Comrade Mao Zedong's Comment on the Report on the Three-Antis Campaign

(January 25, 1952)

To the Party Committee of the Chinese People's Volunteers, with a copy to the Northeast Bureau:

I have read today the report of the Party Committee of the XIX Corps dated January 21 on the Three-Antis Campaign, and I am very pleased. Although in many units of the armies and divisions under this Corps the Three-Antis struggle has not been carried out well, or has been carried out very poorly, some units have done well, and a few have done very well. This experience has already enabled the leading comrades of this Corps to recognize that not only the phenomenon of waste but also the phenomenon of corruption is universally present. The report states: "Among ordinary financial and economic management cadres, in some units it has been exposed that over 80 percent of the people are involved in corruption, and in some units it even reaches 100 percent." This understanding conforms to the facts. Judging from the reports on the Three-Antis Campaign that I have so far received from the various Corps, armies, and divisions of the Chinese People's Volunteers, those with such an understanding are still a minority; the majority do not yet have this understanding. Judging from your guiding documents, the emphasis is also on opposing waste and opposing bureaucracy, without emphasizing the opposition to corruption. Of course, at the beginning of the movement, one may start by opposing waste and opposing bureaucracy, taking this as the first stage of the movement. However, in the second stage, it is necessary to make the leaders at all levels and the masses concentrate the firepower of the struggle on the target of opposing corruption, so that from the organs at all levels and from all departments (not only are there corruption cases in the financial and economic departments, but also in departments such as the headquarters and the political department), astonishing numbers of small and medium-sized corrupt elements, by the hundreds and thousands, can be confessed, reported, and uncovered. The third stage of the movement is to organize crack forces to search out and capture the big corrupt elements, to catch the small and big tigers (those involving over ten million yuan are small tigers, and those involving over one hundred million yuan are big tigers). According to my estimation, among the more than one million Chinese People's Volunteers, it is very likely that several hundred small and big tigers can be caught, and you should strive for this goal. These small and big tigers are the fortresses installed within our army by the bourgeoisie. They are already bourgeois elements, enemies who have betrayed the people. If they are not ferreted out and punished, they will surely cause endless harm. Before they are ferreted out, they are still regarded as reliable comrades. Only after they are ferreted out will people be greatly shocked to realize that they have already become hidden enemies. In order to ferret them out, it is necessary to boldly suspect those who are suspected of corruption, collect materials, and try to probe and investigate, and then many tigers can be discovered. This is an extremely crucial stage. Since a large number of small and medium-sized corrupt elements have already been brought to light in the second stage (over 80 percent of these people are to be dealt with leniently through education and reform), it is possible to ferret out the small and big tigers. The leaders must guide the masses not to slacken their efforts, not to stop their hands, but to continue the attack, pursue relentlessly, and ensure capture; otherwise, it will be a defeat. Those who say that corruption is impossible in the Korean environment, and those who think they are already satisfied and victorious after ferreting out a batch of small and medium-sized corrupt elements, must be criticized. Those who have already closed the case must start over. If one month is not enough, add another month. If two months are not enough, add another month. With approximately two to three months, except for certain complicated cases, the problem can be thoroughly resolved throughout the entire army. The fourth stage of the movement is to thoroughly criticize bourgeois ideology among the cadres, establish various systems, and ensure that corruption, waste, and bureaucracy do not recur, or if they do, they can be easily overcome. When your Three-Antis Campaign enters the stage of catching tigers, it must be coordinated with the Three-Antis struggle of the Northeast Bureau. Some cases must also be coordinated with the various major military regions inside the Pass in order to be thoroughly clarified. During the movement, cadres at all levels of the Corps, army, division, regiment, and battalion must all conduct self-reflections and self-criticisms before the masses, that is, the so-called "everyone goes into the water to bathe," as well as methods such as setting deadlines for unfolding the movement and naming names for confession. Since you already understand these, I will not elaborate on them here. What are your opinions? I await your reply.

Mao Zedong
January 25