Comment on the Report on the Three-Anti Struggle [I]
(January 5, 1952)

To the various departments of the Central Military Commission, all leading Party members’ groups under the Central People’s Government; all central bureaus, and forward to sub-bureaus, provincial, municipal, and district Party committees, and prefectural Party committees; all greater military regions, and inform the Chinese People’s Volunteers:

(1) The report of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee dated January 5, 1952, on the Three-Anti struggle is hereby approved. [I] The report of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China points out that the current Three-Anti movement has entered a high tide, and the content and scale of the present struggle are far more complex and extensive than initially envisioned when the movement began. Among public functionaries, there exist various acts of embezzlement, theft, swindling of public property, and taking advantage of public resources for personal gain; acts of privately setting up factories and shops, exploiting public office for private interests, and using various favorable public conditions to reap exorbitant profits; acts of extortion and blackmail by taking advantage of one’s position and power; various acts of accepting bribes, colluding with and shielding merchants to steal and defraud state property; and various acts of wastefulness, violation of regulations, and converting large public interests into small private interests. In industrial and commercial circles, the main problems are bribing and colluding with working personnel, tax evasion and tax fraud, cheating on labor and materials, and selling high to and buying low from public entities, with the most common methods being the use of “kickbacks” and “gifts” to entice working personnel into corruption. In view of the above circumstances, the report proposes the following future plans: First, continue to call for confessions and denunciations, with the main emphasis in the coming days on calling for confessions. To address the fear in industrial and commercial circles that confession will lead to unlimited retroactive collection of evaded taxes and fines, it is announced that all those who confess, apart from paying the evaded taxes for 1951, will not be fined; otherwise, if discovered, all evaded taxes since Liberation will be retroactively collected, and fines will be imposed according to regulations. Second, call upon all citizens and all working personnel to boldly denounce. To facilitate denunciations by the masses, reception stations and denunciation boxes shall be set up throughout the city. Third, severely punish a batch of embezzlers and bribe-givers according to law, and publicize a batch of various types of corruption cases, so as to propel the unfolding of the confession movement. Fourth, continue to arrest embezzlers and bribe-givers who resist and sabotage the Three-Anti movement. Fifth, convene representative conferences in all districts, and convene neighborhood and village mass meetings to carry out mobilization and propaganda, so that the Three-Anti struggle is known to every household, and the masses rise up to denounce.

This report is correct.

(2) Distribute this report to all central bureaus, sub-bureaus, provincial, municipal, and district Party committees, and prefectural Party committees, and handle the matter uniformly in all large, medium, and small cities in imitation thereof. It is imperative that all private industrialists and businessmen who have dealings with public entities and have committed illegal acts such as embezzlement, bribery, tax evasion, and theft confess to or denounce all their illegal acts. Special attention must be paid to vigorously launching this struggle in Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Shenyang, and all provincial capitals, thereby dealing a resolute counterblow and a heavy strike against the frantic attacks (which are even more dangerous and serious than war) launched by the bourgeoisie on our Party on this issue over the past three years, and striving to basically accomplish this task within two to three months. Party committees at all levels are requested to make rigorous arrangements for this matter and to treat this struggle as a large-scale class struggle. Such arrangements should be carried out simultaneously internally (all organs, schools, army units, and publicly operated enterprises) and externally (private industrial and commercial circles), with leading organs and courts closely coordinating, newspapers and radio conducting vigorous propaganda, and attention paid to organizing confidential internal briefings. In large cities, internal newspapers and periodicals may be published specifically for this matter.

(3) In this struggle, due consideration and accommodation should be given to the democratic parties and personages from all democratic circles, and attention should be paid to organizing a united front for the Three-Anti struggle.

(4) This directive and the report of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee may be published in Party journals.

The Central Committee
January 5, 1952