him. It was said he had been already dead, only his body was still alive at the time of his execution; he used to be an ambitious and active revolutionist, but the power struggle made him desperate. During the early years of the CCP, Xiang was not alone as a representative of the proletariat. In the 6th National Congress, the Central Committee elected 22 members from workers, 14 of which defected to the KMT later. It was no surprise that after Xiang's arrest and execution, another member of politburo, Lu Futan (Chinese: 卢福坦) who also came from the working class, expressed his wish to succeed Xiang as General Secretary. The Comintern rejected the proposal and chose students such as Wang Ming and Bo Gu, who had studied in the Soviet Union and were members of 28 Bolsheviks. They were seen as more trustworthy to take the leadership of the CCP, although they had no experience compared to the worker activists. References The Documents of Central Committee of CCP Xiang’s letter to Bukharin Gao Jun.Some issues on the defection of Xiang The Selected Works of Zhou Enlai 1879 births 1931 deaths Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanghai Delegates to the 5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party General Secretaries and Chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Republic of China politicians from Shanghai