The Gutian Meeting
In late December 1929, the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Army of Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was held in Gutian, Shanghang County, Fujian Province. This was known as the Gutian Meeting.
At the meeting, Mao Zedong delivered a political report, Zhu De delivered a military report, and Chen Yi conveyed the message of the September letter from the Central Committee. The congress summarized the Party's experience accumulated in its attempts to correct various errors since the Red Army was established. It unified thinking inside the army and advocated that the Party and the army must be built on proletarian ideas.
The congress adopted a resolution drafted under Mao's direction, which identified various non-proletarian ideas circulating in the Party organization in the Fourth Red Army, their sources, and the methods of correcting them. The resolution emphasized the importance of reinforcing ideological education in the Party. It observed that "the Chinese Red Army is an armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution," and that the Party's absolute leadership over the army determined the army's nature, which was a fundamental principle. The document made it clear that in addition to fighting to destroy the enemy's military strength, the Red Army should take on such important tasks as organizing public communications, organizing the people, arming them, helping them establish revolutionary political power and setting up Party organizations. The resolution also defined the correct relationships between officers and soldiers and between soldiers and civilians, and detailed the correct policies toward the enemy.
The congress decided to abolish the Fourth Red Army's Military Committee, and elected 11 formal members to the Front Committee, including Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Lin Biao (1907-1971) and Tan Zhenlin (1902-1983), with Mao as secretary.
The Gutian Meeting was of special importance in the CPC's history. Gutian was a secluded hamlet in the mountains, but the meeting held there had far-reaching influence. It was not a high-level meeting convened by the CPC Central Committee, but a small one to solve specific problems, and its influence was Party-wide. It heralded the CPC's effort to explore a path of ideological education and building an army with political principles, and from the Gutian meeting on, the new people's army began to develop and expand.
古田会议
1929年12月下旬，中国工农红军第四军第九次党的代表大会在福建省上杭县古田镇召开，史称古田会议。会上，毛泽东作政治报告，朱德作军事报告，陈毅传达了中央九月指示信的精神。会议认真总结了红军创建以来中国共产党在同各种错误思想、错误倾向作斗争的过程中积累起来的丰富经验，统一了思想认识，提出了要用无产阶级思想进行军队和党的建设。
这次会议通过了毛泽东主持起草的《中国共产党红军第四军第九次代表大会决议案》（简称《古田会议决议》）。决议指出了红四军党内各种非无产阶级思想的表现、来源及纠正方法；着重强调加强党的思想建设的重要性，同时强调加强党的组织建设；阐明红军是一个“执行革命的政治任务的武装集团”，党对军队的绝对领导决定着军队的性质和面貌，这是红军建设的根本原则；规定红军除了要进行打仗消灭敌人的军事活动之外，还要担负起宣传群众、组织群众、武装群众、帮助群众建立革命政权以至于建立共产党的组织等项重大任务。决议还阐明了必须在军内外建立起正确的官兵、兵民关系，阐明了对待敌军应该采取的正确政策。会议决定取消红四军军委，选举毛泽东、朱德、陈毅、林彪、谭震林等11人为红四军前敌委员会正式委员，毛泽东任书记。
在中国共产党的百年历史上，古田会议具有罕见的奇特性。古田当时是一个偏僻的闽西小山乡，在此召开的一个会议却影响广泛；古田会议并非中共中央召开的高规格会议，只是为解决具体问题而召开的小规模会议，但其影响却是全党性的；古田会议探索出思想建党、政治建军的光辉道路，新型人民军队由此走上了发展壮大的历史征程。
