For Marx was before all else a revolutionist. His real mission in life was to contribute， in one way or another to the overthrow of capitalist society and of the state institutions which it had brought into being， to contribute to the liberation of the modern proletariat， which he was the first to make conscious of its own position and its needs， conscious of the conditions of its emancipation. Fighting was his element. And he fought with a passion， a tenacity and a success such as few could rival. His work on the first Rheinische Zeitung (1842)， the Paris Vorwarts (1844)， the Deutsche Brüsseler Zeitung (1847)， the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (1848-1849)， the New York Tribune (1852-1861)， and in addition to these a host of militant pamphlets， work in organizations in Paris， Brussels and London， and finally， crowning all， the formation of the great International Working Men’s Association—this was indeed an achievement of which its founder might well have been proud even if he had done nothing else.
And， consequently， Marx was the best hated and most calumniated man of his time. Governments， both absolutist and republican， deported him from their territories. Bourgeois， whether conservative or ultra-democratic， vied with one another in heaping slanders upon him. All this he brushed aside as though it were cobweb， ignoring it， answering only when extreme necessity compelled him. And he died beloved， revered and mourned by millions of revolutionary fellow workers— from the mines of Siberia to California， in all parts of Europe and America—and I make bold to say that though he may have had many opponents he had hardly one personal enemy.
His name will endure through the ages， and so also will his work.
参考译文
3月14日下午两点三刻，当代最伟大的思想家停止思想了。他独自在房间里还不到两分钟，等我们再进去的时候，发现他在安乐椅上安静地睡着了——永远地睡着了。