Shownotes Transcript
1927年初夏的一天一对年轻夫妇被押赴刑场处决的枪声响起前But before the triggers were pulled,妻子拥抱了她的丈夫the wife hugged her husband."我们结婚时并未举行婚礼就让枪声作为我们结婚的礼炮吧"这对爱人就是徐琛 余哲贞The lovers, Xu Chen and Yu Zhezhen,他们为中国革命牺牲时年仅20多岁died in their 20s for China's revolution."四一二"反革命政变后的一年左右时间内Nearly 50,000 early Communist Party members like them有近5万名像他们一样的早期中国共产党员被杀害were killed within a year after the military coup.这个六年前才成立的年轻政党The young political party, founded six years prior,因此失去了近四分之三的党员was dealt a heavy blow深受重创after losing three quarters of its members.那么 这个政党是如何从生死存亡之际发展至今How then, does this party at the blink of falling apart,在其成立100周年的时候come to have more than 91 million members拥有超过9100万成员的呢in its centenary year?这个问题的答案还要追溯到19世纪The answer goes back to China's deep crisis那时中国正处于重重危机之中in the 19th century.鸦片战争战败后Since the defeat in the Opium War,中国成为了因工业革命强大起来的China had become prey in the eyes of Western colonizers西方殖民者眼中的猎物empowered by the Industrial Revolution.割地赔款带来的重创Forced concessions and indemnities最终落在了普通中国百姓的身上ended up on the shoulders of ordinary Chinese.幸运的是 中国历史上从来不缺少Fortunately, there was no lack of men and women不断努力救亡图存的爱国志士who kept trying to save the country they loved.这些爱国志士也曾试图借鉴西方已经成功的尝试Those patriots looked at the already successful attempts来改变中国现状in the West to make changes to China.他们想要通过改革They tried to push for reform建立起一个君主立宪制国家and build a constitutional monarchy,但是失败了but it failed.他们通过革命建立起了一个民主共和国They were able to build a democratic republic through revolution,但并没能维持多久but it did not last long.中华民族是很有上进心的The Chinese people were very motivated.面临这种外来的压力When facing the external pressure,就做了很多很多尝试they made many attempts,但是大部分确实都不成功but most of them failed.国家的工业化也搞得不好The country also did not industrialize,又有外敌入侵and there were foreign invasions.最终人民还是选择了一个领导能力更强In the end the people chose the strong leadership而且更有现代化目标的一个政党of the Communist Party of China就是中国共产党because they have a goal of modernizing China.1919年5月4日On May 4, 1919,北京的爱国学生走上街头patriotic students in Beijing took to the streets抗议北洋政府屈服于to protest the government一战后帝国主义列强的that caved in to the unreasonable demands不合理要求of imperialist powers after World War I.抗议活动很快蔓延到The protests soon spread全国100多个城市to more than 100 cities across China,工人们纷纷罢工支持with huge support from workers who went on strike.正是通过这场运动During the protests,因俄国十月革命胜利intellectuals influenced by Marxism而受马克思主义影响的中国知识分子after the October Revolution in Russia were touched发现了工人在救国斗争中的磅礴力量by the power of workers in the fight to save China.早期的共产主义组织Early communist groups started to sprout up开始在拥有较多工人阶级的中国城市萌芽发展in Chinese cities with a large working class.1921年 中国共产党第一次全国代表大会上In 1921, the First National Congress of the CPC中国共产党正式宣告成立announced the official founding of the Party.当时全国只有By then there were more than 50 CPC members50多名中共党员across the country,但这个小小的政党but this small political party已经有了这个问题的答案had the answer to the question,"中国的出路何在"从建立起From the day of its foundation,就下决心the CPC was determined要深入下层to reach out to the lower strata of society,到占中国人口绝大多数的to the toiling masses who made up the vast majority劳苦大众中去of the Chinese population,开展群众工作and to mobilize them.那时 毛泽东通过By then, Mao Zedong had found that在湖南农村的多次实地考察中发现a tenant peasant could save no more than 20 yuan一个佃农辛勤劳动一整年after a full year of hard work能存下的钱不超过20元in several field studies in Hunan province,也就是说当时中国农民的生活which meant peasants in China比耕牛还要艰难had a harder life than farm cattle.但这些农民才是中国人口中沉默的大多数But the needs of those peasants,在中国共产党之前the silent majority of Chinese people,他们的需求几乎没有被其他的改革者所注意到were rarely noticed by previous reformers until the CPC.中国共产党对农民的关注与马克思主义想要创造Such realization echoes with the essence of Marxism一个没有剥削的社会的本质相呼应which is to create a society without any exploitation.党开始动员农民The Party soon worked to mobilize peasants,"农村包围城市"的独特革命道路paving the way for its unique revolutionary strategy逐渐形成of surrounding cities from the countryside,并最终建立新中国and eventually established a New China.中国共产党选择马克思主义作为指导思想The CPC's decision to choose Marxism是一个明智的选择as its guiding theory was a wise one –因为它理解one that understood the misery and capacity中国广大工人 农民群体的苦难和力量of the many workers and peasants in China.唯一能把人民凝聚到一起的And the only thing that draws people together就是解决绝大多数人的问题is by addressing majority people's concern.当你与绝大多数人When you sided with the overwhelming majority站在一边of the people,和农民 工人 底层人民站在一边the peasantry, the workers, people in lower,你会得到他们的支持you will get their support.中国人民能够分辨什么样的政党最符合他们的利益The people know who best serve their interests并在中国共产党的领导下and therefore choose the CPC取得了民族独立as the leadership to win independence.这就是In Chinese,"选得对"we say xuǎn dé duì, which means choose wisely.正如习近平总书记所说"中国最终选择了社会主义道路这是历史的选择 人民的选择"