Li Fu-jen

In Memoriam

Chen Chi-chang

(16 February 1946)


From The Militant, Vol. X No. 7, 16 February 1946, p. 3..
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.


With the arrival of the first word from our Chinese comrades in more than four years, comes the tragic news of the death of Comrade Chen Chi-chang, veteran revolutionist and a leading member of the Chinese Trotskyist organization from its inception.

I came to know Comrade Chen well during the many years I spent in China. He was the authentic type of professional revolutionist who devoted his entire life, all his energies, to the emancipating struggle for socialism. Perpetual, grinding poverty and the need to provide for a wife and five young children – did not deter him. He gave part of his time to translation work from English to Chinese in order to gain a bare livelihood and the rest of his time was given to the movement. I never knew him to complain of his personal difficulties.
 

Revolutionary Fighter

Like his comrades, Chen lived the life of an underground revolutionary fighter, always in the shadow of capture by the bloodhounds of Chiang Kai-shek’s police. He developed special skill in the multifarious activities of an illegal political organization.

It was largely due to his ingenuity and never-flagging vigilance that the underground Trotskyist printing press was maintained without interruption during the years before Pearl Harbor to bring out the party organ Doh Tseng (Struggle) and other publications. This press was operated under the very noses of the Kuomintang and British imperialist police.

Often it became necessary to move the printing apparatus with great speed from one hiding place to another. It was Comrade Chen Chi-chang who made arrangements and saw that they were carried through. He not only guarded the printing apparatus but also wrote for the party press. At intervals he engaged in transporting Trotskyist literature from the center to branch organizations in Hongkong and elsewhere – one of the most hazardous undertakings.
 

A Grievous Loss

Comrade Chen managed by great vigilance and caution to evade the ever-spread dragnet laid for the Trotskyists by the Kuomintang and imperialist police. As a member of the Central Committee he was especially sought after by the authorities. Only now do we learn of his death at the hands of the vicious gendarmes of Japanese imperialism.

The Trotskyist movement has suffered a grievous loss in the death of Comrade Chen. His name is added to the roll of honor of Trotskyist martyrs. We salute his memory!


Last updated on 19 September 2018