In the passionate 1920s, intellectuals and politicians were crazy about Soviet Russia. But Xu Zhimo was able to see through the fog of the era and perceive the ugliness and decay of Soviet Russia.
In our impression, Xu Zhimo is a romantic poet. And the characteristic of this kind of poet is simplicity and purity. Perhaps it is Xu Zhimo's simple and healthy human nature that sets him apart from other intellectuals in the 1920s. In terms of insight, this characteristic is an absolute advantage and talent. In addition to the label of poet, Xu Zhimo is also a conservative liberal in the English and American style.
Xu Zhimo was a follower of Russell. Russell was a British philosopher, mathematician, and logician who deeply influenced the intellectual circles of modern China in the 1920s. Xu Zhimo took the opportunity of studying at Columbia University to cross the Atlantic to visit Russell. Russell had visited Soviet Russia with the British Labour Party. Before going, Russell was also a supporter and admirer of Soviet Russia, but after returning, he immediately turned around and became a staunch critic of Soviet Russia.
Russell's attitude also influenced Xu Zhimo. Xu Zhimo stayed in Soviet Russia for three days and observed the post-revolution Russia very delicately. In addition to visiting Tolstoy's daughter, university professors, and Lenin's mausoleum, even the expressions of pedestrians on the road, the goods and displays on the streets were all within his observation. Xu Zhimo witnessed the new order of the new society. Like Russell, Xu Zhimo also began to return to conservative liberalism.
Xu Zhimo also described the reasons why Russell refused Soviet Russia:
First, the cost that humanity has to pay to achieve communism through Bolshevik methods is too great;
Second, even if such a cost is paid, it is difficult to believe that the desired results can be achieved.
As for the former, it is too cruel; as for the latter, it is too illusory. To achieve that illusory utopia, using brutal violence and making humanity pay a heavy price, this is what Russell is afraid of. Russell is dissatisfied with the current state of human existence, but he refuses bloodshed. He is also committed to saving humanity, but the only way to save it is through gradual and peaceful means.
In addition to Russell, Wells also holds the same attitude as Russell. He saw through the fact that "everything is just a play." And Xu Zhimo also affirmed: "When receiving foreign celebrities, Soviet Russia often prepares in advance, emphasizing the good and concealing the bad." In the autumn of 1925, Xu Zhimo, as the editor-in-chief of the "Morning Post Supplement," initiated a major discussion on the issue of "Soviet Russia as a Friend or Foe." Xu Zhimo attached great importance to this discussion: "This question, to put it narrowly, is the issue of Sino-Russian diplomatic relations, and to put it broadly, it is the issue of China's future national destiny, including all possible distortions in the national life." He planned to use this discussion to dispel the "beautiful future of mankind" and "human paradise" among young students. Xu Zhimo in Cambridge in the 1920s
In the "Friend or Foe" discussion, the most powerful article was written by Zhang Xiruo, a student from Tsinghua University, titled "Is Soviet Russia Really Our Friend?" He expressed his true feelings: Soviet Russia is an enemy, not a friend. He believed that Soviet Russia posed a greater threat to China than other imperialist countries: "Imperialist countries only extract our wealth and shackle our hands and feet, while Soviet Russia buys our conscience and corrodes our soul; imperialist countries only want to deceive our bureaucrats and military officers, while Soviet Russia openly serves as our senior military officers and diplomats in Guangdong! With selfishness and with violent and despicable means, they rampage in this defenseless country, 'as if in an uninhabited place,' and they still say they are not our enemies! I want to ask, what is it if not an enemy?"
Regarding his good friend Hu Shi's view of Soviet Russia as a "great political experiment," Xu Zhimo criticized sharply and reminded Hu Shi:
First, does Soviet Russia have sufficient theoretical basis and practical possibility for the "utopian ideal" it holds?
Second, after recognizing their goals, can we further study whether their methods are right or not? Is the sacrifice involved in this process worth it?
Third, does Soviet Russia have the right to come to China to promote their self-invented "political gospel"? Hu Shi admitted that he had not yet thought about these questions in his rebuttal to Xu Zhimo, and his values as a liberal did not quite match. Zhang Xiangding once wrote a letter to Xu Zhimo, saying that Soviet Russia's party education is a new education. Xu Zhimo wrote a reply to Zhang Xiangding overnight - "Comments and Replies to Zhang Xiangding's Letter," which was published in the September 20, 1926 issue of the "Morning Post Supplement": This kind of education appeared in medieval Europe, it was the ecclesiastical dictatorship.
"It not only defines the starting point and direction of thought without any ambiguity, but also interferes with non-political life entities." Under this dictatorship, people's beliefs are regulated, the scope of knowledge is circumscribed, and most habits have certain models.
In terms of thought, not to mention doubting God or the Church, even if there is a slightly unorthodox view, it is considered heresy and will be burned alive. This is a well-known period of intolerance in history, "Fortunately, being born among Europeans who have won freedom for hundreds of years, looking back at the ruggedness of that dark era, there is no one who does not shudder." Since the Reformation and the Renaissance, people have gradually gained freedom step by step. This also shows that in the face of complex national destiny, someone once reminded like this - it at least proves that the intellectual circles of that time were not all confused, and even hot-headed. And Xu Zhimo's insights have been verified one by one by later history, causing suffering for several generations. Unfortunately, Xu Zhimo died too early.