Commentary on Xi Zhongxun’s Report [1] Concerning the Anti-Corruption Campaign in Northwest China (December 13, 1951) Comrade Zhongxun, with copies to Comrades Shoushi, Chen Yi, Zihui, Tan Zheng, Jianying, Xiaoping, Helong, Yibo, Lantao, Gao Gang, and Dewei [2]:

We have received Comrade Zhongxun’s telegram of December 11, analyzing the corruption situation in Northwest China and outlining plans to launch an immediate and thorough anti-corruption campaign [3]. I find your analysis, deployment, and other suggestions entirely correct. The symposium you convened on December 8 was exceptionally well conducted. Despite lasting only one day, it enabled you to grasp the facts and get to the heart of the problem. Once the masses are mobilized and the struggle is launched, the issue will be readily resolved.

The recognition of the seriousness of corruption and the large-scale punishment of corrupt elements—beginning in Northeast China—were personally initiated by Comrade Gao Gang. At the central level, Comrade Bo Yibo has been entrusted with overall responsibility; in Beijing, Comrade Peng Zhen [4] is in charge. Now the entire movement is fully underway. I urge all responsible comrades to take note of this experience.

We are all very busy, but dealing with this matter requires only a few days of focused investigation and study (even if the figures for personnel and funds are only estimates). Once we have sorted out the key points, draft an instruction, and hold a mobilization meeting for cadres, the campaign can be set in motion. Thereafter, sustaining and advancing the struggle will be relatively straightforward.

Please circulate Comrade Zhongxun’s report to the sub-bureaus, provincial, municipal, and district party committees, as well as to military area commands at all levels, and publish it in intra-party publications.

Mao Zedong December 13, 1951, 4:00 a.m. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes

[1] Xi Zhongxun was then First Secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

[2] Shoushi refers to Rao Shoushi, First Secretary of the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Chen Yi was Second Secretary of the East China Bureau. Zihui refers to Deng Zihui, Second Secretary of the Central-South Bureau. Tan Zheng was First Deputy Secretary of the Central-South Bureau. Jianying refers to Ye Jianying, Third Secretary of the Central-South Bureau and First Secretary of the South China Sub-Bureau. Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, First Secretary of the Southwest Bureau. Helong was Third Secretary of the Southwest Bureau. Yibo refers to Bo Yibo, First Secretary of the North China Bureau and Director of the Central People’s Government Commission for Economy and Savings Inspection. Lantao refers to Liu Lantao, Third Secretary of the North China Bureau. Gao Gang was Secretary of the Northeast Bureau. Dewei refers to Peng Dehuai, Commander and Political Commissar of the Chinese People’s Volunteers.

[3] In his report to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee, Xi Zhongxun described how the Northwest Bureau’s enlarged meeting and the Fourth Session of the Northwest Military-Administrative Committee had discussed launching a campaign against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy. The report stated that, following the Central Committee’s directive of December 4, a symposium was held on the 8th, bringing together leading officials from the Disciplinary Inspection Commission, the Procuratorate, the Courts, the Finance Commission, and the Personnel Department. It was initially determined that the extent of corruption was extremely serious and quite alarming. Together, the Procuratorate, the Courts, and the Disciplinary Inspection Commission had investigated and accepted for prosecution corruption cases resulting in losses of over eight billion yuan (old currency) to state property. Corruption was particularly prevalent within the financial and economic sectors, the public security apparatus, the judicial system, and military logistics. Numerous problems were also found in basic construction projects across various regions, as well as in representative offices located in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and other major cities; moreover, general administrative departments of Party and government organs exhibited significant shortcomings. Almost every major corruption case involved a wide network of connections and was often linked to collusion with unscrupulous merchants. Such corrupt practices had already undermined some cadres and corrupted others, with instances of high-level officials at the county and prefectural levels being implicated. These facts demonstrate that hedonistic and degenerate tendencies had indeed taken root within the Party, and that corruption and moral decay had become a major threat. We plan to begin a rectification campaign in late December, concentrating our efforts nationwide for a short period, aiming to conclude no later than mid-February of next year. The campaign will commence with an anti-corruption drive, followed by an examination of various forms of waste, and finally, through concrete examples, a review of bureaucratic practices in leadership work.

[4] Peng Zhen was then an alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat and Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee.