1) The Society(1) has been totally changed in character by the emigration, caused by the political situation, of members who were for financial reasons readily accepted by Messrs. Schapper and Willich, and by honorary members accepted with the right to vote, who pay no contributions at all. The payment of moneys to the Society would only lead to their being used for purposes entirely contrary to the original intention.
2) We have taken over the moneys as Trustees of the Society. The position of trustees is laid down in English law. A trustee can use the money at his discretion provided he is able to pay it after the customary notice.
3) Concerning the present use of the moneys, Citizens Schapper and Willich, who now for private considerations insist on the repayment of the moneys, know very well that at all times the Society has been backed, without the prior knowledge of most members, by a secret committee with unlimited powers to dispose of the Society's funds. Herr Schapper knows this the better as he has more than once received money from the Society for personal purposes through the medium of the committee.
4) The money was nevertheless offered to the Society by us and as the Society, after seemingly accepting our proposals, suddenly took us to court — without success — we have deposited the money with a London citizen (2) in whose hands it will remain until the Society offers adequate guarantees for its use in accordance with the original intention.
5) Concerning the refusal to put things in writing, such writing would have no validity in law. Even a written declaration would not bind the signatories legally vis-à-vis a moral person. Such a written declaration would have no other purpose than to be put to a use contrary to contract.
The undersigned are workers and not used to live by exploiting the Society, like Herr Schapper, or by using the refugee fund like Herr von Willich.
Works, Vol 44, second Russ. ed., 1977
Endnotes
[383] When the Communist League split and Marx, Engels and their followers withdrew from the German Workers' Educational Society in London (see this volume, p. 483), the spokesmen of the Willich-Schapper faction brought a suit on behalf of the Society against Heinrich Bauer and Karl Pfänder, supporters of the majority of the League's Central Authority, who, as trustees, held part of the Society's money to be used under the Central Authority's control for the needs of the League and to help political refugees. Bauer and Pfänder were willing to return the money in instalments, provided it was not spent by the factionalists to the detriment of the Communist League. The latter insisted on a prompt return of the entire sum. On November 20, 1850, the English court rejected the Society's suit, but the followers of Willich and Schapper did not halt their insinuations against Bauer and Pfänder and started a libel campaign in the press. (One of their statements was published in the Schweizerische National-Zeitung, January 7, 1851.) This draft statement, intended to refute the insinuations spread by the Willich-Schapper faction, must have been written between December 24 and 31, 1850. In mid-November Engels moved to Manchester and started working for the Ermen and Engels firm (prompted by the necessity of providing material assistance to Marx's family), but towards the end of December he returned to London for a couple of days. The draft, in Engels' handwriting with Marx's corrections, is written in Marx's notebook. In January 1852, Pfänder, probably with Marx's assistance, drew up a further statement for the press concerning this affair (it was published in the Schweizerische National-Zeitung and the manuscript is extant).