Zheng Chaolin helped found the Chinese Communist Party’s European branch in Paris in 1922 and its Trotskyist Opposition in Shanghai in 1931. He held the world record in political imprisonment – seven years under Chiang Kai-shek (as a revolutionary) and 27 under Mao (as a ‘counterrevolutionary’), thus beating by a year Auguste Blanqui’s previous record. After joining the revolution in his teens, his commitment never wavered. His life – which spanned from 1901 to 1998 – was coterminous with the century and a dramatic embodiment of its vicissitudes. The writing collected in this book reflects that, and provides an indispensable record of his contribution to revolutionary thought in China.

Gregor Benton is Emeritus Professor in Modern Chinese History at Cardiff University. He has published more than a score of books on China and other subjects. His principal research areas are modern Chinese history, dissent under communism, Chinese Trotskyism, and Chinese diaspora.

John Sexton is a researcher and translator. His publications include Alliance of Adversaries (Brill and Haymarket, 2018–19) and Red Friends: Internationalists in China’s Struggle for Liberation (Verso, 2023).