One Strike-Three Anti Campaign
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The One Strike-Three Anti campaign () was a national campaign launched by
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
,
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
and the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) in early 1970 during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. The campaign aimed to consolidate central power by targeting " counterrevolutionaries" and "minor criminals". The "Strike" referred to a crackdown on the activities of "counter-revolutionary" elements in China, while the "Three Antis" were "graft and embezzlement", "profiteering" and "extravagance and waste". The campaign resulted in a large number of
executions Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
and
suicides Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
. According to government statistics released after the Cultural Revolution, 1.87 million people were persecuted during the campaign as traitors, spies, and counterrevolutionaries, and over 284,800 were arrested or killed from February to November 1970 alone. Ding Shu, an overseas Chinese scholar, estimated the campaign's death toll to be around 200,000.


Historical background

During the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, the One Strike-Three Anti Campaign was launched by
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
and the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) leadership in early 1970, in an effort to consolidate power by targeting " counterrevolutionaries" and "minor criminals". However, the ambiguous and vague definitions of "illegal" behavior later led to a new wave of political persecution, and even the slightest "subversive" behavior including the mere act of meeting with another person, could result in execution. Another intention of the campaign was to improve China's economic situation and curb the corruption and anarchy in industry. At the end of 1969, production of every major item (with the exception of crude oil) failed to reach its respective target level, and across China production was hindered by continued factionalism and the actions of more radical groupings.


Course of the campaign

In February 1970, the leadership in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
announced the start of the One Strike-Three Anti campaign with immediate effect. The order to local authorities in China to 'strike' against 'active counterrevolutionary elements' was issued by Zhou Enlai with
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
's blessing on 31 January, and the 'Three Antis' ('graft and embezzlement', 'profiteering' and 'extravagance and waste') were unveiled a week later on 5 February. In order for these issues to be effectively tacked, the Beijing leadership called for a national 'tide' of denunciations and the involvement of the 'masses' in the campaign. However, these fairly vague parameters for what constituted 'active counterrevolutionary elements' led to a situation where interpretations and actions against these elements varied considerably in their definition and in their ferocity, tending to err on the harsh rather than the lenient side. For example, in
Yinchuan Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut people, Tangut-led Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 C ...
, three university graduates were arrested and executed for supposed 'counterrevolutionary' activity whilst only pretending to study
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
theory (such activity included the desecration of a copy of the ''Little Red Book''), and in
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
province the outspoken wife of
Chen Yun Chen Yun (13 June 1905 – 10 April 1995) was a statesman of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China. He was one of the most prominent leaders during the periods when China was governed by Mao Zedong and later by Deng Xia ...
was subjected to "
struggle sessions Struggle sessions (), or denunciation rallies or struggle meetings, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being " class enemies" were publicly humiliated, accused, beaten and tortured, sometimes to death, often ...
" and solitary confinement for the putting up of two controversial big-character posters.MacFarquhar & Schoenhals, p. 303 It was also more generally the case that those condemned in the movement were attacked for financial reasons rather than their political views or actions- for example, in Zhabei in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, only 6% of all cases in the movement were for political reasons. The crackdowns on unsavory elements in the cities were periodic and therefore known as 'red typhoons'.MacFarquhar & Schoenhals, p. 304 In
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, under the guidance of
Wang Hongwen Wang Hongwen (December 1935 – 3 August 1992) was a Chinese labour activist and politician who was the youngest member of the Gang of Four. He rose to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), after organizing the Shanghai Peo ...
, these 'red typhoons' occurred on average every two months, and involved the mass mobilization of thousands of police and militia to undertake raids across the city, in the hope of uncovering evidence of 'counterrevolutionary activity'. The ambiguous nature of the wording of the original orders from
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
and Mao also meant that in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
(and elsewhere) any small crime could be quickly made into a crime against the 'people'.


Results and aftermath

The One Strike-Three Anti campaign did not have a definite end, as it came to its conclusion at various times across China. In the capital, the proceedings were largely over by the end of 1970, with the report on the campaign reporting the discovery of 5,757 'counterrevolutionaries', the resolving of 3,138 criminal cases related to major crimes and 'counterrevolutionary' activity and the highlighting of over 6,000 cases of the 'Three Antis'. Elsewhere, however, the campaign continued until as late as 1972 or 1973, with it ending in Shanghai in late 1972. According to the official report, 64,000 people from Shanghai and the surrounding area were 'struggled' against. Officially, the CCP reported that over 280,000 arrests of 'counterrevolutionaries' occurred in the first 10 months of the campaign, up to November 1970.Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, ''Mao's Last Revolution'', Belknap Harvard (2006), p. 306-307 Among the total of 10,402 political prisoners who received "official death sentences" in the Cultural Revolution, the majority were executed in the course of the One Strike and Three Antis Campaign. The campaign also led to a large number of suicides; for example, in Liuyang County of
Hunan Province Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chon ...
, 186 people committed suicide during the One Strike-Three Anti Campaign and the "Three Dark Lines (黑三线)" Movement.


See also

* Cleansing the Class Ranks *
May Sixteenth elements May Sixteenth elements () were named after the so-called May Sixteenth Army Corps (五一六兵团; 1967–1968), ultra-left Red Guards in Beijing during the early years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) who targeted Zhou Enlai with the bac ...
*
List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party This is a list of political campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the founding of the party in 1921, in the aftermath of World War I. List of campaigns See also * History of China * History of the Republic of China * History ...


References


Further reading

* {{Cultural Revolution Cultural Revolution Campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party History of Shanghai 1970 in China 1970 in Shanghai