Mistranslating and misquoting Marxists

[Anti-Fascist]

On the death of Lenin, Stalin said:

"WE VOW TO YOU, COMRADE LENIN, THAT WE SHALL FULFIL YOUR BEHEST WITH HONOUR!"

But bourgeois propagandists translate it as:

"We vow to you, Comrade Lenin, that we shall honorably carry out this, your sacred commandment."

Sacred commandment? Comrade Stalin would never say such a thing.

Enver Hoxha is quoted as saying:

"Anyone who deviates from Marxism-Leninism [...] will be liquidated."

But anyone who has read that speech knows that he meant something
completely different from what is being implied when it is
quoted out of context.

I cannot even trace the origin of some "quotations".

I have read transations in which Lenin was referring to a "Communist
State" - and the impression is that it is something sacred and mystical. But
anyone who has read State and Revolution knows that Lenin did not
believe in a "Communist State", and hence we know this is an intentional
mistranslation by the bourgeoisie in their war of propaganda the purpose
of which is to make the masses discredit Marxism.

There are even some entire articles supposedly written by Marxists which
have been proven to be fabricated.

Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Supreme Commander KIM JONG IL, and others
have been the victim of this.

[Comrade Ceausescu]

Yes it is ridiculous. Typical western scum to do this.

[marsell]

"WE VOW TO YOU, COMRADE LENIN, THAT WE SHALL FULFIL YOUR BEHEST WITH HONOUR!"

No, he was plotting with his opportunist followers to overthrow trotsky.



There are even some entire articles supposedly written by Marxists which
have been proven to be fabricated.

Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Supreme Commander KIM JONG IL, and others
have been the victim of this.

As have trotskys articles in the journals and papers of the soviet union, under the influence of the anti-trotsky dicactorship.

Yes it is ridiculous. Typical western scum to do this.

[redstar2000]

It's certainly possible that some things have been mis-translated out of a desire to undermine the revolutionary content of what the author originally said.

But to suggest that it's significant sounds like "conspiracy theory" stuff.

Accurate translations are hard...human languages contain many nuances that are very difficult to get across.

Consider the phrase of Marx that is translated into English as "a class for itself".

I'm told that in the original German, it doesn't just mean partisanship; it connotes "a pride in one's class" as "fit to rule".

Marx wasn't just saying that workers would be "for" workers in the sense of "supporting" workers against the bourgeoisie. He was trying to convey the idea that workers would develop confidence in themselves as a class...the same way that the bourgeoisie developed confidence in their class in the struggle to overthrow feudalism.

But in English, the "force" of his words are "lost in translation".

Whenever you read something translated from another language, you're nearly always getting a slightly fuzzy photograph of the original.

It's not "conspiracy" (usually), it's just the way languages are.

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[Anti-Fascist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 20 2004, 02:14 PM
It's not "conspiracy" (usually), it's just the way languages are.
I agree, but this is not the case with fabricated quotations, fabricated articles,
some mistranslations and some quotations quoted out of context.

[canikickit]

Apparently in the original of the Communist Manifesto, the opening line refers to a "hobgoblin", not a "spectre". I prefer the hobgoblin line.