Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A106-W47
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A106-W47
Release Date: Jan 30, 2005
发布日：2005年1月30日
Topic: ZHAO ZiYang's Death Marks the End of Their Era - by Wei Jingsheng
标题：赵紫阳的去世标志着他们这一代人以及属于他们的时代的完结 -- 魏京生
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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ZHAO ZiYang's Death Marks the End of Their Era - by Wei Jingsheng
- By Wei Jingsheng
Last time I talked about the reasons why there were not large-scale protests breaking out in China after its former Communist leader Zhao ZiYang passed away. Now, I want to say that Zhao ZiYang’s death marks the end of an era, an era of ideologism. Although there might be a debate over the definition of such a word, for now, let us just use it as the common people do.
This era lasted for nearly one century. To be exact, it started at the end of the Qing Dynasty, when many young intellectuals searched for truth and the means to save China and the Chinese people by reaching beyond the traditional Chinese culture. In the first half of the last century, various technologies and different political ideologies from the Western world mixed into Chinese culture rapidly. Various political ideologies also won their apostles, and carried out actions. After turmoil including disturbances and invasions, the fragile and immature democracy system in China did not last. It was replaced with the not so popular Communist system under the support of the Soviet Communist Party and the wrongful toleration of the United States. The miracle-like rising of Chinese Communism became the mainstream icon in the later half of the century, unfolding with devastations one after another. Mr. Zhao ZiYang was one of these ideologists who believed in the Communism system.
The last half-century has not only been devastating to the Chinese people, but also to the ideologists themselves. Because what they choose was a dictatorship without toleration, they ended up not only destroying varied dissidences outside the Communist Party, but also fought to death within themselves. The struggle between different factions with different opinions developed to such a degree that they killed each other for their own survival. The peak period was the well-known “Cultural Revolution” time. Although the “Reform and Open Period” after that did not produce the ways of terminating physical lives that the Cultural Revolution did, the fights produced the termination of political lives, including these of HU YaoBang and ZHAO ZiYang. These two were the highest positioned leaders in the Chinese Communist Party according to the Party’s own constitution. Yet, when they were in disagreement with the real paramount leader, DENG XiaoPing, their political lives were forcefully ended immediately, along with their basic human rights that an average citizen should have. After the June 4 massacre of 1989, Zhao ZiYang himself was put under house arrest until the end of his life. This action proves that as a one-party dictatorship, the Communist Party will always be dictatorial regardless how it gets reformed. It has no way to be a democratic system by any means.
However, in comparison to other types of dictatorship, these ideologists did not have as their original political goals to rule and suppress the others. Just the opposite, they had a strong ideology of “saving the country and saving its people”, and they believed that their ideology would bring democratic, free and prospect lives for their people. They had a strong sense of love and hate, along with self-sacrifice. However, their practices were always against their ideology, producing the opposite results to what they hoped for. Very few of them ever were able to walk out this self-contradictory state between ideology and reality. This is the shared characteristic of that generation.
After decades of troubles and thinking, many people sooner or later realized that their problems were not due to the wrong people, but really due to the wrong system. The ideologists ended up realizing that fact rationally, but not emotionally. They were not willing to admit themselves as failures. This unwillingness had a lot to do with them being in the positions of dictators. They were not saints to admit they had failed when there was no pressure from the outside to demand so. But they still quietly tried to change the reality. Mao Zedong tried to put “all new blood” in the highest levels. The result was even worse, which forced him to invite Deng XiaoPing back. Deng XiaoPing still believed in the Communism ideology, and thought economical reform would solve the entire problem. However, Hu YaoBang and Zhao ZiYang, who helped with Deng’s reform, soon realized that this path was not the right road either. They followed the people’s calling for political reform, only then to be impeached by Deng.
These ideologists were members of the dictatorial group and had done their share of evil things with the Chinese Communist Party. But meanwhile, they thought what they were doing was good, and they were willing to do something good. When they realized that they were wrong, they were willing to change. Sometimes, they might even be willing listen to rational argument, even though they were not always rational. The root reason is that some of them still love the people and are still sympathetic to the people. If they were ordered to butcher the people themselves, they could not do it, and even would strongly oppose it. Zhao ZiYang was one of them, but not the only one. The better-recognized ones include Mr. PENG DeHuai, Mr. ZHANG AiPing, Mr. HONG XueZhi and their children, along with the Army Commander Xu of Army 38.
The death of Zhao ZiYang marks the end of their generation and their era. The nowadays rulers, started from JIANG ZeMin, have replaced these unrealistic and self-contradictory ideologists. They have started a dictatorial era with clear minds.
-- Wei Jingsheng
(Written on January 17, 2005. Partially broadcasted by Radio Free Asia. The Wei Jingsheng Foundation is responsible for the accuracy of this version of the English translation.)
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中文版
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A106-W47
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A106-W47
Release Date: Jan 30, 2005
发布日：2005年1月30日
Topic: ZHAO ZiYang's Death Marks the End of Their Era - by Wei Jingsheng
标题：赵紫阳的去世标志着他们这一代人以及属于他们的时代的完结 -- 魏京生
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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赵紫阳的去世标志着他们这一代人以及属于他们的时代的完结
-- 魏京生 （写于2005年1月17日）
上次我谈到赵紫阳去世后为什么没有爆发大规模的群众示威活动的原因。现在，我想和大家谈谈赵紫阳的死标志着一个时代的结束。这是什么样的时代呢？就是人们常常说的理想主义的时代，虽然准确与否肯定会有争论，但我们不妨借用大多数人通常使用的这个名词吧。
这个时代持续了近一百年，应该说是从清朝末年开始。有不少的青年知识分子开始在传统中国文化之外寻找救国救民的道理。在上世纪的前半部分里，从西方学来的各种科技和政治思想迅速地融入了中国文化。各种政治理想也都获得了自己的信徒，并付诸实践于行动。在比较公平的竞争中，在西方实践中最成功的代议制获得了比较多的支持。先后击败了带封建主义色彩的帝制和共产主义，暂时成为主导中国发展的主流。但在列强的干扰和侵略之下，脆弱和不成熟的民主制没能维持下去。本来不太受欢迎的共产主义制度在苏联共产党的支持下和美国错误的纵容之下，奇迹般地崛起，成为之后五十年中国灾难性的发展过程的主流。赵紫阳先生就是这一批拥有共产主义信念的理想主义者之一。
过去的五十年不仅是中国人民的灾难，也是这一批理想主义者自己的灾难。由于他们选择的是没有兼容性的专制主义的政治制度，所以他们不仅残酷地消灭了党外的各种不同思想者，在党内也斗得你死我活。不同观点的派别之间的斗争，发展到互相残杀的地步，其高峰期就是著名的“文化大革命”时期。此后所谓的“改革开放”时代，这种斗争虽然不至于互相残杀，但仍然是政治生命的你死我活，最典型的例子就是胡耀邦和赵紫阳。这两位法律上的中共最高领袖和实际上的独裁者之间一旦意见不和，就立即被蛮不讲理地结束政治生命，并给剥夺了作为普通公民所应享有的基本人权。1989年六四屠杀后，赵紫阳本人被软禁到他生命的最后一刻。这证明了共产党的一党专制制度，无论怎样改革，也是一种没有兼容性的独裁制度，决不是任何意义上的民主制。
但是和其他类型的专制统治集团相比较，这一批人的特点是他们并不是抱着统治压迫别人的目标从政的。正相反，他们抱有强烈救国救民的理想，相信他们的理想能给人民带来民主、自由和富裕的生活。他们具有强烈的爱和憎，并富有牺牲精神。但是他们的实践始终都和理想相背离，结果一次次地和他们所希望的相反。他们之中很少人能走出思想和现实的这种自相矛盾的状态。这是他们这一代人的共同特征。
经过几十年的折腾和思考，其中很多人或先或后地明白了问题并不是出在人选上，而是出在制度上。他们从理智上明白了，但是从感情上不愿接受，不愿意承认自己的失败。这和他们处在独裁者的地位有很大的关系。表面上看没有外来的压力，没有承认失败的道理，除非是圣人。但他们试图悄悄地改变现实，毛泽东就曾从最高层开始，全部换上“新鲜血液”。，但结果更让人失望，所以又请回了邓小平。此后，邓小平认为共产主义的政治理想没错，也许改改经济体制就能成功了。帮助邓小平改革的胡耀邦和赵紫阳很快就发现此路不通，先后顺应了民间要求彻底改革政治体制的呼声。并先后被邓小平赶下台。
这批理想主义者本身也是专制统治集团的成员，也和共产党一起干尽了坏事。但他们同时也认为自己干的是好事，也想干好事。一旦发现错了，他们还愿意改，并且可以讲理。虽然不是每一次都讲理。根本原因是他们其中的某些人还热爱人民，同情人民的疾苦。如果让他们去直接屠杀老百姓，他们会下不去手，甚至会强烈地反对。赵紫阳是他们中的一个，但不是唯一的。比较著名的有彭德怀、张爱萍、洪学智以及他们的子女，38军徐军长等。
赵紫阳的去世，标志着这一代人以及属于他们的时代结束了。现在的统治者从江泽民开始，取代了在人们看来不太现实的自相矛盾的理想主义者，开始了头脑清醒的专制独裁时代。
-- 魏京生
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