Anniversary of Marx’s 200th birthday celebrated
TRIER, GERMANY >> Nearly two centuries ago, the 17-year-old son of a vineyard owner left this tranquil riverside city on the edge of the Prussian empire to make his way in the world, and maybe shake it up a bit.
On Saturday, after inspiring untold numbers of revolutions, repressive regimes and ponderous grad school seminars, Karl Marx came home. In bronze. By way of China. And, oh, he’s now 18 feet tall.
The unveiling of a twoton, Chinese-funded sculpture to honor the German philosopher on the 200th anniversary of his birth brought scads of tourists to Trier, where his life began.
The capitalist exploitation of his birthday may not have thrilled the author of the Communist Manifesto. But the proponent of proletarian uprisings might have been cheered by another facet of the celebration: The struggle.
The city is split over whether a democratic nation such as Germany should be erecting monuments that are paid for, designed and built by an authoritarian one such as China. The divide spilled into the streets Saturday with dueling demonstrations for and against the monolith, forming a noisy backdrop to the statue’s official dedication.
On one side, hundreds of flag-waving members of Germany’s fringe Communist Party cheered. On the other, an eclectic group of Free Tibet, anti-fascist and pro-human rights protesters chanted and blew whistles in a vain effort to drown out the speeches.
City officials said they see nothing wrong with the statue’s unusual path to Trier’s
downtown. The statue, Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe insisted Saturday, is not about the “glorification” of Marx. Instead, he told the large crowd that had assembled under a cloudless blue sky, it’s meant to spark conversation, and strengthen international bonds.
“It’s a gesture of friendship,” he said.
But others in Germany — a nation divided for nearly a half-century due in no small part to its native son’s theories — said city officials are being naive about a project that neatly aligns with Chinese state propaganda.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a political agenda behind it,” said Christian Soffel, a Chinese studies professor at Trier University.
How important Marx is to that agenda was underlined by the visit of two senior Chinese officials who spoke at Saturday’s ceremony. The officials — the country’s ambassador to Germany and the deputy chief of the Information Ministry, the government’s propaganda arm — each paid tribute to Marx.
The ambassador, Shi Mingde, said China had
“modernized” Marx’s theories and boasted that China is responsible for 30 percent of global economic growth.
“For that,” he said, “we can thank Karl Marx.”
At the unveiling’s critical moment, Chinese and German officials together pulled back a red drape to reveal a rendering of Marx.
China had already held its own lavish event to honor the bicentennial. On Friday, President Xi Jinping heralded Marx as “the greatest thinker of modern times” at a ceremony to mark his birthday at the Great Hall of the People.
Xi’s German counterpart, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, showed markedly less affection with his own speech about Marx on Thursday. The philosopher was undeniably influential, Steinmeier said, and his ideas need to be discussed. But the country also cannot forget that his writings gave fuel to murderous regimes, and still do.
“We shouldn’t fear Marx, but we don’t need to build any golden statues to him either,” Steinmeier said.