Xiang and Xu Baihao mobilized workers for strikes against local warlords and set up the labor union of the Hubei province, greatly assisting the KMT army.

Xiang expressed his discontent directly, as compared to the more compromising attitude of then party secretary Chen Duxiu, who did not attach much importance to worker leaders.

The resolute standpoint of Xiang made a great impression on the Comintern, which issued a telegram on July 14, 1927, to denounce the central organs of the CCP, saying there were signs of opportunism in its compromise policy in relation to the KMT, and decreeing that all CCP members should fight against this opportunism.

The basic task of reform "should make leaders of workers and peasants have decisive influence in the CCP",[This quote needs a citation] according to the Comintern.

Even so, the CCC's new leadership of Qu Qiubai and Li Weihan was still dominated by intellectuals, contrary to the Comintern's ideals.

This left the CCP central organization in disarray, and Xiang was elected to be the director of the delegation to the Soviet Union.

At the same time, the interim politburo of the CCP had an extended meeting in Shanghai with the new elected Zhou Enlai and Luo Yinong being intellectuals too, and with Wang Hebo being executed by the KMT early before and Su coming to Moscow as delegate to Comintern, there was no representative of worker in this central organ of CCP, which should be a direct violation of Comintern policy.

In this congress, Xiang attacked both the leftism of Qu Qiubai and the rightism of Zhang Guotao, essentially claiming himself to be the only orthodox representative of Chinese revolution.

The day before the closing session of this congress, Pavel Mif, the minister of the Eastern Department of the Comintern, also known as the president of Moscow Sun Yat-sen University and mentor of 28 Bolsheviks, on behalf of the Comintern brought forward a list of candidates for the Central Committee of the CCP.

When in 1929 the Far East Bureau of the Comintern issued an order regarding anti-rightism, in which it blamed the CCP for not being active enough in this area, Xiang protested against this decision.

But the Comintern expressed its discontent by stating that it was working out systemic policies for Chinese revolution, and that the CCP should concentrate instead on the uprising in one or several provinces instead.

The 28 Bolsheviks sent back by their mentors to take charge of the Chinese revolution took advantage of this opportunity to denounce Li.

Xiang and Li still did not realize the clear and present danger and criticized these young, immature students heavily.

Although this effort failed, He and the other 24 members of this group were arrested and executed by the KMT later, and the CCP's power in Shanghai was thereby greatly weakened.

Xiang was captured in the company of his mistress, Yang Xiuzhen, a cabaret dancer at local Shanghai nightclubs.

In short order, Xiang revealed all he knew about the CCP and its secret services to his KMT captors but was shot before a counterorder signed by Chiang Kai-shek to pardon him ever reached his jailers.

It was said he had been already dead, only his body was still alive at the time of his execution; he used to be an ambitious and active revolutionist, but the power struggle made him desperate.

The Comintern rejected the proposal and chose students such as Wang Ming and Bo Gu, who had studied in the Soviet Union and were members of 28 Bolsheviks.