Chen Qichang (Trotskyist)

Chen Qichang (; 1900–1942) was a Chinese communist politician. He was an early member of Chinese Communist Party and was active in the labor movement. He broke with the party to join with Chen Duxiu in his new Trotskyist group and became a prominent figure among Chinese Trotskyists. He was killed by Japanese gendarmerie while struggling against Japanese occupiers in Shanghai during Second Sino-Japanese War.

He had a number of pseudonyms and pen names, including Chen Qingchen (陈清晨), Chen Zhongshan (陈仲山), and Jiang Weiliang (江维亮).

Biography Early life and CCP

Chen was born in 1900 in Luoyang and came from a poor family. He was admitted to and studied at Peking University in the 1920s. While at school, he joined Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1925 and served at various lower-level local party committees in Beijing.

One of his schoolmate at Peking University was the Wang Shiwei, who would become a celebrated communist writer. Later he financially assisted Wang's wife when she had a miscarriage in 1930.

Wang later left the party but then rejoined in 1937 when he arrived in Yan'an to join Mao Zedong's Chinese Red Army.

Writing to Lu Xun

In 1936, Chen wrote to prominent author Lu Xun in an attempt to win him over to Trotskyism. However, Lu was very ill and Feng Xuefeng replied to Chen with a vituperous and later well-known reply on Lu's behalf. The reply contained insinuation that Trotskyists were collaborators with the Japanese Army. This was consistent with Joseph Stalin's false accusations that Trotskyists were secretly working with Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan.

Resistance against Japan and death

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (part of World War II) the Japanese army occupied Shanghai. He participated in underground resistance there. In 1942 he was arrested by Japanese forces and executed.