Peng Shuzhi (also spelled Peng Shu-tse; ;[1] 1896–1983) was an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party who was expelled from the party for being a Trotskyist. After the Communist victory in China, he lived in exile in Vietnam, France and the United States. His memoir was published in France by his daughter Cheng Yingxiang and son-in-law Claude Cadart.
Peng was born in Longhui County, Baoqing Prefecture, Hunan province in 1896. He joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League in 1920, and later was sent to study in Moscow.[2] After returning to China in September 1924, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, directed the propaganda work of the Party and edited its central journal during the revolution of 1925–1927. During this time he began living with Chen Bilan (Chinese: 陳碧蘭), whom he later married. He was expelled from the party in November 1929, together with Chen Duxiu, for supporting Trotskyism.
In 1949, on the eve of Communist victory in China, Peng fled Shanghai with his family to Hong Kong and then to Saigon, Vietnam in January 1950. After fellow Trotskyist Liu Jialiang (Chinese: 刘家良) was arrested and killed by Vietnamese agents, in June 1951 Peng fled again to Paris, then the headquarters of the Trotskyist Fourth International.[3] In Paris, his daughter Cheng Yingxiang (Chinese: 程映湘) married the French sinologist Claude Cadart. They later organized, translated and published Peng's memoirs entitled L’envol du communisme en Chine. Peng and his wife moved to the United States in 1972. He died in Los Angeles on the 28th of November, 1983, at 88 years old.