--- Notes

Comments on the Jilin Provincial Party Committee’s Report on the Deployment of the “Three Antis” Campaign and Additional Remarks Added to the Draft Directive for Central Transmission of This Report [1] (April 7 and 11, 1960)

I. This document [2] is hereby forwarded to Comrades Xiaoping and Peng Zhen [3] for their review and disposition. Mao Zedong, 4:00 a.m. on April 7. Written in reverse script after use.

II. If certain localities have already begun the Three Antis campaign while at the same time ensuring that it does not impede production—or even helps to promote it—they may, at your discretion, continue as planned. Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.

Notes [1] The draft directive prepared by Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, on April 7, 1960, for the Central Committee’s transmission of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee’s report on the deployment of the “Three Antis” issue stated: “The Central Committee considers the views of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee to be worthy of serious attention. Achieving an excellent harvest across all provinces and autonomous regions this year is of paramount importance, and all other work should be conducted in such a way as not to interfere with agricultural production. Therefore, we request that the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, following the example of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, carefully consider the timing of the rural ‘Three Antis’ campaign, striving to schedule it during breaks in the peak farming season. Should spring plowing prove too hectic at present, in order to enable cadres to concentrate fully on directing production, the campaign might be postponed until after the busy period; meanwhile, over the next few months only pilot trials should be carried out to accumulate experience.” Following this passage, Mao Zedong added a single sentence, namely Section II of the present text. On April 11, the CPC Central Committee issued this directive.

[2] Refers to the Jilin Provincial Party Committee’s request-report dated April 2, 1960, submitted to the Central Committee concerning the deployment of the “Three Antis” issue. The report noted that the province’s sixth-level cadre conference had, since April 1, shifted its focus to discussing questions of work style. Preliminary revelations indicated that among cadres of the people’s communes, instances of embezzlement, waste, and bureaucratic formalism were quite severe. It was proposed to collate the materials already brought to light and immediately launch the “Three Antis” campaign at the conference as the initial stage of this rectification movement. At present, spring plowing has already commenced throughout the province. Given Jilin’s short frost-free period, timely early sowing is crucial for determining the agricultural yield and must be vigorously pursued. Recognizing that the “Three Antis,” particularly the anti-embezzlement component, requires concentrated leadership, mass mobilization, and meticulous organization, and that spreading it out during the spring plowing season would likely make it difficult for county- and commune-level leaders to balance production with the rectification drive, the provincial party committee decided, after deliberation, to first devote all available energy to accelerating spring planting upon completion of the sixth-level cadre conference. Cadres at the provincial, prefectural, county, and commune levels would be dispatched to the countryside and fields to participate in, lead, and inspect production activities, thereby receiving education in proper work style while simultaneously gathering more detailed information about the actual conditions and problems related to the work styles of rural cadres. Once spring plowing is finished or during the interlude before the next major farming task, a fourth-level cadre conference at the county level would then be convened to carry forward the rural “Three Antis” rectification campaign in depth, completing it in one continuous effort. As for the “Three Antis” campaign within urban organs and enterprises, it was decided to immediately organize typical investigations and, following study, to formulate specific methods and steps.

[3] Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping. Peng Zhen was at that time a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.