The Gutian Meeting

In late December 1929, the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Army of Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was held in Gutian, Shanghang County, Fujian Province. This was known as the Gutian Meeting.

At the meeting, Mao Zedong delivered a political report, Zhu De delivered a military report, and Chen Yi conveyed the message of the September letter from the Central Committee. The congress summarized the Party's experience accumulated in its attempts to correct various errors since the Red Army was established. It unified thinking inside the army and advocated that the Party and the army must be built on proletarian ideas.

The congress adopted a resolution drafted under Mao's direction, which identified various non-proletarian ideas circulating in the Party organization in the Fourth Red Army, their sources, and the methods of correcting them. The resolution emphasized the importance of reinforcing ideological education in the Party. It observed that "the Chinese Red Army is an armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution," and that the Party's absolute leadership over the army determined the army's nature, which was a fundamental principle. The document made it clear that in addition to fighting to destroy the enemy's military strength, the Red Army should take on such important tasks as organizing public communications, organizing the people, arming them, helping them establish revolutionary political power and setting up Party organizations. The resolution also defined the correct relationships between officers and soldiers and between soldiers and civilians, and detailed the correct policies toward the enemy.

The congress decided to abolish the Fourth Red Army's Military Committee, and elected 11 formal members to the Front Committee, including Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Lin Biao (1907-1971) and Tan Zhenlin (1902-1983), with Mao as secretary.

The Gutian Meeting was of special importance in the CPC's history. Gutian was a secluded hamlet in the mountains, but the meeting held there had far-reaching influence. It was not a high-level meeting convened by the CPC Central Committee, but a small one to solve specific problems, and its influence was Party-wide. It heralded the CPC's effort to explore a path of ideological education and building an army with political principles, and from the Gutian meeting on, the new people's army began to develop and expand.

古田會議

1929年12月下旬，中國工農紅軍第四軍第九次黨的代表大會在福建省上杭縣古田鎮召開，史稱古田會議。會上，毛澤東作政治報告，朱德作軍事報告，陳毅傳達了中央九月指示信的精神。會議認真總結了紅軍創建以來中國共產黨在同各種錯誤思想、錯誤傾向作斗爭的過程中積累起來的豐富經驗，統一了思想認識，提出了要用無產階級思想進行軍隊和黨的建設。

這次會議通過了毛澤東主持起草的《中國共產黨紅軍第四軍第九次代表大會決議案》（簡稱《古田會議決議》）。決議指出了紅四軍黨內各種非無產階級思想的表現、來源及糾正方法；著重強調加強黨的思想建設的重要性，同時強調加強黨的組織建設；闡明紅軍是一個“執行革命的政治任務的武裝集團”，黨對軍隊的絕對領導決定著軍隊的性質和面貌，這是紅軍建設的根本原則；規定紅軍除了要進行打仗消滅敵人的軍事活動之外，還要擔負起宣傳群眾、組織群眾、武裝群眾、幫助群眾建立革命政權以至于建立共產黨的組織等項重大任務。決議還闡明了必須在軍內外建立起正確的官兵、兵民關系，闡明了對待敵軍應該采取的正確政策。會議決定取消紅四軍軍委，選舉毛澤東、朱德、陳毅、林彪、譚震林等11人為紅四軍前敵委員會正式委員，毛澤東任書記。

在中國共產黨的百年歷史上，古田會議具有罕見的奇特性。古田當時是一個偏僻的閩西小山鄉，在此召開的一個會議卻影響廣泛；古田會議并非中共中央召開的高規格會議，只是為解決具體問題而召開的小規模會議，但其影響卻是全黨性的；古田會議探索出思想建黨、政治建軍的光輝道路，新型人民軍隊由此走上了發展壯大的歷史征程。