Central Notice on Issuing the “Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Implementing Streamlined Armed Forces and Administrative Organs, Increasing Production and Practicing Economy, and Combating Corruption, Wastefulness, and Bureaucracy,” Together with Mao Zedong’s Annotations and Revisions to the Draft Decision [1] (December 1–2, 1951)  I. To the heads of all departments of the CPC Central Committee and the CMC; to the Party Groups of the Central People’s Government; to the various Central Bureaus and Sub-bureaus, with onward transmission to the provincial, municipal, and regional Party committees; and to the major military regions, together with transmission to the provincial military region Party committees and the Volunteer Army Party committee:  We hereby forward to you one copy of the CPC Central Committee’s Decision on implementing streamlined armed forces and administrative organs, increasing production and practicing economy, and combating corruption, wastefulness, and bureaucracy.
You are requested to carry out this decision conscientiously.
With regard to the scope of cadres who should read this decision, in accordance with Item 5 of the decision itself [2], please ensure that reading and dissemination are properly organized.
In the case of the Volunteer Army, collective study sessions should be arranged by the Volunteer Army Command at an appropriate time, rather than simply circulating the document downward.
Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript on December 1, 1951, by the Central Authorities.

II.
Zhou [3]: Please have two clean copies typed up again from this document—one for your records and one, together with the original, to be returned to me for another review.
When typing the clean copy, please proofread carefully to avoid errors.
Mao Zedong, December 1. III.
This document has now been revised for the second time; some changes were made by me, while others reflect the suggestions of various comrades.
Please consider them carefully.
Type up two more clean copies (correcting any errors), one to be sent by telegram to localities, and the other to be printed and distributed to all central-level units and to each member and alternate member of the CPC Central Committee, all to be handed over to Shang Kun [4] for processing.
I originally revised one copy of the draft, and there were six copies amended by various comrades—all of which have been returned to you except Lin Biao’s [—], all of which are to be destroyed.
The original drafts first circulated among the comrades should also be collected and destroyed.
Printed from the manuscript on December 2 by Mao Zedong.

IV.
The primary focus of this plan is to mobilize every possible resource to finance the development of heavy industry and the defense industry.
The year 1952 marks the final year of our three-year preparatory period.
Beginning in 1953, we will embark on large-scale economic construction, aiming to complete China’s industrialization within twenty years.
Of course, achieving industrialization entails not only developing heavy and defense industries but also establishing all necessary light industries.
To realize national industrialization, it is essential to develop agriculture and gradually advance its socialization.
However, what is most important at present—and what can drive progress in both light industry and agriculture—is the development of heavy and defense industries.
Building these industries requires substantial capital, and the only reliable avenue for securing such funds is through increased production and thrift.
This principle must be clearly understood by all Party members.
Therefore, in October 1951, the Central Committee convened an enlarged Politburo meeting to adopt this policy, which was subsequently approved by the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference between October and November 1 of the same year.
It is earnestly hoped that the various departments of the CPC Central Committee and the CMC, the Party groups of the Central People’s Government and people’s organizations, the Central Bureaus, Sub-bureaus, provincial, municipal, and regional Party committees, as well as the corresponding military region Party committees, government Party groups, and people’s organization Party groups, will lead the entire Party, the armed forces, and the people nationwide in launching a patriotic campaign to increase production and practice economy, transforming it into a truly mass movement and striving to realize the aforementioned plan.
It must be recognized that this policy is not passive; on the contrary, it carries profound positive significance.
It ensures both the victory in the Korean War and the continued stability of domestic prices.
It serves as a means to accumulate capital, gain experience, and accelerate national economic development.
Moreover, it is a measure to strengthen Party discipline, improve work efficiency, and change social mores.
In short,

it is a policy that will propel our country forward comprehensively in the political, military, economic, and cultural spheres, laying a solid foundation for future great undertakings.
V. Since we took control of the cities two to three years ago, serious cases of corruption have continued to occur, demonstrating that the Second Plenary Session of the CPC in the spring of 1949 rightly emphasized the inevitability of bourgeois influence infiltrating the Party and the urgent need to prevent and overcome this grave danger.
Now is the critical moment for the entire Party to mobilize and implement this resolution effectively.
Failure to do so would constitute a grave error.
A warning must be issued to all Party members engaged in state affairs, Party work, or activities within people’s organizations: exploiting one’s official position to engage in corruption or waste constitutes a serious criminal offense.
The Central People’s Government will soon promulgate regulations punishing corruption and wasting of public resources.
All levels of leading bodies must, following the example set by the Anti-Counterrevolutionary Campaign, launch extensive educational campaigns aimed at all staff and concerned masses, encouraging voluntary confessions and reporting of wrongdoing, under the personal supervision and inspection of principal officials.
Every act of corruption must be exposed and dealt with according to its severity, ranging from warnings, reassignment, dismissal, expulsion from the Party, various prison sentences, to execution.
Prominent corrupt individuals should be brought before public trials and punished in accordance with the law.
Although wastefulness differs in nature from corruption, the losses caused by wasteful practices often exceed those resulting from corruption, and such behavior frequently overlaps with embezzlement, theft, defrauding the state, or accepting bribes.
Therefore, strict punishment of wastefulness must proceed in tandem with that for corruption.
Wastefulness is widespread and manifests in numerous forms, constituting a serious and pervasive problem.

Consequently, vigorous efforts must be made to combat it, and appropriate punitive measures should be established.
As the campaigns against corruption and wastefulness are carried out and deepened, they will inevitably come into contact with varying degrees of bureaucratic and liberalistic work styles prevalent in different sectors.
These attitudes are the root cause of the persistence and spread of corruption and wastefulness.
The Central Committee calls upon Party leadership at all levels, in the course of streamlining the armed forces and administrative organs, in launching the nationwide patriotic campaign to increase production and practice economy, and in conducting the campaigns against corruption and wastefulness, simultaneously to launch a campaign against bureaucracy.
Any individual or unit whose organs, troops, organizations, schools, or enterprises have witnessed serious instances of corruption or wastefulness without prior detection or subsequent decisive action shall be deemed a severe bureaucrat.
Such individuals, even if they did not personally participate in acts of corruption or wastefulness, must be held accountable for dereliction of duty and will not be pardoned.
In order to effectively and thoroughly eradicate corruption, wastefulness, and bureaucratic practices, it is imperative to commend model units and individuals who remain free from corruption, wastefulness, and bureaucratic tendencies, thereby drawing a clear distinction between them and those guilty of such offenses.
VI.
This decision is to be transmitted down to the Party county committees and the military region Party committees.
When provincial or county Party committees convene meetings of township-level cadres, when municipal Party committees in large cities gather district-level cadres, or when provincial military regions or military region Party committees hold meetings of officers at or above the regimental level, this decision should be made available for their reading, preferably through collective study sessions, during which any questions they may raise should be addressed.
Other cadres at the level of township

and district Party committees in large cities should likewise be given opportunities to read it (preferably through collective study), but access must be restricted to trustworthy personnel, publication in any print medium is prohibited, and loss of the document must be prevented.
To ensure that the fundamental principles and specific measures outlined in this decision are fully implemented, detailed explanations must be provided to cadres without hesitation, so that they clearly understand the overall situation and the importance of their tasks.
Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised version.
Notes [ ] The text typeset in Songti font in Sections IV, V, and VI of this document consists of additions and revisions made by Mao Zedong. [2] See Section VI of this document. [3] Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. [4] Shang Kun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at the time served as Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. [ —] Lin Biao was then Vice Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission.