To the eternal memory of Karl Marx

Andy Brooks and London comrades at the tomb

By New Worker correspondent

Well over a hundred communists and friends defied the snow to take part in the annual commemoration of the passing of Karl Marx at his tomb on Sunday. Marx died in his London study at half-past two on the afternoon of Wednesday 14th March 1883. He was buried three days later at Highgate Cemetery and the Marx Memorial Library has for many decades held an annual graveside oration at his burial place in the cemetery in North London.

Marx was buried in the same grave as his wife in Highgate Cemetery; it was marked with a simple headstone in accordance with Marx's wishes. In 1954 the grave was moved to a better position and it was decided to commission a more impressive tomb. The current monument, a bronze head atop a granite plinth, was designed and made by Laurence Bradshaw who was commissioned by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). It was unveiled by Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the CPGB, in 1956.

The Marx Memorial Library is the trustee of the Marx monument in the cemetery and the event is organised by the Library, which was opened in 1933 with the aim of advancing education, knowledge and learning in all aspects of the science of Marxism, the history of socialism and the working class movement.

 Library chair Alex Gordon opened the event to welcome everyone on the anniversary of Marx’s death. He was followed by the Cuban ambassador, Teresita Vicente Sotolongo, who delivered the oration on the life-long contribution that Marx made to the development of scientific socialism.

Andy Brooks, along with London comrades, laid the NCP’s floral tribute at the tomb together with a procession of other communist representatives that included diplomats from the Chinese and Cuban embassies, comrades from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE),  the Progressive Party of Working People of Cyprus (AKEL), and many more from other workers’ parties in the Middle East and the rest of the world that have members studying or working in Britain.

Finally the Internationale was sung around the monument bedecked with dozens of wreathes and floral tributes. The comrades then departed – some to a reception at a nearby public house and others to brave the elements to get back home.

First they came for the communists….

By New Worker correspondent

COMMUNISTS and militant trade unionists picketed the Ukrainian Embassy in Holland Park, London on Saturday 25^th July to protest at a law passed in May by the puppet government in Kiev outlawing the communist party in Ukraine and banning all communist symbols and symbols of that country’s Soviet history.

No legislation has been introduced to ban the use of Nazi and other fascist symbols by the fascist militias that prop up the Kiev regime. But criticism of historical Ukrainian Nazi collaborators has been banned in Ukraine.

Many comrades turned up wearing red and hammer-and-sickle and other communist emblems and badges, to make their point.

The protest was jointly organised by the Communist Party of Britain and the Solidarity with Anti-Fascist Resistance in Ukraine campaign. A similar picket was organised in Edinburgh on the same day outside the Ukrainian consulate there.

Andy Brooks addressing the crowd

The event was entitled: “First they came for the communists…” in memory of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s well-known poem:-

“First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. “Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.

“Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

The picket was supported by the New Communist Party, the London section of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus (Akel) and the Communist Party of Iraq as well as members of Unite, RMT, NUJ and other unions.

Alex Gordon of SARU and the RMT introduced speakers Steve Johnson of the CPB, Andy Brooks, general secretary of the NCP, Marina from the KKE, Dave Ayrton who spoke on behalf of SARU and others.

Steve Johnson warned that the Kiev regime, like the Nazis before them will not stop at banning the communists but all left wing and progressive parties and trade unions are at risk.

Andy Brooks spoke about the millions of people around the world engaged in combatting fascism and colonialism and the need to take the message of what is really going on in Ukraine to the thousands of anti-fascists in Britain.

Marina from the KKE denounced Kiev’s anti-communist law 2558. She said: “The Soviet Union lost 20 million people in the struggle to defeat fascist Germany and its allies. The Red Army raised the red flag over the Reichstag and this cannot be cancelled out by the Ukrainian authorities or by the EU that has anti-communism as its official ideology…

“The KKE from the very first moment condemned the intervention of the EU and US in the internal affairs of Ukraine, which contributed to the outbreak of was in the Donbas region. It denounced the activity of fascist forces, anti-communism, the vandalisms against the statue of Lenin and other anti-fascist Soviet memorials.”

•  Watch the opening speeches at the picket