The Longest Night is a sequel to Prophets Unarmed (Brill 2014), a sourcebook on early Chinese Trotskyism. The present volume continues the story of Chinese Trotskyism beyond 1949, the year of Mao Zedong's victory at national level and of the Trotskyists' imminent destruction. Its title is drawn from a poem by the Chinese Trotskyist leader Zheng Chaolin conceived in prison in 1952.
Gregor Benton is emeritus professor of Chinese history at Cardiff University. His many books include Mountain Fires: The Red Army's Three-Year War in South China (1992), honoured by the University of California Press as a special book in Asian Studies and by the Association of Asian Studies as Best Book on Modern China. His most recent book is Chinese Indentured Labour in the Dutch East Indies (Palgrave 2023).
Yang Yang is a visiting researcher at the University of York. In 2018, he completed his PhD at the University of Essex. His thesis explores the Trotskyist movement in China and Hong Kong. He cooperated in the project to translate Zheng Chaolin, Selected Writings, 1942-1998 (Brill 2023) into English.
