Input revolutionary fire to help political awakening

On the eve of the founding of the party, three books that had a deep influence on Comrade Mao Zedong were translated and published successively--

In August 1920, Chen Wangdao's translation of the Communist Manifesto was launched by the Shanghai Socialist Research Institute; Li Ji's translation of Kokapu's "History of Socialism" and Yun Daiying's translation of Kautsky's "Class Fight" were published in October 1920 and 1921 respectively. Published in January.

Here, the focus is on Kirkalp's History of Socialism. "History of Socialism" was written in 1892. It mainly introduces some representative figures, ideas and movements in the development of the European socialist movement, including French socialism, British socialism, the International Workers' Association, the German Social Democratic Party, the Russian Revolution, Anarchism and syndicalism.

Why did Li Ji choose to translate The History of Socialism? It was related to the May Fourth Movement. Li Ji, who was deeply baptized by the May Fourth Movement, felt that education "is not worth it if it is for the benefit of one family, so I am determined to fight for the happiness of the people". So he decided to study social science and socialism.

During his time as an English secretary in Zhongxing Coal Mine in Shandong Province, Li Ji was shocked and sympathized by the harsh and dangerous working environment of the workers, as well as their inhumane treatment and meager income. Such a practical observation and experience prompted him to "be more determined in his will to move towards scientific socialism".

To understand a doctrine, one must first understand its ins and outs. Li Ji believes that the socialist movement is very developed in Europe, Australia and the United States, and there are many factions. "If we want to have a systematic knowledge of this movement, we must start with history". Kirkap's "history of socialism", records the origin and factions of the socialist movement in the world, is very detailed, and very brief. After reading this book, "I should be able to understand the vigorous development of socialist movements in various countries".

Translating such theoretical works is difficult at first. "Sometimes I can't write down a sentence for a long time, and no one can or is willing to give advice... It's really not easy to rely on my own deep thinking and hard work. Even if I can understand a sentence, I don't know how to translate it. Try this way, change it that way, and a successful article will be easy to count."

In this way, it took Li Ji several months to translate the History of Socialism into 220000 words in Chinese. The book is quite "praised" by the reading circle, with 2000 copies printed in its first edition and "running out soon".

Cai Yuanpei wrote in the preface of the translation: After the establishment of the majority government in Russia, more people introduced Marx's theory, and this kind of topic is often seen in the daily and monthly magazines. But there has not yet been a real account of what has happened since the beginning of European socialism. The History of Socialism, translated by Li Ji, is translated in vernacular, "in the doctrine of socialism, it is quite detailed".

Cai Yuanpei also gave examples to illustrate that the methods involved in the book, such as the methods of the Belgian socialist movement, the French syndicate, and the methods of worker education, should be of inspiration and reference to China.

Xu Deheng, a student leader during the May Fourth Movement and founder of the Jiu San Society, recalled: Although a few people believed in Marxism during the May Fourth Movement, most people still did not understand Marxism-Leninism. Everyone was very oppressed at that time and only saw that the Soviet Union led by Lenin was very good after the October Revolution. At that time, very few books were translated... Translation is a big problem, not a year or two can solve, very difficult.

In this case, the translation of the classic is equivalent to the input fire. Therefore, we can see that before and after the founding of the party, Chen Duxiu and others attached great importance to and vigorously promoted the translation of Marx's important works.

After the translation and publication of the History of Socialism, Li Ji began to write the Biography of Marx. Finally, the first volume was published in 1926, the middle volume in 1929 and the second volume in 1932.

This masterpiece of more than 700000 words is the first "detailed biography of Marx" in China. It fully presents the "whole Marx" as a "brave warrior" and a "profound scholar". It can be called a masterpiece of Marxist enlightenment and popularization.

Source: Liberation Daily