Resource : Karl Marx’s headstone

Karl Marx is regarded by many as one of the greatest of political thinkers and one of the most influential voices of modern times. His famous work written with Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, was a call to arms to the oppressed of the world and forms the basis for the modern communist movement that exists today.

Resource : Boulton, Watt and Murdoch: ‘The Golden Boys of Birmingham’

This gilded bronze statue, known as the ‘Golden Boys’ (and also the ‘Carpet Salesmen’!) honours Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch. They are shown studying steam engine plans.  Together these three revolutionised the steam engine – the technology that would literally drive the industrial revolution.

Resource : The Apprehensive Man

The Great Famine was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland. It lasted from 1845 to 1851, killing one million Irish people and leading to the migration of perhaps two million more. It became a watershed in Ireland’s history, permanently changing the demographic, political and cultural landscape. The ‘Apprehensive Man’ is one of a series of five bronze sculptures in the ‘Arrival’ series created by Irish artist Rowan Gillespie in 2007 and situated in Ireland Park in Toronto, Canada. It marks the arrival of thousands of starving Irish migrants in 1847.

Resource : Tolpuddle Martyrs Sculpture

In 1834, six farm workers were arrested and transported to Australia as a result of banding together to improve the miserable wages of farm labourers. The maltreatment of the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’, as they became known, helped pave the way for the creation of trade unions and the protection of employees’ rights.

Resource : Bust of Jean-Jaques Dessalines (1758 – 1806)

Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758 – 1806) was born into slavery in St Domingue (now Haiti) on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Following a mass uprising of enslaved people of African origin – the only successful slave revolt in history – and a series of bloody battles and reprisals, Dessalines eventually became the first ruler of Haiti, the world’s first modern independent ‘black’ republic. The events in St Domingue became known as the Haitian Revolution.