Early Communists who died on the execution ground or on the battlefield: Deng Zhongxia

Deng Zhongxia (1894-1933, Yizhang, Hunan), was admitted to Peking University in 1917, and in March 1920, under the guidance of Li Dazhao, initiated the establishment of the Marxist Theory Research Society, and joined the early organization of the Communist Party in Beijing in October. In August 1921, Deng Zhongxia became the director of the Northern Branch of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Union, responsible for leading the northern workers' movement. In April 1925, he went to Guangzhou to serve as secretary general of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and director of the Propaganda Department, organizing and leading the famous provincial and Hong Kong strikes.

After the defeat of the Great Revolution, Deng Zhongxia attended the 87th Party Conference and was elected as an alternate member of the Provisional Politburo of the Central Committee. In 1928, Deng Zhongxia went to Moscow and served as the representative of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions in the Red Workers' International. After returning to China in 1930, he was appointed secretary of the Xiang'e-Exi Special Committee and political commissar of the Red Second Army (later renamed the Red Third Army), leading the revolutionary struggle in the western Xiang'e-E base area. In the autumn of 1932, he went to Shanghai to serve as the director of the National Red Masonic Association and the secretary of the party group, engaged in underground work.

On May 15, 1933, when Deng Zhongxia went to the French Concession in Shanghai to discuss his work with Lin Suqin, director of the Relief Department of the Mutual Relief Association, he was suddenly arrested by the French Concession patrol. Deng Zhongxia insisted that his name was Shi Yi, he was a teacher in Hunan, he had come to Shanghai to visit friends, and he brought a letter to Shi Liang, a lawyer of the Mutual Freemasonry Association, to ask her to come forward to teach.

On May 16 and 23, the Third Branch of the Jiangsu High Court, located in the French Concession, held two trials, and the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau demanded "extradition of Shi Yi." Shi Liang refuted their unreasonable demands. But the court still ruled that Lin Suqin should be handed over to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. After the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau "extradited" Lin Suqin, it was handed over to the Kuomintang secret service. Under the threat and inducement of the enemy, Lin Suqin rebelled and confessed that Shi Yi was Deng Zhongxia. The Kuomintang paid a lot of money to buy off officials from the French Concession, "extradited" Deng Zhongxia to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, and then escorted him to the Nanjing Gendarmerie Headquarters Prison.

While in prison, Deng Zhongxia wrote: "Die for the industrious masses, although death is still alive." Two days before his inauguration, he wrote a final letter to the party: "Comrades, I am about to go to Yuhuatai, you continue to work hard, and the final victory will belong to us in the end!"

At dawn on September 21, 1933, Deng Zhongxia was escorted to the Yuhuatai Execution Ground. Before the execution, a gendarme asked, "Do you have anything to say?" Deng Zhongxia said, "If you think about it, what good is it for you to kill those who are working for the welfare of the workers, peasants, and soldiers?" The superintendent was furious and ordered the shooting to be fired. Deng Zhongxia sprinkled rain flowers with blood and sacrificed the precious life of the 39-year-old.