(February 4, 1952)
Comrades:
Here are three documents, all very good and worth reading. One is the report of the Northeast Bureau dated February 2,[1] in which the ten points of experience in tiger-beating are all excellent. Another is the directive issued by the Party Committee of the East China Military Region to its subordinate units on February 2,[2] in which the numerous types of tigers and the breadth of their distribution are sufficient to set people thinking deeply and arouse enthusiasm for tiger-beating. The third is the directive issued by the Party Committee of the Central-South Military Region to its subordinate units on February 1,[3] which speaks entirely in professional terms, proving that they have already found the way and gained experience. At present, both the central level and the greater administrative area level already possess rich experience, but it cannot yet be said that the provincial and municipal levels and the prefectural Party committee level all possess rich experience. In particular, the prefectural Party committee level still has little experience, and therefore many reports still cannot speak in professional terms but belong to the type that are "full of empty verbiage." Reports of this kind must be criticized immediately.

Mao Zedong
February 4

[1] Refers to the report of the Northeast Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the tiger-beating plan dated February 2, 1952. The ten points of experience in tiger-beating mentioned in the report are: (1) It is necessary to grasp the key points. (2) Promptly correct the erroneous tendency of some leading cadres in departments who hesitate and waver, lacking the resolve to beat tigers. (3) Do not openly put forward among the masses that those who have embezzled over 100 million yuan are big tigers, lest it cause major embezzlers to conceal their problems below tens of millions of yuan. Those whose embezzlement falls short of 100 million yuan but whose harm is very great should also be regarded as big tigers. (4) Pay attention to extracting material from those who confess and pulling out a whole string. (5) Tigers who confess well may not be arrested, and should be given appropriate encouragement and dealt with leniently. (6) The arrest of law-breaking capitalists must be approved by the provincial or municipal Party committee and reported to the Northeast Bureau. When a factory owner or shop owner is arrested, an agent should be appointed to manage the operation and continue production or business. (7) If counter-revolutionary elements stir up trouble during the Three-Anti Campaign, they should be dealt with calmly; do not shift the target of tiger-beating because of this, and wait until the tiger-beating has reached a stage before striking at them. (8) During the tiger-beating period, factory production, railway transport, tax collection and grain requisitioning, trade and grain purchasing, etc., must not come to a halt; forces should be set aside to lead production. (9) When beating tigers, the pressure and crowding by the masses and activists and the individual talks by responsible comrades to get through their thinking can both be employed simultaneously to urge them to confess. (10) Do not merely write articles on the waste and bureaucratism of a few responsible persons; it is necessary to guide the masses to catch tigers.
[2] Refers to the directive of the Party Committee of the East China Military Region of the Communist Party of China on the issue of tiger-beating issued to its subordinate units on February 2, 1952. The directive states: All organs and all departments are targets of attack by the bourgeoisie and will all produce tigers large and small; therefore, without exception, all must be investigated and beaten. Recently, the Culture Department of the Military Region and all departments and offices under the Headquarters have beaten out various types of tigers. To crack major embezzlement cases, it is necessary to adopt the method of assigning special personnel to handle special cases with full responsibility for investigation. Handling special cases with special personnel must also be combined with the reporting of offenses by the broad masses.