Four historical questions.

In the 6th century BC, with the development of industry and commerce in Athens, a new industrial and commercial class appeared in Athens. Due to the development of slave ownership, many civilians in Athens were enslaved by clan nobles because of debts, and the struggle of civilians against exploitation, oppression and monopoly of political power by clan nobles was fierce.

The contradiction between civilians and nobles in Athens polis is sharp, and the contradiction between commercial slave owners and nobles in Athens polis is sharp. In 594 BC, Solon was elected as the chief consul, became the arbiter between the two sides of the struggle, and carried out extensive reforms as a legislator.

Significance of reform

Solon's reform neither accommodated nobles nor favored civilians, and the fourth class with the least income did not enjoy the right to hold government posts and run for the "400-member conference". This neutral policy failed to completely solve social contradictions. However, the reform changed the situation of aristocratic autocracy to a certain extent and promoted the development of democracy and commodity economy in Athens.

Through these reforms, the poor citizens in Athens got rid of the threat of debt slavery, attacked aristocratic rule and consolidated the city-state system. At the same time, Solon prevented the excessive concentration of land by stipulating the maximum amount of land occupied by individual citizens, which made the city-state system develop healthily and democratic politics developed. The measures to protect and promote industry and commerce made the status of industrial and commercial slave owners rise rapidly, and the slave economy began to prosper.

Solon's reform is an important milestone in the historical development of Athens city-state, which laid the foundation of Athens' democratic politics, promoted the development of industry and commerce, adjusted the interest relationship between different classes of citizens' collective, and guaranteed the economic, political and social status of small and medium-sized owners engaged in their own labor.

[Edit this paragraph] Historical evaluation

Solon's series of major reforms from the economic base to the superstructure were a great victory for Athenian civilians in their struggle against the nobility, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of Athenian history:

First of all, the release order made ordinary people get rid of the shackles of debt slavery and become citizens with free rights, forming a citizen group necessary for democratic politics.

Secondly, the establishment of property hierarchy made property qualification replace consanguinity qualification, which fundamentally disintegrated the foundation of aristocratic hereditary political privilege, enabled industrial and commercial slave owners to share political rights, and also enabled lower-class civilians to obtain certain civil rights.

Thirdly, the measures of reorganizing state power institutions have broken the monopoly of nobles on state power and ensured the political rights of citizens to participate in state affairs to a certain extent.

Finally, Solon's series of measures to develop industry and commerce greatly promoted the development of handicrafts and commerce in Athens, and soon made it the most prosperous industrial and commercial city-state in ancient Greece. At the same time, it strengthened the economic strength of industrial and commercial slave owners and civilians, and laid the economic foundation for the transformation of democratic politics in Athens.

limit

The main purpose of Solon's reform was to eliminate contradictions and stabilize the social order in Athens, so he played the role of "mediator". Many reform measures are eclectic, and reform has inevitable historical limitations.

Solon determined citizens' different political rights through their property qualifications. The first and second types of wealth occupy an absolute advantage in state power, while the lower class citizens do not have full rights to participate in and discuss state affairs.

After Solon's reform, although the power of nobles was exploited, they still enjoyed more political rights than civilians, and the remnants of clan system still existed. By virtue of blood relationship, nobles still have the privilege of hereditary possession of land.

As a result, the nobles were dissatisfied with the exploitation of power, the desire of the lower class for further reform was not realized, and the contradiction between nobles and civilians was not fundamentally resolved. Therefore, non-citizens have no democratic rights and women have no political rights.

2. 1) Abandoned mining sites and buildings

2) Pay attention to agriculture and restrain business, and reward agriculture and weaving.

The Historical Significance of Shang Yang's Reform

From the present point of view, not only Shang Yang is a backward sinner in modern China, but also the whole feudal system is the main reason why China lags behind the present capitalist countries. Shang Yang's political reform is a fatal constraint on the ideological conservatism of rulers of past dynasties, which is backward and destructive. However, if we look at Shang Yang's political reform in his time, we can see how significant and far-reaching the positive significance of Shang Yang's political reform is. Slavery, which lasted for nearly two thousand years, had completely exposed its decadent essence of being seriously backward and hindering social development by the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. It is imperative to complete the transformation from slavery to feudalism through reform, but Shang Yang followed the trend of the times and completed the reform in his hand.

As for Shang Yang's political reform by severe means, later generations have different opinions, generally praising less and belittling more. Of course, because Shang Yang's policies and Confucianism are basically in opposition, it is reasonable to be severely criticized by Confucian scholars in the feudal society dominated by Confucianism in the future. There is no denying that Shang Yang has extremely stubborn thoughts in his own character, which is very similar to Wang Anshi. Shang Yang's political and economic reform will inevitably use some tough measures from the academic point of view of legalists. He advocated: "the rule of the world is different, then the country is illegal and ancient." In other words, we should use some practices that did not conform to the ethical code at that time to carry out the reform, not stick to the rules, but dare to break through the old ideas and boldly make tough changes to all the bad factors that hindered the social development at that time. His views will now be regarded as extreme and radical by most people, not to mention the era when Zhou Li was the basis of ideological rule for more than two thousand years. From the reform of Qin State, we can see that Shang Yang's reform not only made an indelible contribution to the strength of Qin State, but also greatly promoted the social development of other vassal States at that time. Shang Yang was followed by Li Kui Reform and Wuqi Reform of Wei State, and later Wuqi Reform of Chu State. After a series of positive political and economic reforms, China society at that time had basically completed the establishment and development of the feudal system.

As for the destructive effect of Shang Yang's political reform on academics, this is very reasonable. But the need of social development at that time was to end the war as soon as possible and unify China, which was a great goal. Shang Yang's political reform played a great role in the later Qin Shihuang's unification of China, which can't be denied at any time. As my brother said, the open academic atmosphere in the Spring and Autumn Period was suppressed to a suffocating degree when the Qin Dynasty was established. But this is the need of Qin Shihuang's rule, and there is nothing to blame. Besides, this can't be used as an accusation against Shang Yang.

Paying more attention to agriculture than commerce is also an important reason why Shang Yang was accused by later generations, but the reality at that time was that due to years of war, agricultural development was extremely seriously damaged, making the country poor and the people poor. The most important task facing the rulers is how to develop their own economy, and the most important thing is how to defeat other countries and reunify as soon as possible. Moreover, according to the situation at that time, economic development was for political needs. If we implement the policy of paying equal attention to agriculture, industry and commerce or paying equal attention to agriculture, industry and commerce, the result will undoubtedly be devastating to the weak Qin State. Economically, Qi is the most powerful country, and even countries such as Zhao, Wei and Chu are much more powerful than Qin Guoqiang. If the commercial circulation is opened, the wealth of Qin will flow into these countries continuously. It made the already poor state of Qin even poorer, and it was impossible to gain a foothold in various events, let alone the great cause of reunification. In the current economic exchanges, it is also economically developed countries that conduct unequal trade with economically underdeveloped countries by virtue of their abundant financial resources, and only the economically underdeveloped countries suffer as a result. Therefore, we can't completely blame Shang Yang for China's economic backwardness caused by China's small-scale peasant economy that lasted for more than two thousand years. This is the inevitability of historical development. I think that Shang Yang's political reform was generally progressive and made great contributions to the historical development of China.

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3. The "revocation order" is undoubtedly a kind of "infringement" on creditors, so it is bound to be fiercely opposed by nobles, who move around, incite trouble and besiege Solon. As Engels said: "In Solon Revolution, the creditor's property should be damaged to protect the debtor's property." He pulled out the monument of creditor's rights erected on the mortgaged land, which was naturally loved by the general public. Therefore, on the one hand, Solon relied on the support of civilians and insisted on reform; On the other hand, in order to alleviate the strong opposition of the nobility and stabilize the social order, some adjustments have also been made to the reform measures. These two measures have effectively ensured the success of the reform. On the one hand, the promulgation of the "release order" effectively prevented the nobles from annexing land and lifted the threat of debt slavery to civilians; On the other hand, the social structure of Athens has undergone tremendous changes. The original debt slaves, civilians and nobles have all become Athenian citizens who enjoy personal freedom and civil rights. But Athens did not abolish slavery, and there were still a large number of non-debt slaves from the slave market, overseas plunder or war prisoners.

2) can't bring real fairness.

4. Characteristics of Solon's reform

1. Reform concept: moderation, fairness, equality and harmony.

2. Target: slave owners and nobles

3. Benefits of reform: civilians

4. Influence: It laid the foundation of democracy in Athens.

5. Nature: the transformation of the nature of slave owners.

Influence;

Solon's reform is an important milestone in the historical development of Athens city-state, which laid the foundation of Athens' democratic politics, promoted the development of industry and commerce, adjusted the interest relationship between different classes of citizens' collective, and guaranteed the economic, political and social status of small and medium-sized owners engaged in their own labor.