1968.02 所有正义的人都必须拒绝当兵

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Advice to a Draftee: "All Just People Must Refuse to Become Soldiers"
The letter by Leo Tolstoy here published for the first time dramatizes the frequent fact that what is past is prologue. Written in 1899 to a desperate young candidate for conscription. Tolstoy’s words will seem to some to bear a relevance to America in 1968. In conjunction ire publish on page 58 a carefully reasoned examination of civil disobedience from a federal judge directly confronted with the issue today.

By Leo Tolstoy
FEBRUARY 1968 ISSUE
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IN MY last letter I answered your question as well as I could. It is not only Christians but all just people who must refuse to become soldiers– that is, to be ready on another’s command (for this is what a soldier’s duty actually consists of) to kill all those one is ordered to kill. The question as you state it– which is more useful, to become a good teacher or to suffer for rejecting conscription? — is falsely stated. The question is falsely stated because it is wrong for us to determine our actions according to their results, to view actions merely as useful or destructive. In the choice of our actions we can be led by their advantages or disadvantages only when the actions themselves are not opposed to the demands of morality.


We can stay home, go abroad, or concern ourselves with farming or science according to what we find useful for ourselves or others; for neither in domestic life, foreign travel, farming, nor science is there anything immoral. But under no circumstance can we inflict violence on people, torture or kill them because we think such acts could be of use to us or to others. We cannot and may not do such things, especially because we can never be sure of the results of our actions. Often actions which seem the most advantageous of all turn out in fact to be destructive; and the reverse is also true.

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The question should not be staled: which is more useful, to be a good teacher or to go to jail for refusing conscription? but rather: what should a man do who has been called upon for military service — that is, called upon to kill or to prepare himself to kill?

And to this question, for a person who understands the true meaning of military service and who wants to be moral, there is only one clear and incontrovertible answer: such a person must refuse to take part in military service no matter what consequences this refusal may have. It may seem to us that this refusal could be futile or even harmful, and that it would be a far more useful thing, after serving one’s time, to become a good village teacher. But in the same way, Christ could have judged it more useful for himself to be a good carpenter and submit to all the principles of the Pharisees than to die in obscurity as he did, repudiated and forgotten by everyone.

by Leo Tolstoy


Moral acts are distinguished from all other acts by the fact that they operate independently of any predictable advantage to ourselves or to others. No matter how dangerous the situation may be of a man who finds himself in the power of robbers who demand that he take part in plundering, murder, and rape, a moral person cannot take part. Is not military service the same thing? Is one not required to agree to the deaths of all those one is commanded to kill?


But how can one refuse to do what everyone does, what everyone finds unavoidable and necessary? Or, must one do what no one does and what everyone considers unnecessary or even stupid and bad? No matter how strange it sounds, this strange argument is the main one offered against those moral acts which in our times face you and every other person called up for military service. But this argument is even more incorrect than the one which would make a moral action dependent upon considerations of advantage.

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If I finding myself in a crowd of running people, run with the crowd without knowing where, it is obvious that I have given myself up to mass hysteria; but if by chance I should push my way to the front, or be gifted with sharper sight than the others, or receive information that this crowd was racing to attack human beings and toward its own corruption, would I really not stop and tell the people what might rescue them? Would I go on running and do these things which I knew to be bad and corrupt? This is the situation of every individual called up for military service, if he knows what military service means.

I can well understand that you, a young man full of life, loving and loved by your mother, friends, perhaps a young woman, think with a natural terror about what awaits you if you refuse conscription; and perhaps you will not feel strong enough to bear the consequences of refusal, and knowing your weakness, will submit and become a soldier. I understand completely, and I do not for a moment allow myself to blame you, knowing very well that in your place I might perhaps do the same thing. Only do not say that you did it because it was useful or because everyone does it. If you did it, know that you did wrong.

In every person’s life there are moments in which he can know himself, tell himself who he is, whether he is a man who values his human dignity above his life or a weak creature who does not know his dignity and is concerned merely with being useful (chiefly to himself). This is the situation of a man who goes out to defend his honor in a duel or a soldier who goes into battle (although here the concepts of life are wrong). It is the situation of a doctor or a priest called to someone sick with plague, of a man in a burning house or a sinking ship who must decide whether to let the weaker go first or shove them aside and save himself. It is the situation of a man in poverty who accepts or rejects a bribe. And in our times, it is the situation of a man called to military service. For a man who knows its significance, the call to the army is perhaps the only opportunity for him to behave as a morally free creature and fulfill the highest requirement of his life — or else merely to keep his advantage in sight like an animal and thus remain slavishly submissive and servile until humanity becomes degraded and stupid.



给应征者的建议。"所有正义的人都必须拒绝当兵"
列夫-托尔斯泰在此首次发表的这封信戏剧性地说明了一个经常发生的事实：过去的事情就是序幕。这封信是在1899年写给一个绝望的应征青年的。在一些人看来，托尔斯泰的话似乎与1968年的美国有关联。与此相关的是，第58页刊登了一位联邦法官对公民不服从的审视，他直接面对今天的问题，仔细推敲。

作者：列奥-托尔斯泰
1968年2月号
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在我的上一封信中，我尽可能地回答了你的问题。不仅是基督徒，而且所有正义的人都必须拒绝成为士兵--也就是说，随时准备听从他人的命令（因为这就是士兵的职责所在），杀死所有被命令杀死的人。你所说的问题--成为一名好老师和因拒绝征兵而受苦，哪个更有用？- 是错误的说法。这个问题是错误的，因为我们根据结果来决定我们的行动，把行动仅仅看作是有用的或破坏性的，这是错误的。在选择我们的行动时，只有在行动本身不违背道德要求的情况下，我们才能被其利弊所引导。


我们可以呆在家里，去国外，或者根据我们认为对自己或他人有用的东西来关心自己的农业或科学；因为在国内生活、国外旅行、农业或科学中都没有不道德的东西。但在任何情况下，我们都不能对人施加暴力，折磨或杀害他们，因为我们认为这种行为可能对我们或其他人有帮助。我们不能也不可能做这样的事情，特别是因为我们永远无法确定我们行动的结果。往往那些看起来最有利的行动事实上会变成破坏性的；反过来也是如此。

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问题不应该是：做一个好老师和因拒绝征兵而入狱，哪个更有用？而是：一个被征召服兵役的人应该做什么--即被征召去杀人或准备去杀人？

对于这个问题，对于一个理解兵役的真正含义并希望成为道德的人来说，只有一个明确和无可争议的答案：这样的人必须拒绝参加兵役，无论这种拒绝会带来什么后果。在我们看来，这种拒绝可能是徒劳的，甚至是有害的，在服完兵役后，成为一名优秀的乡村教师会是一件更有用的事情。但同样地，基督可以判断，成为一个好的木匠并服从法利赛人的所有原则，比像他那样默默无闻地死去，被大家排斥和遗忘，对他自己更有用。

作者：列夫-托尔斯泰


道德行为区别于所有其他行为的事实是，它们的运作独立于任何可预测的对我们自己或他人的好处。无论一个人的处境有多危险，如果他发现自己被强盗控制，而强盗要求他参与掠夺、谋杀和强奸，一个有道德的人是不能参与的。服兵役不也是这样吗？难道一个人不需要同意所有被命令杀死的人的死亡吗？


但是，一个人怎么能拒绝做每个人都做的事，每个人都认为不可避免和必要的事？或者，一个人必须做没有人做的事，做每个人都认为没有必要甚至是愚蠢和糟糕的事？无论听起来多么奇怪，这个奇怪的论点是反对那些在我们的时代面临你和其他每一个被征召服兵役的人的道德行为的主要论点。但这个论点甚至比使道德行为取决于利益考虑的论点更不正确。

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如果我发现自己在一群奔跑的人群中，不知道跑到哪里去了，很明显，我已经把自己交给了群众的歇斯底里；但是，如果我碰巧挤到了前面，或者比别人有更敏锐的视力，或者得到消息说这群人正在竞相攻击人类，走向自己的堕落，我真的不会停下来，告诉人们什么可能拯救他们？我还会继续奔跑，做这些我知道是坏事和腐败的事情吗？这就是每个被征召服兵役的人的情况，如果他知道兵役意味着什么。

我很能理解，你，一个充满生命力的年轻人，被你的母亲、朋友，也许是一个年轻的女人所爱戴，以一种自然的恐怖来思考如果你拒绝征兵，等待你的是什么；也许你会觉得自己不够强大，无法承受拒绝的后果，知道自己的弱点，就会屈服，成为一名士兵。我完全理解，我一刻也不允许自己责备你，因为我很清楚，在你的位置上，我也许会做同样的事情。只是不要说你这样做是因为它是有用的，或因为每个人都这样做。如果你做了，就知道你做错了。

在每个人的生活中都有一些时刻，他可以了解自己，告诉自己他是谁，他是一个把人的尊严看得高于生命的人，还是一个不知道自己的尊严，只关心自己是否有用（主要是对自己有用）的弱者。这就是一个在决斗中出去捍卫自己荣誉的人或一个上战场的士兵的情况（尽管这里的生命概念是错误的）。这是一个医生或牧师被叫去看患瘟疫的人的情况，也是一个人在燃烧的房子或下沉的船上必须决定是让弱者先走还是把他们推到一边去救自己的情况。这是一个贫穷的人接受或拒绝贿赂的情况。而在我们的时代，它是一个被召唤服兵役的人的情况。对于一个知道其重要性的人来说，应征入伍也许是他表现得像一个道德上自由的生物并满足其生命的最高要求的唯一机会--否则就只是像动物一样保持他的优势，从而保持奴性的服从和奴性，直到人类变得堕落和愚蠢。