Ma Zhemin

Ma Zhemin (Chinese: 马哲民; 1899 – 1980), also known as Nianyi and Zhixu, courtesy name Jun and art name Tiejian, was a Chinese educator, political activist, and member of the Chinese Communist Party. A native of Huanggang in Hubei, he was known for his involvement in early Marxist movements in China and later served as dean of the law school at Wuhan University and president of Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics.^[1]

Ma Zhemin was born in 1899 in Songhualin, Huanggang, Hubei. He graduated from the Wuchang Foreign Languages School in 1914 and from Fuzhou Higher Industrial School in 1917. He subsequently studied in Japan at Waseda University, majoring in political economy. After returning to China in 1919, he participated in the May Fourth Movement in Shanghai and joined a Marxist study group led by Li Hanjun. Beginning in 1920, he became active in journalism, frequently publishing articles in the Hansheng Daily in Wuhan to promote Marxist ideas. Together with Xia Zhixu, he edited a women’s supplement advocating that socialism was essential for women’s emancipation.^[2]

In 1921, Ma joined the Socialist Youth League of China and adopted the name Nianyi, reflecting his commitment to communism. After the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, he co-founded the journal Zhongwai Tongxun with Chen Tanqiu to disseminate Marxist thought.^[3] In 1922, as a representative of the press, he attended the Far Eastern Congress organized by the Communist International in the Soviet Union. Following the conference, he formally joined the Chinese Communist Party and enrolled at the Sun Yat-sen University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow. In early 1923, he went to Germany to conduct research in sociology at the University of Berlin.^[4]

Ma returned to China in 1926 and participated in the Northern Expedition, serving in the political department of the National Revolutionary Army and working as an editor for the Wuhan Daily. He also contributed to the Hankou Minbao, founded by Dong Biwu and Wan Xiyan. After the failure of the revolution in 1927, he left the Communist Party and turned to educational work.^[5]

Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, Ma returned to Wuhan from Beiping and engaged in anti-Japanese propaganda. He co-founded the weekly National Front (also known as Democratic Resistance) with Deng Chumin and published influential essays advocating mass mobilization for total resistance.^[6] He also helped organize the Hubei Rural Work Promotion Association and edited the periodical Rural Areas in Wartime, promoting rural participation in the war effort.^[7] During this period, he collaborated with intellectuals such as Huang Songling, and together with Deng Chumin and Huang, became known as part of the influential “Deng–Ma–Huang” group for their widely read and sharply argued writings.^[8]

In 1942, Ma joined the China Democratic League and became a member of its Central Standing Committee. In 1946, he served in Chongqing as the first editor-in-chief of the League’s central newspaper Minzhu Bao.^[9] He later returned to Chengdu to edit Minzhong Daily and participated in publishing activities. In 1948, he went back to Wuhan to teach.^[10]

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Ma held academic leadership positions, serving as dean of the law school at Wuhan University and later as president of Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics.^[11] During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957, he was wrongly persecuted. His case was redressed in 1980, the year of his death.^[12]