In the Great Struggle Against Corruption, Waste, and Bureaucracy,
Wherein Lies the Key to Mobilizing the Masses?
[I]
(January 4, 1952)

At present, although the movement against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy has been launched successively in various places across the country, its development remains highly uneven, far from widespread, and lacking in depth. In different regions, departments, and organs at all levels, the state of the movement’s development can broadly be divided into three categories: good, fairly good, and poor. The criterion for distinguishing these three situations is the degree to which the masses have been mobilized. Wherever the masses have been fully mobilized, the movement is carried out well; where the masses have been initially mobilized but not sufficiently, the movement is still not carried out well enough; where the masses have basically not been mobilized, the movement either cannot be carried out or is carried out very poorly. At present, not a few units, not a few departments, and not a few regions fall into the third category, a situation that is far from satisfactory. No one who cares about the interests of the people and the nation can tolerate the continued existence of such a situation; it must be changed immediately. It is imperative that, without exception, the masses be fully mobilized nationwide—in all Party organizations, all government departments and military departments, all state-operated and publicly operated industrial, transportation, banking, and trade organs and enterprises, all cooperative organizations, all leading organs of youth league organizations and people’s organizations, as well as all private industrial and commercial enterprises connected with the above—so that the struggle against corruption, against waste, and against bureaucracy becomes a broad mass movement, carried through resolutely with great fanfare and vigorous enforcement, just like the movement to suppress counterrevolutionaries.

How does the situation arise where the masses have not been fully mobilized or have not been mobilized at all? The key here lies primarily in the leadership; and the crux of the leadership issue is that “the leading cadres must take responsibility and personally take action.” Only in this way can the masses be fully mobilized and the movement be led forward. At present, in some places, the movement is developing very well and with great force precisely because the responsible leading cadres there regard this movement as a serious ideological and political struggle, actively and proactively adopting a combative posture, personally “going to the front line,” without the slightest sign of timidity, hesitation, or dilly-dallying. Conversely, the reason why there are still many unsatisfactory situations at present is that some leading cadres fail to take responsibility, do not personally take action, lack a fighting spirit, are timid and hesitant, fall into passivity, or even engage in passive sabotage.

Since these people hold the position of leading cadres (regardless of their rank), why do they fail to take responsibility and personally take action to mobilize the masses? Facts tell us that at present there are two types of people who cannot mobilize the masses. The first type consists of those who lack sufficient understanding of the great political significance of the movement against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy. They do not understand that if the grave phenomena of corruption, waste, and bureaucracy are not thoroughly eliminated, they will corrode our Party, corrode our government, corrode our army, corrode all financial and economic institutions and all revolutionary mass organizations, ruin the reputations and careers of many of our cadres and personnel, and cause immense disasters to our nation—in a word, this entails the danger of the demise of the Party, the demise of the nation, and personal ruin. They do not understand this, but instead treat this movement as a matter of indifference, adopt a bureaucratic attitude, and delegate their leadership responsibilities to assistants or secretaries. When the masses see this attitude on the part of the leaders, they too become hesitant and adopt a wait-and-see approach. Such people have a dull political sense and a bureaucratic style of work; they should now awaken with a start and no longer hesitate.

The second type consists of those whose own hands are unclean. They fear that mobilizing the masses will be detrimental to themselves, and therefore they cover up phenomena of corruption and waste in every possible way, find all sorts of pretexts, and adopt an attitude of passive sabotage and feigned compliance toward the leadership of the movement, with some even openly putting up resistance. In fact, they have already fallen into an extremely passive position in the movement. If they still do not awaken and continue to adopt an attitude of sabotage and resistance, they will inevitably become obstacles to the mass movement against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy and become targets of the mass struggle.

In fact, the masses will never tolerate any acts of corruption, waste, and bureaucracy. The masses will certainly rise into action under the call of the Central Committee. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China headed by Comrade Mao Zedong, the Central People’s Government, and its Military Commission resolutely lead and support this just mass struggle. Let no one vainly attempt to resist this sacred struggle; let no responsible personnel be allowed to neglect or abandon the responsibility of leading this struggle; let no one engage in sabotage. Then, what should be the correct attitude? The correct attitude is to conduct a public self-examination and strive for the initiative. If one has committed bureaucratic errors, one should seriously and publicly examine one’s own bureaucracy in order to gain the trust of the masses and continue to lead them. If one’s own hands are unclean, one should all the more openly confess one’s mistakes to the masses, make a clean breast of everything without reservation, and allow the masses to expose and report, without any scruples, all errors or crimes of corruption, waste, and bureaucracy.

If anyone remains obstinately unrepentant and dares to defy the directives of the Central Committee and obstruct the mass movement, no matter how high his position or how senior his qualifications, his superiors should resolutely remove him from office. If someone obstructs the mass movement because his own hands are unclean, he should not only be removed from office but also face legal punishment; if he is a Communist Party member, he should also face disciplinary action by the Party.

As far back as December 1942, Comrade Mao Zedong emphatically instructed us: “It is absolutely impermissible to allow phenomena such as each acting on his own, asserting independence, sabotaging policies, sabotaging laws and decrees, infringing upon the interests of the people, mutual strife and mutual obstruction among various units, and corruption and gambling among cadres to occur again. If such phenomena occur again, discipline must be strictly enforced—criticism for minor cases and punishment for serious ones—and we must never tolerate them and euphemistically call it a ‘policy of leniency.’” Comrade Mao Zedong further pointed out that “those who are incompetent and those who have committed errors of corruption and degeneration must be transferred from their posts, and in some particularly serious cases, they must be given due punishment.” The people we now see obstructing the mass movement are none other than these two types. Those who adopt a bureaucratic attitude and do not mobilize the masses are the incompetent ones; those who do not mobilize the masses because their own hands are unclean are the ones who have committed errors of corruption and degeneration. Is there any reason whatsoever not to strictly enforce discipline against these two types of people?

Of course, with regard to those whose “hands are unclean,” distinctions should be made between minor and major cases, between light and serious ones, and they should be dealt with separately in a practical and realistic manner after thorough investigation. At the same time, for those who have consistently worked with utter devotion and have rendered meritorious service to the revolutionary cause of the people, but who have occasionally slipped, whose errors are not major, and who can promptly and frankly examine themselves, consideration should be given to reducing or exempting them from punishment. However, major embezzlers like Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan, no matter how great their contributions, are unpardonable. Such renegades and vermin must be eliminated to the last one. Eliminating them is not a loss to the Party but a victory for the Party; it does not lower the Party’s prestige but enhances it. Only by resolutely doing so can we make our Party and the ranks of the people’s revolution strong and consolidated, never again to be corroded by the ideology of the exploiting classes.

This movement against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy is an extremely important test for every revolutionary working cadre, especially for the principal responsible cadres at all levels in various regions, departments, and organs and units, and particularly for the Communist Party members among them. It tests our fundamental political stand and tests our steadfastness and thoroughness toward the Party and the revolutionary cause of the people. In this major political struggle, every loyal Communist Party member should bravely stand in the forefront, resolutely lead the masses to rise up and struggle, and swiftly achieve complete victory.