编者按：民主是什么？民主当然可以是典籍上的条文与书本上的理论，但任何时候，民主的实质都是由现实社会生活决定的、有效反映社会多数成员意志与利益的决策方式。而民主存在的前提便是人们生活条件与交往的社会化。本文的事实表明，随着农村经济商品化的进程，对于中国广大 Editor’s Note: What is Democracy? Democracy, of course, can be a classic text or a book theory. But at any time, the essence of democracy is a decision-making method that is determined by the actual social life and effectively reflects the will and interests of the majority of society. The prerequisite for the existence of democracy is the socialization of people’s living conditions and contacts. The facts of this article show that with the commercialization of the rural economy, the vast majority of China