(January 4, 1952)
To all departments of the Central Committee and the Military Commission, all leading Party groups of the Central People's Government; all central bureaus, and forward to sub-bureaus and provincial, municipal, and district Party committees; all greater military regions, the Chinese People's Volunteers, and forward to military regions at all levels:

The report[1] from the leading Party group of the Central Ministry of Finance is excellent. You are requested to handle matters accordingly. You must immediately grasp firmly the Three-Antis struggle, shorten the time for studying documents (four or five days are sufficient), convene cadre meetings, set a deadline (for example, ten days) to launch the struggle, and submit reports. Those who violate this are either bureaucratic elements or embezzlement elements; no matter who they are, they shall all be dismissed from their posts and investigated. At cadre meetings, backward units and their leaders should be criticized by name, units that have done well and their leaders should be commended by name, and the list of those dismissed and the reasons for dismissal should be announced. On the afternoon of December 31, the General Party Committee Directly Under the Central Committee convened an expanded Party committee meeting of several hundred people, ranging from ministers to division chiefs of Party, government, military, and mass organization departments. Comrades Bo Yibo and An Ziwen[2] announced the Central Committee's decision, setting a deadline from January 1 to January 10. All commissions, ministries, committees, academies, administrations, banks, bureaus, offices, and all units under them must mobilize the masses to struggle, carry out confessions and denunciations, and submit reports by January 11. Violators, whether ministers, bank presidents, administration heads, office directors, bureau chiefs, section chiefs, unit heads, or managers, shall all be dismissed from their posts and investigated. At the meeting, it was also announced by name which ministries had done very well, which were mediocre, and many were backward, and the names of the ministers were pointed out. Simultaneously, it was announced that [name redacted], head of the Technical Department of the Military Commission, [name redacted], director of the General Office of the Central Ministry of Communications, and [name redacted], bureau chief of the Ministry of Heavy Industry, were dismissed from their posts and investigated. This electrified the entire assembly. That very day, upon returning, meetings were held through the night. Meetings were held all day on New Year's Day; many ministers and vice-ministers returned immediately after briefly attending the New Year's greeting ceremony and did not even watch the theatrical performance. By January 2, almost all units had initiated mass meetings for confessions and denunciations. Reports came in one after another. Such high-level cadre meetings are now stipulated to be held once every ten days, and absence is not permitted except for serious illness. It is estimated that by the end of January, problems at the central level can be basically resolved. This experience is provided for your reference. Furthermore, the Central Committee has designated Comrade Bo Yibo (he is the director of the Central Government Economy and Austerity Inspection Committee) to use the telephone to liaise with responsible comrades in the greater administrative regions. During the current intense period of the Three-Antis, contact shall be made once every three to five days to check on the progress of the Three-Antis in each region. This telegram from the Central Committee, together with Comrade Bo Yibo's letter to Chairman Mao[3] and the No. 4 report from the leading Party group of the Central Ministry of Finance[4], may all be published in Party periodicals.

The Central Committee
January 4, 1952

--- Notes

[1] Refers to the report on the Three-Antis Movement dated January 2, 1952, from the leading Party group of the Ministry of Finance of the Central People's Government. The report summarized the main achievements in exposing embezzlement, waste, and bureaucracy since December 5, 1951, within the Ministry of Finance organs, and three experiences in mobilizing the masses: ideological education, Party members taking the lead, and leading cadres conducting self-examinations. All comrades of the Ministry of Finance leading Party group first conducted relatively profound self-examinations within the group, some comrades also conducted self-examinations among Party cadres, and subsequently, heads of departments, bureaus, and offices conducted self-examinations and gave mobilization reports in public within their own units. Except for a few units where the leading cadres' self-examinations were not profound enough and thus did not achieve the desired effect, the overwhelming majority of responses were very positive.
[2] Bo Yibo was then Deputy Director of the Financial and Economic Commission of the Government Administration Council and Director of the Central People's Government Economy and Austerity Inspection Committee. An Ziwen was then Second Secretary of the General Party Committee of Central-Level Organs.
[3] Refers to the letter Bo Yibo wrote to Mao Zedong on January 3, 1952, when submitting the report from the Ministry of Finance leading Party group on the Three-Antis Movement. The letter raised four issues: (1) Some state organ functionaries colluded with private merchants, causing losses to the state while the private merchants enriched themselves; (2) Converting large public funds into small public funds and misappropriating huge sums had become a common failing in departments with organ-run production; (3) The most fearful thing in financial and economic organs was bureaucracy occurring in departments holding examination and approval authority, where a slight carelessness could cause enormous losses; (4) A key experience of the Central Financial and Economic Commission in mobilizing the masses was leading cadres conducting thorough self-criticisms.
[4] Namely the report on the Three-Antis Movement dated January 2, 1952, from the leading Party group of the Ministry of Finance, referred to in this text.