Li Lisan
Encyclopedia
Lǐ Lìsān (March 1899–June 22, 1967) was an early leader of the Chinese
communists, and the top leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1928 to 1930, member of Polit Bureau, and later member of Central Committee.
province in China
in 1899, under the name of Li Rongzhi. His father, a teacher, taught Li Chinese traditional poems and classics. In 1915, he arrived at Changsha for high school and saw an advertisement in a newspaper written by a student from First Normal School of Changsha with the pen name 28 Strokes. Li met, and then became friends with, the young man whose real name was Mao Zedong
. Later, Li joined the army of a local warlord
in Hunan
. One of the Division Commanders, Cheng Qian
(程潜), who was both Li's father's townsman and alumni, sponsored Li to study in Beijing
.
and arrived there in 1920. He worked part-time as assistant to a boilermaker
to earn his tuition. His boss was a member of Communist Party
, and Li was influenced in accepting Communism
, taking part actively in the struggles for Chinese labor rights in France. For his active and fearless revolutionary work, Li was labelled as a trouble-maker. In 1921, Li was expelled back to China with more than 100 other Chinese by the French authorities.
, he was introduced by Chen Duxiu
to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The party assigned him to organize the labor activities in Anyuan Coal Mine. Being the most important labor work leader there, Li greatly increased the number of CPC members and perfected methods of organization. By the end of 1924, there were only 900 CCP members throughout China, 300 of whom came from Anyuan Coal Mine. It was at this time that Li showed his great talent in labor work and organization in conjunction with Liu Shaoqi
, who later became his deputy. Certainly the Nationalists had a high opinion of Li's organisational skills; a secret report prepared during their rural pacification campaign in 1928 explained why they were having particular difficulties in Anyuan:
In 1926, Li came to Wuhan
, the labor work center of China to lead the labor work. Although Xiang Zhongfa
, who later became general secretary of the CCP, was the top leader at that time, Li was the man who actually made the decisions. In 1927, after the split of the alliance of Kuomintang
with the CPC, Li was the first one to propose the Nanchang Uprising
against the KMT, and took the job as director of the security guards. Though this uprising was proved to be imprudent and planless, and its failure unavoidable, Li was thrust into the central stage of the CCP for his prominence in labor work and his courage under fire.
, Li's old friend Xiang Zhongfa
was elected as General Secretary with the support from the Comintern and the Soviet Union. During the reign of Xiang, Li Lisan played a gradually more important role. Xiang sacked Cai Hesen
, the incumbent standing member of Politburo
of the CCP and Minister of Propaganda Department of the CCP for Cai's extremist way in directing the Sunzi Division of CCP, which resulted in extreme democracy and discontent at the CCP center. Xiang chose Li to replace Cai. Li became one of only four standing members of the politburo
and minister
of Propaganda Department of the CCP in October 1928.
When the Far East Bureau of the Comintern
issued an order for anti-rightism and blamed the CCP for not being active enough in 1929, Xiang protested this decision. He knew Li was an appropriate candidate for doing the communication work because of his eloquence and energy. Thus, Li took the job of handling conflicts with the Comintern. When Xiang sent Zhou Enlai
to Moscow
for further instruction, Li took on Zhou’s work in organization too, which gave Li a large enough stage to prove his talent.
From June 1930, Li Lisan line became mature under the support from Xiang. The CCP gave the daily operation from its headquarters to divisions in all provinces, setting up action committees in all provinces and preparing for the full-scale uprising in October. But the Comintern expressed its discontent, stating that it was working out systemic policies for the Chinese revolution, and the CCP should concentrate on the uprising in one or several provinces instead. Xiang supported Li and stood by his idea that it was the zero hour of the Chinese revolution. In several rounds of discussion, the tension between Xiang, Li and the Comintern rose greatly. Suspicion and criticism of the CCP towards the Comintern was the same as betrayal in the eyes of the Comintern.
In July 1930, the communist army under the leadership of Li Lisan captured Changsha in Hunan
province, but KMT troops defeated his forces just a few days later. The uprisings in other cities were put down by KMT forces quickly. Furthermore, Li had turned many CCP members into his enemies by his authoritarian style. Some of these were old CCP members such as labor activists He Mengxiong and Luo Zhanglong who were blamed for their rightism only because they were against Li's extremism. Wang Ming
and his group of 28 Bolsheviks
came back from Moscow, designated to take the leadership of the CCP by their mentors in Moscow, but they only received a cold shoulder from Li.
and Zhou Enlai
back to China to enforce its policy. And the 28 Bolsheviks took advantage of this opportunity to denounce Li. Xiang, and Li still did not realize the clear danger he was in and criticized these young immature students severely. Then Comintern sent a telegram to call Li to Moscow for repentance. Pavel Mif
, president of Moscow Sun Yat-sen University
and mentor of the 28 Bolsheviks, went to Shanghai
as an envoy of the Comintern also. Under Mif’s direction, the 4th Plenary Meeting of 6th National Congress of the CPC was held. Li was replaced by Mif’s protégé, Wang Ming
, and his associates in the 28 Bolsheviks took other important jobs.
, and purge
. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union even refused to accept Li as a CCP member for several years. Moreover, when Wang Ming and Kang Sheng
came back to Moscow as representatives of the CCP to the Comintern, they persecuted Li by every means available. The only comfort was that in the Soviet Union Li met and later married Lisa Kishkin, a Soviet typesetter, who would later migrate to China with Li.
. In 1946, Li was sent back to China. Li first came to Manchuria
to work for the local division of the CCP as Minister of the City Work Department. At the outbreak of Chinese Civil War
, Li was appointed as chief representative of the CCP part of the military arbitration panel consisting of members from KMT and the USA.
in 1949, Li went back to the field in which he was most expert, being appointed as Minister of Labor to lead the labor union. Li was dedicated to his old cause and brought forth some guidance on democratic management measures in industry, which was later called by Mao as the Constitution of Anshan Steel Mill. At the same time Li Lisan was one of the founders of the CPPCC mechanism. And during the years of Korea War, he was appointed as the secretary general of Anti Air Defence Council ranking as vice-premier, due to his anti-air attack practice during the WWII during his stay at Moscow.
Li remained an advocate of independence for the trade unions, which brought him into conflict with Mao.He was the Vice Chairman of the Whole-China Labour Union until 1958.
came, Kang Sheng spared no effort in denouncing his old rival. Li was labeled an agent of the Soviet Union and was tortured both mentally and physically by the Red Guards
. His wife and daughters were also imprisoned.
Supposedly unable to face this humiliation any more, Li was said by his tormentors to have committed suicide by taking sleeping pills after finishing a final letter to Mao. Li's biographer, Patrick Lescot, has cast doubt on the nature of Li's death.
Li Sishen (李思慎), Li Lisan's personal secretary, later wrote he did not believe it possible Li Lisan could have had access to sufficient pills to kill himself. Li Sishen had been responsible for overseeing the issuing of the sleeping pills. He recalled arguing with Li Lisan, who wanted an extra pill each night as the struggle sessions were affecting his sleep. Li Lisan dismissed the notion he might kill himself as ridiculous:
finally allowed Li Lisan's family to read his autopsy report; this listed his height incorrectly by 15 cm and contained other errors which added to the family's doubts over the accepted version of Li's death.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
communists, and the top leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1928 to 1930, member of Polit Bureau, and later member of Central Committee.
Early years
Li was born in Liling, HunanHunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
province in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 1899, under the name of Li Rongzhi. His father, a teacher, taught Li Chinese traditional poems and classics. In 1915, he arrived at Changsha for high school and saw an advertisement in a newspaper written by a student from First Normal School of Changsha with the pen name 28 Strokes. Li met, and then became friends with, the young man whose real name was Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
. Later, Li joined the army of a local warlord
Warlord
A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...
in Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
. One of the Division Commanders, Cheng Qian
Cheng Qian
Cheng Chien was a Chinese general.-Revolutionary:After having studied at a private school and having passed examination in 1889, Cheng joined the Yuelu Academy in Changsha. Here he began to understand the current political situation and decided to give up imperial exams. In 1903, as he was 21, he...
(程潜), who was both Li's father's townsman and alumni, sponsored Li to study in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
France
When Li reached Beijing, he applied to study in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and arrived there in 1920. He worked part-time as assistant to a boilermaker
Boilermaker
A boilermaker is a trained craftsman who produces steel fabrications from plates and sections. The name originated from craftsmen who would fabricate boilers, but they may work on projects as diverse as bridges to blast furnaces to the construction of mining equipment.-Boilermaking:Many...
to earn his tuition. His boss was a member of Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, and Li was influenced in accepting Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, taking part actively in the struggles for Chinese labor rights in France. For his active and fearless revolutionary work, Li was labelled as a trouble-maker. In 1921, Li was expelled back to China with more than 100 other Chinese by the French authorities.
Back in China
When Li came back to ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, he was introduced by Chen Duxiu
Chen Duxiu
Chen Duxiu played many different roles in Chinese history. He was a leading figure in the anti-imperial Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy. Along with Li Dazhao, Chen was a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He was its first General Secretary....
to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The party assigned him to organize the labor activities in Anyuan Coal Mine. Being the most important labor work leader there, Li greatly increased the number of CPC members and perfected methods of organization. By the end of 1924, there were only 900 CCP members throughout China, 300 of whom came from Anyuan Coal Mine. It was at this time that Li showed his great talent in labor work and organization in conjunction with Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary, statesman, and theorist. He was Chairman of the People's Republic of China, China's head of state, from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968, during which he implemented policies of economic reconstruction in China...
, who later became his deputy. Certainly the Nationalists had a high opinion of Li's organisational skills; a secret report prepared during their rural pacification campaign in 1928 explained why they were having particular difficulties in Anyuan:
The reason the Communist Party has such a deeply rooted and firm foundation at Anyuan is because in the past the Communists carried out comprehensive 'red education' at Anyuan. Six or seven years ago the Anyuan
workers were all country bumpkins…Not one of them could stand up at a meeting and say a word, let alone deliver a speech. Still less had any of them ever heard of organizing anything. It was only after the Communist bandit Li Lisan went to Anyuan…that the knowledge of how to organize became widespread. Now workers were speaking up at public meetings and even giving lectures! The Communists at Anyuan greatly valued education but they did not mechanically evangelize Communism like a missionary cramming a religious belief into a worker’s head. At first they focused on literacy and basic knowledge. Every week they convened lectures as well as workers’ debate societies and study groups.
In 1926, Li came to Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
, the labor work center of China to lead the labor work. Although Xiang Zhongfa
Xiang Zhongfa
Xiang Zhongfa was one of the early senior leaders of the Communist Party of China .-Early life:Xiang was born in 1880 to a poor family living in Shanghai. He dropped out of elementary school to move with his parents to their ancestral home in Hubei...
, who later became general secretary of the CCP, was the top leader at that time, Li was the man who actually made the decisions. In 1927, after the split of the alliance of Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
with the CPC, Li was the first one to propose the Nanchang Uprising
Nanchang Uprising
The Nanchang Uprising was the first major Kuomintang-Communist engagement of the Chinese Civil War, in order to counter the anti-communist purges by the Nationalist Party of China....
against the KMT, and took the job as director of the security guards. Though this uprising was proved to be imprudent and planless, and its failure unavoidable, Li was thrust into the central stage of the CCP for his prominence in labor work and his courage under fire.
Reign of Xiang
In the 6th National Congress of CPC held in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Li's old friend Xiang Zhongfa
Xiang Zhongfa
Xiang Zhongfa was one of the early senior leaders of the Communist Party of China .-Early life:Xiang was born in 1880 to a poor family living in Shanghai. He dropped out of elementary school to move with his parents to their ancestral home in Hubei...
was elected as General Secretary with the support from the Comintern and the Soviet Union. During the reign of Xiang, Li Lisan played a gradually more important role. Xiang sacked Cai Hesen
Cai Hesen
Cai Hesen was an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and a friend and comrade-in-arms of Mao Zedong. His courtesy name was Run Huan , and he was also known as He Xian , Zhe Ying , and Lin Bin...
, the incumbent standing member of Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
of the CCP and Minister of Propaganda Department of the CCP for Cai's extremist way in directing the Sunzi Division of CCP, which resulted in extreme democracy and discontent at the CCP center. Xiang chose Li to replace Cai. Li became one of only four standing members of the politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
and minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
of Propaganda Department of the CCP in October 1928.
When the Far East Bureau of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
issued an order for anti-rightism and blamed the CCP for not being active enough in 1929, Xiang protested this decision. He knew Li was an appropriate candidate for doing the communication work because of his eloquence and energy. Thus, Li took the job of handling conflicts with the Comintern. When Xiang sent Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
for further instruction, Li took on Zhou’s work in organization too, which gave Li a large enough stage to prove his talent.
Decline
When Xiang learned of the Comintern’s decision on anti-rightism, he claimed that the Chinese revolution was in its peak period. Li turned this blindness into extremism, which was later known as Li Lisan line, calling for armed uprising in the cities and the extension of the revolution to the whole country.From June 1930, Li Lisan line became mature under the support from Xiang. The CCP gave the daily operation from its headquarters to divisions in all provinces, setting up action committees in all provinces and preparing for the full-scale uprising in October. But the Comintern expressed its discontent, stating that it was working out systemic policies for the Chinese revolution, and the CCP should concentrate on the uprising in one or several provinces instead. Xiang supported Li and stood by his idea that it was the zero hour of the Chinese revolution. In several rounds of discussion, the tension between Xiang, Li and the Comintern rose greatly. Suspicion and criticism of the CCP towards the Comintern was the same as betrayal in the eyes of the Comintern.
In July 1930, the communist army under the leadership of Li Lisan captured Changsha in Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
province, but KMT troops defeated his forces just a few days later. The uprisings in other cities were put down by KMT forces quickly. Furthermore, Li had turned many CCP members into his enemies by his authoritarian style. Some of these were old CCP members such as labor activists He Mengxiong and Luo Zhanglong who were blamed for their rightism only because they were against Li's extremism. Wang Ming
Wang Ming
Wang Ming was a senior leader of the early Chinese Communist Party and the mastermind of the famous 28 Bolsheviks group. Wang was also a major political rival of Mao Zedong during the 1930s, opposing Mao's nationalist deviation from the Comintern and orthodox Marxism and Leninism lines...
and his group of 28 Bolsheviks
28 Bolsheviks
The 28 Bolsheviks were a group of Chinese students who studied at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University from the late 1920s until early 1935, also known as the "Returned Students". The university was founded in 1925 as a result of Kuomintang's founder Sun Yat-Sen's policy of alliance with the Soviet...
came back from Moscow, designated to take the leadership of the CCP by their mentors in Moscow, but they only received a cold shoulder from Li.
Doom
With so many opponents both inside and outside the CCP, Li's doom was sealed. The Comintern sent Qu QiubaiQu Qiubai
Qu Qiubai was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. He was a leader of the Communist Party of China in the late 1920s.-Early life:...
and Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
back to China to enforce its policy. And the 28 Bolsheviks took advantage of this opportunity to denounce Li. Xiang, and Li still did not realize the clear danger he was in and criticized these young immature students severely. Then Comintern sent a telegram to call Li to Moscow for repentance. Pavel Mif
Pavel Mif
Pavel Mif was the pseudonym of Mikhail Alexandrovich Fortus , Russian Bolshevik Party member from May 1917, historian with a Doctor's degree in economics , participant of Russian civil war , a student at Yakov Sverdlov Communist University , did communist party work in Ukraine...
, president of Moscow Sun Yat-sen University
Moscow Sun Yat-sen University
Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, officially the Sun Yat-sen Communist University of the Toilers of China, was a Comintern school, which operated from 1925-1930. It was a training camp for Chinese revolutionaries from both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China .-Origins:In 1923, Dr...
and mentor of the 28 Bolsheviks, went to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
as an envoy of the Comintern also. Under Mif’s direction, the 4th Plenary Meeting of 6th National Congress of the CPC was held. Li was replaced by Mif’s protégé, Wang Ming
Wang Ming
Wang Ming was a senior leader of the early Chinese Communist Party and the mastermind of the famous 28 Bolsheviks group. Wang was also a major political rival of Mao Zedong during the 1930s, opposing Mao's nationalist deviation from the Comintern and orthodox Marxism and Leninism lines...
, and his associates in the 28 Bolsheviks took other important jobs.
Punishment
Li went to Moscow for his confession and repentance. But he did not know it would be such a long time of redemption. In the next 15 years, Li suffered from rounds of reprimand, criticismCriticism
Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another . To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.Another meaning of...
, and purge
Purge
In history, religion, and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged,...
. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union even refused to accept Li as a CCP member for several years. Moreover, when Wang Ming and Kang Sheng
Kang Sheng
Kang Sheng , Communist Party of China official, oversaw the work of the People's Republic of China's security and intelligence apparatus at the height of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. He was a close associate of Mao Zedong and remained at or near the pinnacle of power for decades...
came back to Moscow as representatives of the CCP to the Comintern, they persecuted Li by every means available. The only comfort was that in the Soviet Union Li met and later married Lisa Kishkin, a Soviet typesetter, who would later migrate to China with Li.
Aftermath
But Li's old friend Mao did not forget about him. Li was elected as member of the Central Committee of CCP in the 7th National Congress of the CCP held in Yan'anYan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....
. In 1946, Li was sent back to China. Li first came to Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
to work for the local division of the CCP as Minister of the City Work Department. At the outbreak of Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, Li was appointed as chief representative of the CCP part of the military arbitration panel consisting of members from KMT and the USA.
People's Republic of China
After the establishment of the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1949, Li went back to the field in which he was most expert, being appointed as Minister of Labor to lead the labor union. Li was dedicated to his old cause and brought forth some guidance on democratic management measures in industry, which was later called by Mao as the Constitution of Anshan Steel Mill. At the same time Li Lisan was one of the founders of the CPPCC mechanism. And during the years of Korea War, he was appointed as the secretary general of Anti Air Defence Council ranking as vice-premier, due to his anti-air attack practice during the WWII during his stay at Moscow.
Li remained an advocate of independence for the trade unions, which brought him into conflict with Mao.He was the Vice Chairman of the Whole-China Labour Union until 1958.
Consequences of China-Soviet split
But with the Chinese-Soviet Union split in the 1960s, Li 's life turned tougher and tougher again. Although his wife, Lisa Kishkin (Elizabetha Pavlovna Kishkina; ; ), handed in her Russian passport and took Chinese nationality to show her loyalty to her husband and his country, there still was no way to ease the situation. Especially when the Cultural RevolutionCultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
came, Kang Sheng spared no effort in denouncing his old rival. Li was labeled an agent of the Soviet Union and was tortured both mentally and physically by the Red Guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
. His wife and daughters were also imprisoned.
Supposedly unable to face this humiliation any more, Li was said by his tormentors to have committed suicide by taking sleeping pills after finishing a final letter to Mao. Li's biographer, Patrick Lescot, has cast doubt on the nature of Li's death.
Li Sishen (李思慎), Li Lisan's personal secretary, later wrote he did not believe it possible Li Lisan could have had access to sufficient pills to kill himself. Li Sishen had been responsible for overseeing the issuing of the sleeping pills. He recalled arguing with Li Lisan, who wanted an extra pill each night as the struggle sessions were affecting his sleep. Li Lisan dismissed the notion he might kill himself as ridiculous:
这简直是笑话，几十年风风火火我都过来了，难道还经不起这次考验？你不就怕我自杀吗？自杀是叛党行为，这点我明白，难道我能走上叛党的道路吗？简直是笑话。
That's just a joke! I've made it through all these decades of strife and turmoil and you think I can't get through this? Are you worried I'll kill myself? Suicide would mean betraying the Party, I know that well enough; am I going to turn renegade against the Party? It's simply laughable.In 1980 the central Organisation Department
Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee
The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee is a department of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee that controls staffing positions within the CPC....
finally allowed Li Lisan's family to read his autopsy report; this listed his height incorrectly by 15 cm and contained other errors which added to the family's doubts over the accepted version of Li's death.