Central Directive Accompanying the Shanghai Municipal Committee’s Report on Experiences in Encouraging Illegally Profiteering Capitalists to Make Amends Through Meritorious Service (April 15, 1952) The Shanghai Municipal Committee’s report of April 12〔1〕is most commendable. It is hereby circulated to all Central Bureaus and Sub-bureaus, with instructions to forward it to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities directly under the central government, and autonomous regions for implementation by analogy.

The present document was printed on April 15 by the Central Committee, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

Notes〔〕 Refers to the report submitted on April 12, 1952, by the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee to the East China Bureau and to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee, concerning experiences in encouraging illegally profiteering capitalists to make amends through meritorious service. The report states that during the first phase of the Five-Anti Campaign in Shanghai, seventy-four key target households, following thorough inspections by inspection teams, denunciations by workers, and劝说 by their families, finally admitted their guilt. However, fearing severe punishment, they remained deeply anxious and lacked the motivation to produce; moreover, many workers and clerks in their respective factories and stores were likewise afraid of losing their jobs. In order to rapidly broaden the united front of the Five-Anti Campaign and create favorable conditions for the second phase, we convened a meeting of these illegal capitalists on April 3. At the meeting, we declared that their five types of corrupt practices were grave offenses. Although their confessions had come only after intensive inspection and struggle, we treated them as voluntary self-revelations and would deal with them leniently: requiring merely restitution without imposing additional penalties and exempting them from criminal prosecution. Should they actively assist in denouncing other unlawful industrial and commercial operators and thereby redeem themselves through meritorious service, their restitution obligations might be further reduced. Going forward, they were required to pledge never again to engage in the five types of corrupt practices, to scrupulously obey the leadership of the working class and the state-owned economy, and to devote themselves wholeheartedly to production. Upon hearing the government’s announcement of lenient treatment, the illegal capitalists felt as if they had been granted a general amnesty. They eagerly took to the stage one after another to expose their own five types of corrupt activities, unanimously expressing gratitude for the government’s magnanimity and vowing to make amends through meritorious deeds. This meeting succeeded in transforming their previous tense and fearful state of mind, stabilizing their morale and willingness to produce, and providing concrete evidence to illustrate the government’s policy of “leniency for those who confess, strictness for those who resist.” Following the meeting, we promptly dispatched them throughout the city to various sectors to carry out acts of denunciation and to persuade others to confess, using their personal examples to inspire other industrial and commercial operators, with very positive results.