“五四”事件中暴力行为再反思

以火烧赵家楼、暴打章宗祥为最重要情节的“五四”事件，是一个暴力事件。至今，“五四”事件中的暴力行为仍没有得到应有的分析，政治诉求的合理性完全遮蔽了暴力行为的残忍性与犯罪特征。本文希望通过回顾“五四”事件中的暴力情节，分析不同人对暴力行动的辩护，回归一个基本常识：虽然暴力事件发生在爱国运动之中，但暴力事件与爱国运动是不同的；再崇高的目标也不能成为人身侵犯的理由；在社会常态下，纵火与伤人必须受到惩罚，否则公共生活必然陷入野蛮状态。

Reflections on the Violence in May 4th Movement

The May 4th Movement is, to some extent, a violent event. Setting Zhao＇s Mansion on fire and beating Zhang Zongxiang brutally are the two most severe incidents. So far, the violence occurring in the May 4th Movement has not received the kind of analysis that it deserves. The criminal feature of the violence has been made obscure by the sound political appeal. This paper reviews the violent incidents in the Movement, analyses the defences for them by various thinkers, and ends up on the following note of common sense： that the violent incidents occurred in a patriotic movement does not mean that the violence is justified. No goal, no matter how lofty it is, can serve as a cause for violating a person. In a normal society, arson and personal injury should be punished, otherwise the public life will inevitably degenerate into barbarism.