“革命”与“反革命”:1920年代中国商会存废纷争

在革命浪潮激荡的1920年代,许多政党与阶级竞相标榜自身的革命性,而将政治对手扣上"反革命"的帽子,以此打压竞争对手并争夺政治资源与社会地位。由于受到流行一时的革命政治文化影响,即使是在同一阶级内部的不同阶层之间,甚至也出现了类似你死我活的激烈纷争。例如,新成立的商民协会与清末即已诞生的商会,虽然都是商人团体,过去通常称之为近代中国的资产阶级团体,但两者之间同样也围绕着所谓"革命"与"反革命"的政治话语,进行了长达数年的相互争斗,使商界内部一度陷于混乱纷争的局面。特别是颇有影响力的商会被扣上了"反革命"的黑帽,直接涉及商会存亡绝续的重大历史命运,因而在当时引起了社会舆论的关注。

Revolution and Counter-revolution:Disputes between the Retention and Abolition of the Chamber of Commerce in the 1920s

Among the waves of turbulent revolutions in the 1920s, not only political parties and classes were competing to attack their competitors as well as to contend for political resources and social positions by labeling themselves revolutionaries and their political enemies counter-revolutionaries, but similar intense struggles existed even between different levels within the same class as well, which was influenced by the then prevalent fad of revolutionary political culture. For instance, the newly-founded Merchants Association and the Chamber of Commerce which emerged at the end of the Qing Dynasty, both being merchant groups which in the past were usually called the capitalist groups in modern China, conducted a long battle with one another lasting for several years centred around the political discourse "revolution" and "counter-revolution", once turning the inner business circle into chaotic turmoil. Especially the rather influential Chamber of Commerce’s getting labeled as "counter-revolution" directly affected the significant historical destiny of the retention or abolition of the Chamber of Commerce and therefore attracted the attention of public opinion at the time.