Tokugawa Ieyasu's famous political quote "Keeping farmers half-dead is the secret of politics." I think this view is one-sided, with some right aspects and some wrong aspects. The right aspect is that a strong country and a weak people are conducive to national management and rule; the wrong aspect is that in the long run, people will inevitably accumulate hatred for the country and overthrow the regime.

National governance has always been the first concern of rulers, both in ancient and modern times. As for the rule of people, monarchs in the past dynasties had different views. Some regarded the people as human beings. For example, in the Qin State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Shang Yang advocated the five skills of controlling the people and advocated weakening the people. Others regarded the people as their parents. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, minister Wei Zheng once admonished: "Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it."

These are the political opinions of our country in different periods, and Japan's Tokugawa Ieyasu once proposed "let the peasants half-dead ", is the secret of politics", is it right or wrong?

I think it is one-sided because:

The right aspect

The country and the people are a contradictory unity. This is determined by the inherent attributes of the state. When the state appears, it represents the interests of the ruling class, while the people are the ruled class. From this point of view, strengthening the power of the ruling class and weakening the power of the ruled class will inevitably be conducive to the consolidation of political power.

Wrong aspects

Of course, this kind of rule is not eternal. Because according to the materialist point of view of Marx and Engels, both sides of the contradiction can be transformed. The secret of the law of unity of opposites lies in both unity and opposition. Excessive suppression of the people will inevitably lead to the awakening of rebellion rituals. For example, in the Qin Dynasty in our country, large-scale construction projects were carried out and people wasted money. It can be said that the people are already very weak, but they still cannot stop the pace of uprising. .