Marx matters to all of humanity: D. Pandian

“Marx is very relevant today. Marx lived his whole life as a political refugee, but he matters to the rulers, scientists and all of humanity. He has given a call — if you want to save this world and humanity, remove capitalism and establish socialism,” CPI leader D. Pandian said at the Goethe Institute on Monday.

Speaking at the launch of 20 volumes of Tamil translations of ‘Marx and Engels Selected works’ by N. Muthu Mohan to commemorate 200 years of German thinker Karl Marx, D. Pandian said, “As a student I was attracted to the movement, not only because of my youthfulness. Where I was born, I could see only dire poverty; people were working hard, yet could not make a living. We were boasting about wealth, civilisation and tradition. But when we go through the history of India, we only hear of repeated famine and people dying...Is that the fault of nature?”

CPI leader R. Nallakannu said, “The whole world is celebrating Marx’s 200th anniversary. Marx wrote about how India was under the British rule and its past.” Despite so many regimes and invasions in India, he observed sadly that the basic issues in the lives of people haven’t changed.

Achim Fabig, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, said, “I salute the people who are behind this work and have invested so much of their lives, so much of their thinking and experience in languages and thought into.”

Mr. Muthu Mohan said, “Capitalism reached India during colonialism. But full-blown capitalism that exploits resources and labour is happening only now in India, Asia and Africa.”