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(dòng)

“三反”“五反”運(yùn)動(dòng)是1951年年底到1952年10月，新中國(guó)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(yíng)工商業(yè)者中開展的“反行賄、反偷稅漏稅、反盜騙國(guó)家財(cái)產(chǎn)、反偷工減料、反盜竊國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)情報(bào)”斗爭(zhēng)的統(tǒng)稱。

1951年12月，中共中央先后發(fā)出了《關(guān)于實(shí)行精兵簡(jiǎn)政、增產(chǎn)節(jié)約、反對(duì)貪污、反對(duì)浪費(fèi)和反對(duì)官僚主義的決定》和《關(guān)于反貪污斗爭(zhēng)必須大張旗鼓地去進(jìn)行的指示》。從此，“三反”運(yùn)動(dòng)在全國(guó)展開。在“三反”運(yùn)動(dòng)中，又揭發(fā)出一些資產(chǎn)階級(jí)不法分子同國(guó)家機(jī)關(guān)中的貪污分子內(nèi)外勾結(jié)、從事犯罪活動(dòng)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(jiān)決徹底的“五反”斗爭(zhēng)的指示》。2月上旬，“五反”運(yùn)動(dòng)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(dòng)結(jié)束。這兩場(chǎng)運(yùn)動(dòng)，打退了資產(chǎn)階級(jí)的猖狂進(jìn)攻，為實(shí)現(xiàn)對(duì)資本主義工商業(yè)的社會(huì)主義改造打下了堅(jiān)實(shí)基礎(chǔ)。