Marx Memorial
Karl Marx died on March 14, 1883. Marx's funeral in Highgate Cemetery, London, was attended by a small group of mourners: among them Engels, Eleanor Marx, Charles Longuet, Paul Lafargue, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Friedrich Lessner, Carl Schorlemmer, and Edwin Ray Lankester. On his funeral, Engels closed his remarks with the following words, "His name and his work will endure through the ages!"

Probably the largest memorial event was held in New York City—The Cooper Union Meeting of March 20, 1883. On March 21, the New York Sun carried the following news report: "If the great hall of Cooper Union had been twice as large as it is, it could not have held the vast throng of workingmen who gathered last evening to do honor to the memory of Dr. Karl Marx. Long before the hour set for the meeting, every seat was taken, and hundreds stood at the door. They went away only when they saw there was no hope of getting within earshot of the speakers. The audience was composed of people of all trades, from all lands—Americans, Germans, Russians, Italians, Bohemians, and French. There were many ladies present...."
In workers' clothes many thousands
Sit and occasionally stand,
And their murmuring tumultuously fills
The grand hall.
There all the languages in all the tongues
Of the nations of the world
Ring out a farewell salute
To the dead warrior.
The Englishman spoke, "Beloved in huts,
Feared in the Palace,
He lived, acted, and fought
Without haste nor rest.
"He whose name shook the
Factory's windows
Where machine's racket
Is hailed today in our cities and in the country!"
The Russian: "Where despots
Reign through terror and darkness
And where millions tear at their chains,
There Marx is commemorated."
The Frenchman: "As a liberator of the world
He fought against hate among people and war
And this memorial gathering
Guarantees us the victory."
The German said: "Today in front of everyone
We want to pay with love,
Tribute to the thinker
As well as the fighter.
"As once Copernicus created new
The knowledge of the heavens,
So from his mouth rang out
The prophetic words.
"The knowledge of the suffering of the masses
And of the torment of labor.
The idols already lie dying,
Capital!
"He fought for our struggle on the earth
And gave it a sharp sword,
So that a new world would be,
Therefore honor him!
"No one else has ever given us
The equal of the gift of those thundering words:
'Workers of all countries,
Unite!'"

Source: "When Karl Marx Died: Comments in 1883"

Philip S. Foner, Editor Lafargue, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Friedrich Lessner, Carl Schorlemmer, and Edwin Ray Lankester. On his funeral, Engels closed his remarks with the following words, "His name and his work will endure through the ages!"

Probably the largest memorial event was held in New York City—The Cooper Union Meeting of March 20, 1883. On March 21, the New York Sun carried the following news report: "If the great hall of Cooper Union had been twice as large as it is, it could not have held the vast throng of workingmen who gathered last evening to do honor to the memory of Dr. Karl Marx. Long before the hour set for the meeting, every seat was taken, and hundreds stood at the door. They went away only when they saw there was no hope of getting within earshot of the speakers. The audience was composed of people of all trades, from all lands—Americans, Germans, Russians, Italians, Bohemians, and French. There were many ladies present...."

In workers' clothes many thousands
Sit and occasionally stand,
And their murmuring tumultuously fill
The grand hall.
There all the languages in all the tongues
Of the nations of the world
Ring out a farewell salute
To the dead warrior.
The Englishman spoke, "Beloved in huts,
Feared in the Palace,
He lived, acted, and fought
Without haste nor rest.
"He whose name shook the
Factory's windows
Where machine's racket
Is hailed today in our cities and in the country!"
The Russian: "Where despots
Reign through terror and darkness
And where millions tear at their chains,
There Marx is commemorated."
The Frenchman: "As a liberator of the world
He fought against hate among people and war
And this memorial gathering
Guarantees us the victory."
The German said: "Today in front of everyone
We want to pay with love,
Tribute to the thinker
As well as the fighter.
"As once Copernicus created new
The knowledge of the heavens,
So from his mouth rang out
The prophetic words.
"The knowledge of the suffering of the masses
And of the torment of labor.
The idols already lie dying,
Capital!
"He fought for our struggle on the earth
And gave it a sharp sword,
So that a new world would be,
Therefore honor him!
"No one else has ever given us
The equal of the gift of those thundering words:
'Workers of all countries,
Unite!'"
(Source: "When Karl Marx Died: Comments in 1883"—Philip S. Foner, Editor)
Sudeb Mitra, NY

Vocabulary of Development
Competitive communalism, and cinematic dialogue and vocabulary have become the vital tool of impression and motivation of voters. In the ensuing West Bengal Assembly Poll, celebrities (opera show's actors and actress) are selected particularly by BJP and TMC as contestants. The ruling TMC has failed to make leaders for leading development of the state. It depends on the popularity of opera show's actors and actresses as game changer.

Ten years' development activities are not enough to impress voters. Seventy welfare schemes, including conditional cash transfer to girls and women and the much-touted universal health scheme, 'Swasthasathi' are not enough to re-elect this party. Its doubts are deeply rooted when a carefully crafted campaign of the TMC aims to retain people's faith in Ms Banerjee by projecting her as "Bengal's own daughter".

These celebrities are undoubtedly talented in their field of acting and entertainment. Are they well-aware about the people's suffering at the grassroots? Are they well-trained what the development means? Will they be with the people after the poll? People get the opportunity to express and share their opinion of the merits and demerits of their elected representatives. But now the poll has become a false promise to them.

There is a rare campaign about local issues. Both TMC and BJP are busy to make a personal attack. Both of these parties are trying to publicise various modes of corruption done by both at central and state level. BJP tactically uses the leaders who have joined from TMC and most of them are under trial of corruption scams (Sarada, Narada and so forth) because they have apparently got a clean chit after joining the BJP.

Both the parties compete with each other to make "Sonar Bangla" or "Joy Bangla". Their vocabulary of development is couched with beautiful language. Their poverty of culture is making people foolish.
Why these political parties are not sharing their plans for generating employment among educated youth who would be the worst sufferers in the future? Why there is no planning to revitalise the agriculture sector? Why there is no planning for industrialisation?
Harasankar Adhikari, Kolkata

Breonna
Exactly one year ago, police forced their way into Breonna Taylor's apartment, shot and killed her.

The shocking death of the 26-year-old Black medical worker, asleep and unarmed when police broke in, brought thousands out onto the streets. Black Lives Matter demonstrations swept the country in the ensuing days and months.

Many of those protesting in Breonna's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, are still on the streets today demanding justice. My colleague Aaron White and I joined them right before the November election. This special podcast features many of their voices. We reported on their 'No justice, no Halloween' protest, in the empty, boarded-up streets in downtown Louisville during the height of the COVID crisis.

We also met Jecorey Arthur, the youngest person ever to be elected to the Louisville City Council. He told us why his home city is the 'capital of American racism'—and why he's calling for reparations for the descendents of slaves.

Now, at this grim milestone of a year since Breonna's death, Aaron has been talking again to many of the protest leaders. Many of them knew her personally; they were her friends. For many more, her death was the beginning of a life-changing journey.

They are all furious that, still, no police officer has been charged with her killing. But they have much more to say, too.
Mary Fitzgerald,
Editor-in-Chief, openDemocracy

March 8 and Clara Zetkin
Worldwide Women's Day has been commended for longer than a century at this point. Be that as it may, while numerous individuals consider it a women's activist reason, its underlying foundations lie in the work development. It was first coordinated in 1911 by the mid-twentieth century Marxist from Germany Clara Zetkin.

Zetkin was brought into the world in 1857 in Germany's Wiederau. She prepared as an educator and was related with the Social Democratic Party (SPD)—one of the two significant ideological groups in the nation today. She was a piece of both the work development and the ladies' development.

During the 1880s, when hostile to communist laws were authorised by German pioneer Otto von Bismarck, Zetkin went into a willful outcast in Switzerland and France. During this time, she composed and appropriated prohibited writing, and met driving communists of the time. Zetkin likewise assumed a huge part in the arrangement of the Socialist International.

Upon her re-visitation of Germany, she turned into the manager of Die Gleichheit ('Equality')—SPD's paper for ladies—from 1892 to 1917. In the SPD, Zetkin was firmly connected with the extreme left scholar and progressive Rosa Luxemburg. In 1910—three years after she turned into a prime supporter of the International Socialist Women's Congress—Zetkin proposed at a meeting that Women's Day be commended in each country on February 28. The gathering involved 100 ladies from 17 nations, with associations, communist factions, working ladies clubs, and female administrators consistently endorsing the idea. Ladies' Day was noticed without precedent for 1911. After two years, in 1913, the date was changed to March 8, and it keeps on being commended as such consistently.
A Reader, Kolkata

Working Women
Throughout the month of March I came through several conferences, seminars and international days being celebrated as Women's Day. All that was discussed mainly highlighted the issues of working women. Everyone is talking about the empowerment of women and giving them employment. In this entire scenario, we forget the folk which is at the backside.

I belong to a rural area, where 90% of women are unemployed, school dropouts or illiterate. Women are either not allowed to join schools/continue her studies or her family constraints does not allow her to opt for a job. In such circumstances it was the family/society which stopped her in joining the working women folk.

I believe a man may or may not be working, but a woman is always a working one. She is a working woman from her childhood up to her old age. While managing a family, she manages a generation which we cannot call unproductive.

This is evident from the fact that a working man never hesitates to marry an unemployed woman, (I would here use the word unemployed, because a woman may be unemployed, but is never non-working) because he knows that woman can never be non working. After marriage she would manage the whole household chores.

Thus every woman whether employed or unemployed should be given her due position in society as a human being not as the second gender which is a socially constructed norm.
Dr Yasmeena Ara

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Frontier
Vol. 53, No. 41, Apr 11 - 17, 2021