撒切爾夫人：改變英國的最強音

by Bernard Donoughue 譯/李美佳

她為英國經濟重新注入活力，卻最終加劇了貧富分化；她拯救國家于危急之時，卻被指造成社會的分裂；她為深愛的國家奮斗終生，卻沒能得到英國公眾的理解。2013年4月8日，撒切爾夫人逝世。盡管她的一生飽受爭議，但誰都無法否認，這位巨人般的政治領袖改變了英國，在英國歷史上留下了難以磨滅的印跡。

At her prime， Margaret Thatcher was a political giant.

I first met her on a wet September evening during the 1964 election campaign， when she was defending her Finchley2） seat in North London. Little she said to the small meeting in a drab3） school hall has stayed with me， but I shall never forget my first sight of her as she steamed through the swing doors， blonde hair flowing， stripped off her dripping raincoat， and without a backward glance threw it confidently over her shoulder， to be caught by her ever supportive husband， Denis. She clearly knew where she was going—to the political pinnacle—and that she could rely on her faithful inner group of supporters， those she called “one of us.”

At first we observers were most aware of her limitations： her narrow right-wing vision， inflexibility， lack of humor， and public conviviality4）. She was then no great orator.

Later from my position in 10 Downing Street （I was senior policy adviser to two Labour prime ministers after she took over the Conservative Party leadership in 1975） I was struck by how narrow and inexperienced she at first seemed. She did not then command Parliament nor the British public.

But how we underestimated her. She slowly found her voice. Then she began to speak not for the outdated right wing but for a new radical right wing then emerging. Of course her private values were old school， fashioned in running her parents provincial grocery shop. But her vision was for a new Britain based on broad freedoms. She saw clearly that the cozy post-war British political and economic consensus， across all the main parties， supporting welfare statism5）， financing ever-growing public services， and with an uncompetitive private sector dependent on government patronage， was crumbling6）. It imploded with the 1978–79 Winter of Discontent7）， when rampant trade-union militancy brought Britain to a standstill. This was her moment and her voice rang true.

Suddenly she seemed to show a way out of the paralysis.

The Labour and Liberal parties were enmeshed8） in the old regime of inefficient industries and bloated public services， which the nation could no longer afford. As she said， there seemed no alternative.

Come the moment， cometh the woman. And some woman. She was the first woman to lead a political party in Britain and the first woman prime minister， serving longer than any P.M. in the 20th century. As such she gave a great boost to the female cause. She had more balls than most men of her generation—and certainly more than any of the current political leaders in the U.K.

It was at the end of the 1979 election campaign that the outgoing prime minister， James Callaghan9）， said to me as we drove around Parliament Square， that “every few decades there was a sea change10） in politics， and this sea change is for Margaret Thatcher.” Coming into government， her true radical mettle11） and spirit showed. She changed the British political and economic landscape. She had little time for the traditional style of compromise， of avoiding challenges and trying to manage change and decline. She faced issues head on， not afraid to confront anyone and anything—whether the hitherto invincible miners union， her own Tory wets12）， the Russians with President Reagan， the Argentines invading the distant Falkland Islands13）.

She often viewed the state as an enemy and referred to her own cabinet members when they obstructed her as “them，” not “us.”

Negatively of course she helped introduce a rough materialism， an excessive individualism， a lessened concern for the underprivileged14）， and diminished social values. These may be the price to be paid for securing a more vigorous and competitive economy. But in the eyes of some， including to some extent myself， they have made British society harsher and less admirable. That has to be set on the downside.

Margaret Thatcher was above all a leader， though a particular kind of leader—not one guiding， carrying， and shepherding， but one leading straight ahead from the front. She based her leadership on a clear， if narrow set of principles. She stood by them and did not duck or weave.

Although a very British figure， with no pretensions to be cosmopolitan in any way， she did make an impact on the international stage. She was more at home in the U.S.A. than in continental Europe， which came to respect her but was never comfortable with her—nor her with it， which led to lasting problems in her partys relations with the EU.

It is a reflection of Margaret Thatchers impact that the word “Thatcherism” is still commonly used in Britain and Europe as shorthand for her whole approach to politics and economics， and sometimes as a term of abuse. Her principles， her prejudices， her confrontational style divided British society and still splits parts of the Tory Party. But only the blind few today refuse to see that this lady was a political leader of immense stature who transformed Britain.

盛年時期的瑪格麗特·撒切爾是一位政壇巨人。

1964年9月競選期間，一個陰雨綿綿的傍晚，我第一次見到撒切爾。那時她正在爭取蟬聯倫敦北部芬奇利選區下院議員的職位。會議在一個沉悶的學校禮堂里舉行。她在那次小型會議上說了什么，我幾乎都沒有印象了。但我永遠都忘不了第一次見到她的情形：金發飄逸的她迅速穿過回轉門，脫下滴水的雨衣，看也不看一眼就直接扔到身后，衣服被一直支持著她的丈夫丹尼斯伸手接住。她非常清楚自己將何去何從——到達政治生涯的頂峰。她也明白自己可以依靠她忠實的內部支持集團，她稱這些人為“自己人”。

起初，我們這些旁觀者最先意識到的都是撒切爾的不足：狹隘的右翼視野，頑固，缺乏幽默感，愛好公眾交際。那時她還沒有雄辯之才。

后來我任職于唐寧街10號（1975年撒切爾成為保守黨領導人后，我曾是兩任工黨首相的高級政策顧問），站在我當時的立場看，她最初顯得視野極為狹隘，經驗非常匱乏，令我感到震驚。那時候，無論是議會還是英國民眾，都不在她的掌控之中。

然而我們實在是低估了她。她慢慢地發出了自己的聲音。后來，她開始代表那時嶄露頭角的新極右翼發表觀點，而不再支持守舊過時的右翼。撒切爾本人的價值觀形成于經營父母鄉下雜貨鋪時期，自然非常老派守舊。然而她的愿景是在廣泛自由的基礎上建立一個新英國。戰后，英國各主要政黨在政治和經濟領域都達成一種默契的共識：支持福利國家論，為不斷發展的公共服務機構提供資金，而缺乏競爭力的私營部門卻主要依賴政府保護。撒切爾清醒地認識到這種共識正分崩離析。1978年至1979年間，“不滿之冬”爆發，該共識徹底瓦解。當時，聲勢浩大的工會罷工令英國陷入癱瘓狀態。而這恰恰成了撒切爾嶄露頭角的時機，她的話開始變得讓人信服。

一時間，撒切爾似乎指出了一條擺脫癱瘓狀態的明路。

當時，工黨和自由黨都深陷舊體制之中，整個國家因為那些效率低下的產業和臃腫的公共服務機構而不堪重負。正如撒切爾所言，似乎別無選擇。

時機終于成熟，這個女人開始行動了。這是一位了不起的女性。撒切爾是英國歷史上第一位擔任政黨領袖的女性，更是20世紀英國執政時間最長的首相。鑒于這些原因，她也極大地推動了女權事業的進步。她比同輩的大多數男同胞們都更具男子氣魄——肯定也比英國任何一位現任政治領袖都更勝一籌。

1979年競選結束后，我與剛卸任的首相詹姆斯·卡拉漢開車駛過議會廣場時，他對我說：“每隔幾十年政界就要發生一次劇變，這一次劇變是為瑪格麗特·撒切爾準備的。”入主政府后，撒切爾真正的激進作風和精神開始露出鋒芒。她改變了英國的政治和經濟面貌。她沒有時間采取傳統的方式來達成妥協，避開挑戰，力圖控制變革和衰退。相反，撒切爾直面問題，從不畏懼與任何人、任何事對抗——無論是時至今日仍無法撼動的礦工工會，還是她所在保守黨內的“溫和派”，抑或是和里根總統一道對抗的俄國人，以及侵略遠方福克蘭群島的阿根廷人。

撒切爾經常將政府視為敵人。一旦遭到自己內閣成員的阻礙，她會將這些人稱為“他們”，而不是“我們”。

當然，撒切爾的領導也帶來了一些負面效應：粗陋的物質享樂主義和過度的個人主義滋生，人們對處于底層的群體日漸冷漠，社會價值觀也日漸淡薄。為了確保經濟更有活力和競爭力，這些或許都是必須付出的代價。但在有些人看來，某種程度上也包括我自己，這一切都使得英國社會變得愈加冷漠，也不那么可愛了。這種情況必須得到逆轉。

撒切爾夫人首先是一位領袖，盡管是很特別的一種領袖——在正前方引領，而非扮演守護、提攜、指導的角色。她的那套領導原則雖然有些狹隘，卻十分明晰。她始終奉行這套原則，從不退縮，也決不動搖。

撒切爾是一位非常英派的人物，從不假裝自己是一個超越民族偏見的世界主義者。然而在國際舞臺上，她確實很有影響力。相較于歐洲大陸，她在美國反而更如魚得水。歐洲人雖然尊重她，但并不喜歡她——她也不喜歡歐洲大陸。因而她所在的政黨與歐盟之間的關系出現了一些遲遲無法解決的問題。

時至今日，在英國和歐洲大陸，“撒切爾主義”一詞仍被經常用來簡稱她那一整套政治和經濟方針（有時作為貶義詞出現），這本身就反映了撒切爾的影響力。她的原則、偏見和對抗性風格割裂了英國社會，也造成了部分保守黨人的分裂。然而，如今只有極少數盲目者才會對如下事實視而不見：這位女士是一位巨人般的政治領袖，她改變了英國。

1. Bernard Donoughue：伯納德·多諾霍（1934～），英國政治家、商人和作家，曾擔任英國前首相哈羅德·威爾遜（Harold Wilson）和詹姆斯·卡拉漢（James Callaghan）的高級政策顧問，代表作有自傳《唐寧街日記》（Downing Street Diary）。

2. Finchley [f?nt?l?] n. 芬奇利，撒切爾首次當選下院議員的地方

3. drab [dr?b] adj. 單調的，乏味的

4. conviviality [k?n?v?v???l?ti] n. 歡樂；聯歡（尤指宴飲作樂）

5. welfare statism：福利國家論，二戰后西方社會流行的一種政治思想，主張將國家視為全社會增加福利的工具，要求國家通過立法和財政經濟措施積極增進社會全體成員的福利。

6. crumble [?kr?mb（?）l] vi. 漸漸垮掉，走向末路

7. Winter of Discontent：不滿之冬，指英國1978年和1979年相交的那個冬天，英國工會因不滿工黨政府通過限制工資增長的方式來遏制通貨膨脹的做法，而組織了大范圍的工人罷工運動。

8. enmesh [?n?me?] vt. 使陷入網中

9. James Callaghan：詹姆斯·卡拉漢（1912～2005），英國工黨政治家，曾出任英國首相。

10. sea change：突發性徹底轉變

11. mettle [?met（?）l] n. 忍耐力；勇氣

12. Tory wets：保守黨中的溫和派

13. Falkland Islands：?？颂m群島（位于英國與阿根廷之間，歸屬存在爭議）

14. underprivileged [??nd?（r）?pr?v?l?d?d] adj. 生活水平或享有的權利比別人低的；貧困的