Source: China Military Network-People's Liberation Army Daily Author: Li Tao

Relive the historical context of the military soul

■李涛

On the eve of the 95 th anniversary of the Gutian Conference and the 10 th anniversary of the All-Army Political Work Conference of the Gutian Army, the People's Publishing House officially published the book "The Party Commands the Gun -- The Road to the Casting of the Army's Soul," which I have compiled over the course of nearly 10 years on the basis of many years of studying the Gutian Conference.

The principle of the party's absolute leadership over the armed forces, that is, the principle of the party commanding the gun, is an important guarantee for the CPC to lead the Chinese people to win a series of victories in revolution, construction, and reform, and is the foundation of our army and the soul of a strong army. At the end of 1929, the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Army of the Red Army of the Communist Party of China held in Shanghang Gutian, Fujian Province, that is, the Gutian Conference that shines in the annals of history, for the first time in the form of a party resolution, clarified the party's absolute leadership over the army, which is the eternal military soul, and became an important milestone in the history of the development of our party and our army.

The principle of the party's command of the gun was not copied from books, nor was it copied from other countries, and the process of establishing it, that is, the road to forging the soul of the army, was by no means smooth sailing and achieved overnight, but was obtained through great hardships and at a huge cost. As President Xi Jinping pointed out at the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army, "the fundamental principle and system of the party's absolute leadership over the army originated in the Nanchang Uprising, was laid on the basis of the reorganization of Sanwan, and was finalized at the Gutian Conference." In order to sort out this complex historical context, we must not simply write about the Gutian Conference, but must describe it in the grand historical background of the Chinese revolution and the founding and development of the people's army.

Beginning with the failure of the Great Revolution, this book tells the story of how the Chinese Communists made arduous explorations on how to overcome non-proletarian ideology and build a new type of people's army under the leadership of the Party from the Nanchang Uprising in August 1927 to the Gutian Conference in December 1929. The content not only involves several important events in the history of the party and the military, such as the reorganization of Sanwan, the establishment of the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area and the struggle against "meeting and suppression", the march into southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, the battle of Dabaidi, the battle of Changlingzhai, the battle of Longyan, the battle of Shanghang, the attack on the Dongjiang River, and the rectification and training of Xinquan; It also involved many important meetings and documents, such as the Bailu Conference, the Luofuzhang Conference, the Hulei Conference, the Baisha Conference, the "First National Congress" of the Communist Party of China in western Fujian and the "Seventh", "Eighth" and "Ninth National Congress" of the Red Fourth Army Party, as well as the "February Letter", "August Letter" and "September Letter" of the Central Committee, as well as the "Resolution of the Gutian Conference" and "The Spark of a Spark Can Fire the Plain". I have adopted the method of taking time and events as the weft, and using the techniques of combining history and theory with narrative and discussion to narrate, in an attempt to depict a complete historical picture of the soul of the army for the readers, so that readers can fully understand the difficult process of establishing the principle of the party commanding the gun, and deeply understand the connotation and requirements of the principle of the party commanding the gun. At the same time, I also try to enlighten the readers of the fearless revolutionary spirit and indomitable will of the Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong to bring the spark and hope of the Chinese revolution to the officers and men of the Red Army in the stormy years.

A historical work must be built on the basis of objective truth. To do this, it is necessary to calm down, consult the original archival documents, and carry out field research in the field to ensure that every word is historical and evidence-based. I first came up with the idea for this book in 2014. In the summer of that year, I went to Longyan, Yongding, Gutian, Xinquan and other places, visited the old site of the Gutian Conference, the Linjiang Tower in Shanghang, the Wenchang Pavilion in Jiaoyang, the former site of the Xinquan Rectification Training, and the Memorial Hall of the Gutian Conference. Then, on the basis of a large number of archival materials, I began to write the book. However, after basically completing the first draft of more than 200,000 words, I still felt the need to go to the field again, firstly, to verify the historical accuracy of what I had written, and secondly, to learn more historical details and further enrich the content of the work. So, at the end of 2020, I went to the old revolutionary base area in southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, followed the main footprints of the Red Fourth Army in 1929, walked many cities, and visited the Wangyun Grass Room, the Dabaidi Battle Site, and the former site of the Agrarian Revolutionary Cadre Training School. I am glad that I have learned a lot from this trip. Therefore, I made major revisions to the first draft, adding subsections such as "Exploration and Innovation of the Agrarian Revolutionary Political Program" and "Mao Zedong's Work During the Recuperation Period", and supplemented the construction of the Donggu Revolutionary Base Area, the propaganda work carried out by the Red Fourth Army during the recuperation in Changting, and Mao Zedong's investigation and research during the Xinquan training period, and finally formed a work of nearly 300,000 words in 10 chapters.

A historian once said, "If history is separated from the details, it will always remind people of the human skeleton in the museum." "When creating this work, I tried to focus on the excavation of details in the grand historical background, shorten the distance with readers in a down-to-earth way, tell the story of the military soul, and strive to move people with real details and infect people with warm language. Of the more than 120 delegates attending the Gutian Conference, only more than 80 left their names, and less than half of them eventually witnessed the birth of New China. By looking through the biographies, chronographies, memoirs, and commemorative articles of these witnesses, I found the wonderful stories behind many historical events and wrote them into the book. For example, the book tells about the main force of the Red Fourth Army after going down to Jinggangshan, suffering consecutive defeats in the southern Jiangxi region, and Mao Zedong, Zhu De and others were in danger several times. During the battle, Zhu De's newlywed wife Wu Ruolan was wounded and captured, and the murderous enemy cut off her head and hung it in the Ganzhou City Tower for public display. At that time, Wu Ruolan was only 26 years old and did not leave a photo of herself in her life. Zhu De was devastated and has been a lover of orchids ever since. There are many more such detailed descriptions in this book, such as Zeng Zhi's memories of Mao Zedong's "begging" with him on the way to southern Jiangxi, and the villagers of Sujiapo telling about Mao Zedong's local recuperation. These vivid and vivid real stories not only have historical details, but also the temperature of human nature, which can allow readers to follow the fate of historical figures and carry out deep thinking about history, which has a certain impact and appeal.

Only by taking history as a mirror can we create the future. This book reviews the extremely tortuous and incomparably arduous historical trajectory forged by the military soul more than 90 years ago, and feels that in the face of the key issues of the construction of the party and the Red Army, the proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation have always adhered to their original aspiration and mission, put the party's cause first, put the interests of the country and the nation first, and blaze new trails and revolutionize themselves in accordance with the needs of the times, history, and the people, so as to ensure that the people's army will always grow and grow under the leadership of the party and advance from victory to victory. It is hoped that this work can help more officers and soldiers to gain an in-depth understanding of the historical process of forging the military soul of the party's command of the gun, so as to further condense the will to unite as one and strive to strengthen the army.