What exactly is the "Spartan system" often mentioned in books?

1. The Spartan system cannot be attributed to autocracy. According to the views of most historians and political scientists in ancient and modern times, Sparta's political system should belong to some kind of constitutional system. The keynote of spartan system is aristocratic republic. Under this system, although democracy is not sufficient and perfect, it still has the highest authority. The Spartan system is divided into several major elements of power, with two kings, five supervisors, the Council of Elders and the general assembly balancing each other. Finally, an oligarchy was formed, and five supervisors controlled everything. However, the Ombudsman must still be accountable to all citizens. In political life, the opinions of most citizens still have the highest authority. At least military affairs such as declaring war and making peace require the majority consent of all citizens' congresses. The procedure of this democratic decision-making is almost the same as that of modern indirect parliamentary democracy. Therefore, in this sense, it is inappropriate to dismiss the Spartan system as an authoritarian system. According to historical records, Sparta adhered to the tradition of constitutionalism throughout its existence. In the Peloponnesian War, Sparta destroyed the autocratic system and democratic system of all the city-states within its sphere of influence and fostered the oligarchic constitutional system. Because in the eyes of the rulers of Sparta, the former is the tyranny of one person and the latter is the tyranny of the majority, which is not in line with the principle of constitutionalism. This view is also quite in line with the principles of modern liberalism. Because from the standpoint of liberalism, there is no essential difference between the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of one person, and it may be more arbitrary and uncontrollable. Mr. Zhu Xueqin spoke highly of the modern constitutional system represented by Britain and America, but despised the ancient Spartan constitutional system. I'm afraid it's not fair enough from an academic standpoint. Of course, we should be able to understand the love, hate and prejudice of Mr. Zhu Xueqin and ourselves: Sparta is a big school and military camp for politicians and soldiers, and requires all citizens to live a United, tense, strict and lively collective life, absolutely obey the supreme leadership group with the five supervisors as the core, and can sacrifice their personal lives to complete the tasks assigned by their superiors when necessary. This militarized and semi-militarized way of social governance cannot be accommodated by all the sloppy and leaderless "smelly Laojiu". Therefore, intellectuals, especially those full-time professionals, except some intellectual politicians who have the idea of "philosopher king" or "legislator", will not have any good impression on the Spartan system. 2. When commenting on the direct democracy in Athens during Pericles's administration, Thucydides, a historian who is not worthy of the name, once said that "Athens is nominally a democratic politics, but in fact the power is in the hands of the first citizen." It seems that as long as direct democracy is implemented, whether it is a small city-state with few people or a territorial country with a vast territory and a large population, this outcome is inevitable. Pericles himself looks very much like the famous Athenian tyrant Pirasteh Tu, so he was once suspected by the public in his early years. Pericles has all the talents and skills of a tyrant. Berlin, a famous liberal master, commented on the words of US President franklin roosevelt-"He has all the qualities, energy and skills of a dictator, and he is on our side." This sentence can also be used in Perikles. According to the viewpoint of Talmon, a famous Israeli thinker, Athenian democracy is essentially the earliest source and model of totalitarian democracy. /kloc-Le Pen, a French thinker in the 0/9th century, hit the nail on the head: "The Republic at that time was essentially a system of aristocratic rule, which was composed of a handful of United tyrants ruling a group of absolutely obedient slaves. These aristocratic collective rule based on slavery cannot exist for a day without this slavery. " Almost all intellectuals have complained about the intolerance of democracy in Athens since ancient times, and the story that Socrates was sentenced to death by the people because of his maverick speech and style is the most exciting for intellectuals' sensitive and fragile nerves. Le Pen pointed out: "In a place where the possibility of freedom of thought has never been considered, discussing the gods, codes and customs of the polis is the most serious and unusual crime. What is the similarity between the meaning of' freedom' and the meaning we give it today?" The so-called propaganda goddess Athena is the patron saint of Athens city-state, which is completely absurd and nonsense. But in the eyes of the democratic leaders at that time, no one could doubt or laugh at this ideological dogma of uniting the illiterate at the bottom. All realistic politicians in Athens actually know that Athena can't help at a critical time, but militarily, she still pretends to go to the temple to pray, and the best way to kill political opponents is to attack them for blasphemy. The so-called saint Shinto, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, is consistent. Although the intellectuals at that time were boring and unreasonable, most of them were still cautious, only daring to be condescending, and on the surface they were still respectful, and even had to complete some tasks assigned by the government and write hymns. The so-called cynicism is actually a typical living state of Athenian intellectuals, and it does not need to wait until the unified oppression and rule of the Roman Empire. In the heyday of democracy in Athens, when the great democratic leader Pericles was in power, the Athenians also carried out a vigorous political movement to trace the class composition of the ancestors of the eighteenth generation and found out many class enemies who infiltrated the ranks of free citizens and sold them as slaves. Among the nearly 20,000 citizens, 5,000 were investigated, accounting for more than 25%. This shows that these people are narrow-minded, paranoid and cruel! The so-called direct democracy actually means that everyone is equal in theory and actually looks down on each other. Once there is any political movement, it is the best time to crowd out and frame each other. Later, Pericles's speech at the graves of the fallen soldiers in Athens beautified the spirit of freedom, equality and fraternity in Athens. Has he forgotten all this cruel and ugly history? 3. The dual attributes of Athens' economic and political system The essence of Athens' political system can not be described by freedom, but should be measured by the direct democratic system of all privileged citizens. This kind of direct democracy must have political egalitarianism and economic egalitarianism, and the combination of the two is the color of socialism. Because everyone is recognized as equal in political rights, whether it is the self-evident premise of this equality or the natural conclusion, the equality in economic rights is ready to come. This is the essence and inevitable result of democracy, especially direct democracy, which is closely linked to equality and decisive support for the weak and the strong. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to eradicate those outstanding and maverick figures who pose a threat to the general public within the democratic system, and the widespread implementation of the exile law of pottery tablets is the most typical example. After Athens won the second anti-Persian war, it established the Tyrol Alliance, and later turned this seemingly equal alliance into a tool to control its allies. In the heyday of democracy in Athens, it was through extortion and exploitation of its slaves and allies-actually colonies and semi-colonies-that the huge consumption of direct democracy was maintained. Because maintaining or even constantly improving the living standards of ordinary citizens, it is extremely wasteful to get leisure time to participate in political activities without physical labor. Athens will give slave owners some jobs that require the most time and energy, but are of the most strategic significance, such as mining, metal smelting and weapons manufacturing. Because these jobs require a lot of labor, almost unlimited working hours, and there is no labor protection at all, it is imperative to implement complete slavery. At the same time, in order to eliminate domestic class contradictions, the ruling group consciously advocated colonial policies. This is highly consistent with the behavior pattern of suppressing the lowest manual labor class and expanding foreign immigrants to reconcile internal contradictions in the take-off stage of capitalism in modern history. Among the Greek countries, Athens was one of the first countries to cast metal currency. Casting metal money is a great economic change in the ancient world, because money has a great leverage in the economic power structure. Therefore, the advantage of financial instruments in Athens has unparalleled power because of the consolidation of its political and military hegemony, which laid a solid foundation for Athens to extract the products of other city-states in unequal exchange. This economic system led some "capitalists" in the polis to use slave labor unscrupulously. This slave labor is very common in mining and coinage, which are the sources of Athens' economic and financial strength. Therefore, the external economic and financial hegemony and the internal large-scale slave labor system were maintained by the Athens ruling group at all costs. In the superstructure, although the political system of Athens extended democratic rights to all citizens, and the poor were subsidized to hold some low-level official positions, the rich still effectively controlled the political power, and the democratic leader Pericles himself was one of the richest people in Athens. Almost all the generals in Athens were colonists and big businessmen, and Thucydides was the most famous one. Mr. Gu Zhun pointed out, "In the Napoleonic Wars, British business groups were the main force." It seems that this has a historical and cultural tradition. Use the courage to risk your life to rob, and then do business with the robbed things aboveboard. This is the unchangeable behavior pattern of the pirate colonial people from ancient times to the present. /kloc-a French liberal thinker in the 0 th and 9 th centuries pointed out: "In Athens, commerce eliminated some differences that distinguished ancient nations from modern nations. The spirit of Athenian businessmen is quite similar to that of modern businessmen. Xenophon told us that during the Peloponnesian War, Athenian merchants transported their capital out of Attica and put it on the island. Commerce enables them to establish currency circulation. In Isokrates, there are signs that the draft is used. " The use and perfection of these trading means and tools will inevitably mean the prevalence of speculative smuggling, tax evasion, corruption and bribery, which will eventually lead to polarization between the rich and the poor and destroy the economic foundation of direct democracy. 4. Why did Athens and Sparta fight? When the Athenian parliament discussed whether to continue fighting the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta, Pericles showed some brazen nature. He told Athenian citizens that the Athenian empire was actually built by violence, so it could only be maintained by violence, and giving up violence meant the collapse of the empire. Today, we can learn from the past. Isn't the Pericles family a commercial colonial war interest group? The Pericles family is very rich. Where did their wealth come from? Isn't it free trade with foreign countries, setting up colonies everywhere, and using the labor of barbarians for agricultural production and mining? Moreover, Thucydides, who wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War, was a great colonist himself and had a huge gold mine in Thrace. Thinking deeply about this problem, we should also see that Athens' huge wealth was obtained by the international business system supported by violence. Without this unequal trade exchange system, Athens' economy will soon decline. Athens suppressed the autonomy rights of other city-States, especially the subordinate city-States, semi-colonies and colonies of the Athenian Empire, which was actually a blow and squeeze in trade. The economic reason for the contradiction between the Athenian Empire and the Spartan Alliance system is that Athens has fierce competition with Corinth, an important member and financial supporter of the Spartan Alliance system, in terms of economic expansion. It is precisely because the economic models of these two city-states are highly consistent that the contradiction of economic interests cannot be reconciled. During the intermission of the war, Athens opened up the second battlefield in the west and conquered Syracuse, the richest and most powerful city-state in Sicily, not on impulse, but for the needs of the country's long-term strategy. Many city-states of Syracuse, Sicily and Great Greece were founded by Corinthian colonists, and Corinth had a spiritual leadership position over these city-states. The relationship between the Greek city-state and its colony is just like the relationship between Britain and its autonomous territory. Although it is completely independent in internal affairs, it maintains close ties with religious and cultural traditions and generally gives tacit support in diplomatic struggles. Therefore, under the impetus of Syracuse, these city-states basically tended to the Spartan alliance system where Corinth was located in the Peloponnesian War, and concluded an alliance treaty, but they did not actively participate in the war. At that time, Syracuse also implemented a democratic system similar to Athens. It can be seen that the war between the Athenian Empire and the Spartan alliance system is not an ideological war at all, let alone a binary opposition between liberal democracy and autocracy. Every war in Athens is also to seize the wealth of other city-states and other nations, open up new markets and obtain economic benefits. There is nothing new under the sun, and so is 19 century and the old and new colonial empires in the 20th century. The civil war between Greeks in classical times-the Peloponnesian War led to the dusk of western classical civilization, and the civil war between Europeans in modern times-the first European War also led to the dusk of western modern civilization. Sparta declared war on Athens to defend the long-term international balance of power in the Greek world based on polis egoism. Sparta's pure political and military hegemony can tolerate the existence of this self-interest of the city-state, but the essence of the economic expansion and exploitation of the Athenian Empire will further stifle this principle of self-government of the city-state. All the city-states under the control of the Athenian Empire became colonies and semi-colonies, losing the traditional independence cherished by the Greeks. This is also the reason why the Athenian Empire was widely hated by other city-states. Although it defeated the Athenian Empire militarily, Sparta could not unify Greece, not only because the strong spirit of city-state departmentalism of Greek States would still restrict the Spartan Empire, but also because it lacked economic and financial means compared with Athens. No one in other Greek States wants to live a spartan life of hard work and plain living, just like the later richer eastern European countries don't want to be rich and poor with the Soviet Union. Moreover, the Spartan lifestyle is too melodramatic and harsh for Greeks in other regions. Contrary to the traditional Greek spirit of enthusiasm, gentleness and balance. In the article The Rise and Fall of Athens, Mr. He Huaihong, a famous scholar I have always admired, compared the dramatic discussion and action of the Athens citizens' assembly in dealing with the defeated city-state of Mislin in the Peloponnesian War with Sparta's war trial on the plateau. However, Mr. He Huaihong defended the democratic system in Athens in many aspects, covering up evil and promoting good in Athens, but he was not fair and honest academically. This kind of performance is consistent with Thucydides' and Kito's attitudes, but the degree is different. Thucydides is quietly, only describing two events successively; It's a long story. Kito has a clear love and hate for Athens and Sparta. Mr. He Huaihong is the crowning touch-"But in comparison, democracy seems to be easier to correct its mistakes peacefully." When dealing with the Mitterrand incident, Dio Dorus's speech at the Athens citizens' meeting certainly showed his noble quality of being compassionate and caring for others, but it could never explain the quality and consciousness of the Athenian people. The principle of humanitarianism can't be expressed directly, but in a roundabout way to maximize benefits. Does it mean that the Athenians are open-minded and good at making suggestions? It can only show that these people never put truth and virtue in their hearts, but only enjoy and benefit in their hearts! The so-called great democracy of the Athenian people means that the people never make mistakes, the law does not blame the public, and the walls are torn down by everyone. Under the emotion of envy and shame, it is extremely unwise and honest for eastern intellectuals to beautify the character of Athens at will in their imagination, which violates the ancient philosophers' teaching that where there is doubt, there is no doubt. Throughout the history of Athens, every war in Athens was fought for gold and silver treasures, and killing people was always good and bad. What is the difference between the wording used by the Athenians in the Milos Massacre and Hitler? Is it not naked bullying and advocating violence? It was Sparta who asked the Platians-"What did you do for Sparta?" It leaves room for people to be frank and tolerant and learn from the past. 5. Why did Athens fail? Montesquieu pointed out, "If you are defeated by accident, it means that an unusual reason has destroyed a country. Then this country will perish in a battle, there must be a general reason. In short, a common foundation will drive all extraordinary events. " Although Athens is not without a chance to win, what kind of common reasons decided that Athens lost to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and never recovered its glory in its heyday? First of all, Spartan citizens, like nomadic military peoples in history, consciously or unconsciously suppressed their desire for pleasure to the maximum extent, and they had a strong will to fight and a spirit of sacrifice. Coupled with the simple social structure and the atmosphere of equal commune, the internal contradictions of the ruling class are relatively relaxed, which encourages the behavior mode of collective heroism. The wayward and frivolous Athens dude, although he can also win some victories in short-term operations, is not as good as the simple and vigorous Spartans. However, once the war is deadlocked and unprofitable, they expose the essence of weakness and selfishness. Politicians who are accustomed to short-term behavior and trained in the direct democratic political environment and profit-seeking economic model in Athens are no match for the visionary Spartan strategists who have been carefully selected and trained. Contrary to the Athenians' policy of expanding trade and economic strength as much as possible with violence as the backing, in order to maintain a simple lifestyle and the true colors of professional politicians and soldiers, the Spartan ruling group refused to corrode and never contacted, and ordered the use of clumsy iron money in transactions, so businessmen stopped patronizing Sparta. All strange and obscene thoughts that interfere with the will to power are rejected by this combination of soft and hard means. This is a deeper difference between Athens and Sparta. Apart from obeying the political and military leadership, Sparta did not exploit its allies economically, while the export-oriented free trade system in Athens, because of its huge profits, could not stop, just like taking stimulants, which eventually incited domestic public opinion and led to an increase in speculation and profit desire. At the same time, the demand of the Athens ruling group for allies led to the betrayal of allies. The victory of Sparta is essentially the existence of a more reasonable political system, which meets the requirements of national security and foreign military and diplomatic struggle. Democracy in Athens has no political center of gravity, and public opinion is drifting and constantly changing, relying entirely on the genius of the supreme leader who was elected by chance. Sparta's design of citizens is indeed extremely harsh, and the goal of its life design is to compete for political and military dominance. On the contrary, Athens is more comprehensive and balanced. However, those cultural attainments and talents can not be directly transformed into military strikes, which can only make the descendants shed tears of sympathy for the glory of Athenian culture and the decline of Athenian democracy. The pioneers of Germany, Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg named their organization "Spartan Mission". This is because they clearly see that the principles of freedom, desire and collectivism are diametrically opposed. Indulging in desire can't immediately exert endless creativity and imagination when building a new society, but only when doing bad things or disgraceful things can we have so much imagination. Indulge in desire will not make people braver and stronger, but will only make people weaker and confused. And will eventually subvert all noble ideals and pure society. Compared with the great mentor Marx's infinite worship of Athens' democratic system, these younger generations have a more sober and realistic view on these issues in the brutal struggle of real politics. As for the failure of the Soviet Union under the modern Spartan system to the United States under the modern Athens system, the fundamental reason is nothing more than that in the eyes of modern people, human nature is supreme and desire is supreme, and self-discipline will never be imposed for moral perfection. The ideal of communism is guided by releasing people's desires, but in the real struggle, it requires ruthless desires, which is a contradiction in itself. The great prophet of the communist movement, with an overly optimistic innocence, made an excessive commitment to infinitely satisfying human desires. Therefore, in the contest between socialism and capitalism, the competition between them is who can better satisfy people's various desires. As a result, socialism is far from being an opponent of capitalism in this respect, which leads to people's disappointment and disgust with the socialist system and communist ideals.