Highgate Cemetery - Dr Yusuf Dadoo

Dadoo was born on the 5^th September 1909 in South Africa, his father; Mohamed Dadoo was a migrant who came to South Africa at the age of 15 during the South African War. His father came to South Africa in 1904 and started a business to help his family. Because of the racism and apartheid in South Africa during this time, Dadoo had to travel every morning with the train to go to his school, where other Indian children like him were being educated. He also attended Bree Street School which was also a school specifically designed for Indian students.   

Growing up, Dadoo was inspired by the nationalist movement in India and admired the work of Mahatma Ghandi, though it was not just him who was inspired, but also other Indians living in South Africa, especially the parents at Bree Street School. They were, as expected, imprisoned for their efforts. 

His career in politics started when he left for college to Aligarh Muslim College where his grew fonder of the whole revolution idea. Dadoo would attend meetings held by Ghandi and encourage support for the Indian National Congress. Through his education and time in Aligarh he had this growing hatred for British imperialism and wanted to action against it. It was surprising for any man to attempt to be vocal at the time because there was so much hatred and racism towards people of his skin colour.

With this string belief in mind, Dadoo was set to make a change – a clear socialist he was!

He made many accomplishments, some are: being a key speakers at the Defend South Africa Campaign, and Dadoo became prominent at the beginning of the anti-pass campaigns, he had been awarded the traditional African decoration of Isitwalandwe/Seaparankoe and being responsible for setting up of Peace Committees in Africa e.g. Kenya, Tunisia, Algeria and Ghana.

After doing so much for others and helping the Communist regime, Dadoo fell ill and it was in 1983 where he later died. His illness and death came as a shock to all and those grieving knew that there maybe no one else like him who’ll be able to put in the effort and passion he did to make society better for people in nearly all parts of the world.

Dadoo's grave placed next to Saad Saadi Ali

Our Trip to Highgate Cemetery...

"It's like a VIP cemetary" - Mohima

Highgate Cemetery was our destination today!

Highgate Cemetery is known for the burials it has, many, many famous writers, philosophers, politicians and activists have been laid to rest in this very place and we were on our way to visit some of these graves. 

History of Highgate Cemetery - http://highgatecemetery.org/about/history

Graveyards and burial grounds were crammed in between shops, houses and taverns — wherever there was space. In really bad situations undertakers, dressed as clergy, performed unauthorized and illegal burials. Bodies were wrapped in cheap material and buried amongst other human remains in graves just a few feet deep. Quicklime was often thrown over the body to help speed decomposition, so that within a few months the grave could be used again. The smell from these disease-ridden burial places was terrible. They were overcrowded, uncared for and neglected.

The cause of this situation was that in the early 1800s London had a population of just one million people. In the following years the population had increased rapidly and the number of deaths along with it. Very little new burial space had been put aside to cater for the growing numbers and by the early 1830s the authorities were stating that for public health reasons something had to be done.

Parliament passed a statute to the effect that seven new private cemeteries should be opened in the countryside around the capital for the burial of London’s dead. These cemeteries were Kensal Green 1833, West Norwood 1836, Highgate 1839, Abney Park 1840, Brompton 1840, Nunhead 1840 and Tower Hamlets 1841.

Highgate Cemetery- Mansoor HEKMAT

Originally from Tehran in Iran, Mansoor Hekmat was an Iranian Marxist and was the leader of the Worker Communist Party of Iran. He also opposed the Shah of Iran, who was the King at the time. He believed in the possibility of workers revolution in Iran and across the Arab world. Hekmat moved to London in 1973 where he was introduced to the world of Marxism and quickly became a critic of communism. In the years of 1979 he returned back to Iran for when the Iranian Revolution broke out. Throughout his life he carried on his work trying to win over Iranians and many countries within the middle east to accept his views on Marxism. 

Highgate Cemetery and Plaque - Karl Marx

Karl Marx – one of the most renowned thinkers who’s changed our perception of society.

Poster reads: "Social progress can be measured by the social position of the femal sex" - Karl Marx

Born in May 5^th 1818, Germany into a middle class family, Marx was considered to be the most influential philosopher though most of his thinking was rejected; some of what he proposed had some hard truth. For instance, his proposal that those who were from lower classes were prone to exploitation and were exploited by those who were far richer and powerful. However, rejection was not a surprise as people didn’t want to open their eyes to how awful society was treating them.

Being the son of a successful lawyer, Marx also studied law in Bonn and Berlin at the age of seventeen and in 1841 he received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Jena. However, due to his radical political beliefs, Marx was unable to become a teacher at the University which resulted a change in career paths for him.

After his short career in being a journalist for the Cologne newspaper, Marx thought that it was time for him to move and start something new, so he moved to France with his wife Jenny, whom he secretly had gotten engaged with, and there he became a revolutionary communist and made ally with Freidrich Engels. After the pair was abolished from France, their relationship together became more intense as they shared common ideas and values. They co-authored the pamphlet 'The Communist Manifesto' which was published in 1848 and vocalised the class struggle in society but this struggle would soon come to an end by the triumph of the proletariat.

Marx's plaque placed in Soho

Later settling in London, Marx was more optimistic about the revolution breaking out in Europe and thought it would soon come to England and continued to write pamphlets on the revolution that took place in France: The Class Struggles in France and The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Marx became increasingly focused on capitalism and economic theory, and in 1867, he published the first volume of Das Kapital. The rest of his life was spent writing and revising manuscripts for additional volumes, but these were left incomplete.

Those who supported Marx said that his beliefs gave the working class hope of a better life. They said that the workers would be inspired by an intellectual who was on their side and who was fighting their cause. In 1898, the Russian Social Democratic Party was formed to expand Marx’s beliefs in Russia because exerting the Marxist beliefs was difficult in Prussia as it was all agricultural based.

Marx sadly died in March 1883 due to pleurisy, which was the inflammation of his lungs. We had visited his grave in Highgate Cemetery which was very simple but we later learned that the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPoGB) had given him a larger tombstone with quotes from The Communist Manifesto - “Workers of all lands unite”.

Marx's original grave which was very simple

Later CPoGB made a a tomb with a sculpted statue of Marx

Marx has done so much for us as citizens living in a capitalist state and helped really broaden our ideas and understanding how the state tends to mistreat us. From doing our research on Marx, we understand that the state portrays this image of happiness through a free healthcare system and welfare benefits to help us forget how unfair they treat us so we don’t pose a threat and start a revolution. But there is still much more to understand through Marx’s work.

Highgate Cemetery- Herbert SPENCER

Anthropologist, sociologist, philosopher, biologist and liberal political theorist. Just a minuscule list of what Spencer was known for.  Born on 27th April 1820, during the Victorian Era, Spencer is known for applying Darwin's evolutionary theory towards the study of society to what he called 'synthetic philosophy'. Thus taking a more social approach to these theories.

 From an early age he became interested in society and individualism which led to him to study journalism and political writing in his early 20's. He became a writer for The Economist and quickly found himself exposed to many opinions. Spencer went on to write various books that became published the first being 'Social Statics' which talks about the ideas of human happiness, freedoms, liberties and progress. With his controversial views Spencer often found himself in the forefront of a lot of upheaval from his books which would often receive much criticism. He held an organic view of society which is why some suggest the fundamentals of Functionalism originated from him. As he was studied many theories he also suggested a link between biology as our social life was an extension from our natural body. And funnily enough it was Spencer who thought of the term 'survival of the fittest' which led him to believe that the rich and powerful could flourish in society because they had the socio-economic means to do so. Spencer believed that the law acted as a constraint to human rights and freedoms. He was a key Liberal theorist that saw the job for the state was to only protect individual rights and that many institutions in society shouldn't be meddled with by the state.

Spencer is said to have shaped the minds of many libertarians and is said to have influenced many into his way of thinking. His work has been seen to act as a model for many liberal thinkers concerning issues on individual rights and the works of the government.

'the great aim of education is not knowledge but action' - Herbert Spencer

Highgate Cemetery - Corin Redgrave

Trotskyism. Many described Redgrave to be a supporter of the theory which supports the works of Marxism and Leon Trotsky. 

Redgrave at a rally for the Daily Press in 1971.

Corin Redgrave was born on July 16th in 1939 and only recently passed away on April 6th 2010. Not only was he known for his acting abilities he was also a far left political activist. This stemmed from his sisters work in the Workers Revolutionary Party and after the failure of the WPR the siblings formed the Marxist Party. Where Redgrave became the writer of the parties political magazine - Marxism. He was a hater of capitalism and wanted to overthrow parliamentary democracy. He went on to challenge many of Thatchers policies and often fought along the likes of George Galloway in order to break the siege of the Gaza Strip. Despite facing many challenges trying to juggle his political career and acting he never gave up on politics. And in 1993 him and his sister founded the Moving Theatre Company in which many productions included various political concern.

Picture taken of Redgraves grave which is situated opposite
his 'hero' Karl Marx