Re: The Tome of Karl Marx

[Debordagoria <phantasmagorias@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Tome" ? "Tomb" ?  Play on words?  I mean the tome is
 more important surely.
Michael

--- Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thursday, January 27, 2000, updated at 14:42(GMT+8)
>
> China: People's Daily Editorial
>
> Paying Homage to Tome of Karl Marx
>
> Karl Marx had passed away for more than a century,
> but he still enjoys high
> reputation among the world's people, and Marxism has
> experienced
> unprecedented development.
>
> Following is the full text of this article written
> by Xue Baosheng:
>
> Before I went to Britain, I had never expected that
> Karl Marx would enjoy
> such a high position in the hearts of Westerners.
>
> On our way to pay homage to Marx's tome, we asked a
> man to show us the way
> to get there. At first, he did not know who Marx
> was, but when he learned
> that it was Karl Marx, he joyfully patted me on the
> shoulder, shouting: Oh,
> it is Karl Marx! Then he put down his baggage and
> drew a sketch showing us
> the way to get there, he repeatedly held up his
> thumb, expressing his
> admiration and respect for Karl Marx.
>
> Following the route he showed us, we went into the
> depth of the bush in the
> Highgate Cemetery, the farther we went, the more
> solemn atmosphere we found
> it prevailing there. When the highest tome-stone
> came into view, we saw the
> familiar statue: an amiable old man, wise scholar,
> fearless fighter and
> giant who predicted and created a new world. On the
> tome-stone was
> inscribed with the flashing famous remark:
> "Proletarians of the World,
> Unite!", that was rending the open sky.
>
> Lots of flowers were placed before the tome of Marx,
> some of which were
> withering, others were bright red. It can be
> imagined that there had been
> an endless stream of people coming to pay respect
> here. Although many
> places in Britain and elsewhere in the world seemed
> to see only the ray of
> money, the working people always cherish the memory
> of this wise man and
> sage. This was a once penniless Jew who had written
> Capital, the Bible of
> the Proletarians. Those cherishing the memory of him
> came from all corners
> of the world. A writer presented pieces of his new
> works before Marx's
> tome, on the cover of which was printed with a
> steelworker who was sweating
> profusely amidst the glare of flames.
>
> Amid mist and in the glow of the setting sun, we sat
> silently on a huge
> rock before the tome-stone, retrospecting the manner
> of that man and the
> fresh and withering flowers placed before the tome
> and experiencing the
> surrounding sacredness and solemnity, the
> heart-stirring speech made by
> Friedrich Engels before the tome of Marx, "The blank
> formed after the death
> of this giant will soon be felt by the people", was
> ringing in our ears.
>
> More than a century has elapsed since the death of
> Karl Marx, Marxism has
> experienced unprecedented development, history has
> left behind a long
> stretch of blank. In a bid to fill up the "blank"
> and thoroughly change the
> destiny of the laboring people, the successors to
> Marxism have waged
> persistent and arduous struggles, with the result
> that the 20th century has
> witnessed the great development of and major
> achievements in socialism. At
> the same time, because this stretch of "blank" as
> well as the process
> needed for the late-comers to renew their
> understanding and practice of
> socialism, the cause of socialism has experienced
> unavoidable frustrations
> and setbacks. Our Party, in leading the people of
> the whole country, has
> finally found the road of building socialism with
> Chinese characteristics
> and continues writing the historical chapter about
> the transition from
> utopian to scientific socialism for the realization
> of the great prediction
> of Marxism. In a certain sense, this also means
> filling in the "blank".
> This represents a new development of Marxism under
> new historical
> conditions. What a price history and we have paid
> for the achievement of
> this new development!
>
> However, no matter how tortuous the road is, truth
> is, after all, truth. In
> September 1999, in the appraisal of the world's most
> influential great man
> of the past millennium made by BBC (the British
> Broadcasting Corporation)
> through Internet, Karl Marx headed the list. British
> social system and
> ideology are different from those of the socialist
> countries, while
> Marxism, at the time of its birth, was seen as a
> "specter". This, of
> course, does not mean that Marxism is immutable and
> will no longer develop.
> On the contrary, its life hinges upon practice, the
> time and human destiny,
> and is combined with the achievements of mankind's
> most advanced ideology
> and culture, only then, can its basic viewpoints
> remain everlasting.
>
> Marxism is not the whim and accidental discovery of
> the great man, but
> rather it is the epitome of the achievements of
> mankind's most advanced
> ideology and culture, it is pure gold extracted from
> knowledge minerals. So
> far, we have not learned of any scholar who, like
> Marx, has left behind
> deep footprints on the ground of the Museum of Great
> Britain. Comrade Mao
> Zedong said with feeling that there were not many
> people in our Party who
> really understood Marxism, so he advocated studying
> Marxism hard and
> learning from Marx. Whether in theory or in
> practice, one should display
> this hardworking spirit, always race against the
> time, and pursue the
> achievements of mankind's most advanced ideology and
> culture at all times
> and draw nourishment therefrom.
>
> ====
>
> (When I visited Mark Jones in London last May, we
> went to Marx's grave
> where we came upon a group of about a dozen Chinese,
> who had the same
> feelings we did and the same as described in the
> article above.)
>
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
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