 The high point for anybody and we talk about this, you know, Mecca for the Muslims We say, where do people go? Where do they go? Where do the Christians go? Perhaps they go to Rome if they're Roman Catholics or if they're Church of England then they might only go to Buckingham Palace or if Syrian Church, whatever. I mean people have their own places, but for us Marxists, what is inevitably become a shrine, although it's not meant to be, is the statue of Karl Marx at Highgate. My name is Hersey Baines and I'm currently the Secretary of the CPIM's Association of Indian Communists, the Overseas Unit of the CPIM in Britain. I've lived there since 1966, been involved with the party and the left work since 1975. If you trans go through Highgate, they will, everybody will point you to the popular sun that is buried there in Highgate. It is the single most visited site by people from all over the world, whether they're presidents, boss presidents, leaders of various parties, including the very latest one was the president of Cuba, he visited Highgate cemetery and we've had the privilege of looking after that particular site that's been trusted through the Marx Memorial Library of which I'm also a trustee and I have the duty through our group of volunteers to safeguard that particular symbol, the statue, the headstone made by a famous sculpture named Mr Bradshaw who sculpted that and won the design competition to put that together in the 50s and that sits there, there are various designs but the one that sits there was the one that was selected by the Marx Memorial Library as to be the headstone that should sit there. The plank underneath was hollow but has been strengthened which I will explain why in a little while but these are symbolic places where recently we held a flag march which was quite unique it's never been done so at Highgate, at Highgate there is the original site where Marx along with his daughter and his grandson were buried and that's a very small site it's probably two meters in today's terms and it's going metric by a meter very very small down a very tight lane it was a private cemetery why Marx decided he wanted his family to be buried in a private cemetery rather than St. Pancras which was a public cemetery that was only Marx could answer that but that's where he chose to be buried it's the one thing that he chose for him and his family so they're all buried on top of one another it's a tiny little place but because various people have visited it it became literally impossible to do anything and people to go there so things were being discussed over the years as to what to do so as I said Karl Marx was I mean he died on 14th of March 1883 and at this grave site that there were only 11 reportedly but according to our count 13 people who were there at his funeral including of course Frederick Engels and that site was difficult to visit and in 1924 the Soviets tried to get that moved to the Soviet Union to move it to Red Square that it should be there and a symbol should be built there a Muslim should be there but that was rejected by the family because the family became inheritors of that site and it was through his daughter Jenny and her husband they became the owners of that grave so without their permission the government would not issue a license for them to move it the prime minister at that time mcdonald was asked and he said he's received nothing in writing and also said no it shouldn't be done it seems very incorrect to be interning Marx from his chosen site and chosen cemetery to the Soviet Union to Moscow so that was that didn't happen then he went on then in the 40s again there were some other attempts oh it's going to be moved and as the family members were leaving this planet and leaving and and they decided that they would pass on the grave and his ownership to the Marx Memorial Library so it's bequeathed to the library the library itself which Elena Marx had visited with the in first international of the working men's association was linked to and planned sits as I said in clericum well green the library came into being in 1933 when in Berlin they were burning the books of Marx it was a reaction to that the sort of reaction we perhaps need to do these days that if we're under attack we need to safeguard our libraries or journalism or or literature or culture and in that sense it was noreen branson and her husband who linked to the Indian freedom movement as well as well as the communist movement who set up that library and through the library and the works of Rajini Pamina who again is associated with the Indian movement although very rarely visited India but he's associated with the communist movement and he they decided that they would ask for that for the for the remains of Karl Marx for the remains of Karl Marx to be moved to the present site which is only about what 15 meters or less than that away but it's a much more wider space and where then this statue or this plinth was erected with the headstone that happened in as I said 1954 a decision was made application was granted by the government to enable the library to do that and it had to be done it had to be done in the middle of the night now you are moving one of the greatest thinkers of our time Karl Marx and members of his family and his grandson who was also bad to a new site so they're done in the middle of the night in November 1954 I think it's 29th November I could be 28 it's moved then under oil lamps being burned to light up there was no lighting in there so they moved him during the night because they don't want people attacking it or trying to do anything different and that's where Marx and his family are moved at the same time Eleanor Marx whose remains were up till then kept through one one organization then then became the which became in the 1920s the communist party of Great Britain that actually kept the ashes in their office then those were also interned and now are buried with Karl Marx and the rest of the family in the same grave so that's where they lay today and the the the structure was completed in 1956 around the time of my birth not for me particularly but that's what he was done and that's where I stand but but it hasn't been allowed to stand alone there was obviously people were not happy that there was this great symbol going up in Highgate of an ideology or a person representing an ideology that wants to see the collapse of the system that actually operates in Britain but nonetheless they said that is not a reason for refusal so the permission could not be refused just because there was a disagreement with the ideology and it's a lesson that we need to learn throughout the world that just by knocking down the statues the symbols you will not do away with the ideology so the ideology won the day and that statue stands today the headstone stands today and people from all over the world go there but it's not been allowed to stand alone it comes under attacks constantly and quite often from fascists and racists in February of 1970 they tried to bomb it a pipe bomb was actually laid and there was a blast took place and the headstone was toppled because it was hollow underneath which is now being strengthened over the years quite quite considerably so it won't happen again they tried to hack off the nose of Karl Marx so if you ever go there and you look examine very carefully the nose you can still see Marx it's been repaired to the best of everyone's ability you can see the scratches on the nose where they tried to sew it all but it's such tough material now it's become pretty impossible it's been dubbed by graffiti by swastikas it's been dubbed by national front the fascist organizations there we as I said the from our organization have rendered support and guarded it even through the pandemic when we were under attack we stood there saying no this is one symbol we will protect and we have stood there and our involvement with the Marx Memorial Library and Marx Memorial Library involvement with the gravesite that said goes back to Rajini Pamidat Rajini Pamidat wrote India Today and guided us so for us Marxism is very relevant and it's for it wasn't surprising that in 1999 at the turn of the millennium he's chosen as the number one person around the globe as the man of the century man of the millennium sec and second came Albert Einstein so he surpassed all in setting the agenda for humanity's emancipation he really was the greatest thinker of all time so it's a privilege for us to be part of that to carry on this legacy as the custodians to pass it on to the next generation because that's what we're trying to do we don't own it there is a small charge levied these days that's to maintain it we're not trying to profit from it it is to maintain it for future generations and it's top privilege and honor to host people who visit come to London and we say to them please visit Marx at Highgate please visit the Marx Memorial Library in fact do more than that become its members become its patrons because we have a legacy to uphold and safeguard the science of Marxism the living science that lives through all of us through our lives and none of us can escape that fact