Zhou en-Lai and the Awakening Society

Zhou En-Lai was offered the chairmanship of the Awakening Society, but like he usually did, he passed on the top spot and preferred to work behind the scenes. Zhou formed a kind of federation that helped to promote the more efficient exchanging of ideas and information about reform amongst students across China. The capitalist class wanted to see anything except all this talk of better conditions for the oppressed classes. A lot of these student leaders wound up in prison.