Comments on the Fifth Week's Briefing Report
(January 24, 1952)

To the major military regions and the Central Bureaus, and to be forwarded to the military regions at all levels and the various armies, as well as to the sub-bureaus and provincial, municipal, and district Party committees:

The report (I) from the Southwest Military Region is very good. We require all localities to do likewise. Within the system of each major military region (including military regions at all levels and the various armies), there are at least several hundred big and small tigers. If they cannot be caught, it means a battle lost. In the localities, each large province may also have several hundred, each large city may have from one hundred to several hundred, and Shanghai may have over a thousand. At the central level, only yesterday it was thought there were just over eighty, but in today's report, the number has reached one hundred and fifty, and it may reach two hundred.

Mao Zedong
January 24

Chuan
Refers to the report submitted on January 22, 1952, by the Party Committee of the Southwest Military Region of the Chinese Communist Party to the Central Committee, Mao Zedong, and the Military Commission, concerning the situation of the cadres' Three-Antis assembly held on January 19 by the organs directly under the Military Region (i.e., the Fifth Week Briefing Report on the Three-Antis). The report stated that before the assembly, members of the inspection committee separately went to various departments to gain a concrete understanding of the situation, discussed and finalized the list of major embezzlers who had not yet made a full confession and their criminal facts, and organized personnel to expose and report them at the assembly. At the cadres' Three-Antis assembly held on January 19, attended by over 2,200 people, a total of more than 20 individuals who had not yet fully confessed, whose attitude was dishonest, or whose self-examination was incomplete were exposed and reported. The director of the inspection committee announced on the spot the proposed handling measures based on each individual's different circumstances. Those with serious problems who still refused to confess were either arrested or dismissed from their posts for self-examination; those whose offenses were relatively minor and who could voluntarily confess and report on others were allowed to atone for their crimes by meritorious service and were exempted from punishment.