Would Karl Marx have enjoyed the irony?

Somehow I doubt it, but then again, there wasn't much in life that that miserable old Prussian did enjoy except the sound of his own spoken words and the sight of the many tons of his own written words.  Well, he might not enjoy today's irony but that's no reason for us not to fall about helpless with giggles.  I am obliged to (another irony) The Wall Street Journal for the details, via Drudge.

Apparently, sundry Marxists are up in arms (metaphorically not literally, thank goodness) over the fact that these days you have to pay to enter Highgate cemetery to view the memorial where the old ratbag is buried.  Obviously the irony of the fact that Marx chose to pay extra to be buried in a privately-owned (SHLOCK-HORROR!) cemetery rather than rot away in the company of the plebs in government-owned sites escapes them.

As it happens, for many years Highgate cemetery has been run and maintained by a charity and they need the money lest the place fall into disrepair as it did not so long ago.  Needless to say, such real world practicalities sail straight over the empty heads of Karl's latter-day 'saints' so at least the old ratbag can be satisfied that the example of his teachings have taken root!

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

"there wasn't much in life that that miserable old Prussian did enjoy except the sound of his own spoken words and the sight of the many tons of his own written words."

Not so, DD. Apparently he enjoyed his family's housekeeper/maid in traditional bourgeois fashion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Demuth

He even fathered and abandoned her illegitimate child.

[David Duff]

Yes, I remember reading about that somewhere, the interests of the working class were always close to his heart - or something!

[jimmy glesga]

David, Marx is probably the architect of political compromise although he would never know this. The British in our finest tradition gave him sanctuary and the rich and wealthy dictators have compromised. We even have the vote. Marx was not to blame for the actions of Stalin, Poll Pott, Mao, Lenin and the list is exhaustive, He was their excuse. David, most cemeteries were private until the lairs were full and the owners then done a runner. That is why councils now do a few grass cuts each year and the tombstones just fall over.