Editor's note: In the early revolutionary struggle, in the face of complex internal and external situations, Mao Zedong always showed a firm will in safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee. From Jinggangshan to Ruijin , maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee has created a successful way to lead the revolutionary struggle in the Soviet area. From the establishment of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area to the early stages of the Long March of , Mao Zedong became an important example in maintaining the authority of the central government. From Zunyi Conference to the eve of the founding of New China, as the core of the party's leadership, Mao Zedong played an important role in safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee. Mao Zedong's important contribution to safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee in the revolutionary war years is profound inspiring: revolutionary parties must have a high degree of organizational discipline, and the Party Central Committee must have authority, which is the fundamental guarantee for forming a strong cohesion; revolutionary parties must adhere to the mass line and conduct good investigation and research, which is an important basis for achieving high-level and low-level information; revolutionary parties must carry out criticism and self-criticism, and uphold the truth with the spirit of courage to correct mistakes, which is a necessary condition for realizing centralized and unified leadership.
The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centennial Struggle" clearly states: "As long as we adhere to the Party’s overall leadership without wavering, resolutely safeguard the Party’s core and the authority of the Party Central Committee, give full play to the political advantages of the Party’s leadership, and implement the Party’s leadership in all fields, aspects and links, we will surely ensure that the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all ethnic groups in the country are united and moving forward." Maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee is the Party’s historical tradition and political advantage, and the fundamental guarantee for the Party to lead the democratic revolution to victory. In the past, when studying the relevant history of maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee, most of the academic community was based on the macro-narrative level, and lacked in-depth research on the early part of the specific history, especially lacking attention to Mao Zedong. In fact, the turning of Chinese revolution into safety and successful development is inseparable from Mao Zedong's maintenance of the authority of the Party Central Committee. In the early revolutionary practice, Mao Zedong showed a firm will in safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee, and was an outstanding representative of loyally supporting the Party's centralized and unified leadership, and made important contributions to the Party's exploration in this regard. In-depth research on relevant history and summarizing relevant experiences is of great significance to the whole party's current firm support for " two establishing " and always implementing " two maintaining ".
1. From Jinggangshan to Ruijin: Maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee to create a successful way for Mao Zedong to lead the revolutionary struggle
87th meeting , under the influence of Mao Zedong's "armed separatist" of workers and peasants, taking advantage of the situation of the new and old warlords in the Kuomintang, the "spark fire" in Jinggangshan gradually formed a "paradoxical fire" in the country, and the base area became an important strategic base for accumulating and strengthening revolutionary forces. For revolutionary bases, consciously obeying the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee and striving to maintain its authority is not only an objective need to carry out the struggle against the enemy, but also an inherent requirement to safeguard the Party’s political and organizational discipline. However, the problem is that the base area has been in a state of being divided and surrounded for a long time, the communication conditions are very backward, the party's team is becoming increasingly complex, and the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee faces practical difficulties. At the same time, the once dominant "left" line has caused serious losses to the revolution, and has also caused many challenges to the Party Central Committee's own authority. Under the above circumstances, for each base area, how to handle the superior-level and subordinate relationship with the Party Central Committee, effectively safeguard the central authority of the Party organization as a whole, and strive to adhere to the correct revolutionary path, becomes a difficult problem. History has proved that Mao Zedong successfully solved this problem and successfully led the revolutionary struggle in the Soviet area.
(I) Abide by political discipline and resolutely implement the major policies and guidelines of the Party Central Committee
In the early days of the Agrarian Revolution, the leadership role of the Party Central Committee, especially in determining the overall direction of struggle and basic strategies. The Resolution on Several Historical Issues believes that during the Agrarian Revolutionary War, "during these ten years, the Party's general policy and the heroic struggle to implement this general policy are completely correct and necessary."During this period, the leadership of the Party Central Committee became an important prerequisite for the gathering of revolutionary forces. The Party Central Committee called on all Party members to continue to carry out the struggle against the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, promptly rectify and restore local organizations, and continuously develop and strengthen the revolutionary armed forces. At the same time, the Party held an 87th meeting to determine the general policy of armed struggle and agrarian revolution, and to promptly point out the direction for the majority of Party members. A year later, the Party successfully held the Sixth National Congress in Moscow, further summarizing the experience and lessons, clarifying the nature of the bourgeois democratic revolution and the political situation "between the two climaxes", proposing to prevent the "left", and making striving for the masses the top priority. Its policy is basically correct, and the "Resolution on Several Historical Issues" also explains this. The Party’s major policies and guidelines in the early stages of the Agrarian Revolutionary War were basically correct and were an important condition for the centralized and unified leadership to gain support.
Mao Zedong resolutely safeguards the authority of the Party Central Committee, abides by political discipline, implements the general policy of armed struggle and agrarian revolution, and clarifies the direction for the base area. In the early days of the Agrarian Revolutionary War, Mao Zedong and the Party Central Committee were no different in terms of the general direction and basic strategies of the revolution. Mao Zedong and the Central Committee "had no substantial differences. Both sides agreed with the goal: to surround the cities from the countryside by organizing the revolutionary forces of the peasants (the main force of the revolution), and cooperate with the riots of the army and the city (the auxiliary force of the revolution). Therefore, Mao Zedong resolutely implemented the decisions and instructions of the Party Central Committee in this regard. Shortly after the August 7th meeting was held, Mao Zedong responded to the call of the Party Central Committee and went to Hunan to publicize the relevant spirit, and actively prepared for the Autumn Harvest Uprising. After the Autumn Harvest Uprising in the Hunan-Jiangxi Border was setback, Mao Zedong continued to convey the basic requirements of the 87th Conference at the Ancient City Conference. After the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong held a joint meeting in time on Ninggang to discuss relevant resolutions and convey the main content. After the failure of the Great Revolution , many local party organizations were paralyzed and some party members were confused. Therefore, it is an urgent matter to unify the understanding of the whole party in a timely manner and guide the correct lines and principles of the central government. From Jinggangshan to Ruijin, no matter how crazy the enemy encircled and intercepted it, no matter what wrong routes were disturbed, Mao Zedong always insisted on carrying out armed struggle and agrarian revolution. The idea of "armed separatism between workers and peasants" formed in practice is actually the successful application and development of the general policy of the 87th Conference. Under such circumstances, the sparks in the revolutionary base finally formed a prairie fire.
(II) Adhere to seeking truth from facts and maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee
Objectively speaking, during the Agrarian Revolution, the phenomenon of "left" thoughts occupying the dominant position in the party, causing serious troubles to the work of 年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1年1� In this case, how can we effectively maintain the central authority of the Party organization as a whole while adhering to the correct revolutionary propositions? In reality, some local party organizations and some party members cannot handle the relationship well, and make the mistake of confronting the central government and even seriously separating the party. In response to the central instructions, Mao Zedong worked hard to safeguard the central authority of the party organization as a whole, adhered to the correct revolutionary propositions on this basis, successfully handled the relationship between the two, and led the military and civilians of the Soviet area to overcome difficulties.
On the one hand, the correct proposition will be based on the principle of democratic centralism in the Party. Democratic centralism is the party’s organizational principle, and following democratic centralism is an inherent requirement and important manifestation of the party’s organizations at all levels and their members to safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee. The decision-making center far away in big cities may not be able to fully grasp the specific situation of the base, and sometimes its instructions are obviously lacking in scientific nature. In this case, if the base area blindly executes erroneous orders, it will inevitably cause serious losses to the revolutionary cause and ultimately damage the authority of the Party Central Committee. Therefore, how to respond is a difficult problem. Mao Zedong "had mastered the theory of democratic centralism skillfully and was well aware of the practice of this theory in Leninist parties."Based on extensive research, Mao Zedong scientifically grasped the objective situation, followed the basic principles of democratic centralism, convened relevant meetings in a timely manner to convey the central government's instructions, and conducted full discussion and vote on controversial issues, and finally formed a convincing and correct decision. There are many successful examples in this regard. When the Provisional Central Committee asked the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to leave Jinggangshan to support the riots in southern Hunan, Mao Zedong raised objections and insisted on implementing armed separatist positions in the border areas of Hunan and Jiangxi with Ninggang as the center. After Jinggangshan fell, Mao Zedong also clearly expressed his opposition to the central government's order to disperse the Red Army's and Mao Zhu's departure. After the second attack on Changsha, Mao Zedong withstood the pressure of the central government and advocated not to attack Wuchang but to manage Jian . It is obvious that Mao Zedong built major decisions on democratic centralism, making the proposals support the majority and the direction of everyone's action, which can ensure the legality of the content to the greatest extent and help maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee.
On the other hand, we correctly advocate actively asking for instructions and reporting to the central government so that it is procedurally legal. Major matters must be reported to the central government, which is a political discipline of the Party. Whether organizations at all levels and their members fulfill this obligation will not only affect the central decision-making, but also reflect whether they maintain the authority of the central government. Due to objective factors such as transportation and communication, and the influence of loose disciplines within the party, "Since the '87th,' party departments at all levels have not reported the organizational reports to the superior party departments in the past, so the superior party departments also lack regular guidance on organizational work." Unlike the above-mentioned erroneous tendencies within the party, Mao Zedong was a loyal executor in this regard. When encountering major issues, he would definitely ask the central government for instructions and reports, especially when there were serious differences between his correct propositions and the latter, which fully demonstrated his support for centralized and unified leadership. Faced with the confusion of "what flag is raised in the revolution?", Mao Zedong wrote a letter to the Central Committee in the name of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, insisting on establishing the Soviet regime , and put forward the proposition that "the flag of the Kuomintang should no longer be beaten" and "the flag of the Communist Party should be raised high", which was recognized by the central government. Faced with differences in positioning the revolutionary base area, Mao Zedong wrote a letter to the Provisional Central Committee in the name of the Secretary of the Military Commission of the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, suggesting the creation of a middle-level regime in the Luoxiao Mountains with Ninggang as the center, and determine the approximate scope of activities of the revolutionary base area of Jinggangshan, and obtain the approval of the central government. In March 1929, after the enlarged meeting of the Red Fourth Army Front Committee was held, Mao Zedong promptly reported the relevant spirit to the central government, and proposed different ideas of establishing the revolutionary base of Gannan and western Fujian, and eventually won the support of the central government. In April of that year, Mao Zedong wrote a letter to the Central Committee in the name of the Front Committee of the Red Fourth Army, putting forward different views on the "February Letter", describing the importance of the Red Army's concentrated operations and Mao and Zhu's stay in the army, and finally obtained the approval of the Central Committee. To report major matters to the central government can effectively connect the base area and the highest command center, and help to reach consensus on eliminating differences. This not only ensures the centralized and unified leadership of the Party, but also helps to safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee.
The Party needed the Central Committee to have sufficient authority at that time, but Mao Zedong, who represented the correct line, had not yet entered the highest leadership, so he treated his mistakes rationally, and on the basis of sufficient research, he used the correct way to prove the correctness of his own line in the right way, and at the same time worked hard to maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee and achieve an effective combination of the two, which was undoubtedly a reasonable choice. From Jinggangshan to Ruijin, Mao Zedong actively explored this aspect and made important contributions to safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee and promoting the successful development of the revolutionary struggle.
2. From the establishment of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area to the early stage of the Long March: Mao Zedong became an important example in maintaining the authority of the central government
In the early days of the Agrarian Revolution, Mao Zedong's theory of "armed separatism of workers and peasants" was feasible, on the one hand, because of its own scientific nature, and on the other hand, because the objective environment at that time was relatively special. In addition to the internal disputes of the Kuomintang, the limited influence of the "left" in the party was also a key factor.The leadership center in Shanghai is far apart from the rural revolutionary base. In addition, the influence of factors such as limited transportation and communication conditions, the command of the leadership center sometimes seems to be out of reach, and it often takes several months to reach the destination. However, due to the failure of the Party's work in the white area and to completely "correct" the "wrong line" of the base area, the temporary central government began to turn its command center to the countryside. After the Provisional Central Committee and his group arrived in the Soviet area, they "excluded Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership, especially Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership over the Red Army." This situation lasted for a long time until the early stages of the Long March. For Mao Zedong, it was common sense that "the orders of the kings outside the country would not be accepted" in the past, but now it is not feasible. He must face the central government's instructions directly and there is no room for maneuver. Unlike the few people in the Party who violently confronted the wrong line with the central government and even embarked on the path of separatism, in order to maintain the central authority of the Party organization as a whole and ensure the unity and unity of the revolutionary team, Mao Zedong made major concessions, embodying an extremely great spirit of sacrifice, and became an important example of the whole Party in this regard.
(I) Focus on the overall interests
During this period, the Provisional Central Committee continued to criticize Mao Zedong's theory and practice on the Chinese revolutionary path, believing that he had obvious wrong tendencies and even made serious line mistakes. In this regard, Mao Zedong adhered to his correct propositions and fought against the misunderstanding of the Provisional Central Committee with a responsible attitude towards the Chinese revolution. However, in order to maintain the central authority of the party organization as a whole to the greatest extent possible, Mao Zedong did not take extreme measures, but continued to support the leadership of the Provisional Central Committee and silently endured various wrong criticisms of his own line.
In fact, the Provisional Central Committee has always been skeptical about Mao Zedong's idea of "armed separatism of workers and peasants", and often attributes revolutionary setbacks caused by his own wrong command or objective reasons to this idea. This phenomenon became more frequent and serious during the period before the establishment of the Central Soviet District Bureau to the Long March. As early as April 1931, at the first enlarged meeting of the Central Soviet District Bureau, some people criticized the front-line committee led by Mao Zedong for implementing the " Lisan Route ", believing that it had an adventurous marching color. At the Jiangnan Conference held in November 1931, Mao Zedong's correct line was fully criticized by the central delegation. Specifically, Mao Zedong insisted on starting from reality in terms of understanding the line, and was considered to have committed the "narrow empiricism" mistake; his policies on land reform were considered to have taken the wrong path of "rich peasant line"; his policy of "adhering to development" in base areas was considered to have implemented the "right-leaning conservative" line; his political principle of " Party commanding guns " in military construction was considered to have the color of "the party takes care of everything"; his flexible and changeable combat methods in military tactics were considered to be inheriting the tradition of "guerrillaism". At the Ningdu meeting held in November 1932, Mao Zedong was criticized more centrally. His strategy of "avoiding the real and attacking the virtual" was recognized as a "pure defense line", while the policy of "tempting the enemy deeper" was called right-leaning danger. What is more serious is that in order to implement the active offensive strategy, the Provisional Central Committee deeply criticized the correct approach with Comrade Mao Zedong as the main representative in the base area, and took the criticism of the so-called "Luo Ming Line" as an example, and punished a large number of comrades in Fujian and Jiangxi. It should be pointed out that during this period, Mao Zedong still insisted on his correct propositions in guerrilla war and land reform, and put forward reasonable opinions on the central government's relevant situation judgment and military strategy. However, since the members of the highest leadership who were influenced by the "left" ideas accounted for the absolute majority, Mao Zedong's protests and appeals did not receive enough attention. Mao Zedong put the overall interests first and for the maintenance of centralized and unified leadership, he withstood various wrong criticisms of his own line. As Li Weihan said, "Mao Zedong is a model of observing discipline" "He did not admit that he had made the so-called 'rich peasant line' mistake, but he obeyed the party's resolutions."
(II) Do not care about personal gains and losses
From the establishment of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China to the Long March of the Red Army, the temporary central government made a series of personnel adjustments, trying to weaken Mao Zedong's influence from an organizational perspective. In order to maintain unity and unity, Mao Zedong ignored his personal gains and losses and expressed his obedience to unreasonable arrangements.
First, obey the organizational and personnel arrangements of the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China Soviet Area. On January 15, 1931, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China Soviet Area was officially established. With the cancellation of the General Front Committee of the First Red Army, Mao Zedong's position as secretary no longer existed. Before Zhou Enlai arrived, Xiang Ying became the main person in charge. At the same time, the original Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Committee was also replaced by the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, with Xiang Ying as chairman, and Zhu De as vice chairman and commander-in-chief of the Red Front Army. After the adjustment of the highest leadership body of the Party and government in the Soviet area, Mao Zedong served as vice chairman, director of the General Political Department and general political commissar of the First Red Army, and in fact his power was weakened. By April of this year, a central delegation composed of Ren Bishi, Wang Jiaxiang, and Gu Zuolin came to the base and began to participate in the leadership work of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area. The establishment of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area further weakened Mao Zedong's power. "Mao was one of the members of the Central Bureau, but he could not command it, and his influence in Jiangxi began to weaken." Mao Zedong expressed his obedience to the decision of the Provisional Central Committee.
The second is to obey the organizational and personnel arrangements of the Gannan Conference. At the Jiangnan Conference held in January 1931, Mao Zedong's leadership in the Red Army was excluded. According to the instructions of the Provisional Central Committee, the meeting established the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and abolished the name of the commander-in-chief of the First Red Army, the general political commissar and the secretary of the general front committee. In this way, Mao Zedong was excluded from the highest leadership of the Red Army in the Central Soviet Area. Mao Zedong also followed the meeting decision.
The third is to obey the organizational and personnel arrangements of the First Congress of the Chinese Soviet Union. After the founding of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the Central Executive Committee chaired by Mao Zedong was nominally the supreme authority, but could not have the right to make decisions in the military. As the chairman of the People's Committee of a permanent institution, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China Soviet Area did not want Mao Zedong to be the one. Mao Zedong became an important member of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, but he was neither the chairman nor the vice chairman. His position as commander-in-chief and political commissar of the First Red Army was abolished, and therefore his military command was seriously restricted, so he did not express any objection to this. In August of the following year, due to wartime needs, the Provisional Central Committee appointed Mao Zedong as the General Political Commissar of the First Red Front Army, and he agreed.
Fourth, obey the organizational and personnel arrangements of the Ningdu meeting. According to relevant instructions from the Provisional Central Committee, the meeting decided to let Mao Zedong return to the rear to preside over the government's work, which was actually weakening Mao Zedong's command over the Red Army. On October 26, 1932, Zhou Enlai held the post of General Political Commissar of the First Front Army of Mao Zedong as the General Political Commissar of the First Front Army, and Mao Zedong's military leadership position was actually revoked. In January 1934, after the Second National Congress of the Chinese Soviet Republic, Mao Zedong was once again elected as Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, but no longer served as Chairman of the People's Committee. This is a further restriction of its power by the Provisional Central Committee, and Mao Zedong did not object to this.
As the main founder of the Party and the Red Army, and a military strategist with a deep understanding of the laws of China's revolutionary development in practice, in the face of the wrong criticism and punishment of the central government on its line, Mao Zedong always adhered to his correct proposition on the revolutionary path, and at the same time, he made major concessions for the sake of the overall situation, and accepted the unreasonable arrangements of himself by the organization. This is indeed commendable. In the 1930s, facing the command of the "left" wrong line, various activities that endangered the centralized and unified leadership of the Party once appeared within the Party, which seriously affected the development of the revolutionary cause and posed a great challenge to the authority of the Central Committee. Taking Luo Zhanglong and others as an example, "not opposing the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee from the correct standpoint, but attempting to split the party in the name of opposing the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee."In comparison, Mao Zedong's approach was great. He put collective interests first and was willing to sacrifice his personal status to maintain the unity and unity of the Party, becoming an important example of maintaining the authority of the central government through self-sacrifice.
3. From the Zunyi Conference to the eve of the founding of New China: The establishment of Mao Zedong's core leadership position within the Party has further maintained the authority of the Party Central Committee
In the history of the Party, the revolutionary cause has suffered severe setbacks repeatedly, and the weakening of the authority of the Party Central Committee was one of the important reasons, and this was related to the lack of the necessary leadership core at that time. The convening of the Zunyi Conference in 1935 was a turning point in the history of the Party. The first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core began to form, which was of extremely important significance for maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee. The emergence of the leadership core within the Party has provided the necessary conditions for maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee in organization. At the same time, Mao Zedong attached great importance to ideological construction and provided a sufficient theoretical basis for it.
(I) Become the core of leadership within the Party to provide organizational guarantees for safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee
"Any leadership collective must have a core, and leadership without a core is unreliable." The Central Committee must have authority, and the Party must not only strive to ensure the correctness of the basic program and the general policy, but also must have its own leadership core. Judging from the Party’s early revolutionary practices, neither Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, Li Lisan nor Wang Ming have the conditions to become the core of leadership, which to a certain extent weakens the effectiveness of centralized and unified leadership. The convening of the Zunyi Conference changed this situation. From this time until the founding of New China, Mao Zedong's core leadership position within the Party was established and consolidated, which played an important organizational guarantee role in safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee. This is not only in line with the common will of the whole party, but also related to Mao Zedong's own positive actions.
As we all know, there was a process for establishing and consolidating the core position of Mao Zedong's leadership within the Party. First, the Zunyi Conference initially established Mao Zedong’s core leadership position within the Party. At this meeting, Mao Zedong was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and the " Three-person Group " composed of Bogu , Li De and Zhou Enlai was cancelled. On the basis of Zhang Wentian replacing Bo Gu with general responsibility for the party, the Gouba Conference decided to form a new "three-man group" to be responsible for commanding the military. Based on the outstanding status of military issues and outstanding personal command ability, the above adjustments mean that the new central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core was initially formed. As the "Resolution on Several Historical Issues" stated, the Zunyi Conference "started the new leadership of the central government headed by Comrade Mao Zedong, which was the most historically significant transformation within the Chinese Party." Secondly, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party actually established Mao Zedong’s core leadership position within the Party. Mao Zedong initially established his leadership position in the Party Central Committee at the Zunyi Conference, but his core identity has not yet been widely recognized by the whole party. In a sense, whether it is Zhang Guotao's split behavior during the Long March, or Wang Ming's behavior of fighting against the Central Committee after returning to China, especially during Wuhan, is related to this. The Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China basically solved this problem. The Communist International instructions conveyed by Wang Jiaxiang clearly pointed out that the whole party should strengthen unity and unity with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core, and the relevant contradictions and differences "we must resolve them under the leadership of Mao Zedong in the leading organs." Wang Jiaxiang's report actually established Mao Zedong's core leadership position within the party in the name of the Communist International. Finally, the Seventh National Congress of the Party formally established Mao Zedong’s core leadership position within the Party. The Party Constitution revised by the Seventh National Congress of the Party stipulates that Mao Zedong Thought is the product of the combination of "Marxism-Leninist theory and the practice of the Chinese revolution", and the whole Party must regard it as a "pointer for all its work" without wavering. Listing Mao Zedong Thought together with Marxism-Leninism as the Party’s guiding ideology will help the whole Party achieve a high ideological unity.The meeting also decided that Mao Zedong would serve as the chairman of the Central Committee, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the Secretary of the Central Secretariat at the same time, firmly establishing his absolute core position in the new central leadership collective. From the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan to the eve of the founding of New China, it was a period of consolidation of Mao Zedong's core leadership position within the party, and during this period there were basically no special factors that changed this situation.
Establishing and consolidating the leadership core of the Party will help maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee. This has gradually become the consensus of the whole Party in revolutionary practice. However, this process is full of hardships, and Mao Zedong made important contributions to it. Faced with the extremely complex internal and external situation, Mao Zedong led the whole party to actively respond to the continuous attacks of reactionary forces at home and abroad, correctly coordinated the superior-lower relationship with the Communist International, properly handled various differences within the party, resolutely stopped sudden separatist activities, and made great efforts to form the party's own leadership core. From the Zunyi Conference, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, to the major victory of the new democratic revolution, the Communist Party of China finally established and consolidated Mao Zedong's core position in the party, established the backbone for uniting the whole party to continue carrying out revolutionary struggles, and also provided fundamental guarantees for winning the final victory of the revolutionary cause.
(II) Attach great importance to ideological construction provides a theoretical basis for maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee
Standing the authority of the Party Central Committee requires solving an ideological armed problem. Mao Zedong believed that "Mastering ideological education is the central link in uniting the whole party in carrying out great political struggle." Carry out revolutions in a country where peasants account for a large proportion of petty bourgeoisie, and guerrilla warfare in rural scattered environments is the main method of armed struggle. If the party's ideological construction is not effectively strengthened and the ideological understanding of the whole party is unified, the authority of the Party Central Committee will not be maintained. Mao Zedong has always attached great importance to safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee from an ideological level. In the early stage of the Agrarian Revolution War, the criticism of non-proletarian consciousness such as extreme democratization in the party, especially the establishment of the principles of ideological party building and political army building, is the best explanation. After the Zunyi Conference, in the process of becoming the core of the party's leadership, Mao Zedong inherited and developed the past practices of building the party with ideological ideas, providing a sufficient theoretical basis for safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee.
On the one hand, actively carry out ideological education for the majority of party members to firmly establish the awareness of safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee. Since the Zunyi Conference, Mao Zedong and the Party Central Committee have attached great importance to the ideological education of the Party member group and have continuously improved their understanding and awareness of safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee. First, we should pay attention to the party members' ideological and political education work, and clearly put forward the requirements to safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee. In the publication of the Communists, Mao Zedong put forward the requirement of "helping to build a national, mass, and fully consolidated Bolshevik Communist Party of China," and put forward strict requirements on the specific standards for qualified Communists, and regard supporting centralized and unified leadership as its core content, and helping new party members improve their awareness of safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee. The second is to organize the whole party to study Marxist theory in depth to further promote a high degree of unity at the ideological level. At the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong put forward the requirements of carrying out a learning movement to the whole party. "The task of universally and in-depth study of the theory of Marxism-Leninism is a major problem that needs to be solved urgently and must be focused on solving." In Mao Zedong's view, the greatest significance of this approach is to enable all Party members, especially the vast number of cadres, to learn to correctly apply the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method to analyze and solve problems, and to achieve the effective combination of scientific theory with specific practices. This is an important prerequisite for the whole Party to firmly establish a correct ideological line and then unify the will of the whole Party. During the Yan'an rectification campaign, the Party Central Committee formulated a special study plan, established a special leading group, fully tapped resources from all parties, actively explored various methods, and completed a profound Marxist theoretical education for the whole party, effectively overcame the long-standing interference of wrong tendencies within the party, and laid an important ideological foundation for safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee.
On the other hand, centralized and unified leadership will be elevated to the height of party spirit, and criticize all kinds of wrong ideas that undermine the authority of the Party Central Committee. Mao Zedong believed that Communist Party members should fully carry forward their personality, but they must abide by their party spirit and strive to become a unity of the two. In Mao Zedong's view, as a universal requirement for the whole party, party spirit contains rich connotations, which not only refers to the essential attributes of the proletariat and the cognitive attitude of combining theory with practice, but also includes the disciplinary requirement of obeying centralized and unified leadership, which links it with the maintenance of the authority of the Party Central Committee. In July 1941, the "Decision on Enhancement of Party Spirit" pointed out that in order to achieve the goal of "fully consolidated Bolshevikization", "the whole party members and all components of the Party are required to unite under the unified will, unified action and unified discipline to become an organized whole", and this is regarded as the main task of party spirit training. The decision clearly points out that there are various wrong tendencies such as unorganized state, individualism, independence, etc. that violate the party's spirit, and the whole party must resolutely fight against it, otherwise it will seriously weaken the centralized and unified leadership of the Party, damage the authority of the Party Central Committee, and cause serious failures in the revolutionary cause. In fact, the sectarianism mentioned before and the mountain doctrine mentioned later are also important manifestations of wrong tendencies. Obviously, elevating centralized and unified leadership to the height of party spirit will help consolidate the party’s organization and safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee.
As a supplement and cooperation to the ideological construction of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core has formulated and improved a series of party regulations and systems, and effectively safeguarded the authority of the Party Central Committee. The Party revised its constitution, determined the basic principles of democratic centralism, issued party regulations including the "Decision on the Work Rules and Discipline of the Central Committee", the "Decision on the Work Rules and Discipline of Party Departments at All Levels" and the "Decision on the Interim Organizational Structure of Party Committees at All Levels", and the "Decision on the Interim Organizational Structure of Party Committees at All Levels", which improved the system of requesting instructions and reporting, and effectively ensured centralized and unified leadership from the perspective of organizational discipline. It can be seen from this that Mao Zedong gradually became the core of the party's leadership after the Zunyi Conference, which indeed played a great role in safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee and provided important guarantees for the Party to lead the War of Resistance and even the entire democratic revolution toward victory.
4. The important contribution of Mao Zedong to safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee in the early days
The Communist Party of China has always focused on maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee, but it is not easy to do it in specific practice. The history of the Party in its childhood fully illustrates this point. With his extremely loyal attitude towards the cause of the Party and his continuous learning and exploration, Mao Zedong combined Marxism with the specific reality of the Chinese revolution, and on this basis, he created the correct approach to safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee and accumulated extremely rich experience. It still has important reference significance today.
First, the proletarian revolutionary party must have a high degree of organizational discipline, and the Party Central Committee must have authority. This is the fundamental guarantee for forming a strong cohesion. For the Communist Party of China, this is an extremely important principle of building the Party. It is a clear and political stand, and the most important thing is to do this.
For any proletarian revolutionary party in the world, to achieve its political ideals and goals, it must strengthen its own unity and form a strong cohesion in order to overcome all kinds of difficulties and setbacks. Looking at the entire history of the International Communist Movement, this is an objective law, which has long been proven by the revolutionary practice led by Marx, Engels and Lenin, and Mao Zedong is well aware of this principle. In the early revolutionary practice, Mao Zedong continued to explore the issue of how to enhance the cohesion of the Party and formed a series of important discussions. In the article "The Status of the Communist Party of China in the National War", Mao Zedong regarded strengthening the party's cohesion as the most basic condition for striving for victory in the War of Resistance and establishing a new China, and called for attention to the unity of the whole party, especially the Party Central Committee. With the advancement of the revolutionary process, Mao Zedong's understanding of this became more and more profound. On the eve of the Seventh National Congress of the Party, he realized the ideological transformation from "unity as one person" to "unity as a harmonious family".Although the specific statements are different, the basic goal remains unchanged, which is to enhance the cohesion of the Party. Mao Zedong's struggle for Zhang Guotao during the Long March is the best example in this regard. Based on the early efforts, the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China finally achieved a high degree of unity and unity of the whole party, and the cohesion of the party reached an unprecedented height.
To form a strong cohesion of the Party, we must pay attention to a high degree of organizational discipline and maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee. Therefore, the above-mentioned unity is conditional, and Mao Zedong is very clear about this. In "On the United Government", he clearly pointed out the necessity of organizational discipline to unity, and advocated that "all the strength of our party should be united strongly under the principles of democratic centralism of organization and discipline. No matter what comrades, as long as he is willing to obey the party's program, party constitution and party resolutions, we must unite with him." In other words, the proletarian revolutionary party needs to strengthen its own cohesion, but this unity is not based on unprincipled accommodation to wrong tendencies, but must follow the organizational principles and political discipline of democratic centralism, maintain a high degree of consistency with the leadership of the Party Central Committee, and maintain its authority. As Mao Zedong said in his report on the dissolution of the Communist International, "all comrades in the Party must unite around the central government, and any act of undermining unity is a sin." Mao Zedong's words revealed the relationship between forming a strong cohesion, high degree of organizational discipline and safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee, and explained the importance of strengthening the unity and unity of the Party. Based on this relationship, Mao Zedong resolutely fought against acts within the party that seriously violated organizational discipline and undermined the authority of the Party Central Committee, such as opposing Zhang Guotao's behavior of splitting the party and criticizing Wang Ming's behavior of disobeying the central leadership when he was in Wuhan, which provided important guarantees for uniting the whole party to win the victory of the democratic revolution.
Second, the proletarian revolutionary party must adhere to the mass line and conduct good investigation and research. This is an important basis for achieving the information from top to top.
In the process of leading the people to carry out revolutionary struggle, it is not easy for the Party Central Committee to convey its own will and orders to the grassroots level. It is key to integrating theory with practice and ensuring the scientific nature of the line itself. Mao Zedong set an example for the whole party and made important contributions in this regard.
To achieve the centralized and unified leadership of the Party, we must make the top and bottom line, and ensure that the Party’s correct line and policies are timely transmitted to organizations at all levels, and are consciously followed by the majority of Party members. This is the inherent provision of the Party’s political and organizational discipline, and it is also a realistic requirement of the revolutionary struggle. The first charter of the Party clearly stipulates: "All members of the Party must absolutely obey the resolutions of the National Congress and the Central Executive Committee." However, in the early revolutionary practice, some local party organizations did not pay attention to this, and the discipline was scattered, disrespectful, and failure to implement central orders and instructions often occurred. Chen Duxiu criticized this at the Third National Congress of the Party. Mao Zedong strictly abides by the Party’s discipline and resolutely implements the correct line of the Central Committee, which can be seen in his implementation of the relevant spirit of the 87th Session and the Sixth National Congress of the Party. After becoming the core of the party's leadership, Mao Zedong consistently firmly obeyed the central government's major decisions. In the early days of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Zedong resolutely rushed to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek despite his personal safety, which is the best example in this regard.
Adhere to the centralized and unified leadership of the Party and safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee, we must ensure the correctness of the Party’s line, principles and policies. This is an important prerequisite for implementing them. To achieve this, the Party must adhere to the mass line and conduct good investigation and research. Mao Zedong is a model in this regard. In the early revolutionary practice of the Party, the reason why party organizations and their members in some places resisted the central government's instructions and orders was mainly because the latter itself had major problems, especially the continuous "left" and right tendencies caused serious troubles to the whole Party and caused dissatisfaction among many comrades in the Party. This wrong line will continue to appear, the main reason is that it has not followed the mass line, lacks investigation and research, and fails to correctly grasp the reality of the revolution."Comrade Mao Zedong has been promoting and implementing investigations and research on objective social situations since he participated in the communist movement and founded our party." From the founding of the Party to the eve of the founding of New China, from "Analysis of All Classes in Chinese Society" to "Opposing Booksism", Mao Zedong successfully used investigations and research to clarify the basic issues of "what is a new democratic revolution and how to carry out a new democratic revolution". The correct line, principles and policies and the subsequent victory effectively ensured the centralized and unified leadership of the Party, and greatly enhanced the authority of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core. There is another meaning to conduct investigations and research in depth in the masses, that is, it will help the Party Central Committee to timely grasp the problems existing in local organizations at all levels in the process of implementing the correct line. For acts of intentional disobedience and malicious resistance, they must be dealt with in accordance with party regulations on the basis of criticism and education, and urge them to correct their mistakes immediately and support centralized and unified leadership, which is also very important for maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee.
Third, the proletarian revolutionary parties should carry out criticism and self-criticism, and uphold the truth with the spirit of courage to correct mistakes. This is a necessary condition for realizing centralized and unified leadership.
For proletarian revolutionary parties, acknowledging their own problems and correcting them in a timely manner will not only not or even enhance the authority of the Party Central Committee and help maintain the centralized and unified leadership of the Party. As Lenin said, "Publicly admitting mistakes, exposing the causes of mistakes, analyzing the environment that produces mistakes, and carefully discussing the methods to correct mistakes - this is the symbol of a solemn party."
In early revolutionary practice, unlike the practice of "left" dogmatists, Mao Zedong was brave enough to correct mistakes and uphold the truth, which became an important example in this regard. At the beginning of its founding, the Communist Party of China was able to face up to its own problems. This is an indisputable fact. The self-correction of the 87th Conference after the failure of the Great Revolution is a good example. This move safeguarded the image and leadership position of the Party Central Committee to the greatest extent. However, the situation gradually changed, and three consecutive "left" thoughts dominated the party. At this time, the central government's attitude towards the wrong ones was deviated. In particular, the dogmatists represented by Wang Ming resolutely refused to admit their own mistakes, but instead adopted the method of "cruel struggle and ruthless strike" to suppress dissenters. In the end, the authority of the Party Central Committee was damaged due to the serious setbacks in the revolutionary cause. In contrast, Mao Zedong dared to admit and worked hard to correct his mistakes. Before becoming the core of the party's leadership, while safeguarding the overall interests of the party, Mao Zedong insisted on fighting against the wrong line and even lost his leadership positions in the party and the Red Army. With the establishment of the core position of leadership within the Party, Mao Zedong's role in this regard has become more obvious. Faced with the serious harm of the "left" dogmatic mistakes, the Zunyi Conference not only saved the Party and the revolutionary cause at a critical moment, but also effectively safeguarded the leadership of the Party Central Committee. Mao Zedong made an indelible contribution in this regard.
In terms of how to correct errors within the Party, Mao Zedong pioneered ways of criticizing and self-criticism. This attitude and spirit of correctly understanding and handling his own problems not only did not weaken the Party’s prestige, but instead more effectively safeguarded the authority of the Party Central Committee. To safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee, we must criticize and educate all kinds of mistakes within the Party, especially words and deeds that seriously damage centralized and unified leadership. "Criticism within the Party is a weapon to strengthen the Party's organization and increase the Party's combat effectiveness." Mao Zedong understood this truth very early, and he repeatedly emphasized this during the political establishment of the Red Fourth Army. Compared to criticizing others, self-criticism is not so easy, but if you cannot do this, correcting mistakes within the party will inevitably lack practical results. What makes Mao Zedong valuable is that he advocates self-criticism and combines it with criticizing others. "Criticism is criticizing others, and self-criticism is criticizing yourself. Criticism and self-criticism are a whole and are indispensable, but as a leader, criticism of oneself is the main thing."This method of criticism and self-criticism was successfully used in the Yan'an Rectification Movement, and played an extremely important role in completely eliminating the influence of Wang Ming's dogmatic errors and effectively safeguarding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core.
To sum up, maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee is the political tradition of the Party and an important guarantee for the victory of China's democratic revolution. The Party was not enough in childhood. Mature, so the rules are not recognized by most party members and masses. As an important representative of the correct line within the party, Mao Zedong has been politically clear from the very beginning and firmly supported the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, which has demonstrated extraordinary willpower in this regard. What is even more commendable is that Mao Zedong did not stick to the rules, but combined scientific theory with concrete practice, boldly explored the correct way to safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee, and made important contributions to the victory of the new democratic revolution. Struggle, the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to achieve brilliant achievements in the cause of revolution, reform and construction, and the Chinese nation ushered in a great leap from standing up, becoming rich to becoming strong. On the basis of completing the second centenary goal, we will embark on a new journey of modernization construction, advance towards the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee. In the new development stage, we must deeply grasp the "two establishments" and resolutely implement the "two safeguards", and strengthen the education of party history, Draw valuable experience from it. Seriously studying Mao Zedong's successful experience in safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee in his early revolutionary practice, and deeply understanding Mao Zedong's great personality and firm will is of great significance to the whole party and the people of the whole country.
(Author: Zheng Zhiqiang, lecturer at the School of Marxism, Jiaxing University, Ph.D.; Source "Research on Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theory" 2022 Issue 5)
