青年马克思

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今天是马克思诞辰200周年纪念日，为大家分享一段马克思的故事。

Karl Marx

the man who wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital

I was born in 1818 in the city of Trier in Germany. My father was a lawyer and my mother had more than a full-time job looking after my father, myself and my eight brothers and sisters. We had a comfortable life and I didn't go to school until I was twelve because until that point I had been educated at home by private tutors. After attending the high school in Trier for five years, I went to the University of Bonn and studied law. Like many students suddenly thrown into an adult world, I found myself in a bit of trouble. I got into debt, had fights and once was even sent to prison. My father was not very pleased with my behaviour and insisted that I take my studies more seriously. At his suggestion – and as he was paying the bills, I didn't really have much choice – I moved to the University of Berlin, where I studied law and philosophy.

Marx's birthplace (wikipedia)

In Berlin I joined a group of students called the Young Hegelians, who were occupied with criticizing the political and religious authorities. The group was based on the teachings of the philosopher Hegel. I was not, in the beginning, that interested in his theories but I became an active member as my interest in politics grew. It was during this time that I met my future wife, Jenny von Westphalen. Jenny came from quite an upper-class family and there were many people who were interested in her apart from me. She was also four years older than I was. We got engaged, secretly, and did not get married until seven years later.

Jenny von Westphalen in the 1830s (Wikipedia)

In 1841, I got my Doctorate in Philosophy but due to my political beliefs, which others saw as being extreme and unwelcome, I was not able to get a teaching position at the university. In fact, I was forced to leave altogether. The people in power were feeling increasingly threatened by the articles I was publishing which demanded a better life for the poor. I went to live in Cologne, where I started a left-wing political newspaper, then I moved to Paris for a short time, where Jenny and I got married. However, it didn’t seem to matter where I went to live, because wherever I was, my views on life were unpopular.

After Cologne, the city of Brussels, in Belgium, seemed to be a good place to live and we stayed there for two years. I met my dear and life-long friend Friedrich Engels and also I became involved with people from the Communist League. The communists believed that the government should own a country's wealth – its industry, property and natural resources – and that it should be shared equally with everyone. They thought it was unfair that the upper classes and the aristocracy, who were a tiny minority of the population, should have so much while the working classes had almost nothing. The Communist League asked me to write down the principles of communism in a document that could be read and used by everyone, which I did. I explained in my writing that the working class is exploited by the upper-class capitalists whom I called the bourgeoisie. Capitalists get rich from the work done by the poor. The true value of something – goods or services – is the amount of work actually done. Any extra money that is made – profit – should belong to the people who did the work and not the capitalists. The only way that this situation can be changed is if the workers have the power to make rules. This can only be done if working classes take power away from the capitalists by using force and violence. No wealth should belong to individuals and all governments should be abolished. I ended with the following: ‘Working men of all countries, unite!’ My involvement in the League drew attention to my political views and I made yet more enemies by speaking out for change and equality. I was accused of trying to cause a revolution, but I answered that if a revolution happened, it would be the poverty of the people, not me, that was responsible. The poor were in the majority, but they had no votes and therefore no power to change the situation. 

By 1849, many European countries were in the middle of bitter revolutions and it was then that Engels and I, now back in Cologne, published The Communist Manifesto, which was based on the written work I had done for the Communist League. This was seen as a huge challenge to the civilized life enjoyed by the upper classes, and the continuous threats that were being made to my life made it necessary for me to leave Cologne, too. I had not shot or injured anyone, but I was seen as an enemy, so I decided we should move to London. There I could write and spread my message through my publications. Perhaps the British would be more open to hearing what I had to say. 

以上内容摘自“柯林斯名人故事集第四级”《了不起的思想家和人道主义者》。

正文部分用简明清晰的英文讲述人物生平故事，并以脚注形式提供重点词汇解释，文后附该著名人物生平大事记。

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