The Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the CPC

The Plenum that was held in Qiaogou, Yan'an, from September 29 to November 6, 1938. It was attended by 12 members of the Central Committee, five alternate members of the Central Committee, and 38 people in charge of various departments of the Party Central Committee and various regions of the country. It was the most attended Plenum of the Central Committee since the Sixth Party Congress.

Wang Jiaxiang conveyed the instructions of the Communist International and Dimitrov's opinions. On behalf of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Mao Zedong made a political report entitled "On the New Stage" and a summary report on behalf of the Central Committee, putting forward the major proposition and task of "the Sinicization of Marxism" and calling on all Party comrades to study Marxist-Leninist theory and to be good at applying the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism and international experience to the particular circumstances of China. Zhang Wentian made a report on "The National United Front of Resistance against Japan and the Organization of the Party", Zhou Enlai made a report on the work of the Central Delegation, Zhu De made a report on the work of the Eighth Route Army, Xiang Ying made a report on the work of the New Fourth Army, Chen Yun made a report on the work of the youth, and Liu Shaoqi made a report on Party rules and regulations and Party law.

The Plenum adopted the "Political Resolutions of the Enlarged Sixth Plenary Session of the Communist Part of China", the "Decision of the Enlarged Sixth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China on the Provisional Organization of Party Committees at All Levels", the "Decision of the Enlarged Sixth Plenum of the CPC on the Rules and Discipline of the Work of the Central Committee", and the "Decision of the Enlarged Sixth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China on the Rules and Discipline of the Work of Party Departments at All Levels", the "Resolution on the Convening of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China"; also telegramed to the communist parties of various countries, to all the commanders of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, to the Northeast Volunteer Army and compatriots in the Northeast, and the "Letter to All the Generals and Comrades of the Communist Party of China and the Sixth Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" and other documents.

The Plenum once again stressed the need for the CPC to lead the people independently in the Anti-Japanese War. Criticizing the two erroneous tendencies of closed-doorism and surrenderism that existed in the Party on the issue of the united front. It stressed that the correct policy of the united front should have been both unified and independent.

Beside these, the Plenum decided to abolish the Yangtze River Bureau and set up the Southern Bureau and the Central Plains Bureau, with Zhou Enlai as Secretary of the Southern Bureau and Dong Biwu as Deputy Secretary; Liu Shaoqi as Secretary of the Central Plains Bureau. This ended Wang Ming's misguided leadership of Central China.

The Plenum correctly analyzed the situation of the Anti-Japanese War, set out the Party's tasks in the phase of compatibility, and carried out a comprehensive strategic planning for the realization of the Party's leadership of the Anti-Japanese War. It emphasized that the CPC must have independently led the people in the Anti-Japanese War, basically overcoming Wang Ming's right-leaning surrenderist error at the beginning of the war, unifying the Party's thinking, and laying the foundation for realizing the Party's leadership of the Anti-Japanese War politically, ideologically and organizationally.