January 15–17, 1935

The CPC Central Committee’s Political Bureau holds an enlarged meeting in Zunyi, Guizhou, to focus on military and organizational issues of decisive importance at the time. The meeting co-opts Mao Zedong as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee’s Political Bureau, entrusts Zhang Wentian to draft the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Reviewing the Battle against the Fifth Encirclement and Suppression Campaign, and abolishes the three-man leadership team established before the Long March. Soon after the meeting, on the way to Zhaxi in Yunnan, the Standing Committee of the Central Committee’s Political Bureau decides that Zhang Wentian will take on overall responsibility of the Central Committee in place of Bo Gu and Mao Zedong will help Zhou Enlai command the military. Later, a three-member group consisting of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang is established to take charge of the military operations of the whole military. The Zunyi Meeting is a life-or-death turning point in the Party’s history. The meeting is held at a historical juncture when the Red Army fails in the Fifth Counter-Campaign against Encirclement and Suppression and suffers serious setbacks at the beginning of the Long March. The meeting in effect establishes the leadership of Mao Zedong in the Party Central Committee and the Red Army. It begins to establish the leadership of the correct Marxist line represented by Mao Zedong in the Party Central Committee and to form the first generation of the central collective leadership with Mao Zedong at the core. The meeting opens a new stage for the Party to independently solve the practical problems of the Chinese revolution, and it saves the Party, the Red Army and the Chinese revolution at the most critical moment.

Source From: CHRONICLE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA (JULY 1921–JUNE 2021), by Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China