About Us
The Karl Marx walking tour began in 2012. Mick Brooks (1948-2021) and Heiko Khoo were the first guides, we were joined for a year by Lucia Paradela the King's College professor and then by Mark Bygrave. Heiko and Mark were born 2 days apart and have been studying Marx's ideas together since 1980.
The tour appeals to the broadest possible audience, from people who did the Jack the Ripper tour the night before, to professors teaching Karl Marx at university.
We welcome everyone regardless of their political affiliations and hope to offer perspectives on both Marx the man and his ideas that even staunch anti-communists will find fascinating and surprising - that's a promise - or your money back!
Of course for Karl Marx fans the tour is a special treat, a chance to engage with London's rich Marx-related history and to meet others with similar interests from all over the planet.
We also run private tours for schools, colleges, universities, corporations - several of the world's largest banks have taken the tour (!), as well as trade unions, journalists, embassies, and individuals. Just send us an email or give us a ring to arrange a private tour at dates and times to suit.
Mark Bygrave
Mark left school at 15 to work in the construction industry. He discovered Marx's ideas when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, riots shook London and the Cold War was still hot.
Mark led tenants' campaigns, threw himself into solidarity work in the 1984-5 miners strike and stood on the front line of the Poll Tax protests that brought down the Iron Lady.
Mark was mentored by possibly the greatest contemporary Marxist economist Michael Roberts.
Mark's experience of the life and struggles of the working class in Britain and internationally will remind you why Marx said that the workers are the agents of revolution.
Heiko Khoo
Heiko Khoo has studied Marxist ideas for 33 years and completed his PhD in 2018. It examines China's social system and political economy using Marxist theory. You can download it here.
Heiko is a well-known orator at London's Speakers' Corner and he produces the weekly Speakers' Corner radio show for Resonance FM.
He previously ran walking tours in Berlin specializing in the rise and fall of East Germany and has a detailed knowledge of East European and Soviet jokes, which he uses to enhance the Karl Marx story and to help explain the fate of Communist states.
Heiko helped the German Historical Museum in Berlin to prepare a major exhibition "Karl Marx and Capitalism" in the spring of 2022.
Heiko was the lead author and researcher for the guidebook "Karl Marx in London" published in 2018 by the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth.