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”運動

“三反”“五反”運動是1951年年底到1952年10月，新中國在黨政機關工作人員中開展的“反貪污、反浪費、反官僚主義”和在私營工商業者中開展的“反行賄、反偷稅漏稅、反盜騙國家財產、反偷工減料、反盜竊國家經濟情報”斗爭的統稱。

1951年12月，中共中央先后發出了《關于實行精兵簡政、增產節約、反對貪污、反對浪費和反對官僚主義的決定》和《關于反貪污斗爭必須大張旗鼓地去進行的指示》。從此，“三反”運動在全國展開。在“三反”運動中，又揭發出一些資產階級不法分子同國家機關中的貪污分子內外勾結、從事犯罪活動的嚴重情況。

1952年1月，中共中央又發出《關于在城市中限期展開大規模的堅決徹底的“五反”斗爭的指示》。2月上旬，“五反”運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”運動結束。這兩場運動，打退了資產階級的猖狂進攻，為實現對資本主義工商業的社會主義改造打下了堅實基礎。