郭汉民

上个月我回湘潭大学，永春同志兴奋地告诉我，他的国家社科基金后期资助项目《五四时期社会改造思潮研究》已经顺利结项，一部80万字的同名著作也顺利通过中国社会科学出版社的评审，很快可以出版了。这使我极为高兴。虽然自己已经退休返乡多年，没有再从事学术研究，但仍为他取得这一重要学术成果而兴奋不已。他还告诉我，这是十多年前我要他研究的课题，他一直没有停止过。在我的脑海中，一下子就涌现出了“十年磨一剑”和“天道酬勤”两个词汇。

永春同志潜心学问，勤于探索，心无旁骛，上天也会酬劳他的。“十年磨一剑”更表明他在治学上扎扎实实，厚积薄发，完全摆脱了时下急功近利的浮躁学风，这是特别值得提倡的。所以，当他向我索取书序时，我稍加思索便愉快地答应了。

从20世纪90年代开始，我襄助吴雁南、冯祖贻、苏中立等先生从事于中国近代社会思潮的研究，合作主编四卷本《中国近代社会思潮（1840—1919）》，1998年由湖南教育出版社出版。该书出版之后，学术界好评如潮，迄今仍是不少高校和科研院所招收博士研究生的必读书目。然而，任何著作都不可能穷尽对于真理的认识，其错误和疏漏均属难免。这部200多万字的著作，具体分析和论述了中国近代史上100多种社会思潮，但对五四时期声势浩大、影响深远的社会改造思潮竟然付之阙如。对这一思潮有所察觉并且试图加以研究，却是在该书出版数年之后。

我在仔细阅读《五四时期期刊介绍》和《五四时期的社团》时，发现风起云涌的报纸杂志和比肩而起的社会团体大都在鼓吹社会改造，五四时期存在着这样一种社会改造思潮是毋庸置疑的，也是很值得研究的。永春同志是我指导的博士，曾以研究五四时期影响最大的社团“少年中国学会”为研究对象，并以“《少年中国》与五四时期社会思潮”作为学位论文，并且做得相当出色，具有研究社会改造思潮的充分条件。所以我曾建议他，对这一课题予以充分关注。

如前所述，永春同志对这一课题潜心研究，锲而不舍，历时十多年，写出这部创获甚多的学术著作，填补了中国近代社会思潮研究的重要空白，我怎能不由衷地喜悦呢？所以，我花了一段时间，重操旧业，认真阅读了他这部80万字的书稿，自感获益匪浅。该书可谓亮点纷呈。

首先，作者对五四时期标举“社会改造”的64个社团作了初步考察。其中能够确定成立时间的49个社团的分布中，1917年2个，1918年6个，1919年16个，1920年15个，1921年1个，1922年2个，1923年6个，1924年1个。同时对宣传社会改造的162种报纸杂志作了具体研究，其中能够确定发刊时间的152种报刊中，1915年1种，1916年2种，1917年5种，1918年8种，1919年和1920年各43种，1921年20种，1922年18种，1923年11种，1924年1种。通过对1915年后十年间社会团体和报纸杂志的全面考察，发现五四时期社会舆论关注的中心问题就是如何改造社会，许多社团和出版物都围绕着社会改造问题进行讨论。大多数进步社团表现出改造社会的愿望和要求，不少社团在宗旨中还写明了“改造社会”的信条或规约。特别是五四运动以后，许多进步社团转向直接的社会改造，有的提出对当时社会“根本改造”，有的趋向政治改造，甚至发展为政党组织。当时最流行的最要紧的一件东西，可以说就是“改造”（Reconstruction）了。政治要改造，经济要改造，社会要改造，教育要改造，竟可以说样样东西都要改造。至于改造的形式，或是从根柢上完全改造，或是从枝叶上部分改造，各有各的特殊情形。但总结一句话，这个时代完全可以叫作“改造时代”。不仅如此，社会改造思想在政治、经济、社会各方面也得到进一步的体现，由学潮而工潮、而商潮、而农潮，都次第发生。社会改造延伸到工农商学诸领域，演变为一种社会运动。

其次，作者将五四时期社会改造思潮与第一次世界大战后出现的世界性社会改造思潮联系起来，揭示出五四时期社会改造思潮的宏大背景。1914年爆发的第一次世界大战，使欧洲大陆的自由秩序陷于崩溃。1918年斯宾格勒的《西方的没落》，成为欧洲文化危机的重要思想表征。第一次世界大战严重破坏了资本主义世界的政治经济组织，使世界经济秩序紊乱，各国工业恐慌，工人失业，农业破产，金融破产，各种社会问题接连发生。不仅各资本主义国家内农民阶级和中等阶级及资产阶级要求社会革命，而且，全世界殖民地和半殖民地的国民革命与之呼应。苏俄社会主义革命更是彻底改变了整个世界历史的发展方向。由于第一次世界大战残酷的现实及其后出现的日益严重的社会问题，人们对文艺复兴以来的资本主义展开全面反思。有识之士纷纷提出各种救世思想和主张。“人人不满于现状，而求所以改革之”，成为普遍心理，形成了一股社会改造的潮流。诚如时人所说：“改造的声音，好像放了一个地球大似的爆竹，几几乎把人类的耳目都弄昏了。”第一次世界大战后的大变局，改变了中国人对资本主义的认识和态度。如长沙《大公报》称：“自从欧战终了，社会上面的各项制度，都摆出破绽不安稳的样子，于是一般灵秀的分子，知道非改造不可。近两年来，改造社会的运动，好象风起云涌，有一日千里的样子。这个潮流，一直从欧洲送到中国。中国一般头脑清楚的青年，感受这个潮流，才知道从前的社会，是万恶的社会，是坑陷青年的社会，于是都想摩拳擦掌，去改造一个新的社会。”由此可见欧战后世界改造对中国社会改造思潮的深刻影响。世界改造思潮直接促成了中国社会改造思潮的兴起，中国社会改造思潮成了世界改造思潮的一部分。

第三，也是更重要的，第一次世界大战促使中国人觉悟起来，进一步探索中国社会改造的问题。社会主义成为进步知识分子改造中国的首选目标。苏俄革命作为世界大战后社会革命和改造的成功范例，直接影响到中国人对于社会改造问题的思考。毛泽东在1919年发表的《民众的大联合》一文说得很明白：“自去年俄罗斯以民众的大联合，和贵族的大联合资本家的大联合相抗，收了‘社会的改革’的胜利以来，各国如匈，如奥，如捷，如德，亦随之而起了许多的社会改革。虽其胜利尚未至于完满的程度，要必可以完满，并且可以普及于世界，是想得到的。”表示要“起而仿效”。正如本书作者所说，欧战使西方资本主义制度千疮百孔，使原本满心期望通过模仿西方来改造中国的先进之士，产生了中国是继续学习西方的资本主义还是仿效苏俄的社会主义的疑问，正是在这种不得已的选择中，中国社会改造的道路问题凸显出来。国际局势的急剧变化，改变了中国人对于西方乃至中西关系的认识，也引起对于中国改造前途和道路的深刻认识。这表明，近代中国选择社会主义前途绝不是偶然的。

第四，作者把五四后各种政治势力及各种主义之争都纳入社会改造思潮的历史大背景之中加以考察和论列。此期，孙中山和国民党致力于用三民主义指导社会革命来改造中国，而早期共产主义者主张以马克思主义改造中国社会。与此同时，在“根本改造”“社会革命”的口号下，无政府主义、工读互助主义、新村主义、泛劳动主义、合作主义等主张得到广泛宣传，并且开展各种社会改造的试验，尤其是工读互助团运动、勤工俭学运动、合作社运动、新村试验等，喧嚣一时，影响很大。这种温和的改造手段，虽经实践证明是行不通的，但反映出变革时代的一种平和的群众心理，无疑是中国思想界大分化、大动荡、大改组的时代写照。以地方自治为理想目标的联省自治运动，也被人视为辛亥革命以来改造中国的最佳方案之一。

作者进一步指出，五四运动后社会改造思潮发生分化，在关于社会改造的手段、道路和依靠力量等方面，都出现了严重分歧。而在如何实行政治改造的探索中，这种分化尤为明显，其影响更为深远。陈独秀1919年12月为《新青年》写的《本志宣言》，被誉为“‘五四’后社会改造新思潮的纲领”。陈独秀与李汉俊、李达、陈望道、施存统等以《新青年》杂志为据点，经常集会讨论社会改造问题，逐步形成了一个具有初步共产主义觉悟的知识分子群体，在此基础上开始筹建中国共产党组织。这是他们经常讨论中国改造问题的一个结果，也是五四时期社会改造转向政治改造的表征。

第五，作者还揭示了五四时期的社会改造思潮的丰富内涵和面貌，指出五四时期社会改造思潮包括政治改造、经济改造、思想改造、教育改造、个人改造等诸多领域，涉及从中国乡村到都市到各省区乃至世界等不同范围，也关系到改造的方法、手段和理论等不同层面。因此，在不同时期、不同历史背景或政治立场上提出社会改造的路径有别，在不同场合下社会改造的重心不同，从而构成了社会改造思潮的丰富内涵和庞杂面貌。其中地方改造、国际改造、农村改造、联合改造等重要问题，作者将其作为社会改造舆论的热点和重点加以论述。不仅如此，作者还对五四时期社会改造思潮与同时期其他社会思潮的复杂关系作了深入探讨，指出社会改造思潮是一种庞杂的思想潮流，其中既有顺应历史发展的主流思潮，也有违背历史发展趋势、与主流社会思潮相反的思想逆流，还有依违其间的支流思潮。而无政府主义、民主主义、国家主义和马克思主义，都是社会改造思潮的重要理论来源，而且先后成为中国社会改造的主流思想，它们在一定程度上、一定时期内的离合与嬗递，又左右或影响社会改造运动的发展进程，与社会改造思潮呈现出极其复杂的关系。显然，作者的这种努力是值得赞赏的。

除上述之外，作者还对有代表性的社会团体“共进社”、有代表性的人物王光祈的社会改造思想作了深入细致的个案研究，并揭示了五四时期社会改造思潮对社会思想、社会运动和现实政治的深刻影响，这也是应当肯定的。

永春同志的这部著作就要出版了，这是值得祝贺的。上述几点认识，只是我有缘先睹为快写下来的，相信李著出版之后，一定会受到读者的欢迎和好评。仅以此为序。

2017年5月18日

于河南平顶山白龟湖滨农家小屋

When Guo Hanmin returned to Xiangtan University last month, Comrade Yongchun told me excitedly that his National Social Science Fund Later Funding Project "Research on the Ideological Trend of Social Transformation in the May Fourth Period" had been successfully completed, and an 800,000-word book of the same name had successfully passed the review of the China Social Sciences Publishing House and would soon be published. This makes me extremely happy. Although he has been retired for many years and has not engaged in academic research again, he is still excited about this important academic achievement. He also told me that this was the subject I asked him to study more than a decade ago, and he never stopped. In my mind, the words "ten years to sharpen a sword" and "heaven's way of reward" suddenly came to mind. Comrade Yongchun devoted himself to learning, diligent in exploration, and had no distractions, and heaven would reward him. "Sharpening a sword in ten years" shows that he is solid in his studies, accumulates thick and thin, and completely gets rid of the impetuous study style of rushing to achieve quick results, which is particularly worth advocating. So, when he asked me for the preface, I happily agreed after a little thought. Since the 90s of the 20th century, I have assisted Mr. Wu Yannan, Feng Zuyi, Su Zhongzhong, etc. in the research of modern Chinese social thought, and co-edited the four-volume "Modern Chinese Social Thought (1840-1919)", published by Hunan Education Publishing House in 1998. After the publication of the book, the academic community received rave reviews, and it is still a must-read list for many universities and research institutes to recruit doctoral students. However, no work can exhaust the knowledge of truth, and errors and omissions are inevitable. This work, which is more than 2 million words, specifically analyzes and discusses more than 100 social trends in China's modern history, but it does not even give rise to the huge and far-reaching social transformation trends of the May Fourth period. I became aware of this trend and tried to study it only a few years after the publication of the book. When I carefully read "Introduction to the May Fourth Period Periodicals" and "May Fourth Period Societies", I found that most of the surging newspapers and magazines and the social groups that rose up side by side were advocating social transformation, and the existence of such a trend of social transformation in the May Fourth period is undoubtedly and worthy of study. Comrade Yongchun is a doctor under my supervision, who has taken the "Young China Society" as the research object of the most influential organization in the May Fourth period, and took "Young China" and the May Fourth Period Social Thought as his dissertation. So I advised him to pay full attention to this subject. As mentioned above, Comrade Yongchun devoted himself to the study of this topic, persevered, and wrote this highly innovative academic work for more than 10 years, filling the important gap in the study of modern Chinese social thought. So, I spent a while getting back to my old business, carefully reading his 800,000-word manuscript, and I felt that I had benefited a lot. The book is full of highlights. First, the author makes a preliminary investigation of the 64 associations that marked "social transformation" during the May Fourth period. Among the 49 associations whose dates of establishment can be determined, 2 in 1917, 6 in 1918, 16 in 1919, 15 in 1920, 1 in 1921, 2 in 1922, 6 in 1923, and 1 in 1924. At the same time, a specific study was made of 162 newspapers and magazines that publicized social transformation, of which 152 newspapers and periodicals were able to determine the date of publication, 1 in 1915, 2 in 1916, 5 in 1917, 8 in 1918, 43 each in 1919 and 1920, 20 in 1921, 18 in 1922, 11 in 1923 and 1 in 1924. Through a comprehensive investigation of social groups, newspapers and magazines in the decade after 1915, it was found that the central issue of public opinion in the May Fourth period was how to transform society, and many associations and publications discussed the issue of social transformation. Most progressive associations have expressed a desire and demand to transform society, and many have written in their purpose the tenets or statutes of "transforming society". Especially after the May Fourth Movement, many progressive organizations turned to direct social transformation, some proposed "fundamental transformation" of the society at that time, and some tended to political transformation, and even developed into party organizations. The most popular and important thing at that time can be said to be "reconstruction". Politics needs to be transformed, the economy needs to be transformed, society needs to be transformed, education needs to be transformed, and it can be said that everything needs to be transformed. As for the form of transformation, either completely transformed from the roots or partially transformed from the branches and leaves, each has its own special circumstances. But to sum up, this era can be called the "era of transformation". Not only that, the ideology of social transformation has also been further embodied in the political, economic, and social aspects, from the tide of learning to the tide of work, the tide of commerce, and the tide of agriculture. Social transformation extended to the fields of industry, agriculture, and commerce, and evolved into a social movement. Secondly, the author links the social transformation trend of the May Fourth period with the world social transformation trend that emerged after the First World War, revealing the grand background of the social transformation trend in the May Fourth period. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought the liberal order on the European continent to collapse. Spengler's The Decline of the West in 1918 became an important ideological representation of Europe's cultural crisis. The First World War seriously damaged the political and economic organization of the capitalist world, causing disorder in the world economic order, industrial panic in various countries, unemployment among workers, agricultural bankruptcy, financial bankruptcy, and various social problems one after another. Not only the peasant and middle classes and the bourgeoisie in the capitalist countries demanded social revolution, but also the national revolutions in the colonies and semi-colonies throughout the world. The socialist revolution in Soviet Russia completely changed the direction of development of the entire world history. Due to the brutal reality of the First World War and the growing social problems that followed, there was a comprehensive rethinking of capitalism since the Renaissance. People of insight have put forward various ideas and propositions for salvation. "Everyone is dissatisfied with the status quo and seeks reform" has become a common mentality and formed a trend of social transformation. As the people of the time said: "The sound of transformation is like releasing a firecracker the size of an earth, which almost makes the eyes and ears of human beings faint." "The great changes after the First World War changed Chinese's understanding and attitude towards capitalism. For example, Changsha's "Ta Kung Pao" said: "Since the end of the European War, all the systems in society have put on a flawed and unstable appearance, so ordinary Lingxiu elements know that they must be reformed." In the past two years, the movement to transform society seems to be surging and growing day by day. This trend has been sent from Europe to China. China's generally clear-minded young people, feeling this trend, know that the previous society was a society of all evil, a society of trapped youth, so they all want to rub their hands and transform a new society. This shows the profound impact of the transformation of the world after the European war on the trend of China's social transformation. The trend of world transformation has directly contributed to the rise of China's social transformation trend, and China's social transformation trend has become a part of the world transformation trend. Third, and more importantly, the First World War prompted Chinese to awaken and further explore the question of China's social transformation. Socialism became the preferred target of progressive intellectuals to transform China. As a successful example of social revolution and transformation after the World War, the Soviet Revolution directly affected Chinese's thinking on the issue of social transformation. Mao Zedong's article "The Great Union of the People" published in 1919 put it very clearly: "Since last year, Russia won the victory of 'social reform' by fighting the great alliance of the people and the great alliance of the aristocracy and capitalists, countries such as Hungary, Austria, Jie, and Germany have also carried out many social reforms. Although its victory has not yet reached the level of perfection, it is desirable that it will be complete and universally available to the world. It means to "rise and emulate". As the author of this book says, the European war made the Western capitalist system full of holes, and made the advanced people who had hoped to transform China by imitating the West and raise the question of whether China should continue to learn from Western capitalism or imitate the socialism of Soviet Russia. The drastic changes in the international situation have changed Chinese's understanding of the West and even Sino-Western relations, and have also aroused a profound understanding of China's transformation prospects and paths. This shows that it is no accident that modern China chose the future of socialism. Fourth, the author examines and discusses the various political forces and various controversies after May Fourth into the historical background of the trend of social transformation. During this period, Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang were committed to using the Three People's Principles to guide the social revolution to transform China, while the early communists advocated the transformation of Chinese society with Marxism. At the same time, under the slogans of "fundamental transformation" and "social revolution", anarchism, work-study mutualism, new villageism, pan-laborism, cooperativism and other ideas have been widely publicized, and various experiments in social transformation have been carried out, especially the work-study mutual aid group movement, work-study movement, cooperative movement, new village experiment, etc., which have been noisy and have a great impact. Although this gentle means of transformation has proved to be unworkable by practice, it reflects a peaceful mass psychology in the era of change, and is undoubtedly a portrayal of the era of great divergence, great turmoil, and great reorganization in China's ideological circles. The United Provinces Autonomy Movement, with local autonomy as its ideal goal, is also regarded as one of the best options for transforming China since the Xinhai Revolution. The author further points out that after the May Fourth Movement, the trend of thought on social transformation diverged, and serious differences arose on the means, path, and reliance on strength of social transformation. In the exploration of how to carry out political transformation, this differentiation is particularly obvious, and its impact is more far-reaching. Chen Duxiu's "Declaration of Benzhi" written for "New Youth" in December 1919 was praised as "the program of the new trend of thought for social transformation after May Fourth". Chen Duxiu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, Chen Wangdao, Shi Cuntong, and others often met to discuss the issue of social transformation based in the magazine "New Youth", and gradually formed a group of intellectuals with preliminary communist consciousness, on this basis, they began to prepare for the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party organization. This is a result of their frequent discussion of China's transformation, and it is also a symptom of the shift from social transformation to political transformation during the May Fourth period. Fifth, the author also reveals the rich connotation and appearance of the social transformation trend in the May Fourth period, pointing out that the social transformation trend in the May Fourth period includes political transformation, economic transformation, ideological transformation, educational transformation, personal transformation and many other fields, involving different scopes from China's rural areas to cities to provinces and regions and even the world, and also related to different aspects of transformation methods, means, and theories. Therefore, the paths of social transformation are different in different periods, different historical backgrounds or political positions, and the focus of social transformation is different on different occasions, thus constituting the rich connotation and complex face of social transformation thought. Among them, important issues such as local transformation, international transformation, rural transformation, and joint transformation are discussed by the author as hot spots and key points of public opinion on social transformation. Not only that, the author also made an in-depth discussion on the complex relationship between the social transformation trend of thought in the May Fourth period and other social trends in the same period, pointing out that the trend of social transformation is a huge and complex ideological trend, including the mainstream trend of thought that conforms to historical development, the reverse current of thought that goes against the trend of historical development and is contrary to the mainstream social trend, and the tributary trend of thought that runs counter to it. Anarchism, democracy, statism and Marxism are all important theoretical sources of social transformation thought, and have successively become the mainstream ideas of social transformation in China. Obviously, such efforts of the author are appreciated. In addition to the above, the author also makes an in-depth and detailed case study of Wang Guangqi's thinking on social transformation, a representative social group "Gongjin Society" and a representative figure, and reveals the profound impact of the trend of social transformation on social thought, social movements, and realpolitik during the May Fourth period. Comrade Yongchun's book is about to be published, and this is worthy of congratulations. The above points are only written down by me with a sneak peek, and I believe that after the publication of Li's book, it will definitely be welcomed and praised by readers. Only in this order. May 18, 2017 in Henan Pingdingshan Baigui Lakeside Farm House（AI翻译）