Instructions and Comments on Several Issues Concerning the Victorious Conclusion of the Five-Anti Campaign
(May 20, 1952)

To all Central Bureaus, Sub-bureaus, Provincial Committees, Regional Party Committees, and Municipal Party Committees of Major Cities:

We are hereby transmitting to you the Central Committee’s Instructions on Several Issues in Achieving a Victorious Conclusion of the Five-Anti Campaign (Document I). It is hoped that you will study these instructions carefully and implement them strictly.

The Central Committee
May 20

[1]
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in its Instructions of May 20, 1952, concerning several issues related to the victorious conclusion of the Five-Anti Campaign, stipulated the following principles for finalizing cases and administering penalties:

“The principle is to be strict in the struggle yet lenient in handling; those who deserve strict treatment should be treated strictly, and those who deserve leniency should be treated leniently.” It is imperative to ensure that all actions are based on factual evidence and are both reasonable and just. The criteria for classifying industrial and commercial households should take into account both the amount of illegal gains and the nature of the violations as equally important factors. Relying solely on the amount of illegal gains as the sole criterion for differentiation would be incomplete. The amount of illegal gains made by capitalists must be recalculated according to the control ratios prescribed in the Central Committee’s directive of May 9 before a final decision is reached. Generally, offending industrial and commercial entities will be required only to return illicit profits and pay back taxes, with fines imposed only in a few exceptional cases. Except for three categories—namely, those whose illegal activities have caused extremely serious harm or disruption to the national economy and people’s livelihoods; those whose offenses are of the gravest and most heinous nature; and those where the property was originally enemy or puppet regime assets unlawfully seized by others—such enterprises will not normally be taken over or confiscated. Any cases with counter-revolutionary or other political overtones discovered during the Five-Anti Campaign, except for active saboteurs, shall first have their economic aspects resolved, after which they are to be referred to the public security authorities or other appropriate agencies for further action. Furthermore, all cases involving the trafficking and smuggling of narcotics and other drugs that come to light during the Five-Anti Campaign are to be handled as special cases in accordance with the Central Committee’s directives prohibiting drug trafficking.