Commentary on the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee’s Report Concerning the Situation of the Third Campaign Against Corruption and Future Deployment (March 2, 1952)

I. To All Central Bureaus, the South China Branch, and Comrade Luo Ruiqing [1]:  The report of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee dated March 1 [2] is hereby forwarded to you for reference. Since Shanghai decided to suspend the Five-Against Campaign in order to concentrate on the Three-Against Campaign, considerable progress has been made. The various strategies adopted in the campaign against corruption, together with the emphasis on maintaining economic order, have all been correct. Wherever localities find it impossible to carry out both the Three-Against and Five-Against Campaigns simultaneously, they should suspend the Five-Against Campaign and prioritize the Three-Against Campaign. Once a basic victory has been achieved in the campaign against corruption, freeing up resources, they may then resume the Five-Against Campaign.

Mao Zedong, March 2  II. They should be classified into five categories: law-abiding households, basically law-abiding households, half-law-abiding/half-illegal households, seriously illegal households, and completely illegal households. — Note by Mao [3]

Printed from the manuscript.  Notes  [1] Luo Ruiqing was at that time Minister of Public Security of the Central People’s Government and a member of the Savings Inspection Commission. He had been dispatched by the Central Committee to assist with the Three-Against and Five-Against Campaigns in the Central-South Region.

[2] Refers to the report submitted by the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee to Mao Zedong, the Central Committee, and the East China Bureau on March 1, 1952, concerning the situation of the third campaign against corruption and future deployment. In response to new developments following the three phases of the campaign, the report proposed several measures for the next stage: (1) Strategically, prioritize psychological warfare and tactical maneuvering, supplementing this with mass pressure; (2) Strengthen efforts to utilize captured individuals, further exploiting the approach of “using tigers to attack tigers,” while intensifying work among the families of major suspected corrupt officials, particularly by making use of external denunciations to achieve a pincer movement from within and without; (3) For the time being, avoid direct assaults on major cases; instead, handle certain large-scale cases on a case-by-case basis, allowing the main force to bypass them and rapidly expand the results; (4) Organize briefings on typical successful experiences in the campaign; (5) Thoroughly carry out the recovery and return of stolen goods; (6) In many sectors where the Five-Against Campaign is of little relevance and our own organizational strength is weak, the Three-Against Campaign should be suspended, to be resumed later when sufficient resources are available and appropriate ideological preparation has been completed. The report also emphasized that while implementing the Three-Against Campaign, it is essential to maintain economic stability.

[3] This note by Mao Zedong was written after a passage in the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee’s report of March 1, 1952, addressed to Mao Zedong, the Central Committee, and the East China Bureau, which read: “Establish preparatory committees for the Five-Against Campaign at both the municipal and district levels, collate and analyze existing materials, and conduct a ranking of the city’s 163,000 industrial and commercial households, specifying the exact numbers and proportions of those who are law-abiding, half-law-abiding/half-illegal, and completely illegal.”