Xie Juezai (1884-1971)

Chinese proletarian revolutionary, politician and social activist; famous jurist and educator. Also known as Jue Zhai, courtesy name Huannan, native of Ningxiang, Hunan.In 1905, when he was admitted as a scholar of the late Qing Dynasty, he entered a Mongolian school to teach.From 1918 to 1919, he actively participated in the May Fourth Movement.

In 1921, he was introduced by Mao Zedong, He Shuheng and others to join the Xinmin Society. He joined the KMT in 1923 and the CPC in 1925. In March 1928, he went to Shanghai to edit the Red Flag, a newspaper of the central organ of the Communist Party of China, and later took charge of the organization and leadership of the Shanghai Daily. In 1931, he went to the revolutionary base area of Western Hunan and Hubei, served as the political secretary of the Western Hunan Provincial Committee and Vice-Minister of the Cultural Department of the Central Bureau of Western Hunan and Hubei. He was also the editor-in-chief of the organ newspaper of the provincial Soviet Workers’ and Peasants' Daily. In July 1932, he was arrested by the KMT army in Honghu Lake and released at the end of the year. In January 1933, he worked in the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions and in May, in the Central Soviet Area, as secretary of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and secretary of Mao Zedong. From 1934, he served as Secretary-General of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and as General Party Branch Secretary of the Central Government Organs. In 1934, he participated in the Long March. In November 1935, he was appointed Director of the Economic Cooperation Steering Committee of the Northwest Office of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and later Minister of Internal Affairs and Secretary-General of the Northwest Office.

In July 1937, he was appointed representative of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman Mao Zedong at the Gansu Office of Lanzhou Eighth Route Army, and since September 1937, the President of the High Court of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government.From September 1940 to May 1941, he served as Deputy Secretary of the Central Bureau of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region of the Communist Party of China, Secretary-General of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government and secretary of the Party group. In April 1945, he attended the Seventh National Congress of the CPC. From June 1946 on, he served as the member of the Committee on Legal Issues of the CPC Central Committee.In September 1948, he became Minister of Justice of the People's Government of North China. In September 1949, he participated in the formulation of the “Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference” and attended as a representative of the legal profession. He attended the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

After the founding of New China, he successively served as member of the State Council of the Central People's Government, member of the Legal Committee of the Central People's Government and member of the Political and Legal Committee of the State Council. From November 1949 to March 1955, he served as member of the Discipline Inspection Committee of the CPC Central Committee. From April 1959 to January 1965, he served as President and Party Secretary of the Supreme People's Court. In January 1965, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the Fourth National Committee of the CPPCC. He died of illness in Beijing on June 15, 1971 at the age of 87. His main works are included in Collected Works of Xie Juezai, etc.