Workers of all lands Unite!

Karl Marx

Earlier this year I took a trip to Romania and ventured into Transylvania stalking a myth created by Bram Stoker.  What I encountered on that not so perilous journey was an eye opening experience that made me think that perhaps I’m much better off than I ever thought I was. Growing up down under, I heard over and over again that Australia is the lucky country. Even coming from a poor background, at least we always had something and if anyone turned up at meal times, there was always room at the table. So as I was saying, in the town of Brasov in Transylvania, lives a humble man by the name of Peter.  He is a little older than me, and I didn’t ask his surname. I spent a few hours listening to him explain what it was like living in Romania and growing up in a Communist State. He told me how difficult it was having nothing and not having the freedom of choice that I had growing up. Their hopes were kept alive by the music of bands like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and he read books that he could get a hold of and was a big fan of George Orwell. Of course, when it came down to brass tacks and where the blame of such an experience lies, we can kind of guess.

Karl Heinrich Marx was born in 1818 in Trier, Western Germany. Educated to university level he received a doctorate in philosophy in 1841.  In 1943 he travelled with his wife Jenny to Paris where Marx became a revolutionary communist and became friends with Friedrich Engels. After being forced from France, they spent two years in Belgium where they co-authored The Communist Manifesto which has since been recognised as one of the world’s most influential political publications.

Marx brought his family to London in 1849 and was largely supported financially by Engels. It was in London that Marx wrote Das Capital which was meant to reveal the laws of Capitalism. He turned against the Bourgeois and explained the structural contradictions of the social classes.

Dean Street Soho, where Marx lived with his family

When you think about the effects of Communism where everybody shares and the food is rationed fairly – supposedly, and industrial armies are formed for agricultural purposes, you could forgive governments for introducing the concept as such. But, it has more down sides than up and countries such as Romania and Poland have suffered the consequences, even more so after the end in the 80’s, because, at least when you have a ration book you receive some sort of morsel for your family.  It’s the aftermath of Communism - where all of a sudden you have money, which is a pittance and you have to nourish and provide for your family, which sees the people engaged in that constant uphill battle.

Our friend Peter in Brasov wasn’t starving, but he was struggling to make ends meet.  I on the other hand, thought that I was hard done by when I was growing up, but I had at least one pair of jeans and if I couldn’t afford them, I knew that if I saved my money, I could buy some eventually. It’s the choices that Communism took away from these people that hurt more than anything.  They had no rights and only the rich and famous could travel because the government didn’t want the masses to see what it was like over the border. God forbid that someone might start some sort of resistance movement.

Karl Marx had an idea.  He didn’t like capitalism and he thought that his idea might make the world a better place.  In theory, it might have looked good, but it didn’t work.  Where ever you have a government, there’s always capitalism, but not among the working class. They might call it a Communist State, but you can bet your last ration coupon that the guy at the top isn’t lining up for days to grab what he can off the shop shelf. If Marx had realised this, would he still have contributed he work to the world? Of course, he had a voice and he chose to use it.

The Marx tomb at Highgate

In Highgate Cemetery, there is a monument to this radical thinker. It’s not a humble monument, in fact, it sticks out like dogs balls and if you weren’t looking for his grave, you’d find it anyway. It was built in 1954, funded by the Communist Party of Great Britain. It’s a far cry from the not so noticeable marker that was put there in 1895 when just over a handful of mourners attended his funeral. Just like that enormous tomb, his ideas left a sizeable footprint on the world and in 1980 almost one third of the world lived in Communist States. I find it strange that so many could take the work of one man and use his ideas to govern a country. But all ideas have to come from somewhere and this one stemmed Once upon a time in the mind of a man did not want to just understand the world, but change it.