Karl Marx wins Stockport seat for Labour: Councillor who shares same name as father of communism takes landslide victory with 1,069 votes
A 'Karl Marx' is among the dozens of victorious local Labour councillors to be elected overnight.
Councillor Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw, who shares part of his name with the revolutionary socialist author of the Communist Manifesto, has been re-elected to Brinnington and Stockport Central in the local elections, having represented the ward since May 2023.
Cllr Wardlaw celebrated a landslide victory with 1,069 votes, taking 61 per cent of the vote share.
Cllr Wardlaw's full name and re-election for Labour amused some social media users and political watchers.
But he took a seemingly good natured approach to his newfound internet fame, responding on social media with the word 'infamy' and a laughing emoticon.
In his spare time, married Cllr Wardlaw is a pro-wrestling fan and regularly reviews a variety of books, according to his social media accounts.
Among them was a tome entitled Trotsky: The Passionate Revolutionary by Allan Todd, which he described as 'good for the general reader' and a 'fine addition to the books already written about Trotsky'.
And unsurprisingly, Cllr Wardlaw also appears to be a fan of the father of Communism.
In one June 2021 post, he shared a photograph of several bookmarks he had received, including a Marx bookmark which featured an image of the German philosopher and quoted his famous rallying cry from the Communist Manifesto 'Workers from all countries unite'.
He said online he was 'so happy' with the 'amazing bookmarks'.
Cllr Wardlaw works as an ambulance booking clerk, and his wife is a nursery nurse, according to his Register of Interests.
Councillor Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw won 1,069 votes, taking 61 per cent of the vote share
He stood for election under the Green Party in 2019, but lost out to the former Labour candidate Kerry Waters, taking only 13 per cent of the vote share.
A Unite trade union member, Cllr Wardlaw has been spotted on the campaign trail with local MP Navendu Mishra for his re-election.
He has also been photographed with Andy Burnham, who is also bidding to be re-elected as Greater Manchester's Labour mayor.
He previously ran for the Green Party in 2019, but lost out to ex Labour candidate Kerry Waters
He has been out with Andy Burnham, who is seeking re-election as Greater Manchester mayor
Cllr Wardlaw's victory amused some social media users and political watchers.
Social media users jokingly suggested the revolutionary socialist author had won the seat
According to the Telegraph, Cllr Wardlaw said he has raised the alarm on 'lots of fly-tipping, potholes and represented residents over a number of other issues' when elected as councillor in May 2023.
Some political watchers noted the irony, given how Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been at pains to show how the party has changed since the days of his radical left-wing predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
Under Sir Keir, the once dominant left-wing of the party has been sidelined, with the abandonment of many Corbynite polices and the suspension of high-profile left wing MPs, including Mr Corbyn.
The ward of Brinnington and Stockport Central is described on Stockport Labour's website as 'the most polarised ward in the borough' and 'a tale of two halves'.
'The regeneration rich, and economic centre of the borough, alongside the largest concentration of social housing in the borough which has been identified as being in the top 1% deprived area’s across the county,' the website adds.
According to the Telegraph, Cllr Wardlaw said he has raised the alarm on 'lots of fly-tipping, potholes and represented residents over a number of other issues' when elected as councillor in May 2023.
Who was Karl Marx?
Described as one of the most influential figures in human history, Karl Marx is a German revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist in the 19th century.
Perhaps best known for his critique on capitalism, Marx's radical ideas of society, economics and politics have been collectively understood as Marxism.
His ideas formed the theoretical base for modern international communism ideology, which aims for shared ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes.
Born in 1818, Marx studied law in Bonn and Berlin and received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Jena.
In 1843, after a brief editor role at a liberal newspaper in Cologne, Marx and his wife Jenny von Westphalen moved to Paris, a hotbed of radical thought.
In 1848, Marx published 'Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei', commonly known as 'The Communist Manifesto' with fellow German thinker Friedrich Engels.
It became the most celebrated pamphlet in the socialist movement, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The manifesto introduced Marx and Engels' concept of socialism as a natural result of the conflicts inherent in the capitalist system.
It states that the whole history of mankind has been a history of class struggles, contests between exploiting and exploited, ruling and oppressed classes.
Marx asserted that these would ultimately disappear with the victory of the proletarians - the industrial working class.
It closed with the words: 'The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!'
Marx actively pressed for its implementation, arguing that the working class should carry out organised revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic emancipation.
Revolution subsequently erupted in France, Italy and Austria in the first months of 1848.
Karl Marx was a German revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist
In June 1849, Marx moved to London and would remain based in the city for the rest of his life.
Marx also was the author of the movement's most important book, 'Das Kapital', where in the first volume, Marx aimed to reveal the economic patterns underpinning the capitalist mode of production.
Although Marx did not live to publish the second and third parts, they were completed and published by Engels.
Marx died on March 14, 1883 and was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London.
In China and the Soviet Union, Marxism is enshrined as a 'guiding ideology' in the constitutions of both the party and the state.
The founding and ruling political party of modern China - the Communist Party - requires members to adopt the reading of Marxist works and the understanding of Marxist theories as a 'way of life' and a 'spiritual pursuit'.
In many Chinese universities, an 'introduction to the basic principles of Marxism' is a mandatory course all students must pass to graduate.
