论晚明东林党的舆论活动及其影响

晚明是中国古代舆论最活跃的时期,其中又以东林党的舆论力量最为显著。从万历初年到天启末年,东林党人的舆论活动经历了三个阶段。东林党围绕官员诠选、官员考察、对阁臣的批判、以学术促清议等方面开展了一系列舆论活动,其主张在邸报发抄、印刷刻传和书信交流等方式的扩散之下,迅速流通于士林。东林党以舆论为载体,形成了与朝廷对峙和对话的政治力量。东林党的舆论活动加剧了明政府的党争态势,加速了官僚系统的分裂,不利于政治局面的稳定。但东林党的舆论主导了当时的社会思潮,对社会风气尤其是士大夫的气节产生了一种鼓舞作用。

The Public Opinion Activities and the Influence of Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty

The public opinion was most active in the late Ming Dynasty in ancient Chinese society,and the power of Dong-lin party’ s public opinion was the most significant one. From the early years of Wanli to the end period of Tianqi,the public o-pinion activities of Donglin experienced three stages. The Donglin party carried out a series of public opinion activities on offi-cials’ selection,officials’ inspection,criticism to the cabinet,academic promotion and other aspects. With the spread of the newspapers,printing and communication from letters,Donglin party circulated between officials promptly. Taking public opinion as the carrier,Donglin party formed political forces that could confront and communicate with the royal court. Donglin’ s public opinion activities aggravated the trend of party struggle and accelerated the division of the bureaucratic system within the Ming government. That was not conducive to the stability of the political situation. However,Donglin party’ s public opinion domina-ted the social trends and the social atmosphere at that time,especially encouraged to the scholar-officials’ integrity.