五四時期の理想主義 : 惲代英のばあい

Abstract

The guiding spirit of the New Culture Movement was idealism. With this as their source of inspiration, the Chinese intelligentsia not only could break away from the closed situation following the Hsin-hai Revolution but also came to relate the resurgence of China to the remaking of the world. Under the influence of the New Culture Movement, a number of groups professing to carry out an ethical revolution with the aim of restructuring the national character sprang up in various parts of the country. 0f them, the Mutual Preservation Society 互助社 of Wu-ch'ang 武昌 had the importance often compared with that of the New People's Study Society 新民學會, founded by Mao Tse-tung in Ch'ang-sha 長沙. The central figure of this group was Yun Tai-ying, whose blend of anarchism and patriotism enjoyed wide influence among the students of Wu-ch'ang. The success of the May Fourth Movement further deepened the idealists' conviction. Inspired by the New Village Movement in Japan, they set up in both cities and the countryside communes based on communistic principles, hoping them to serve as models for the new society. The extremely idealistic nature of this movement, which came to be called the Work-Study 工讀互助 Movement, however, soon forced it to collapse. And this in turn enabled the Marxists' assertion that no partial improvement could be achieved without the total restructuring of the society to make easier headway among the revolutionary intelligentsia. Yun Tai-ying, however, stubbornly clung to the ideals of the movement. With the young people he taught, he endeavoured strenuously to maintain the communal life by operating a bookshop and a small factory in Wu-ch'ang and managing a primary school in the countryside of Hu-pei 湖北. To him, the communal life was more than a mere model for the new society. It was the base from which the struggle for the new society could start. Yun was convinced that class struggle could not realise the true socialism, which he felt should be based upon mutual help and selflessness. For this reason, he opposed the forming of the Chinese Communist Party. His endeavour, however, would not continue long. Facing with mounting economic difficulties and the suppression of reformed education by warlords, he came to admit the unrealistic nature of his line. In the spring of 1922 he accepted the argument of Lin Yu-nan 林育南, member of his group, and dissolved the group. The members then joined individually the CCP or the Socialist Youth League. Yun himself became a leading member of the CCP and went on to play an important role in directing the youth movement and managing the cooperation with the Kuomimtang. He also distinguished himself as a brilliant propagandist. In the half-feudal, half-colonial China socialism was a task for tomorrow, and communism nothing more than a remote ideal. In such circumstances the revolutionary intelligentsia of the May Fouth generation broke away from the petit-bourgeoisie idealism and embarked on the long march to revolution. Yun Tai-ying too was one of them.