The causes of democratic politics and autocratic politics

The democratic systems of different social systems are different in essence, and the democratic systems of different countries have their own characteristics in form, but their understanding of democracy still has something in common, that is, "democracy means formally recognizing that all citizens are equal, and everyone has the equal right to decide the state system and management." [1] Is this just a mechanical grave meal? How can I forgive you for climbing the grave? (4) Fei Di sincerely asked Novi? Are you poor and small?

The political system of the ancient Athens city-state created the first democratic politics in human history and provided a historical prototype for the analysis and research of modern democratic politics. Studying democracy in Athens helps us to understand the meaning and content of democracy.

The formation of Athenian democracy

The formation and development of Athenian democracy has a process of emergence and development. The glory of laying the foundation of democracy in Athens belongs to Solon.

Before Solon, gentlemen and nobles were the rulers of Athens. During this period, the aristocratic meeting had supreme authority, and the appointment of "senior state officials" such as king consuls and military consuls was based on family status and wealth; And it was originally for life, but later it was changed to ten years. [2] The poor in Athens (the protected people and the "June 1st" Han) are not only powerless politically, but also threatened by slavery at any time, because the "June 1st" Han who can't afford the land rent wants to use his own body or children as collateral, while the debtor's loan should be secured by his own person. The hardships of Athenian civilians and their opposition to the repayment of the privileges of the old clan nobles caused fierce struggles between Athenian civilians (industrial and commercial slave owners, small farmers, craftsmen and the poor) and the old clan nobles.

The draconian code promulgated in 62 1 BC has shown that the civilian power in Athens has increased, but the descendants of nobles still enjoy exclusive rule over the country.

Athens, in the crisis of fierce struggle between city-state civilians and aristocratic descendants, urgently needs to establish a new order. In 594 BC, Solon, who was elected as the chief consul, undertook the important task of establishing this new order. Solon, who was born a commoner and became rich in business, tried to establish a system that could accommodate all parties. Its purpose is that, for civilians, "freedom should not be excessive, and coercion should not be excessive."

Solon issued a rescission order, which invalidated the debt and removed the debt tablet on the debtor's land; Solon announced that life insurance for debts would be banned forever and debt slavery was abolished. Solon confirmed the legality of private property, land division and sale, and stipulated the maximum amount of land occupation. All these declared the personal freedom of the Athenians and liberated the poor in Athens.

At the same time, Solon carried out a series of political reforms. All Attica citizens are divided into four grades according to their legal property qualifications (based on real estate income); Rich peasants, knights, middle peasants and poor peasants. The annual land income of the first three grades is 500,300 and 200 Medina respectively (each Medina is about 465,438+0 liters). Those who have no land income or income below 200 Medina are poor. The citizens' assembly is the highest authority, and all adult Athenian citizens, including the poorest, have the right to participate. The citizens' assembly is responsible for legislating, deciding on war and peace, and electing the highest officials of the country. A new 400-member committee was set up to propose bills for the citizens' assembly and handle daily affairs.

Solon also founded the "jury court" as the judicial organ of Athens, and any citizen can appeal to the jury court.

Solon's reform means the failure of the aristocratic descendants who once enjoyed hereditary privileges, and marks the rise of the wealthy industrial and commercial slave class and the victory of this class with the free peasants, craftsmen and the poor in Athens. Despite the existence of property privileges, the poor in Athens can participate in the political life of the country and play an important role in defending their own interests in legislative and judicial activities. But the struggle is far from over, and Solon's absence from the founding of the country is not stable. After Solon left office, the plain faction composed of aristocratic descendants who opposed Solon's reform and the non-sea faction composed of businessmen and craftsmen who adhered to Solon's system were still struggling fiercely. At the same time, the mountain-dwelling faction formed by mountain farmers also participated in this struggle, demanding further reform and redistribution of land. Finally, the Athenian regime fell into the hands of Petrato. Although he was expelled twice, Petrato finally established a tyrant politics. This autocratic politics is obviously a reaction to the system founded by Solon. Therefore, although Petrato is "gentle in handling state affairs" and "kind and gentle in everything to lawbreakers, he lends money to the poor" [3], his regime cannot last long after all. The political history of the tyrant ended after 49 years.

In 509-508 BC, Cleisthenes further reformed Solon's legislation. According to the principle of region, all Attica residents are re-divided into ten tribes (three sub-regions), and each tribe occupies one district in the inland, coastal and suburban areas of Asia. This disrupted the old household registration and weakened the influence of aristocratic descendants in the old tribes and clans. The 500-member Council was re-established to replace Solon's 400-member Council, and citizens of the fourth grade also had the right and opportunity to participate in the Council.

Cleisthenes's reform made the aristocratic oligarchy lose its power. However, around the national political system, the struggle between Democrats and oligarchs has not ended. After the Persian War, when Perikles came to power, the authority of the aristocratic meeting was almost completely abolished. Therefore, democracy in Athens entered its heyday.

During this period, the citizens' assembly (ECC), as the highest organ of state power, was responsible for passing laws, solving problems such as war and peace, food supply in the city-state, listening to reports from consuls and other heads, examining and supervising state officials, examining and finally determining cases in jury courts, and deciding all other major affairs of the country. The general assembly is held about four times a month, and full freedom of speech is allowed in the general assembly.

Therefore, the Athenians established a form of government in which citizens were free and equal and sovereignty belonged to all citizens.

The reasons for the formation of democracy in Athens

Why did the ancient eastern civilized countries generally form a centralized autocratic system, while the Greek world in the Mediterranean produced a democratic model like Athens? People who think about this problem often pay attention to the special geographical environment of Athens first, and try to say that this is the decisive factor for the formation of democracy in Athens. But this is not convincing. Some Athens-like city-states belonging to the Greek world, such as Corinth and Megara, established oligarchy. It can be seen that the geographical environment is not directly related to the political system of human society. Undeniably, the formation and development of the democratic political system in Athens included the influence of geographical environment, but this influence was indirect, indirect and even less decisive. It should be said that the formation and development of democracy in Athens is the result of the comprehensive effect of its economic, political, historical and cultural traditions and other complex factors.

First of all, the ancient Athenian state had a fairly high social productivity when it was formed. This is one of the characteristics of Athens, which has been bordered by the ancient oriental civilization from the beginning. Homer's heroic epic shows that iron and Niu Geng have been used in the Greek region during the disintegration of primitive society. The formation period of ancient oriental civilization was much earlier than that of Huaidian, but the level of productivity development was much lower. In the ancient kingdom, Egypt mainly used wooden plows and wooden products for farming. It was not until King China's time that bronze tools appeared in Egypt. Iron is also considered as a precious metal, because it is rare in the new kingdom-about 1000 years have passed since the formation of Egypt's unified country. Marx once thought that this low-level civilization and vast territory were one of the reasons for the need for centralized autocratic government. However, the more developed social productive forces led to the existence of self-employed production activities in agriculture and handicrafts during the formation of Athens. On this basis, the necessity of intervention by centralized and autocratic government is ruled out.

Secondly, based on the geographical environment of Athens and the relatively developed social productive forces, the ancient Athenian countries had their own characteristics of social and economic activities during their formation.

In ancient Athens, located in Attica Peninsula, the mountains fluctuated, which was not conducive to the development of food production, but gardening, animal husbandry, fruit planting and beekeeping were quite prosperous. The deposits of silver and clay in Attica are beneficial to the development of handicraft industry. The Aegean Sea on the third ring Attica Peninsula is connected with the Mediterranean Sea, and several natural harbors on the west bank of Attica provide Athenians with convenient conditions for developing maritime trade. Dependence on foreign grain and the need to export handicraft products and clothing products have enabled Attica residents to continuously expand their foreign exchanges and establish close economic relations with overseas countries. Cultural connection. In this way, at the beginning of the formation of Athens, Attica society had a relatively developed commodity-currency relationship, which largely broke through the situation of natural economy. At this time, Athens has become the economic, trade and cultural center of the eastern Mediterranean. In Solon's era, "movable property, that is, the wealth composed of money, slaves and merchant ships, is increasing day by day, but at this time it is no longer just a means to buy real estate as it was in the initial period of narrow vision-it has become a gap in itself." [4] On the contrary, ancient eastern civilized countries were generally based on self-sufficient rural economy. As Marx pointed out: 1 There are two situations in India: on the one hand, the Indian people, like people in all eastern countries, have left their major conditions for agriculture and commerce, that is, large-scale public works, to the government; On the other hand, due to the family combination of agriculture and handicrafts, they are scattered all over the country and live in small places. Because of these two situations, India has produced a special social system since ancient times, that is, the so-called village community system, which makes every such small unit become an independent organization and lead a life behind closed doors. "[5]" No matter how harmless these rural communes seem at first glance, they have always been a solid foundation of the oriental autocratic system "[6].

Thirdly, the characteristics of productive forces, geographical environment and economic activities at the time of the emergence of the Athenian state made the clan organization based on blood relationship completely destroyed. One of the main reasons for the demise of clan organizations is the expansion and development of private ownership based on the development of commodity and currency relations, especially the private ownership of land, which is popularized with the mortgage, transfer and sale of land. In Solon's time, the private ownership and sale of land were publicly confirmed by legislation. Before Solon, private ownership of land was a common fact. Private ownership of land sale destroyed the foundation of clan organization-public ownership of land. On the other hand, on the basis of relatively developed commodity economy, Attica residents have frequent foreign exchanges, and cohabitation with foreigners is very common. This makes it difficult for clan organizations based on consanguinity to exercise their normal management functions, and even gradually loses the necessity of their own existence. Due to the thorough destruction of clan organizations, Attica residents have established a free and independent status in the relationship between goods and currency, and initially established a relationship of mutual equality, which provided social relations background conditions for them to establish democratic politics when they reorganized under the state form.

What is Marx's view of ancient oriental civilization based on Asian mode of production? Marx's concept of Asian society has three basic characteristics. First of all, there is no private ownership of land. Even if we take 10,000 steps back, at least, the land belongs to the country. Second, the foundation of Asian society is the village community system, and each village realizes self-sufficiency through the close combination of agriculture and cottage industry. Third, centralization plays a leading role. This power was established in the historical process, and it is the result of the environment that water conservancy projects and other public works must be held in order to make agriculture meet the growing needs of the population. "[7]

If we only focus on the above situation, it is not enough to explain the inevitability of Athenian democracy. A country's political system is not simply suitable for social environment and economic relations. The power contrast of various classes and factions in a country's ruling class, as well as the political consciousness of the class or faction that has gained leadership, also directly affects the country's political system.

On the basis of the more developed overseas trade and handicraft production in Athens, a quite powerful industrial and commercial slave class appeared in Athens society. This class existed at the beginning of the formation of the Athenian state and demanded dominance with the increase of wealth. If the rich of the old clan aristocrats used the "June 1st" debt-renting slavery to bankrupt the small farmers and craftsmen in Athens and put them under their own rule, then the industrial and commercial slave owners tried their best to ensure the independent existence of free small farmers and craftsmen in order to maintain the supply of foreign exports and domestic consumer markets. Therefore, industrial and commercial slave owners, free small farmers and craftsmen can set up the banner of political alliance on the basis of consistent economic interests. As a result, the political reform under the leadership of industrial and commercial slave owners, represented by Solon, made Athens abolish its debt slavery earlier and set the largest land occupation quota. Athens retained a large number of free small farmers, craftsmen and free urban poor. Small-scale peasant economy and independent handicraft production constitute the economic basis of the heyday of classical society. "[8] These people are powerful social forces that support and support democratic reform. In ancient Egypt, Babylonia and other countries, the royal family and nobles owned huge farms and workshops, occupied a large number of slaves and various types of dependent farmers, which was the class foundation for the formation of autocratic monarchy.

In addition, more importantly, Athenian civilians under the leadership of industrial and commercial slave owners established democratic politics through gradual reforms. In the process of reform, there are no obvious traces of civil war, riots and bloodshed. At the same time, the land aristocracy overthrown from the throne of exclusive rule still occupies a place in the new democracy. Considering that a considerable number of industrial and commercial slave owners were transformed from land nobles, they still have considerable economic interests in common, so it is possible to achieve political compromise between them. Solon, who is well-informed, may have summed up the experience of political reform in other countries, so that he adopted a moderate attitude towards the poor and the land nobles in political reform, making compromise a reality. As a result, all classes and factions of the slave owners' ruling class were accommodated in a democratic regime. Democracy is a form of government, which takes care of the interests of all classes of slave owners and freemen who compromise with each other.

Generally speaking, when investigating the causes of democracy in Athens, we should see the complex and comprehensive effects of a series of conditions such as economy, politics, history, culture and natural environment in Athens at that time. These conditions are closely related to each other. According to the viewpoint of historical materialism, we can think that the special mode of production of Athenian society, which is different from the ancient eastern civilized countries, is the fundamental reason for the formation of Athenian democracy, but we must not simplify this proposition.

The Characteristics and Functions of Athenian Democracy

Democracy in Athens is different from primitive democracy in budding countries. Compared with the ancient oriental autocratic countries, it has many obvious characteristics.

First of all, Athenian democracy embodies the sovereignty of most Athenian slave owners and freemen. Perikles once proudly declared: "Our system is called democracy because political power is in the hands of all citizens, not a few." [9] What embodies the Athenian concept of civil sovereignty is the supremacy system of the people's parliament. The mass meeting in Athens is a meeting that all adult Athenian citizens can attend. Here, any citizen can speak; All laws should be discussed and passed here before promulgation; All important state officials; To be elected here, all issues related to war and peace and other major state affairs must be debated here and decided by the majority opinion. Through this system, ordinary citizens in Athens do have many opportunities to influence and even decide the government's decision. And elected officials can better reflect and implement public opinion.

Secondly, closely related to civil sovereignty is the freedom and equality of individual citizens. In fact, this is the starting point of Athenian democracy. People think that the civilian regime has two special concepts: one is "sovereignty belongs to the majority" and the other is "individual freedom". "Populists first assume that justice (fairness) lies in' equality' and then think that equality is the supreme public opinion." [10] The Athenians' concept of freedom and equality can be traced back to the tradition of clan society and strengthened in the special mode of production after Athens entered the class society.

Third, the official system in Athens is an important embodiment of democratic principles. "One of the essences of freedom (embodied in political life) is that everyone takes turns to be the ruler and the ruled." [1 1] All public positions in the country (except the positions of ten generals) are open to citizens at all levels, and only a few necessary conditions can ensure that incumbents can perform their duties normally and smoothly. According to the regulations, the jury officer of the jury court must be a citizen who is over 30 years old and does not owe public debts. Officials are generally elected by lottery, so there are quite a few opportunities for ordinary citizens to hold public office.

The important officials were elected by a show of hands at the public meeting. In principle, "it is not the members of a particular class who are considered, but their real talents." [ 12]

Equally striking is that Athens has a fairly strict system to ensure that citizens can effectively supervise state officials. In Athens, all officials have to pass the qualification examination before taking office. Generally speaking, the institution that conducts this kind of review is the jury court. However, for the members of the Council, consuls and other important officials who serve in the following year, their qualifications are first reviewed by the 500-member Council and then by the jury court, and the final decision is made by the jury court. Because the jury court in Athens is actually in the hands of the people, the judicial consuls in Athens also have the responsibility to supervise state officials, and they can sue the people's parliament for illegal acts of state officials, including the chairman of the Council. In order to prevent state officials from taking bribes and using their powers for personal gain, Athens has set up ten accountants. "All retired officials must keep accounts and report to them." [13] These accountants submit the verification results to the jury court, which will impose fines or other penalties on the criminal officials once they find criminal acts such as corruption and misappropriation of public funds. Ten generals occupy a special position in all state institutions in Athens. They receive ten votes of confidence from the General Assembly every year, although they can be re-elected. If this vote is against any official, he should be tried in a jury court. If he is guilty, he will be punished or fined1"[14]. In addition, the aforementioned "shell exile law" was one of the effective means for Athenians to supervise officials.

As mentioned above, the Athens Parliament, composed of 500 people, is responsible for the daily affairs of the country and is an extremely important organ of the Athens state. In order to prevent the arbitrariness of the jury, the Athenians adopted the method of decentralization, deprived the jury of its original supreme power of sentencing to death, imprisonment and fines, established the highest judicial jurisdiction and supervision power of the jury court, and even gave the jury court the power to protect the Constitution. Aristotle wrote: "The people make themselves masters of everything, handle everything with orders, and the jury court holds the people's power, even the cases tried by parliament fall into the hands of the people." Within the parliament, measures have also been taken to prevent the concentration of power. The Council adopts a system of 50-member delegations from ten departments (three divisions) to serve as the presidium in turn, and each presidium has a term of about110 for one year. The presidium draws lots every day to elect a general chairman, who is responsible for keeping the treasury, archives, keys to temples and national seals; When the people's assembly and the 500-member meeting were held, he was the chairman. However, the term of office of the general chairman is only one night, which cannot be extended or re-elected. These measures are conducive to avoiding the disadvantages of de facto concentration of power or even dictatorship caused by long-term employment.

In addition, in the political life of Athens, the legal system and democracy in Athens complement each other. Perikles declared: "When solving private disputes, everyone is equal before the law." [16] The law applies to all people, and no one can escape from the law and enjoy privileges.

Although the Athenians cherish citizens' personal freedom very much, this freedom has never fallen into a lawless situation, and "everyone has his own interests." "In our private life, we are free and tolerant; But in public affairs, we obey the law. This is because this kind of law makes us convinced. " Aristotle believes that "civilian regime is less evil and safer than oligarchic regime." [17] This is because, in a democratic political country like Athens, certain legal procedures are basically followed when solving the contradictions and struggles of various factions of the ruling class. Therefore, it is rare to fight for power and profit by means of violence and bloodshed.

The Athenians attached great importance to the stability and authority of the law. Although they are allowed to amend the law, there are strict restrictions. In Athens, bills submitted to the citizens' assembly for discussion must be examined by the parliament in advance. Although individual citizens can propose to amend or abolish previous laws or introduce new bills in the People's Assembly, if such proposals are not passed, they will be prosecuted as illegal acts, and the proponents will be fined and even risk their lives.

The Athenians not only attached importance to written law, but also to customary law. "We obey the law itself, especially those laws that protect the oppressed, those laws that are not written in words but violate even recognized shame." [ 18]

The democratic system in Athens plays an important role in the development of Athens.

The establishment of democracy in Athens greatly promoted the economic development of Athens. The development of handicraft, commerce, navigation and planting in Athens has made the foreign trade of Athens expand rapidly. The port of Piraeus in Athens has become the busiest port in the eastern Mediterranean. "Our city-state is so great that it brings us all the good things from all over the world, so that we can enjoy foreign things as our local products." [ 19]

The liberal academic conditions formed under Athens' democratic politics and the atmosphere of allowing individuals to develop freely and comprehensively made Athens' science and culture flourish unprecedentedly. The main schools of contemporary western philosophy, as well as disciplines such as ethics, aesthetics, logic, political science and law, can be traced back to Greek culture centered on Athens. In addition, the Athenians also made outstanding contributions in mathematics, medicine and other scientific fields. Therefore, Perikles proudly said in a speech, (Our city is a school all over Greece. "[20]

The most striking thing is the patriotic enthusiasm of Athenian citizens under this system. In the marathon, Athenian soldiers were able to defeat the Persian army six times their own. It would be unthinkable if they did not have great courage and wisdom to defend their own system. It was the democratic system and lifestyle of the Athenian city-state that inspired the Athenians to fight for it generously and die peacefully, "because they shuddered at the thought of losing this city-state." [2 1]

conclusion

After we have made the above analysis and comments on the democratic politics in Athens, we must also remember that the democratic politics in Athens is based on slavery. In essence, it was a tool for the slave owners' class led by the industrial and commercial slave owners in Athens to exercise dictatorship over slaves and non-citizens. In the final analysis, it serves the overall economic interests of the slave owner class and is the democracy of the slave owner free class. This limited class democracy determines that this democracy has great limitations and narrowness.

In the heyday of Athens, there were about 90,000 free citizens, including women and children, while the number of male and female slaves was 365,000. Slaves, who made up the majority of the population in Athens, lost their freedom and did not enjoy civil rights, so they could not participate in political activities. Like other Greek countries, slave owners can abuse and punish slaves at will. In workshops, mines and farms, slaves and beggars are forced to do heavy work with simple tools. In fact, it is on the basis of slaves' hard work that it is possible for slave owners and freemen to engage in political activities; Only under the premise of oppression and dictatorship of slaves, except slaves in political life, can there be democracy for slave owners and freemen. Therefore, democracy in Athens is the privileged democracy of slave owners and free citizens.

This privileged democracy has even been further strengthened. In the heyday of Perikles, the scope of Athenian citizens not only did not expand, but further narrowed. Because the special decree passed in BC 15 1 stipulated that only people whose parents were citizens of Athens could become citizens of Athens, 5,000 residents of Athens suddenly lost their citizenship. Since then, Athens has lost the possibility of supplementing free citizens from other polis.

Democracy in Athens is not only narrow in scope, but also superficial to some extent among its freemen. During the Golden Age of Pericles, the total number of citizens enjoying full rights was about 30,000 to 35,000, and the number of people attending the citizens' assembly usually did not exceed 2,000 to 3,000. Farmers and craftsmen, as ordinary citizens of Athens, are often unable to attend the citizens' meeting every 10 day to make a living. However, their ability to express their wishes and influence government decision-making has been greatly weakened. What's more, in fact, the regime in Athens is in the hands of the upper class of industrial and commercial slave owners. They monopolized the position of ten generals and manipulated the internal and external policies of the country. Because the position of ten generals can be re-elected, this has left an obvious loophole in Athens' democratic politics-it is easy to form a centralized general and actually control the government.

Another factor that greatly reduces the color of classical democracy is Athens' foreign hegemonic policy. After the Greek-Persian War, Athens took advantage of the Tyrol Alliance established with other Greek city-states and its leading position in the alliance to control the states in the alliance. Ji, oral exploitation. Athens controlled the treasury of the League and sent envoys to collect tribute from the countries of the League. During the Peloponnesian War, the huge financial expenditure of Athens countries depended on this kind of tribute to a great extent. At the same time, Athens captured the armies of all the allies, promoted military immigration to all the allies, and sent Athenian citizens to collect land from the allies as heavy infantry. Cleonte said to the Athenians: "Your empire is a tyrant who rules the people; ..... Your number of frames depends on your own superior forces, not their good feelings for you. " [22]

In the final analysis, determined by the nature of the exploiting classes, democracy in Athens is narrow and incomplete, and there is no room for further development.

The analysis of Athenian democracy should make us understand that the exploitation of class democracy by slave owners means the dictatorship of slaves and non-citizens on the one hand; On the other hand, it means ensuring the freedom, equality and participation of slave owners and citizens in state affairs. In the sense of the first aspect, this kind of democratic politics is no different from other regimes adopted by the exploiting class countries in history. As far as the second aspect is concerned, this kind of democratic politics is quite progressive compared with other regimes adopted by the exploiting class countries in history. Because in oligarchy, monarchy and autocracy, even democracy within the ruling class is impossible. The practice of democratic politics in Athens shows that to ensure democracy within the ruling class, the state can not only perform the dictatorship function over slaves and non-citizens, but also balance the interests of various classes and groups within the ruling class, thus ensuring long-term political stability and economic prosperity.

Socialist democracy is an organizational form in which the proletariat and the broad masses of working people hold political power in socialist countries. Unlike all previous democracy of the exploiting classes, socialist democracy is the most extensive democracy. On the one hand, it is the dictatorship of the proletariat and the broad masses of working people over a very small number of exploiting class elements and hostile elements; On the other hand, the vast majority of workers and working people enjoy the fullest democracy, freedom and the right to participate in state affairs. It is precisely because of this essential difference that it is the democracy of the vast majority and the dictatorship of a few people. Therefore, it is undoubtedly of great significance to emphasize the function of realizing socialist democracy in safeguarding people's internal democracy, and to study the form of political power organization that should be adopted to realize this function, so that it can be continuously improved, which will continuously promote the construction of socialist democracy and legal system and develop socialist democratic system.