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Peng Zhen | |
|---|---|
| 彭真 | |
 Peng in 1945 | |
| 4thChairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
| In office June 17, 1983 – April 8, 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Ye Jianying |
| Succeeded by | Wan Li |
| Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission | |
| In office March 1980 – May 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Office Created |
| Succeeded by | Chen Pixian |
| Party Secretary of Beijing | |
| In office December 13, 1948 – May 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Li Xuefeng |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1902-10-12)October 12, 1902 |
| Died | April 26, 1997(1997-04-26) (aged 94) |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party (1923–1997) |
| Spouse | Zhang Jieqing |
| Peng Zhen | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 彭真 | ||||||||
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Peng Zhen (pronounced[pʰə̌ŋ ʈʂə́n]; October 12, 1902 – April 26, 1997) was a Chinese politician and leading member of theChinese Communist Party. He led the party organization in Beijing following the victory of the Communists in theChinese Civil War in 1949, but was purged during theCultural Revolution for opposing Mao's views on the role of literature in relation to the state. He was rehabilitated underDeng Xiaoping in 1982 along with other 'wrongly accused' officials, and became the inaugural head of theCentral Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
Born inHouma,Shanxi province, Peng was originally namedFu Maogong (傅懋恭). He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1923 as a founding member of the Shanxi Province CCP. Arrested in 1929, he continued underground political activities while imprisoned. He was released from prison in 1935 and began organizing a resistance movement against the invading Japanese forces. Peng was important in developing theSecond United Front during theSecond Sino-Japanese War.[1]: 145 Around the same time, he was appointed the Organization Department Director of the North Bureau of CCP.
Peng also served on a number of positions as vice-president of theCentral Party School and director of the CCP Policy Research Office. In 1945 he served in the history research committee and the organizing committee of the CCP's7th National Congress.
In September 1945 Peng was sent byMao Zedong to take up overall leadership of the CCP inNortheast China. He was accompanied byLin Biao who was to assist Peng with directing military operations against theNationalists. Peng decided that the CCP could hold the 3 big cities of the Northeast:Shenyang,Changchun andHarbin. When the Nationalists under the command ofDu Yuming attacked in November 1945, the Communists were forced back. Peng was removed as the CCP leader in the northeast after further failure by Lin Biao's forces in March 1946 led to the Communists retreat back to Harbin.[2]
Peng was a member of theCCP Central Committee starting from 1944 as well as a member of theSecretariat of the CCP Central Committee. He also held the positions of First Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee, and Mayor of Beijing from 1951 to 1966. In addition to being mayor, he was a high-ranking member of thePolitburo from 1956 to 1966.
In June 1958, Mao changed the party and government structure by establishing groups in charge of finance, legal matters, foreign affairs, science, and culture and education which bypassed theState Council.[3]: 414–415 Peng was made the head of the legal matters group.[3]: 415
In June 1960, he attendedBucharest Conference of Representatives of Communist and Workers Parties, countering Soviet leaderKhrushchev during the conference.
Peng was appointed head of theFive Man Group in charge of preparing a "cultural revolution", but he fell out of favor with Mao Zedong in April 1966 when he attacked Mao's belief that allliterature should support the state. He was accused of being an associate toWu Han's counter-revolutionary clique and deposed at a May 1966 conference in what became the opening act of theCultural Revolution.Lu Dingyi,Luo Ruiqing andYang Shangkun were also deposed.
Peng survived the Cultural Revolution, and was eventually rehabilitated underDeng Xiaoping. He subsequently became Secretary of theCentral Political and Legal Affairs Commission, a post he already held from late 1950s in the capacity of leader of a Central Politics and Law Leading Group. Beginning in 1983, as Chairman of theStanding Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress, he sought to increase the NPC's power. He used the NPC as a base to oppose reform.[4]: 196 In January 1987, Peng Zhen played a pivotal role inHu Yaobang's resignation as General Secretary by attack and criticizing Hu during a meeting. Peng left Politburo after the 13th Party Congress in November 1987 and retired from politics in March 1988 afterWan Li took over his position as Chairman ofStanding Committee of the National People's Congress.
During the1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Peng Zhen supported the declaration of martial law in Beijing and the removal ofZhao Ziyang.
Peng Zhen died on April 26, 1997, from blood cancer aged 94, two months after the death of former vice premier Deng Xiaoping, and was eulogized with high honours by the highest organs of the party and the state. His official obituary declared him a "great proletarian revolutionary, politician, and outstanding expert in the affairs of the state; unswerving Marxist, instrumental in laying the foundations of legal institution in our country, and excellent leader of the party and state." The obituary also curiously made mention of his support of Deng Xiaoping's 1992 "southern tour" which re-ignited economic reforms after relative stagnation following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.[5]
He was considered one of theEight Elders of the CCP.[citation needed]
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Knight Grand Cross of theRoyal Order of Sowathara (Cambodia, 1956)[6]
First Class of theOrder of the National Flag (North Korea, 1962)[7]| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of Beijing 1951–1966 | Succeeded by Wu De Acting |
| Assembly seats | ||
| New title | Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress 1954–1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress 1979–1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress 1983–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party Acting from 1944–1945 1944–1953 | Succeeded by |
| New title | Party Secretary of Beijing 1948–1966 | Succeeded by |
| Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission 1980–1982 | Succeeded by | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
