Honouring Karl Marx

A Chinese diplomat laying flowers at the tomb

By New Worker

correspondent

AROUND 200 people gathered last Sunday in the spring sunshine in Highgate Cemetery to pay their respects at the grave of Karl Marx on the anniversary of his death on 14th March 1883.

 They included representatives of the Vietnamese, Cuban and Chinese embassies as well as delegation from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Tudeh Party of Iran.

            Javier Moreno, President of the Forum for Memory – which seeks to uncover and preserve the history of working class struggles, gave the main oration. He spoke mainly in Spanish, which was translated by Dr John Callow, acting as master of ceremonies on behalf of the Marx Memorial Library trustees of Marx’s grave.

 Moreno spoke of the struggles in Spain to recover the remains of those massacred in their thousands for fighting against the fascist Franco regime and the struggles today against government cuts and unemployment.

            “Marxism gives us the tools to adapt to new historical stages and the effort we have to do is use them,” Moreno declared. “Marxism gave us class consciousness and class pride,”.

            This was followed by a wreath-laying ceremony where representatives of the embassies and political groups present – including the New Communist Party – laid flowers at the grave. The ceremony ended with the singing of the Internationale by all present.