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Peng (Shu-tse) and Chen Bilan papers
92034  
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  • Access
  • Use
  • Acquisition Information
  • Preferred Citation
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content Note

  • Title: Peng Shu-tse and Chen Bilan papers
    Date (inclusive): 1924-1987
    Collection Number: 92034
    Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
    Language of Material: In English and Chinese
    Physical Description: 5 manuscript boxes (2.0 Linear Feet)
    Abstract: Speeches and writings, correspondence, theses, and resolutions relating to the early communist movement in China, and to Trotskyist activities in China and elsewhere. Includes memoirs, other writings, and correspondence of Chen Bilan, the companion of Peng Shu-tse, relating to the same topics and also to the condition of women in Chinese society.
    Creator: Peng, Shu-tse, 1895-
    Creator: Chen, Bilan, 1902-1987
    Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Access

    The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

    Use

    For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

    Acquisition Information

    Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1992.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Peng Shu-tse and Chen Bilan papers papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

    Biographical Note

    1895 Peng born, Hunan Province, China
    1902 Ch'en born, Hupei Province, China
    1920 Peng joined Chinese Communist Party
    1921-1924 Peng student at University of Toilers of the East, Moscow
    1922 Ch'en joined Chinese Communist Party
    1924-1925 Ch'en student at University of Toilers of the East, Moscow
    1925 Peng and Ch'en established household
    1925-1927 Peng member of national Political Bureau of Chinese Communist Party and editor of Hsiang-tao chou-pao and Hsin ch'ing-nien. Ch'en member of Shanghai Region Political Bureau of Chinese Communist Party and secretary of Shanghai Region Women's Commission
    1929 Peng and Ch'en charter members of Chinese Left Opposition. Expelled from Chinese Communist Party
    1931 Peng and Ch'en charter members of Communist League of China
    1932-1937 Peng imprisoned in Nanking
    1948 Peng and Ch'en moved to Hong Kong. Charter members of Revolutionary Communist Party of China
    1950 Peng and Ch'en moved to Vietnam
    1951 Peng and Ch'en moved to France. Continued as leaders of exiled Chinese section of Fourth International. Peng for many years member of International Executive Committee of Fourth International
    1975 Peng and Ch'en moved to United States
    1983 Peng died
    1987 Ch'en died

    Scope and Content Note

    The papers of the veteran Chinese Trotskyist leader Peng Shu-tse [P'eng Shu-chih] include also those of his lifelong companion Ch'en Pi-lan [Chen Bilan]. They date overwhelmingly from the post-1949 period, during which Peng, Ch'en and other Chinese Trotskyists were in exile. Many of their writings deal, however, with their early political activity, and with their participation in the early years of the Chinese Communist Party and especially in the revolutionary events of 1925-1927. The book-length memoirs of Ch'en Pi-lan are particularly notable. They, and others of her writings, are concerned not only with the Chinese revolutionary movement in general, but also with the Chinese women's movement in particular.
    Material from the post-1949 period is also of value in documenting activities of the Fourth International and of its exiled Chinese section, and of Trotskyist analysis of the Maoist regime in China, the Chinese commune system, and the Chinese Cultural Revolution. More than half of the material in the collection is in English, but a sizable proportion of it is in Chinese.
    The papers were formerly housed in New York City in the Library of Social History, an affiliate of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States. Together with other holdings of the Library of Social History, they were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives from the Anchor Foundation in 1992.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Women -- China
    Communism -- China
    Fourth International