撒切尔夫人：改变英国的最强音

by Bernard Donoughue 译/李美佳

她为英国经济重新注入活力，却最终加剧了贫富分化；她拯救国家于危急之时，却被指造成社会的分裂；她为深爱的国家奋斗终生，却没能得到英国公众的理解。2013年4月8日，撒切尔夫人逝世。尽管她的一生饱受争议，但谁都无法否认，这位巨人般的政治领袖改变了英国，在英国历史上留下了难以磨灭的印迹。

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 Then she began to speak not for the outdated right wing but for a new radical right wing then emerging.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.

盛年时期的玛格丽特·撒切尔是一位政坛巨人。

1964年9月竞选期间，一个阴雨绵绵的傍晚，我第一次见到撒切尔。那时她正在争取蝉联伦敦北部芬奇利选区下院议员的职位。会议在一个沉闷的学校礼堂里举行。她在那次小型会议上说了什么，我几乎都没有印象了。但我永远都忘不了第一次见到她的情形：金发飘逸的她迅速穿过回转门，脱下滴水的雨衣，看也不看一眼就直接扔到身后，衣服被一直支持着她的丈夫丹尼斯伸手接住。她非常清楚自己将何去何从——到达政治生涯的顶峰。她也明白自己可以依靠她忠实的内部支持集团，她称这些人为“自己人”。

起初，我们这些旁观者最先意识到的都是撒切尔的不足：狭隘的右翼视野，顽固，缺乏幽默感，爱好公众交际。那时她还没有雄辩之才。

后来我任职于唐宁街10号（1975年撒切尔成为保守党领导人后，我曾是两任工党首相的高级政策顾问），站在我当时的立场看，她最初显得视野极为狭隘，经验非常匮乏，令我感到震惊。那时候，无论是议会还是英国民众，都不在她的掌控之中。

然而我们实在是低估了她。她慢慢地发出了自己的声音。后来，她开始代表那时崭露头角的新极右翼发表观点，而不再支持守旧过时的右翼。撒切尔本人的价值观形成于经营父母乡下杂货铺时期，自然非常老派守旧。然而她的愿景是在广泛自由的基础上建立一个新英国。战后，英国各主要政党在政治和经济领域都达成一种默契的共识：支持福利国家论，为不断发展的公共服务机构提供资金，而缺乏竞争力的私营部门却主要依赖政府保护。撒切尔清醒地认识到这种共识正分崩离析。1978年至1979年间，“不满之冬”爆发，该共识彻底瓦解。当时，声势浩大的工会罢工令英国陷入瘫痪状态。而这恰恰成了撒切尔崭露头角的时机，她的话开始变得让人信服。

一时间，撒切尔似乎指出了一条摆脱瘫痪状态的明路。

当时，工党和自由党都深陷旧体制之中，整个国家因为那些效率低下的产业和臃肿的公共服务机构而不堪重负。正如撒切尔所言，似乎别无选择。

时机终于成熟，这个女人开始行动了。这是一位了不起的女性。撒切尔是英国历史上第一位担任政党领袖的女性，更是20世纪英国执政时间最长的首相。鉴于这些原因，她也极大地推动了女权事业的进步。她比同辈的大多数男同胞们都更具男子气魄——肯定也比英国任何一位现任政治领袖都更胜一筹。

1979年竞选结束后，我与刚卸任的首相詹姆斯·卡拉汉开车驶过议会广场时，他对我说：“每隔几十年政界就要发生一次剧变，这一次剧变是为玛格丽特·撒切尔准备的。”入主政府后，撒切尔真正的激进作风和精神开始露出锋芒。她改变了英国的政治和经济面貌。她没有时间采取传统的方式来达成妥协，避开挑战，力图控制变革和衰退。相反，撒切尔直面问题，从不畏惧与任何人、任何事对抗——无论是时至今日仍无法撼动的矿工工会，还是她所在保守党内的“温和派”，抑或是和里根总统一道对抗的俄国人，以及侵略远方福克兰群岛的阿根廷人。

撒切尔经常将政府视为敌人。一旦遭到自己内阁成员的阻碍，她会将这些人称为“他们”，而不是“我们”。

当然，撒切尔的领导也带来了一些负面效应：粗陋的物质享乐主义和过度的个人主义滋生，人们对处于底层的群体日渐冷漠，社会价值观也日渐淡薄。为了确保经济更有活力和竞争力，这些或许都是必须付出的代价。但在有些人看来，某种程度上也包括我自己，这一切都使得英国社会变得愈加冷漠，也不那么可爱了。这种情况必须得到逆转。

撒切尔夫人首先是一位领袖，尽管是很特别的一种领袖——在正前方引领，而非扮演守护、提携、指导的角色。她的那套领导原则虽然有些狭隘，却十分明晰。她始终奉行这套原则，从不退缩，也决不动摇。

撒切尔是一位非常英派的人物，从不假装自己是一个超越民族偏见的世界主义者。然而在国际舞台上，她确实很有影响力。相较于欧洲大陆，她在美国反而更如鱼得水。欧洲人虽然尊重她，但并不喜欢她——她也不喜欢欧洲大陆。因而她所在的政党与欧盟之间的关系出现了一些迟迟无法解决的问题。

时至今日，在英国和欧洲大陆，“撒切尔主义”一词仍被经常用来简称她那一整套政治和经济方针（有时作为贬义词出现），这本身就反映了撒切尔的影响力。她的原则、偏见和对抗性风格割裂了英国社会，也造成了部分保守党人的分裂。然而，如今只有极少数盲目者才会对如下事实视而不见：这位女士是一位巨人般的政治领袖，她改变了英国。

1. Bernard Donoughue：伯纳德·多诺霍（1934～），英国政治家、商人和作家，曾担任英国前首相哈罗德·威尔逊（Harold Wilson）和詹姆斯·卡拉汉（James Callaghan）的高级政策顾问，代表作有自传《唐宁街日记》（Downing Street Diary）。

2. Finchley [f?nt?l?] n. 芬奇利，撒切尔首次当选下院议员的地方

3. drab [dr?b] adj. 单调的，乏味的

4. conviviality [k?n?v?v???l?ti] n. 欢乐；联欢（尤指宴饮作乐）

5. welfare statism：福利国家论，二战后西方社会流行的一种政治思想，主张将国家视为全社会增加福利的工具，要求国家通过立法和财政经济措施积极增进社会全体成员的福利。

6. crumble [?kr?mb（?）l] vi. 渐渐垮掉，走向末路

7. Winter of Discontent：不满之冬，指英国1978年和1979年相交的那个冬天，英国工会因不满工党政府通过限制工资增长的方式来遏制通货膨胀的做法，而组织了大范围的工人罢工运动。

8. enmesh [?n?me?] vt. 使陷入网中

9. James Callaghan：詹姆斯·卡拉汉（1912～2005），英国工党政治家，曾出任英国首相。

10. sea change：突发性彻底转变

11. mettle [?met（?）l] n. 忍耐力；勇气

12. Tory wets：保守党中的温和派

13. Falkland Islands：福克兰群岛（位于英国与阿根廷之间，归属存在争议）

14. underprivileged [??nd?（r）?pr?v?l?d?d] adj. 生活水平或享有的权利比别人低的；贫困的