Central Committee’s Instructions Transmitting Deng Xiaoping’s[1] Report on the Three Meetings of the Party, Government, and Military in the Southwest Region
(November 30, 1951)

Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and to all Central Bureaus, with a request to forward to sub-bureaus and provincial, municipal, and district Party committees:
(1) Your telegram to us dated November 25 and the work priorities for 1952, which were sent earlier, have both been received. Your guidelines and arrangements are sound, and we fully agree with them.
(2) In addition to having earlier forwarded the Southwest Bureau’s 1952 work priorities for your reference, we are now also transmitting Comrade Xiaoping’s telegram for your reference. The matter of combating corruption and waste raised in the third item of this telegram is indeed a major issue for the entire Party. Since the Northeast Bureau exposed a large number of embezzlers, we have already instructed you to pay serious attention to this matter. We believe it is necessary to conduct a thorough cleanup across the entire Party, fully exposing all instances of corruption, whether large, medium, or small, with a focus on cracking down on major embezzlers. For medium and small embezzlers, the policy should be one of education and reform to prevent repeat offenses. Only in this way can we halt the extremely dangerous phenomenon of many Party members being corrupted by the bourgeoisie, overcome the situation long anticipated by the Second Plenary Session, and implement the session’s policy of preventing corruption. We earnestly request that you pay close attention to this.

Central Committee
November 30, 1951

[1] Deng Xiaoping was then serving as First Secretary of the Southwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the Southwest Military and Administrative Committee, and Political Commissar of the Southwest Military Region of the People’s Liberation Army.