Peng Zhen

Peng Zhen was born on October 12, 1902, in Dieshang Village, Houma Town, Quwo County, Shanxi Province, into a poor family. In 1922, he was admitted to the First Provincial Middle School of Shanxi, where he joined the Youth Society and embraced Marxist ideas. During the period of the Great Revolution, he served as a member of and secretary for the Taiyuan branch of the Chinese Communist Party, and also as secretary of the Taiyuan Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League. Subsequently, he organized and led workers' movements and student movements in Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, Tangshan, and other places, actively promoting the assembly of the working class and youth力量。

In 1923, he founded an adult night school mainly for workers, participated in the struggle against Cao Kun's electoral bribery, and established the Taiyuan Democratic Rights Movement Alliance. In 1924, Peng Zhen assisted in founding the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Kuomintang, promoted the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, opposed the Kuomintang rightists' exclusion of Communist Party members, and led the establishment of the Taiyuan and Shanxi Provincial National Congress Facilitating Committees. In 1925, he guided the formation of the Shanxi Workers' Federation and the Taiyuan General Trade Union, and organized struggles against Yan Xishan's taxation of house appraisal fees. Following the May Thirtieth Movement, he mobilized various sectors in Shanxi to support Shanghai workers and students in the anti-imperialist struggles.

In 1926, as a representative of the Zheng-Tai Railway General Trade Union, he attended the National Railway Workers' Congress and led local cloth factory workers' struggles. After the failure of the Great Revolution, he served as acting secretary and secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and concurrently as a member of the Standing Committee and Minister of Organization of the Shuntian Provincial Committee, becoming an important leader of Party affairs in northern China. In 1929, due to betrayal by a traitor, Peng Zhen was arrested in Tianjin, subjected to severe torture, yet remained steadfast and unyielding, organizing study sessions and struggles while in prison.

After his release in 1935, he organized and led the Tianjin Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement. In 1936, he served as a representative of the North China Bureau of the CCP, Minister of Organization, and led the Chinese National Liberation Vanguard. During the Anti-Japanese War, he served as secretary in the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, promoting the construction and development of the anti-Japanese base areas, and proposed the idea of "Marxism Sinicization." In 1941, he reported on border region policies to the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and received high praise from Mao Zedong.

After the war, Peng Zhen remained in Yan'an, participated in the Yan'an Rectification Movement, and was elected as a member of the Presidium of the Seventh Party Congress in 1945. In 1948, he served as secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Beiping (later Beijing). After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he held successive positions including Mayor of Beijing, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, contributing to the political system construction and legal development of China. In 1979, he was elected as a Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and subsequently held various central leadership roles, ultimately serving as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. On April 26, 1997, Peng Zhen passed away in Beijing due to illness at the age of 95.

Peng Zhen received numerous honors both domestically and internationally, including the First-Class Flag Medal of North Korea, the Royal Order of Sârvatdara of Cambodia, and the Grand Cross Honorary Medal of the Peruvian Congress. His works include "On the Construction of Socialist Democracy and Legal System in the New Period," "Standing at the Forefront of Revolution and Construction," and "On the Political and Legal Work of New China." Starting from 1991, his deeds were compiled and published, including "Selected Works of Peng Zhen" and related albums, becoming valuable spiritual wealth of the Communist Party of China. Throughout his life, Peng Zhen upheld Marxism, remained loyal to the Party and the people, valued Party discipline and the mass line, and laid a solid foundation for socialist legal development in China. His contributions hold an important position in the histories of Party development and legal construction.