The Historical Contributions of the Fourth National Congress of the CPC to Party Organizational Building

The Party’s strength comes from organization, and valuing organizational building is a glorious tradition and unique advantage of the Chinese Communist Party. From the day of its founding, our Party has attached great importance to organizational building, adopting a series of important resolutions and taking a series of major measures around strengthening the Party’s organizational building, continuously enhancing the organizational capacity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness of Party organizations at all levels. Among these, the Party’s Fourth National Congress, held in Shanghai from January 11 to 22, 1925, not only for the first time clearly raised the issues of the proletariat’s leadership in the democratic revolution and the worker-peasant alliance, but also placed great emphasis on strengthening the Party’s organizational building. It revised the Party Constitution, adopted resolutions on strengthening the Party’s organizational building, and through multiple channels and methods, continuously improved the Party’s organizational building, promoted the institutionalization and standardization of organizational work, and made important historical contributions to the Party’s organizational building and to pushing the Great Revolution forward.

党的力量来自组织，重视组织建设是中国共产党的光荣传统和独特优势。我们党从创建之日起就高度重视组织建设，围绕加强党的组织建设作出了一系列重要决议，采取了一系列重大举措，不断提升各级党组织的组织力、凝聚力和战斗力。其中，1925年1月11日至22日在上海召开的党的四大，不仅第一次明确提出了无产阶级在民主革命中的领导权和工农联盟问题，而且对加强党的组织建设问题非常重视，修改了党的章程，通过了加强党的组织建设的议决案，通过多种途径和方式，不断完善党的组织建设，推进组织工作的制度化、规范化，为党的组织建设和推动大革命继续向前发展作出了重要历史贡献。

In January 1924, with the convening of the First National Congress of the Kuomintang, the first KMT-CPC cooperation formally took shape. Under the joint efforts of both parties, the situation of the Great Revolution continued to rise. Alongside the victorious development of the Great Revolution, the strength of the Chinese Communist Party also grew and expanded, with the number of Party members increasing rapidly. By the time of the Party’s Fourth National Congress in January 1925, the number of Party members nationwide had reached 994, an increase of 574 from the 420 at the time of the Party’s Third National Congress, more than doubling. Yet compared with the increasingly high tide of the Great Revolution at that time, both the number of Party members and the organizational and leadership levels of Party organizations at all levels lagged noticeably behind, unable to meet the rising demands that the Great Revolution placed on Party members and Party organizations. How to strengthen the Party’s organizational building, raise the combat effectiveness of Party organizations at all levels, and promote the institutionalization and standardization of the organizational system, so as to meet the needs of the continuous development of the Great Revolution, became a major problem that urgently needed to be solved.

1924年1月，随着国民党一大的召开，国共第一次合作正式形成。在两党的共同努力下，大革命形势不断高涨。在大革命胜利发展的同时，中国共产党的力量也不断发展壮大，党员人数增加迅速。到1925年1月党的四大召开时，全国党员人数达到994人，比党的三大召开时的420人增加了574人，增长了1倍多。但与当时大革命形势的日益高涨相比，无论是党员的数量还是各级党组织的组织水平和领导水平，都存在明显滞后，无法适应大革命对党员和党组织日益提高的要求。如何加强党的组织建设，提高各级党组织的战斗力，推动组织体系建设的制度化、规范化，从而适应大革命形势不断发展的需要，成为亟须解决的一个重大问题。

At the Party’s Fourth National Congress, the attending delegates attached great importance to the Party’s organizational building and repeatedly stressed the importance of strengthening it. Everyone recognized that the organizational question was the most important question concerning the Party’s survival and development; if the issue of the Party’s organizational building were not taken seriously, the Chinese Communist Party could never achieve the current important goal of mobilizing the broad masses of the working and peasant classes and revolutionary masses to participate in the revolution (Resolution on the Question of Organization, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, CPC History Publishing House, 2014, p. 45). Starting from this understanding and combining it with some practical problems encountered in the course of the revolution, the Fourth Congress, after serious discussion, adopted the Resolution on the Question of Organization (hereinafter referred to as the Resolution). At the same time, it also voted to adopt the Second Revised Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution), which also made a series of new provisions concerning the Party’s organizational building, in order to promote the continuous development of the Party’s organizational building.

在党的四大上，与会代表对党的组织建设高度重视，多次强调加强党的组织建设的重要性。大家认识到，组织问题是关系党生存和发展的一个最重要的问题，如果不重视党的组织建设问题，中国共产党决不能实现动员广大工农阶级和革命群众起来参加革命这一当前的重要目标（《对于组织问题之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，中共党史出版社2014年版，第45页）。从这一认识出发，结合革命过程中遇到的一些实际问题，四大经过认真讨论通过了《对于组织问题之议决案》（以下简称《议决案》），同时还表决通过了《中国共产党第二次修正章程》（以下简称《章程》），《章程》中就党的组织建设也作出了一系列新的规定，以推动党的组织建设的不断发展。

Perfecting the Party’s Organizational System, Laying the Party’s Organizational Foundation

完善党的组织体系，奠定党的组织基础

The Party’s Fourth National Congress placed great emphasis on the Party’s organizational building, adopting a series of measures to continuously strengthen the construction of the Party’s organizational system. It established the branch as the Party’s basic-level organization, while also clarifying the specific scope of work and leadership methods of the branches, readjusting and reorganizing the organizational structure of the Party at all levels, and issuing the demand to expand the Party’s organization, effectively promoting the continuous improvement of the Party’s organizational system.

党的四大十分重视党的组织建设，采取一系列措施不断加强党的组织体系建设，确立支部为党的基层组织，同时明确了支部的具体工作范围与领导方式，调整重组了党的各级组织架构，并作出扩大党的组织的要求，有力促进了党的组织体系的不断完善。

Establishing the branch as the Party’s basic-level organization. The Party’s Fourth National Congress held that the Party’s basic organization should be the branch organization based on the unit of industry and institution (Resolution on the Question of Organization, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 46). To this end, the Constitution adopted by the Fourth Congress revised the previous provision on Party members forming a small group, clearly stipulating that wherever there were three or more Party members in villages, factories, schools, etc., a branch could be formed. This was more conducive to the growth of the Party’s basic-level organizations and to playing their role as combat fortresses. The Fourth National Congress of the CPC established the Party’s basic-level organization as the “branch,” a practice that continues to this day. At the same time, the Constitution also stipulated that when a branch had too many members, it could be divided into several small groups, each with one group leader appointed by the branch executive committee (Second Revised Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, pp. 48, 49). This was in fact a further refinement of the specific methods for internal organizational building within the branch, conducive to giving play to the combat fortress role of basic-level Party organizations and enhancing their combat effectiveness.

确立支部为党的基层组织。党的四大认为，党的基本组织应是以产业和机关为单位的支部组织（《对于组织问题之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第46页）。为此，四大通过的《章程》修改了过去关于党员成立一个小组的规定，明确规定各农村、工厂、学校等凡有党员3人以上就可以成立一个支部，这样更有利于党的基层组织的壮大，同时发挥其战斗堡垒作用。中共四大确立党的基层组织为“支部”，一直沿用至今。同时，《章程》还规定，当支部人数过多时，可以分为若干小组，设1名组长，由支部干事会指定（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第48页、第49页）。这实际上是对支部内部组织建设具体方法的进一步细化，有利于发挥基层党组织的战斗堡垒作用，提高其战斗力。

Clarifying the specific scope of work and leadership methods of the branches. The Resolution adopted by the Party’s Fourth National Congress further clarified the specific scope of work of the branches. The Resolution stressed that the scope of work of the branches should not be limited to educating and recruiting Party members; they should also organize various clubs, labor schools, mutual aid societies, etc., in order to mobilize people from all walks of life and gradually unite them to participate in the revolution (Resolution on the Question of Organization, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 46). Regarding the leadership methods of the branches, the Constitution stipulated that each branch should publicly elect one person to serve as secretary, or elect three people to form an executive committee, to lead the work of the branch in all aspects. At the same time, the Constitution also clearly stipulated that each Party branch should hold meetings at least once a week, each small group must also hold meetings at least once a week, and the plenary meeting of the branch should be held at least once a month (Second Revised Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, pp. 48–49, 50). These measures were conducive to enabling the broad masses of Party members to promptly understand the guiding principles and directives of the Party Central Committee and higher-level Party organizations, and to promptly report the work situation of each branch or small group to higher-level Party organizations, thereby promptly and correctly handling various problems arising in work and ensuring that work did not deviate from the central policies and guidelines. The Party’s Fourth National Congress also attached great importance to strengthening guidance over the work of each branch; the Resolution stipulated that experienced Party members should guide each branch in doing all kinds of work well (Resolution on the Question of Organization, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 46). These measures to strengthen basic-level organizational work provided a powerful organizational guarantee for advancing all the Party’s work, were conducive to the continuous growth and expansion of the strength of Party organizations at all levels, and further promoted the vigorous development of the Great Revolution.

明确支部的具体工作范围与领导方式。党的四大通过的《议决案》进一步明确了支部的具体工作范围。《议决案》强调，支部的工作范围不能仅限于教育和吸收党员，还要组织各种俱乐部、劳动学校、互助会等，以动员各界群众，使他们逐步团结起来参加革命（《对于组织问题之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第46页）。支部的领导方式方面，《章程》规定，每个支部公推1人担任书记，或者推举3人组成干事会，领导支部各方面的工作。同时，《章程》还明确规定各个党支部每周至少开会1次，各小组也必须每周至少开会1次，支部全体会议每月至少举行1次（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第48~49页、第50页）。这些举措有利于广大党员及时了解党中央和上级党组织的指示精神，及时向上级党组织汇报各支部或小组的工作情况，从而及时正确处理工作中出现的各种问题，确保工作不偏离中央的政策方针。党的四大还十分重视加强对各支部工作的指导，《议决案》规定，有经验的党员要指导各支部做好各项工作（《对于组织问题之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第46页）。这些加强基层组织工作的举措为推进党的各项工作提供了强有力的组织保证，有利于各级党组织力量的不断发展壮大，进一步推动了大革命的蓬勃发展。

Organizing various committees and Party groups. In order to strengthen the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership over all aspects of the Great Revolution under the situation of KMT-CPC cooperation and effectively enhance work effectiveness, the Constitution adopted by the Party’s Fourth National Congress clearly stipulated that local Party committees could organize various committees to handle various motions and special problems that arose temporarily in various localities (Second Revised Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 49). This provision had positive significance for Party organizations in various localities in strengthening work in all aspects. Under the guidance of this policy, Party organizations in various localities successively established military movement committees, workers’ movement committees, peasants’ movement committees, youth movement committees, women’s movement committees, etc., in order to strengthen leadership over work in the military, workers, peasants, young students, women’s movements, and so on. This undoubtedly expanded the Chinese Communist Party’s influence among mass movements of all walks of life, thereby promoting the growth of the Party’s organizational strength. At the same time, the Resolution also stipulated that Party groups should be organized within the Kuomintang and within various important political organizations, and efforts should be made to achieve a dominant position within them. Party groups must be jointly organized by Party organizations and Youth League organizations, and led by executive committees at various levels according to their nature (Resolution on the Question of Organization, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 46). Guided by this policy, Party groups were successively established in various localities to strengthen work in all aspects. For example, Party groups were established at the time in the Whampoa Military Academy and the Guangdong-Hong Kong Strike Committee. Among them, the Party group at the Whampoa Military Academy was led by Xiong Xiong [1]1 Xiong Xiong (1892–1927) was a CPC member and a political worker at the Whampoa Military Academy; he was executed by the Kuomintang in 1927. and others, promoting the development of the Party’s work within the Whampoa Military Academy.

组织各种委员会和党团。为加强在国共合作的局面下中国共产党对大革命各项工作的领导，切实增进工作成效，党的四大通过的《章程》明确规定党的地方委员会可以组织各种委员会，以处理各种议案及各地临时发生之特别问题（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第49页）。这一规定对各地党组织加强各方面的工作具有积极意义。在这一方针指导下，各地党组织纷纷建立军事运动委员会、职工运动委员会、农民运动委员会、青年运动委员会、妇女运动委员会等，以加强对军事、工人、农民、青年学生、妇女运动等工作的领导。这无疑扩大了中国共产党在各界群众运动中的影响力，进而推动了党组织力量的壮大。同时，《议决案》还规定，要在国民党中以及各种重要政治团体中组织党团，并努力在其中取得支配地位。党团必须由党组织与团组织联合组织，按其性质不同由各级执行委员会进行领导（《对于组织问题之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第46页）。在这一方针的指引下，各地纷纷建立党团，以加强各方面的工作。如当时在黄埔军校、省港罢工委员会中都成立了党团。其中黄埔军校党团由熊雄等人领导，推动了党在黄埔军校中各项工作的开展。

Emphasizing the expansion of the Party’s organization. The Fourth National Congress of the CPC placed special emphasis on “increasing the Party’s quantity,” establishing a correct mass viewpoint, thereby truly transforming our Party into a “Party of the masses.” To this end, in addition to simplifying the procedures for Party membership, the Fourth Congress also decided that, aside from Shanghai and Guangdong, special attention should be paid to the development of Party members in places such as Hunan. This was because these places had a large number of “pure” industrial workers, most of whom already possessed a preliminary communist consciousness and identification with the Party. In places where Party organizations had not yet been established, efforts should also be made to develop Party members and establish Party organizations at all levels (Resolution on the Question of Organization, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 46). This issued a call to the entire Party to expand Party organizations, focusing on recruiting large numbers of workers, peasants, students, and others into the Party organization, thereby laying an important foundation for the expansion of the Party organization. Under the guidance of this policy, the number of Party members grew rapidly after the Fourth Congress, increasing by more than two times within ten months to reach 3,470 (Anecdotes of the Fourth National Congress of the CPC, People’s Publishing House, 2015 edition, p. 54). By the time the Fifth National Congress of the CPC convened in April 1927, the total number of Party members nationwide had reached 57,967 (Report to the Fifth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fifth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, CPC History Publishing House, 2022 edition, p. 75).

重视扩大党的组织。党的四大特别强调“要扩大党的数量”，确立正确的群众观，从而把我们的党真正变成“群众的党”。为此，除了简化入党手续外，四大还决定除上海和广东之外，需要特别注意湖南等地党员的发展工作。因为这些地方“纯粹”的产业工人数量多，并且其中大多数已经具备了共产主义的初步觉悟和对党的认同。在尚未建立党组织的地方，也应努力发展党员，建立各级党组织（《对于组织问题之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第46页）。这样就向全党发出了扩大党组织的号召，着重吸收广大工人、农民、学生等加入党组织，从而为党组织的扩大奠定重要基础。在这一方针指导下，党的四大后党员人数增长迅速，10个月后已经增加了2倍多，达到3470人（《中共四大轶事》，人民出版社2015年版，第54页）。1927年4月党的五大召开时，全国党员人数已达57967人（《在中国共产党第五次全国代表大会上的报告》，《中国共产党第五次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，中共党史出版社2022年版，第75页）。

Improving the leadership system and effectively safeguarding the authority of the Central Committee.

完善领导体系，切实维护中央权威

Safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership is of vital importance to the Party’s cause. The Fourth Congress proposed that “the proletariat and all laboring masses, including the peasantry, must have their strong class organizations and their political party to guarantee the victory of the revolution, resist new reactionary forces, and carry out their own class revolution” (Resolution on the National Revolutionary Movement, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 8). Our Party gained a further understanding of improving the leadership system and safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee, and made improvements to the Party’s leadership system, thereby ensuring strong and effective Party leadership and strengthening guidance over work in various localities.

维护党中央权威和集中统一领导对党的事业至关重要。党的四大提出，“亦须无产阶级及农民等一切劳动群众有他们强固的阶级组织及其政党，才能够保障革命的胜利，并抵抗新的反动势力，进行自己阶级的革命”（《对于民族革命运动之议决案》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第8页）。我们党对完善领导体系、维护党中央权威有了进一步认识，对党的领导体系进行了完善，从而确保党的领导坚强有力，加强对各地工作的领导。

Improvements were made to the Party’s leadership system. The Fourth Congress elected a new Central Executive Committee, consisting of nine full members and five alternate members, with Chen Duxiu serving as General Secretary of the Central Committee and concurrently Director of the Central Organization Department. In the adopted Constitution, it was stipulated that the General Secretary was responsible for “managing the overall Party affairs of the nation” (Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 49). The Fourth Congress decided to establish the Central Organization Department to ensure effective guidance over Party organizations in various localities. The central task of the Central Organization Department was to guide local Party organizations and all practical revolutionary movements. It was also stipulated that the Central Organization Department should maintain close relations and provide earnest instructions to all district committees and local committees, to ensure the implementation of the organizational work resolved upon by the Congress and the Central Executive Committee, so that the organizational departments in various localities would suit the needs of the Party’s development (Work Plan for the Central Organization Department of the Communist Party of China, Important Documents of the Communist Party of China, Volume 5, People’s Publishing House, 2022 edition, p. 92). Furthermore, efforts should be made to “widely distribute the Party’s propaganda materials throughout the country,” propagate the Party’s theoretical propositions, and mobilize the broad masses to participate in the revolution.

对党的领导体系进行了完善。党的四大选出新的中央执行委员会，新当选的中央执行委员共9人，候补执行委员5人，陈独秀为中央总书记兼中央组织部主任。在通过的《章程》中，确定总书记负责“总理全国党务”（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第49页）。四大决定设立中央组织部，以确保对各地党组织实现行之有效的指导。中央组织部的中心工作是指导各地方党组织和一切实际革命运动。还规定，中央组织部对于各区委、地委均应有亲密的关系和恳切的指示，以确保执行大会及中央执行委员会所议决的组织方面的工作，使各地组织部适合于党的发展需要（《中共中央组织部工作进行计划》，《中国共产党重要文献汇编（第五卷）》，人民出版社2022年版，第92页）。此外，还要努力使“本党宣传品广布全国”，宣传党的理论主张，动员广大群众起来参加革命。

Adjusting the Party’s organizational structure. On the basis of attaching great importance to the construction of Party grassroots organizations, the Fourth Congress also adjusted the overall organizational structure of the Party, thereby continuously enhancing the combat effectiveness of Party organizations at all levels to meet the needs of the vigorous development of the Great Revolution. [2]2 The Great Revolution (1924–1927) refers to the first Kuomintang-Communist united front period, during which the National Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition against warlords. The Constitution simplified the Party’s organizational structure from the original five levels to four levels, adjusting it from “Central Executive Committee – District Executive Committee – Local Executive Committee – Local Branch – Party Group” to “Central Executive Committee – District Executive Committee – Local Executive Committee – Branch” (Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 49). The new organizational structure reduced intermediate links, simplified organizational procedures, and facilitated effective communication and the transmission of directives from top to bottom between the Party Central Committee and local Party organizations at all levels, which was conducive to the Central Committee strengthening its work guidance over local Party organizations at all levels.

调整党的组织架构。在高度重视党的基层组织建设的基础上，党的四大还对党的整体组织架构进行了调整，从而不断提高各级党组织的战斗力，以适应大革命形势蓬勃发展的需要。《章程》将党的组织架构从原来的5级简化为4级，即将“中央执行委员会—区执行委员会—地方执行委员会—地方支部—党小组”调整为“中央执行委员会—区执行委员会—地方执行委员会—支部”（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第49页）。新的组织架构减少了中间环节，简化了组织程序，更便于党中央与各级地方党组织的有效沟通与上传下达，有利于中央加强对各级地方党组织的工作指导。

Initially proposing the organizational principle of democratic centralism. The Fourth Congress clearly pointed out that the main task at that time was to gradually transform the spontaneous struggles of the masses into conscious struggles against imperialism and capitalism. To accomplish this task, it was necessary to implement “democratic centralism” to enforce strict Party discipline, ensuring that all Party members fully obeyed the leadership of their superiors, achieving unity from top to bottom and ensuring that orders were carried out without fail. This was in fact the embryonic form of the Party’s democratic centralism, embodying the fundamental requirements of democratic centralism, and laid the foundation for the Fifth Congress of the CPC to formally propose the organizational principle of democratic centralism.

初步提出民主集中制的组织原则。党的四大明确指出，当前的主要任务是使群众的自发斗争逐步转变为有觉悟地反对帝国主义、反对资本主义的斗争。为完成这一任务，必须实行“民主的集权主义”，以严肃党的纪律，使全体党员完全服从上级领导，确保上下一致，令行禁止。这实际上是党的民主集中制的雏形，体现了民主集中制的根本要求，为后来党的五大正式提出民主集中制的组织原则奠定了基础。

Perfecting various organizational procedures to ensure a strong and effective Party organizational system.

完善各项组织程序，确保党的组织体系坚强有力

The Fourth Congress also standardized and perfected various organizational procedures of the Party, ensuring that the Party’s organizational system could be connected from top to bottom, be strong and effective, continuously raise the level of Party organizational building, and better adapt to the continuous development of the Great Revolution.

党的四大还对党的各项组织程序进行了规范和完善，确保党的组织体系能够上下贯通、坚强有力，不断提高党组织建设的水平，更好地适应大革命形势的不断发展。

Standardizing the procedures for Party membership. To absorb as many outstanding workers, peasants, and others as possible into the Party and continuously expand the Party’s organization, the Fourth Congress revised and perfected the procedures for Party membership, and standardized and simplified the relevant regulations for admitting Party members, thereby laying the foundation for the growth and expansion of the Party organization. The Resolution adopted by the Fourth Congress held that some local practices for admitting Party members, such as in Guangdong where those preparing to join the Party had to go through a “ten-person group,” and in other places where it was stipulated that Party membership had to go through the Socialist Youth League, did not conform to the Party’s organizational principles. The Resolution pointed out that these methods of admission should be immediately revised, so that class-conscious workers, poor peasants, and other general revolutionary elements could directly join the Party, thereby promoting the continuous expansion of the Party organization (Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 48). To prevent a closed-door attitude in the development of Party members, the Constitution adopted by the Fourth Congress simplified the approval procedures for Party membership. The First Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China originally stipulated that Party membership required three procedures: approval by a group meeting, review by the local committee, and approval by the district committee (Important Documents of the Communist Party of China, Volume 3, People’s Publishing House, 2022 edition, p. 310). However, the Party Constitution adopted by the Fourth Congress simplified the membership procedures to two: after approval by a Party branch meeting, review and approval by the local committee sufficed (Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 48). This measure was undoubtedly beneficial for absorbing large numbers of the working class, small handicraftsmen, intellectuals, and peasants into the Party organization, promoting the continuous expansion of the Party organization. Regarding the procedures for Party members to withdraw from the Party, the Constitution stipulated that withdrawal required a decision by the local committee, rather than a decision by the district committee, which in effect also simplified the relevant procedures (Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 48). At the same time, the Constitution expanded the rights of probationary Party members. Originally, probationary Party members could only participate in group meetings; the new Constitution stipulated that probationary Party members had the right to participate in branch meetings. If necessary, they could also participate in local congresses, but they only had the right to speak, not the right to vote (Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 48).

规范党员入党程序。为尽量吸收表现突出的工人、农民等入党，不断扩大党的组织，党的四大对党员的入党程序进行了修改完善，并对吸收党员的相关规定进行了规范和简化，从而为党组织的发展壮大奠定了基础。四大通过的《议决案》认为，有些地方吸收党员的做法，如广东让准备加入党组织的党员要经过十人团，还有些地方规定党员要入党必须经过社会主义青年团等做法不符合党的组织原则。《议决案》指出，应即修改这些入党办法，使有阶级觉悟的工人、贫农等一般的革命分子直接入党，从而推动党组织的持续扩大（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第48页）。为防止发展党员过程中的关门主义，四大通过的《章程》简化了党员入党的审批程序。《中国共产党第一次修正章程》原来规定党员入党须经小组会议通过、地方委员会审查和区委员会批准三道程序（《中国共产党重要文献汇编（第三卷）》，人民出版社2022年版，第310页），而党的四大通过的党章则将入党程序简化为二道，即经党的支部会议通过后，地方委员会审查批准即可（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第48页）。这一举措无疑有利于大量吸收工人阶级、小手工业者、知识分子以及农民加入党组织，推动党组织的不断扩大。党员退党的程序方面，《章程》规定，党员退党须经过地方委员会决定，而不是须经过区委员会之决定，这实际上也简化了相关程序（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第48页）。同时，《章程》扩大了候补党员的权利，原来规定候补党员只能参加小组会议，新《章程》规定候补党员有参加支部会议的权利。如有必要，还可以参加地方大会，但只有发言权，没有表决权（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第48页）。

Perfecting the procedures for transferring Party membership organizational relations. The First Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, adopted at the Third National Congress of the CPC, did not contain explicit stipulations on the specific procedures for the transfer of Party organizational relations when Party members left their original branch and moved to a new branch due to work, study, or other reasons. This could easily cause confusion in organizational life, which was detrimental to the Party organization’s management of Party members and the exertion of their role. To this end, the Constitution of the Communist Party of China adopted at the Fourth National Congress of the CPC specially added relevant provisions, which relatively effectively resolved this issue. If a Party member wished to leave their original place of work or study, they must obtain the consent of the local Party organization and must report to the Party organization at the destination (The Second Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, Selected Archival Documents of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 51), thereby perfecting the specific procedures for transferring organizational relations.

完善党员组织关系接转程序。党的三大通过的《中国共产党第一次修正章程》对于党员因工作、求学等原因，离开原来的支部、转到新的支部的党组织接转的具体手续并没有明确规定。这容易造成组织生活的混乱，不利于党组织对党员的管理和党员作用的发挥。为此，党的四大通过的《党章》专门增加了相关规定，较为有效地解决了这一问题。党员若要离开原来的工作、学习地，必须经当地党组织的同意，并要向前往地的党组织报到（《中国共产党第二次修正章程》，《中国共产党第四次全国代表大会档案文献选编》，第51页），完善了组织关系接转的具体程序。

In summary, the Fourth National Congress of the CPC occupies an important position in the history of Party building, especially making significant contributions to the organizational building of the Party, and played an important role in the perfection of the Party’s organizational building and the development and growth of the Party organization. In this regard, the Party Central Committee pointed out at the time that recognizing the extreme importance of organizational issues was one of the major advances of the Fourth National Congress of the CPC (Central Circular No. 9 — Requesting Localities to Submit Organizational Reports to the Central Committee, Compilation of Important Documents of the Communist Party of China (Volume 5), p. 127). Cai Hesen once pointed out that after the Fourth National Congress of the CPC, the Party’s organizational work began to move onto the correct path (Outline of the Development of the History of the Communist Party of China, Collected Works of Cai Hesen (Volume 2), People’s Publishing House 2013 edition, p. 853). The Fourth National Congress of the CPC established the correct view of the masses, giving a clear direction to the “mass Party” proposed at the Second National Congress of the CPC, and the improvement and strengthening of the Party’s organizational work provided a powerful organizational guarantee for advancing all aspects of the Party’s work.

综上所述，党的四大在党的建设史上具有重要地位，尤其是在党的组织建设方面作出了重要贡献，对党的组织建设的完善和党组织的发展壮大起到了重要作用。对此，中共中央当时就指出，认识到组织问题极其重要，是中共四大的重大进步之一（《中央通告第九号——要各地向中央作组织报告》，《中国共产党重要文献汇编（第五卷）》，第127页）。蔡和森曾指出，中共四大后，党的组织工作开始走向正确的道路（《中国共产党史的发展（提纲）》，《蔡和森文集（下）》，人民出版社2013年版，第853页）。党的四大确立了正确的群众观，使党的二大提出的“群众党”有了明确指向，而党的组织工作的改善和加强，为推进党的各项工作提供了强有力的组织保证。

(Author: Li Chuanbing, Professor at the School of Marxism, Guizhou University, and Researcher at the High-End Think Tank for the “Study of the Mind” of Chinese Communists and the Advancement of the Great New Project of Party Building)

（作者：李传兵，系贵州大学马克思主义学院教授、中国共产党人“心学”与推进党的建设新的伟大工程高端智库研究员）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧