Comments and Revisions on the Draft Explanatory Notes for the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption[1]
(April 16 and 17, 1952)
Comrade Enlai, after reading, please send to Comrade Peng Zhen[2]:
Comrade Shaoqi made some revisions to this document[3], and I have made more extensive revisions. I feel it is now usable. If you agree with these revisions, please ensure the clean copy is proofread clearly when it is sent to print.
Mao Zedong
5:00 a.m., April 16
[1]
Mao Zedong made more than one revision to Peng Zhen's draft explanatory notes for the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption. The third part of this piece is Mao Zedong's revision of the section of the explanatory notes concerning the basis for formulating the regulations on the punishment of corruption. The text printed in Song typeface in the original document represents his rewrites and additions.

[2]
Peng Zhen was at the time Vice Chairman of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Government Administration Council and Vice Chairman of the Central People's Government's Austerity Inspection Committee.
[3]
Refers to Peng Zhen's draft explanatory notes for the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption.

Mao Zedong Quanji
Volume 32
Premier Zhou, Comrade Peng Zhen:
I have made some more revisions and feel it is better. Please review it again. If it is usable, it can be sent to print and distributed.
Chairman, all committee members, all comrades:
Mao Zedong
April 17
The draft Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption, after soliciting opinions from various quarters and undergoing revisions on multiple occasions, has been passed by the 130th Government Administration Council meeting of the Central People's Government. I now present the following report on the basis for formulating these regulations and on the regulations themselves, for the review and approval of the Central People's Government Council.
These regulations have been formulated based on the provision for severely punishing corruption in Article 18 of the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and on the facts exposed and experience accumulated during the "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti" movements.
The "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti" movements are a great mass movement, relying on the broad masses of the people, under the leadership of Chairman Mao, the Central People's Government, and the working class, to cleanse the filth and poison left over from the old society. In the recent period, the broad masses of the people throughout the country, in order to stop the law-breaking and discipline-violating activities of corrupt elements and to stop the ferocious attacks from law-breaking bourgeois elements, have waged a fierce struggle to defend and implement the line of the Common Program, and have achieved a great victory. Except for the struggle against a portion of major corrupt criminals among state personnel who completely violated laws and discipline and

Comments and Revisions on the Draft Explanatory Notes for the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption
against a portion of major thieves among the industrial and commercial circles who completely violated laws, this struggle is still a struggle within the people's democratic united front, adopting the methods of mass movement and criticism and self-criticism, to reform the bad work styles in society and among state personnel with the principles of the Common Program; it is a struggle by the broad masses who support the Common Program against law-breaking acts that violate the Common Program; it is a struggle of the clean, simple, and revolutionary work style of serving the people of the broad state personnel against the vile work style of a portion of degenerate and corrupt elements of corruption, waste, and bureaucratism; it is a struggle of the road of legal private industrial and commercial operations conducted in accordance with the Common Program and state laws against the road of illegal operations of bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, shoddy work and inferior materials, and theft of state economic intelligence. In short, apart from the struggle against major corrupt criminals and major thieves, this is a struggle between two work styles and two lines within the people's democratic united front. This is another mass social reform movement of great historical significance for our country, following the three great movements of Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aiding Korea, Land Reform, and Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries.
In this movement, people have abbreviated the phenomena of corruption, waste, and bureaucratism as the "Three Evils"; and have abbreviated the illegal acts of bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, shoddy work and inferior materials, and theft of state economic intelligence as the "Five Poisons." The Five Poisons are the main form of the ferocious attack currently being launched by law-breaking bourgeois elements against the state and the people, while the Three Evils are at present mainly the result of the ferocious attack by law-breaking bourgeois elements.
Of course, the Three Evils also have other historical sources, that is to say, they are still the filth and poison left over from all the exploiters and reactionary rulers of the old society, and the law-breaking bourgeois elements are the main social class basis that currently inherits and supports this filth and poison.
Because in the past three years we have been busy suppressing and eliminating the remnant forces of the American and Chiang bandit gangs, busy with Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aiding Korea and Land Reform, busy with the recovery of economic and cultural undertakings and the development of various construction projects, we have not yet had time to systematically sweep away this filth and poison, and the thieving elements in the bourgeoisie and the corrupt elements among state personnel have precisely exploited this gap of ours, colluding with each other, acting in collusion, and brazenly developing their criminal activities.

But this is not to say that all people in the bourgeoisie have broken the law without any distinction. In the past period, judging from the situation in major cities, among the total number of the petty bourgeoisie (here referring to independent handicraft households and family commercial households that generally do not employ workers or clerks, not including street vendors) and the bourgeoisie, the law-abiding accounted for about ten percent; those who were basically law-abiding but had minor illegal acts accounted for about sixty percent; those who were semi-law-abiding and semi-law-breaking accounted for about twenty-five percent; and those who were seriously law-breaking and completely law-breaking accounted for about five percent, they are capitalists of a highly speculative or completely speculative nature; and the most rampant and vile among them in their speculation account for about one percent of the total number of industrial and commercial households, a number that is not very large. This last group of people are the so-called major thieving elements, who are no longer our friends, but criminals, and therefore, except for those who confess, repent, and perform meritorious service, they must be subject to legal sanctions. In the above proportions, the law-abiding and basically law-abiding households account for about seventy percent of the total in industrial and commercial circles, the majority of whom are petty bourgeois elements, but there are also many bourgeois elements, and some large industrialists and businessmen.
Under the ferocious attack of the law-breaking bourgeois elements, and under the corrosion of the filth and poison left over from the old society, many corrupt elements have emerged among state personnel. Among them, the most serious and vile major corrupt elements are also a minority. These major corrupt elements are also no longer our comrades, but criminals who steal the wealth of the state and the people, and therefore, except for those who confess, repent, and perform meritorious service, they must be purged from our ranks and be subject to legal sanctions.
Before the "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti" movements began, the phenomena of corruption existing among state personnel and the phenomena of theft existing in industrial and commercial circles were very serious. However, because our country has the leadership of the Communist Party and the working class, has a strong leading backbone long-tempered and taught by Chairman Mao, and has the enthusiastic support of the broad masses of the people, as soon as Chairman Mao and the Central People's Government gave the order, the "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti" movements were immediately launched across the country. The broad laboring people, revolutionary intellectuals, and the broad ranks of active working cadres quickly united, responded to the call of the state, and finally even the state personnel

Comments and Revisions on the Draft Explanatory Notes for the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption
and industrialists and businessmen who had washed their hands clean also united with us, forming the great united front of the "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti." In this way, the major corrupt elements in state organs and the major thieving elements in society were completely isolated, and were severely struck and sanctioned; the tendency of law-breaking bourgeois elements to go against the state and the people was effectively stopped and corrected.
At the same time, the bourgeoisie itself, because of the leadership and supervision of the working class, and because of the struggle launched by its own internal law-abiding, progressive, and active elements against the law-breaking, backward, and passive elements, has thus received a universal education. Through the "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti" movements, we can already fully see that our country's people's democratic united front and people's democratic dictatorship have been greatly consolidated, the situation in both finance and economy has been greatly improved, and the old ideas of intellectuals that are not beneficial to the people's cause have also been reformed, or are in the process of being reformed.
Now, in order to punish corrupt elements and thieving elements respectively, to consolidate the victories already won in the "Three-Anti" and "Five-Anti" movements, and to continue the unremitting struggle against all acts of corruption and theft, it is entirely necessary to formulate a law, and this is the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption to be discussed today.