??最近，文化名人聶紺弩案的告密風波，引起對中國知識界的許多議論。在現代社會，毫無疑問，知識份子是社會的良心和主軸，知識份子整體的素質和發展對社會有主導性的影響。聶案把我們帶回毛時代的沉重回憶。在中共統治近三十年的那個時期，如果說「階級鬥爭、無法無天」為其特徵，讓千百萬人受害的實質，就是與知識份子為敵。縱覽聶紺弩檔案可以看到，暴政下知識人的命運有如社會學家潘光旦教授去世前自我描述的四個Ｓ那樣：投降、屈服、活命與滅亡（英文Surrender、Submit、Survive、Succumb），那是受盡屈辱的悲慘的人生。從肅反、反右到文革，一路上何處不是知識份子的血與淚？甚至大饑荒死了幾千萬農民後，責任還要嫁禍到有些知識的幹部頭上。
文革之後的三十年，當局改弦易轍，知識份子大翻身，從臭老九變成中產階級，甚至名利雙收，非富則貴，這是社會轉型乃至共產黨求存的必由之道。掛羊頭賣狗肉式的資本主義經濟，當然少不了知識份子唱主角。毛澤東要求知識份子依附新政權：「皮之不存，毛將焉附」，是沒有實現過的，因為毛根本不信任知識份子，今天則已完全實現。在全面籠絡、軟硬兼施之下，知識份子已經大面積地歸順、收編與屈服，依附於和國際資本掛勾的巨大體制上，組成專制政權、暴富階層、知識精英相結合的中國特色的權貴資本主義，這是一個史無前例的超級利益共同體。
從各級黨政領導層及其智囊團，到滲透家家戶戶的新聞媒體與演藝圈；從北京、上海到香港及海外僑界，中國知識份子都有光彩誘人的演出，甚至在專政系統內也有大量的專才獻計獻力，告密、統戰與特工制度，已比毛時代更為龐大、精緻與高科技。有獨立人格和理想的知識份子被邊緣化，舉步維艱。
這是一幅過去無法想像的圖景。不能忽視的是隨著公民社會的發育與對外開放的不可逆轉，中國知識份子的自由派也在成長中。無論身處體制內或體制外，他們潛在的能量和影響力都不容低估，零八憲章的簽署是一次有限的檢閱。但是，在政治高壓、拜金狂潮和犬儒主義泛濫的大環境下，自由派的成長還有很長的路要走。
人們特別聚焦於在現中國舞台中心的那一代精英，他們正處於五、六十歲人生高峰期，他們的青少年時期遭遇文革那樣一個空前激烈的運動的裹脅，因為學生的背景，他們在事後，又匆匆卷入升學和商潮之中，加以當局的掩飾，他們很多人，輕易地滑過了對文革影響的清理和反省。因此，這些年，我們不斷看到他們之中的某些出類拔萃人物，各行業領軍人物，無論在朝在野，不時露出文革的烙印或毛時代的餘脈，不僅令人遺憾、令人可笑，甚至令人感到可怕。青春期的留痕是難忘的。因此，這一代人的自覺達致價值觀的成熟，將是我們迎接可能不久將要來到的政治變革的重要準備和寄托。
（2009年3月30日 香港）
The Fate of Intellectuals
By Jin Zhong
The recent case exposing informing against the renowned intellectual Nie Gannu has caused controversy among China’s intelligentsia. No doubt, intellectuals are society’s axis; they represent conscience, and their quality and development has a key influence on society. Nie’s case resurrects unhappy memories of the Mao era. If one characterizes those three decades of CCP rule with the phrase “class struggle and lawlessness,” the particular element that caused lasting damage to millions of people was the CCP’s hostility to intellectuals. The Nie case illustrates the fate of the intellectual under despotism, described by the late sociologist Pan Guangdan as the “four S’s” – Surrender, Submit, Survive and Succumb – a life of humiliation and misery. From the anti-rightist purges to the Cultural Revolution, wasn’t it the blood and tears of intellectuals along the way? When millions of peasants died in the great famine, it was typically the more educated officials who were blamed for the deaths.
Thirty years have passed since the Cultural Revolution, and with the government striking out on a new path, intellectuals have been transformed from despised riffraff to bourgeoisie. Many have even achieved both fame and wealth. This is the path to social transformation and the survival of the Communist Party; a capitalistic economy cannot do without intellectuals. Intellectuals have not placed their reliance on the new government as Mao Zedong required them to do (even though Mao never trusted them). But faced with the government’s carrot and stick, many of today’s intellectuals have chosen to submit. In their reliance on the overarching system that links with international capital and forms the autocratic government, the nouveau riche class and the Chinese-style “crony capitalists,” they have contributing to the birth of an unprecedented “super special interest group.”
Chinese intellectuals shine, whether as leaders of the Party or government or in media and entertainment circles, whether in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong or overseas Chinese communities. Moreover, a large coterie of experts contribute their advice and effort to maintaining the autocratic system. The culture of informing, united front tactics and intelligence agents is larger and more sophisticated and advanced than in Mao’s time. Intellectuals with independent characters and aspirations are marginalized and subjected to great hardship.
Such an outcome was never imagined in the past. What should not be overlooked, however, is that the growth of civil society and China’s opening to the world has also resulted in an increase in liberal intellectuals in China. Whether they are inside or outside of the system, their potential and influence should never be underestimated, although the signing of Charter 08 is only a limited demonstration of it. In an environment immersed in despotism, greed and cynicism, however, liberals still have a long way to go.
Particular attention has been focused on the intellectual elites currently on China’s center stage. These elites, now in their fifties or sixties, are now in the prime of their lives. In their youth they were forced to take part in the unprecedented intensity of the Cultural Revolution, and because of their student backgrounds, they were subsequently drawn into the new wave of education and commerce. Coupled with the glossing over of the past by the authorities, many of them were able to avoid any settlement of or reflection on the controversies of that era. So it is that in recent years we regularly see some of their number who have become leaders in their various professions, whether in official or lay capacities, reveal the mark of the Cultural Revolution or other aspects of the Mao Era. This is not only regrettable, but sometimes ridiculous and even horrifying. The scars left over from youth are hard to forget. For this reason, the self-awareness and maturing values of this generation will be an important factor in their ability to take on China's future political transformation, which may well be near at hand.
30 March 2009 in Hong Kong
(Translated by Isabella Lam)
