Chen Wangdao tasted "the taste of truth"

Chen Wangdao is the translator of the first full Chinese translation of the Communist Manifesto, and has made indelible contributions to the spread and practice of Marxism in China.

The first translation of the Communist Manifesto

As early as when he was studying in Japan, Chen Wangdao began to come into contact with Marxism, and gradually understood, became familiar with and accepted Marxism. After returning from Japan, he was baptized by the May Fourth New Culture Movement, which made him further realize that "without fundamental changes in the system, all improvement measures It is futile".
In order to translate the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Chen Wangdao returned to his home in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province in February 1920. He translated the Manifesto of the Communist Party according to the Japanese version and the English version. In a firewood house, Chen Wangdao overcame the hardship of working conditions and the difficulties in translation, "it took five times as much effort as usual to translate the book before translating the full text completely". In late April 1920, Chen Wangdao completed the translation. After the publication of the "Communist Manifesto", it was immediately warmly welcomed by the working class and advanced intellectuals, and the response was extremely strong. More than a thousand copies of the first edition were printed and sold out quickly. Since then, the Communist Manifesto has been reprinted many times and was the 17th edition by May 1926. During the Northern Expedition, the Communist Manifesto was widely circulated in the Northern Expedition.
Under the influence of the Communist Manifesto, many revolutionary youth gradually established a firm belief in Marxism and grew up to be Marxists. In a conversation with Snow in 1936, Mao Zedong said, "There are three books that are particularly deeply engraved in my heart and establish my belief in Marxism. Once I accepted that Marxism is the correct interpretation of history, my belief in Marxism has not wavered." The first of these three books is the Communist Manifesto translated by Chen Wangdao.

Actively participate in the early activities of the party

Chen Wangdao was an important initiator of the founding of the Communist Party of China and directly participated in the establishment of two important organizations of the party-the Shanghai Marxist Research Association and the early organization of the Communist Party in Shanghai. These two organizations can be seen as different stages of organizational development during the founding of the Party. In the "Manifesto of the Communist Party of China" drafted by Chen Wangdao and other comrades, it is stipulated that the name of the party is the "Communist Party of China". The ultimate goal of the party is to eliminate private ownership and class oppression, and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. The "Program of the Communist Party of China" has been fully reflected.
Chen Wangdao was one of the early leaders of the Socialist Youth League. With the support of the organization, he opened foreign language schools, civilian girls' schools, and evening classes for employees to promote Marxism to the people. The Foreign Language School is actually a place for the public activities of the Socialist Youth League. It has sent a group of foreign students and trained a large number of cadres for the party. The civilian girls' school is to absorb "some conscious girls who were driven out by their families and schools in order to oppose the three and four virtues. We run the school and accept them. Ding Ling is the student of this school."
Chen Wangdao was an important initiator of the early labor movement. He directly participated in the establishment of the Shanghai Machine Trade Union, the Printing Trade Union, the Textile Trade Union, and the Post and Telecommunications Trade Union, and carried out the labor movement through the trade unions.

The Power of Interpreting Marxist Truth

No matter how the current situation changes, Chen Wangdao has always believed in Marxism throughout his life, and has interpreted the power of Marxist truth with his lifelong persistence.
After the failure of the Great Revolution, the Kuomintang reactionaries wantonly hunted and killed Communist Party members. Even so, Chen Wangdao still served as the president of the China University of Arts, a school founded by the party, according to the party's instructions. Subsequently, the famous "Left League" was born in this school ". After Chen Wangdao moved to Chongqing with Fudan University in 1940, he served as the chief of discipline of Fudan University according to the instructions of the party, and founded the first news hall in China. The news hall can circulate revolutionary books and periodicals and listen to Yan'an radio, which is called "Yan'an of Xiaba". During the War of Liberation, Chen Wangdao participated in the establishment of the "University Professors' Federation" of 16 colleges and universities in East China, and served as the chairman, vigorously promoting the "anti-civil war, anti-persecution, and anti-hunger" movement.

Source: People's Daily Online