体育和政治

读到一篇文章，题目是Why was there no Marxism in Great Britain，谈的是19世纪的英国史。马克思和恩格斯当年就是在资本主义的萌芽地英国考察腐朽的资本主义的，深入调查世界上最早的工人阶级的生活状况，搞出了《共产党宣言》，写出了《英国工人阶级状况》。但奇怪的是，马克思主义从未在英国扎根；按理说这里是最早开始压迫的地方，反抗也就应该最早开始；但事实是，共产主义在英国根本没有号召力——左派的工党，在最激进的时候都从不称自己是共产主义的政党，最多只承认是社会主义。

这篇长41页的文章探讨的就是为何马克思主义在英国的影响力如此有限。里面谈到多方面的原因，包括英国众多的民间组织分散了工人们的集社意愿；工人阶级内部的派系分裂——有技能的工人与无技能的工人，所追求的利益不同，影响到工会运作；英国较早地实行了普选，给与了工人们以为他们有能力影响政府决策的幻觉；当时的宗教影响力量强大，每周的礼拜是所有阶层人士都会参加的，教会宣扬人格的平等与互爱，化解了阶级矛盾。

但有一段谈到英国的体育传统，指出体育精神也是促使阶级和谐的原因之一，非常有趣：

Elections had always been exciting and, if contested, recognizably part of the great British sporting tradition.The (partial) elimination of corruption from parliamentary elections accompanied the (partial) elimination of corruption from sport, and sport and elections remained consciously linked activities: thus the introduction into political discourse of metaphors borrowed from sport, a passion common to all classes --- [e.g.] "fair play" ... It was typical that Baldwin should have resigned in 1929, although the elections gave no party a majority, on the ground that it would have been "unsporting" not to have done so. The effect of this was twofold: by emphasizing the play-element in politics and the rules of the game the sphere of political action was severely circumscribed; The fact that the rules were (on the whole) strictly followed made the need to contemplate alternatives even less pressing.

(Source: "Why was there no Marxism in Great Britain?", in McKibbin, Ross, The Ideologies of Class: Social Relations in Britain 1880-1950, pp.1-41)

所以说，民主更多的是一种文化，一种生活方式，光移植表皮是无法在另一种文化当中存活的。体育精神源于英国人对体育的狂热，但同时又培养出了讲求公平、尊重游戏规则的性格；而当老百姓开始把政治当成足球赛来看的时候，又多了一些玩笑与轻视，少了一点追逐权力的野心和赤裸。陈水扁的死皮赖脸决不会发生在英国，因为这里的政客台面下再不要脸，台面上还是要讲究一些“体育精神”的。一次选举没过半就会主动辞职，何况被司法调查起诉了呢。

High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.