Marx in the financial capital blown by icy winds Paola Totaro, London October 25, 2008
THE other day, tired of being kept prisoner by the never-ending London drizzle, we donned the wellies and set out for the far end of Hampstead Heath, one of the world's great urban parks. We've tramped it endless times, but this day the end point was Highgate Cemetery, at the far, upper end of the Heath. Somehow, with the global financial crisis it seemed appropriate — Karl Marx, the father of communism is probably Highgate's best-known resident, interred beneath a granite and bronze monstrosity that screams capitalism with a Kapital C. Inscribed in gold are the words Workers of all lands unite: philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways — the point however is to change it on the most imposing (and ugliest) of graves in the area. Marx was not buried in this spot originally but at another, more obscure and un-consecrated spot of Highgate. He was moved in the dead of night in the 1940s by the British Communist Party. They didn't want to cause a fuss but wanted their man in a more prominent part of the graveyard. The party built the great bust and inscribed the plinth so visiting communists would have something to look at and photograph. Not only is Marx's grave the most visible of the 166,000 or so in Highgate. Highgate guides say interest in his grave has never been greater — and now much of Western Europe seems to be singing to his tune. The Times, in an editorial this week, mused that the philosopher had become as "fashionable as this season's colour on the catwalk". Everywhere, newspapers, magazines and blogs are citing Marx's analysis of capitalism and his predicted periods of crisis and instability. Suddenly, his 10 essential steps of communism are being recited with the enthusiasm of newly inducted members of AA: "Remember step five: centralisation of credit in the hands of the state." In Berlin, Marx's German publishers are reportedly cock-a-hoop that sales of Das Kapital are soaring. And yet Marx was not a doomsayer, nor did he argue an inevitable collapse: rather, that it is politics that resolves crisis and man who must participate and act as an agent of change and an architect of history. Eminent Marxist historians have written this week that Marx was not the type to revel in the pain of others. But on that icy Sunday in Europe's melting financial capital, an "I told you so" from those great bronze lips wouldn't have seemed out of place. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
