Chapter 48 in moscow

In May 1925, the British Parliament passed a bill on returning part of the Boxer indemnity.In order to deal with the returned compensation, a "Sino-British Geng Payment Advisory Committee" was organized, and Hu Shi was appointed as one of the three Chinese committee members. ① In March 1926, Hu Shi attended the Sino-British Geng Fund Advisory Committee in Shanghai.Immediately, he joined a delegation headed by the British Viscount Wellington, visited Hankou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Beijing, Tianjin and other places, and listened to the opinions of people from all walks of life. In May, the delegation unanimously advocated the establishment of a "Chinese-British Geng Payment Board" to fully manage part of the reparations returned by the UK. In July, Hu Shi left Beijing, via Harbin, and took the Trans-Siberian Railway to England to attend the plenary meeting of the Sino-British Fund Committee.This is the first time Hu Shi went abroad in nine years since he returned from studying abroad in 1917.

The train traveled day and night, passed through vast fields and forests, and finally entered Moscow.When he came to the capital of the Red Soviet Union for the first time, Hu Shi felt strange and novel.He wants to stay here, rest for a few days, and see this mysterious world that has shocked the whole world and is still being concerned and discussed by all countries. After a short rest, the next day, Hu Shi went to visit the Museum of Revolution.He carefully read the historical materials of the Russian revolutionary movement from 1890 to 1917 and was very moved.On the third day, he met two professors from the University of Chicago in the United States, and went with them to visit the prison in Moscow. The three of them were also very satisfied.I also discussed education in Soviet Russia with them, and after reading some statistical materials on education, I also had a good impression.Hu Shi felt that Soviet Russia "really tried hard to develop new education and tried hard to create a new era of socialism."He wrote to a friend in Moscow:

My feelings are different from Zhimo.The people here are exactly the politicians with ideals and idealism mentioned in my letter the day before yesterday; their ideals may not be fully approved of by us freedom-loving people, but their seriousness of purpose is something we cannot fully agree with. Not very admirable.They are here to conduct an unprecedented great new political experiment; they have ideals, plans, and absolute confidence, and these three alone are enough to make us ashamed. How can our drunken nation deserve to criticize Soviet Russia! ② In the last two days, Hu Shi read some statistical materials about Soviet Russia, and felt that his views were not bad.He thought that for such a big political experiment with ideals, plans, and methods, "at least the Soviet Union should be recognized as having the right to conduct such political experiments." This is the "minimum experimentalist attitude."It is a pity that Hu Shi could not live in Russia for a long time this time, and could not observe and investigate carefully.He planned to organize a Russian investigation group after returning to China in the future, and invite a group of political economists and educators to come to Soviet Russia for a longer-term investigation.

Although he only stayed in Moscow for three days, Hu Shi was deeply impressed by the red capital.When he arrived in London and Paris, he was still very excited. He wrote two letters to Xu Zhimo, still talking about the perception of Soviet Russia, and still praising "Lenin and his group are very knowledgeable and experienced people"; People in Moscow "really have a 'serious' and 'hardworking' atmosphere"; they are still praising the Soviet government's emphasis on education and science, and so on. ③ Hu Shi's letters were sent back to China, circulated among friends, and disclosed in newspapers, which aroused considerable repercussions.

At that time, the domestic Northern Expedition was developing rapidly, and the atmosphere of revolution was very strong. Mr. Sun Yat-sen advocated the three major policies of uniting Russia, uniting the Communist Party, and supporting farmers and workers.Hu Shi praised Soviet Russia at this time, and said that we are "unworthy of criticizing Soviet Russia", which naturally won the praise of many people.But most of Hu Shi's friends were astonished.Some questioned his "argument in favor of Soviet Russia"; some advised him not to express his position in a hurry, let alone "don't rush to propose a plan."Xu Zhimo had just married Lu Xiaoman at that time, and when he saw the letter from "Brother Hu" praising Soviet Russia, he didn't take it seriously;

Seeing that the photo he sent back looked a little thinner, he jokingly said that Hu Shi "looks like a Bao Xuewei (Bolshevik)!" ④ In fact, Hu Shi made a speech praising socialism more than a month before going abroad. Say: The new religious creed of the 18th century was liberty, equality and fraternity. The new religious creed after the mid-nineteenth century was socialism. ... Labor has always been despised; but the system of capital concentration has made it possible for labor to organize large-scale labor, and the propaganda of socialism and class consciousness have made labor aware of the need for unity. Then he became the most powerful element in society.In the past ten years, the leaders of the Labor Party have been able to take over the political power of the world's powerful countries, the general strike of the League has been able to subdue the most powerful government, and the working class of Russia has become the dictatorship class of the whole country.This great socialist movement is still going on.But his results have been impressive. ⑤

When people read these places, they often mistakenly think that Hu Shi was really in favor of socialism in Soviet Russia, and they feel strange: what is going on? Even his friends are puzzled.But Hu Shi himself made it very clear.He did not approve of the socialism of Soviet Russia, he was in favor of "liberal socialism".See what he said in the letter he wrote to Xu Zhimo at the time: Seriously speaking, I advocate the method of "that is more peaceful and less sacrificing".In my opinion, to put it simply, modern history points to two different methods: one is the method used in Soviet Russia today, where the dictatorship of the proletariat does not allow the existence of the propertied class.One is to avoid the method of "class struggle", adopt the tendency of "socializing" (Socializing) for three hundred years, and gradually expand the society that enjoys freedom and happiness.I would like to call this method "New Liberalism" or "Liberal Socialism". ⑥

Hu Shi went on to criticize his friends in the Communist Party, saying that they thought that "liberalism is the political philosophy of capitalism", which cannot be established in history; and asked, "Why must liberalism be given to capitalism?" It has become an inevitable trend in the development of modern society and has formed a powerful world trend.Democracy and freedom are by no means the monopoly of capitalism, and the proletariat should be the natural supporters of democracy and freedom.Because of this, Marx and Engels clearly pointed out in the "Communist Manifesto" that in the communist society that replaced the old bourgeois society, "the free development of everyone is the condition for the free development of all people."Only the dogmatic autocratic and bad Communist Party will give freedom to capitalism.But what exactly does the "neo-liberalism" or "liberal socialism" that Hu Shi favored look like? Hu Shi said:

The United States has recently been quite inclined towards this.The dispute between labor and capital seems to have a relatively satisfactory solution; there are a few places, especially Detroit (Detroit), which can be envied by the British. ⑦ This makes it very clear that what Hu Shi approved of and envied was the American brand of "liberalism."When he returns to the United States, he still wants to inquire about it. ① In addition to Hu Shi, the other three Chinese members of the "Sino-British Geng Section Advisory Committee" are Ding Wenjiang (word Zaijun) , Wang Jingchun (word Zhaoxi).

② "Books sent in Ouyou Daozhong", see "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Wencun", Shanghai Yadong Library, June 1931, third edition, Volume 1, pp. 74-75.There were five letters in total, three of which were addressed to Zhang Weici and two to Xu Zhimo.The 1953 rearranged version of Taipei Far East Book Company was deleted. ③See "Books from Ou You Dao Zhong", Volume 1 of "Three Collections of Hu Shi Wen Cun", pages 77-90. ④Refer to the letters to Hu Shi by Qian Duansheng, Ren Shuyong, Xu Xinliu, Xu Zhimo, etc., contained in "Hu Shi's Correspondent Letters", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, May 1, 1979, volume 1, pp. 406-407, 411-412, 416-420 pages.

⑤ "Our Attitude towards Modern Western Civilization", originally written for the Japanese monthly "Reformation" "China Special Issue", the Chinese manuscript was published in "Modern Review" Volume 4, Issue 83, published on July 10, 1926; later included "Three Collected Works of Hu Shi".For quotations, see Volume 1, Yadong 3rd Edition, pages 16-18. ⑥Same note as ②, Volume 1, p. 85. ⑦ Same note as ②, Volume 1, pp. 85-86.