Central Directive Accompanying Bo Yibo’s Report on the Experience of the Second Phase of the Five-Against Campaign in Shanghai (April 8, 1952)

Comrade Bo Yibo, the East China Bureau, all Central Bureaus and Sub-bureaus, and through them to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities directly under the central government, and autonomous regions: Comrade Bo Yibo’s report of April 6 concerning the experience of the second campaign of the Five-Against Movement in Shanghai [2] is correct. It is hereby circulated for adoption elsewhere. All cities are requested to pay close attention to these new tactics in carrying out the Five-Against Campaign. Issued by the Central Committee on April 8, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

Notes [1] Bo Yibo was at that time Director of the Central People’s Government Commission for Economy and Inspection, and had been dispatched by the Central Committee to Shanghai to assist with the Three-Against and Five-Against campaigns. [ ] Refers to Bo Yibo’s report of April 6, 1952, addressed to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee, on the strategies and experience of the second campaign of the Five-Against Movement in Shanghai. The report states that the second campaign in Shanghai began on April 1 and, over the past six days, benefiting from the momentum generated by the prior breakthroughs at seventy-four key households, has progressed extremely smoothly, showing a marked turn for the better. In view of the excessively intense confrontational struggle, which left deep emotional scars and would be detrimental to maintaining unity with the capitalist class going forward, it was decided that the strategy for the second campaign should be: “Inspect a few, win over the majority, stand ready in force, and achieve victory without fighting.” An important feature of the second campaign was the widespread application of this non-combative approach. The method involved first thoroughly ascertaining the circumstances of the capitalists and keeping the inspection teams under firm control while holding them in reserve; at the same time, a portion of the forces was deployed to individual factories and shops to work through the trade unions in conducting sessions of grievance-sharing and denunciation, fully mobilizing the masses and winning over senior employees, thereby preparing all necessary conditions for immediate action. In addition, meetings of business owners were convened separately by industry and district to explain the policy, conduct group discussions and mutual criticism, and encourage mutual pressure. Then, at an appropriate moment, those industrialists and merchants who had confessed most candidly were publicly commended and exempted from inspection, while inspection teams were sent only to those who remained obstinately uncooperative and refused to disclose information. By adopting this approach of courtesy followed by firmness, very good results were achieved. Of the two thousand key households targeted in the second campaign, it was anticipated that one thousand six hundred to seven hundred, or even more, could have their cases resolved without any need for inspection. The report further notes that another distinctive feature of the second campaign was the full utilization of capitalists who had already made thorough confessions and were eager to redeem themselves by contributing to the cause. These individuals were assigned responsibility for covering entire industries or sectors within the city or district; being insiders, they were able to pinpoint critical points, thus playing a highly effective role.