Marx, Engels & Lenin in London: the Camden v Islington divide
Marx and Engels were long term residents of North London both living in what is now the London Borough of Camden. Both frequented Hampstead Heath.
When Lenin lived in London much more briefly, he lived off Pentonville Rd which is in the London Borough of Islington.
Whether there was any ideological basis to this geographical divide is unknown.
The extracts below are from a guide the then Communist Party of Great Britain produced sixty years ago in 1963
During the time Marx was living at Maitland Park Road, Engels lived (from September, 1870 to October 1894) at 122 Regents Park Road, opposite Primrose Hill. From October 1894, until his death in August 1895, he lived at № 41 in the same road, near St. Mark’s Church, which is only a stone’s throw away from the Zoological Gardens in Regents Park
Lenin and Krupskaya set up house in two rooms situated on the first floor of № 30, Holford Square, and stayed there until the beginning of May 1903. This Square is situated in the borough of Finsbury, about 10 minutes’ walk from King’s Cross Station. The house where Lenin lived was destroyed in the early bombing raids during the Second World War. Opposite the house, a Memorial to Lenin erected by the Finsbury Borough Council was unveiled by the Soviet Ambassador Mr. Maisky, on Lenin’s birthday, April 22 1943. On the house itself, Mr. Maisky unveiled a plaque of commemoration to Lenin, which was placed there by the London County Council in 1942. It is now placed in the Finsbury Town Hall.
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