Central Instructions on the Submission of Self-Criticism Reports by Local Finance Committees at All Levels and by Military Logistics Departments for Violations of Financial Discipline [1] (April 22, 1952) To all Central Bureaus and Sub-bureaus, with copy forwarded to provincial, municipal, and district Party committees and their finance and economic commissions and financial organs; to all Major Military Regions and the Volunteer Army Party Committee, with copy forwarded to military regions at all levels and to corps and divisions together with their logistics departments:  (1) Following the nationwide liberation, certain standards governing fiscal expenditures proved ill-suited to the prevailing situation; central financial authorities sometimes imposed overly strict controls on funds that ought to have been disbursed; local financial systems had yet to be fully established; and revenues and expenditures at the township and town levels had not yet been comprehensively coordinated. As a result, local finances encountered a number of difficulties. This constituted one set of factors contributing to violations of financial regulations and discipline by local financial and logistics agencies. However, there were also shortcomings within the leadership bodies of financial and logistics departments at all levels, and it would be unjust to attribute these problems solely to the absence of complete and sound institutional frameworks. Since the launch of the Three-Anti Campaign, in-depth investigations conducted across the country have revealed numerous serious breaches of financial regulations and discipline within both the local financial system and the military logistics system. Examples include converting large public funds into smaller ones, withholding surplus funds that should have been remitted upward, falsifying budgets, engaging in clandestine practices, arbitrarily increasing requisitioned grain allocations, and widespread arbitrary levies in rural areas—conditions that are particularly severe. Such practices not only give rise to fiscal disorder, corruption, and waste but also seriously alienate the masses. These circumstances should be subjected to

a comprehensive review upon the conclusion of the current Three-Anti Campaign, which will greatly assist in drawing lessons, restoring financial discipline, and establishing a complete financial system.  (2) In March, the Finance Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee submitted a written self-criticism report stating that the actual amount of grain collected exceeded by 500 million jin the figure they had previously reported by telephone. This report was circulated to all local finance committees for reference. In addition, the Central-South Finance Committee also prepared a self-criticism report, which has already been distributed to the major administrative regions. We have now received another self-criticism report from the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance, which is hereby forwarded to you for your information.  (3) The Central authorities instruct finance committees at all three levels—namely, those under the major administrative regions, provinces (autonomous regions), municipalities, and prefectural offices—as well as military logistics departments at or above the division and military sub-district levels, to conduct a thorough self-criticism along the lines of the reports prepared by the Central-South Region, Jiangxi Province, and Guangdong Province. Such reviews must be comprehensive, truthful, and free of concealment. After completing the review, each unit should take the initiative and confidently address its subordinate units; otherwise, unresolved issues will remain, necessitating a subsequent re-examination at some future date, thereby placing the unit in a defensive position and exposing it to criticism and disciplinary action.  (4) The aforementioned self-criticism reports are to be submitted hierarchically to the Central Finance Committee and the General Logistics Department of the Central Military Commission no later than the end of May; delays are strictly prohibited. Printed on April 22 by the Central authorities, based on a version revised by Mao Zedong. Note [1]: Text rendered in Song typeface throughout this document represents passages rewritten or added by Mao Zedong.