Commentary on Bo Yibo’s Report〔1〕 Concerning the Situation and Deployment of the Three-Anti and Five-Anti Campaigns in East China (March 1, 1952) The deployment in East China〔2〕 is very good; all regions may follow suit. Mao Zedong, March 1. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes 〔1〕 Bo Yibo was then Director of the Central People’s Government Committee for Economy Inspection and had been dispatched by the CPC Central Committee to assist with the Three-Anti and Five-Anti campaigns in the East China region.

〔〕 Refers to the five decisions adopted at the East China-wide tiger-hunting briefing meeting, as described in Bo Yibo’s report of February 28, 1952, on the situation and deployment of the Three-Anti and Five-Anti campaigns in East China: (1) The Three-Anti campaign within the three levels—large administrative districts, provinces, and prefectures—is to be completed by the end of March; at the county level, it is to be carried out in phases over April, May, and June; and at the district and township levels, efforts should be made to conclude it before the autumn harvest. While implementing the Three-Anti and Five-Anti campaigns, economic activity must be maintained, and only sound work is permitted—no sloppy or delayed implementation is acceptable. Prolonging the process is necessary. (Mao added the following after this passage: “All regions are requested to act accordingly. — Note by Mao.”) (2) The Three-Anti campaign must be conducted thoroughly; half-baked results will not be tolerated. (3) The Central Committee’s policy of assigning one-third of personnel to maintain production and the economy must be firmly implemented. (4) Henceforth, there will be no separate “campaign to hunt big tigers”; instead, all corrupt officials, large, medium, and small, are to be purged. (5) No additional tiger-hunting targets will be set for the entire region; the aim is to deal with as many cases as can realistically be handled, proceeding from facts and avoiding forced confessions. In urban areas, the Five-Anti campaign should focus both on severely punishing the bourgeoisie and on rapidly forging a united front for the Five-Anti movement.