Hao Guisheng: The Communist Manifesto and the Gutian Conference

December 26 this year marks the 130th anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth, December 28 marks the 94th anniversary of the famous Gutian Conference, and is also the ninth anniversary of the New Gutian Conference presided over by Comrade Xi Jinping. Four years ago, the author wrote a long article entitled "Using the 'Communist Manifesto' to Interpret the Spirit of the Gutian Conference and Its Practical Significance", which is republished today, and the title is simplified to "The Communist Manifesto and the 'Gutian Conference'".

Use the "Communist Manifesto" to interpret the spirit of the Gutian Conference and its practical significance

-- Commemorating the 126th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth and the 90th anniversary of the Gutian Conference

Hao Guisheng

This year marks the 126th anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth, the 90th anniversary of the Gutian Conference (December 28), the most important in the history of the Party and the military, presided over by Chairman Mao, and the fifth anniversary of the New Gutian Conference presided over by Comrade Xi Jinping. Director Chen Li of Bayi Film Studio directed the main theme movie "Gutian Army", which has been widely praised by the people since its performance this year. While watching this movie, people must have been deeply interested in the spirit of the Gutian Conference and its practical significance. The author watched this film twice this year, and once again Xi studied and studied the "Resolution of the Gutian Conference" drafted by Chairman Mao (see Mao Zedong's Collected Works, vol. 1, pp. 78-117 for the full text). The first part, "On Correcting Erroneous Ideas in the Party," is available in Selected Works of Mao Zedong, vol. 1, pp. 85-96. and other relevant documents, including Comrade Zhu De's article "How to Create an Iron Red Army" (July 1931, Zhu De's Selected Works, pp. 1-6), have some new understanding of the spirit of the Gutian Conference. The following is a compilation of the Xi research experience to commemorate the 126th anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth and the 90th anniversary of the Gutian Conference.

At present, most of the general party history textbooks and general dictionaries interpret the spirit of the Gutian Conference and boil it down to three points: First, ideological party building, that is, using the basic viewpoints and basic positions of Marxism to educate the proletariat, overcome the erroneous thinking of non-proletarians, and ensure the implementation of the party's correct line and principles. The second is to build the army politically, create a new type of people's army, uphold the party's absolute leadership over the army, and criticize the purely military viewpoint. Third, we should adhere to the ideological line of seeking truth from facts and proceeding from reality in everything. There is no doubt that this is true. However, the author believes that it is still superficial to stop at the above explanation. We should study in greater depth what the spiritual essence of the Gutian Conference really is, why it was possible to expound the above-mentioned ideas, what is its ideological and theoretical source, and what is its theoretical and practical significance? The author has Xi the conclusion of the study: The "Communist Manifesto" is the real theoretical source of the spirit of the Gutian Conference. Without the Communist Manifesto, it is impossible to correctly interpret the essence and core of the spirit of the Gutian Conference, nor to correctly reveal and excavate the theoretical and practical significance of the spirit of the Gutian Conference.

1. Why should the Communist Manifesto be used to interpret the spirit of the Gutian Conference?

First, when the Communist Party of China is named the "Communist Party," it must take the "Communist Manifesto" as its theoretical source and guide

The Communist Party of China was born on July 1, 1921, and the reason why it is named "Communist Party of China" is taken from the three characters "Communist Party" in the title of the "Communist Manifesto" co-written by Marx and Engels in 1848. Any political party must have its own beliefs and theoretical weapons. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has named itself a "communist" organization, but in fact it has taken the realization of communism that abolish classes and exploitation and oppression as its highest ideal, belief, and goal, and at the same time has taken the basic ideas and theories of the "Communist Manifesto" as its guiding ideology and theoretical weapon. As stated in the Manifesto: "The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: to form the proletariat into a class, to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie and to seize power by the proletariat." "The theoretical principles of the Communists are by no means based on the ideas and principles invented or discovered by the reformers of this or that world. These principles are but general expressions of the real relations of the existing class struggle, of the historical movement before our eyes. "Communists can sum up their theory in one sentence: the abolition of private property. (Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 1, People's Publishing House, 1995, pp. 285, 286.) Therefore, it is necessary to use the basic principles, basic positions, viewpoints, and methods of the Communist Party of China to interpret the history of the Communist Party of China, including the spirit and essence of the Gutian Conference, which is such an important meeting in the history of the Party and the military.

Second, Mao Zedong's acceptance of Marxism-Leninism began with the Communist Manifesto

Mao Zedong was influenced by Comrade Li Dazhao during his time at Peking University in 1919 and began to contact and study Marxism Xi, especially the "Communist Manifesto" had an important and even decisive impact on him. Mao Zedong himself said: "During my second visit to Beijing, I read a lot about what was happening in Russia. I eagerly searched for the few Chinese translations of communist literature I could find at the time. There are three books that have been deeply imprinted in my heart and have helped me establish my belief in Marxism. I accepted Marxism as a correct interpretation of history, and I have never wavered since then. These three books were: Chen Wangdao's translation of The Communist Manifesto, the first Marxist book published in Chinese, Kautsky's Class Struggle, and Kirkapp's History of Socialism, and by the summer of 1920 I had become a Marxist in theory and to some extent in action, and I considered myself a Marxist ever since. He also said that the first time he read the Manifesto, he grasped the main thread in the book, "I only took four words from it: class struggle" (Mao Zedong's Collected Works, Vol. 2, People's Publishing House, 1993, p. 378). But the "Manifesto" is all about the class struggle in Europe, without the class struggle in China, "there is no Hunan and Hubei in China, and there is no Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Duxiu in China." (Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 2, People's Publishing House, 1993, p. 378.) He wants to study the reality of the class struggle in China. In fact, he accepted Marxism, especially the Marxist theory and method of class struggle, through the "Manifesto," and he wanted to consciously use the basic ideas of the "Manifesto" to analyze and study China's actual class struggle and guide China's revolutionary practice. The Gutian Conference was mainly proposed and presided over by Mao Zedong, and the "Resolution" of the conference was also drafted by Mao Zedong. Therefore, this "Resolution" inevitably embodies the remarkable feature of Mao Zedong's application of the Marxist-Leninist standpoint, viewpoint, and method, especially the basic ideas of the "Manifesto" to analyze and understand the practical problems of the Chinese revolution.

Third, the spirit of the Gutian Conference was an inevitable product of Mao Zedong's conscious application of the ideas of the "Manifesto" to study and guide the practice of the Chinese revolution

Mao Zedong said in his article "Rectifying the Party's Work Style" in 1942: "For Marxist theory, you must be able to master it and apply it, and the purpose of mastery is all about application. The more things you illustrate, the more general, and the more profound they are, the more you will achieve. (Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, People's Publishing House, 1991, p. 815.) On the one hand, Mao Zedong logically deduced that theory must return to practice, serve practice, and scientifically explain, explain, and transform the world based on the principle of the dialectical relationship between theory and practice. On the other hand, it is also a summary of Mao Zedong's deep feelings and experience in participating in and leading China's revolutionary practice activities for more than 20 years. After the May Fourth Movement, he personally devoted himself to the practice of the Chinese revolution and began to consciously apply Marxism, especially the basic principles of the Communist Manifesto, to study China's practical problems. For example, the "Analysis of Various Classes in Chinese Society" written in 1925 and the "Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan" written in 1927 are typical examples of using the methods of contradiction analysis and class analysis in the "Manifesto" to understand the phenomenon of class struggle in China, and to understand the main force, the strength and the revolutionary object of the Chinese revolution. For example, when he talked about the essence of the revolution, he said: "The revolution is not a dinner party, it is not a fuss, it is not a painting and embroidery, it cannot be so elegant, so calm, so polite, so gentle, courteous and frugal." A revolution is an insurrection, a violent act by which one class overthrows another. The rural revolution was a revolution in which the peasant class overthrew the power of the feudal landlord class. The peasants could never overthrow the power of the landlords, which had been entrenched for thousands of years, without the use of great force. (Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 1, People's Publishing House, 1991, p. 17.) Aren't Mao Zedong's idea of "political power coming out of the barrel of a gun" put forward and expounded at the party's "August 7" meeting in 1927 exactly the expression of the sinicized language of the proletarian revolutionary and violent revolutionary ideology in the "Manifesto"? The "Manifesto" stresses that the practice of the proletarian revolution must have the leadership of the proletarian party. After Mao Zedong led the Autumn Harvest Uprising, practice made him realize that without strengthening the party's concrete and absolute leadership over the army, the revolution would go in the wrong direction and even fail. Therefore, when the rebel army failed to attack Changsha, the thinking of the team was extremely confused, and the number of troops was rapidly reduced, he resolutely carried out the Sanwan Change, built the party branch on the company, established the soldiers' committee and other measures. In the Preface to the German edition of the Manifesto co-written by Marx and Engels in 1872, it was stated that the practical application of the basic principles of the Manifesto "must be shifted at all times and at all times by the historical conditions of the time." It was on the basis of these basic principles that Mao Zedong studied the special historical conditions of the Chinese revolution and emphasized that the Chinese revolution could not simply copy and copy the experience of the Soviet revolution. He unswervingly led the rebel army, which had only more than 1,000 people left, to Jinggangshan, and worked hard to forge a new revolutionary road of encircling the city from the countryside. In October and November 1928, he wrote the articles "Why Can China's Red Regime Exist?" and "The Struggle in Jinggangshan," which he wrote in accordance with the ideas of the "Declaration" and summed up the lessons and lessons of the success and failure of the armed struggle in the past year or so after he went to Jinggangshan. It contains some specific contents of the spirit of the Gutian Conference. For example, it is necessary to strengthen the political training of Red Army soldiers, enhance their class consciousness, clarify who fights, strengthen the system of party representatives and soldiers' committees, strengthen organizational discipline, and emphasize the equality of officers and soldiers. In this sense, Mao Zedong's use of the Communist Manifesto to expound the spirit of the Gutian Conference is a continuation and deepening of his previous use of the Manifesto to guide practical activities.

2. Interpret the essence and core of the spirit of the Gutian Conference according to the Communist Manifesto

Although Mao Zedong expounded some principles for building the new type of people's army and expounded the characteristics of the Chinese revolution in his adaptation of Sanwan and "The Struggle on Jinggang" and other articles, these ideas were not fully understood by some leaders of the Party Central Committee and the Red Army: First, they had the warlord style and the way of leading troops of the old army to varying degrees. The initial disagreement between Mao Zedong and Zhu De revealed in "Gutian Army" was precisely the question of what ideology to use to build the people's army. Second, they did not understand the characteristics of the Chinese revolution to varying degrees, for example, Comrade Liu Angong, who had returned from the Soviet Union, simply copied the experience of the Soviet revolution mechanically, advocated attacking big cities, and neglected mass work and the establishment of base areas. Third, the responsible persons in charge of the leadership of the Party Central Committee, including Zhou Enlai, also had vague or erroneous understandings of a series of major issues of the Chinese revolution to varying degrees. The "February letter" from the Central Committee is a typical illustration of this problem. However, we should also note that at that time, Comrades Zhu De and Chen Yi had already begun to realize Mao Zedong's correctness in practice, and later repeatedly asked Mao Zedong to return to the leadership post of the Red Fourth Army. He made an important contribution to the convening of the Gutian Conference.

The author has studied Xi and studied the "Resolution of the Gutian Conference", especially "On Correcting the Erroneous Thinking in the Party" and other articles, and realized that this "Resolution" is mainly based on the viewpoint of class struggle, the viewpoint of the dialectical relationship between social existence and social consciousness, the viewpoint of the historical outlook of the masses, the viewpoint of the two ruptures, the viewpoint of the proletarian revolution, and the viewpoint of the proletarian alliance in the "Manifesto", and concretely expounds the spiritual essence and core of the Gutian Conference.

First, it is necessary to understand the deep-seated root causes of various problems within the party and the army of the Fourth Army of the Red Army

The first sentence of the first chapter of the Communist Manifesto points out that mankind has been a history of class struggle since the disintegration of primitive society. Feudal society was dominated by a struggle between the peasant and landlord classes. In capitalist society there is a struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and at the same time there is a non-proletariat such as the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie and their ideas. Historical materialism holds that social existence determines social consciousness, and social consciousness reacts on social existence. Where there is a class, there must be a class consciousness of that class, and it will inevitably react on social existence. As an exploited and oppressed class, the peasants are the allies of the revolution, and Chairman Mao fully affirmed the revolutionary nature of the peasants in his "Analysis of Various Classes in Chinese Society" and "Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan", but the peasants are not the proletariat after all, and their characteristics as petty proprietors determine that their own petty-bourgeois consciousness is extremely strong. Even if they come from workers' backgrounds, there are some people who are influenced to varying degrees by various non-proletarian ideas.

The "Resolution" is precisely based on the class analysis method of the "Manifesto", which holds that there are objectively various non-proletarian consciousnesses within the party and army of the Red Fourth Army, so it is necessary to convene the Gutian Conference to solve the problem. As the first sentence of the "Preamble" of the Resolution clearly states, "There are various non-proletarian ideas within the Communist Party of the Fourth Army of the Red Army. This is a great obstacle to the implementation of the party's correct line. (Ibid., p. 85.) Without a thorough correction of these ideas, the revolutionary tasks of the Red Fourth Army could not be shouldered. Why did these ideas arise? The "Resolution" holds that: First, the sources of all kinds of incorrect ideas, and the largest part of the party's organizational base is composed of elements of peasant and petty-bourgeois origin. Second, the party's leading organs lack a unified and resolute struggle against all kinds of incorrect ideas and lack education on the correct line among party members. As a result, these incorrect ideas exist and develop. Therefore, the "Resolution" clearly pointed out that, in accordance with the spirit of the September letter from the Central Committee, the congress pointed out the manifestations, sources, and methods of correction of all kinds of non-proletarian ideas within the party and the army, stressed the need to wage a resolute struggle against these erroneous ideas, "thoroughly eliminate them," and strengthen the ideological and political education of party members.

Second, it is necessary to profoundly expound the proletarian nature, guiding ideology, and historical mission of the Party and the army

The Manifesto expounds the nature of class, politics and political parties and the principles of their interrelations. The Manifesto distinguishes the proletariat into a class of its own and a class of its own. The free class is the proletariat that is scattered, spontaneous, blind, and lacking the guidance of scientific theory, and is unorganized in the economic sphere. To be a class in itself is to be a proletariat that is organized and consciously united under the guidance of scientific theories and develops the struggle from the economic field to the political field. The task of the Communist Party is to use scientific theories to develop the proletariat from the stage of freedom to the stage of self-reliance. The Declaration also points out that all class struggles are political struggles, that is, class struggles in all economic spheres must develop into political struggles for the seizure and consolidation of political power. In the final analysis, all political struggles revolve around economic interests. The essence of political struggle is class struggle. A political party is a party that conducts political activities around the seizure and consolidation of state power for the benefit of a certain class. The Communist Party is a party of a proletarian character (the title of the second chapter of the Manifesto is "Proletarians and Communists"), which represents the fundamental and long-term interests of the proletariat and the working people. The leadership of a political party is first and foremost a form of organization, but its fundamental content is guided by scientific theory, that is, the theory of communism. The minimum program of the Communists is to seize power, and the maximum program is to abolish private property and eventually realize communism. These ideas are clearly and clearly stated in the Manifesto and other works of Marne. Mao Zedong naturally had to include these ideas in his report on the drafting of the "Resolution." For example, it has repeatedly expounded that it is necessary to analyze and criticize non-proletarian ideas with the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, method, and proletarian standpoint, and to explain that the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is an "armed group for carrying out revolutionary political tasks" under the leadership of the Communist Party, and that it is not a military group or organization that simply fights wars, but has the central task of seizing and consolidating political power. The establishment of a branch at the company level is a form of organization, but in essence, the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism in army building is guaranteed through this organizational form. If we simply emphasize the organizational form without emphasizing the guidance of Marxism, it is not the party's leadership over the armed forces in the true sense. This so-called "party leadership" may turn the "party organization" into a tool for personal careerists to usurp the party's power. This is the essence of Zhang Guotao's route that appeared during the Long March.

Third, it expounds the viewpoint of political commandery and military command, and deeply criticizes the purely military viewpoint and the manifestations of various non-proletarian ideas

According to the Marxist viewpoint, war and military struggle are politics in themselves and are the continuation of politics. Politics is a struggle between classes. Purely military struggles and wars that have never left politics. Therefore, it is impossible for the armed groups involved in military struggles and wars to leave politics, that is, class struggle. The essence of the class struggle is the fundamental opposition of interests. Those involved in the class struggle, especially in the war campaign, are either for the benefit of the minority or for the benefit of the majority. The Declaration points out that the movement of the past was the movement of the few for the few, and ours is the movement of the majority for the many. Then the Red Fourth Army under the leadership of the Communist Party was a military organization that fought for the fundamental interests of the majority of the people. However, due to the complexity of the organizational components of the Red Army and the influence of various non-proletarian ideologies on the Red Army, the erroneous ideas within the Party and the army, such as the purely military viewpoint, extreme democratization, non-organizational concepts, absolute egalitarianism, subjectivism, individualism, outrageism, and blind activism, are extremely serious, and the important ideological root of these ideas is the individualism and selfish concepts that deviate from and deviate from the fundamental and long-term interests of the proletariat. For example, the mercenary mentality within the army is that they do not understand the fundamental difference between the Red Army and the White Army, and they do not understand the major question of right and wrong of whom to fight. In the movie "Gutian Army", a Red Army commander finally embarked on the road of betrayal of the revolution, that is, he disliked that the salary within the Red Army was too small, and the Kuomintang army could be promoted and rich. Therefore, the "Resolution" repeatedly stressed the need to educate Communist Party members and Red Army soldiers to understand for whom and why to fight. Mao Zedong's criticism of the erroneous viewpoint of purely military using the military instead of politics is to emphasize political command of the military, and to establish the principle of seeking the interests of the majority of the people and fighting for the fundamental and long-term interests of the oppressed and exploited classes. This is the fundamental difference between the people's army under the leadership of the Communist Party and all armies in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.

Fourth, it expounds that the people's army is not a military group that simply fights wars, but organizes and mobilizes the masses to establish and consolidate political power

The "Declaration" expounds the idea of "two vast majorities", which emphasizes the question of who people are, on the one hand, and the material forces on which they depend, on the other. Chairman Mao had a very deep understanding of the idea of the "Declaration". Therefore, in the "Resolution," he pointed out that in addition to the important task of fighting a war, the army "goes to war only when it propagates the masses, organizes the masses, arms the masses, and helps the masses to build revolutionary power." Without propaganda to the masses, the goal of organizing, arming, and building revolutionary power loses the meaning of war, that is, the meaning of the existence of the Red Army. Mao Zedong said this, and he also did it. In the movie "Gutian Army", it is written that after Mao Zedong left the Red Fourth Army, he held a night school for farmers in western Fujian, which not only taught the peasants to read and write, but also explained the revolutionary principles and inspired the class consciousness of the peasants. This is also another distinctive feature of the people's army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

Fifth, it is necessary to expound the ideological method of seeking truth from facts and applying Marxist standpoints, viewpoints, and methods to investigate and study

The philosophical basis of Marxism is dialectical materialism and historical materialism. All the scientific conclusions of the Communist Manifesto are based on the study of the economic and class struggle conditions in capitalist society and the objective laws of capitalist development. From beginning to end, the Manifesto runs through the line of materialist understanding. So Mao Zedong was clearly influenced by the idea of the Manifesto. He emphasized that the guidance of Marxism is not to copy Marxist dogma into China, but to investigate and study China's specific national conditions, and to guide and formulate the line, principles, and policies of the Chinese revolution in accordance with the objective conditions and laws. At that time, the serious subjective tendency that existed within the Red Fourth Army was to deviate from the ideological line of materialism. As stated in the "Resolution": "Subjectivism is strongly present among some Party members, which is very detrimental to the analysis of the political situation and the guidance of work. This is because the inevitable result of subjectivist analysis of the political situation and subjective guidance of work is either opportunism or blind activism. As for subjectivist criticism within the party, it is not necessary to talk nonsense about evidence or to be suspicious of each other, which often leads to unprincipled disputes within the party and undermines the party's organization. (Ibid., p. 91.) How can we overcome the erroneous tendency of subjectivism? The "Resolution" holds that "the main thing is to educate Party members so that the thinking of Party members and the life of Party members within the Party will be politicized and scientific." (Ibid., p. 92.) To achieve this, the Resolution proposes three more specific measures. "(1) To educate Party members to use Marxist-Leninist methods to analyze the political situation and assess class forces, so as to replace subjectivist analysis and results. (2) To draw the attention of Party members to the investigation and study of the social economy, so as to determine the tactics of struggle and the methods of work, so that the comrades will know that if they do not leave the investigation of the actual situation, they will fall into the pit of utopian fantasy and blind movement. (3) Intra-party criticism should prevent subjective arbitrariness and vulgarization of criticism, speak with evidence, and pay attention to politics in criticism. (Ibid., p. 92.) ）

Sixth, it is necessary to consciously use the method of contradiction analysis to analyze and reveal the manifestations, root causes, and correct ways of overcoming the erroneous ideological trends that objectively exist within the party and the army of the Fourth Army of the Red Army

The salient feature of Marxist writings is the application of scientific thinking methods, especially the method of contradiction analysis. The "Communist Manifesto" is also a process in which Marx and Engels used the contradiction analysis method to analyze and understand the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in capitalist society. The "Resolution" embodies the method of contradiction analysis from beginning to end. In particular, in the "Preface" of the most important part of the "Resolution," "On Correcting Erroneous Ideas within the Party," the "Preface" generally points out the existence of various non-proletarian ideologies within the Party and the army, as well as their harmfulness and root causes, and stresses the need to "thoroughly eliminate them." It is then divided into eight sections, namely, on the purely military viewpoint, on extreme democracy, on the non-organizational viewpoint, on absolute egalitarianism, on subjectivism, on individualism, on rogue doctrine, and on the remnants of blind activism. Each part begins with a point out the specific manifestations of this erroneous tendency, its harmfulness, its root causes, and the correct attitude and means of correcting it. The rights and wrongs are very clear, concise and coherent.

Through the study and Xi research, combined with Mao Zedong's previous works and watching the movie "Gutian Army", the author reveals and summarizes the six main spirits of the "Gutian Conference". The essence and core of the six-point spirit is to uphold the standpoint, viewpoint, and method of Marxism, that is, the "Communist Manifesto," especially the method of class analysis. Emphasize the class nature of the party and the class nature of the people's army. It is precisely because of the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism and the class attributes of the Communist Party and the Red Army that it is decided that the Party and the Red Army must mobilize and rely on the masses of workers and peasants to seize power by armed force, that the political command of the military must be taken into command, that everything must be proceeded from reality and that investigation and study must be carried out, that the Red Army must have strict organizational discipline, and that the Red Army must be unified in its officers and men. Without the Marxist method of class struggle and class analysis, it is impossible to interpret and explain the true essence of the spirit of the "Gutian Conference." After the Gutian Conference, Zhu De fully accepted Mao Zedong's correct ideas on building the party and the army. More than a year after the Gutian Conference, he wrote "How to Create an Iron Red Army" (originally published in Battle, July 1931, Nos. 2 and 3, now included in pages 2-6 of Zhu De's Selected Works). It is the basic and core spirit of the Gutian Conference. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

1. The Red Army must have a distinct class character, and its historical task is to seize power. "The Red Army is the ranks of the workers and peasants, and so to speak, of all the toiling masses. The historical task of the Red Army was to seize power, to establish and consolidate the Soviet power of the workers and peasants themselves, and to completely emancipate the proletariat and all the toiling masses politically and economically. In order to accomplish this historical task, the organizational elements of the Red Army must have a full class character, that is, the toiling masses of workers and peasants are qualified to serve in the Red Army. ”

2. The Red Army must have the leadership of the Communist Party as the vanguard of the proletariat. "The Communist Party is the vanguard of the proletariat. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army will be able to accomplish its great historical task only under the correct leadership of the Communist Party. ”

3. The political training of the Red Army was completely different from that of the bourgeois army. "The fundamental difference between the political training of the Red Army and the political training of the bourgeois army is that the Red Army is completely opposed to the bourgeoisie's turning political training into a deceitful instrument to obscure class consciousness, into a supra-class and totally unfulfilled rhetoric. The political training of the Red Army is to enlighten and enhance the proletarian consciousness of the commanders, so that they will have a clear understanding of the interests of their own class and strive to wage a decisive struggle against the enemy for the political tasks of their own class, so as to achieve the goal of destroying the enemy and liberating their own class. In order to build an iron Red Army, it is necessary to make all the commanders and combatants of the Red Army first and foremost fully believe in the leadership of the Communist Party; understand that the Communist Party has the responsibility of guiding the union of workers and peasants; understand the leading role of the proletariat in the revolution; understand that the class nature of the revolutionary war is to seek the liberation of the workers, peasants and toiling masses of the whole of China; understand that the purpose of actively fulfilling part of its tasks in the war is to win the total victory of the war; understand the greatness of the mass power and that the Red Army must unite closely with the masses; and understand that the Chinese revolution at present must have the development of the Red ArmyOnly with the cooperation of the four revolutionary forces, the workers' uprising, the peasants' uprising, and the soldiers' uprising, can we achieve complete victory. ”

4. The discipline of the Red Army was formulated in accordance with the class interests of the Red Army and the needs of the practice of struggle. "The discipline of the Red Army is drawn up in accordance with the class interests of the whole and the interests of the revolution and the necessities of the revolutionary struggle. The discipline of the Red Army, which was observed by the commanders and combatants, was in no way the same as that of the White Army, which was designed to oppress the soldiers. ”

5. The fighting capacity of the Red Army depends mainly on the class political consciousness of the Red Army and its reliance on the masses of workers and peasants. "I must repeat that the fighting capacity of the Red Army is determined not only by the conditions of military technology, but above all by the class political consciousness and political influence of the Red Army, which mobilizes the broad masses of workers and peasants and disintegrates the enemy's army. ”

From the above excerpts, it can be completely seen that the core of Comrade Zhu De's understanding of the spirit of the Gutian Conference is the Marxist method of class struggle and class analysis.

3. Use the Communist Manifesto to interpret the practical significance of the spirit of the Gutian Conference

It has been 90 years since the Gutian Conference was held, but the spirit of the Gutian Conference still has extremely important practical significance. In 2014, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core held a new Gutian Conference of the whole army at the site of the old Gutian Conference. This year, it is even more significant to revisit the spirit of the Gutian Conference and reinterpret it with the Communist Manifesto.

First, the essence of upholding the party's leadership is to uphold the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism over the whole party and the whole society

An important part of the reorganization of Sanwan was to build the branch at the company level, and the "Gutian Conference" repeatedly reiterated the above-mentioned thinking, and the essence was to guarantee the party's absolute leadership over the army. The guiding ideology of the Communist Party is Marxism-Leninism. The essence of the party's leadership over the armed forces is the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism over the armed forces. The fundamental reason why the Gutian Conference was able to convene and form the spirit of the above-mentioned conference was that Comrades Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yi, and Comrade Zhou Enlai, who presided over the work of the Party Central Committee, were able to consciously adhere to the Party's guiding ideology, that is, Marxism-Leninism, as determined by the Party's First National Congress. The fundamental reason why they were able to unite on the basis of the original major differences was that before the meeting was convened, they were able to consciously apply the Marxist stand, viewpoint, and method to analyze and understand the serious problems existing within the party and the army of the Red Fourth Army, the root causes, and the ways to overcome them. Only then could the "Gutian Conference" be born, which was a glorious document of Marxism. The fundamental point for us to study, Xi inherit, and uphold the spirit of the Gutian Conference today is to unswervingly uphold the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought in party building and army building. Departing from the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and using Confucianism, the theory of universal values, and all kinds of so-called "socialism" theories to interpret and guide the building of the party, the state, and the army, and to guide China's socialist modernization drive are all deviations from and betrayal of the spirit and essence of the Gutian Conference.

Second, we must adhere to the Marxist ideology of class struggle and the method of class analysis

To uphold the position of Marxism-Leninism as the guiding ideology for the practice of the Chinese revolution, it is necessary to uphold the Marxist class struggle and class analysis. We can see from the full text of the "Resolution of the Gutian Conference" and Comrade Zhu De's article that the red thread that runs through the spirit of the Gutian Conference is the Marxist method of class struggle and class analysis. Without this thinking, it is impossible to interpret the basic ideas of the "Gutian Conference Resolution" and criticize all kinds of non-proletarian ideas, to guide party building and army building, and to guide the practice of the Chinese revolution. Due to reasons that are well known to everyone, the Marxist theory of class struggle and the method of class analysis have been demonized and misinterpreted as never before, and they dare not face up to and interpret the fact that there are two extremely sharp and fierce struggles between two classes, two roads, and two lines in China's society today, do not just face up to the objective fact of the extremely serious capitalist restoration in today's society, and dare not face up to and interpret the negative impact of the concepts and ideologies of various exploiting classes on party building, party building, and party building. We dare not face squarely the objective facts that hostile forces at home and abroad are moving toward the socialist road, to Mao Zedong Thought, to the revolutionary martyrs and heroic models who made outstanding contributions to the founding of New China and to the building of socialism, and especially to Comrade Mao Zedong, the most outstanding and greatest leader of the Chinese people, and to do everything possible to spread rumors and slander, viciously attack, and do everything they can. The class nature of ideology still less dares to call on Communist Party members to wage a resolute struggle against all hostile forces, erroneous phenomena, concepts, and all kinds of erroneous tendencies that oppose Marxism and revise Marxism. Since the privatization and market-oriented reforms, the principle of commodity exchange has not only penetrated into the political and social spheres within the party and the military, but has also penetrated into almost all fields of social life, including the ideological and cultural fields, the educational fields, and the ranks of scholars. Professor Qian Liqun of Peking University revealed that the serious proliferation of the ideological trend of "refined egoism" in the ranks of intellectuals is in essence the impact of privatization and marketization on the ideological and cultural fields. Without the method of class struggle and class analysis to understand and dissect these extremely serious social problems, especially their serious impact on the party and the military, without thoroughly dissecting them and digging out their economic, political, cultural, and other root causes, without waging a resolute struggle, and without "thoroughly eliminating them," it will be impossible to truly inherit and carry forward the spirit of the Gutian Conference.

Third, it is necessary to uphold not only political command over the military, but also political command over the economy and political command over everything.

An important part of the "Gutian Conference Resolution" is to criticize the purely military viewpoint and emphasize political command of the military. The war years required a political commander to command the military. In the era of socialist modernization, should we insist on the proletariat being in command politically, in political command over the economy, and in political command over everything? Mao Zedong gave a clear answer to this. In January 1958, it was said: "Ideological and political work is the guarantee for the completion of economic and technical work, and they serve the economic base. Ideology and politics are commanders and souls. As long as our ideological and political work is relaxed a little, economic and technical work will certainly lead down the wrong road. (Mao Zedong's Collected Works, Vol. 7, People's Publishing House, 1999, p. 351.) On March 11, 1960, Mao Zedong made the idea of "insisting on political leadership" one of the important contents of the "Angang Constitution". In 1964, Mao Zedong added a paragraph to the notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on learning from the experience of Daqing: "They have implemented the party's general socialist line, insisted on being politically in command, adhered to the mass line, and systematically studied and applied the political work experience of Xi the People's Liberation Army." Mao Zedong had a lot to say. In Mao Zedong's era, politics was the struggle between various classes, the struggle between the direction and road of socialism and capitalism, and the fundamental question of why people. However, due to the complete rejection of Mao Zedong's theory in his later years and the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong's idea of "political command" was also completely denied. The excellent traditional ideological and political work of our party and the army has also been abolished. At present, the expression of "one center, two basic points" of the party's basic line has reversed the relationship between the four cardinal principles and economic construction. It should not be "to unite and lead the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country, to take economic construction as the central task, to adhere to the four cardinal principles, to persist in reform and opening up, to rely on self-reliance, to work hard, and to build our country into a prosperous, strong, democratic, and harmonious modern socialist power." Instead, it should be "guided by the four cardinal principles, unite and lead the people of all nationalities throughout the country, take economic construction as the central task, persist in self-reliance, arduous struggle, persist in reform and opening up, and strive to build our country into a prosperous, prosperous, strong, and democratic modern socialist country." "Today, the Party Central Committee and the whole Party are emphasizing the establishment of political awareness. However, in the author's opinion, what exactly is "politics"? The relationship between politics and military affairs, politics and economics, and other work has not really been clarified, and I dare not and do not want to interpret "politics" from the perspective of class struggle. In essence, political consciousness is the consciousness of class struggle, the consciousness of the struggle between socialism and capitalism, the question of the general direction of socialism, the question of communist ideals and beliefs, and the question of who is the person. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Chairman Mao's publication of the "Angang Constitution", the author once wrote a 17,000-word "On Chairman Mao's "Political Command" Thought", which made a more comprehensive and systematic explanation of the ins and outs, meaning, role, deviations, distorted understanding, and practical significance of Chairman Mao's "political command" thought. It is incorrect to oppose the ideas of "stressing politics" and "political consciousness" with the ideas of "putting politics in command" and "taking class struggle as the key link," and it is also wrong to replace "politics in command" with "economic construction as the center" and replace the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism. There is also an essential difference between the socialist development economy and the capitalist development economy. One of the ideological roots of all the increasingly serious social problems in China today is the inevitable result of the "political command" ideology of abandoning Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought.

Fourth, we must persistently proceed from reality in everything, seek truth from facts, and pay attention to investigation and study and materialist ideological methods

Mao Zedong was greatly influenced by the materialist ideas of the Communist Manifesto, and from the beginning of his revolutionary career, he paid special attention to investigation and research. On the one hand, he theoretically investigated and studied the extreme importance of revolutionary transformation, and on the other hand, he personally investigated and studied many times, and summed up the basic methods of investigation and research on many occasions. In his 1941 essay "On Rural Surveys," he said: "It is not easy to understand the world. Marx and Engels worked hard all their lives and made many investigations, studies and transformations before they completed scientific communism. Lenin and Stalin also made many investigations. The Chinese revolution also requires research work, first of all to understand what China is (China's past, present, and future). It is a pity that many comrades are often subjective, self-righteous, and do not attach importance to investigation and research work at all. So this is also an important part of the spirit of the Furuta Conference. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong also placed special emphasis on investigation and research. In a series of epistemological articles he wrote, he repeatedly reiterated that man's correct thinking can only come from the three great revolutionary practices of production struggle, class struggle, and scientific experiment. However, we cannot fail to see that in recent decades, this fine tradition of our party has been completely discarded, officials and scholars have not conducted investigation and study, and the speeches of the leaders have lacked a realistic analysis of the objective situation, especially the objective facts of capitalist restoration, such as official corruption, privatization, and marketization. The idealistic ideological methods and work styles of subjectivism, bookishness, supremacy of power, and personality cult have reached the most serious period since the founding of the People's Republic of China in the entire officialdom and academic circles. How can such a work style that deviates from the most basic materialist viewpoint and method of Marxism be able to accomplish our party's extremely arduous goal of building socialism and realizing the lofty ideals of communism?

Fifth, we must adhere to the method of contradiction analysis, learn how to use the method of contradiction analysis, conscientiously study and analyze social problems, and formulate correct lines, principles, and policies

Mao Zedong's "Theory of Contradiction" written in 1937 emphasized that the law of the unity of opposites is the essence and core of materialist dialectics. On the one hand, this thinking is the result of his study Xi study of Marxism-Leninism, and on the other hand, it is also the summary of his experience in consciously applying this method, including drafting the Gutian Conference, in the course of participating in and leading the practice of the Chinese revolution. Almost all of Mao Zedong's articles, especially those of his later years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, are full of methods of contradiction analysis. What is contradiction analysis? It should be a matter of analyzing reality. However, we dare not face squarely the extremely serious social problems existing in the social life of the party in China and the extremely serious infiltration influence of various exploiting class ideologies on the party and the army? Without analysis, there can be no synthesis; without analysis, there will be no seeking truth from facts, and it will be impossible to formulate correct lines, principles, and policies. This is an objective truth that has been repeatedly proven by the history of the development of the socialist movement and the history of China's revolution and construction. However, since the practice of reform and opening up in recent decades, this Marxist method of analysis has also been discarded to varying degrees. The speeches and reports of the leaders lacked the method of analyzing the contradictions of extremely serious social problems, and scholars' papers, including quite a few so-called "Marxist scholars, professors, doctoral supervisors, and wisdom experts", also lost this scientific method. As a result, these speeches, conference resolutions, and research results lack rigorous logic and scientific thinking. Therefore, in studying, Xi studying, and carrying forward the spirit of the Gutian Conference, we should especially study, Xi, and consciously apply the Marxist method of analyzing contradictions.

Sixth, it is necessary to establish the Marxist concept of democracy and strive to enhance and exercise the consciousness and right to be the master of society

After the Autumn Harvest Uprising, one of the important contents of Mao Zedong's reorganization of the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops was the establishment of soldiers' committees in the troops. One of the main experiences and spirits of the struggle in Jinggangshan for more than a year was the establishment of a soldiers' committee, which Chairman Mao deliberately attributed to the most important content of the Jinggangshan spirit when he returned to Jinggangshan in 1965. This content and spirit are mainly put forward in response to the erroneous tendency of the old army to regard soldiers as mere tools for fighting wars, not as human beings, and to show no concern for and respect for soldiers, and even often beat and scold soldiers and punish them corporally, and not to pay attention to giving play to the role of soldiers. However, before the Gutian Conference, there was still an extremely serious erroneous tendency of extreme democratization within the Red Fourth Army. These and the denial of democratic rights of soldiers are two polarizing tendencies on the issue of democracy. The first part of the "Resolution of the Gutian Conference" provides an in-depth analysis of the manifestations, root causes, and ways to overcome extreme democratization, but it does not deny the feudal patriarchal system that still exists within the party and the army, and the erroneous tendency to abolish the democratic rights of soldiers. The democratic rights of soldiers were repeatedly emphasized in later parts of the Resolution and in other Mao Zedong articles. To implement the Marxist idea of democracy within the party and the army, it is necessary to oppose both extreme democratization and the abolition of the democratic feudal patriarchal system. Mao Zedong's thinking on party building and army building not only continued until the founding of New China, but also gave greater prominence to the democratic rights and democratic work style of the people within the party, the army, and the government after the founding of the People's Republic of China. During the Mao era, through the establishment of public ownership and various political system reforms, the democratic rights of party members and the democratic rights of the Chinese people were most widely manifested. However, after the reform and opening up, this democratic right has been extremely seriously undermined. The party constitution gives party members and the masses the right to care, suggest, criticize, and supervise the party and state government, but in practice, they are suppressed, attacked, retaliated against, and even treated by dictatorship methods in the name of "unwarranted discussion" to varying degrees. Therefore, to inherit and implement the spirit of the Gutian Conference, it is also necessary to criticize the feudal concept of supremacy above power, improve and perfect the democratic system of the party and the state, and resolutely struggle against all obstacles to the masses of the people's exercise of the idea and behavior of being the masters of society.

The spirit of the Gutian Conference is extremely rich and profound, and its practical significance is also extremely huge. The essence of studying Xi studying this issue is also to study how Comrade Mao Zedong integrated Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution and founded Mao Zedong Thought, and how to use Mao Zedong Thought to guide China's contemporary socialist modernization and the great practice of continuing the revolution. Starting with Chairman Mao's application of the "Communist Manifesto", the author talked about his preliminary experience and its significance. Welcome netizens to criticize and correct!

(The author is a senior researcher and professor of Kunlunce Research Institute; source: Kunlunce Network [author's authorization], revised and released)