Chapter 78 Small Town Council: A Small Scale Election for Local Power

During the Revolution of 1911, the independence or restoration of various places, the establishment of new regimes, no matter how big or small, were basically either violent seizures of power or elections by gentry, and they were rarely voted-during the war, who would think of voting?However, there are always exceptions to everything. Juegang Town, Rugao, Jiangsu Province really had such a vote, but the vote was not to elect the person in charge of the government, but to deny the person sent by "above".Under the circumstances at that time, denying the people from above was tantamount to choosing one of our own.

Jugang now belongs to Rudong County, but it belonged to Rugao in the past, but the town is quite affluent, with several large salt farms, well-developed agriculture, fishery and commerce, so the county government has divided the administration, and there is a company specialized in the management of the salt industry. Bo and the chief of the garrison, Bo and Dusi, who manage the administration, are known as the three officials of digging Hong Kong, which is equivalent to a self-contained system.Although Jugang belongs to Rugao, it is closer to Nantong because of its commercial relationship.At that time, because of Zhang Jian, Nantong was the center of the Jiangbei area of ​​the Yangtze River Delta at that time, and several surrounding counties looked up to Nantong.Jugang belongs to Rugao, but it always hooks up with Nantong, and Rugao can't help it.Therefore, together with the revolution, local students and gentry did not go to Rugao, but went to Nantong, which had been declared liberated, and asked for someone to take it over.Two of the original three officials, Zhu Bo and Du Si, both went to Nantong, as if Nantong was the backbone of everyone.

Expanding the sphere of influence is the instinct of each independent government, big or small.Nantong has absolutely no reason to refuse a commercial port like Jugang.So, soon Nantong sent two people back. It was said that they were sent, but in fact it was Zhu Bo and Du Si who had gone to Nantong.But after they came back, both of them had new identities, one was the Chief of Civil Affairs, and the other was the Chief of Military Affairs.With these two new identities, the former lords Bo and Du Si convened a meeting of local gentry and merchants to announce their recovery. However, among the local gentry and businessmen, some people have other ideas.Strictly speaking, it is a few people who have achieved great fame and want to do it themselves.As a result, disagreements arose at the meeting. Most businessmen didn't want to be troublesome, and agreed to the original court official to take over, so as to accept the rule of Nantong logically and strengthen the relationship with Nantong.However, Juren refused. Juren is a scholar. Although there are not many people, his voice is loud.In the face of opposition, the boss needless to say, a foreigner has no rights and no courage, so it is difficult to say anything. Although the Dusi is a military officer, a few green battalion soldiers under him have already dispersed, and a small number of garrisoned privates have left, so they have no confidence to speak .There was a quarrel at the meeting, and the dispute was unresolved. Someone came out to persuade the two former court officials to leave the venue first, so that the gentry and merchants could discuss it.However, once the two left, the situation changed immediately. Since they didn't need to take their face into account, the voices of opposition became louder.In the end, the two sides were at loggerheads, no one would accept the other, and there was no move. Everyone agreed to vote to resolve it. Those who agreed to keep the two officials in office should write the word "stable", and those who disagreed should write the word "radical".After the voting was over, the number of votes in the two votes was even, and the person who called the votes at the end wrote the word radical himself. In this way, the "radicals" gained the upper hand.Although these people do not understand the basic principles of democracy in the West, they understand the principle of the minority obeying the majority without a teacher.Therefore, the two court officials had no choice but to walk and hide in the field office in other places. Seeing such a great benefit, they dared not come back.Jue Gang organized his own recovery meeting, organized his own government, appointed a local governor as the head of civil affairs, abolished military and political positions, and instead went to Shanghai to buy a large number of firearms and set up his own armed business school group.The most interesting thing is that a town has since then set up its own council, which is elected by qualified local voters. Members are subsidized and often meet. Governments constitute a powerful constraint.However, what is interesting is that the Nantong Revolutionary Government, which sent people, accepted this account and did not send troops to intervene.

In fact, even in Nantong, the farmers and fishermen of the Silk Fishing Port took advantage of the revolution to spontaneously set up a new type of government, which also held the rank of military and political chief.However, the new peasant government was quickly suppressed by the revolutionary Nantong government.But at about the same time, the gentry and merchants of Jugang Town did not give Nantong face, abolished the officials they appointed, and set up one themselves, but nothing happened.Not only was it okay, but it was later recognized by Nantong.In other words, gentry and businessmen were allowed to join the revolution, but peasants were not allowed.As long as the peasantry wants to revolutionize, it will be suppressed.Order can only be the order of the gentry, not the order of the peasants.

In fact, since the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty, whether it is local self-government or preparing for a constitution, there have been elections, and civil rights have also been discussed.However, the so-called civil rights are gentry rights, which also include some business and academic rights. Democracy is limited to the upper-middle-class elite in society.Gentlemen, businessmen and students could enjoy the right to vote, but the general public was not considered.Such restrictions have become a practice, and even revolutionaries actually agree with them.Out of utilitarian considerations and the need to mobilize the party, they opened up some power to the party, but they never allowed farmers to have the right to self-determination.

But having said that, even so, after independence, most places have not practiced democracy, even if it is limited to the elite level, like digging Hong Kong.This is largely due to the fact that the war is still going on and the conditions are not met.Digging the port is just a special case, a special case produced by years of local self-government practice in Nantong area.Not only did Ju Gang use elections to reject the officials designated by Nantong and chose "radicalism", but he also elected a township-level council by himself, which is indeed rare.Although their so-called radicals are not radical at all, the votes are not very formal.It seems that this small town close to Shanghai and greatly influenced by Zhang Jian's modernization cause, due to its strong financial resources, complicated forces and a tradition of negotiation, can spontaneously grow democracy with a little nourishment from Europe and the United States.In fact, even in the East, democratic elections are not as difficult as people imagine.