Xi hails Marx as ‘greatest thinker of modern times’
A CHINA-DONATED statue of German philosopher Karl Marx was unveiled in his hometown Trier, southwest Germany, on Saturday on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The bronze figure portrays a middle-aged Marx walking, with a book in his left hand, together with his iconic beard. It is situated in proximity to Porta Nigra, a large Roman city gate that is the landmark of Trier, one of Germany’s oldest cities.
Weighing 2.3 tons, the statue is placed in front of a former Marx family home. The statue’s height, 5.5 meters, was made to coincide with his birthday on May 5, said its creator Wu Weishan, a Chinese artist.
Marx, son of a Jewish lawyer, spent 17 years in Trier.
“Marx’s ideas are of great value to the world, and in particular had far-reaching influence on China,” Guo Weimin, deputy director of the State Council Information Office of China, said before the statue’s unveiling.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that two centuries on, despite huge and profound changes in human society, the name of Marx is still respected all over the world and his theory still shines with the brilliant light of truth.
Xi was speaking at a gathering in Beijing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said Marx is the “teacher of revolution for the proletariat and working people all over the world.”
He is “the main founder of Marxism, creator of Marxist parties, a pathfinder for international communism and the greatest thinker of modern times.
“Today, we hold this grand gathering with great veneration to mark the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, to remember his great character and historic deeds and to review his noble spirit and brilliant thoughts.”
Marx devoted himself to striving for the liberation of humanity, scaling the peak of thought in his pursuit of truth, and the unremitting fight to overturn the old world and establish a new one, said Xi.
Marx is not only a great figure who bore the weight of the world, but also an ordinary person with passion for life, who was sincere and true to friendship.
The most valuable and influential spiritual asset that Marx left us, Xi added, is the scientific theory named after him — Marxism. Like a spectacular sunrise, the theory illuminated the path of humanity’s exploration of the law of history, and humanity’s search for their own liberation.
“The thought and theory of Marx are of his times and go beyond his times,” Xi said. “They are the essence of the spirit of that times and the essence of the spirit of all humanity.”
Xi said Marxism is a scientific theory that reveals the rule of human society development in a creative manner.
Having developed the materialist conception of history and surplus value theory, Marx showed how humanity would leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom and the road for the people to realize freedom and liberation.