SOCIALISTS assembled in Highgate Cemetery at the weekend to mark the 133th anniversary of Karl Marx’s death with the customary oration.

This year’s guest speaker was Irish Congress of Trade Unions president Brian Campfield.

He used the occasion to attack austerity worldwide, as well as corporate deals such as the proposed TTIP trade pact between the EU and US.

The deals, Mr Campfield said, were mere attempts by international capital to “enhance and protect their profits” while endangering the lives of workers.

He added: “At the grave of Karl Marx, who hasn’t gone away and whose ideas are very much alive, let us rededicate ourselves to international solidarity.

“Let us restate our opposition to war. Let us reject the rule of the corporations and highlight that the democracy worth fighting for is the one which gives control over all the major decisions that affect people’s lives to the people themselves.”