From January 15 to 17, 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in Zunyi, which was mainly attended by members and alternate members of the Politburo, as well as regimental commanders and political commissars of various corps;
We can see the leaders of the Red First and Third Armies among the participants, and we can also see Li Zhuoran, the political commissar of the Red Fifth Army, but why didn't we see the figure of Dong Zhentang, the commander of the Red Fifth Army?
Dong Zhentang, commander of the Fifth Red Army
As for whether Dong Zhentang, commander of the Fifth Red Army, attended the meeting, there are two different theories:
One theory is that Dong Zhentang participated in the meeting (Yang Shangkun recalled that Dong Zhentang went to the end of the meeting; Xie Liang's "Zunyi Radiance" mentions that Dong Zhentang conveyed the spirit of the meeting to the Thirty-Seventh Regiment);
Another theory is that Dong Zhentang did not attend the meeting.
Zhou Enlai
First of all, I would like to say that Dong Zhentang did not attend the Zunyi meeting.
The main reasons are Comrade Zhou Enlai's telegram, Chen Yun's "Outline for conveying the Expansion of the Zunyi Politburo Meeting," Zhu De's telegram, and the recollection of Li Zhuoran, political commissar of the Fifth Red Army, as well as the reflection of Dong Zhentang when Chen Yun went to the Fifth Red Army to convey the spirit of the meeting.
On January 13, 1935, Zhou Enlai sent a telegram to Li Zhuoran and Liu Shaoqi asking them to come to Zunyi Baihuizhang Hall on the 14th to attend the enlarged meeting of the Politburo held on the 15th; judging from this telegram, there was no name of Dong Zhentang.
Chen yun
Chen Yun, in the "Outline for conveying the Spirit of the Meeting to the Central Column" (report on conveying the spirit of the meeting to the Central Column, written in February or March 1935), said of the participants in the Zunyi Meeting:
"In addition to the official and alternate members of the Politburo, the commanders of the First and Third Armies, the political commissars Lin Nie and Peng Yang, and the political commissars of the Fifth Army, Li Zhuoran, Director General Political Officer Li, and Chief of Staff Liu, all attended."
Chen Yun did not mention Dong Zhentang's name.
At 24:00 on January 16, 1935, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission telephoned Zhu Rui, Zuo Quan, Deng Ping, Luo Ronghuan, Dong Zhentang, Zeng Risan, Luo Binghui, Cai Shufan, Liu Bocheng, and Chen Yun to arrange the action plan of the troops for the 17th day; in this telegram, Dong Zhentang's name was included, but there was no name of the head of the Red First and Third Armies, indicating that Dong Zhentang had not left the Red Fifth Army and had not participated in the Zunyi Conference.
Li Zhuoran, political commissar of the Fifth Red Army
Li Zhuoran, political commissar of the Fifth Red Army, said in the article "Unforgettable Zunyi Conference":
"On the night of arrival ,Note: Arriving in the Zhuzang area, I received a telegram from Vice Chairman Zhou Enlai asking me to rush to Zunyi City to attend the enlarged meeting of the Politburo. Comrade Dong Zhentang led the rear guard troops to arrive, and I remember that he did not go to the Zunyi meeting. ”
When Chen Yun went to the Fifth Red Army to convey the spirit of the Zunyi Conference, Dong Zhentang couldn't help but be relieved and said: "Well, this is good, our Red Army has been saved!" Dong Zhentang's emotions are not like the reactions that should be there after attending the Zunyi meeting.
Dong Zhentang
Secondly, I would like to discuss why Dong Zhentang did not participate in the Zunyi meeting.
At present, there are two theories about the reasons why Dong Zhentang did not attend the Zunyi meeting, one is that Dong Zhentang does not have a leading position in the party, and the other is that the Red Fifth Army, as the rear guard of the whole army, has blocked the enemy's advance and defended the smooth convening of the Zunyi conference, and the task is very huge.
In my opinion, the reasons that can affect Dong Zhentang's failure to attend the Zunyi Conference during the Long March are probably only these two aspects, and the latter is more likely.
Chairman Mao
Mao later recalled that every politburo meeting was three votes versus four votes (Mao, Wang, and Zhang). It's always like this, three to four, it can't solve the problem. Later, the military situation became worse, and their set really couldn't go on. I suggested that we should not have such a meeting with the teacher, no. You can expand it a bit, to the legionnaire level, where there are people who agree with my opinion and those who agree with yours, and let us decide on it at an enlarged meeting of the Politburo. They agreed, and this meeting was the Zunyi Conference.
Judging from Mao Zedong's recollection, the enlarged meeting of the Zunyi Politburo was extended to the level of corps commander; that is, the Zunyi meeting did not entirely look at whether there were leading positions in the party, but also included the leaders of the legion who understood the errors of the military line of Li De and Bogu.
Therefore, from the perspective of not having a leading position in the party, it is not appropriate to explain why Dong Zhentang did not participate in the Zunyi meeting.
Luo Binghui, commander of the Red Ninth Army
During the Zunyi Conference, the Fifth Red Army controlled more than 120 kilometers southeast of Zunyi City to the End of the Monkey Farm in Wong'an, guarding the remnants of Wang Jialie, who were moving from Kaiyang to Jinsha, and the Dian Army, which was moving toward Bijie, together with the Red Ninth Army (which controlled more than 80 kilometers east of Zunyi City to Meitan), formed a defensive line on the southeast flank of Zunyi.
Luo Binghui, commander of the Red Ninth Army, and Cai Shufan, political commissar of the army, both did not attend the Zunyi meeting because of the defense against the enemy, and Dong Zhentang may not have attended the Zunyi meeting for the same reason.