Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A537-W311
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A537-W311
Release
Date: April 10, 2010
发布日：2010年4月10日
Topic:
The Way Out for China (Part V) -- Wei Jingsheng
标题： 《中国的出路》之五 -- 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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The
Way Out for China, Part V
--
Wei Jingsheng
We
know that the modern day democratic system is the most reasonable system. It has been much better in protecting
people's rights and interests than the autocratic system. Chinese people have been striving for
democracy for more than a century already. Why has China always ended up with a so-called
"democratic system" which was not democracy in the end? It does not take a few years to find
out that an intended democratic system had become an autocracy. The more recent, the more
autocratic. Mao Zedong was more
autocratic than Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-Shek was more autocratic than Yuan
Shikai. Why so?
There
is a traditional concept that must be overthrown: that concept is one should not be against a government. This concept states that when one is
against a government, that means damaging the country, producing instability,
engaging in treason and heresy, which are crimes deserving capital
punishment. In a climate where
this concept is the mainstream, it is impossible to have powerful opposition
parties and opposition forces.
Even when there is a small and weak opposition party, it would be
destroyed under this concept of "treason and heresy", and left to be
an opposition party in its dress yet for the purpose of decorating the rulers.
During
the Yuan Shikai era, there were at least opposition parties in the
parliament. During the Chiang
Kai-shek time, there was only an "opposition party" which maintained
its army and defied orders. A few
opposition parties maintained for decorative purposes could only survive by the
protection of this armed party. By
the Mao Zedong times, the opposition party was in name only, a true party for a
decorative purpose. Chinese
democracy was indeed one generation worse than the previous generations. The reason is that the mainstream of
social public opinion in China has been supporting the rulers without any
condition and readily uses the accusation of "being against the government
is treason and heresy" against any opposition parties. When an opposition party cannot
survive, the autocrat becomes widely adopted and democracy loses its true
meaning.
Should
the government be overturned? Many
Chinese would turn pale with fright when they heard these words. But if you look at the democratic
countries, you know the government of course should be overturned. It is not even a "should be",
but a "must". Every a
few years, the government is turned over for a new government, so the old
government must forget the thought of governing forever. A democratic system does not trust any
particular individual or party.
Even an excellent individual might be reluctant to give up his post
after he holds power for a long time, and thus would try different ways to
change the rules to be able to hold the power. Thus the rule is that he must be overturned.
The
designers who built the democratic system in the USA included their precaution
in the US Constitution. In an
effort to prevent any power holders from playing tricks by quietly and
gradually taking away the limitation that the government must be overturned,
the US constitution even stated in its second amendment that "the right of
the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed" as important for
one's rights to deter an undemocratic government with arms. This also means that should the basic
principle of democracy be changed, even a "legitimate change" could
be viewed as tyranny. When people
could not legally and peacefully overthrow the government, they could still use
their arms to do so. When there is
no opposition party to solve the problems legally and reasonably, people still
have their last rights to resolve these problems via their arms. To overturn the government is the most
basic right and principle that are non-negotiable.
It
was with this kind of prerequisite of thoroughly insisting on the basic
principle of democracy, that the US democracy reached its success, instead of
following the path of a restoration of an autocratic monarch as in France. This success is a success of a social
concept, instead of simply a success of military rebellion. The traditional concept in China is
exactly the most important reason that impedes China from becoming democratic. One difference in concept enables
Americans to build and defend their democracy, while the Chinese move in
circles to return to the old road of autocracy.
If
we just look at the two most recent "it is right to rebel" movements
China, we will know our Chinese people's problem. One example was the Cultural Revolution time, when people
rushed headlong into mass action during the Chinese Communist Party's internal
struggle. The people eradicated
the bureaucratic officials who were reluctant to give up their powers, but they
still felt that overturning the government was "treason and
heresy". They wanted to find
an emperor to follow, to listen to the government. They limited themselves to being against the corrupted
officials. Everyone tried to prove
that even though they were against these officials, they were still loyal to
the government. This was the
reason why the Mao Zedong clique took "loyalty" as the most important
value of the time then. The result
of being "loyal" to the government was that a possible revolution was
easily turned over to be a movement of strengthening the autocracy by the
dictators.
A
similar concept error also happened during the democracy movement in 1989. Although most of people strongly felt
that they could not tolerate this corrupt and dictatorial government further,
the main slogans of that movement still maintained "rid the emperor of his
close courtiers who are bad" and "advise the Communist
Party". Most people approved
of these slogans and even sacrificed for them with their own blood and
lives. Yet, they still did not
dare to "take down the Communist government"; instead, they only
dared to take down this Communist government for another Communist government and
take down one category of corruption for another category of corruption. With this thought of not willing to
resist the government, people became the lambs waiting to be slaughtered which
ultimately resulted in the massacre by the Chinese government on June 4, 1989.
Both
possible revolutions were miscarried because people were afraid to overthrow
the government. Yet, how could you
call it a revolution if one does not dare to overturn the government? If one thinks that overturning the
government is illegitimate, then why does he bother to talk about revolution? Only when the whole society is
convinced that overturning the government is both reasonable and legitimate,
then a revolution will happen and democracy could be built. Further, democracy is a system that
institutionalizes overturning the government. If one does not dare to overturn the government or thinks
overturning it is illegitimate, then it is impossible to build a democratic
system. This one moment of
slipping resulted in serious consequences, which is exactly the main reason as
why we the Chinese failed for more than one hundred years.
Within
the Chinese intellectual circles, there are still people entrusting their hopes
for democracy on the idea of a "wise monarch" or "ridding the
emperor's close couriers".
This illustrates the Chinese thinkers' circle still does not know what
democracy is and still indulges themselves in the traditional "faithful to
the monarch" ideology. This
kind of ideology could only result the failure of the next revolution. It will bring even more chaos to China
and bring the Chinese people into the blind alley of autocracy. To correct this wrong concept is the
most important prerequisite for China to get out that vicious circle of
autocracy.
To
hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's commentary, please visit:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2010/WeiJS100326ChinaWayOut5.mp3
(Written
and recorded on March 26, 2010.
Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A537-W311
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A537-W311
Release
Date: April 10, 2010
发布日：2010年4月10日
Topic:
The Way Out for China (Part V) -- Wei Jingsheng
标题： 《中国的出路》之五 -- 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）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2010/report2010-04/WeiJS100410ChinaWayOut5A537-W311.htm
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《中国的出路》之五
-- 魏京生
我们知道了近代民主制是最合理的制度，它比专制制度更好地保护了人民的权利和利益。中国人争取民主也有一百多年的历史了，为什么总是建立起一个变了味的民主呢。没过几年，就发现民主变成了专制，而且一个比一个更专制。毛泽东比蒋介石更专制；蒋介石比袁世凯更专制。这是为什么呢？
有一个传统的观念必须推翻，这就是不能反对政府。这个观念认为：反对政府就是危害国家；就是制造不稳定；就是大逆不道；就是杀头的罪行。在这种观念占主流的形势下，就不可能有强大的反对党和反对派。刚刚产生一个弱小的反对党，就在大逆不道的观念之下被扫荡干净了，剩下的只能是为统治者装点门面的花瓶党。
袁世凯的时代还有国会里的反对党；蒋介石的时代只剩下了拥兵自重的反对党，几个装点门面的反对党还要依靠武装党的庇护来生存。到了毛泽东的时代，反对党只剩下了名义，成为了真正的花瓶党。中国的民主真是一代不如一代，原因就是中国社会舆论的主流总是无条件地支持当权者，总是给反对党扣上一顶推翻政府就是大逆不道的帽子。反对党难以生存，独裁者就大行其道。民主当然很快就变了味。
政府应该被推翻吗？很多中国人一听这话就会大惊失色。可是到了民主国家一看就知道了，政府当然应该被推翻。不但是应该；而且是必须。而且规定每几年被推翻一次，推倒重来。重新选举新的政府，以便断绝永远执政的念头。民主制度不信任个人，再好的人掌权久了也难免老马恋栈，想方设法改变规则继续掌权。所以规定他们必须被推翻。
建立美国民主的设计者们为了防止掌权者玩花样，偷偷地、渐渐地取消了推翻政府的限制，还特意在宪法里规定了人民有使用武力推翻暴政的权利，为此规定了人民有拥有武器的权利。也就是说，一旦民主的基本原则被改变，即使是合法的改变，也被视为暴政。一旦不能合法地、和平地推翻政府，人民有权拿起武器推翻政府。
如果没有反对党合法地、合理地解决问题，人民还保留了最后武力解决的权利。推翻政府是不可商量的最基本的权利和原则。
正是在这样彻底的坚持民主基本原则的前提下，美国的民主才获得了成功，避免了像法国那样的王权专制复辟。这个成功，正是观念的成功，社会观念的成功。而不仅仅是武装暴动的成功。中国的传统观念，恰恰是阻碍中国民主化的最重要的原因。一念之差，美国人建立并且保卫了他们的民主。中国人却周而复始地回到专制的老路上去。
看看最近两次大的“造反有理”，就清楚我们中国人的问题出在哪了。一次是文化大革命，人们趁着中共内斗一哄而起。铲除了恋栈不走的官僚政府。但人们觉得不能铲除政府，不能大逆不道，还是要找一个皇帝来遵从，还是要听政府的。可以反贪官，但所有人都要证明自己虽然反了政府可还是忠于政府。这就是毛泽东集团把“忠心耿耿的忠字”当作当时的主要意识形态的原因。忠于政府的结果，就是一场本来可能的革命，被独裁者轻而易举地变成了巩固专政的运动。
一九八九年的那场民主运动，也发生了类似的观念偏差。大多数人虽然强烈地感觉到不能继续忍受这个腐败专制的政府了。但是运动的口号，仍然是清君侧，为党建言。大多数人也认可这个口号并且为之流血牺牲。人们仍然不敢打倒政府，只敢为了一个政府打倒另一个政府，为了一个腐败打倒另一个腐败。结果在政府不愿意反政府的情况下，人民就像待宰的羔羊一样苦苦地等待，等来的也只能是屠杀。
这两场可能的革命都是因为不敢推翻政府而流产了。不敢推翻政府还叫什么革命呢？认为推翻政府就是不合法，还谈什么革命呢。只有当全社会都认为推翻政府既合理又合法的时候，革命才会发生，民主才会建立。而且民主就是不断推翻政府的制度。不敢推翻政府或者认为推翻政府不合法，就根本不可能建立什么民主制度。这一念之差，恰恰是我们中国人失败了一百多年的主要原因。
在中国的知识界，到现在还有人把民主的希望寄托在清君侧或者出一个明君身上。这说明中国的思想界仍然不懂什么叫民主，仍然沉迷于传统的忠君思想意识形态里。
这种思想状态只会造成下一场革命的失败，给中国带来更大的混乱。并且把人民继续带进专制的死胡同。纠正这个错误的观念，是中国走出专制怪圈的最主要的前提。
聆听魏京生先生的相关录音，请访问：
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2010/WeiJS100326ChinaWayOut5.mp3
（撰写并录音于2010年3月26日。自由亚洲电台播出。）
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