Zunyi Conference
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Zunyi Conference was a 1935 meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The Communist Party of China had suffered great losses after it split from the Kuomintang in 1927 and became much more secretive under what was then called the White Terror. (For an example of this usage, see Ah Xiang at [1], writing "The horrendous acts committed by CCP would be termed the 'Red Terror', and those committed by KMT would be termed the 'White Terror.') Its leader succeeded Chen Duxiu who was then sacked by the Comintern for his disobedience. The CPC was unable to survive in the cities under the direction of Qin Bangxian (known as Bo Gu), who succeeded Wang Ming as leader of the CPC after Wang went to Moscow for medical treatment in 1931.
The headquarters and its senior leaders, including Bo Gu, Zhou Enlai and other members of the 28 Bolsheviks such as Zhang Wentian and Wang Jiaxiang, transferred to Soviet territory in Jiangxi, a CPC base in the countryside. With the support of the Comintern, Bo Gu and Otto Braun (called Li De in Chinese), the military advisor of the Comintern, took the military command from Mao Zedong, who was at that time the chairman of the Interim Central Soviet Government of China. Bo, Li and Zhou Enlai founded a three-men team to direct the war against Chiang Kai-shek's 5th "Suppression" on Soviet territory.
Under this team's command, the CPC Red Army abandoned its expert bushfighting and waged an all-out war against the KMT army. It failed because it was undermanned and poorly equipped compared to the German-trained and equipped KMT army. The heavy blow in 1934 led to a strategic diversion, later called the Long March, a descent into disorder without any initial plan or destination.
When the Red Army attempted to cross the Xiang River, it was besieged by KMT elite troops and suffered more than 40,000 casualties. Discontent and even desperation plagued the army. Nobody knew what his future was. At this time, Mao used his talent in alliance. contacting generals such as Zhu De, Peng Dehuai and Lin Biao who used to be loyal to him, and at the same time he disintegrated the camp of 28 Bolsheviks by convincing Wang Jiaxiang and Zhang Wentian that there would only be disaster were there no change. When secret actions took effects, now it was time for action.
In January 1935, after the Red Army took over the city of Zunyi, a town of military importance in Guizhou, Southwest China, an extended meeting of the politburo of the CPC was held on January 15th. The attendees at this three day conference included:
- Politburo members: Mao, Zhou, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Liu Shaoqi, Zhang Wentian, Bo Gu.
- Alternate politburo members: Wang Jiaxiang; Deng Fa, the notorious boss of the secret police for the CPC; Kai Feng (He Kequan), leader of CY.
- Generals: Liu Bocheng, Chief of Staff of Red Army; Li Fuchun, acting director of political department of Red Army (acting General Commissar); Lin Biao, commander of 1st Field Army ; Nie Rongzhen, Lin's commissar ; Peng Dehuai, commander of 3rd Field Army; Yang Shangkun, Peng's commissar and another member of 28 Bolsheviks; Dong Zhentang, commander of 5th Field Army; Li Zhouran, Dong's commissar.
- Secretariat and chief editor of the CPC newspaper, the Red Star Deng Xiaoping.
- Otto Braun and his interpreter Wu Xiuquan.
[edit] Conference agenda and speeches
The main agenda of this conference was to sum up the lessons from the anti 5th "suppression".
Bo Gu gave the first speech, lack in the taking blame for the defeat, instead he still defended for his policy for unknowing the clear and present danger facing his team.
Then Zhou expressed some repentance and apologies for his incompetence in military command and criticized Bo Gu and Braun as well, proposing that Mao should lead Red Army because he was the only hope to lead others to break away from this desperate situation. Zhou's speech gave Mao and his supporters a golden opportunity.
Then Zhang Wentian announced his defection from the 28 Bolsheviks camp, criticizing Bo Gu and his leftism, although Zhang himself had been an advocate of leftism.
In his long speech Mao pointed out the fundamental military mistakes made by Bo Gu and Otto Braun and implied now it was time for change. Mao's supporters suggested there be a reshuffle of both military and party leadership.
Under the principle of democracy for majority, the secretariat of the Central Committee and Central Revolution & Military Committee of CPC were reelected. The three-man team's command over the military was discharged and replaced by a new three-man team comprising Mao, Zhou and Wang Jiaxiang.
Bo Gu's title of General Secretary of CPC was replaced by Zhang Wentian as a reward for his defection.
But with Mao back in the field he was expert in and had so many powerful supporters, Mao won his status as the paramount leader step by step. Lucky for Zhou, because as an old CPC member, unlike Bo Gu, who just came back from Moscow and was arrogant and immature, Zhou had good relations with many senior leaders and was smooth and slick, that was the secret for his survival in rounds of the power struggle.
After the Zunyi Conference, CPC turned away from the 28 Bolsheviks' leftism and extremism and adopted Mao's and his supporters' way which was more flexible and compatible with the reality of China. The Red Army regained its military power, survived and flourished in Yan'an and ultimately defeated the KMT by sticking with its guerrilla strategy.
More importantly, in this conference CPC walked out of the shadow of the Comintern and did this with its own will for the first time. It could be seen as a victory for those old CPC members who had their roots in China and, on the contrary, it was a great loss for those CPC members such as the 28 Bolsheviks who had studied in Moscow and had been trained by the Comintern and the Soviet Union and could be regarded as proteges or agents of Comintern accordingly.
After the Zunyi Conference, the influence and involvement of the Comintern in CPC affairs was greatly reduced. Thus Mao, who used to be an independent Chinese revolutionist in the first place, and skeptical of foreign masters, could spare no effort to lead Chinese revolution and set up his cult in a free way.
