22/05/2024
Xi Jinping's Speech on the Bicentennial of Marx's Birth:
[transcribed from the CGTN Youtube translation by Admin with minor editing for clarity]
Comrades, we gather here today in a respectful mood to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth, honor his character and historical feats, and lift his spirit and thoughts. Karl Marx is a revolutionary leader for the world Proletariat and working people, and the main founder of Marxism. He is also the creator of Marxist parties and the founder of international Communism. He is the greatest thinker in modern times. After two centuries the international community has undergone profound and deep changes, and the name of Karl Marx is still highly respected worldwide, and his theory still shines through with the bright light of truth.
On May the 5th 1818, Marx was born in a lawyer's family in Trier, Germany. During his high school years he had already made his goal working towards the wellbeing of the human race. In his college years he studied philosophy, law, and history, and discovered the secret law for the development of history. During his work with the Rhine he criticized the autocracy of the Prussian government, safeguarding the peoples' rights. In 1843 he moved to Paris and began to participate in the workers movement-- in the combination of practice with theory he completed the transfer from idealism to materialism, and from revolutionary-democratism to Communism. In 1845 he and Frederick Engels compiled the German Ideology and for the first time systematically elaborated historical materialism. In 1848 Marx and Engels undertook compiling the Communist Manifesto. After its publication, it shocked the entire world. Engels said the Communist Manifesto is the most widespread and the most universal in all socialist literature; it is a common program recognized by common workers from western Siberia to California. In 1848 the European capitalist democratic revolution broke out, Marx participated in and guided this revolution. Upon its failure he concluded the lessons of the revolution, seeking to systematically study political economy, to unveil the nature and law of capitalism. In 1867 the Das Kapital was published, which is the deepest and richest work of Marxism. It is known as the Bible for the working class. In his later years Marx still followed closely world development and the workers movement and endeavored to thinking the development of human society from a bigger perspective. The life of Karl Marx is a life with a great purpose: fighting for the de-pauperization of the human race. In 1845 at the age of 17 Marx wrote in his high school graduation paper 'If we choose a career that can help the people the most, there is no longer any burden which can crush us because we can sacrifice for all--by then we will no longer indulge ourselves in pitiful, limited, and selfish joy, our joy would belong to millions and our cause will exist, although silently, it will continue to carry through. When faced with our ash, the noble people will shed their tears.' In all his life he faced the bitterness of displacement, illness, and poverty, but he never changed his heart and will in fighting for human liberation. It is fair to say that he lived a great life. The life of Karl Marx is a life of seeking truths despite all the difficulties.
Marx once wrote 'there is no smooth road to science, only those who continue to climb despite the difficulties will reach the glorious peak'. In order to establish the scientific theoretical system he has undergone hardships unimaginable to others and reached a glorious peak. He read a large amount of books in all fields, he studied philosophy and social science but he also studied all the natural sciences trying to gain nutrients from the results of all human civilization. He had been working hard all his life, he used to work 16 hours a day. In a letter to a friend he said that in order to write Das Kapital he had been wandering on the edge of the grave, he said 'I have to use every minute that I can work to finish this book.' Even in his later years he continued to rush into new fields of science with determined goals, taking down huge notes in history, anthropology, and math. Engles once said 'in every field that Marx studied, even in math, he has unique findings, there are many fields as such and in all of these fields he endeavors to dig deeper.' The life of Marx is a life of fighting to overthrow the old world and establish a new world. Engels once said Marx is first and foremost a revolutionist. Fighting is an essential factor to his life, there are few people as passionate, as resilient, as committed, and as effective as him in fighting. He made it his goal to liberate the human race and change people’s fight against exploitation and oppression. Marxism participated in the workers movements, he has always been at the frontline of revolutions. He led and built the first proletarian Party, the Communist League, and led the first international workers union, the International Workers Union. He supported the first revolution of the working class, the Paris Commune. With all passion and resilience, he pushed forward and advanced the workers movement around the world. He is truly a great man, but also an ordinary man: he loves life, he's authentic, down-to-earth, and compassionate. The friendship between Marx and Engels lasted almost forty years. As Lenin said 'There are many moving and touching legends about friendship, but the friendship of Marx and Engels has exceeded all legendary stories about friendship.' He participated in revolutions even in the hardest years of his life, he tried his best to help the comrades. He and his wife, Jenny, have undergone thick and thin together and write a beautiful musical of ideals and affection.
Comrades, the most valuable spiritual and influential wealth left by Marx is the scientific theory named after him, Marxism. This theory can be compared to the magnificent sunrise which shines through peoples' discovery of the law of history and through seeking liberation. Marx once said 'criticism cannot replace real weapons, material power can only be destroyed by other material powers, but once the theory is mastered by the public it will become a material power.' Marxism is combined from philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism: these three pillars originate from German classical philosophy, English classic political economy, and French socialism. The reason Marxism formed is due to his perspective on the time and world, it is due to the deep understanding of the development of the law of human society. Marx once said 'the Communist Party members and their theory is not based on any theory or principle that is found by any revolutionary in the world' these theories are only descriptions of the current existing class struggle and the historical movement in front of us. In the long history of the human race he perceived the essence of these movements and their development trend over time. In his scientific research, like Lenin described, everything that is created by human society he re-discussed with a critical perspective, ignoring nothing. Everything that is established by human thoughts he put to test in the workers movement to re-discuss and criticize them and reached the conclusion that will be impossible for those who are limited and confined by the bias of capitalism to reach. Marx's thoughts and theory originated from that time but exceeded that time, it is the essence of the spirit of that time but also the essence of the entire human spirit. Marxism is a scientific theory, it unveils the development law of human society. Before the concept of scientific socialism was raised there were already utopian socialists that were compassionate enough to have many beautiful ideal societies, but they did not unveil the law of societal development or have an effective path to realize those ideals therefore it was impossible for them to really play an important part in social development. Marx established historical materialism, surplus value theory, unveiled the law of social development as well as the operation of capitalism, pointing the path for the human race as well as the path for people to realize their liberation and freedom. Marxism is the theory of the people and for the first time established a systematic thought for the people to realize their own liberation, it is profound and deep but it all comes down to one thing: to seek the liberation of the human race. Before Karl Marx the dominant theory only worked for the dominant class, Marxism for the first time stood at the perspective of the common people seeking a path for liberation. Its goal is to use the scientific theory to establish a world without oppression and exploitation where everyone is equal and free.
Marxism has an influence that can go across borders and across time because it is deeply rooted in human beings, and the right path is to depend on people to advance the progress of history. Marxism is a theory of practice, it guides people’s efforts to change the world. Marx once said 'all social life, in essence, is practical'. 'Philosophers may interpret the world in different ways, but the point is how to change the world.' The practicalness and the real point of life is the basic point of Marxism, practicality is the most distinguished characteristic of Marxism. Marxism does not only exist in the study room, its purpose it to change people’s fate and is formed in the practice of people’s efforts to realize liberation, and is expanded and developed in the process. It is indeed a powerful source for the people to recognize and change the world. Marxism continues to develop, it is an open theoretical system that always stands at the frontline of the time. Karl Marx always tells people that the theory of Marxism is not a doctrine but a guidance to action, therefore it has to evolve with the time and practice. The development history of Marxism is a history of continually evolving and upgrading the theory by Marx, Engels, and their descendants, and trying to enrich this history by learning from all outstanding historico-cultural results. This is why Marxism stays young and up to date, discovering new topics and responding to new challenges of human society.
Comrades, the Communist Manifesto was established 170 years ago, and since then Marxism has been widespread worldwide. In the human history of thought there is no other thought or theory that has such a widespread and profound influence on humanity as Marxism. With the leadership of Marx himself, with the guidance of Marxism, the workers organizations such as the First International were established and developed. In different times they provide guidance to the alliance and fight of international workers movements. With the influence of Marxism the Marxist parties have sprung, established, and developed--the people, for the first time, became the master of its own destiny, and became the basic political power for their own liberation and the liberation of the human race. The October Revolution led by Lenin was a success, Marxism has transferred from theory to reality. It broke the world scale where capitalism is the sole dominant power. After the end of World War II a large number of socialist countries were born during which the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China empowered the socialist strength of the world. Despite the setbacks and twists and turns of socialism in this development the general trend of human society remains unchanged and will not change in the future. Marx and Engels actively supported the liberation of the nations and ethnicities under the yoke of oppression. After the 20th century Marxists, represented by Lenin, inherited and developed Marx's theory of nations to guide and support the liberation movements in colonial and semi-colonial countries. After the second World War many countries with newly gained independence and liberty completely overturned the old colonialist system of imperialism. All ethnic groups communicated on an equal basis and the future remains brighter than ever. Today Marxism has advanced the progress of human civilization and is still a thought system with international influence, and Marx himself is still recognized as the first thinker of the Millennium.
Comrades, Marxism not only profoundly changed the world, but also profoundly changed China. The Chinese people in their thousands of years of history have created splendid Chinese culture, contributing to the progress of human civilization but in 1840 the O***m War broke out and the Western countries blasted open the gate of China with their cannons and the Chinese nation was trapped in a tragic situation with external and internal threats. The invasion of imperialism and the pains and sufferings of the Chinese people raised the concern of Marx. During the second O***m War Marx wrote dozens of communications and revealed to the world the truth of the invasion of the Western countries in China and called for justice for Chinese people. Marx and Engels recognized the contributions of Chinese civilization to world civilization and predicted the appearance of Chinese socialism and even named the new China the Republic of China. Since modern times the task for the Chinese people has been national independence, people’s liberation, and the realization of wellbeing for the country and welfare for the people. The farmers fight had ended, the reformist movement continued to fail, capitalist revolution and other plans by Western capitalism were succeeding--but at this time the October Revolution brought the Chinese people Marxism-Leninism pointing to a new direction for the Chinese people and offering a new choice for us to realize national liberation. In this great historical trend, a Party that is guided by Marxism and carried the responsibility of national rejuvenation would lead the Chinese people to create miracles, that is, the Communist Party of China, was born. After the establishment of the CPC the Chinese Communists combined the basic theory of Marxism with the experiences of the Chinese Revolution and guided the people to complete the revolution of new democracy and socialism, establish the Peoples' Republic of China, and implement the basic systems of socialism. We have undergone daunting challenges and exploration for socialism and we have realized the transformation from Zero to Hero, and this great leap has demonstrated with ironclad fact that only socialism can lead China. Since reform and opening up the Chinese Communists combined the basic theory of Marxism with the practice and reality of China's reform and opening up and guided people to conduct practice to build socialism with Chinese characteristics. China is catching up with the times and the entire Chinese nation has become more well off. This Great Leap also demonstrated with ironclad fact that only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China. In the new age the China Communists again combined the theory of Marxism with the reality of China in the new time and guided the people to build new projects, advance new causes, and realize great dreams, and broach the cause of the Party and country to make historical breakthroughs in all aspects and realize profound and fundamental historical transformation. The Chinese nation has transformed from being well off to becoming stronger. This great leap demonstrated with ironclad fact that only socialism with Chinese characteristics can realize rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Our practice shows that the fate of Marxism is deeply connected to the fate of the CPC, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation. Its truthfulness has been fully tested in China, its people-based future and practicality has been carried through in China, its openness has been fully demonstrated in China. Practice has proven that Marxism has also provided a powerful thought-weapon to China's revolution, construction, and reform, which has allowed China--this original oriental country--to create development miracles unprecedented in human history. We can see that it is 100% correct that history and people have chosen Marxism, and that it is 100% correct that the Chinese Communist Party has put Marxism on its own banner. To uphold the basic principle of Marxism with Chinese practice and keep driving Marxism with Chinese characteristics in keeping with time is also correct. What we can tell Marx is that, guided by Marxism China has embarked on the journey to comprehensively build a strong socialism-organized country. Chinese Communists are still loyal embracers and firm practitioners, we are making our endeavor to adhere to and develop Marxism with tenacity.
Comrades, Engels once said 'if a nation wants to stand at the forefront of science it must have theoretical thinking all the time' so if the Chinese nation wants to realize rejuvenation we must always base ourselves on theoretical thinking all the time. Marxism is always the guiding thinking of our Party and the country, it enables us to know the world, manage the rules, seek the truth, and change the world as a strong thinking-weapon. Marxist theory is extensive and profound, you can always find something new through continuous study. In this new era Chinese Communists should keep studying Marx and study and practice Marxism, keep absorbing the scientific intelligence and theoretical power. With the overall framework of the Five Year Integrated Plan and the Four Prong Comprehensive Strategy, we should be more loyal, more confident, and more intelligent to adhere to the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, to ensure that the national rejuvenation vessel will always sail in the right direction.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding the thought of laws and general rules of social development. Marxist science reveals that the inevitable trend of human society towards Communism. Marx and Engels always believed that a future society should be in such union that everyone’s free development is the condition of all the peoples progress. What the proletariat lost in the revolution was just a chain, but what they will gain is the whole world. The historical tide is surging forward with great momentum as long as the people become their own master, the master of society, and the master of social development, the ideal of Communism will be realized step by step through the real movement for coping with existing conditions. Marxism has laid the theoretical foundation for the Communist to firmly uphold their belief, we should master fully the dialectical and historical materialism and put them into our world-outlook and methodologies to fully and deeply realize the ideal of Communism, passing one milestone after another. To realize the whole historic journey we should bring the great ideal of Communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics together and integrate the work we are doing and firmly seek to be confident in the past, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics while firmly upholding the ideal belief of Communism. We should like Marx dedicate ourselves to Communism.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding people centered philosophy. People are the profound characteristic of Marxism, Marx said 'the historical movement is the movement of the people'. To free the people is Marx's lifelong pursuit, we should always put the people's position as our fundamental position, make people's happiness our fundamental mission, to uphold whole heartedly, to serve the people, to implement the mass line, to respect the People's dominant position and pioneering spirit, to always maintain flesh and blood relationships with the people, and gather the powerful strength to forge ahead and unite and lead the people together to create a historical course. This is the inevitable choice of respecting the rules of history, which is the aspiration of Communists, and also the self-consciousness to shoulder the mission firmly.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding productive forces as well as the relations of production. Marxism believes material productive force is the material pre-condition of all social activities, together with the matching production relations to form the economic foundation. Productive force is the most active and revolutionary factor to drive the society to further progress. The sum of the productive force decides the social condition, so the relation between the productive force and its conditions (the economic foundations and superstructures) interact and reinforce each other as well as create the society moving forward. This is also the fundamental requirement for the freedom and development of socialist production. For the Chinese Communists to work hard to explore and solve the key issues our establishment, especially the PRC after the reform and opening up, within less than seventy years the Party has lead the people suddenly to free and develop socialist production and finish the journey it took the western world one hundred years to accomplish and make us the worlds second largest economy in a brief time period. We should be quick to make a full round of deep reform to self-consciousness, utilize the intact energy of social production and make the foundation incorporate the superstructure to make Chinese Socialism move forward following the rules.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding the Peoples' Democracy. Marx and Engels pointed out the movement of the proletariat involves the majority of society and that the movement to seek the interests of the majority, as long as the working class gains the right to rule it should not use the old system to govern the country, instead they should use a new and genuine national structure and system. So the national organs should transform themselves from the masters of society to its public servants and receive supervision from the people. We should firmly follow the path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics to evolve our political development, to firmly uphold the people to become the master, the Party to become the leader, and integrally drive the development of democracy for China, to use the safeguarding system to ensure the people can master their own affairs and to speed up the modernization of our system's capacity for governance, to fully mobilize people's proactive, innovative, creative features to fully implement Peoples Democracy in a full and effective way.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding cultural development. Marx believes that in different conditions, in terms of economic and social development, people produce different cultures and ideologies. This influences the economic foundation and also the reactions to it. The advanced ideological culture once mastered by a society can morph into a powerful material power. On the other hand, if we do not counter the outdated culture and concepts they will be the showstopper for social development and progress. The theoretical consciousness and cultural competency are the driving forces for a nation to forge ahead. The value of advanced freedom of thought is the vibrancy of the whole society. The national spirit should lie in its culture and embrace it. Studying China, we should face towards modernization and to the whole world and to the future. We should cement the guiding position of Marxism in ideological factors, further the cultural development of socialism, and strengthen the construction in this respect, we should also bring the core socialist value into every aspect of social development, as well as promote the creative transfer of China's traditional fine culture and in a creative way to increase people’s ideological awareness, moral standards, civilization, and keep creating glories of Chinese culture.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding social construction. According to the prediction made by Marx and Engels in the future society general prosperity will be the ultimate goal of production, everyone should enjoy the wellbeing created by all. Engels collaborated with Marx on the Communist Manifesto, the Critique of the Gotha Programme, Das Kapital, among others. Engels states that under the condition of socialism the society should provide a healthy and beneficial occupation, and should provide sufficient material for life and spare time to all the people and also provide the true and sufficient freedom to all. Our fighting goal is to seek to meet peoples demands regarding a happy life. We should firmly put the people as our center of development and also focus on the key issues and concerns of society, provide and safeguard peoples wellbeing, promote social welfare and justice, to provide all education to all people, to ensure people can get paid, have healthcare, have a place to live, and people in a weakened condition can get help. Let the developed results deliver more benefits to people in a fair way to drive development of the whole society and bring the people towards prosperity together.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding the relation between human beings and nature. Marx believes that people live dependent on nature. Nature not only provides the living resources like abundant land and fish filled lake, it also provides the means of production. Nature forms the condition for human existence through the interaction of production, evolution, and development. Human beings should be nice to nature and nature will do the same to human beings, but if we utilize science and creativity to conquer the power of nature then nature will retaliate against humanity. Nature is the mother of life, humans and nature are the Communist shared community, we should revere, respect, align with, and protect nature. We should firmly adhere to the harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature and firmly bring the concept into actual action that the luscious mountains and lush water are invaluable assets and mobilize all the factors of society to move forward building cultural civilization, building a beautiful China to let the people enjoy the beauty of nature and life and to embark on a way towards civilization featuring productive development, rich life, and a good environment.
To study Marx is to learn, study, and practice Marxism regarding the thoughts of World History. Marx and Engels said that if every nations original enclosed condition through the day to day interactions and way of productions and also the forms of new nations between these interactions will be out of this stage, and the history will be the World History. The prediction made by Marx and Engels right now is becoming reality. History and reality prove day by day that this prediction has full historic and scientific value. Today the globalization of human exchange is more deep and broad than ever before, we are more highly interconnected and close to each other through our frequent exchange than has ever existed before. The integrated world is there. Who will reject such a world, the world will reject that person in the same way. Everything can be cultivated without being harmful to each other, all roads can run parallel without contradiction. We should stand at the historical height and look at the current front and key issues we are facing, we should stick to the peaceful development path and stick to the independent diplomatic policies to uphold the openness strategy with win-win results and explore cooperation with other nations and actively participate in global governance. We should realize the win-win cooperation and common development in more areas and at higher levels, we will not rely on others nor plunder others. We will create, together, a shared community of shared future, destiny, and make the world a better place.
To study Marx is to learn and practice Marxism regarding the construction of political parties. Marx believes that in the fight between the proletarian and capitalist classes at all stages of development the Communists always act on behalf of the whole working class movement, they are in line with the proletarian interests and seek benefits for the majority of people and fight for the Communist society. The Communist Party will build a milestone that can be used to measure the parties movement. We will always stay with the people and fight for the peoples interest, this is the fundamental difference between Marxist parties and other parties. We will stay committed to the great battle, great projects, great course, and great dreams to strengthen our political integrity, think in big picture terms, follow the core leadership, and keep the Party line. We will keep continuously to follow the law-based governance of the Party and put the parties political instruction as our key priority, stress the parties overall leadership and uphold firmly parties authority and centralized unification. We will follow the Communist Party characteristics of seeking the truths, correcting the wrongs and always make our Party to be ahead of its times. Let the people fully support the Party and they will be brave to make revolution themselves, then we can stand against all the difficulties of our times to become a reverent Marxist ruling Party.
Comrades, the Chinese Communist Party is equipped with Marxism. Marxism is also the spirit of the Chinese Communist Party's ideals and belief. In 1938 Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out that if our Party had only 100-200 comrades studying Marxism in a systematic not segmented way, realizing a deep and not empty understanding, it would greatly improve the combat power of our Party. If we review the historical journey of the Party we can find that the Chinese Communist Party can conquer all difficulties and grow stronger and larger. One of the key reasons is that our Party always attached great importance to Party ideological construction, theoretical moves to strengthen the Party, keeping the Party thought in alignment and firmly holding our aspiration for a coordinated movement to forge a strong combat strength. Nowadays we are facing a heavy mission to stabilize reform and development, many prominent challenges and big tests of our political government. These are all unprecedented. We should take the proactive role to take and leverage our strategies and advantages to win the future. We should use Marxism to analyze and solve the recent issues we are facing and take it as our scientific guidance to make us strong enough to face the difficulties, face the challenges, conquer all obstacles, and to break the key contradictions and solve the key issues. We should use a broader vision and long-term view to think and master the future of development. To face the key issues of the future we should hold the belief in Marxism and the ideal of Communism firmly in mind. It has been 170 years since the publication of the Communist Manifesto, human society has gone through profound changes but the general principle in Marxism overall is 100% correct. We should firmly uphold and utilize dialectical and historical materialism to become our world outlook and methodologies. To firmly use the Marxist position, point of view, and message, to keep using the theories of Marxism in material and developmental rules, as well as with the thoughts of nature, history, and relevant rules of human social development as well as the rules of human freedom and full development. We should analyze and integrate the essence of these principles and rules. We should keep utilizing Marxism in practice, in the mass line, in class development, and in contradiction. We should fully learn understand and use Marxism.
To all the Party members, especially the officials and the cadres, you should be more self-conscious in working hard to study Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, The Theory of Three Represents, Scientific Development Outlook, and study Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We should learn in a detailed way for long term results and work hard to learn Marxism, to learn the theory alongside the actual, and to learn the theory through asking questions, to bring the scientific theories forward and transfer them into the powerful strength with which we understand and change the world. The Party members should make reading and interpreting Marxism their most serious habit and spiritual pursuit. We should use all these bicentennial titles to increase our readiness, improve our thinking, increase our levels of understanding and guide our practice. We should work to understand these scientific theories with a scientific attitude. Engels once said that the overall world outlook of Marx is not doctrine, it is a method. It does not provide an existing creed, what it provides is a starting point of study and its corresponding method. Engels also pointed out that our theories are the result and output of history, they take a different shape and form in different ages with different content. The general principle of scientific socialists should not be abandoned, if we lose it than we cannot say we are socialists. At the same time scientific socialism is not the creed that never changes, as I said. In the current time China's great social transformation is not simply copying the master version of China's historic culture, it does not simply follow the ideal template, it is also not a second edition of other countries' practice of socialism, it is also not a reproduction of other countries' modernization. Socialism, there is no method for all and the method should change. As long as we use the general principle of scientific socialism with its actual practice, historical tradition, and follow the trend of history, we can apply practice to make the blueprint into a bright future. The vitality of theory lies in innovation, to drive the further development of Marxism is the hallowed responsibility of Chinese Communists. We should firmly uphold and use Marxism to observe history and the present, to interpret the present, and to lead the present. We should use the varied and rich experience in China to drive the development of Marxism and use broader vision to absorb the excellent cultural results created by human beings. We should maintain the things we are doing correctly and create new initiatives, we should continually surpass ourselves and absorb the strengths of others to improve ourselves. We should keep deepening our understanding of the guiding rules of the Party, the rules of constructing socialism, and the rules of societal development. We should embark on a new journey to moderate Chinese Marxism and 21st century Marxism.
Comrades, today we are here to commemorate Marx, as well as to pay a tribute to the greatest thinker in human history. We are also here to manifest our firm belief in Marx's scientific theory. Engels said so long as we keep applying the rule of materialism and apply it in our contemporary time a strong revolutionary prospect will soon be in front of us as never before. In forging ahead we should keep holding the banner of Marxism higher. Like the ideal of Marx and Engels, the bright prospects of human society will be more vibrant in China. Thank you.
