Gutian Congress

On behalf of the Central Committee in September 1929, Zhou Enlai wrote a letter to the 4th Red Army affirming Mao Zedong's view of an armed division composed of workers and peasants.

"[2]: 178  It described the Red Army's basic tasks as "1) mobilizing mass struggle, implementing the agrarian revolution, and establishing the soviet regime, 2) implementing guerilla warfare, arming the peasants, expanding its own organization, and 3) expanding the guerilla's territory and political influence throughout the entire country.

[2]: 321  The Resolution also called for the criticism of what was seen as excessive democratic deliberation and discussion in the fighting force ("ultra-democracy"), preferring democratic centralism whereby the minority agreed to abide by the decisions of the majority, lower levels unquestioningly implemented decisions made by the leadership, and that mistaken ideas must be "corrected through ideological criticism.

[2]: 307 Historian Gao Hua considered the Gutian Conference as crucial in establishing the conditions that allowed for Mao's authority over the Jiangxi Soviet area, namely the Central Committee's explicit support.

[1]: 279–280  Xi reaffirmed the principle that "the Party commands the Gun" and highlighted the significance of political work in military development.