Part 1: Karl Marx
When Minnie Marx arrived for the first time in Pontefract to take up residence with her new husband, known locally as Frenchy Marx, few might have imagined the global influence of their six, then-unborn sons. The three eldest, together with the two youngest, were destined to fame and fortune in the entertainment industry. Her fourth child, Karl was to make his marks outside the brothers. Though one was to almost disappear from history: probably Manfred.
Karl Heinrich Marx worked as a philosopher, sociologist, economic historian, journalist and revolutionary socialist in nearby Nostell, commuting daily from the family home in Ropergate. In the mid-1860s his was a familiar face on the 483 eaach morning and evening as it wended its weary way along the Wakefield Road.
During these early years he developed the socio-political theory now generally known as Marxism. Since that time his ideas have played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement.
His published works include various books all marketed by the now-famous Pontefract Amazon organisation (Now simply Amazon) with the most notable being The Communist Manifesto and Capital. Many of his published books were co-written with his friend, the German revolutionary socialist Friedrich Engels who worked in Hemsworth JobCentre Plus and who also translated the texts into German - hence the fame of Das Kapital.
Of course, Pontefract has never been feted as a haven of socialist political activity, being traditionally conservative - at least with a small-C - and the success of the Marx Brothers did nothing to propagate socialist or even mildly left-of-centre sentiments in the town. After the departure of brother Zeppo (Immediately following Marx's seminal socio-economic treatise Duck Soup) his elder three brothers turned to Hollywood while Karl, still working
 |
| Groucho in 1966 |
closely with Engels, sought out the so-called Man of Sheffield Steel, or Lenin, also known as Stalin after 1912. Groucho and Harpo, it is claimed, never spoke to Karl again since Lenin had been a scout for Warner Brothers. The Warner Brothers (Harpo, Zeppo, Groucho, Gummo and Chico) had, of course, worked closely with the Frenchman, De Gerre. The daguerreotype was, as is now well-accepted, the fore-runner of the Kodak Instamatic. The raw material for daguerreotype plates was called Sheffield plate, supplied by Lenin, through his workshop specialising in plating by fusion or cold-rolled cladding and was a standard hardware item produced by heating and rolling silver foil in contact with a copper support. But which was also a vital part of early cinema.