History vs. Vladimir Lenin - Alex Gendler

審判列寧 - 亞力克斯．詹德勒 (Alex Gendler)

譯者: Helen Chang 審譯者: Regina Chu

He was one of the most influential figures

在二十世紀，

他是最具影響力的人物之一。

of the 20th century,

forever changing the course

永遠地改變了

世界大國之一的俄國。

of one of the world's largest countries.

But was he a hero

但他是否是一名英雄，

who toppled an oppressive tyranny

帶領人民推翻高壓暴政？

or a villain who replaced it with another?

抑或僅是一丘之貉？

It's time to put Lenin on the stand

是時候要列寧來接受審判：

in History vs. Lenin.

歷史，對決， 列寧。

肅靜！肅靜！嗯。

"Order, order, hmm.

Now, wasn't it your fault that the band broke up?"

披頭四解散都是因為你吧？

（編按：藍儂與列寧諧音）

"Your honor, this is Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov,

- 法官大人，這位是 弗拉基米爾．伊里奇．烏里揚諾夫，

AKA Lenin, the rabblerouser

又名，列寧，思想煽動家。

who helped overthrow the Russian tsar Nicholas II in 1917

1917 年，協助革命推翻 俄國沙皇尼古拉斯二世統治，

and founded the Soviet Union,

並創建蘇維埃聯邦（簡稱蘇聯），

one of the worst dictatorships of the 20th century."

是 20 世紀最恐怖的獨裁政權。

"Ohh."

- 噢。

"The tsar was a bloody tyrant

- 沙皇的暴政之下，

under whom the masses toiled in slavery."

人民農工被荼毒奴役。

"This is rubbish.

- 胡說八道，

Serfdom had already been abolished in 1861."

農奴制早在 1861 年 就已經被廢除。

- 取而代之的卻更惡劣。

"And replaced by something worse.

The factory bosses treated the people

工廠老闆對工人的迫害

far worse than their former feudal landlords.

遠超過以前封建時代的地主。

And unlike the landlords,

而且不像那些地主，

they were always there.

他們寸步不離。

Russian workers toiled for eleven hours a day

俄國工人被壓榨， 每天必須工作 11 個小時，

and were the lowest paid in all of Europe."

且薪資是全歐洲最低。

"But Tsar Nicholas made laws to protect the workers."

- 但是沙皇尼古拉 已有立法保障工人啊。

"He reluctantly did the bare minimum to avert revolution,

- 不，那是為了怕人民起義， 勉強做了點表面工夫，

and even there, he failed.

即便如此， 還是避免不了。

Remember what happened in 1905

記得 1905 年

軍隊對和平抗爭請願者的 血腥鎮壓嗎？

after his troops fired on peaceful petitioners?"

"Yes, and the tsar ended the rebellion

- 是，後來為了終結此次抗爭，

by introducing a constitution

沙皇發表了十月宣言，

and an elected parliament, the Duma."

並且選舉成立杜馬（俄國下議院），

"While retaining absolute power and dissolving them

- 卻又把持絕對的權力，

只要不高興， 隨時都能解散杜馬。

whenever he wanted."

"Perhaps there would've been more reforms in due time

- 如果給他時間， 或許還能有更多的改革，

if radicals, like Lenin,

若這些激進份子，例如列寧，

weren't always stirring up trouble."

沒有在那邊一直惹麻煩的話。

"Your Honor, Lenin had seen his older brother Aleksandr

- 法官大人，列寧看著他的哥哥 亞歷山大，

executed by the previous tsar for revolutionary activity,

被前一任沙皇絞刑處死， 由於進行革命活動。

且即使歷經改革，

and even after the reforms,

Nicholas continued the same mass repression and executions,

沙皇依舊維持高壓統治， 大規模處決人民，

as well as the unpopular involvement

不得民心的，還包括

in World War I,

參加第一次世界大戰，

that cost Russia so many lives and resources."

讓俄國失去了多少人命與財產。

"Hm, this tsar doesn't sound like

- 嗯，聽起來， 沙皇不像是什麼好東西。

such a capital fellow."

"Your Honor, maybe Nicholas II did doom himself

- 法官大人

尼古拉斯或許是自取滅亡， 因他做了很多錯誤的決策。

with bad decisions,

but Lenin deserves no credit for this.

但這並不是列寧的功勞。

When the February 1917 uprisings

1917 年二月革命爆發，

finally forced the tsar to abdicate,

最終迫使沙皇退位時，

Lenin was still exiled in Switzerland."

列寧當時正流亡到瑞士， 根本沒有參與。

"Hm, so who came to power?"

- 嗯，所以是由誰掌權呢？

"The Duma formed a provisional government,

- 杜馬組成了臨時政府，

led by Alexander Kerensky,

以亞歷山大．克倫斯基為首，

an incompetent bourgeois failure.

他是個無能的資產階級敗類。

He even launched another failed offensive in the war,

即便俄國早已節節敗退， 他仍想要繼續戰爭，

where Russia had already lost so much,

instead of ending it like the people wanted."

而沒有依人民所期望的： 讓戰爭結束。

"It was a constitutional social democratic government,

- 克倫斯基政府的 社會民主主義憲政

the most progressive of its time.

在當時是領先各國。

And it could have succeeded eventually

它很有可能最終會成功，

if Lenin hadn't returned in April,

要不是列寧在那年四月時回去，

sent by the Germans to undermine the Russian war effort

被德國派去當間諜搞破壞，

and instigate riots."

並搧風點火，引發暴動。

"Such slander!

- 這是誹謗！

The July Days were a spontaneous and justified reaction

七月事件是自發性的捍衛行動，

against the government's failures.

抗議這個政府的失敗。

And Kerensky showed his true colors

而克倫斯基露出了他的真面目，

when he blamed Lenin

他加罪於列寧，

and arrested and outlawed his Bolshevik party,

並且逮捕取締了布爾什維克黨，

forcing him to flee into exile again.

逼使列寧再次流亡。

Some democracy!

哪門子民主！

It's a good thing the government collapsed

臨時政府後來瓦解也是件好事， 因為他們自身的無能、貪婪，

under their own incompetence and greed

when they tried to stage a military coup

當時策動軍事政變，

then had to ask the Bolsheviks for help

然後又得請求 布爾什維克黨協助平定，

when it backfired.

因為他們弄巧成拙。

After that, all Lenin had to do

那之後，列寧只需 在十月的時候歸來，

was return in October and take charge.

就能重掌大權。

The government was peacefully overthrown overnight."

革命和平推翻政府，

就在一夜之間。

"But what the Bolsheviks did

- 但掌權之後，布爾什維克黨

after gaining power

wasn't very peaceful.

可不怎麼平和。

How many people did they execute without trial?

有多少人沒有經過審判 就遭到處決？

And was it really necessary

而且真的有必要

to murder the tsar's entire family, even the children?"

對沙皇滿門抄斬， 即使小孩都不放過嗎？

"Russia was being attacked by foreign imperialists,

- 俄國是被外國的帝國主義者攻擊，

trying to restore the tsar.

當時他們圖謀讓沙皇復辟。

Any royal heir that was rescued

任何的皇室繼承人被救出後，

would be recognized as ruler by foreign governments.

又會被外國政府視為 新的正式統治者。

It would've been the end

這會抹煞

of everything the people had fought so hard to achieve.

人民努力抗爭很久才得來的一切。

Besides, Lenin may not have given the order."

況且，說不定列寧 根本沒下那樣的命令。

"But it was not only imperialists

- 但不只帝國主義勢力，

that the Bolsheviks killed.

被布爾什維克黨所追殺，

What about the purges and executions

他們不也剷除那些

of other socialist and anarchist parties,

社會主義派和無政府主義派等，

their old allies?

原本都是他們的老戰友啊？

What about the Tambov Rebellion,

還有坦波夫叛亂，

where peasants, resisting grain confiscation,

農民反抗征糧隊，

were killed with poison gas?

卻遭到化學氣體毒殺的事件呢？

Or sending the army

或是派出軍隊鎮壓

to crush the workers in Kronstadt,

喀琅施塔得島叛亂，

who were demanding democratic self-management?

而他們不過是要求民主自治啊？

Was this still fighting for the people?"

這也都算是為人民而戰嗎？

"Yes! The measures were difficult,

- 是的，這是很嚴酷的舉措，

but it was a difficult time.

但那是個困頓的時期。

The new government needed to secure itself

新政府必須防護保衛自身，

while being attacked from all sides,

情勢四面楚歌。

so that the socialist order could be established."

如此才能建立社會主義制度。

"And what good came of this socialist order?

- 那又帶來什麼好處？

Even after the civil war was won,

即使內戰打贏了，

there were famines, repression

鬧飢荒、搞壓迫、

and millions executed or sent to die in camps,

上百萬人被處決 或送到集中營等死，

while Lenin's successor Stalin established

同時間，後來的繼位者史達林

a cult of personality and absolute power."

正在大搞個人崇拜與絕對集權。

"That wasn't the plan.

- 那不在列寧的安排之中，

Lenin never cared for personal gains,

他從不在乎自身利益。

even his enemies admitted

連列寧的政敵都承認

that he fully believed in his cause,

他百分之百投入革命事業，

living modestly and working tirelessly

他生活簡樸，工作勤奮不懈，

from his student days until his too early death.

從學生時代開始一直到他離開人世。

He saw how power-hungry Stalin was

他察覺史達林對權力的飢渴，

and tried to warn the party,

也試著提出警告，

but it was too late."

但為時已晚。

"And the decades of totalitarianism that followed after?"

- 隨之而來的就是數十年的 大恐怖主義時期？

"You could call it that,

- 你可以這麼說，

but it was Lenin's efforts that changed Russia

但列寧的所作所為，

in a few decades

僅數十年間，讓俄國

from a backward and undeveloped monarchy

從過去君主體制，落後而未開化

full of illiterate peasants

目不識丁的農民國家，

to a modern, industrial superpower,

轉變為現代化工業強國，

with one of the world's best educated populations,

其擁有教育程度最高的人口，

unprecedented opportunities for women,

史無前例賦予女性機會，

and some of the most important scientific advancements

也包括 20 世紀最重要的 一些科學進展。

of the century.

Life may not have been luxurious,

人民的生活可能不是非常優渥，

but nearly everyone had a roof over their head

但幾乎人人能夠安居樂業，

and food on their plate,

衣食溫飽無虞，

which few countries have achieved."

這是其他國家很少能達到的。

"But these advances could still have happened,

- 但這些進步還是有可能發生，

even without Lenin

即使沒有列寧和他建立的 獨裁政權啊。

and the repressive regime he established."

"Yes, and I could've been a famous rock and roll singer.

- 是的，而我也有可能 去當個搖滾歌手。

But how would I have sounded?"

但那是件好事嗎？

We can never be sure how things could've unfolded

我們無法確知事態會如何發展，

if different people were in power

假如是不同的人來掌權，

or different decisions were made,

或是做了不同的決定。

but to avoid the mistakes of the past,

但了避免過去的錯誤再次發生，

we must always be willing

我們一定要願意

to put historical figures on trial.

讓歷史人物受到審判。