Directive of the Central Committee on the Eight Objectives to Be Achieved During and After the Five-Anti Campaign (March 23, 1952) To all Central Bureaus, with copy forwarded to sub-bureaus and party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions:

(1) One document from the Central-South Bureau, entitled “Instructions on Strengthening Work Among Workers and Shop Assistants in Private Factories and Stores” [1], is being sent to you for reference.

(2) During this Five-Anti Campaign and thereafter, we must achieve the following objectives:

(A) Thoroughly ascertain the situation of private industry and commerce, so as to facilitate the uniting and control of the bourgeoisie and the implementation of the state’s planned economy. Without a clear understanding of the facts, it is impossible to carry out a planned economy.

(B) Clearly demarcate the boundary between the working class and the bourgeoisie; purge corruption and bureaucratic practices that have severed ties with the masses from the trade unions; and remove the bourgeoisie’s lackeys within the trade unions. Such lackeys and wavering middle elements situated between labor and capital are present in trade unions across the country. We must, through the struggle, educate and win over these middle elements, while expelling from the unions those capitalist lackeys guilty of serious crimes.

(C) Reorganize trade associations and federations of industry and commerce by removing from their leading bodies those who embody all five vices [2] as well as other individuals who have completely lost all credibility, and by attracting into these organizations those who performed relatively well during the Five-Anti Campaign. Except for outright lawbreakers, representatives of all categories of industrialists and merchants should be included.

(D) Assist the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Nationalist Party in rectifying that organization by expelling those who exhibit all five vices and those who have utterly forfeited public trust, while adding a contingent of more upright members, so that it may become a political group capable of legitimately representing the interests of the bourgeoisie—primarily the industrial bourgeoisie—and of educating the bourgeoisie in accordance with the Common Program and the principles of the Five-Anti Campaign. Secret associations among various sections of capitalists, such as the “Wednesday Star Dinner Club” [3] and similar groups, should be dissolved whenever possible.

(E) Eradicate the five vices, eliminate speculative trading, and bring the entire bourgeoisie under the authority of state laws and regulations, encouraging them to engage in industrial and commercial activities that benefit the national economy and the people’s livelihood. Within the scope prescribed by the state, private industry should be developed as much as possible—as long as capitalists are willing and such development conforms to the Common Program—while private commerce should be gradually curtailed. The state will annually increase its plans for purchasing and contracting private products and will progressively introduce greater planning into private industry and commerce. The permissible range of private profits should be redetermined so as to ensure that private capital remains profitable without allowing it to reap exorbitant gains.

(F) Abolish off-the-books accounting, achieve economic transparency, and gradually establish a system whereby workers and shop assistants supervise production and business operations.

(G) Recover the bulk of the economic losses suffered by the state and the people through measures of compensation, restitution, punishment, and confiscation.

(H) Set up party branches in all large and medium-sized private enterprises and intensify party work there.

What are your views on these eight points? Please inform us accordingly. With regard to the item concerning worker supervision of production, it is necessary first to select several large and medium-sized factories and stores in a few major cities, obtain the consent of the capitalists, and conduct pilot trials to gain experience, before the Central Committee can make a final decision. I request that you pay close attention to studying this question during the course of the Five-Anti Campaign and keep us informed of your opinions by telegram at any time.

The Central Committee March 23 Based on Mao Zedong’s manuscript. This text has been abridged and included in Volume V of Selected Works of Mao Zedong.

Notes

[1] Refers to the instructions issued on March 11, 1952, by the Central-South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee concerning the strengthening of work among workers and shop assistants in private factories and stores. The instructions stated: The Five-Anti Campaign is a fierce class struggle and also an excellent opportunity to mobilize and train employees of private factories and stores. The municipal party committees and trade union leadership organs in all cities must, through the Five-Anti Campaign, gradually reorganize trade union organizations and purify and elevate the ranks of the working class, on the basis of fully mobilizing shop assistants and factory workers.

[2] The “five vices” refer to five types of illegal conduct engaged in by certain capitalists: bribery, tax evasion, embezzlement of state property, shoddy workmanship, and theft of state economic intelligence.

[3] The “Wednesday Star Dinner Club” was a secret association of some capitalists in Chongqing that carried out a series of grave illegal underground activities and was exposed and banned during the Five-Anti Campaign.