Ma Wenrui

Ma Wenrui (; November 4, 1912 – January 3, 2004) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician. He served successively as China's Minister of Labour, First Party Secretary (top leader) of his native Shaanxi Province, and a Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He was implicated in the Liu Zhidan incident in the 1960s, and was persecuted and imprisoned for five years during the Cultural Revolution.

Early life and revolution Ma Wenrui was born on November 4, 1912, into a well-off family in Zizhou County, Shaanxi Province. His mother died when he was only four. When he was 14, he began studying Marxism. He joined the Communist Youth League of China in 1926, and participated in various student movements. He then worked in revolutionary agitation in his home province. In 1935, at age 23, he was instrumental in the founding of two soviets in Shaanxi. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he worked in northern Shaanxi near the Communist base in Yan'an, and studied military science at Counter-Japanese Military and Political University. He was one of the major leaders of the Northwest Bureau of the Communist Party, and an early follower of Xi Zhongxun.

Minister of Labour and persecution After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Ma was elected an alternate member of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He was appointed Minister of Labour in 1954. The three main victims, Xi Zhongxun, Jia Tuofu, and Liu Jingfan, were labelled the "Xi-Jia-Liu anti-Party group". At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Jia died in 1967 after repeated struggle sessions. Ma was then elevated to become a main conspirator of the group, now renamed "Xi-Ma-Liu clique", and subject to severe persecution.

Ma died on January 3, 2004, in Beijing. His last words were "I miss Yan'an".