Biography in English

Chiang K'ang-hu Orig. Chiang Shao-ch'üan Alt. Kiang Kang-hu Chiang K'ang-hu (18 July 1883-?), scholar, teacher, and propagandist of various reform causes. He founded the first Chinese socialist party in 1912, but later became more conservative. His ineffectual political career was broken by a scandal concerning restoration of the Manchu empire, and Chiang later took part in the Japanese-sponsored government of Wang Ching-wei. He is known in the United States principally for his donation of a book collection to the University of California and for his collaboration with Witter Bynner in an anthology, The Jade Mountain (1929), in which his signature is Kiang Kang-hu.

A native of Shangjao, Kiangsi, Chiang K'ang-hu was born into a scholar-official family. His grandfather, Chiang Chu-yun (1830-92; T. Yün-t'ao) was a chin-shih of 1877 who served for some ten years at Peking and ended his career in Shantung province. His father, Chiang Te-hsuan (1854-1910; T. Hsiao-t'ao), was a chin-shih of 1886 who served for 20 years at the capital and ended his career as an acting prefect in Kiangsu. Chiang K'ang-hu was the only son of his father's second wife, nee Hsu (1861-1889). In 1887 the family went to Peking. In 1890 Chiang K'ang-hu moved to Shantung, where his grandfather had been appointed to an official post as tao-t'ai. In 1892, at the time of his grandfather's death, he returned to his native district in Kiangsi. Two years later he went back to Peking.

Chiang K'ang-hu was a precocious youth. He reportedly was adept at composition in the classical style at the age of 10 and, when not quite 15, embarked on the study of the Japanese language at the T'ung-wen hsueh-she in preparation for study abroad. In 1 900, after the Boxer Uprising, he went to Japan. In 1901, at the invitation of Yuan Shih-k'ai, who had just been appointed governor general of Chihli, he returned to China to head the Pei-yang pien-ichü, where he was in charge of compiling textbooks for the primary and middle schools of the five northern provinces. Although Chiang soon tired of the bureaucratic routine at Peking, he appreciated the recognition that Yuan Shih-k'ai bestowed on him. Chiang then served as a secretary in the Board of Justice. In 1904 he accepted a position to teach Japanese at the Ching-shih ta-hsueh-t'ang, the predecessor of National Peking University. At the same time, he founded in succession a total of four women's schools at Peking to train future teachers. These schools, though private, were partially subsidized by Yuan Shih-k'ai, then the Pei-yang ta-ch'en, and by Tuan-fang, then the Nan-yang ta-ch'en. In 1909 they were handed over to the ministry of education, and one of the four schools later became Women's Higher Normal College.

Chiang went to Japan in 1907 to study English, French, and German so that he could read foreign publications and become familiar with Western social theories. By his own claim, he was the first Chinese to become acquainted with the writings of Henry George, who propounded the thesis that private appropriation of increases in land values was the sole cause of modern social inequities. In any event, Chiang K'ang-hu did become acquainted with socialism following his 1907 trip to Japan. The Japanese Socialist party had been established a year earlier, and many Chinese students in Tokyo went to its public meetings. In 1909 he journeyed to Europe where, as an unofficial Chinese representative, he attended the Congress of the Second International held at Brussels. While studying in Japan and in Europe before 1910, Chiang became acquainted with the group of young Chinese radicals then interested in socialism and anarchism, including Wu Chihhui, Chang Chi, Li Shih-tseng, and Ch'u Min-i (qq.v.), and with pioneer Japanese socialists, including Kotoku Shüsui, Katayama Sen, and Sakai Toshihiko. While in Europe he also met leading European and American socialists. During this period, Chiang published two articles advocating the dissolution of the family and condemning free enterprise. Written under the pen name Hsu An-ch'eng, these articles appeared in April and May of 1909 in Hsin shih-chi [new century], the revolutionary paper then edited by Wu Chih-hui and published in Paris.

Chiang returned from Europe to China after the death of his father on 5 December 1910. He then lived in semi-retirement at Nanking to observe the conventional mourning period. He did give some public lectures, in the course of which he unexpectedly gained national prominence. When invited to speak at Hangchow, he addressed himself to the problem of the relation between women's education and socialism. That talk, delivered on 1 June 1911, was perhaps the first public lecture on socialism in China. It aroused the wrath of Tseng Yun, the governor of Chekiang, who at once sent a memorial to the throne demanding that Chiang be punished severely for his advocacy of heretical ideas. Thanks to a warning received from Ku Chunghsiu, who was then secretary to the governor of Chihli, Chiang was warned of the government's wrath and was able to flee to the foreign concessions of Shanghai. Chang An-p'u, the governor of Kiangsu, who was acquainted with the Chiang family, spoke on his behalf, and Chiang avoided punishment.

After the Hangchow episode in the summer of 1911, Chiang K'ang-hu continued to work actively for the propagation of socialism. On 2 September of that year, he organized a mass meeting at Shanghai under the joint sponsorship of the Hsi-yin kung-hui [women's progressive society] and the newspaper T'ien-to pao. The gathering was attended by some 400 people, of whom some 50 joined a socialist study society. The Chinese Socialist party was organized from the study society and was established in 1912 with its headquarters in Shanghai. Chiang claimed that it was the first political party and that its formation marked the beginning of free political association in China. The party, largely under his personal direction, issued an eightpoint platform advocating support of the republican form of government, cessation of discrimination against ethnic minorities, improvement of legal protection for the individual person, abolition of private ownership of property, popularization of education, development of public enterprises, reform of taxes, and limitations on armament combined with emphasis on more constructive forms of international competition. As a token gesture of congratulation, Sun Yat-sen, who had been elected the provisional president of China, sent Chiang a number of recent European and American publications on socialism. Branches of the party, about 250 in all, were established in other cities of China, though the group encountered sharp suppression in Hunan, then governed by T'an Yen-k'ai, and in Hupeh. Chiang K'ang-hu declared that the principal mission of the Socialist party during its early years was to propagate socialist ideas, not to engage in concrete activities. However, since popular understanding of socialism in China was minimal, he did plan one practical experiment in socialism to be conducted on Ch'ungming island at the mouth of the Yangtze river. Although Chiang reportedly secured the approval of T'ang Shao-yi, then the premier at Peking, to visit the island, the project proved abortive. The Chinese Socialist party, under Chiang's leadership, maintained contact with its Japanese counterpart, and the party's headquarters at Shanghai was visited by Korean and Indo-Chinese irredentists, who reportedly voiced the hope that the Chinese Socialist party would support and lead the weak nationalities of Asia.

Chiang K'ang-hu's concept of socialism in 1912 was generally unfamiliar in China, and it was criticized by other Chinese political figures who viewed themselves as socialists. One early problem which the Socialist party confronted was whether it should remain a pure socialist party linked with the international socialist movement or become a domestic political party participating in the national government of China. Chiang's personal view in 1912 was to maintain the party's pure character in its commitment to the world socialist movement. Furthermore, in June 1912, Chiang went to Peking to call on Yuan Shih-k'ai to state his own moderate views on socialism in order to prevent any government suppression of the party. He emphasized that the party had only educational objectives and did not seek political power. He voiced the hope that Yuan Shih-k'ai would enforce national socialism, since it was, according to Chiang, the only way to develop strong government and a strong nation. Should Yuan do this, Chiang K'ang-hu guaranteed the support of his party, which allegedly had 20,000 members.

That action and other conflicts with regard to the proper definition of socialism led to much dissatisfaction among Chiang K'ang-hu's followers. In October 1912 a group within the Socialist party that advocated anarchist communism began a separatist movement. That group soon was suppressed by Yuan Shih-k'ai. In 1913, after the so-called second revolution broke out, Yuan Shih-k'ai on 7 August banned the Socialist party because of its radicalism. Recognizing that he could no longer rely on his personal ties with Yuan Shih-k'ai, Chiang K'ang-hu fled the country. He continued to be the acknowledged leader of the Socialist party, however, though Liu Ssu-fu (q.v.), the anarchist leader, made bitter attacks on his allegedly muddled views. Liu contested Chiang's assertions that Marxist collectivism was the only form of socialism and claimed that the Socialist party leader had only a limited understanding of socialism and was particularly weak in his knowledge of the anarchist-communist variety. Liu Ssu-fu also pointed to the political platform of the Socialist party, which called only for moderate reform of the existing social system, and concluded that Chiang K'ang-hu, like Sun Yat-sen, was no true socialist. From 1913 to 1920 Chiang resided in the United States. He taught Chinese at the University of California in Berkeley. In 1916 he made an important contribution to its library resources when he presented to that institution some 13,000 volumes from his father's library, which he had brought from China. For several summers he worked at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., cataloguing Chinese books and helping to build up its Chinese collection. Chiang K'ang-hu returned to China in 1920. In the months following the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the cause of socialism had begun to interest the students and young intellectuals of China. These intellectuals were not all converted to socialism, but those who were converted brought more disciplined energy to that cause than had been characteristic of the earlier members of the rather loosely organized Socialist party. The early Communist leader Chang Kuo-t'ao (q.v.) later recalled his first encounter with Chiang K'ang-hu at Peking University in the autumn of 1920. Chiang showed little interest in the problem of labor organization or in joint action on the part of all socialists in China. Rather, he suggested that the best prospects for the development of socialism in China lay in parliamentary activity. Since Chang Kuo-t'ao and his associates regarded that course as impractical, the encounter virtually extinguished the possibility of political cooperation between the future Chinese Communist party and the socialists associated with Chiang K'ang-hu.

Chiang's principal concern after his return to China was planning a trip to Russia to investigate conditions there. In 1920, however, it was difficult in Peking to secure valid documents for travel to Russia. Chiang then sought the assistance of Hsu Shih-ch'ang (q.v.), who held the presidency at Peking. Since Hsu Shih-ch'ang and Chiang K'ang-hu's father had passed the metropolitan examination in the same year, and thus were linked in the t'ung-nien relationship, he helped Chiang to secure a passport for travel to Russia and Europe. Through the introduction of Yurin, then the representative at Peking of the Soviet Far Eastern Republic, Chiang became acquainted with Shen Ch'ung-hsun, who was about to be sent as Peking's representative to the Far Eastern Republic, and was able to obtain space on the special train reserved for Shen. They left for Harbin on the way to Russia in March 1921. In Russia, Chiang reestablished contact with a number of Russians he had previously met in the United States and who had become officials in the Far Eastern Republic.

From 22 June to 12 July 1921, Chiang K'ang-hu attended the Third Congress of the Communist International in Moscow as a Socialist representative from China. At that meeting he was exposed to aggressive Communist (Bolshevik) policies. In January 1922 he attended the Congress of Far Eastern Revolutionary Parties at Moscow. That meeting, generally known as the First Congress of the Toilers of the East, had originally been scheduled for November 1921 at Irkutsk to counter the operations of the so-called imperialist powers at the Washington Conference. Circumstances in Russia, however, caused repeated postponement and the shift of the meeting site to Moscow. While in Russia, Chiang had formal and informal meetings with Bolshevik leaders, including Lenin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Chicherin, Lunacharsky, and the Hungarian leader Bela Kun. In his travel account, Chiang said that he considered Adolf Joffe a first-rate negotiator and diplomat whose skill had already been demonstrated by his term as Soviet representative in Germany. At that time, Joffe had just been appointed to go to China to initiate discussions with Sun Yat-sen.

The most significant event of Chiang's trip in Russia, however, was his attempt to capture and use Outer Mongolia for socialist experimentation His interest in Outer Mongolia dated back to January 1913, when Mongolia and Tsarist Russia had contracted a secret treaty at the expense of Chinese sovereignty over Outer Mongolia. Amidst the public furor in China aroused by this treaty, Chiang had published an article entitled "The Frontier Policy of the Socialist Party." That article advocated, among other things, that frontier areas such as Sinkiang, Tibet, and Mongolia be considered special territories, indirectly belonging to the Chinese republic but retaining autonomy in internal administration; that these areas be recognized by foreign powers as perpetual neutral zones; and that socialists be allowed to try out their programs in these areas. Despite Chiang's statement that his proposal was supported by the military governors of Anhwei, Chekiang, and Sinkiang, the Shanghai newspapers censured him for attempting to take advantage of the national emergency for his own political purposes. Eight years later, when in Russia, Chiang again proposed that Outer Mongolia should be used for socialist experimentation. In 1921 there were many Chinese workers in Russia who had acquired some military training during the Bolshevik revolution. Chiang thought these workers in Russia could be organized into a Chinese contingent to be sent to Outer Mongolia with Bolshevik arms to drive out the White Russian occupation troops. The Chinese contingent was to establish Outer Mongolia as a neutral area (while allowing the Bolsheviks certain advantages) and to experiment with socialism. In connection with this scheme, Chiang called on Lenin and reportedly obtained some measure of agreement from the Russian authorities. However, after reaching an understanding with Chang Tso-lin (q.v.), the Bolsheviks were able to invade Outer Mongolia and drive out the White Russian troops before Chiang's contingent could be organized.

After a year in Russia, Chiang went to Western Europe in the spring of 1922. There he was stranded with insufficient funds to return to China. Hsu Shih-ch'ang, who still held the presidency at Peking, again came to his aid and paid for his passage home. While in Russia, Chiang had witnessed the end of military communism and the transition to the New Economic Policy phase of reconstruction. On his return to China, he reasoned that China, because the country and its recent history were unlike Russia, should chart its own course of development. Abandoning his former views, he began expounding what he termed new democracy and new socialism for China. The concept of new democracy, which Chiang later renamed limited democracy, involved three basic principles. These were: political participation of educationally qualified citizens through voting; supremacy of the legislative power over the administrative and judicial powers to avoid deadlocks and inefficiency; and representative government through trade and professional organizations to avoid the dictatorship of any single class. New socialism, which Chiang subsequently renamed socialist capitalism, postulated: public ownership of property; workers' compensation; and public welfare. In order to propagate his system of new democracy-new socialism, Chiang K'ang-hu assumed the presidency of the Nan-fang tahsueh [university of the south] at Shanghai in 1923 when that institution was expanded from a technical college to a university. The new university, which also had a branch at Peking, for a time was quite popular with the younger generation in China. Chiang made a fundraising trip to Southeast Asia, where he was greeted with considerable enthusiasm in many overseas Chinese communities of that region. Because of his trip to Russia and his reported involvement with the affairs of Outer Mongolia, however, he was declared persona non grata in the Dutch colonies and was carefully watched by the British colonial authorities.

Chiang returned to China encouraged by the Chinese support which he had found. On 15 June 1924 he announced the revival of the Chinese Socialist party. In January 1925 he reorganized that party into the New Social Democratic party, with headquarters at Peking and branch offices at Shanghai and other cities. When lecturing duties took him to Hunan in 1924, he took part in discussions on revision of the Hunan provincial constitution. He later published his draft constitution with the hope that it would serve as a model provincial constitution should the federal system become a reality in China {see Chao Heng-t'i). After Tuan Ch'i-jui had emerged from retirement to become chief executive at Peking, Chiang was invited to participate in the Shan-hou hui-i [aftermath conference], which met in February 1925. In the spring of that year, as Tuan's regime went through the motions of preparing for a new national assembly, Chiang was named to membership on the commitee to draft a new national constitution. He appeared to be gaining moderate political momentum in north China when his fortunes suffered an unexpectedly sharp blow in 1925.

Earlier, in 1924, Chiang had conceived the idea of seeking an interview with the deposed Manchu emperor, P'u-yi (q.v.), apparently with the hope of converting him to socialism. To that end he wrote to Chin-liang, a Manchu close to P'u-yi and a former colleague of Chiang at the Ching-shih ta-hsueh-t'ang. The letter to Chin-liang, which expressed Chiang K'ang-hu's personal good will toward the Manchu court, was published in 1925 in a book entitled Ch'ingshih mi-mou fu-p'i wen-cheng [documentary evidence on the secret plot of the Ch'ing house to restore itself]. Chiang's political sense was at once called into question, and he was accused of "putting on the cloak of modernity in order better to betray the youth of China." His students at the Nan-fang ta-hsueh were vociferous in demanding that he be dismissed as the institution's president. Although Chiang attempted to argue that there was no other evidence to corroborate the charge that he favored the restoration of the Manchu dynasty, his refutation went unheard. His position as a responsible educator was undermined ; and the provincial association of his native province, Kiangsi, refused to recognize him as a native and expelled him. Under heavy pressure, Chiang was forced to resign the presidency of the Nan-fang ta-hsueh. He remained for a time in Peking. Recognizing that his political career had ended, Chiang later left for Canada. There he taught Chinese and related subjects at McGill University in Montreal. Although he continued to comment on the contemporary situation in China, he gradually turned toward traditionalism and became convinced that a reformed China could only be built on a foundation of classical Chinese cultural values. An indication of his changing outlook was the appearance in 1929 of The Jade Mountain, an English translation of the T'ang-shih san-pai shou [three hundred poems of the T'ang dynasty], a standard anthology of T'ang poetry. Prepared in collaboration with the American poet Witter Bynner, that volume also contained a discussion of Chinese poetry written by Chiang.

Chiang K'ang-hu's growing traditionalism was again in evidence at Shanghai in 1934, when he presented a series of lectures on Confucian philosophy. He then headed a cultural mission to the United States to display Chinese art objects and delivered lectures in Hawaü and Japan on the way back to the Far East. When the war with Japan erupted in July 1937, Chiang was living .at Peking. He soon left for west China, where he lectured in Szechwan and Sikang. Most Chinese at that time viewed the war against Japan primarily as a patriotic struggle to defend China against her national enemy. Chiang K'ang-hu, however, held that the struggle against Japan was related to the cause of world peace and the preservation of East Asian civilization.

However, these lofty concepts failed to aid Chiang K'ang-hu in finding employment. Perhaps his reputation as a Manchu supporter prevented his finding a teaching post and placed sustained pressure on his finances. In any event, he moved to Hong Kong, where he became noted for advocating "ten ways to good living," including vegetarianism. In Hong Kong, Chiang deserted modern subjects completely and attempted a return to the practice of tutoring disciples in the Confucian tradition, which required traditional trappings as well as stipulated payments presented to the so-called Master in ceremonial envelopes. But this type of instruction had lost its appeal, and ambitious Chinese middle school graduates were unlikely to turn to Confucian instruction in preference to modern university instruction.

Because this venture was unsuccessful, when Chiang was invited to go to Shanghai by men involved in the so-called peace movement, which was designed to work out a compromise settlement with the Japanese, he accepted. He later took a post in the Japanese-sponsored government established in March 1940 and headed by Wang Ching-wei. Chiang became deputy head of the examination yuan at Nanking, with responsibility for supervising civil service examinations. His latter-day philosophy, articulated as the concept of hui-hsiang tungfang [return to the East], was sufficiently flexible to be adjusted to the political requirements of the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere evolved in Tokyo. In 1942 Chiang republished the lectures on the Confucian Analects which he had delivered at Shanghai in 1934. "As long as Confucian temples are preserved," he wrote, "the reconstruction of the Great East Asian civilization will soon come." Such statements expressed Chiang's exaltation of the traditional Chinese heritage and marked the distance he had traveled from his interest in socialism. There is no information on his fate after the Japanese surrender in 1945.

Vain, opportunistic, and volatile, Chiang K'ang-hu nevertheless demonstrated notable vision and courage during his early career in China. Before the fall of the imperial dynasty, he had advocated such heterodox causes as women's education, romanization of the Chinese language, and socialism. His personal contacts included republican revolutionaries such as Sung Chiao-jen, early Communists such as P'eng P'ai, and conservative classical scholars such as Yeh Te-hui. Chiang's early essays on socialism were published in 1913 under the title Hung-shui chi [the flood]. The title was apparently inspired by the 1911 memorial to the throne by the governor of Chekiang, who had demanded severe punishment for Chiang for having advocated such a hung-shui meng-shou [destructive as flood waters and savage as wild beasts] ideology. His books on his journeys to Russia and Southeast Asia are entitled, respectively, Hsin-Ou yu-chi [journey to a new Europe] and Nan-yu hui-hsiang chi [recollections of the journey to the south]. Chiang's speeches on social and political problems were published in several volumes during the 1920's. Chiang K'ang-hu married his first wife, nee Liu (b. 1883), in 1898. He had seven children by her, four of whom died in infancy. Chiang married again in 1920 in the United States. His second wife, Lu Hsiu-ying, was an Americanborn Chinese whose field of interest was nurseryschool education. They returned to China together in 1920, and she accompanied Chiang on his trips to the Soviet Union and Europe in 1921-22. In 1927, three children of the first marriage were alive: one son, then 25, and two daughters, one in college and the other in middle school. At that time two children of the second marriage were also living in Peking: a son, Lung-nan, who had been born in Moscow on 24 November 1921, and a daughter named Feng-nü.

Biography in Chinese

江亢虎 原名:江绍程

江亢虎(1883.7.18—),学者、教师,多种改革方案的鼓吹者。1912年,他创立了第一个中国的社会主义政党,后来却变为一个保守分子。他因与复辟清朝的丑闻有牵连,断送了他那无所作为的政治生涯。后来,他投身于汪
精卫的日伪政府。他在美国有点名气,主要是因为他给加里福尼亚大学捐赠了一批图书,又在1929年和宾纳合编了诗集《翡翠山》,署上了江亢虎的名字。

江亢虎出身于江西上饶的一个仕宦之家。祖父江树畇(字韵涛1830—1892)是1877年的进士,在北京供职十多年,在山东任上去世。父亲江德宣(字啸道,1854—1910年)是1886年的进士,在京师供职二十年,在江苏署理知府任上去世。江亢虎是他父亲继室许氏的独子。1887年,他全家迁居北京,1890年,他祖父任山东道台,江亢虎随之到了山东。1892年他祖父死后,回江西原籍,两年后又回到北京。

江亢虎青年早熟,十岁就能撰写古文,十五岁进同文书院习日语准备出国留学。1900年义和团运动后,他去日本。1901年,新任直隶总督袁世凯请他回国任北洋编译局总办,负责编写华北五省中小学教科书。江虽对北京官场的繁琐生活颇为厌倦,但又感恩于袁世凯对他的赏识,不久任刑部文案。1904年在国立北京大学的前身京师大学堂教日文。同时,他在北京又先后创办了四所培养师资的女子学堂。这些学校虽属私立,而实际上得到北洋大臣袁世凯、南洋大臣端方的资助。1909年,学部接办了这几所学校,其中有一所后来就成为北京女子高等师范学校。

1907年,江亢虎在日本学了英、法、德文,因此他能阅读外国书籍、了西方的社会思想。他自称是第一个接触亨利•乔治著作的中国人。乔治认为土地解增殖的私人占有是现代社会不平等的唯一根源。江亢虎1907年日本之行,开始,接触社会主义。日本成立了日本社会党,不少东京的中国留学生参加该党的集会。1909年,江亢虎去欧洲旅行,以一名非正式的中国代表出席了第二国际在布鲁塞尔召开的大会。1910年前,江亢虎在日本和欧洲留学时,结识了一批倾向社会主义、无政府主义的年轻的中国激进分子,如吴稚晖、张继、李石曾、褚民谊,以及日本的社会主义先驱,如幸德秋水、片山潜、堺立彦。他在欧洲,还会见了欧美的社会主义头面人物。在此期间,他写了两篇文章,主张废除家庭和反对自由企业,他用徐安诚的笔名,在巴黎出版的由吴稚晖主编的革命刊物《新世纪》1909年四、五月号上发表。

1910年12月5日,江亢虎因父亲去世从欧洲回国,在南京过着半闲居的生活,为他父亲居丧。他曾作过几次公开讲演,意外地使他誉满全国。他应邀去杭州讲演,于1911年6月1日作女子教育和社会主义的相互关系问题的讲演。这或许是国内第一次关于社会主义的公开讲演。浙江巡抚增韫大为恼怒,立即上奏朝廷,奏称江亢虎发表异端邪说,要求予以严惩。幸经直隶总督的幕客谷钟秀通知,江亢虎事先得悉,逃到上海租界。江苏巡抚张曾敭系江家世交,又力为说项,江亢虎才免于获罪。

经1911年杭州这一段插曲后,江亢虎继续热心宣传社会主义。同年9月2日,他在惜阴公会(妇女进步团体)和《天铎报》的赞助下,在上海组织了一次公众集会,有四百人到会,其中约有五十人加入了社会主义研究会。1912年以研究会为基础创立了中国社会党,设总部于上海。江亢虎宣称这是中国第一个政党,标志自由结社在中国的开端。这个主要由他主持的政党,发表了八项政纲:赞助共和政府、取消对少数民族的歧视、改善人权的法律保护、废除私有财产、普及教育、发展公共企业、改革税制、限制军备、提倡建设性的国际竞赛。当时的临时总统孙逸仙把一批美新出版的有关社会主义的书籍赠送给他,借以表示贺忱。中国社会党在全国约有二百五十个分会,但在谭延闿统治的湖南以及湖北受到严厉压制。

江亢虎声称,中国社会党初期的任务是宣传社会主义思想,并不从事具体活动。当时国内了解社会主义的人极少,他准备在长江口的崇明岛上试办社会主义,据说还得到当时的内阁总理唐绍仪的赞助并前去参观。但是这项计划失败了。江亢虎领專的中国社会党与日本同样性质的团体建立了联系。朝鲜和印度支那的一些民族复国主义者,访问了中国社会党的上海总部,他们希望中国社会党能支援和领导亚洲的弱小民族。

江亢虎的社会主义理论,在1912年时在国内并未被人了解,又受到一些自称为社会主义者的政界人物的批判。该党最初面临的一个问题是:仅作为与国际社会主义运动联结一起的纯社会党,还是作为一个国内政党参加民国政府。江本人在1912年的意见是,该党应保持承担国际社会主义运动义务的纯洁性。1912年6月,他到北京谒见袁世凯,陈述他的温和的社会主义观点,以防政府的压制。他强调指出,该党唯以教育为目的,而非觊觎政治实权。他吁请袁世凯实行国家社会主义,江认为这是使政府强大和国家强盛的唯一途径,他并保证如袁世凯实行他的主张,将获得拥有两万名成员的社会党的支持。

 

由于上述行动,又加上对社会主义的正确定义的争论,在江亢虎的追随者冲间,产生了很多不满。1912年10月,社会党内部无政府主义的共产主义派,分裂出来,这一派很快就被袁世凯镇压。1913年二次革命爆发后,袁世凯因社会党的激进主张,于8月7日下令加以禁。江亢虎意识到他与袁世凯的私人关系已不足依靠,逃到外国去了。虽然无政府主义的领袖刘师复对江亢虎混乱不堪的理论加以抨击,但江仍不失为社会党所公认的领袖。刘师复驳斥江亢虎认.为马克思集体主义是社会主义的唯一形式的主张,宣称这个社会党领袖对社会主义只是一知半解,更不懂得无政府共产主义的多样性。他又指责社会党的政治纲领,只是乞求对现存社会制度的温和改良。总之,刘师复认为江亢虎和孙逸仙一样,不是真正的社会主义者。

从1913到1920年,江亢虎侨居美国,在伯克莱的加里福尼亚大学教中文。1916年,他捐献了他父亲收藏的一万三千卷图书,充实该校的图书馆。有好几个夏天,他在华盛顿国会图书馆工作,整理中文书目筹建该图书馆中文藏书部。

1920年,江亢虎回国。1919年五四运动后,社会主义这个课题,引起了中国的学生和青年知识分子的兴趣。他们并不都相信社会主义,但那些信从的人,却比那个松松散散的社会党早期成员,显得更为精神饱满。1920年秋夭,早期的共产主义领袖张国義在北京学第一次与江亢虎交锋。江对劳工组织和全国社会主义者的统一行动,毫无兴趣,反而认为中国社会主义的发展要靠参加国会的活动。张国焘等人认为这是不切实际的。这次论争打消了共产党和江亢虎等人的社会主义者在政治上合作的可能性。

 

江亢虎回国后主要关心的是想去俄国考察那里的情况。但在1920年,要想在北京取得去俄国的合法护照是困难的江求助于总统徐世昌,徐和江亢虎的得父亲是同科进士,有同年之谊,终于为江获得去俄国和欧洲旅行的护照。他通过苏俄远东共和国驻北京代表优林的介绍,认识了沈崇勋,沈作为北京的代表即将出使远东共和国,为江在专车上保留一个座位。1921年8月,他们出发经哈尔滨去俄国。江亢虎在俄国与一些前在美国时认识、而今成为远东共和园官员的俄国人再度相逢。

1921年6月22日到7月12日,江亢虎以中国社会党代表身份,出席了在莫斯科召开的共产国际第三次大会。这次大会上,他接触到了共产党(布尔什维克)的激烈政策。1922年1月,他又在莫斯科参加了远东革命政党大会。这次会议,通常称为东方劳动者第一次大会。该会原订于1921年11月在伊尔库斯克举行,以回击华盛顿会议的帝国主义列强。会议因俄国情况的变化一再延期,最后移到莫斯科开会。江亢虎在苏俄期间,与布尔塞维克领导人列宁、托洛斯基、布哈林、契切林、卢那察尔斯基,以及匈牙利领导人巴拉坤,有多次正式和非正式的会见。江亢虎在游记中记说,他认为越飞是第一流谈判能手和外交家,在担任苏联驻德代表时已显示其才能。当时,越飞已奉派到中国,开始和孙逸仙谈判。

江亢虎俄国之行最主要的目的,是想以外蒙为基点,进行社会主义试验。他对外蒙的兴趣可以追溯到1913年1月,那时蒙古和沙俄密约,牺牲中国对外蒙的主权。这个条约在中国引起了公愤,江亢虎发表了《社会党的边疆政策》一文,首先指出,诸如新疆、西藏、蒙古等边疆地区系特殊的领土,间接隶属于中华民国,在内部事务上享有自治权,而各国承认为永久中立地区,社会主义者可允许在这些地区试行其纲领。江亢虎宣称他的主张得到安徽、浙江、新疆都督的支持。上海报纸谴责他利用国家危机实现个人政治目的,八年之后,他在俄国再次主张外蒙古应作为社会主义的试验场所。1921年,有不少在俄国的中国工人,在布尔塞维克革命中受过军事训练。江亢虎想把这些中国工人用布尔塞维克武器装备组成中国支队派到外蒙,驱逐白俄占领军,然后由中国支队创立外蒙中立区(允许布尔塞维克持有一些优惠)试验社会主义。江亢虎曾为此拜访列宁,据说还与俄国当局取得了一些协议。但是在中国支队组成之前,布尔塞维克巳与张作霖达成谅解,进外蒙驱逐了白俄军队。

 

江亢虎在俄国住了一年,1922年春去西欧。他没有回国盘缠,得到北京徐世昌大总统的资助旅费才能回国。江亢虎在俄国期间,目睹结束军事共产主义转到新经济政策的建设阶段。他在回到中国的时候,考虑到中国的情况和历史与俄国有所不同,需要探索自己发展的道路。他放弃了过去的观点,开始阐述他称之为适合中国的新民主和新社会主义的理论。

所谓新民主,后来江亢虎又称之为有限民主,包含三个基本原则:受过教育的公民经投票选出后参予政治,立法权驾于行政、司法权之上,以免处事延宕办事无能;通过商会及职业团体实行代议制政府,杜绝一个阶级的专政。江亢虎的新社会主义、后来又称为社会资本主义:主张财产公有;劳工补贴,社会福利。1923年,他担任了由技术科学院扩充改组而成的上海南方大学校长,借以宣传他的新民主、新社会主义。这所新大学在北京设有分校,一度为中国的青年所响往。江亢虎曾去东南亚募集资金,受到不少华侨团体的热忱欢迎。但是他因曾去过俄国、又与外蒙事件有牵涉,所以荷兰殖民当局宣布他为不受欢迎的人,并受到英国殖民当局的严密监视。

江亢虎回国后因得到国内赞助人的支持而欢欣鼓舞。1924年6月150,他宣布恢复中国社会党,1925年1月改组成新社会民主党,设总部于北京,上海及其他城市各有支部。1924年,他去湖南作演讲时,参加了省宪的修改讨论。后来他公布了他的省宪草案,并希望该草案在中国实现联邦制时作为省宪的范本。

段祺瑞成为执政在北京重新上台,江亢虎参加了1925年2月召开的善后会议。同年春,段祺瑞政府筹备召开新国会,江列名为新宪法起草委员。眼看他在华北政治上遇上好时运,却不料在1925年遭到意外的沉重打击。

早在1924年,江亢虎显然为了希望使溥仪信服社会主义,曾想和被废黜的溥仪晤谈。为此,他给京师大学堂的同事、溥仪的亲信满族人金写信,信中表示了他个人对清廷的祝愿。这封信在1925年《清室密谋复辟文件》一书中披露。江亢虎的政治意图立即受到怀疑,纷纷斥他“披着新式的外衣而干着背叛中国青年的勾当”。南方大学学生大声疾呼,要求撤消他的校长职务。江竭力申辨说没有其他证据能证实他赞同清朝复辟的这一指责,但无人听信他的申辨。总之,他作为教育界的重要人物的地位动摇了,他的江西同乡会开除他的会籍。江在重重压力下,辞去南方大学校长之职,以后在北京居住了一些时候。

他意识到自己的政治生涯巳经完结,乃去加拿大,在蒙特利尔的麦吉尔大学教中文及其他有关课程。虽然他继续对中国的时局发表议论,但逐渐趋向因循守旧,他认为中国的改造,祇有建立在中国古代传统文化的基础之上。1929年出版的《唐诗三百首》的英文译本《翡翠山》一书中反映出他的观点的改变,这本书是他与美国诗人宾纳合编的。该书附有江亢虎写的有关中国诗词的论文。

1934年江亢虎在上海发表一系列有关儒家哲学的演讲时,再次显出他渐趋因循守旧。他又率领一个文化代表团去美国展出中国艺术珍品,回远东途中,在夏威夷、日本发表演讲。1937年7抗日战争爆发,当时住在北京的江亢虎立刻去华西,到四川和新疆讲学。当时极大多数中国人都把抗日首先看作是一场保卫祖国反对民族敌人的爱国斗争,江亢虎却认为抗日斗争是有关世界和平保存远东文明的斗争。

江亢虎的上述高调,无助于他觅得一个职位。或许由于他是清廷支持者的坏名声使他无法觅得一个教席而使他的经济非常拮据,终于他去香港了。在那里,他提倡“养生十法”以及素食主义。在香港他弃绝近代的生活习惯,主张恢复儒家的师徒传授之道,穿着古旧的礼服,敬奉束脩。这种授学方式,巳全无魅力,那些进取心很强的中学生,再也不愿回到这种儒家的传授方式,而选取近代的大学教育。

江亢虎由于上述的尝试失败,当准备与日本人妥协的和平运动的一些参预者请他回上海时,他即应邀前去。以后他投身于1940年3月建立的、以汪精卫为首的目伪政府,在南京当上了考试院副院长,主持文官考铨。他称之为“回向东方”的后期思想,只不过是转湾抹角地适应东京提出的“大东亚共荣圈”的政治需要。1942年他重新发表了1934年时他在上海所作的有关孔子《论语》讲演稿,他写道:“只要孔庙长存,大东亚文明的建立必将来临”。这表示他对中国旧传统是何等吹嘘,而离开他早期沉醉于社会主义的情景又何等遥远。1945年日本投降后,他的命运如何,不得而知。

自负、多变、浮夸的江亢虎在早年的经历中显得思想活跃和颇有勇气。清室覆灭前,他提倡诸如女子教育、中文拉丁化、社会主义等等异端主张。他个人的交往中,有如共和革命家宋教仁、早期共产党人彭湃、守旧的儒生叶德辉等。他最初论述社会主义的文集,有1913年出版的《洪水集》。书名显然是采用了1911年浙江巡抚的奏摺,要求严惩倡导洪水猛兽似的异端的江亢虎。他游历俄国和东南亚的游记集,分别题名为《新欧游记》和《南洋巡回记》出版。二十年代里还出版了他多种有关社会和政治问题的演讲集。

江亢虎于1898年与刘氏结婚,生有儿女七人,四人夭亡。1920年,他在美国娶继室陆淑英,她岀生美国,从事幼师教育,1920年一同回国。1921—1922年一起去苏联、欧洲旅行。1927年,原配所生三个儿女仍在世,子二十五岁,长女在大学上学,次女在中学上学。的继室所生儿女两人,当时均在北京,子名龙男1921年11月24日生于莫斯科,女名凤女。

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