After pursuing his studies in France in 1919–20, he returned to China for the first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai in 1921.

He studied at the Hunan Self-Study University founded by Mao Zedong.

[1] Li became a member of the 6th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in 1927 but fell out of favour shortly afterwards in the wake of the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising in junction of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.

He was also a significant player in the CCP's drive to introduce state control of the economy (Soviet-type economic planning), and in the late-1950s Anti-Rightist Campaign, in which his own brother was purged.

He was removed from his post in 1964 and was subsequently criticised by Zhou Enlai for "capitulationism in united front work".