Telegram Concerning Shanghai’s Urgent Completion of the Three-Anti and Tiger-Hunting Campaigns and the Launch of the Five-Anti Struggle (February 23, 1952)

Comrades Chen Yi and Tan Zhenlin [1], and all comrades of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee: Your report of February 21 [2] has been received. The meeting you held on February 20 was very successful, and I am confident that your tiger-hunting campaign will now gain momentum. It is hoped that from February 25 to March 10, divided into three phases of five days each—totaling fifteen days—you will vigorously inspect and supervise, improve your methods, and basically complete the Three-Anti and tiger-hunting tasks within all sectors of Shanghai. Starting March 11, the Five-Anti struggle among Shanghai’s industrial and commercial circles should be launched in an orderly and formal manner.

Mao Zedong, 9:00 p.m. on February 23. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes [1] Chen Yi was at that time the Second Secretary of the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and First Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Tan Zhenlin was then holding leading positions in the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the East China Military and Administrative Commission. [ ] Refers to the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee’s self-criticism report of February 21, 1952, addressed to Mao Zedong and also sent to the East China Bureau, concerning the inadequate progress in the tiger-hunting campaign. The report stated that Shanghai had completed only 26 percent of its assigned tiger-hunting targets, lagging behind other localities, which had seriously affected the nationwide Five-Anti Movement. This was mainly due to the Municipal Party Committee’s insufficient understanding of this grave class struggle; the “tigers” in thought had not been promptly purged, resulting in weak implementation and a situation where the front was too extended, with forces scattered thinly along multiple lines, leaving the movement in a passive position. On February 20, a citywide meeting of over two thousand cadres engaged in the tiger-hunting campaign was convened, at which Chen Yi conveyed Mao Zedong’s instructions, severely criticized the current state of Shanghai’s tiger-hunting effort, outlined directions for improvement, and immediately announced disciplinary measures against several leading cadres, including removal from office and suspension for self-criticism. Several individuals were also arrested and brought to justice, a move of great educational significance. To strengthen work in Shanghai, the East China Bureau further decided to transfer a group of provincial and municipal leaders to assume various leadership posts in the city.