Reply Telegram to Ye Jianying [1] Regarding the South China Bureau’s Deployment for the “Tiger-Hunting” Campaign (February 21, 1952)

Comrade Jianying, with a copy to Comrade Zikui [2]: Your report of February 19 [3] has been received. It is gratifying to note that progress has been made in the “tiger-hunting” campaign. Your deployment is correct. However, your overall achievements are still not substantial; in particular, the Financial Commission and the Military Region have done too little. You must intensify the pressure and carefully study tactical approaches. Mao Zedong February 21

Based on the manuscript print.

Notes [1] Ye Jianying was then First Secretary of the CPC South China Bureau and Commander of the South China Military Region of the People’s Liberation Army. [2] Zikui refers to Deng Zikui, who at the time served as Second Secretary of the CPC Central Committee’s Central-South Bureau and Second Political Commissar of the PLA’s Central-South Military Region. [3] This refers to Ye Jianying’s report dated February 19, 1952, to Mao Zedong, the Central Committee, Deng Zikui, and the Central-South Bureau, concerning the “tiger-hunting” situation in Guangzhou City. The report stated that five units in Guangzhou had apprehended a total of 1,254 tigers, including 219 major ones. The units directly under the South China Financial Commission caught 57 tigers, while those directly under the South China Military Region captured 196. The next phase of the “tiger-hunting” deployment formulated by the South China Bureau is as follows: (1) Continue to overcome rightist tendencies. (2) Following the example of Beijing’s public trial of major embezzlers on February 1, strive to convene a public trial meeting in Guangzhou in late February. (3) Criticize certain comrades’ impetuous and simplistic methods in conducting the “tiger-hunting” campaign, and advocate shifting from rough estimates to detailed accounting, learning new working methods. (4) Employ the effective tactic of using tigers to expose other tigers in order to break up collusive defenses. (5) Promptly release small and medium-sized embezzlers in batches, in accordance with instructions from the Central Committee.