Central Committee’s Reply Telegram to the Northwest Bureau’s Report on the Steps and Strategies for Launching the Five-Anti Campaign
(March 11, 1952)

Northwest Bureau:

Received your telegram of March 6.
[1] We are informed. Your deployment and strategies regarding the Five-Anti Campaign are correct.

However, the combined proportion of law-abiding and basically law-abiding households in Xi’an amounts to only forty percent, which appears inconsistent with reality. In Beijing, these two categories together account for more than seventy percent. Why is the proportion so low in Xi’an? Please conduct further investigation and study.

The Central Committee
March 11

Printed from Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript.

Notes

[1] Refers to the report submitted by the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee on March 6, 1952, concerning the steps for launching the Five-Anti Campaign in various cities of Northwest China and the strategy for Xi’an. The report stated that the Five-Anti Campaign would be carried out in three stages across the cities of Northwest China: the first stage would focus on eight cities including Xi’an, Lanzhou, and Yinchuan; the second stage would involve the prefectural-level cities in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang; and the third stage would cover all county seats. As for Xi’an, the campaign had been redeployed. It was decided that before March 10, efforts would initially concentrate on a few industries with major problems, and within each industry, breakthroughs would first be made against a small number of target enterprises, tackling them one group after another while gradually expanding the scope. Simultaneously, law-abiding, basically law-abiding, and semi-law-abiding/semi-illegal households would be dealt with in successive batches, uniting the majority and isolating the minority. A conclusion was scheduled to be reached by the 10th. By the 15th, two-thirds of the semi-law-abiding/semi-illegal households—comprising approximately fifty-five percent of all industrial and commercial operators—were to be handled, and a clear picture of a portion of the seriously illegal and completely illegal cases was to be obtained. After the 15th, all forces would be concentrated on a final all-out offensive against the latter two categories. On March 11, 1952, Mao Zedong forwarded this telegram from the Northwest Bureau to all central bureaus and branches, with copies also sent to the provincial, municipal, and regional party committees for their reference.