Chapter 48 The Central Committee Designated Mao Zedong as the Former Party Secretary

On June 4, 1928, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai wrote a long letter to Zhu De and Mao Zedong in Jinggangshan.This is the reply made by the Central Committee after receiving Mao Zedong’s report sent to the Central Committee in Yongxin on May 2. It is an instruction letter on the current situation and future tasks and work. The letter was on the road for five months, and it was not delivered to Jinggangshan until November 2. Although it was a late letter, Mao Zedong and his comrades, who had not received instructions from the Central Committee for a long time, still cherished it very much and took it seriously.In Mao Zedong’s later report to the Central Committee, he described it as follows: “The Central Committee sent a letter on June 4, passed through the Ji’an County Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee, and arrived at Jinggangshan on November 2. This letter is very good and has corrected us a lot. It was a mistake, and it solved many controversial issues here. As soon as this letter arrived, it was sent to the military and local Party headquarters at all levels. On November 6, the troops dispatched to Suichuan were concentrated in Jinggangshan. Central and local activists, a total of more than 30 people (Zhu De, Chen Yi, He Tingying, He Changgong, Yuan Wencai, Wang Zuo, Tan Zhenlin, Deng Qianyuan, Li Quefei, Chen Zhengren, Wang Zuonong, Xiao Wanxia, ​​Liu Huixiao, Xie Guibiao, Liu Di, Xiong Shou Qi, Yang Kaiming, Cao Rong, Deng Yunting, Mao Zedong, Song Qiaosheng, Peng Hu, etc. all attended, and Yuan Desheng, a representative of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, also participated), and the special committee convened a meeting to discuss the letter from the Central Committee.”

The letter from the Central Committee introduced and analyzed the domestic revolutionary situation in a large space, and clearly pointed out that "the Chinese revolution is still the nature of the bourgeois civil rights revolution", "however, its development trend is to grow and go in the direction of socialism", so , "At this time only the proletariat will lead the peasants to directly complete this revolutionary mission"; "At this stage, our policy is: confiscate land, overthrow the landlord system and feudal relations, and establish a Soviet regime of dictatorship of workers and peasants" .

Regarding the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area, the Central Committee fully affirmed its important position in a letter: "The areas you occupy are Yongxin, Ninggang, and Suichuan in Jiangxi, but your position is still at the center of the riot arrangement in the three provinces. Therefore, you are in the three provinces. The responsibility for the future of the riot is very heavy." To this end, the central government put forward 8 instructions on the tasks and work of the Jinggangshan base area. Regarding the task, it is very clear: "Use your military strength to mobilize the broad masses of workers and peasants on the Hunan-Jiangxi or Jiangxi-Guangdong border, carry out the agrarian revolution, cause the situation of separatist regimes to develop in all directions, and promote the development of the riots in the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guangdong."

Regarding the method, it is unequivocal: "It is to completely confiscate the land of the landlord class and redistribute it by the township Soviet." Regarding the army, it needs to be reformed: "You can officially change to the Red Army", "You must reform your army in accordance with the recent military work resolution of the Central Committee, so that the mercenary army becomes a volunteer army", "In politics, set up a political department to eliminate party representatives , carry out the political training of soldiers". There are other specific policies, measures and requirements.

The letter from the Central Committee is not only a spiritual encouragement for the people who persist in the struggle in the Jinggangshan base area, but also more importantly, it makes everyone understand the nature and tasks of the Chinese revolution, and clearly understands the position and role of their own struggle in the national revolution. It clarified the future tasks and a series of principles and policies to strengthen the border struggle, which played a vital guiding role in the later consolidation and development of the Jinggangshan base area. In the letter from the Central Committee, the issue of organizing the former enemy's guidance organization was also raised: "The Central Committee believes that it is necessary to organize the former enemy committee, and the list of the former enemy committee is designated as follows: Mao Zedong, Zhu De, a worker comrade, a peasant comrade, and the party headquarters where the former committee is located. Secretary and other 5 people organized, with Mao Zedong as the secretary. Under the former committee, organize a military committee (at the same time, the military committee of the Supreme Soviet), with Zhu De as the secretary. In addition, it is necessary to organize a labor movement committee, one of the former committee, workers comrades For the secretary."

According to this instruction of the Central Committee, Mao Zedong once again served as the former Secretary of the Party Committee.However, the front committee at this time was no longer the one that led the Autumn Harvest Uprising organized by the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, but the reorganized Front Committee of the Fourth Red Army. On November 6, the former enemy committee was reorganized on the border, "according to the designation of the Central Committee, it was composed of Mao Zedong, Zhu De, the local party secretary (Tan Zhenlin), a worker comrade (Song Qiaosheng), and a farmer comrade (Mao Kewen). Mao Zedong as secretary".

As for the scope of jurisdiction of the Front Committee, the Central Committee’s letter stated: “Of course it has to be determined by the environment, and it may include Yongxin, Ninggang, Suichuan, Wan’an, Chaling, Youxian, and Lingxian for the time being. Under the command of the former committee. For example, when the former committee is in Jiangxi, it is under the guidance of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee, and when it is in Hunan, it is under the guidance of the Hunan Provincial Committee, and it has a close relationship with the two provincial committees at the same time." The front committee of the Fourth Red Army was under the leadership of Jiangxi and Hunan provincial committees at the same time. This was also a special measure taken due to the special circumstances at that time and the special geographical location of the Jinggangshan base.

The establishment of the Front Committee enabled the Jinggangshan base area to have a unified party leadership organization, and because the Front Committee governed the Hunan-Jiangxi Border Special Committee and the Fourth Red Army Military Committee, it strengthened the centralized leadership of the border Party and the army and coordinated the work of the army and the local area. , also played an important role. Not long after the establishment of the Front Committee of the Fourth Red Army, the Sixth Congress of the Fourth Red Army Party was held in Ninggang New City from November 13th to 15th.

The Fifth Red Army Party Congress was held in Maoping, Ninggang in May. After that, there were frequent battles, and there was no rest for half a year. After defeating the Jiangxi enemy Zhou Hunyuan Regiment in Ninggang New City and Yongxin Longyuankou on November 9, the battle in the base area was a bit peaceful.Therefore, in order to rectify the party in the army and deal with various important issues such as politics, military affairs, and party affairs, it was necessary to hold the sixth congress of the party. According to the "Resolution of the Sixth Party Congress of the Fourth Army of the Red Army" edited on November 16, 1928: "The Sixth Congress will hold a preparatory meeting on November 13, a formal meeting on November 14, and close on November 15. Represented 79 people. Except for the 32nd Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the Fourth Army, which were too late to send representatives from Yongxin, all the branches had representatives to participate. Each representative brought more than 30 proposals. A total of 17 kinds were combined. Various important issues of politics, military affairs, and party affairs were discussed in the conference, and there were especially long-term debates on the nature of the Chinese revolution. There is an urgent need to return to the Ministry for work, and it is not possible to discuss one by one, but it is decided to hand over to the New Military Commission for discussion and implementation. The election of the New Military Commission was initially made by the presidium of the General Assembly with a list of 49 candidates. The meeting closed on the 15th. All decisions at this meeting have a great bearing on the future of the Red Army and the development of the border.”

The "Sixth National Congress" of the Fourth Red Army Party passed five resolutions, including "Resolution on Political Issues", "Resolution on Party Affairs", "Resolution on Military Issues", "Resolution on Economic Issues", and "Resolution on Disciplinary Issues". important documents. From the above documents, we can see the effectiveness of the conference. The "Nature of the Chinese Revolution", which was debated for a long time at the General Assembly, was stated in the "Resolution on Political Issues": "According to the international resolution on the issue of the Chinese Revolution in February, it is determined that the Chinese Revolution is still a bourgeois civil rights revolution. stage. The leader of this revolution is the proletariat, and its content is to overthrow the imperialist rule externally, complete national liberation, internally overthrow the warlords to complete the agrarian revolution, eliminate feudal exploitation relations, and enable the oppressed masses of China to obtain civil rights and freedom... We start from the past During the struggle against the Communist Party of China, it proved the truth of international opinions. Since the Guangzhou riots, the burning and massacres in various places have fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the Chinese revolution... Our future actions are to lead the masses of workers, peasants, soldiers and the petty bourgeoisie, expand the revolutionary movement for civil rights, and go deep into the land Revolution, the overthrow of the most reactionary situation of the present."

This understanding of the nature of the Chinese revolution is basically in line with the spirit of the relevant resolutions of the Communist International and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.What is especially commendable is that the party members and comrades of the Fourth Red Army dared to connect with the actual struggle and understand the mistake of burning and killing from the perspective of misunderstanding the nature of the Chinese revolution.It should be said that this is a big gain. The "Resolution on Party Affairs" has made clear regulations on Party building in the Red Army. For example, the Party headquarters at all levels of the Red Army must "do their best to restore the state of secrecy"; To develop party members in battle"; "Effectively ensure that the company branch committee is the core of the Red Army, and the number of branch committees is set at 5 to 7 people"; "The company branch committee is the core of the Red Army's party work, and the party representative is responsible for the core of this work ". It is worth mentioning that in this resolution, it is clearly stated that "in fact, the current party representative system should not be abolished." The lack of spirit is probably a decision made by the Fourth Red Army based on its own actual situation, which shows the pragmatic attitude of the "Sixth National Congress" of the Fourth Red Army in understanding and implementing the instructions of the superiors. Mao Zedong also supported the above opinions in his report to the Central Committee. He said: "The party representative system has been proved by experience to be irreversible. Especially at the company level, because the party branch is built on the company, the party representative is more important." Representatives who participated in the "Sixth National Congress" of the Fourth Red Army Party put forward more than 30 proposals, which were summarized into 17 proposals.Mainly include: improving the stretcher team; establishing military and political schools; rectifying military discipline and party discipline;Although these proposals were not discussed at the meeting, the new Military Commission was authorized to discuss and implement them, but judging from the names of these proposals, we can see how strong the representatives' awareness of democracy and participation is! The "Sixth National Congress" of the Fourth Red Army Party elected a new Military Commission.In his report to the Central Committee on November 25, Mao Zedong reported that the Sixth Party Congress of the Red Army "elected 23 members to organize the Military Commission, five members as the Standing Committee, and Zhu De as the Secretary." The "Sixth National Congress" of the Fourth Red Army Party is of great significance to the construction of the Fourth Red Army Party and the consolidation and development of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base.