To: All departments of the Central Committee and the Military Commission, all Party Leadership Groups of the Central People’s Government; all Central Bureaus, all Greater Military Regions, and for transmission to sub-bureaus and provincial, municipal, and district Party committees:

The attached report of December 20 from the East China Bureau on opposing corruption, waste, and bureaucracy is hereby forwarded to you for reference. This report is very good and should be published in internal Party journals.

Central Committee
December 23

East China Bureau: Your report of December 20 has been received. This report is correct, and it is expected that it will be implemented accordingly. We have forwarded your report to all localities for reference and will publish it in internal Party journals.

Central Committee
December 23

[1] The East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee stated in its report that corruption and waste in the East China region are extremely serious. Chairman Mao and the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party gravely pointed out the inevitability of the bourgeoisie’s erosion of the Party and resolutely called on the entire Party to recognize the necessity of preventing and overcoming this immense danger, which is entirely correct. To this end, the East China Bureau hereby makes the following decisions: (1) Conduct widespread ideological education against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy, ensuring that all Party members, cadres, and government workers recognize ideologically that corruption and degeneration are the most shameful acts. During this period, the rectification campaigns within the Party in all localities should focus primarily on examining corruption and waste, overcoming capitalist influences, and overcoming bureaucratic work styles. (2) Under the principle of not hindering production or affecting tax revenues, a mass democratic inspection movement should be launched without exception in all state-owned industrial and mining enterprises, financial and economic departments, and government organs. Methods such as calling on corrupt elements to voluntarily confess, mobilizing the masses to report and accuse, and conducting criticism and self-criticism should be adopted to expose all phenomena of corruption, degeneration, extravagance, waste, and bureaucracy. (3) Fully utilize various propaganda tools to expose typical individuals and incidents of corruption, degeneration, extravagance, waste, and bureaucracy, and introduce, commend, and reward those model individuals and deeds that are honest and devoted to public duty, safeguard the interests of the state and the people, and actively create wealth for the state and the people, making the opposition to corruption and waste and the commendation of labor models a long-term mass movement. (4) To ensure the smooth progress of the movement, the method of leadership responsibility, personal guidance, and mobilization of the entire Party with branch guarantees must be adopted. Attention must also be paid to promoting democracy, supporting righteous conduct, combating evil tendencies, and backing the cadres and masses, integrating top-down inspections with bottom-up reporting, and resolutely opposing the practice of rectifying only the lower levels while leaving the upper levels untouched. (5) Given that corruption within the Party and government is often facilitated by collusion with illegal merchants from outside, attention must be paid to investigating unscrupulous merchants and mobilizing the masses to report and accuse illegal business activities. Illegal merchants with conclusive evidence should also be severely punished, so as to coordinate internal and external efforts and thoroughly eliminate corrupt elements. (6) In the process of examining corruption and waste and inspecting bureaucratic work styles, the organizational structures of Party and government organs at all levels should be earnestly reorganized, and sound organizational life should be established, such as regularly convening Party representative meetings in various organs and departments, conducting criticism and self-criticism, and establishing regular inspection systems.