The Struggles Against the "Three Evils" and "Five Evils"

These were the movements conducted between late 1951 and October 1952 against corruption, waste and bureaucracy (the "three evils") among staff of Party and government departments and against bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts and stealing economic information (the "five evils") among private industrialists and business people.

In December 1951, the Party Central Committee issued two documents: the Decision on Streamlining Administration, Increasing Production and Practicing Economy, in Opposition to Corruption, Waste and Bureaucracy, and the Directive on Launching a Vigorous Attack Against Corruption. This was the beginning of a nationwide movement against the "three evils" during which criminal capitalists were found to have colluded with government staff in various crimes.

In January 1952, the Party Central Committee issued a directive on waging a large-scale movement against the "five evils" in cities within a definite time limit. This movement started in early February and soon began to expand.

The movements against the "three evils" and the "five evils" concluded by October 1952. They succeeded in controlling and eliminating a large number of criminal activities, and helped pave the way for the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce.

“三反”“五反”運(yùn)動

“三反”“五反”運(yùn)動是1951年年底到1952年10月，新中國在黨政機(jī)關(guān)工作人員中開展的“反貪污、反浪費(fèi)、反官僚主義”和在私營工商業(yè)者中開展的“反行賄、反偷稅漏稅、反盜騙國家財產(chǎn)、反偷工減料、反盜竊國家經(jīng)濟(jì)情報”斗爭的統(tǒng)稱。

1951年12月，中共中央先后發(fā)出了《關(guān)于實行精兵簡政、增產(chǎn)節(jié)約、反對貪污、反對浪費(fèi)和反對官僚主義的決定》和《關(guān)于反貪污斗爭必須大張旗鼓地去進(jìn)行的指示》。從此，“三反”運(yùn)動在全國展開。在“三反”運(yùn)動中，又揭發(fā)出一些資產(chǎn)階級不法分子同國家機(jī)關(guān)中的貪污分子內(nèi)外勾結(jié)、從事犯罪活動的嚴(yán)重情況。

1952年1月，中共中央又發(fā)出《關(guān)于在城市中限期展開大規(guī)模的堅決徹底的“五反”斗爭的指示》。2月上旬，“五反”運(yùn)動首先在各大城市開始，并且很快形成高潮。

1952年10月，“三反”“五反”運(yùn)動結(jié)束。這兩場運(yùn)動，打退了資產(chǎn)階級的猖狂進(jìn)攻，為實現(xiàn)對資本主義工商業(yè)的社會主義改造打下了堅實基礎(chǔ)。