Biography of Karl Marx

卡尔·马克思

全世界无产阶级的伟大导师和领袖，马克思主义的创始人。

英汉对照

Karl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5th, 1818 in the city of Trier, Germany to a comfortable middle-class, Jewish family. His father, a lawyer and ardent¹ supporter of Enlightenment liberalism, converted to Lutheranism when Marx was only a boy in order to save the family from the discrimination that Prussian Jews endured at the time. Marx enjoyed a broad, secular² education under his father, and found an intellectual mentor³ in Freiherr Ludwig von Westphalen, a Prussian nobleman with whom Marx discussed the great literary and philosophical⁴ figures of his day. Notably⁵, it was Westphalen who introduced the young Marx to the ideas of the early French socialist⁶ Saint-Simon.

As a student in Bonn and Berlin, Marx was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Hegel. While Marx was impressed with the Hegelian professors under whom he studied, he ultimately found himself attracted to a group of students known as the "Young Hegelians." This group of young iconoclasts⁷, including David Strauss, Bruno Bauer, and Max Stirner, were inspired by Hegel but were determined⁸ to champion the more radical⁹ aspects of the old master's system. In particular, these Left Hegelians called into question the conservatism they saw in Hegel's avowed¹⁰ political and religious philosophies. Although Marx desired a career as an academic at the time, his political sympathies prevented him from receiving an position in the state-controlled university system. Instead, Marx turned to journalism¹¹ where his radical politics attracted the attention of Prussian censors¹². The publication for which he worked was shut down for its politically incorrect commentary, and the frustrated¹³ Marx traveled to Paris.

Paris in 1843 was an international center of social, political, and artistic¹⁴ activity and the gathering¹⁵ place of radicals¹⁶ and revolutionaries from all over Europe. In Paris Marx became involved with socialists¹⁷ and revolutionaries such as Proudhon and Bakunin. Most significantly, though, it was in Paris that Marx met Friedrich Engels, the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer in England who had become a socialist after observing the deplorable condition of workers in his father's factories. Together, Marx and Engels began to develop the ideas which became Revoultionary Proletarian Socialism, or, as it is better known, Communism. Eventually, Marx was exiled from France in 1845 at the behest of the Prussian government for antiroyalist writings.

After leaving Paris, Marx traveled to Belgium where he became involved with a group of artisans calling themselves the Communist League. In 1847 the Communist League commissioned Marx and Engels to pen a statement of their beliefs and aims. This statement became the Communist Manifesto¹⁸, which Marx zealously¹⁹ composed in anticipation²⁰ the revolutions of 1848. When revolution did begin in Germany in 1848, Marx traveled to the Rhineland to encourage its progress. When the revolution failed, Marx returned to Paris but soon left for London where he would remain for the rest of his life.

Marx waited in London for the fires of revolution to ignite again. In preparation for this, he spent his time in correspondence with revolutionary leaders on the Continent, ignoring the English Chartists and Trade Unionists whom he thought simpleminded and ineffectual. Eventually, Marx realized that the revolution was not imminent²¹, and he withdrew from his associations, burying himself in the British Museum to research the history of class conflict. The fruit of this research was Marx's great Das Kapital, the first volume of which was published in 1867.

Things began to turn around for Marx in 1863 when French workers traveled to England in order to establish a federation²² of working men pledged to overthrow²³ the economic status quo. Although Marx disagreed with many of the ideological²⁴ factions²⁵ in the group, he recognized the significance of this event and left his self-imposed exile to join them. Marx successfully insinuated²⁶ himself into the leadership of the group, now known as the International, and delivered his famous Inaugural²⁷ Address to the First International as a triumphant²⁸ proclamation of his principles. At last Marx had what he had desired since 1847; he had provided the intellectual foundation for a socialist movement over which he exercised full organizational control

Marx's satisfaction soon ended, however, as the Paris Commune of 1871, the first true instance of workers achieving power for themselves, turned into a bloody²⁹ disaster. The more pacifistic English workers became frightened and the French movement fell to infighting. The anarchist³⁰ supporters of Bakunin tried to wrest³¹ control of the International from Marx, and the struggle between Marx and the anarchists³² finally lead to the dissolution of the group in 1876.

In the few remaining years of his life, Marx wrote almost no significant works. His stature³³ as the former leader of the International, though, did make him a sought after resource for new revolutionary groups throughout Europe and, in particular, in Russia. Although Marx helped these new leaders as he could, he did not take on any leadership roles in any movement again. Marx died in London in 1883, still awaiting the inevitable³⁴ revolution which he had predicted.

About the Communist Manifesto

In 1846 Karl Marx was exiled from Paris on account of his radical politics. He moved to Belgium where he attempted to assemble a ragtag group of exiled German artisans into an unified³⁵ political organization, the German Working Men's Association. Marx, aware of the presence of similar organizations in England, called these groups together for a meeting in the winter of 1847. Under Marx's influence this assemblage of working-class parties took the name "The Communist League," discussing their grievances³⁶ with capitalism³⁷ and potential methods of response. While most of the delegates to this conference advocated universal brotherhood³⁸ as a solution to their economic problems, Marx preached the fiery³⁹ rhetoric⁴⁰ of class warfare⁴¹, explaining to the mesmerized⁴² workers that revolution was not only the sole answer to their difficulties but was indeed inevitable. The League, completely taken with Marx, commissioned him to write a statement of their collective principles, a statement which became The Communist Manifesto.

After the conference, Marx returned to Brussels, carrying with him a declaration of socialism penned by two delegates, the lone⁴³ copy of The Communist Journal, the publication of the London branch of the Communist League, and a statement of principles written by Engels. Although Marx followed Engel's principles very closely, the Manifesto is entirely⁴⁴ of his own hand. Marx wrote furiously, but just barely made the deadline the League had set for him. The Manifesto was published in February 1848 and quickly published so as to fan the flames of revolution which smoldered⁴⁵ on the Continent. When revolution broke out in Germany in March 1848, Marx traveled to the Rhineland to put his theory into practice. When this revolution was suppressed, Marx fled to London and the Communist League disbanded, the Manifesto its only legacy⁴⁶ to the world.

The Manifesto has lived a long and illustrious life. While it was hardly noticed amongst the crowded field of pamphlets and treatises⁴⁷ published in 1848, it has had a more profound effect on the intellectual and political history of the world than any single work in the past 150 years. It has inspired the communist political systems which ruled nearly half the world's population at its height and defined the chief ideological conflict of the second half of the twentieth century, altering even those countries which stood firmly against communism, e.g. Western European and American Welfare States. Intellectually, Marx's work has profoundly influenced nearly every field of study from the humanities to the social sciences to the natural sciences. It is hard to imagine an area of serious human inquiry⁴⁸ which Marxism has not touched.

But even in the enormous body of work related to Marxism, The Manifesto is undoubtedly⁴⁹ unique. Even at its short length (only 23 pages at its first printing), it is the only full exposition of his program that Marx wrote. And while Marx developed his views throughout his career, he never departed far from the original principles outlined therein. The Manifesto is, without a doubt, Marx's most enduring literary legacy, setting in motion a movement which has, although not in exactly the way Marx predicted, radically⁵⁰ changed the world. As Marx famously asserted in his Theses on Feuerbach, "The philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways. What matters is changing it." No one has epitomized this as much as he.

卡尔·马克思

全世界无产阶级的伟大导师和领袖，马克思主义的创始人。生于普鲁士莱茵省特里尔城一个犹太人律师家庭。曾先后就学于波恩大学和柏林大学法律系，重点学习历史和哲学，获哲学博士位。在学期间参加青年黑格尔派，主张激进的无神论。1842年起担任《莱茵报》撰稿人，10月任主编。在此期间通过写报纸评论，对反动政府进行了深刻揭露，思想开始从唯心主义立场转向唯物主义，从革命民主主义转向共产主义。1843年《莱茵报》被查封，马克思和燕妮·威斯特华伦结婚并迁居巴黎，开始同德国、法国秘密工人社团建立联系，经常参加工人、手工业者的集会，开展对政治经济学、空想社会主义和历史的研究。1844年初创办《德法年鉴》，发表《黑格尔法哲学批判导言》《论犹太人问题》等文章，第一次指出无产阶级是唯一能消灭剥削制度的阶级，工人运动必须与科学的世界观相结合；主张“对现存的一切进行无情的批判”，尤其是“武器的批判”。这些文章和当时给阿·卢格的几封信，标志着马克思世界观的转变已经完成。

1844年8月底，马克思和恩格斯在巴黎会见，从此他们为无产阶级解放事业并肩战斗到终生。他们首先共同系统地研究科学的新世界观。第一个成果是《神圣家族》，批判了青年黑格尔派主要代表人物布鲁诺·鲍威尔等的唯心主义哲学，阐述了人民群众是历史的创造者这一历史唯物主义的基本原理。1844年，马克思又写了《经济学-哲学手稿》。1845年，因从事革命活动，被法国政府驱逐出境，迁居比利时首都布鲁塞尔，写出著名的《关于费尔巴哈的提纲》，不久，又与恩格斯合写了《德意志意识形态》，进一步在批判青年黑格尔派的基础上阐明了新世界观的理论，特别是历史唯物主义的一些基本原理，第一次提出了无产阶级夺取政权的历史任务。1846年，与恩格斯一起创立了共产主义通讯委员会和德意志工人协会，批判了蒲鲁东主义、魏特林平均共产主义和“真正的”社会主义。1847年发表《哲学的贫困》，同年加入共产主义者同盟。1847年12月——1848年月，参加了同盟第二次代表大会，并受大会委托，同恩格斯一起起草了同盟的纲领，这就是伟大的《共产党宣言》。

欧洲1848——1849年革命期间，马克思、恩格斯回到德国同人民一起参加了斗争。在科伦创办《新莱茵报》声援各国革命斗争。革命失败后于1849年被逐出普鲁士，先到巴黎，后定居伦敦直到逝世。

1848年法国二月革命和1851年路易·波拿巴复辟后，先后发表了《1848年至1850年法兰西阶级斗争》和《路易·波拿巴的雾月十八日》，总结了1848年革命的历史经验，深刻论述了历史唯物主义的一系列基本原理，第一次提出了无产阶级革命必须打碎旧的国家机器、革命是历史的火车头等著名论点，阐述了无产阶级专政、不断革命及工农联盟等思想。1867年出版了《资本论》第一卷（第二、三卷在他逝世后由恩格斯整理出版；第四卷即《剩余价值论》在恩格斯逝世后由考茨基整理出版）。

《资本论》这部不朽巨著，阐述了马克思主义经理论的主要基石——剩余价值理论，揭示了资本主义社会的内部矛盾和经济运行规律，论证了资本主义必然灭亡和共产主义的必然胜利。

1864年9月，马克思在伦敦创立了国际工人协会（即第一国际），1871年巴黎公社起义期间，高度评价了巴黎无产阶级的革命首创精神，并撰写了《法兰西内战》一书，总结公社经验教训，指出“工人阶级不能简单地掌握现成的国家机器，并运用它来达到自己的目的”，必须用革命暴力“摧毁”和“打碎”旧的国家机器，实行“无产阶级专政”。在《纪念国际成立七周年》一文中更进一步强调：“无产阶级专政的首要条件就是无产阶级的军队，工人阶级必须在战场上争得自身解放的权利。”

在七十年代末八十年代初，马克思继续以主要精力撰写《资本论》第二、三卷，同时关心国际共产主义运动发展，抱病撰写了《哥达纲领批判》一文，对机会主义观点进行了批判，指出：在资本主义和共产主义之间有一个革命转变时期，同这个时期相适应的也有一个政治上的过渡时期，这个时期的国家只能是无产阶级的革命专政。

1883年3月14日，由于反动政府的迫害，长期极端贫困的生活，以及十分繁重的理论和实际工作，马克思在自己的工作椅上与世长辞。