Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A778-W496
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A778-W496
Release
Date: August 31, 2013
发布日：2013年8月31日
Topic:
My Commentary about Chen Xiaolu's Apology Related to Cultural Revolution -- Wei
Jingsheng
标题：从陈小鲁的文革道歉信谈起 -- 魏京生
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Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
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My
Commentary about Chen Xiaolu's Apology Related to Cultural Revolution
--
Wei Jingsheng
Recently,
Chen Xiaolu (the son of Chen Yi, one of the ten marshals of the Communist Army
in China) made his apology on the Internet to his victims for his actions
during the Cultural Revolution period.
This resulted in a lot of discussion among the netizens. Most of the discussion has been
positive encouragement and appreciation.
But there are some people using the dirty language of the street to
scold Mr. Chen Xiaolu. I cannot
help but speculate: why? Is it
because Chen's apology for his wrongdoing during the Cultural Revolution
violated the interests of someone?
Unimaginably queer.
Mr.
Chen 's apology was very sincere, with a profound reflection. This profound reflection is what he
said in his micro-blogs: "The non-humanitarian behavior that is
unconstitutional and violating human rights should not be repeated in China in
any form." This conclusion is
the collective reflection of the majority of victims and victimizers of that
era, although it may not be shared by a few bigots.
During
my half year of release from jail in 1993, with some old classmates I returned
to the middle school I was attending during the Cultural Revolution
period. We visited our former
teachers and apologized to them for our public criticism against them during
that time. None of these teachers
would reject our apologies. There
were even teachers who returned their words to comfort us: in that crazy era,
it was inevitable for children like you to make mistakes. You have learned your lessons, so you
do not have to be so strong with self-reproach.
There
was one very interesting teacher who was a college professor demoted to be a
teacher in our middle school due to his "rightist issues". He refused to accept our
apologies. He said to us: "We
also have our share of guilt to push for that crazy movement. At the end, we also tasted the bitter
fruit like your guys. Do you not
think that we had our own share of teaching that resulted in your craziness at
that time? All the people coming
from that era should not just eye on how much loss and pain we had to endure,
but also examine our own roles during that crazy movement. The most important is to have lessons
learned without making the same kind of mistakes again. To harbor hatred for the suffering is
to make the same mistake."
At
that time, this teacher did not say what lessons should be learned. I think the lesson he was talking about
should be exactly what Mr. Chen Xiaolu had said: "The non-humanitarian
behavior that is unconstitutional and violating human rights should not be
repeated in China in any form."
Please note this "should not be repeated in China in any
form."
I
would like to add a little more: human rights should not be violated with any
excuse. Human rights are the
highest principles of judgment.
Any principles are enacted for the interests and survival of the human
race. A violation of the
principles for the basic interests and survival of the human race is against
the principle of humanity. Even
with the sophistry of the politicians and lawyers, they cannot change this
essence.
In
his article, Mr. Chen Xiaolu mentioned that there was a trend to reverse the
verdict of the Cultural Revolution recently, which is forcing everyone to
reflect once again on the Cultural Revolution. During the 1980's, there was a trend of reflection by the
related parties of the Cultural Revolution. However, it was suppressed by Deng Xiaoping with the excuse
of "looking ahead." The
political movement of the same reflection with the theme of "High Wall
Literature" and "Sent Down Youth Literature" also has gradually
been forgotten. There are very few
of today's literature youth would know the well known names in the literature
of those days, such as Cong Weixi and Kong Jiesheng.
It
is exactly with this history forgotten, that people seem feel the words of
"human rights" are very strange and very academic. It seems that human rights is a far cry
from their own personal interests.
Instead, it was the Communists who were thrown into the Communist jails,
such as Hu Yaobang and Peng Zhen and those teachers who were persecuted during
the Cultural Revolution, that had a deeper understanding of the importance of
human rights and the rule of law for each individual. Without respect for and protection of human rights, even Liu
Shaoqi, President of China, inevitably fell into a miscarriage of justice and
was thrown into jail, not to mention we the common people.
Now,
there are a lot of people who cherish the memory of the Cultural Revolution,
when there were relatively equal living conditions, strikes against corrupted
officials, and the four freedoms that included allowing individuals to easily
put up a big poster, and so on.
Thus, these people want a return to the Cultural Revolution to fight
against the rampant corruption, uneven distribution of wealth, and lack of free
speech now. Under the current
circumstances that do not allow people to speak straight for fear of being
accused of counterrevolutionary offenses, it is reasonable to use the strategy
of "waving the red flags to be against the red flags" for the purpose
of pleading for the people. This
is understandable.
However,
there is a major lesson we should have learned from the Cultural Revolution: to
incite social hatred by using the revenge mentality of the human race, even
though a small favor might be given to these people. During the Cultural Revolution period, political struggles
were carried out by means of serious violations of human rights, which
ultimately developed a new type of fascist authoritarianism. Those who ultimately fell as victims
also included we the common people.
Once the official level of human rights violations started, it naturally
extended to the whole society. How
could the powerless people stay out of it?
From
a phenomenological point of view, the Cultural Revolution did punish corrupt
officials, did implement some income equality, and did give people certain
freedom of expression. For these
benefits, some people even argued that the Cultural Revolution was the people's
Cultural Revolution. This theory
covers up the crimes that went against rules of common sense, done by then
paramount leader Mao Zedong. These
benefits were indeed the goals of Mao Zedong who launched the Cultural
Revolution, but not his biggest goal.
Mao
Zedong's goal of Cultural Revolution was to incite social hatred to stimulate
people into fighting against each other, through engagement of these
concessions. Thus, his clique
could gain profits at the expense of others and establish Mao's own absolute
authority. To strengthen the
Marxist dictatorship for this handful clique and to fully realize their Marxist
ideals was the main purpose of this small group of Marxists.
In
the writing of Karl Marx, although there were many humanitarian arguments that
were even fashionable then, they were not in the content of Marxism. In his Critique of the Gotha Programme
(German: Kritik des Gothaer Programms), Karl Marx made it very clear that the
core of his theory is the so-called dictatorship of the proletariat. When one tries to use fashionable
Marxism to go against his core content, one will never succeed regardless how
hard one tries.
Meanwhile,
people should be wary of sophistry such as that of Mao Zedong. He is the kind of persons capable of
guiding other people 's anger towards the direction of their own authority, and
to create a new absolute authority.
This absolute authority will be just like Mao Zedong's, giving a narrow
clique a coat cover named in "serving the people". Yet, its essence must be to cut and
even to eliminate people's basic human rights, and ultimately set the people in
dire straits.
Mr.
Chen Xiaolu's apology is very important.
Whether he is early or late, no matter what the reasons behind him, his
apology summarizes an unprecedented huge and painful lesson that we the Chinese
people have learned - that is "do not believe any kind of incitement for
hatred." Only under a rule of
law that respects human rights, can we the common people avoid falling into a
miscarriage of justice, avoid fear, and avoid becoming victims and victimizers.
To
hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2013/WeiJS130821apologyCulturalRevolution.mp3
(Written
and recorded on August 21, 2013.
Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A778-W496
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A778-W496
Release
Date: August 31, 2013
发布日：2013年8月31日
Topic:
My Commentary about Chen Xiaolu's Apology Related to Cultural Revolution -- Wei
Jingsheng
标题：从陈小鲁的文革道歉信谈起 -- 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/report2013/report2013-08/WeiJS130831apologyCulturalRevolutionA778-W496.htm
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从陈小鲁的文革道歉信谈起
-- 魏京生
最近，陈小鲁在网络上就他在文革时的行为，向受害者表示道歉。这引起了很多网友的议论。这些议论大多数是正面的鼓励和赞赏。但也有一些被网民们称为五毛的网友使用了大街上的语言痛骂陈小鲁。我不禁猜测：这是为什么呢？难道陈小鲁为文革时的错误行为向受害者道歉，也触犯了什么人的利益吗？匪夷所思。
陈先生的道歉很诚恳，还作了深刻的反思。这就是他在微博中所说的那句话；“违反宪法，侵犯人权的非人道主义行为不应该以任何形式在中国重演”。这个结论是大多数受害者和加害者的共同反思，可能不包括少数执迷不悟者。
我在93年假释的半年期间，曾经和同学们一起回学校看望过去的老师，并且向曾经被我们批斗过的几位老师当面道歉。老师们没有不接受道歉的，甚至有老师反过来安慰我们说：在那个疯狂的年代里，像你们这样的小孩子犯错误是难免的，总结教训就对了，不必过份自责。
有一个老师很有意思。那是个因为右派问题，从大学下放到我们附中的老师。他拒绝了我们的道歉。他说：推动那场疯狂的运动，我们也有份；而且和你们一样，我们最终也尝到了恶果。你们当时的疯狂，不也是我们教出来的吗？对于所有的过来人，不要只看到自己吃了多少亏，受了多少苦；还要看到自己在这场疯狂的运动中扮演了什么角色。总结教训，不再犯同样的错误才是最重要的。为了自己受过的苦而心怀仇恨，就是在犯同样的错误。
这位老师当时没说应该总结什么教训。我想他所说的教训，正是陈小鲁先生所说的那句话：“违反宪法，侵犯人权的非人道主义行为不应该以任何形式在中国重演”。请注意，是“不应该以任何形式在中国重演"。
我想续貂一句：就是不应该以任何理由侵犯人权。人权是高于任何原则的最高原则。任何原则都是为了人类的生存和利益而制定的。违反了人的最基本的利益和权利的原则，都是反人类的原则。就是政客和律师们的诡辩也不能改变这个本质。
陈小鲁先生在他的文章中提到：最近有一股为文革翻案的思潮，迫使大家不得不对文革再一次进行反思。八十年代曾经有过一次当事人们进行反思的潮流，被邓小平以“向前看”的理由给压制下去了。而以反思政治运动为主题的“大墙文学”和“知青文学”也逐渐被人们所遗忘。如今的文学青年已经很少知道从维熙和孔捷生的名字了。
就是在这种遗忘中，人们似乎觉得人权这个说法很陌生，很学术。似乎人权和自己的切身利害相去甚远。倒是胡耀邦、彭真这些蹲过监狱的共产党员和那些在文革中受过迫害的老师们，更深刻地理解人权和法治对每一个人的重要性。没有对人权的尊重和保障，就是贵为国家主席的刘少奇也难免陷入冤狱，更何况咱们普通老百姓呢？
如今有很多人怀念文革时的比较平均的生活条件；以及对贪官污吏的打击；可以随便贴大字报的四大自由，等等。他们以此来反对现在的腐败泛滥、贫富不均和没有言论自由。在不准许正面阐述又怕被加上反革命罪名的形势下，打着红旗反红旗的为民请命，不失为一种策略。这是可以理解的。
但是文革还有一个最大的教训。这就是在给人民一些好处的同时，利用人类的报复心理煽起社会仇恨。文革时用严重侵犯人权的手法进行政治斗争，最终发展起新型的法西斯专制权威，最终受害的也包括我们普通的老百姓。一旦开始官方层面的侵犯人权，就必然会扩展到全社会的领域。无权无势的老百姓如何能够置身事外呢？
从现象上看，文革确实包含了惩治腐败官吏，推行收入平等和给了人民一定的言论自由。有人因此说文革是人民文革，替毛泽东掩盖了倒行逆施的罪行。这些也确实是毛泽东发动文革的目标，但不是他的最大目标。
毛泽东搞文革的目标是通过这些让步，同时煽动起社会仇恨挑动人民斗人民。因此，他的小集团可以坐收渔人之利，可以树立他自己的绝对权威。以此加强他们一小撮马克思主义者的独裁专政，彻底实现他们的马克思主义理想，这才是他们一小撮马克思主义者的主要目的。
马克思等人的著作中虽然有很多当时就很时髦的人道主义说法，但那些都不是马克思主义的内容。马克思自己在哥达纲领批判一书中说得非常清楚，他的理论的核心内容就是所谓的无产阶级专政。用马克思主义的时髦说法来反对他的核心内容，事倍功半永远也不会成功。
而且人们还应警惕像毛泽东那样的诡辩者。他们会把人民的怒火引向有利于他们自己权威的方向，制造出新的绝对权威。这个绝对权威也会像毛泽东那样，给自己披上一层为人民服务的外衣。其实质必然是削减以至于消灭人民的基本人权，最终置人民于水深火热之中。
陈小鲁先生的道歉很重要。不管他是早了还是晚了，不管他背后还有什么原因，他的道歉总结了我们中国人的一场前无古人的巨大而惨痛的教训。这就是不要相信任何仇恨的煽动。只有在尊重人权的法制之下，咱们老百姓才能避免陷入冤狱，才能避免恐惧，避免成为受害者和加害者。
聆听魏京生先生的相关录音，请访问：
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2013/WeiJS130821apologyCulturalRevolution.mp3
（撰写并录音于2013年8月21日。自由亚洲电台播出。）
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