Chen Xunen said: "Our New China Party is slightly superior to the League in terms of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, so why don't we advocate enlightenment while building education, but let them excel in their own beauty?" ”

Sun Yuanqi sighed softly and said: "In the former Qing Dynasty, preaching enlightenment ideas is equivalent to great rebellion, we have always been as timid as a mouse, greedy for money and life, how dare you do that kind of head-killing work?" In contrast, the people of the Alliance are indeed superior in terms of generosity to death, and Sun is ashamed of himself! There is not much risk in propagating the ideas of the Enlightenment now, but it is difficult to find suitable people to handle this matter in a hurry, and it is afraid that it will be self-defeating to find someone to preside over it." Recently, I decided to write to Liang Zhuoru (Liang Qichao) to return to China to found the magazine "Independent Review", and I plan to use this as a position to gradually guide the people to understand freedom and democracy and promote enlightenment ideas. It is said that 'reform that touches interests is more difficult than touching the soul', and the Enlightenment touched both interests and souls, and the difficulty can be imagined. Moreover, these tasks are all water-grinding efforts, and it is difficult to achieve results in the short term, so we don't have to compete with the alliance for a short time. ”

Chen Xunen nodded thoughtfully.

Sun Yuanqi said: "When it comes to enlightenment, there are four fundamental questions that are difficult to bypass, and appropriate answers must be given, that is, who to enlighten, who to enlighten, what to enlighten, and how to enlighten. Let's start with the first question, who do you think you should enlighten? ”

Chen Xunen pondered for a moment and replied uncertainly: "The bureaucrats at all levels, and the people of the whole country?" ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "Most of the bureaucrats at all levels are vested interests, and they have not had the opportunity to come into contact with enlightenment in the process of changing the law and establishing a constitutional monarchy, but they have not changed their course after all. Case. How can we expect to make them abandon the darkness and turn to the light through enlightenment propaganda? As for the broad masses of the people, it cannot be said that they are an ignorant majority. At least they are the silent majority. Until the four reins of political power, clan power, divine power, and husband's power are removed from the shackles on the people, all enlightenment is in vain. What freedom, democracy, and science are not even worth a bowl of rice and a few copper yuan! ”

Chen Xunen immediately said: "Then let's set the original goal of enlightening the people to lift the shackles of political power, clan power, divine power, and husband power!" ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "A term opposed to the Enlightenment is the policy of ignoring the people, that is, the so-called 'the people can make it happen, but not the people can make it know' in the Analects. There is no doubt that a group of docile fools is far easier to rule than a group of thoughtful and intelligent people, so many rulers will deliberately obstruct the spread of Enlightenment ideas. Let the people fall into a state of ignorance forever. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, once wantonly deleted the people-oriented ideas in the book "Mencius"; During the Shunkang Yongqian period of the Qing Dynasty, the literary prison was greatly promoted to eliminate social intellectuals and consolidate political power. Delete and delete. There are only three outlines and five constants left in the entire book, so the bottom society under the rule of political power, clan power, divine power, and husband power has finally stabilized and become today's situation.

However, he preached the idea of enlightenment to the people of the whole country, and tried to lift the shackles of political power, clan power, divine power, and husband power. It will certainly destroy the original stable social structure. Causing social unrest. That's something I don't want to see. Of course, I am a supporter of enlightenment, but for various reasons, I don't want China to be unstable in the next three to five years. Therefore, on the question of 'enlightening whom', I hope that it will be gradually rolled out in batches, for example, first to provide enlightenment reading materials for primary and secondary school students to cultivate democratic and free ideas, and then to give landlords, gentry, businessmen, and business owners a certain degree of political power to participate in politics and discussion; Then there are the city dwellers, the factory workers; And finally, the vast masses of peasants and frontier areas. Instead of rushing to the top regardless of priorities. ”

In real history. Movements similar to the Enlightenment, such as the May Fourth Movement, the New Life, the Suppression of Rebellion, the Rectification of Style, and the Ideological Transformation of Intellectuals, all caused great turmoil in society.

"That's according to your lordship. Who should be enlightened? Chen Xunen asked.

Sun Yuanqi replied: "What we usually call the Enlightenment refers to an era in which new ideas were emerging from the beginning of the 18th century to the French Revolution of 1789. In this era, there was a class of intellectuals represented by famous thinkers such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau, who wrote books and speeches, and actively promoted the development of the Enlightenment. It is precisely with these great intellectuals and wise men, after nearly a hundred years of continuous struggle, that France has been guided out of the dark period full of traditional doctrine, irrationality, blind belief and autocracy.

"And what about China now? In a society in transition that lacks intellectuals and wise people, except for a few such as Yan Jidao (Yan Fu), Liang Zhuoru (Liang Qichao), and Zhang Taiyan (Zhang Binglin), the thinking ability and knowledge reserve of most scholars are difficult to meet the requirements of guiding the Enlightenment movement. Moreover, due to differences in intellectual backgrounds and social interests, many people ignore social realities and the needs of the state, and only know how to cry out for the strata and political parties they represent, and are unable to form a consensus on almost any issue. Since they can't even enlighten themselves, how can they enlighten others?

Under such circumstances, we can neither expect the current scholars to be known for their faintness, nor can we entrust the responsibility of guiding the Enlightenment to others, and think about it, but only rely on school training and social guidance, and through ten years of student gatherings and ten years of lessons, we can cultivate a group of intellectual elites who are capable of shouldering great responsibilities. It took nearly 100 years for the French Enlightenment to succeed, and we naturally cannot expect China to succeed overnight, but we do not need to be presumptuous, believing that through the joint efforts of one or two generations, we can finally accomplish this great mission. ”

Chen Xunen sighed: "It's hard to know, it's hard to do!" ”

Sun Yuan smiled and said: "It should be said that it is 'difficult to know, and it is not easy to do'!" For example, on the question of 'what to enlighten', although there are many books on the theories of democracy, freedom, fairness and justice in Europe and the United States, it is not easy to find a path suitable for China's development and the needs of the people. In light of China's current reality, the superior people can critically absorb the advantages of various Western theories, learn from others' strengths, and benefit the country and the people. The middle class is to see the classics of the West and start to translate and introduce them, regardless of whether they are suitable or not, and then the people choose and choose. I don't make any comments myself. The inferior people tend to be new and curious, picking up the spittle of selling foreigners, and talking about empty words in order to gain fame and fortune. In fact, it is ignorant and misleads the country and the people.

"Looking at the intellectuals in China today, not to mention the superior people, there are very few diligent and diligent middle people, and most of them are Xibei goods who know a few Western terms and talk about them. They mix their hearsay foreign goods in the West with their own assumptions, and retail them in newspapers, magazines, or classes to a group of obedient and discerning young people, only to create batch after batch of foreigners who know little about Europe and the United States and are full of complaints about China. How can we achieve the goal of opening up the wisdom of the people and purifying ignorance?

"Since we want to participate in and promote the Enlightenment, we need to open the China Policy Research Institute on the one hand to investigate and understand the actual situation in China. Translate and introduce advanced theories of the West, systematically cultivate promising young people who are familiar with the situation at home and abroad, and study and practice characteristic paths that are in line with national conditions; On the other hand, the Independent Review was founded to actively disseminate correct ideas of enlightenment to the masses of the whole country, mainly intellectuals. Severely criticize those who deceive the world and steal the world. In this way, the correctness and purity of enlightenment are ensured. ”

Chen Xunen asked: "In addition to founding the China Policy Research Institute and the Independent Review, what other methods can we use to enlighten ourselves?" ”

Sun Yuanqi was also very interested in talking today, and replied at the moment: "There is no panacea for all diseases in the world, and the same is true for propagating enlightenment ideas, and different methods should be used for different social classes. However, we should be consistent in our attitude towards different social classes, that is, to respect and be close to the people. Blend in with the people, from the people, and go to the people. Mingle with the populace. Don't think that if you drink a few bottles of foreign ink, you can be superior.

"Some intellectuals think that by accepting a set of enlightenment slogans and values from the West, they have mastered the absolute truth and are qualified to become the inspiration of the people and the saints of the new era. He believes that people do not need to use their own rational judgment, as long as they accept their own education and follow their own path, they can achieve greatness and promote historical progress. As everyone knows, their actions are precisely anti-enlightenment. Moreover, such a condescending and arrogant enlightenment will inevitably find no response among the people at the bottom, leading to the failure of enlightenment.

"At the heart of the Enlightenment was that man should think for himself, make rational judgments, and make people human, not tools to achieve any ends. The so-called freedom and equality are the power that people are born with, not the product of enlightenment. We must believe that the broad masses of the people can use their own reason to get out of the state of ignorance. Prior to this, we preached the idea of enlightenment and promoted the enlightenment movement, just to give the people a condition and opportunity to think seriously, not to make ourselves the spiritual teachers of the people! ”

The Kuomintang government had so many undergraduate students from the Whampoa Military Academy and doctoral students in Europe and the United States, and it also actively promoted the democratic process, advocated the New Life Movement, and tried rural self-government. There are thousands of reasons, and the mass line is one of the most important factors.

The group of bureaucrats and scholars in the Kuomintang government, whether they wore Suzhou silk gowns or suits and leather shoes, were always reluctant to stay with the quail-clad peasants. Even if there are a few outliers who can endure the smell of dirt and poverty and go deep into the countryside, it is difficult to get rid of the psychological advantage, and they always feel that they are on top, and they are pitying, giving alms, and teaching. If we are like this, how can we understand the sufferings and aspirations of the peasants? How can they speak out on behalf of the peasant class? When a government cannot truly understand the thoughts of the most common people at the grassroots level and cannot truly solve the living difficulties of the most ordinary people at the grassroots level, then the government is not far from death, whether it was, is or will be.

Chen Xunen thought silently for a long time before nodding slowly.

Sun Yuanqi finally said: "There is an old Chinese saying that is very good, it is called 'Cangqiao knows etiquette when he is honest, and he knows honor and disgrace when he has enough food and clothing'. We are talking about enlightenment here, but in fact, who cares about this among ordinary people? What they most desire is how to be fed, clothed, and able to live and work in peace and contentment. Even if we talk about enlightenment in a fanciful way, it is not as much as the cheers won by a sentence of free money. Therefore, our main task at present is to solve the problem of food and clothing and to set up industries.

"The 'average land rights' proposed by Mr. Zhongshan may be tested in some prefectures and counties after Sichuan begins to collect land taxes next year and industrial and mining enterprises have also made certain achievements. If you succeed, you can naturally benefit the people of Sichuan, and you can also form a good relationship with Mr. Zhongshan by the way; If it fails, it won't hurt, at most it will embarrass Mr. Nakayama. I want to see how much of the League's 16-character program has won a great name. (To be continued.) )

ps: He Gong has been thinking about the content of these two chapters for a long time.