A Note on the Four Categories for Distinguishing Between Waste and Embezzlement
(January 15, 1952)

To all Central Bureaus, and transmit to sub-bureaus, provincial, municipal, and district Party committees; to all greater military regions, the Chinese People’s Volunteers, and transmit to all military regions at every level and all armies:

The Central Committee approves the four categories for delineating the boundary between waste and embezzlement set forth in the East China Bureau’s telegram of January 13 [1] (with slight revisions to the first point). These are fundamentally consistent with the three categories put forward by the Tianjin Municipal Committee. It is hoped that all localities will pay attention to this delineation in order to facilitate the unfolding of the Three-Anti Struggle.

The Central Committee
January 15

[1] Refers to the telegram sent by the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on January 13, 1952, to the Shandong Sub-Bureau, all provincial Party committees, district Party committees, municipal Party committees, and copied to the Central Committee. The telegram stated that waste can basically be divided into four types:
First, waste caused by insufficient experience or a complete lack of experience. For example, losses caused by inexperienced construction design (when the Central Committee forwarded this telegram, Mao Zedong revised the original text’s following passage—“once or twice is generally unavoidable, but repetition constitutes bureaucratism”—to read: “should be subjected to strict review, and repetition is not permitted. Those who err for the first time may not be severely censured”).
Second, waste caused by the absence of systems or the inability to establish them in the short term. Past instances may not be pursued, but reviews should be conducted and systems established so that they can be implemented and enforced henceforth.
Third, individual excessive expenditures approved or decided upon by the organization, as well as waste incurred by institutional production activities in subsidizing and enhancing collective living. Greater attention and correction are required in the future, but past instances need not be pursued.
Fourth, personal indulgence and decadence, special privileges in living, and decadent squandering. This is waste bordering on embezzlement or waste arising from embezzlement, and should be subjected to special scrutiny and exposure.