Karl Marx pub crawl

Last updated
Karl Marx pub crawl
VenueVarious pubs around Soho
Location London
Type Pub crawl
Theme Karl Marx

The Karl Marx pub crawl is the name for various organised pub crawls based around a series of public houses the communist philosopher Karl Marx was known to have frequented or, more speculatively, may have visited in London.

Contents

Background

In his lifetime Marx is known to have enjoyed bouts of heavy drinking with friends. [1] A particularly notable pub crawl took place in the 1850s involving Marx, Edgar Bauer and Wilhelm Liebknecht. The trio intended to imbibe at least one beer in every one of the 18 pubs on Tottenham Court Road between Oxford Street and Hampstead Road. According to an account later written by Liebknecht the group got into a mild altercation with a group of Odd Fellows, and committed acts of vandalism, before being chased by four policemen. [2] In his memoir of Marx, Liebknecht explained the challenge of the pub crawl;

The problem was to “take something” in every saloon between Oxford Street and Hampstead Road – making the something a very difficult task, even by confining yourself to a minimum, considering the enormous number of saloons in that part of the city. But we went to work undaunted and managed to reach the end of Tottenham Court Road without accident. [3]

History

The first regular Marx themed pub crawl was organised by the historian Al Richardson from the late 1960s. Named the Karl Marx Memorial Pub Crawl, it was started as a fundraiser for the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Taking in pubs along a route from Marx's former residence in Soho to Hampstead Heath, where he regularly frequented for picnics, the participant who finished a drink in every pub along the way was awarded the door knocker of Vladimir Lenin's former residence in Clerkenwell. [4] [5]

Organised crawls

A route for the Karl Marx pub crawl based on Liebknecht's account has been published in the book Londonist Drinks. The suggested route visits 6 pubs on Tottenham Court Road, and includes other Marx related sites nearby. [6]

Various organised Karl Marx pub crawls take place in London, being particularly popular with students. The London branch of Socialist Students organises an annual Marx themed pub crawl which follows a route past his former residence, the site where he was commissioned to write The Communist Manifesto , and the Coach and Horses. [7] Student groups from King's College London Students' Union have an organised Karl Marx pub crawl which visits pubs Marx was known to have drunk at such as the Museum Tavern, The Flask, the Red Lion, and the Crown Tavern, where Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin first met. [8] Students from Goldsmiths University participate in Karl Marx pub crawls beginning at the former Jack Straw's Castle pub, taking in the Red Lion, the Lord Southampton, and the Rising Sun, among others. [9]

Other sites

Marx is reputed to have been a regular visitor to the Black Horse and Harrow pub in Catford, south-east London. [10] Outside of London, the Red Dragon pub in Salford is believed to have been visited by Marx and Friedrich Engels. [11] On the bicentenary of Marx's birth a pub crawl of establishments he was known to drink at was organised in Manchester. [12]

Interpretation

The popularity of Karl Marx pub crawls has been interpreted both as a psychogeographic exercise aimed at reconnecting to urban space, and as a social activity in reaction to the digital age. [13]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Marx</span> German-born philosopher (1818–1883)

Karl Marx was a German-born philosopher, political theorist, economist, historian, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His best-known works are the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto and his three-volume Das Kapital (1867–1894); the latter employs his critical approach of historical materialism in an analysis of capitalism, in the culmination of his intellectual endeavours. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence on modern intellectual, economic and political history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Engels</span> German philosopher (1820–1895)

Friedrich Engels was a German philosopher, political theorist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He was also a businessman and Karl Marx's closest friend and collaborator, serving as a leading authority on Marxism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampstead</span> Area of Camden in London, England

Hampstead is an area in London, England, which lies four miles northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of Camden, a borough in Inner London which for the purposes of the London Plan is designated as part of Central London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highgate</span> Area in London, England

Highgate is a suburban area of London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, 4+1⁄2 miles north-northwest of Charing Cross.

A pub crawl is the act of visiting multiple pubs or bars in a single session.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August Willich</span> Prussian-American general and communist revolutionary

August Willich, born Johann August Ernst von Willich, was a military officer in the Prussian Army, later enlisting and receiving a commission in the United States Army. Born into Prussian nobility, he formally discarded his title in 1847 actively participated in the Revolutions of 1848. Willich's militant attitudes towards revolution made him a leading early proponent of communism. Although these revolutions were unsuccessful, he remained an ardent communist. Disagreements with Karl Marx as Willich saw Marx as unacceptably conservative swayed his decision to emigrate to the United States alongside many German radicals. His political beliefs greatly influenced his decision to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Willich saw combat in several high profile battles including the Battle of Shiloh and Chickamauga. After the war's conclusion and Lincoln's assassination, Willich left the Union Army and offered his expertise to the Prussian military during the Franco-Prussian War but was refused on account of his political beliefs. Willich returned to the United States and lived the remainder of his life quietly in Ohio until his death in 1878. Following his death he was eulogized by his rival Marx and the First International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otley Run</span> A pub crawl in Leeds, England

The Otley Run is a pub crawl in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The popular route covers Far Headingley, Headingley and Hyde Park areas and commonly continues towards Leeds City Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Buses route 24</span> London bus route

London Buses route 24 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Hampstead Heath and Pimlico, it is operated by Transport UK London Bus.

Alec Stuart "Al" Richardson was a British Trotskyist historian and activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tottenham</span> Human settlement in England

Tottenham is a town in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred 6 mi (10 km) north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthamstow, across the River Lea, to the east, and Stamford Hill to the south, with Wood Green and Harringay to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A400 road (Great Britain)</span> Road in London

The A400 road is an A road in London that runs from Charing Cross to Archway in North London. It passes some of London's most famous landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Night buses in London</span> Series of night bus routes that serve Greater London

The London Night Bus network is a series of night bus routes that serve Greater London. Services broadly operate between the hours of 23:00 and 06:00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Windmill Street</span> Street in London, England

Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north–south in Soho, London, crossed by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has had a long association with music and entertainment, most notably the Windmill Theatre, and is now home to the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum and the Trocadero shopping centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Liebknecht</span> German socialist politician (1871–1919)

Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag from 1912 to 1916, where he represented the left-revolutionary wing of the party. In 1916 he was expelled from the SPD's parliamentary group for his opposition to the Burgfriedenspolitik, the political truce between all parties in the Reichstag while the war lasted. He twice spent time in prison, first for writing an anti-militarism pamphlet in 1907 and then for his role in a 1916 antiwar demonstration. He was released from the second under a general amnesty three weeks before the end of the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Flask, Highgate</span> Grade II listed pub in Highgate, London

The Flask is a Grade II listed public house at 74–76 Highgate West Hill, Highgate, London. According to the 1936 Survey of London, a pub known as The Flask has stood on this spot since "at least as early as 1663". The present buildings probably date from the early 18th century, and were partially rebuilt in about 1767 by William Carpenter. A Manorial court met there in the eighteenth century. The Flask is currently owned and operated by the London-based Fuller's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum Tavern</span> Pub in Bloomsbury, London

The Museum Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at 49 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomb of Karl Marx</span> Tomb in Highgate Cemetery, London

The Tomb of Karl Marx stands in the Eastern cemetery of Highgate Cemetery, North London, England. It commemorates the burial sites of Marx, of his wife, Jenny von Westphalen, and other members of his family. Originally buried in a different part of the Eastern cemetery, the bodies were disinterred and reburied at their present location in 1954. The tomb was designed by Laurence Bradshaw and was unveiled in 1956, in a ceremony led by Harry Pollitt, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, which funded the memorial.

<i>Marx Returns</i> 2018 novel by Jason Barke

Marx Returns is the debut novel by the British writer and filmmaker Jason Barker. It tells the story of the German philosopher Karl Marx and his struggle to complete his magnum opus Capital.

References

  1. ↑ MacIntyre, Ben (22 April 2017). "Forget revolution, Marx loved a pub crawl". The Times . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  2. ↑ Wheen, Francis (2000). Karl Marx. St. Ives: Fourth Estate. pp. 256–257. ISBN   1-84115-114-9.
  3. ↑ "Marx on the piss; a London pub crawl with Karl Marx in the late 1850s - Wilhelm Liebknecht". libcom.org . 18 December 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Robinson, Bruce (8 December 2003). "Al Richardson: An "unorthodox orthodox" Trotskyist". workersliberty.org . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  5. ↑ McIlroy, John (24 January 2004). "Al Richardson: Teacher on a quest for the history of British Trotskyism". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  6. ↑ Brown, Matt (25 October 2019). "Do The Karl Marx Pub Crawl". londonist.com. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  7. ↑ Pattison, Helen (14 October 2015). "Boozers of the world unite! London Marx pub crawl". socialistparty.org.uk . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Harry, Wise (27 February 2016). "Communist Pub Crawl Through London". soasspirit.co.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  9. ↑ Hutnyk, John (1 February 2019). "Marx Trot on again in 2019?" . Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  10. ↑ Mark, Chandler (28 June 2013). "Catford Goose on the Green pub faces licence review over 'armed group'". News Shopper . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  11. ↑ Keeling, Neal (24 March 2023). "Historic Salford pub where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels drank set to reopen". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Quinn, Ben (3 February 2018). "Marx bicentenary to be marked by exhibitions, books – and pub crawls". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  13. ↑ Mould, Oli (31 July 2023). "In Praise of the Pub Crawl". tacity.co.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.