of the greatest thinkers of the 19th century.

十九世紀最偉大的思想家之一

His writings have inspired revolutions,

他的著作鼓舞了革命

and generated centuries of fierce debate.

並產生數世紀激烈的辯論

Born in Prussia, now Germany,

於 1818 年的五月出生於普魯士

in May 1818, Marx believed that capitalism,

現在的德國，馬克思相信

which was in its infancy at the time, had serious flaws.

在當時處於剛起步的階段的資本主義，有嚴重的缺陷

Marx claimed that in pursuit of profit,

馬克思主張，為了追求利益

capitalists would encourage their ideology

資本家會鼓勵他們的思想

that work is good, leisure is bad,

那就是工作是好的，休息是不好的

and material things will make us happy.

而物質的東西會讓我們快樂

Embracing mass production,

擁抱大量製造

depriving workers of job satisfaction.

剝奪工人的工作滿意度

At the same time, exploiting the working class.

同時，剝削勞工階級

He became involved in the Communist League,

他開始參與共產主義聯盟

a small group of intellectuals who wanted

一小群知識份子希望

to abolish the class system and spread wealth equally.

廢除階級系統，並平均地分散財富

Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto

馬可斯在 1847 年寫了《共產黨宣言》

in 1847, with his benefactor Friedrich Engels,

和他的贊助者弗里德里希·恩格斯一起

laying out the Marxist vision of a society

展示馬克思主義的社會願景

where wealth is distributed evenly.

也就是財富平均分配的社會

Property is owned publicly, and education is free for all.

財富為大眾共同擁有，而大家的教育都免費

But Marx was little-known and little-read at the time.

但是馬克思在當時沒什麼人知道，也很少人看過他的著作

When he died in 1883, only 11 people

1883 年他過世時，僅僅十一人

attended his funeral.

參加他的葬禮

After his death, his ideas flourished.

在他去世後，他的想法開始茁壯

Based on the theory of Marxism came communism,

共產主義是基於馬克思主義的理論

the realization of a stateless society where all are equal.

共產主義體認到一個沒有國界的社會，人人平等

Communism became a global movement,

共產主義成了一個全球運動

but the utopian ideal of a fair

但這個烏托邦式的想法，

and equal society failed to materialize.

一個公平、平等的社會卻沒能實現

Communism tyrannized and impoverished it subjects.

共產主義對他的人民是與暴政並使他們貧窮

And slaughtered them in the tens of millions.

並迫害千萬名民眾

Today, capitalism dominates the world.

如今，資本主義主導這個世界

But many of Marx's criticisms have never been more relevant.

但許多馬克思對資本主義的批評和今日的發展息息相關

Today, the global disparity between rich

現今，全球的貧富差距

and poor is startling.

令人吃驚

Marx predicted that capitalism would lead

馬克思預測資本主義將導致

to the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor.

富者更富，貧者仍然貧窮

He was right.

他是對的

He also predicted that capitalism would lead

他也預測資本主義將導致

to boom and bust economics.

經濟的繁榮與蕭條

Marx predicted that capitalism would lead to globalization,

馬克思也預測，資本主義將導致全球化

and that a handful of firms would

而少數幾家公司將

have huge market dominance.

主導巨大的市場

However,

然而

Marx underestimated the ability of

馬克思低估了資本主義的能力

capitalism to make everybody richer

那就是，藉由將產品變便宜

by making products much cheaper.

讓每個人都更加富有

Since the 1980s, the number of people

從 1980 年代起，極端貧窮的人口數

in absolute poverty has fallen by about one billion.

已經下降了約十億左右

He also got wrong the capacity

他也搞錯了

of capitalism to reform itself by creating welfare states

資本主義經由建立福利國家改良自己

that redistributed wealth through taxation.

經由課稅來重新分配財富

Although there is a lot to learn from Marx,

雖然我們能像馬克思學習的很多

his solution was far worse than the disease.

他的解決方法比疾病本身還要糟糕

At the same time, it can't be said

但同時，也不能說今日

that today's capitalism, dominated by immense inequality

被巨大不平等和金融危機所主導的資本主義

and financial crises has triumphed.

贏過了共產主義