(November 1951 – March 1952)



*These are important directives drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.





1


The fight against corruption and waste is truly a major matter for the entire Party. We have already instructed you to pay serious attention to this matter. We believe it is necessary to carry out a thorough Party-wide clean-up, completely expose all major, medium, and minor corruption cases, with the emphasis on cracking down on major grafters. As for small and medium grafters, we should adopt a policy of education and reform to prevent reoccurrence. Only in this way can we halt the extremely dangerous phenomenon of many Party members being corrupted by the bourgeoisie, overcome this situation which the Second Plenary Session long ago anticipated, and realize the session’s policy of preventing corruption. You are hereby requested to pay close attention to this.

(November 30, 1951)



2


We must pay serious attention to the fact that cadres are being corrupted by the bourgeoisie and committing serious acts of graft, focus on discovering, exposing, and punishing such acts, and treat this as a major struggle.

(November 30, 1951)



3


The struggle against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy should be regarded as equally important as the struggle to suppress counterrevolutionaries. It should be conducted in the same way, by mobilizing the broad masses, including the democratic parties and people from all walks of life; carried out with the same great fanfare; and handled with the same principle of leaders taking responsibility and personally engaging in the effort, calling for confessions and denunciations. For minor cases, criticism and education; for serious cases, dismissal, punishment, or sentencing to imprisonment (reform through labor), up to executing a group of the most serious grafters. Only thus can the problem be resolved.

(December 8, 1951)



4


In all cities across the country, first in large and medium-sized cities, relying on the working class, uniting the law-abiding bourgeoisie and other citizens, it is now extremely necessary and timely to launch a large-scale, resolute, and thorough struggle against the illegal bourgeoisie—opposing bribery, tax evasion, theft and fraud against state property, shoddy work and cutting corners, and stealing of economic intelligence—in coordination with the struggles against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy within the Party, government, army, and civilian institutions. In this struggle, Party organizations in all cities must make precise deployments of class and mass forces, must pay attention to exploiting contradictions, practicing division, uniting the many, and isolating the few, and rapidly form a "Five-Antis" united front in the course of the struggle. In a large city, this united front can be formed in about three weeks after the "Five-Antis" campaign is launched with force. Once this united front is formed, those reactionary capitalists guilty of the most heinous crimes will be isolated, and the state will have every reason to smoothly impose various necessary punishments on them, such as arrest, imprisonment, execution, confiscation, fines, and so on. All major cities across the country (including provincial capitals) should enter the "Five-Antis" battle in the first ten days of February. Please make your deployments quickly.

(January 26, 1952)



5


1. In the "Five-Antis" movement, the basic principles for dealing with industrial and commercial enterprises are: leniency for past cases, severity for future ones (for example, back taxes generally cover only 1951); leniency for the many, severity for the few; leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist; leniency for industry, severity for commerce; leniency for ordinary commerce, severity for speculative commerce. All Party committees at all levels are expected to grasp these principles during the "Five-Antis" campaign.

2. Under the objectives of the "Five-Antis," private industrial and commercial enterprises should be classified into five types: law-abiding, basically law-abiding, half-law-abiding and half-law-breaking, seriously law-breaking, and completely law-breaking. In large cities, the first three categories account for about 95 percent, and the latter two for about 5 percent. There are slight variations among large cities, but broadly similar. For medium-sized cities, the proportions differ considerably.

3. These five categories include both bourgeois and non-bourgeois independent handicraft enterprises and family commercial enterprises, but do not include street vendors. Large cities may temporarily defer dealing with vendors, but it is best to handle independent handicraft and family commercial enterprises. Medium-sized cities, during the "Five-Antis," would do well to handle both independent enterprises and vendors. Independent enterprises that do not employ workers or shop assistants (though some take on apprentices) are very numerous in China’s large and medium cities. Many among them are law-abiding, many are basically law-abiding but partially law-breaking (i.e., with minor tax evasion, so-called minor problems), and a few are half-law-abiding and half-law-breaking, with relatively large tax evasion. We must, in this "Five-Antis" campaign, both deal with a significant number of small capitalists and draw conclusions for them, while also striving, insofar as possible, to deal with the independent enterprises roughly equal in number to the small capitalists and draw conclusions for them. This is advantageous for the current "Five-Antis" and for future economic construction. These two types of enterprises generally have no major problems, and drawing conclusions for them is not difficult. Once conclusions are drawn, we will gain the support of the broad masses. However, if a particular city finds it more convenient to draw conclusions for other enterprises first and leave those for independent enterprises until later, that is also permissible.

4. Based on the actual conditions in the cities, we have decided to change the previously designated four types of enterprises into five, splitting the former law-abiding category into law-abiding and basically law-abiding, while leaving the other three unchanged. In Beijing, among the 50,000 industrial and commercial enterprises (including independent enterprises, but not vendors), law-abiding enterprises account for about 10 percent, basically law-abiding for about 60 percent, half-law-abiding and half-law-breaking for about 25 percent, seriously law-breaking for about 4 percent, and completely law-breaking for about 1 percent. Separating completely law-abiding enterprises from basically law-abiding ones that have minor problems, and treating those with less and slightly more tax evasion within the basically law-abiding group differently, can have a significant educational effect.

5. In some large and medium-sized cities, certain municipal Party committees have an extremely unclear understanding of the situation of various types of enterprises, lack clear strategic views on how to treat them differently, and have been slipshod in organizing and training trade union and government work teams (or inspection groups), thus hastily launching the "Five-Antis" and causing some confusion. These municipal committees are urged to pay attention and quickly overcome these problems. In addition, the inspection of law-breaking enterprises must be strictly controlled by the municipal Party committee and municipal government. No agency may send personnel to conduct inspections on its own, still less arbitrarily haul capitalists to offices for interrogation. Furthermore, whether in the "Three-Antis" or the "Five-Antis," the use of corporal punishment to extract confessions is prohibited, and strict precautions must be taken against suicides. Where they have occurred, measures to prevent them must be promptly enacted, to ensure that both campaigns develop on a sound path and achieve full victory.

6. For the time being, the "Three-Antis" and "Five-Antis" campaigns are not to be conducted in counties, districts, or townships. The Central Committee will issue a separate notice on when and how to conduct them in the future. In individual cases where trial "Five-Antis" campaigns have started at the county seat or trial "Three-Antis" campaigns at the district level, they must be strictly controlled and must not interfere with spring plowing or economic activities. Medium-sized cities should also not conduct the "Five-Antis" campaign all at once, but in batches, under strict control.

(March 5, 1952)



6


In the current "Five-Antis" struggle and thereafter, we must achieve the following objectives:

(1) Thoroughly ascertain the situation of private industry and commerce, in order to unite with and control the bourgeoisie and carry out planned national economy. Without a clear understanding of the situation, planned economy cannot be implemented.

(2) Clearly delineate the boundaries between the working class and the bourgeoisie, eliminate corruption and bureaucratic practices alienating the masses within trade unions, and root out the running dogs of the bourgeoisie in trade unions. Such running dogs, as well as intermediary elements wavering between labor and capital, exist in trade unions everywhere. In the struggle, we must educate and win over the intermediary elements, and expel those capitalist running dogs guilty of serious crimes.

(3) Reorganize the trade associations and chambers of commerce, expel from their leading bodies those who have committed all the "five poisons"[1] and others who have completely lost their prestige, and attract those who have performed relatively well in the "Five-Antis" campaign to join. Except for the completely law-breaking, all types of industrial and commercial enterprises should have representation.

(4) Help responsible members of the Democratic National Construction Association to reorganize the Association, expel those guilty of all the "five poisons" and those who have greatly disappointed the masses, add a batch of relatively good individuals, and make it a political group that can represent the legitimate interests of the bourgeoisie, primarily the industrial bourgeoisie, and educate the bourgeoisie in the principles of the Common Program and the "Five-Antis." Secret associations of various capitalist cliques, such as the "Thursday Dining Club"[2] and the like, should be dissolved.

(5) Eliminate the "five poisons," stamp out speculative commerce, make the entire bourgeoisie obey state laws and decrees, and run industrial and commercial enterprises beneficial to the national economy and the people’s livelihood. Within the scope defined by the state, develop private industry to the greatest extent possible (provided the capitalists are willing and conform to the Common Program), and gradually reduce private commerce. The state shall increase year by year its plans for ordering and guaranteeing the sale of private products, and progressively enhance planning for private industry and commerce. Redefine the profit margins for private capital, making it both feel there are profits to be gained and impossible to extract exorbitant profits.

(6) Abolish secret accounts, make financial affairs open, and gradually establish a system whereby workers and shop assistants supervise production and management.

(7) Recover the greater part of the economic losses suffered by the state and the people through back payments, refunds, fines, and confiscations.

(8) Establish Party branches among the workers and shop assistants in all large and medium-sized private enterprises and strengthen Party work there.

(March 23, 1952)







(Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. V, People’s Publishing House, 1st edition, April 1977, pp. 53–58)





Notes


[1] “Five poisons” refers to the five illegal activities of capitalists: bribery, tax evasion, theft and fraud against state property, shoddy work and cutting corners, and stealing of economic intelligence.

[2] “Thursday Dining Club” was a secret association of some capitalists in Chongqing that carried out a series of gravely illegal underground activities, which were exposed and banned during the “Five-Antis” movement.