Explore The History And Logic Of "human Liberation" During The May Fourth Movement

The history of human social development,to a certain extent is the process of human liberation.This process is the pursuit of freedom,happiness and liberation.In the history of liberation,the May Fourth Period is undoubtedly a time which highlights“liberation".In this period,the yearning for and pondering over liberation comes to be the strongest ever.Meanwhile,it is also the most difficult,anxious and painful period.Although calling for and awakening "humans" is the most direct,prominent and strongest,the contemplation of a way out through liberation is quite obscure,complex and uncertain.Therefore,the grand proposition of "human liberation" is most conspicuous,prominent and striking theme in the May Fourth Period.The pursuit of "human liberation" in the May Fourth Period has been the continuation and development of Chinese revolution since the furthering deterioration of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.This pursuit is connected with the independence and liberation of this nation,and embodies the transition and trend of liberation from individual to the masses of workers and peasants.With the deepening of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society,"human liberation","human awakening" or "liberation of individuality" in May Fourth Period in confronted with more enormous and pressing challenges of survival and more social responsibilities,namely,to response quickly the dual tasks of anti-feudal democratic revolution and anti-imperialist national revolution.Different from the west,this revolution reflects the people's eagerness of seeking for freedom.In the west,it takes about 300 years to witness the Renaissance,the Enlightenment and the Bourgeois Revolution,While in China,it takes only 12 years from ideological enlightenment to the Great Revolution.This is a unique phenomenon in human history.It is worth of consideration of the dramatic changes taking place in China in such a short time.What are the stages of such drastic changes?How does one form of change convert into another?What is the logic behind it?What lesson and enlightenment can be gained from it?All these questions deserve intensive study and lead to a forceful response to some unilateral or even incorrect opinions about the May Fourth Period.Exploration of human liberation during May Fourth Period mainly undergoes five stages of "human awakening-social reform-national movement--organizing parties--national revolution".Two main lines are concealed in the five stages.One is the negative line,which refers to the negative attitudes towards Northern Warlords regime and capitalism,and the opposition against imperialism.The other is the positive line,which stands for the search for the historical subject of civilians,citizens or joint classes.This line aims at the establishment of "civil governance politics" and the pursuit of socialism on the basis of "populism".The main ideas of this line are as follows:It is necessary to enlighten the common civilians,citizens,and the masses of workers and peasants to be united with capitalists so as to form the great unity of the people and organize parties to promote national revolution;to encourage the public to rise up and participate in the revolution so as to replace the military government with civilian government.This new revolution will bring about the liberation of this nation;as a result,the individual liberation is also achieved.What they have endeavored for is to accomplish the task of "negation-substitution-construction".The first chapter of the dissertation gives a general account of the two main lines,analyzing the emergence of "human liberation" exploration in May Fourth Period;the living conditions of people of that time;and their fight for liberation.The facts of the downfall of capitalism after WWI,the victory of October Revolution in Soviet Union,and their attitude toward China enable people of that period to see the prospect of liberation.Therefore,socialism becomes what they are longing and fighting for.In pursuit of socialist amid the unstable social situations,people in May Fourth Period go through 5 phases of "human awakening","social reform","national movement","organizing parties","national revolution" in their exploration of"human liberation".The dissertation takes the 5 phases as the key words to make a study through 5 chapters so as to find out how people handle the unstable times in May Fourth Period.The tackling methods are to look for "New Subject" and raise the political awareness;to proceed with social revolution and establish the communist party of China(CPC)and seek for cooperation with Kuomintang(KMT)regardless of failure in the social reform attempt;to organize citizens to participate in the political movement and the national revolution in order to win the national independence and liberation.The main characteristic of this period is the transformation from culture to politics,from personal liberation to the liberation of a class and collectivism.In the process,enlightenment and salvation are intertwined.May Fourth is not just a single cultural enlightenment or cultural phenomenon,it is,however more of a political enlightenment and revolutionary movement."Human liberation" is the backbone of cultural phenomenon during this period.So the study of May Fourth Period is not just a talk about complex and confusing cultural phenomenon,it is also far from so called"eternal topic" or the peculiar phenomenon of "Hamlet".People in May Fourth Period explore "human liberation" with an explicit goal of pursuit for socialism which is the consensus of the majority of social elites.However,the comprehension of socialism is varied,which also indicates the complexity and divergence of May Fourth Thought.In the course of capitalism,the paradox of"human liberation" is developed which refers to the development of man on one hand and the alienation of man on the other hand.The development of capitalism reveals that we cannot take the path of capitalism,which is deeply analyzed by Marxism and western Marxism.May Fourth is not only the period when the Chinese starts to pursue with great difficulty the socialist dream,but also the origin of localization of Marxism in China.During this historical phase,we have undergone many hardships,but we have also made significant achievements and gained rich experience and a bright future.Today we are to firmly take the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics,neither taking a closed rigid path,nor taking an evil path of altering the flag.Instead,we should forge ahead with "Four Confidences" so as to achieve Two Centenary Goals,and realize the Chinese Dream and the World Dream.