Li Lisan - Reign of Xiang

Reign of Xiang

In the 6th National Congress of CPC held in Moscow, 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.