huilai and Chaozhou to defend the Chinese Soviet regime. In November 1928, he was elected an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and was appointed to Shanghai as secretary of the Agricultural Committee of the CPC Central Committee and member of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee. In February 1929, he became the secretary of the Military Commission of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China.

On August 24, 1929, he was arrested by the KMT authorities because of the betrayer's informing. On August 30, he was heroically executed in Longhua, Shanghai. He was only 33 years old. His main works are included in Collected Works of Peng Pai.