The Communist Manifesto / Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Speaker: Hon Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄議員)
Date: 21 April 2005 (Thursday)
Time: 7:15 - 9:00 pm
Venue: 1/F, Main Library New Wing
Language: English
About the Books
The Communist Manifesto / Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
"L.M. Findlay's elegant new translation is a work of textual and historical scholarship. Few books have had as much of an impact on modern history as The Communist Manifesto. Since it was first published in 1848, it has become the rallying cry for revolutionary movements around the world. This new Broadview edition draws on the 1888 Samuel Moore translation supervised by Engels - the standard English version in Marxist discourse - and on the original Helen Macfarlane translation into English of 1850." Throughout, Findlay draws on a variety of disciplines and maintains a broadranging perspective. Among the appendices are Engels' "Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith," correspondence and journalism of Marx and Engels, ten illustrations, and eight additional influential political manifestos from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (FROM THE PUBLISHER)
About the Speaker
Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄), also known as Long Hair (長毛) (born March 27, 1956) is a Hong Kong political activist, and as of 2004, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) representing New Territories East.
He is best known for his long, shoulder length hair and nearly always wearing a T-shirt with the image of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Leung said he will not cut his hair until the government of People's Republic of China apologize about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Leung is a self-proclaimed Trotskyite and a member of April Fifth Action, a radical socialist group. Leung contested but lost in both the 2000 LegCo elections and 2003 District Council elections. He considered the latter battle in 2003 a victory from the number of votes he got in a district which traditionally supports pro-Beijing fascist candidates.
Leung ran again in the LegCo Election 2004 and succeeded in winning a seat in LegCo with 65,952 votes, a 200% increase in votes compared with his previous LegCo run.
Leung's key campaigns include universal suffrage and working- and under-classes welfare. His political agenda include introduction of a livable minimum wage and a comprehensive social security system, restoration of workers' right to collective bargaining, and setting a tax on business speculation.
He has been briefly in jail several times for offenses such as shouting from the LegCo's public viewing gallery and burning Chinese national flag.
Although he expressed his fondness of Che Guevara and the ideals of revolutionary Marxism, Leung has yet to indicate a 'proletariat' revolution agenda on his election platforms, and many of his ideas and proposals would be readily accepted by most mainstream left (social) liberal and social democratic parties.
(FROM WINKIPEDIA)