時勢造英雄，還是英雄造時勢？是一個老話題。在紀念「六四」二十週年，探討中國民主制度前景時，總是迴避不了一個問題：我們的昂山素姬、哈維爾、曼德拉在哪裡？或者問中國的葉利欽、戈爾巴喬夫、蔣經國在哪裡？中共統治中國六十年，思想統治之嚴，超過歷代王朝。奉馬克思之言﹕「批判的武器當然不能代替武器的批判，物質力量只能用物質力量摧毀，但是理論一經掌握群眾，也會變成物質力量」，他們經營了一個龐大的唯物辯證主義的理論體系。誰創造歷史？是帝王將相還是勞動人民？便是一個核心命題，構成他們以人民的代表自居的權力合理性依據。「從來就沒有救世主」的國際歌，成為聖歌，甚至連「六四」學生們也高唱著面對坦克和槍口。劉少奇被整得死無葬身之地，留下的也只是一句話：「好在歷史是人民寫的。」

這真是一個天大的迷思。事實恰恰相反，中共政權不僅沒有絲毫民意基礎，而且是一個人類歷史上空前霸道的對人民專政的政府。其最鮮明的特徵，就是領袖獨裁。毛澤東公然扮成「大救星」，親自在首次五一節口號中加上「毛主席萬歲」。其殘民以逞，超過二十世紀另外兩大暴君希特勒、斯大林。人民何在？至今十億人還是屈服在專制的淫威下，那些奴才、群氓的醜態，已喪盡了做人的起碼尊嚴。二十世紀共產運動史，就是一部極權者強姦民意踐踏人權史。

在民主社會，人民擺脫了被奴役、被愚弄的地位，但是，並不否認傑出人物的歷史作用。相反，對於那些有偉大貢獻與智慧的人士。給以崇高榮譽、待遇以至權力。自由民主不等於無政府狀態；肯定英雄崇拜，也不等於迷信和神化個人。普選制乃是人民透過合理的方式認定自己的英雄，人類文明正是經過社會的進化，將各種成果體現在一些優秀人物身上。以大眾傳播而言，沒有偶像也就沒有媒體，我們每天看到的正是形形色色超凡的世俗的英雄豪傑的新聞。社會在追尋英雄、製造英雄，很多人也在夢想成為英雄。奧巴馬夢想成真，安吉琳娜茱莉要做二十年後的美國總統，她也有機會。

中國偉大的社會轉型運動，也必將產生自己的英雄和傑出領袖。二十年前，天安門民主運動失敗了，不能歸咎於沒有一個眾望所歸的領袖，而是歷史尚未成熟到產生這樣的領袖的程度。今日中國，表面上是一片物慾橫流，紅塵萬丈，「陳勝吳廣都到深圳打工去了」。但是，現代文明的成長，十年生聚，十年教訓，正孕育一批新時代的優秀人才，他們在體制內外默默耕耘，或是躍躍欲試。只要大風一起，他們將奮勇而出，「鐵肩擔道義，妙手著文章」，實現一個世紀以來犧牲的無數先知先覺者的遺願。這是一個沒有英雄的時代，也是一個等待英雄大有希望的時代。

（2009年6月29日 紐約）

 

 

The Age in Search of Heroes
By Jin Zhong

Whether the times create heroes or heroes create the times is an old question. In memory of the 20th anniversary of the June 4th tragedy, when exploring the prospect of democracy in China, we inevitably find ourselves asking:? “Where are our Aung San Suu Kyi, Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela?” or “Where are China’s Boris Yeltsin, Mikhail Gorbachev and Chiang Ching-Kuo?” Having ruled over the nation for six decades, the CCP’s harsh ruling ideology surpasses all the past dynasties. As Karl Marx said – “It is clear that the arm of criticism cannot replace the criticism of arms. Material force can only be overthrown by material force, but theory itself becomes a material force when it has seized the masses.”

The CCP has established a major theoretical system of dialectical materialism. Who creates history -- the ruler or the people? This is the key point that constitutes the CCP’s justification for seizing the power in the name of the people. The phrase in the “The Internationale” proclaiming “No saviour from on high delivers” has become an anthem that even the students in the June 4th massacre sang before the tanks and muzzles. Liu Shaoqi, the former President, died miserably without gravesite, leaving behind merely a few words: “Luckily history is written by the people.”

It is greatly misleading – quite on the contrary, the CCP regime was not built upon public opinion, but turned out to be a tyranny that imposed itself on its people with unprecedented despotism. Its most obvious feature is dictatorial leadership. Mao Zedong presented himself as the “great liberator,” even creating the slogan “Long live Chairman Mao!” for the first Labour Day of the People’s Republic of China, but his atrocities exceeded those of his comrades in twentieth-century tyranny, Hitler and Stalin. So where are the people? Today, one billion Chinese people remain subject to the totalitarian regime. Facing the autocrats, the disgrace of this enslavement and mass ignorance has robbed the people of their basic human dignity. The history of Communism in the twentieth century is one of totalitarianism’s trampling on the public will.

In democratic societies, people are no longer enslaved and deceived, but they don’t deny the historical influence of prominent figures. People accord great honour to the wise and accomplished, and even grant them power. Liberty and democracy are not equivalent to anarchy, and hero worship is not the same as superstition or deification. Universal suffrage is a reasonable form for the people to identify their own heroes. Human civilization, through social evolution, has manifested itself in various ways in outstanding people. The mass media cannot survive without idols; the news we read every day is the stories of various heroes who display otherworldly abilities. Our society searches for heroes, manufactures heroes, while many dream of being one. Barack Obama’s dream has come true. If Angelina Jolie wishes to be elected President of the United States in 20 years, she also has a chance.

China’s great social transformation will certainly produce its own heroes and outstanding leaders one day. The failure of the Tiananmen Square democratic movement 20 years ago should not be attributed to the lack of a compelling leader, but rather to China’s lack of maturity sufficient to produce such leader. On the surface, today’s China is overwhelming materialistic; everyone is going to Shenzhen to earn a living. Yet, the growth of China’s modern civilization has over the years been cultivating a group of top talent for the new age. They are silently and diligently working, itching for a try. When the time comes, they will step forward to courageously fulfil the last wishes of the numerous far-sighted individuals who sacrificed themselves in the past century. This is an age without heroes, yet an age where people are waiting for their heroes with great hope.

 

29 June, 2009, New York
(Translated by Isabella Lam)