Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A474-W264
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A474-W264
Release
Date: July 4, 2009
发布日：2009年7月4日
Topic:
"Liberal" of Italy Publishing Wei Jingsheng's Article: "The
Chinese Democratic Movement Changed the World"
标题：中国的民主运动改变了世界 -- 魏京生发表在意大利《自由》杂志上的文章
Original
Language Version: Italian/Chinese (English at the beginning, Chinese version at
the end)
此号以意大利/中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
The
Chinese Democratic Movement Changed the World
--
Wei Jingsheng
The
1989 democratic movement started in China and spread throughout the entire
communist world. The communist
regimes of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe collapsed; and new
democracies succeeded in many countries.
The world has changed so much, and even the former US President, Mr.
Clinton mistakenly stated that "because of the diminishing of the
communist regimes, the cold war comes to its end". Although the communists are still in
power in China, North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam, the world has indeed been
changed.
This
democratic movement that changed the world started in 1978, went through its
ups and downs over the next 10 years, reached a historical high point in 1989,
and was brutally crushed by the Chinese government.
In
the fall of 1978, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) went through a severe power
struggle. The leaders of the CCP
were focused on the internal power struggle and paid less attention on
controlling the general public.
More and more people who had no place to voice their suffering under the
communist regime came to Beijing and posted their writings on walls all over
the city. Several large
transportation centers became centers of the posting. A wall of about 200 meters long in Xidan (near Tiananmen
Square) was a major posting center.
It was the place later named as the Xidan Democracy Wall.
After
the Culture Revolution, many of the young people started to re-think about the
then Chinese society, including questioning if the Chinese political system
should be changed. Soon, these
ideas and follow-up discussions were posted on the Democracy Wall. Deng XiaoPing, in the middle of a power
struggle, used the "public opinion" and defeated his enemy -- the
then Communist Party Central Committee Chairman Hua Guofeng, who gathered all
the highest power. The main
argument that Deng had with Hua was if Mao's economic and political policy
should be changed, or continued.
Almost all the postings on the Democracy Wall supported Deng that Mao's
policies should be changed.
On
the other hand, the thoughts of the youth who posted on the Democracy Wall went
much further than Deng. They
believed that only a democratic system could modernize China, and make China's
development into the right track.
Some of the moderates believed that the communist system could be
improved to achieve democracy. But
no one believed that the social and political issues could be resolved without
democracy. My article, "The
Fifth Modernization - Democracy", created a major impact, and become the
representative work of these youths of the Democracy Wall. The article was copied by hand and
spread all over the country, thus making the Democracy Wall a well known name
and democracy a hot topic among the people. After all, at that time a democracy without a one-party
totalitarian system was a topic no one dared to talk or even think about.
It
was this multiparty democracy thinking that Deng and some of the hardcore
communists could not tolerate.
Their lifetime ideology and all their benefits in reality all came from
the Chinese Communist's one party totalitarian system. They could not allow the existence of
any political power other than the communist. The fact that these youths were extremely well received by
the majority of the people, made the dictators uneasy and intolerant. Therefore, after Deng claimed victory
within the party and fought the Vietnamese to set up his authority, the first
thing he did was to demolish the Democracy Wall. They acted so quickly that the movement was suppressed
in less than 5 months. At the end
of March 1979, I became the first one arrested due to the Democracy Wall
movement. This arrest was also
because I sensed Deng was going to wipe out the democracy advocators and wrote
an article to warn people that Deng would be yet a new dictator. Three days after that article was
published, I was arrested.
The
Chinese government took a series of measures after that to remove any memory
left in people's mind about the Democracy Wall. But they failed.
That wall was no longer there, but the Democracy Wall walked into the
hearts of the people, into the universities, as well as into the Chinese
Communist Party itself. Through
the entire 1980s, the democracy movement advanced further. The demand for democracy rose not only
among intellectuals, but also other people including party members. This
movement isolated the conservatives headed by Deng who promoted "reforming
the economic policies but not the political system". Realizing a series of problems came
with the "economic reform", which could only be solved by political
reform, the reformists within the CCP represented by Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang
encountered severe resistance from the conservatives. The reformists had to rely on the support from the people,
and even gradually became the majority voice within the CCP. Yet, Deng, backed by the military,
tried very hard to maintain the situation, until the winter of 1988.
A
professor by the name of Fang Lizhi became very famous all over China because
of his call for democracy in China.
Together with some well known Beijing intellectuals, Professor Fang
wrote a letter to the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping at the beginning of 1989
asking for political reform and the release of Wei Jingsheng and other
political prisoners. This act
triggered a series of democracy outcries within university campuses and serious
discussions within the CCP. A
bitter argument broke out between Hu Yaobang, CCP's former Party Secretary who
was forced to step down not long ago, and Li Peng, a representative of the
conservatives and Premier then. Hu
died soon after of a heart attack.
This angered the people throughout the country. Students rallied on the streets in the
name of remembering Hu Yaobang and clashed with the military police, which
outraged more people including some average CCP members. Millions of people
came out and demonstrated for many days.
The students and citizens had control of Beijing for some time and the
city was in better order than ever.
This showed the quality and dignity of the Chinese people, who had a
simple goal, to make China a better place.
Afraid
of being prosecuted by the government, there were few chances for Chinese
people to exchange their political ideas.
Once they had some freedom of speech, most people found that they had
very similar thoughts about the system.
Some of the students started with the belief that people were not
against the CCP and that their own ideas were too aggressive. Thus they showed banners saying
"We Support the CCP". In
the opposite, encouraged by Professor Fang's letter, a few people hung a banner
"Release Wei Jingsheng" on the monument in the center of Tiananmen
Square. Nevertheless, the students
thought that average folks might not accept calling for the release of an
"antirevolutionary", they yelled and took the banner off.
Three
youths from Hunan Province threw eggs filled with paint onto Mao's portrait
hanging on top of Tiananmen. The
students were afraid that this might cause misunderstanding since they believed
that most people still loved Mao.
After the students detained the three men and had a meeting with a vote,
they handed the three men over to the police. Even after the massacre during the rescue period, there were
still students who believed that the three young men were too aggressive and not
in accordance with the "peace, rational and nonviolence" policy of
the movement. Therefore, the three
were not put on the rescuing list and suffered in prisons for years. The students still had hope that they
could have cooperation from reformists within the CCP lead by Zhao Ziyang, Deng
would lose power soon, and they could join the reformists into the government
to push for political reform.
However,
the people who demonstrated did not stop at the moderate and reform level. These included the workers and other
citizens of the city, as well as most of those from government agencies. The banners and slogans of the
demonstration included not only those moderates for improvement, but more were
asking the conservatives even the CCP to step down. Many moderates found that their banners were obsolete after
seeing what the others wrote on the banners. For the first time over several decades, many people saw and
knew what everyone else was thinking.
They found out that their thoughts were very similar to each other and
that there was no need to hide.
This is one of the main reasons why more and more people joined the
demonstration and keep coming out to the streets everyday.
This
mode also encouraged those inside the CCP, especially the media. Although all
media, Newspapers, TV and radio, were controlled by the CCP and there was no
freedom of press, many journalist and editors joined the people and published /
broadcast anti-communism speeches.
They also found that among colleagues who could not tell the truth,
there was misunderstanding and their thoughts were very close. Once the chains binding their thoughts
were off, all the public opinion stood together with the people.
Normally,
one would think that Deng and those conservatives would hand over power and
step down under this situation. However, these old hardcore communists who
retained power by worshiping force and had control of the military did not want
to give up. Deng staged a military
coup and they took over the highest power of the government against people's
will. Soldiers with tanks and
machine guns were ordered in, and students and citizens were massacred. The reformists represented by Zhao
dared not openly to challenge the massacre. They were afraid of what happened later in the former Soviet
Union could happen in China, and the CCP's one party dictatorship would be
overthrown by the people. They let
the soldiers go with the massacre on the streets.
The
Chinese armies are not professional military forces. Soldiers were told to
"obey the orders from the CCP and fight for the people". Even so, being ordered to kill students
and civilians was difficult to take, both mentally and rationally. Deng had hard time to mobilize the army.
Many generals found excuses or refused to take the orders. For example, General Xu Qinxian, in
charge of the 38th Regiment, refused to take the orders. He was forced down immediately
and arrested. Many other high
commanders within the Central Military Commend who were against the massacre
were forced down as well. These
include General Zhang Aiping, General Hong Xuezhi and Defense Minister Qin
Jiwei. However, without the
directive from the General Party Secretary, no one could oppose Deng's
authority.
Although
this was the most difficult army mobilization in decades of Deng's military
career (with objections even from many under his own command), many soldiers
who had to march into Beijing fired into sky and refused to kill
civilians. Some commanders
directly ordered their soldiers not to shoot civilians; yet there were those
who carried out the order with machine guns and tanks towards the people who
were bare handed. Deng succeeded,
the democracy movement that could change China's fate failed, and thousands of
civilians paid the price with their lives. However, with the encouragement from the citizens of
Beijing, the people of former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe succeeded with
their democratic revolution, which changed the world.
The
Beijing massacre showed a bloody fact to the kind-hearted Chinese people who
realized that by the very nature of the communist totalitarian regime, it will
not yield power to follow the need of the society, and that CCP is the largest
obstacle to the advance of the modern China.
Today's
China is not what it was 20 years ago.
The Chinese democracy advocators are working with the people, to build
their ideal democratic society.
Using their courage and wisdom, they are still willing to pay dearly to
reach their goal, as they have done for many years.
Published
on June 3, 2009 by Liberal of Fondazione Liberal of Italy. The original Italian version is in the
attachment. Publisher's website
is: http://www.liberalfondazione.it/
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A474-W264
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A474-W264
Release
Date: July 4, 2009
发布日：2009年7月4日
Topic:
"Liberal" of Italy Publishing Wei Jingsheng's Article: "The
Chinese Democratic Movement Changed the World"
标题：中国的民主运动改变了世界 -- 魏京生发表在意大利《自由》杂志上的文章
Original
Language Version: Italian/Chinese (English at the beginning, Chinese version at
the end)
此号以意大利/中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2009/report2009-07/Liberal090704WeiJSon1989A474-W264.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------
《中国的民主运动改变了世界》
-- 魏京生
1989年的一场轰轰烈烈的民主运动，从中国开始发生。随后传播到整个共产党世界。苏联和东欧的共产党国家垮台了，产生了十几个新的民主国家。它改变世界的程度如此之大，以至于美国前总统克林顿一不小心口误竟然说：随着共产主义政权的消失，冷战也结束了。虽然共产党政权的一大半-----中国、北朝鲜、越南等等仍然存在，但这个说法还是显示出世界被从根本上改变了。
这场改变了世界的民主运动，发生于1978年。在十年的时间里，此起彼伏不断酝酿和发展，到1989年时达到了高潮，并且遭到了血腥的镇压。
1978年的秋天，中国共产党陷入了一场激烈的权力斗争。党的领导人们全力以赴地关注着党内斗争，放松了对社会上的压制。越来越多有冤枉无处申冤的人聚集在北京，四处张贴他们的大字报。这些大字报几乎布满了北京的大街小巷。有几处人流比较大的交通要道成为大字报比较集中的地点。靠近天安门的交通要道西单附近的一堵大约200米长的墙，成为大字报最集中的地方。这就是后来被称为西单民主墙的地方。
经过文化大革命，很多年轻人在重新思考中国的社会问题，包括思考中国的政治制度是不是需要改变。他们很快就开始利用民主墙来发表自己的看法，交流思想和讨论。正在进行权力争夺的邓小平充分地利用了民间的舆论，击败了对手 -- 集中了所有最高权力的中央主席华国锋。他和华国锋之间的主要争论，就是继续还是改变毛泽东的政治和经济政策。在这个问题上，民主墙的几乎所有年轻人，都站在邓小平的一边。
但是民主墙的很多年轻人的想法，比邓小平走得更远。他们认为必须把中国的政治制度改变成为民主的制度，才能使中国的发展走上正轨。有一部分温和派的想法是改善共产党的制度，以便走向民主。但是没有人认为不需要民主的制度，中国的问题就可以得到解决。我的一篇文章《第五个现代化----民主》造成了很大的轰动，成为民主墙青年人的代表作品。人们争相传抄，带到全国各地传播开来。使民主墙成为全国都知道的一个名词，民主也成为人们集中探讨的一个问题。毕竟，没有一党专政的民主，是一个当时大多数人不敢说，甚至不敢想的问题。
正是这种要求多党制民主的倾向，使邓小平和一些共产党人不能容忍。他们的毕生理想和现实利益，都是共产党的一党专政。他们不能允许共产党以外的政治势力存在。特别是这些年轻人受到了人民极大的欢迎，这就更是独裁者们不能容忍的事情。所以邓小平在击败自己的党内对手，又攻打越南树立了权威之后的第一件事，就是消灭民主墙。这个过程很快，仅仅用了四、五个月的时间。1979年的三月底，我成为民主墙第一个被逮捕的人。这也是因为我看出了邓小平消灭民主派的企图，写文章提醒大家警惕邓小平成为新的独裁者。文章发表后三天我就被逮捕了。
随后政府采取了一系列措施，想使民主墙销声匿迹。但是并不成功。那道墙被封掉了，但是民主墙已经走向了民间，走向了大学，走向了党内。整个80年代，民主运动一波高过一波。不仅知识界，民间和党内的民主要求也不断高涨，使邓小平为首的"只改革经济不改革政治"的保守派逐渐孤立。特别是经济改革带来的一系列问题，必须依靠政治制度的改革来解决。这就使得以胡耀邦、赵紫阳为代表的改革派，和以邓小平为代表的守旧派产生了尖锐的矛盾。改革派依靠民间的支持，在党内也逐渐占据了绝对多数。邓小平则依靠他控制军队的优势，勉强地维持着局面。这种形势在1988年冬天开始维持不下去了。
一个名叫方励之的教授。因为鼓吹民主而在全国变得非常知名，也因此遭到了政府的迫害。他和一群北京的著名知识分子在1989年初写信给实际掌握最高权力的邓小平，要求政治改革、要求释放魏京生等政治犯。结果引发了大学校园里的民主浪潮，同时也触发了党内的激烈争论。在一次党的高级会议上，代表改革派的、刚刚下台不久的前总书记胡耀邦，和代表守旧派的、当时的总理李鹏激烈争吵。胡耀邦突发心脏病去世。这件事引起全国一片愤怒的浪潮，学生们涌上街头以纪念胡耀邦的名义抗议游行，并和军警发生激烈的冲突。这进一步促使更多的市民和普通党员涌上街头。爆发了百万人的大游行，持续多日。游行的学生和市民控制了城市，秩序比平时更好。这显示了中国民众素质良好，也说明游行群众单纯的目标：都希望社会有一个良好的改变，而没有人趁火打劫。
在中国人们由于害怕政府的报复，很少有机会交流思想.一旦摆脱了控制，可以在街头交流政治观点的时候，就突然发现大家的看法都差不多。当时的北京人就是这种状况。游行抗议的学生开始以为人们都不反对共产党，以为自己的观点太激进，所以还要打出拥护共产党的旗号。有人根据方励之教授的信，把要求释放魏京生的标语挂在了天安门广场中心的纪念碑上。学生们害怕群众不能接受“反革命分子”,高声叫喊着把它摘下来了。
有三位来自湖南省的青年人，把悬挂在天安门城楼上的毛泽东像用染料污染了。学生们怕被人们误解，他们以为大多数人仍然热爱毛泽东。所以学生们经过开会投票表决，把这三个抓了起来的勇敢的年轻人送交给了警察。即使在天安门事件之后，在营救被捕人员的阶段，学生们仍然认为这三个年轻人的行为过激了，破坏了学生们的计划，不符合"和平里性非暴力"的原则，把他们排除在营救的范围之外，任凭他们在监狱中受折磨。学生们当时还在幻想能够得到党内改革派的合作，能够很快地打倒邓小平，为赵紫阳为首的改革派扫清道路。之后他们就可以进入政府参与改革的进程了。
但是游行的人民群众并没有停止在温和改良的水平上。游行的人员不但有一般的工人和市民，还包括几乎所有的党政机关。游行的标语口号有温和的改良要求，更多的是要求守旧派下台，甚至要求共产党下台。很多温和派写好标语后，再看看别人的标语，就感到自己的口号过时了。中国人几十年来第一次可以看到别人的真实想法，才发现大家的想法其实差不多，根本不用躲躲闪闪。这种发现，是促使游行的人群情绪越来越高的重要原因。
这种情绪也极大地感染了党内，特别是宣传机构。当时的报纸和电视、广播等等传播媒体，全部操纵在共产党手里，没有一家是真正民间的媒体。但是在当时的社会气氛下，有一些记者编辑开始不顾一切地参与到人民的行动中去，发表反对共产党的言论，特别是同情学生和游行人群的言论。他们周围的人也发现，其实在天天讲假话的同事之间，大家的想法也差不多。只是平时互相讲假话，大家互相都误解了。媒体一旦解放了自己的思想枷锁，就几乎是舆论一致地站在了人民的一边。
按照社会上和党内的形势，邓小平一派只能交出权力彻底下台。但是崇尚武力并且掌握军队的老一代共产党人，不甘心失去一党专政的政权。邓小平在一些早已退休的老军人的支持下，发动军事政变夺取了最高领导权。
同时调集军队开始屠杀聚集在北京街头的市民和学生。支持改革派的学生和市民在街头和坦克、机枪对抗，血流成河。而以赵紫阳为代表的改革派，不敢公开制止血腥的屠杀。他们担心后来在苏联产生的那种结果，担心人民一旦发动起来会推翻共产党的一党专政。所以他们放任军队在街头屠杀支持他们的人民而毫无作为。
中国的军队不是职业军队。军人一直接受的是"听党的指挥，为人民而战"的教育。要求军人屠杀人民，他们思想和感情上都很难通过。在调集军队镇压人民的过程中，邓小平遇到了极大的障碍。抗命不从和寻找各种理由拖延的人很多。中国军队的第一主力第38集团军的军长徐勤先将军，因为拒不执行带兵屠杀人民的命令，遭到立即撤职并逮捕入狱。当时的军委许多高级将领张爱萍上将、洪学智上将和国防部长秦基伟上将等等多数军人都反对军队屠杀人民，事后也都被解除了职务。但是没有总书记的命令，谁也无法对抗邓小平的权威。
这是邓小平几十年军人生涯中最困难的一次调集军队，甚至他的许多老部下都反对他的决定。大多数军人在被迫进城后，也是枪口朝天拒绝屠杀人民。有些高级军官直接命令他的士兵不得向老百姓开枪。但是仍然有一部分军人执行了命令，机枪和坦克对准了手无寸铁的人民。邓小平胜利了。一场可能改变中国命运的民主运动，在付出了成千上万的生命代价后失败了。但是苏联人民在北京市民的鼓励下，完成了苏联和东欧的革命。改变了整个世界。这场血腥的屠杀，使善良的中国人民看清了一个事实：共产党的专制主义本性，使得他们不会主动放弃政权、顺应社会的需求。共产党是中国社会进步的最大障碍。
今天的中国已经不是二十年前的中国了。中国的民主派在新的形势下和人民共同努力。为了建成他们理想中的民主社会。他们仍然愿意付出巨大的代价。一如既往地以他们的勇气和理智去达到目标。
注：以上文章的意大利原文由意大利的“自由”杂志发表于2009年6月3日。 相关网站链接为: http://www.liberalfondazione.it/
（魏京生基金会首发中英文。请注明出处：www.WeiJingSheng.org）
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