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Marx bicentenary to be marked by books, movies

Posted May. 02, 2018 08:07,   

Updated May. 02, 2018 08:07

한국어

Saturday marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx (1818-1883). Books and movies that celebrate Marx, who was born in the Trier region of Germany on May 5, 1818 and greatly influenced the history of the modern world and ideas, are being released.

Foreign countries are also actively celebrating Marx. According to the Guardian, events in relation to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Marx will be held in places such as Tier, Germany and Manchester, he United Kingdom. In January, British philosopher Rupert Woodfin released a book that introduced Marxism in graphics and Gregory Claeys, a British historian, released a book called “Marx and Marxism” in April. “Marx Communale,” a biannual academic culture festival of domestic Marx researchers, however, was not held this year.

Marxism was criticized as a “long overdue idea” after the collapse of socialism in the 1990s but it is continuously being reviewed again in the 21st century. “Marxism as a political idea lost its ground with the collapse of the East-European bloc and weakened social movement of Europe’s left wing. However, this has become an opportunity to study the idea academically and breathe life into it,” diagnosed Professor Baek Seung-uk of the Sociology department of Chung-Ang University, who published the book “Thinking Marx.”

Among translated books that were recently introduced in South Korea, “Biography of Karl Marx” (two books, Nomad) draws attention. It is a book published by Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Soviet Union’s Central Committee of the Communist Party based on massive amount of data in 1973. The book, “The Last Marx (1881-1883): An Intellectual Biography” written by Marcello Musto (1976), written by an associate Professor of Political Theory at York University, Canada, will be published soon. “The Young Karl Marx (directed by Raoul Peck),” which is to be released on May 17, is a movie about Marx leading the labor movement as he meets Frierich Engels in Paris while defecting to France with his wife Jenny in 1844.


Jong-Yeob JO jjj@donga.com