Central Directive on Forwarding the Beijing Municipal Party Committee’s Report on Dealing with Illegal Business Operators (February 22, 1952) To the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, to all Central Bureaus, and thence to the party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions: (1) We approve the report submitted by the Beijing Municipal Party Committee on February 20 [1]. This report is hereby circulated for the information of all comrades. (2) We have instructed the Beijing Municipal Party Committee to expand the category of law-abiding business operators from 10,000 to approximately 14,000. Specifically, those with minor infractions are to be informed in person that their errors are indeed wrong and should not be repeated; however, given the insignificance of these issues, they are to be classified as law-abiding capitalists. Such an approach broadens the scope of law-abiding elements and serves our interests. Just as petty embezzlers involving sums under 500,000 yuan, except for a few cases of serious misconduct, are treated as engaging in small-scale misappropriation rather than full-fledged corruption—thus benefiting the overall Three-Anti and Five-Anti Campaigns—it is similarly advantageous here. (3) In determining which enterprises qualify as law-abiding and which fall into the semi-law-abiding category, the process must involve self-declaration by the capitalists followed by public deliberation. Moreover, both the manager and the accountant must sign the investigation forms. Crucially, the decision must also be discussed and approved by the workers and clerks of each factory or store. When classifying certain businesses with minor issues as law-abiding, and applying a policy of restitution without punishment to those deemed semi-illegal, it is imperative to first clearly explain these measures to the workforce so that they understand the necessity of this approach. (4) In any city, it is essential to publicly inform both capitalists and workers about the number of law-abiding capitalists (in Beijing, approximately 14,000), the number of semi-law-abiding/semi-illegal capitalists (over 30,000 in Beijing), and the number of those engaged in serious or outright illegal activities (more than 2,000 in Beijing). This announcement should be made roughly one month after the official launch of the Five-Anti Campaign, once mass mobilization among workers and shop assistants has been thoroughly achieved, the dividing line between the working class and the bourgeoisie has been clearly demarcated, trade union organizations have been consolidated, and capitalist collaborators within the unions have been expelled. Only at this juncture can we begin to disclose approximate figures for each category of capitalist and proceed with phased treatment, thereby enabling capitalists to gauge our intentions. It is at this stage that such an announcement must be made—to allow capitalists to assess the situation and facilitate prompt action; otherwise, delays would be detrimental. At present, Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Nanjing, and Chongqing are already in a position to take this step and should do so without further delay. By the end of this month or early March, these cities ought to have essentially completed the handling of the two primary categories of capitalists mentioned above. Shenyang and Wuhan can likely follow suit in early March, aiming for completion by mid-March. Further postponement is unacceptable. Shanghai, however, will not be able to launch its large-scale Five-Anti Campaign until early March; even then, full implementation may not occur until late March or early April. A slightly later start in Shanghai would actually benefit the overall economy. Other cities are advised to make decisions based on local conditions. (5) Once approximately 95 percent of the total number of capitalists—those belonging to the law-abiding and semi-law-abiding groups—have been dealt with, social stability will be significantly enhanced. Economic activity, which had either come to a standstill, slowed down, or remained sluggish, can then gradually resume. Meanwhile, the remaining 5 percent of reactionary capitalists will be completely isolated, allowing us to devote our full attention to decisively punishing them. Therefore, the municipal party committees and people’s governments of all cities must, at the appropriate time, concentrate their main efforts on addressing the aforementioned two major categories of capitalists. Issued by the Central Committee on February 22, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.
Notes [ ] refer to the report submitted by the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee on February 20, 1952, to Mao Zedong, the Central Committee, and the North China Bureau, concerning the handling of illegal business operators. The report outlines a procedure whereby questionnaires are distributed to illegal business operators for self-completion and sworn statements, followed by review and subsequent action. For the roughly 10,000 law-abiding capitalists throughout the city, it was decided not to impose additional taxes or demand restitution, concluding that no further action was required. As for the approximately 35,000 semi-law-abiding/semi-illegal business operators, the decision was made to require only restitution and supplementary payments, without imposing penalties. The aim is to essentially resolve the issues pertaining to these two categories of businesses by the end of the month, thereby isolating more firmly the roughly 4,000 enterprises characterized by more significant, severe, or extremely serious violations, as well as those operating in complete illegality, and proceeding thereafter to deal with them systematically.

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Central Directive on Forwarding the South-Central Military Region’s Tiger-Hunting Deployment Plan (February 22, 1952) To Comrade Tan Zheng [1], with copy to all major military regions: Your report dated February 20 [ ] has been received. (1) We approve your deployment plan. (2) All major military regions are requested to follow the South-Central Region’s proposed deployment and strive to complete the entire Three-Anti campaign across the armed forces by the end of March, encompassing battalions, companies, and independent regiments at the county level. Reorganization will commence on April 1. Issued by Mao Zedong on February 22, based on his handwritten draft. Notes [1] refers to Tan Zheng, who at the time served as the Third Political Commissar of the South-Central Military Region of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. [ ] denotes Tan Zheng’s report dated February 20, 1952, addressed to Mao Zedong, detailing the South-Central Military Region’s tiger-hunting deployment plan. The report states that the South-Central Region intends to extend the tiger-hunting campaign until March 15. Efforts are being made to ensure that local forces complete their district-level plans and field forces finish their regimental- and divisional-level plans between March 5 and 10. Southern units, provincial military commands, and individual corps are expected to conclude their work by March 15; if this proves impossible, a reasonable extension may be granted. Following March 5 or 10, local forces will shift their focus to county-level detachments and independent regiments, subsequently moving on to company-level units. Field forces, after completing the three-tiered organizational tiger-hunting campaign at the army, division, and regiment levels, will then turn to battalion and company levels.