1850
Dear Teilering,
Engels, Seiler, Weerth, Willich and I shall not be appearing at the meeting arranged for 3 January,[301] for the following reasons amongst others:
1. The list of political refugees invited has been arbitrarily compiled. Thus, for example, C. Schramm and F. Wolff are not included.
2. Not one of the workers, who for years have been in the vanguard of German democracy in London, has been invited.
Your
K. Marx
Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXV, Moscow, 1934
104. Marx to Joseph Weydemeyer. 8 January
Dear Weydemeyer,
I [enclose] the pawn-ticket herewith. Would you be so kind as to renew it and to deduct the cost [from the] subscriptions.b Kindest regards to your wifec from mine, likewise to yourself.
K. Marx
105. Marx to Ferdinand Freiligrath. 11 January
Dear Freiligrath,
Today I am writing you just a couple of lines on an urgent matter.
Both for our Revue and for its gradual transformation into a fortnightly and weekly and, if circumstances permit, back into a daily newspaper — and also for our other propagandist interests— we need money. Money is to be had only in America, where all the semi-revolutionaries — e.g. a certain Anneke who did an ignomini-ous bunk in the Palatinate, thereby proving that he's not even a soldier — are now plucking the golden apples.
We have therefore decided to send C. Schramm to America forthwith, as our emissary. For the lengthy journey we have in mind we need at least 150 talers. While requesting you to collect contributions to that end with the utmost possible dispatch, we would at the same time request you to send by return letters of introduction for C. Schramm, manager of the N.Rh.Z. (restored to our party as a result of his daring escape from the Wesel fortress).
I have also written to G. Jung about the money matter.[302]
Awaiting an early reply.
Your
K. Marx
The Chartists and French réfugiés here are also giving mandates to our emissary.
This is a League(1) matter.
It is essential, my dear Freiligrath, that in your letter of introduction, you leave no doubt about the position of the N.Rh.Z. in Germany and its revolutionär significance.
106. Marx to Joseph Weydemeyer. 4 February
Dear Weydemeyer,
The reason for your getting such a late reply to your letter is that I was seriously ill for a fortnight.
The Revue will be appearing next week. Your article will be in it. We are awaiting the continuation.[295]
The publication of the periodical was delayed through my illness. Actually we had arranged it so that two issues should appear simultaneously but the publishera was opposed to this out of commercial considerations which we thought correct. So a further change was necessary and this happened to coincide with my unlucky illness.
You will receive 100 copies from Cologne. Please send two of them to C. Biringer in Höchst near Frankfurt. He ordered them from here. You will probably undertake to get payment for them.
I have passed on your message to Teilering. The fellow is quite unsuited to be an English correspondent. In Vienna it was alright for him to bluster. Here you have to study matters. More another time.
Your
K. Marx
Best regards to your wifeb from my wife and self. In Hamburg about 1,500 copies have already been ordered.
107. Marx to Louis Bauer. 5 February
I am only now answering your letter of 30 January because I am not inclined to let you prescribe 'time limits' for what I do. In reply to your letter the following:
1. When Schramm wrote that my debt to you was not yet 'due', it only meant that one cannot be sued for a SURGEON'S bills until six months have elapsed, certainly not that the debt does not exist.
2. Far from having conceded to Mr Heidemann that your bill was not 'too steep', I told him the contrary, as he himself admitted on 22 January in the letter to my wife. Nevertheless I informed him that I was willing to pay. As I told him, I hoped that by January I should be in possession of the necessary amount although I could not guarantee this. The impertinence of Mr Heidemann in sending a woman a demand for payment under a black seal, which she mistook for the announcement of a death, moved me to have him informed in writing that I wished to have no further contact with him.
3. As to your bill, I now insist that you itemize it. I fail to understand how you could have disbursed £1 on my behalf. You travelled out to me in Chelsea at my express request on only three occasions, once by cab. As to the confinement,[3] accoucheurs over here (except in the case of the bourgeois) charge for 9 days—while you attended my wife on only 4 days out of the 9, as Willich can testify — one GUINEA. Where, then, do you get £4.10 from? By the way, I am told that, immediately upon receipt of my letter,a you held a confabulation with Heidemann and decided 'to fleece' me. So first of all an itemized bill, which I shall then pay.
K. Marx
108. Engels to Eduard von Müller-Tellering. 7 February
Dear Tellering,
Your note[303] arrived so late that, even with the best will in the world, it would have been difficult to get you a ticket for today's ball. Since moreover you have failed, even though accepted by the society as a member, either to take out your card or to attend any of the meetings, and only the day before yesterday an individual in a similar situation was expelled from the society, I for my part find it entirely impossible to accede to your request.
Tout à vous*
Engels
109. Engels to Julius Schuberth, Theodor Hagen and Stephan Adolph Naut. 4 March
IN COLOGNE
[Draft]
[London,] 4 March 1850
1. Schuberth. Letter answered. The 2nd issueb must, as promised, not cost more than the first. As regards the 450 copies, no change can now be made for the first quarter. For the 2nd he should put forward proposals. The arrangement for Köhler's payment has nothing to do with this.
What Schuberth says about success contradicts his earlier information and our reports.
In future nothing to be set aside without asking us. For the 3rd issue 'To Die for the Republic'c can stand.
50 copies to be sent here. The correspondence from South Germanyd no longer to be used.[295]
2. Hagen. Same as Schuberth. Should organise proper supervision of the printer" and also obtain from the latter a certificate re 1850
number of copies.[304] The correspondence from South Germany no longer to be used.
He should vigorously oppose the censor's presumption and place his name on the title page as the responsible editor.[305]
Should section IV of The Campaign for the German Imperial Constitution create difficulties, this should be reported at once.
3. Naut. Terms for printer — price as in Hamburg; for Eisen: 25 per cent for Cologne, 50 per cent for all other copies, incl. all expenses, excepting, perhaps, postage from London and advertise-ments ordered by us.
The printer must deliver 5 sheets in 10 days and fix penalty for breach of contract.
110. Marx to Eduard von Müller-Tellering. 12 March[43]
For the letter you wrote yesterday to the Workers' Society, I would send you a challenge, were you still capable of giving satisfaction after your disgraceful calumnies against Engels and after the well-founded sentence of expulsion pronounced by the Workers' Society executive committee.[306] I await you on a different field to strip you of the hypocritical mask of revolutionary fanaticism behind which you have so far skilfully contrived to hide your petty interests, your envy, your unassuaged vanity and your angry discontent over the world's lack of appreciation for your great genius — a lack of appreciation that began with your failure to pass your examination.
Had you reflected a little, you would have been obliged to assume that if, as a witness, I was compelled to report a fact detrimental to yourself, I for my part would do everything in my power to avoid a scandal which must doubly compromise me: in the eyes of the Workers' Society, to which you were recommended by me, and in the eyes of the public, for whom you exist only in as much as you were a contributor to my newspaper.[3]
Your letters to me, and they are available for publication, prove that you did all you could to foist upon me the role of 'democratic Dalai Lama and incumbent of the future'. What proof have you that I ever accepted that absurd role? The only thing you could reproach me with is that I did not immediately break with you or denounce you to the others after the Klapka affair, on the compromising nature of which I forthwith bluntly expressed my views to you in the presence of witnesses.[307] I admit my weakness. Only Becker'sb statement that, 4 weeks prior to the appearance of your glib pamphlet attacking the Westdeutsche Zeitung," you again offered to collaborate on that paper, a statement supported by the testimony of Freiligrath and Hagen, only your wholly unsubstantiated calumnies against Engels convinced me that what I had regarded as an isolated instance of precipitancy was the connecting link of an entire system. It was, by the way, wise of you not after all to appear yesterday at the final appointment which Willich had yet again arranged for you at your request. You knew what was to be expected from a confrontation with me.
K. Marx
111. Marx to Joseph Weydemeyer. 9 April
Dear Weydemeyer,
I should be greatly obliged if you would write and tell me 631 return how the sales of the N.Rh.Z.d are going and whether we may not soon receive some money. You people in little Germany have no conception of what things are like here.
The 3rd issue is coming out on the 10th of this month. The chap in Hamburga—why, we don't yet really know — has been frightfully dilatory over the thing. This will now be put a stop to.
I have also been requested by the Refugee Committee to appeal to your committee.[308] We now have 60 refugees on our hands; several hundred, who have been expelled from Switzerland, have already been announced. Hence our refugee fund will soon be down to its last monaco,b and then the people will be out on the street again.
Warm regards to your wife,
Your
K. Marx
112. Engels to Julius Schuberth. About 11 April
Attention Schuberth
1. Following dispatch of the 3rd issue,c we now await at the earliest possible date the statement concerning the sales of the 3 issues and an adjustment of the balance, and if this cannot be done before 15 April, he is to write and tell us. But at all events, to advise by return how many copies of the 3rd issue have been run off and what proportion of these are against firm orders. Only a few hundred in excess of firm orders are to be run off.
2. Since Schuberth does not consider it necessary for Mr Hagen to act as responsible editor, he is in no circumstances to alter a single word of the manuscript. We hereby inform him that, should this none the less occur, we must forthwith sever our connection with him. Hagen is instructed to ensure that nothing is altered.
3. Since, contrary to our instructions, Schuberth sent Naut 300 copies instead of 450, Naut is to take such copies as he needs from the 150 which Schuberth sent to Eisen. We further expect that the dispatch of copies to Naut will, in future, always be made at the same time as those to Eisen. Should we receive further complaints, we shall have to take other measures. Similarly we expect that in future the 50 copies for London will be dispatched by the first steamer after the issue is ready.
(A letter to be written to Hagen and enclosed with Schuberth's.)
113. Engels to Joseph Weydemeyer. 22 April
Dear Weydemeyer,
Could you insert the statement overleaf[3] in the Neue Deutsche Zeitung. The attempts of the 'great men' here to regain a position for themselves at the expense of the refugees, and their attempted manoeuvrings to that end in the press at large, are discouraging people from sending money here.[309] We have now received and distributed some £120-130 for the refugees, and the others have raised summa summarumb £2.15 s., and now they are trying to make themselves out to be the champions of the 'helpless' refugees. Unless we get some money now, our 50-60 refugees will, within a week, be out on the street and without a penny. This evening the bigwigs intend to hold a refugee meeting to see what they can devise. We'll leave them to it. Naturally there will again be big words and vast schemes, but no money for the refugees. Anyway, they're likely to fail, even though none of us will be going.
Marx is waiting anxiously for your reply to his last letter, which went off to you about a fortnight ago.[3]
Best regards to your wifeb and to Lüning's also from
Your
F. Engels
114. Engels to Joseph Weydemeyer. 25 April[310]
Dear Weydemeyer,
Your letter to Marx arrived today, together with £5 for the refugee fund and an enclosure for me. You will meanwhile have received two lettersc containing the Refugee Committee's statements, its appeal, and its record of accounts.d Get these printed as quickly as possible and do whatever you can in the vicinity to collect funds for the refugees. How things are in general, you will see from the enclosed letter to Dronke.[31]' Perhaps something could be raised in Franconia, Nuremberg, Bayreuth, etc., etc. The N.Rh.Ztg. has a very large circulation there. If you have an address in Munich, write there likewise. You will realise that now, when those jackasses, Struve and Company, are trying, on the eve of the revolution, to make use of the refugees to get their names into the papers again, it becomes a matter of honour for us to go on supporting at least our own refugees, and not to let the best of the new arrivals fall in their turn into the clutches of those jackasses.
We believed that the two following issues of the Revue had been in your hands, the 2nd for 5 weeks, and the 3rd for several days at the least. So that jackass, Naut, never sent them to you! A rude letter has already gone off to him today, telling him to send them to you forthwith.[312] He must have had the 3rd issue for a week. But wait till you've also got the 3rd issue, which brings the first series of articlesa to a definitive close, before writing a critique of it.
Adieu, your
F. E.
We have just heard that those wretches, Struve, Tellering, Schramm, Bauerb (of Stolpe), etc., etc., have put it about in sundry German papers that our committeer is itself swallowing up the refugee funds. This infamy is also being spread by letter. You cannot have read of it anywhere, otherwise you would have entered the lists long ago on our behalf. You know that the revolution has cost all of us money and has never brought us in a centime. Not even the Neue Preussische Zeitung, etc., have ever dared to reproach us with such things. The rotten democrats, the impotent 'great men' of the petty bourgeoisie, alone were vicious enough to stoop to such baseness. Our committee has now rendered accounts on 3 occasions,"d on each of which the donors were invited [to appoint] representatives to verify the books and receipts. What other committee has done that much? A receipt is to hand for every centime. Not one committee member has ever received a centime from the funds, nor would he ever ask for one, however much he was down on his luck. Not one of our best friends has ever received more than the least of the refugees;
no one who had a source of income received so much as a sou. If Dronke is no longer there, open his letter, read it, and send it on to him.
115. Engels and Marx to François Pardigon. 6 May
Dear Pardigon,
We have just this minute heard that it is intended to submit your programme on behalf of your society to the German Society in Greek Street and to ask them whether or not they will give it their support.[313]
After our conversation on Saturday,[3] we don't believe it; but if you or your society were to denounce an individual or a number of different individuals to us as a mere bad lot, we should simply show them the door without asking whether they were willing to adhere to our programme.
We have denounced the ringleaders of this society to you as charlatans and swindlers. Swindlers and charlatans will sign anything. They would probably have signed our manifesto had we been prepared to accept their repeated proposals of union and concord.
It will be clear to you that, were a similar proposal to be adopted by your society, we should be honour bound to sever forthwith all connections with the members of Rathbone Place.
Greeting and Fraternity
F. Engels K. Marx
116. Engels to Theodor Schuster. 13 May
Mr Th. Schuster in Frankfurt a. M.
Through Mr Weydemeyer of that city we have received for the account of the Refugee Committee there[308] £10.0s.0d. n/ca on Mr Stiebel here, of receipt and due entry of which we herewith gratefully advise you.
Should it be possible to send us further donations from there or the vicinity for the refugees here, we should be most grateful to you. The number of refugees grows daily, and the above £10 is barely sufficient to meet the most pressing day-to-day requirements for a week. Funds are beginning to come in less plentifully, while on the other hand the refugees now in need of assistance almost exclusively belong to occupations offering little if any prospect of employment here.
Greeting and Fraternity
The Social-Democratic Refugee Committee F[oreign] Department]
F. Engels Secretary
It is requested that all donations be sent through Mr Weydemeyer to Mr Marx or Mr C. Pfänder, 21 King Street, Soho Square, London.
117. Engels to Joseph Weydemeyer. 8 June
IN FRANKFURT AM MAIN
[London,] 8 June a [1850] 64 Dean Street, Soho
Dear Weydemeyer,
How are things with our Revue} The money, especially? The question is becoming all the more urgent as the Prussians are making every effort to induce the British Government to expel me from England too.[314] Were I not stuck here sans le soub I should already have withdrawn into the heart of England and the Government would have lost sight of me.
How are things with the 'red issue'c?[262] We have orders for it from America. How much of it has been sold? How many copies have you left?
Your paperd seems to have joined the rest to form a conspiration du silence in regard to our Revue. However, I realise that, to the readers of the Neue Deutsche Zeitung, Raveaux must be more interesting.
Regards to Dronke and to your wife.e
Your
K. M.
time
118. Marx to Heinrich Bürgers. 25 June[315]
[...] the Cologne people, including Daniels, were as usual much taken up with being wise after the event [...] [...] Like any other place Cologne can, if it so wishes, declare itself a Centre of any kind. Indeed it would conform better than any other place to Spinoza's dictum whereby the periphery coincides with the centre [•••]"
Published for the first time Printed according to Daniels' letter to Marx of 28 June 1850 and that of the Cologne leading district to the Communist League Central Authority of 10 July 1850
119. Marx to Joseph Weydemeyer. 27 June[316]
Dear Weydemeyer,
Send the money to Naut. The fellow's not a bad old jackass. I shall explain the matter to you some other time. Pray do not be offended by my wife's agitated letters.c She is nursing her child,d
and our situation here is so extraordinarily wretched that an outburst of impatience is excusable.
Lüning's critique — I have seen 1 and 2e—shows that he doesn't understand what lie is trying to criticise. Maybe I shall explain a few things to him in our Revue.S17
This is an important day. There is a possibility that today the Ministry may fall.[318] Then a truly revolutionary movement will get under way here. We ourselves may be the Tories' first victims. Then our long-intended expulsion might actually come about.
Your
K. Marx
120. Marx to Karl Blind. 17 July
Dear Blind,
Our long silence was due to a misunderstanding. For we believed that the Central Authority's second circulara had been brought you 6 weeks or 2 months ago [by] our emissary, Klein, and we were waiting for your answer. [Now] it transpires that Klein has [brought] back nothing of the kind to Brussels.
Write to me as soon as possible and in a special enclosure to the [Central Authority], We are thinking of convening a congress here in a few (8) weeks' time.[319] What do you [make] of the Holstein business?[320] We shall shortly be dispatching an emissary [who] worked there for two years and knows [exactly] who is who and what is what.b
Concerning my own fortunes and the manifold vicissitudes which I [...] in, some other time.
I am approaching you this time about a private matter [...], that, if at all possible, you will not refuse me your assistance. I had arranged with my family that I would settle my financial affairs with my uncle Philips in Holland [...] weeks, [for which] purpose I was to visit Holland in person. An [...] illness of my wife constantly rendered my departure impossible. And now I shall not be able to go there for several weeks, because two of my uncle's daughters are being married, one after the other, from his house, so th[at] business matters cannot be settled till several weeks later.
With this affair in mind, I meanwhile drew a bill for £20 (500 fr.) with a [merchant] firm[3] here in London on the strength of this arrangement. The bill matures on Monday or Wednesday.b If I were unable to pay it, I would lay myself open to a public [...] which, given the present state of the parties here, and [my] relations with the Prussian Embassy and the English Ministry, [could] have most disagreeable consequences.
Now I hear that Goegg in Paris has a considerable amount of capital available just now. Would you write to him immediately, explaining the circumstances to him and inquiring whether he could advance me the money on a promissory note or a bill. Periculum in mora.c
Pending the arrangement in Holland I am, in the literal sense of the word, dépourvu? save for my last shilling.
I rely on you to do your utmost.
Your
K. Marx
121. Marx to Joseph Weydemeyer. 29 October[43]
Dear Weydemeyer,
I beg you to carry out the following transaction for me: Borrow from Schuster or somebody else the money necessary to redeem my silver from the Frankfurt pawnbroker's,[321] then sell the
122. Marx to Engels. 19 November
silver to a goldsmith or wherever it can be sold in Frankfurt, repay the man who loaned you the money for redeeming the silver, and send the balance to me here.
Neither you nor the other man will be incurring any risk for, should you not be able to sell the stuff at a higher price, all you have to do is take it back to the pawnbroker's.
On the other hand my present circumstances are such that I must at all costs raise some money, even to be able to continue working.
The only items I would ask you to return to the pawnbroker's, since they have no saleable value, are 1) a small silver mug, 2) a silver plate, 3) a small knife and fork in a case — all belonging to little Jenny.a
I very much approve of your plan for a popular work on political economy and only hope that you will soon make a start on it.[322] Warm regards to your wifeb from my wife and self.
Your
K. Marx
122
MARX TO ENGELS[323]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 19 November 1850
Dear Engels,
Just a line or two to let you know that our little gunpowder-plotter, Fawksy,[324] died at ten o'clock this morning. Suddenly, from one of the convulsions he had often had. A few minutes before, he was still laughing and joking. The thing happened quite unexpectedly. You can imagine what it is like here. Your absence at this particular moment makes us feel very lonely.
123. Marx to Engels. 23 November
In my next letter I shall tell you something about Harney from which you will see what an ominous situation he's in.
Your
K. Marx
If you happen to feel so inclined, drop a few lines to my wife. She is quite distracted.
123
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
London, 23 November 1850
Dear Engels,
Your letter did my wife a great deal of good.[325] She's in a really dangerous state of excitation and exhaustion. She had nursed the child* herself and had fought for its existence under the most difficult circumstances and at the greatest sacrifice. And on top of this, the thought that the poor child was a victim of bourgeois
misère, although it never wanted for any particular care.
Mr Schrammb is thoroughly beseileredc and is just now at his most loathsome. For two whole days, 19 and 20 November, he never showed his face in our house, then came for a moment and immediately disappeared again after one or two fatuous remarks. He had volunteered to accompany us on the day of the funeral; he arrived a minute or two before the appointed hour, said not a word about the funeral, but told my wife that he had to hurry away so as not to be late for a meal with his brother/ With my wife in such an irritable state, you can imagine how offensive was the conduct of this person, to whom so much friendship has been extended in our house.
124. Engels to Marx. 25 November
Jones has explained Harney's true situation to me. He is sous le coup de la justice* The entire contents of his paperb are such as to make it liable to stamp duty.[326] The government is merely waiting for its circulation to increase in order to nab him. The proceedings against Dickens have been instituted solely as a precedent in respect of Harney.[327] If he is arrested he may, besides the actual sentence, have to serve 20 years through being unable to produce SECURITIES.
Bauerc and Pfänder have won their case.[328] Their counsel was Roberts.
Your
K. M.
124
ENGELS T O MARX
IN LONDON
[Manchester,] 25 November 1850
Dear Marx,
I am writing today just to tell you that I am unfortunately still not in a position to send you the £2 I promised you for today in my last letter.[329] Ermen d has gone away for a few days and, since no proxy has been authorised with the bank, we are unable to make any remittances and have to content ourselves with the lew small payments that happen to come in. The total amount in the cash box is only about £4 and you will therefore realise that I must wait a while. As soon as Ermen returns I shall at once send you the money. I trust the first remittance arrived safely.
125. Marx to Engels. 2 December
Schramm's" behaviour is really despicable. The Harney business is indeed extremely ominous. If they are actually determined to arrest him, changing the paper's name won't help.b Nor can he give it up altogether, and if this paper falls into the category liable to stamp duty, I can't see any possibility at all of bringing out an unstamped political weekly. In any case, he'd do better to omit his 'LABOUR RECORD' from page 8, this being NEWS and unquestionably subject to stamp duty. But from what you write it would seem that, in Jones' opinion, the content of his analytical articles is equally liable to be stamped. And that would be the limit.
So the outraged Schramm, to judge by Mr Seiler's begging letter, would seem to be again on the best of terms with his brother0 and even showing him some égardsd\
I hope your wife is feeling better. Warm regards to her and the rest of your family from your
F. E.
In the course of this week I shall send your wife a parcel of COTTON THREAD which I hope she will find to her liking.
[On the back of the letter] Charles Marx Esq. 64 Dean Street. Soho Square. London
125
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
London, 2 December [1850] 64 Dean Street, Soho
Dear Engels,
For several days I have been seriously unwell and hence this letter, together with advice of receipt of the two POST OFFICE ORDERS, will reach you later than I would have wished. I have remitted 7/6d to Seiler. As regards the Indépendance* we neither of us owe him anything for the time being, as he opportunely got himself thrown out by his landlord, leaving behind in return for the £10 he owed him nothing but unsold copies of the Indépendance, personal effects to the value of 18 pence, and 2 or 3 books which he had borrowed from myself and others. Truly, he possesses IN A HIGH DEGREE the ability to liquidate, American-fashion, the excess of his expenditure over his revenue.
The great Heilberg has arrived here with a young wife, soi-disanLb I have not yet had the honour of seeing the legendary Tuck, who has been cast back across the ocean, considerably aggrandised, of course — a dangerous rival for Seiler. He completely monopolises Bamberger, calling him 'little brother', and the old Amschel, 'auntie'.
As yet I have neither seen nor heard anything of our Revue.0 I am negotiating with Cologne about the publication of the quarterly.[11]
Partly because of ill-health, partly on purpose, I never foregather with the others at the Pulteney Stores[330] except on the official days. Since these gentlemen have so extensively debated whether or not this company is ennuyante? I, of course, am leaving them to agree amongst themselves upon the solace to be derived from their discourse. I, however, make myself scarce. As we have both of us experienced, one loses these people's esteem to the same extent that one is liberal with them. Moreover, I'm tired of them and wish to employ my time as productively as possible. Friend Schramm,' who for several weeks has been playing the malcontent and has finally come to the conviction that no one is in the least inclined to place obstacles in the way of the natural course of his emotional ups and downs, is gradually readapting himself to the type of humour compatible with the MODEL-LODGING-
HOUSE.
At the Great Windmill considerable annoyance reigns over the loss of £16 as a result of a court ruling.[331] Lehmann, in particular, is seething. His rage will not abate until Bauer and Pfänder are publicly branded as thieves and miscreants by every newspaper in Europe. Now, of course, little Bauer maintains with suppressed moral fury that the payment of a single penny, whether to the Great Windmill or to a public poor box, would be an unpardonable affront to the English courts and 'recognition of the bourgeoisie'.
Meanwhile the great men of Great Windmill Street have experienced a triumph, as the following[3] shows:
'Aux démocrates de toutes les nations!
Citoyens! Proscrits Réfugiés en Angleterre et mieux placés par cela même pour juger des mouvements politiques du Continent, nous' (note well! An out-and-out solecism in this single phrase which they have daringly tacked on to subject, copula and predicate, and should in any case read: et ainsi mieux placés que vous autres pour) 'avons pu suivre et surveiller activement toutes les combinaisons des Puissances coalisées se préparant à une nouvelle invasion de la France, où' (very naice!) 'les Cosaques du Nord sont attendus par leurs complices, pour' (yet again attendus pour) 'éteindre dans son foyer même' (the birthplace of Barthélémy and Pottier) 'le volcan de la Révolution Universelle.— Les Rois et les aristocrates de l'Europe ont compris qu'il était temps d'élever des digues pour arrêter la marée populaire' (should read: le marasme populaire) 'qui menace d'engloutir leurs trônes ébranlés.—Des troupes nombreuses levées en Russie, en Autriche, en Prusse, en Bavière, dans le Hanovre, dans le Wurtemberg, en Saxe et enfin dans tous les états de l'Allemagne, sont déjà réunies.' (Des troupes ... sont déjà réunies!) 'En Italie
130 000 hommes menacent la frontière suisse. Le Vorarlberg est occupé par 80 000 hommes. Le Haut Rhin est couvert par 80 000 hommes, Würtembergeois, Bedois et Prussiens. Le Main est gardé par 80 000 Bavarois et Autrichiens. Tandis que 370 000 hommes occupent les points que nous venons d'indiquer, la Prusse a mobilisé 200 000 soldats qu'elle tient disponible' (sic) 'pour être lancé sur les frontières de la Belgique et de la France: la Hollande et la Belgique, contraintes par les coalitions, soutiendront le mouvement d'invasion avec une armée forte de
150 000 hommes. En Bohême 150 000 hommes se tiennent prêts et n'attendent qu'un ordre pour se réunir à l'armée du Main, qui serait alors forte de 230 000 hommes. Autour de Vienne sont concentrés 80 000 hommes. 300 000 Russes campent en Pologne, et 80 000 dans les environs de St. Petersbourg: ces armées réunies composent une force d'un million trois cents trente mille combattants, qui n'attendent que le signal de l'attaque. Derrière ces troupes se tiennent aussi (!) prêts 180 000 Autrichiens, 200 000 Prussiens, 100 000 hommes fournis par les principautés de l'Allemagne, et 220 000 Russes. Ces armées forment ensemble, comme troupes de réserve 700 000 hommes; sans compter les hordes innombra-bles' (sic) 'de Barbares que l'Attila Moscovite ferait surgir du fond de l'Asie, pour lancer, comme autrefois (!) sur la civilisation Européenne. Des journaux allemands' (here a note is appended with a piffling sentence from the Neue Deutsche Zeitung to put Lüning in a good mood) 'et nos renseignements particuliers nous font connaître les secrètes intentions des Puissances dont les Plénipotentiaires se sont réunis à Varsovie le 25 Octobre dernier.[332] Il a été décidé, dans la (!) conférence, qu'une guerre feinte' (My God! what diplomats!) 'entre la Prusse et l'Autriche, servirait de prétexte au mouvement des soldats que la volonté du Czar transforme en instruments aveugles et en sicaires féroces contre les défenseurs de la liberté.' (Bravo!) 'En présence de ces faits, il n'est plus possible de douter: on organise en ce moment le massacre, déjà commencé (!!) de tous les Républicains. Les journées de Juin 1848 avec leurs exécutions sanglantes et les proscriptions que les ont suivies — la Hongrie dévastée et asservie par l'Autriche — l'Italie livrée au Pape et aux Jésuites, après regorge-ment de la République Romaine par les soldats du Gouvernement de la France n'ont point assouvi la rage de nos ennemis: ils rêvent l'asservissement de tous les peuples qui combattent pour le triomphe de la liberté commune. Si la démocratie n'y prend garde, la Pologne, la Hongrie, l'Allemagne, l'Italie et la France seront bientôt encore vouées aux fureurs de la soldatesque sauvage de Nicolas qui, pour exciter les Barbares au combat leur promet la dévastation et le pillage de l'Europe.
Devant ce danger qui nous menace, debout! Debout!... Républicains Français, Allemands, Italiens, Polonais, et Hongrois, sortons de cet engourdissement' (Toping Schapper and Willich!) 'qui énerve nos forces et prépare une victoire facile à nos oppresseurs. Debout!... Aux jours de repos et de honte du présent, faisons succéder les jours de fatigue et de gloire, que nous prépare la guerre sainte de la liberté! En examinant ces dangers que nous vous signalons, vous comprendrez, comme nous, qu'il y aurait folie d'attendre plus longtemps l'attaque de l'ennemi commun; nous devons tout préparer et aller au devant du péril qui nous environne.' (Just try au devant d'une chose qui vous environne!) 'Citoyens Démocrates Socialistes, notre salut n'est qu'en nous mêmes: nous ne devons compter que sur nos propres efforts; et éclairés des exemples du passé, nous devons nous prémunir contre les trahisons de l'avenir. Évitons, évitons surtout le piège qui nous est tendu par les serpens (!) de la diplomatie. Les émules des Metternich et des Talleyrand méditent en ce moment d'éteindre le flambeau de la Révolution, en suscitant à la France, par l'invasion qu'ils préparent, une guerre nationale dans laquelle les peuples s'égorgeraient au profit des ennemis de leur affranchissement. Non, Citoyens! plus de guerre nationale! Les barrières que les despotes avaient élevées entre les nations qu'ils s'étaient partagées, sont désormais tombées pour nous, et les peuples confondus' (really: confondus) 'n'ont plus qu'un drapeau, sur lequel nous avons écrit avec le sang fécond de nos martyrs: République Universelle Démocratique et Sociale.'
Pour Leurs Sociétés: 'Les membres du comité de la société des proscrits Démocrates Socialistes Français à Londres: Adam (Cambreur), Barthélémy (Emmanuel), Caperon (Paulin), Fanon, Goûté, Thierry, Vidil (Jules); les délégués de la commission permanente de la section de la démocratie polonaise à Londres: Sawaszkiewicz, Warskiroski; les membres du comité démocrate socialiste des réfugiés allemands et de la société ouvrière allemande: Dietz (Oswald), Gebert (A.), Mayer (Adolphe), Schärttner (A.), Schapper (Charles), Willich (Auguste). Les délégués de la société démocratique hongroise à Londres: Molikoy, Simonyi. Londres le 16. Novembre 1850.'a333
•' 'To the democrats of all nations! Citizens! Proscribed refugees in England who, for that very reason, are in a better position (o judge the political movements on the Continent, we' (note well! An out-and-out solecism in this single phrase which they have daringly tacked on to subject, copula and predicate, and should in any case read: and hence in a better position than the rest of you to) have been able actively to keep track of and observe all the combinations of the coalition powers preparing for a fresh invasion of France, where' (very naice!) 'the Cossacks of the North are awaited by their accomplices to' (yet again 'awaited to') 'extinguish at its very centre' (the birthplace of Barthélémy and Pottier) 'the volcano of the Universal Revolution.—The kings and aristocrats of Europe have realised that it was time to put up dykes to arrest the popular tide' (should read: popular stagnation) 'which is threatening to engulf their tottering thrones.—Large numbers of troops raised in Russia, in Austria, in Prussia, in Bavaria, in Hanover, in Württemberg, in Saxony and, in short, in all the states of Germany, have already mustered' (troops ... have already mustered!). 'In Italy 130,000 men are threatening the Swiss frontier. The Vorarlberg is occupied by 80,000 men. The Upper Rhine is covered by 80,000 men, Württembergers, Badeners and Prussians. The Main is guarded by 80,000 Bavarians and Austrians. While 370,000 men occupy the localities indicated above, Prussia has mobilised 200,000 soldiers which she is holding available' (sic) 'for launching against the frontiers of Belgium and France. Holland and Belgium, constrained by the coalitions, will support the invasion move with an army 150,000 strong. In Bohemia 150,000 men are holding themselves ready and only await the order to join up with the army of the Main, which will thus be 230,000 strong. 80,000 men are concentrated round Vienna. 300,000 Russians are encamped in Poland, and 80,000 in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg: all together these armies make up a force of one million three hundred and thirty thousand combatants who are only awaiting the signal to attack. Behind these troops and also (!) holding themselves ready are 180,000 Austrians, 200,000 Prussians, 100,000 men provided by the German principalities, and 220,000 Russians. Taken together these armies form a reserve of 700,000 men; not counting the innumerable' (sic) 'hordes of barbarians which the Muscovite Attila will unleash from the heart of Asia to be launched, as of yore (!), against European civilisation. From German newspapers' (here a note is appended with a piffling sentence from the Neue Deutsche Zeitung to put Lüning in a good mood) 'and from our own sources of information we learn the secret intentions of the Powers whose Plenipotentiaries foregathered in Warsaw on 25 October last. /( was decided, in the (!) conference, that a feint war' (My God! what diplomats!) 'between Prussia and Austria would serve as a pretext for the movement of troops whom the will of the Czar is transforming into blind instruments and ferocious bravoes to combat the defenders of liberty.' (Bravo!) 'In the face of these facts, there can no longer be any possible doubt: at this moment they are organising the massacre, already begun (!!), of all republicans. The days of June 1848, with their bloody executions and the proscriptions that followed them — Hungary devastated and enslaved by Austria— Italy delivered up to the Pope and the Jesuits, after the Roman Republic had been butchered by the soldiers of the French Government, have in no way assuaged the fury of our enemies: they dream of the enslavement of all those people who are fighting for the victory of common liberty. If democracy is not on its guard, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Italy and France will soon again fall victim to the fury of the brutal soldiery of Nicholas who whets the barbarians' appetite for battle with the promise that they may devastate and pillage Europe.
In the face of this danger by which we are threatened, arise! Arise ... French, German, Italian, Polish and Hungarian republicans, let us emerge from this torpor' (Toping Schapper and Willich!) 'which debilitates our strength and paves the way for an easy victory for our oppressors. Arise!... Let us ensure that the present days of inactivity and shame are succeeded by the days of fatigue and glory which await us with the holy war of liberty! On examining these dangers we have pointed out to you, you will realise, like us that it would be folly to wait any longer for our common enemy to attack; we must make every preparation and go out to face the peril which surrounds us.' (Just try going out to face something which surrounds you!) 'Citizens, Socialist Democrats, our salvation lies only with ourselves: we cannot count on anything but our own efforts; and, enlightened by the examples of the past, we must provide against the betrayals of the future. Let us avoid, let us avoid above all, the trap that has been laid for us by the serpents (!)
If that's not champion drivel, then I really don't know what is.a
Having read the Rollin, Mazzini, Ruge, etc. manifesto addressed to the Germans,[15] wherein they are invited to sing the Bardief and reminded that their forbears were called 'Franks', and wherein the King of Prussiad had already agreed to be whacked by Austria, I thought I had plumbed the depths of stupidity. Mais non! For here is the Fanon-Caperon-Gouté manifesto, as the Patrie calls it,e of the dii minorum gentium[1] with, as it rightly remarks, the same content but devoid of chic, devoid of style, with the most pathetic rhetorical flourishes such as serpents and sicairesg and égorgementsï' The
Indépendance, quoting a few sentences from this masterpiece, relates that it was composed by the soldats les plus obscurs de la Démocratie' and that these poor devils had sent it to the London correspondent of that paper, despite the latter's conservatism. Such was their longing to appear in print. In retribution it names no names, and similarly the Patrie names only the three mentioned above. To compound the misère they gave one of the Straubingers[86] here (yesterday this same person told Pfänder the sorry tale) 50 copies to take to France. Just off Boulogne he hurled 49 of them into the sea; on reaching Boulogne Brother
of diplomacy. The emulators of the Metternichs and the Talleyrands are at this moment contemplating how they may extinguish the torch of the Revolution by instigating in France, through the invasion they are preparing, a national war in which the peoples will butcher each other for the benefit of the enemies of their liberation. Nay, Citizens! No more national war! For us the barriers, set up by despots between the nations they had shared out among them, are henceforward fallen, and the peoples, confounded,' (really: confounded), 'have only one flag upon which, with the fertile blood of our martyrs, we have written: Universal Democratic and Social Republic'
On behalf of Their Societies: 'The members of the Committee of the Society of Exiled French Socialist Democrats in London: Adam (Cambreur), Barthélémy (Emmanuel), Caperon (Paulin), Fanon, Goûté, Thierry, Vidil (Jules); the delegates of the Permanent Commission of the Polish Democracy Section in London: Sawaszkiewicz, Warskiroski; the members of the Socialist Democratic Committee of German Refugees and the German Workers' Society: Dietz (Oswald), Geben (A.), Mayer (Adolphe), Schärttner (A.), Schapper (Karl), Willich (August). The delegates of the Hungarian Democratic Society in London: Molikoy, Simonyi. London, 16 November 1850.' a Marx adapts here a saying current in the Mark. - b 'Le Comité central démocratique européen, aux Allemands, 13 novembre 1850' published in La Voix du Proscrit, No. 4, 17 November 1850 and other papers. - c Teutonic war song - d Frederick William IV - e G. de Molinari, 'Un nouveau manifeste rouge', La Patrie, 28 November 1850. - f second-rate luminaries (literally: gods of minor nations) - s assassins - h butchery - ' the most obscure soldiers of Democracy (L'Indépendance belge, No. 323, 19 November 1850); the newspaper has: 'soldats ... de la démagogie'.
10-1543 Straubinger was sent back to London for lack of a passport, and declares 'that he is now off to Boston'. Farewell and write by return.
Your
K.Marx
Apropos! Do write sometime to the worthy Dronke telling him to reply about League matters and not to write only in the case of begging letters. The gentlemen in Colognea have sent no news. 'Haude', who is now back, having lost all his worldly goods in Germany,[334] is described by Weydemeyer as an 'otherwise stout lad'.
You must seriously consider what you are going to write about.[335] England won't do, there being 2 articles on the subject already,b perhaps 3 with Eccarius.c Nor is there a great deal to say about France. Could you not perhaps, in conjunction with Mazzini's latest things, tackle the rotten Italians along with their revolution? (His Republic and Monarchy etc., as well as his religion, the Pope, etc.)d
[From Jenny Marx]
Dear Mr Engels,
Your kind sympathy over the heavy blow dealt us by fate through the loss of our little darling, my poor little child of sorrow,e has been a great comfort to me, the more so as, in the last few sorrowful days, I have found cause for the most bitter complaint in our friend Schramm. My husband and all the rest of us have missed you sorely and have often longed to see you. However, I am very glad that you have left and are well on the way to becoming a great COTTON LORD. See that you entrench yourself firmly between the two warring brothers'; their tussle is bound to place you in a position of indispensability vis-à-vis your respected Papa, and in my mind's eye I already see you as Friedrich Engels JUNIOR and partner of the SENIOR. But of course the best thing about it is that, notwithstanding the COTTON TRADE and all the rest, you are still the same old Fritze and, in the words of those three arch-democrats, Frederick William the First.S Kinkel and Mazzini, you will not become 'estranged from the sacred cause of freedom'. Karl has told you something about the mummery here. I might add some nouaa That obese ruffian, Haude, shed all his fat during his muckraking tour of the German provinces and trips over his own legs whenever he sees anyone. It would seem that a little hippopotamus of dubious origin has joined the dictator hippopotamus,*b and that the Great Windmill Knight, Hohenzoller Willich, has reinforced his guard of nobles with a few qualified footpads and blackguards. Our own people dawdle along from one day to the next with the help of a few borrowed pence. Rings is now earning something as a claqueur with the Duke of Brunswick, who is once more loudly pontificating before the courts.
The last Polish banquet, at which were foregathered the French, German, Hungarian and Polish crapaudsc (Willich, Fieschi, Adam, etc.),[336] ended up in a free-for-all. Apart from that we've heard nothing of the crew. Last night we attended Ernest Jones' first lecture on the history of the papacy. His lecture was marvellous and, by English standards, advanced, though not quite à la hauteurä for us Germans who have run the gauntlet of Hegel, Feuerbach, etc. Poor Harney was dangerously ill of an abscess of the windpipe. He is not allowed to speak. An English doctor has made two incisions without finding the affected spot. His Red [Republican] has turned into The Friend of the People. Well, enough for today. The children chatter a great deal about Uncle Angels and, thanks to your estimable tuition, dear Mr Engels, little Tille now gives a splendid rendering of the song about the 'journeyman's pelt and the nimble broom'.
I hope we shall see you at Christmas.
Yours
Jenny Marx
126. Marx to Hermann Becker. 2 December
Dear Becker,
I know that you felt greatly offended by a letter I wrote to Bürgers.' However, in this letter, which was written under very trying circumstances, I had no intention of offending you any more than my other friends in Cologne. I believe that this explanation will satisfy you and that, without harking back to the past, I can proceed straight to the proposals I have to make to you.
1. You know how wretchedly Mr Schuberth has managed our Revue. I believe that in a few days' time he will have brought out the last two issues. I wish to continue the enterprise as a quarterly (from February onwards), 20 sheets every quarter. The increased size would allow the inclusion of more varied material. Can you undertake publication, and on what terms?
2. A friend of mine" has translated my anti-Proudhon pieceb
from the French into German and has written his own introduction to it.[33] I would put the same question to you as above.
3. I have devised a scheme by which socialist literature consisting of a series of small pamphlets could be launched on the public in successive publications. A start could not be made until March. Should you be willing to undertake something of this kind, the things would be got ready in the meantime. I believe that, after its recent cheering experience of haute politique, the German public will BY AND BY find itself obliged to turn its urgent attention to the real content of present-day struggles. I beg you to reply soon.
Your
K. Marx
127. Engels to Emil Blank. 3 December
Dear Emil,
I have received your parcel and thank you for your prompt dispatch of the cigars, which have found general acclaim. The underpants are also fine.
Father wrote to me a few days ago. His preference is for Gottfried Ermen, with whom he would prefer to continue in case of a rupture; under no circumstances will he remain with Peter any longer than necessary. I shall collect all the notes available on Ermen Bros' business. That they have done extensive business is certain, the average profit, Gottfried Ermen maintains, being £600 a year, and more in recent years. In this business it is difficult to lose money in an average year; they possess and need little capital, and the article — low quality sewing and knitting yarn — also goes better compared with the fine qualities, which are falling off considerably.
The balance for the year 1849/50 has not yet been struck; debits and credits are still in the most splendid confusion. Father would seem to have been pressing them again, so I hear, and tomorrow they will set about putting this in order.
Accordingly Mr Peter arrived here this morning or yesterday evening! He sent for old Hill — he is living in an hotel two doors away from our office — was very nice, inquired about indifferent matters, but so far, at any rate, has failed to put in an appearance at the office. If his intention is to plague me, he has chosen the wrong man. Father does not wish to intervene in the brothers' squabbles, nor will I do so. But Gottfried is in such a fix that he has to keep in with me; he will tell me everything without my having to ask him about it.
If Peter Ermen takes over the management of the office, which very probably will happen in the end, this will greatly interfere with my examination of the books. Hitherto I have only been able to do this 4 days a week in DINNER-HOURS, when I was on my own, but it's precisely during DINNER-HOURS that he is accustomed to go sniffing about the office. I have abstracted the essentials, however, and little remains save the very involved task of comparing the prices at which Ermen Bros have been selling to us with the current prices on each occasion, and a search through old in-voices, etc., etc., so as to see whether one may not perhaps light upon this or that. In a few days' time I shall send Father Ermen Bros' complete accounts for 1849/50, duly classified and set out, as also those of Ermens' bleaching concern, so that he may see how these gentlemen carry on business with his capital.
Debit Father with the cost of the cigars, that would be the simplest.
128. Engels to Marx. 17 December
My love to Marie, Hermann and the children.
Your
Frederick
128
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
Manchester, 17 December 1850
Dear Marx,
I have been exceptionally busy of late and have had other interruptions which have forced me out of my customary routine and prevented me from writing. Hence my belated reply.
The Fanon-Caperon-Gouté manifestoa is truly a masterpiece, both in form and content. Crânerieb has found its ultimate expression, and Monsieur Barthélémy has at last given the world an example of ce que c'est que de parler carrément!c The military dispositions of the homme de marbred are equally funny; the
bonhomme' has counted most of the Austrian army corps twice over, as the most cursory REFERENCE to the newspapers will show. Incidentally, it's really taking effrontery too far after all the fiascos since 1848, and with all the nations, crapaudse first and foremost, in their present easy-going mood, to speak of a marée populaire qui
menace d'engloutir des trônes.f The collection of names at the bottom is undoubtedly the finest FEATURE of the whole. No such European congress has ever been seen before. Ledru-Rollin, Mazzini and Co. actually acquire a certain importance from this puerile affair. For that matter, I'd like to know in what way that milksop Sawaszkiewicz, who appears at the bottom, differs from Ledru-
17 1850
Rollin's Polack Darasz, and to what extent the two Hungarians, who appear at the bottom, are to be preferred to Mazzini. True, Schapper and Ruge are more or less equally matched and, unless the cockroach Dietz tips the scales heavily in favour of the new European committee, these gentry will hardly be able to compete with their prototype. [3 3 8]
Recently I went to see John Watts; the fellow seems skilled in sharp practice and now has a much larger SHOP in Deansgate, somewhat further u p . H e has become a consummate radical mediocrity, is concerned with nothing but the EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT. raves about MORAL FORCE339 and has accepted Mr Proudhon as his lord and master. He has translated the Contradictions économiques* and some other stuff and has lost a great deal of money at it, since English workers have not yet sufficient 'education' to enable them to understand these marvellous things. From a few instances h e gave me, it transpired that he knows very well how to boost his tailoring business by parading his bourgeois liberalism. On the EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEES he sits fraternally alongside his once inveter-ate foes, the dissenting ministers,[340] from time to time accepting their vote of thanks FOR THE VERY ABLE ADDRESS HE DELIVERED ON THAT EVENING It seemed to m e that the fellow has lost all his wits in the metamorphosis and I have not been to see him since. For people hereabouts who are thus transmuted into a state of bourgeois respectability, Proudhon is, of course, heaven sent; though seemingly going further than anyone else, further even than Owen, he is nevertheless FULLY RESPECTABLE.
I have n o objection to writing about Mr Mazzini and the Italian business. Only — save for the thing in The Red [Republican]h—I haven't got a single one of Mazzini's writings. However I shan't be able to do anything before Christmas since I shall be in London a week hence. I shall then bring back with me what I need. But perhaps by that time something else will have occurred to us.
Very many thanks to your wife for her amiable note.c As for the COTTON LORD, it hasn't come to that yet; my old man doesn't seem at all inclined to keep me here any longer than is absolutely necessary. Cependant nous verrons.d Peter Ermen is going round in circles like a fox that has left its brush in a trap, and is trying to make things too hot for me here — the stupid devil imagines he could annoy me!
Dronke has been written to.[341]
My regards to your wife and children.
Your
F. E.
Published in English for the first time 1851
129
Endnotes
[301] In a letter of 30 December 1849 addressed to Marx and Engels and other refugees, Louis Bamberger (editor of the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung), Eduard von Müller-Tellering and Rudolf Schramm invited them to attend a German refugees' meeting which was to be held on 3 January 1850 with the alleged aim of uniting the German refugees. Actually the organisers wanted to bring the proletarian elements under petty-bourgeois influence.—223
[302] Marx's letter to Jung has not been found. Besides raising funds for the publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue and the projected resumption of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Conrad Schramm's trip to the USA was aimed at raising funds for other activities of the Communist League, which was being reorganised by Marx and Engels. The trip did not take place for lack of funds. For his participation in the revolutionary movement Conrad Schramm (presumably a Communist League member since the beginning of 1849) was sentenced in Cologne on 15 June 1849 to two years' imprisonment in the fortress of Jülich. On 8 September 1849 he escaped from prison and emigrated to London, where he was elected to the Central Authority of the Communist League.—225
[303] In his note of 5 February 1850 Eduard von Müller-Tellering asked for a ticket to the ball organised by the London German Workers' Educational Society. Engels' refusal was used by Tellering as a pretext for intrigues against Marx and Engels. See also this volume, pp. 229-30, 234.-227
[304] The printing of the first issue of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue by Köhler's printshop in Hamburg turned to be of poor quality. Because of this and of the disagreements between Köhler and the publisher Schuberth, from the second issue the Revue was printed at H. G. Voigt's in Wandsbeck near Hamburg.—229
[305] While the Revue was being printed, disagreements arose between the proof-reader Theodor Hagen and the publisher Schuberth, who wanted to accommodate the Revue to the censorship standards existing in Germany at the time. Hagen proposed to assume responsibility to the censors for the content, and Marx and Engels insisted that Hagen's name should appear as 'responsible editor' on the title page. However Schuberth succeeded in having Hagen's proposal rejected.—229
[306] On 3 March 1850 the court of honour, presided by Willich, expelled Tellering from the London German Workers' Educational Society. Tellering wrote a new letter of protest, slandering Engels. This letter of Marx was in reply to Müller-Tellering's intrigues and slander (see also Note 303).—229
[307] Marx presumably has in mind Müller-Tellering's unprincipled behaviour in connection with a translation of the memoirs of György Klapka, a participant in the 1848-49 Hungarian revolution. When Klapka had declined Tellering's offer to translate the memoirs, early in January 1850 Tellering tried in vain to have material compromising the Hungarian general published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue of which Marx was an editor. At the same time Tellering proposed his services to Klapka in the struggle against Karl Heinzen, but having been exposed in this intrigue, he helped Heinzen to spread insinuations against Marx and Engels.—230 3 , 3 The society referred to is that of the French Blanquist refugees in London (Société des proscrits démocrates socialistes) with whom Marx and Engels, and also representatives of the revolutionary wing of the Chartists, concluded an agreement in mid-April 1850 (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 614-15) to set up a Universal Society of Revolutionary Communists (Société universelle des communistes révolutionnaires). However, the Blanquists soon violated the agreement by contacting the emigrant 'Society in Greek Street'—the petty-bourgeois Democratic Association (on this see Note 292). Subsequently, the leaders of the Blanquist refugees took an openly hostile stand towards Marx and Engels and their supporters by making a bloc with a sectarian faction within the Communist League. In these circumstances Marx and Engels considered it appropriate to cancel their agreement with the Blanquists early in October 1850 (see present edition, Vol. 10, p. 484).— 235
[309] In April 1850 the petty-bourgeois democrats Gustav Struve, Rudolf Schramm and others tried to gain influence among the German political refugees in London to counterbalance the Social-Democratic Refugee Committee. They spread false rumours, which got into the German press, alleging a biased approach on the part of the Committee in distributing material aid among the refugees. The London Refugee Committee's statement mentioned at the beginning of this letter refuted the rumours.— 232
[310] This letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953.—233, 489, 539
[31] Feuerbach's letter to Engels and that of Marx and Engels to Feuerbach have not been found.— 22
[312] The letter of Marx and Engels to Naut has not been found.— 234
[313] ). Subsequently, the
[314] This is an allusion to the campaign against German political refugees launched by the Prussian conservative newspapers and taken up by the English press. This campaign grew in intensity especially after an attempt on the life of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Berlin on 22 May 1850 by the retired non-commissioned officer Max Sefeloge (he died in a lunatic asylum). The reactionary press, the Neue Preussische Zeitung in particular, spread the lie that the attempt had been prepared by Marx and other leaders in London of an extensive conspiracy. The Prussian authorities urged the British Government to deport the political refugees. Marx and Engels unmasked the organisers of this slander campaign in their letter to the Prussian Ambassador in London Bunsen and in other statements in the press (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 370, 378 and 386).—237
[262] The last issue, No. 301, of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung for 19 May 1849, printed in red, was published in a greater number of copies than usual. Later it was reprinted several times and used by the Communist League members, who remained in Germany, for propaganda purposes.—201, 237
[315] Two excerpts of this letter are extant: one is quoted by Roland Daniels in his letter to Marx of 28 June 1850, the other in the letter of 10 July 1850 from the Cologne leading district of the Communist League to the London Central Authority of the League. The letter reflects the disagreement which arose in the summer of 1850 between the London Central Authority and the leaders of the Cologne organisations of the Communist League (Heinrich Bürgers, Roland Daniels, Peter Röser and others). The Cologne people's claim to become the Communist League's leading centre for the whole of Germany was contrary to the League's Rules, which were inspired by democratic centralism and provided for equality of the district organisations in individual provinces and countries and their equal responsibility to the Central Authority.— 237
[316] This letter was first published in English with abridgments in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, New York, 1953. However, a slip of the pen on the part of the author, substituting July for June, was not taken into account and in the present edition it has been corrected on the basis of Weydemeyer's reply to Marx of 3 July 1850.—238
[318] The foreign policy of the Russell cabinet was debated in the House of Commons on 24-27 June 1850. Despite strong Tory opposition the Whig Government was given a vote of confidence by majority of 46.—238
[319] This refers to the proposed convocation of a congress of the Communist League (see also present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 375-76) which did not take place, however, owing to the split in the League in September 1850 caused by the disruptive activity of the Willich-Schapper separatist group.—239
[320] Marx may have had in mind the situation in trip Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in the summer of 1850, when Communist League nembers conducted intense propaganda among the military units there. During the 1848 revolution the population of the duchy staged a national liberation uprising against Danish rule, demanding union with Germany. Prussian circles launched a phoney war against Denmark, but a truce was signed on 26 August 1848. The Prusso-Danish war was resumed at the end of March 1849 and it ended with a new betrayal by Prussia signing a peace treaty with the Danish monarchy on 2 July 1850. As a result the insurgents were compelled to continue the war on their own and on 24-25 July 1850 the Schleswig-Holstein army was defeated by Danish troops, and ceased resistance.— 239
[321] In the summer of 1849, after the closing down of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Jenny Marx on her way to Trier with her children stopped for a few days in Frankfurt am Main where, badly needing money to continue her journey, she pawned, with the help of Joseph and Louise Weydemeyer, the silver plate she had inherited from her family's Scottish relations.—240
[322] Weydemeyer did not carry out his plan to write a popular outline of political economy until after his arrival in the USA in October 1851. This work was published in New York in April-August 1853 in the German newspaper Die Reform under the title 'National-ökonomische Skizzen'.— 241
[323] In mid-November 1850 Engels left London for Manchester, where he worked in the Ermen and Engels firm first as a clerk and later as a partner until June 1869. He took up this work, in spite of his dislike for it, mainly to provide material assistance for Marx and his family, so that Marx could continue to work on the theory of political economy. Henceforth Marx and Engels maintained regular and frequent correspondence. This letter was first published in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx. selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.—241
[324] Marx's son Heinrich Guido was nicknamed Fawksy by the family because he was born on 5 November 1849, the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The conspirators, Guy Fawkes among them, wanted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and James I on 5 November. In Britain this anniversary is celebrated with fireworks.—241, 550
[325] Engels' letter to Jenny Marx mentioned here has not been found.—242
[326] Stamp duty on newspapers introduced in 1712 was a source of state revenue and the means of fighting the opposition press. In 1836 Parliament was compelled to reduce it and in 1855 to abolish it altogether. Harney was accused of not paying stamp duty on The Red Republican.—243
[327] The reference is to the legal proceedings against the weekly Household Words founded by Charles Dickens in March 1849. They ended on 1 December 1851 in favour of the weekly.— 243
[328] In mid-September 1850 the Communist League split due to the adventurist activities of the Willich-Schapper separatist group, which, contrary to the majority of the League's Central Authority, stood for the tactics of immediately launching a revolution without due consideration of the real conditions in Europe. On 17 September Marx, Engels and their followers withdrew from the London German Workers' Educational Society which fell under the influence of the group. The spokesmen of the Willich-Schapper group 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 held some of the Society's money as trustees to cover the needs of the League and help political refugees. Bauer and Pfänder were willing to return the money in instalments, provided it was not spent by the separatists to the detriment of the Communist League. However, the separatists insisted on the immediate return of the entire sum. On 20 November 1850 the court rejected the Society's suit, but the followers of Willich and Schapper did not halt their insinuations and started a press campaign against Bauer and Pfänder, accusing them of embezzlement. Marx and Engels helped to refute this slander (see present edition, Vol. 10, p. 533).—243, 245, 477
[329] Engels' letter to Marx mentioned here has not been found.—243
[11] The disagreements between Marx and Engels on the one hand and Arnold Ruge on the other dated back to the time of the publication of the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, under the editorship of Marx and Ruge. These disagreements were due to Ruge's negative attitude towards communism and the revolutionary proletarian movement, the fundamental difference between Marx's views and those of the Young Hegelian Ruge, who was an adherent of philosophical idealism. The final break between Marx and Ruge occurred in March 1844. Ruge's condemnation of the Silesian weavers' rising in June 1844 impelled Marx to criticise his views in the article 'Critical Marginal Notes on the Article "The King of Prussia and Social Reform. By a Prussian'" (see present edition, Vol. 3, pp. 189-206).—10
[330] Pulteney Stores—apparently the premises where the members of the London district of the Communist League held their meetings. At the meeting of the Central Authority held on 15 September 1850 Marx, in an effort to avert a split and with the support of the majority, suggested to transfer the seat of the Central Authority to Cologne, to authorise the Cologne district committee to form a new Central Authority, and to set up in London two independent district committees, one of the followers of Marx and Engels, and the other of those of Willich and Schapper. The separatists refused to submit to this decision and formed their own Central Committee in London. Marx's followers in London grouped around the London district committee, while a new Central Authority was formed in Cologne in October 1850, and expelled the members of the separatist organisation from the Communist League.—245
[331] The London German Workers' Educational Society (see Note 52) had its premises in Great Windmill Street.—245, 280, 283, 285, 287, 289, 298, 334, 356,
[332] Xhe meeting between the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph and the head of the Prussian Government, the Count of Brandenburg, took place in Warsaw on 28 October 1850. At it Nicholas I resolutely took the side of Austria in the Austro-Prussian conflict and brought pressure to bear upon the Prussian Prime Minister, demanding that Prussia should abandon all plans to unite Germany under her hegemony.—246
[15] Originally Engels planned to write a work on the social hist
[1] This is the earliest extant letter of Engels to Marx, written soon after Engels' return to Germany from England. On his way back to Germany at the end of August 1844, he stopped in Paris, where he met Marx. During the days they spent together they discovered that their theoretical views coincided, and they immediately began their first joint work, directed against the Young Hegelians. Engels finished his part before leaving Paris, while Marx continued to write his. At first they intended to call the book A Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Co. But while it was being printed Marx added The Holy Family to the title. This meeting of Marx and Engels in Paris marked the beginning of their friendship, joint scientific work and revolutionary struggle. The extant original of this letter bears no date. The approximate time of its writing was determined on the basis of Engels' letter to Marx of 19 November 1844 (see this volume, pp. 9-14). This letter was published in English in full for the first time in: Marx and Engels. Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955.—3
[86] Straubingers—travelling journeymen in Germany. Marx and Engels used this term for German artisans, including some participants in the working-class movement of that time, who were still largely swayed by guild prejudices and cherished the petty-bourgeois illusion that it was possible to return from capitalist large-scale industry to petty handicraft production.—63, 80, 138, 154, 161, 249, 346, 388, 394, 467, 47« t91, 498, 520
[334] Haude went to Germany as an emissary of the Willich-Schapper group after the split in the Communist League.—250
[335] Marx apparently has in mind Engels' work for a quarterly planned by him as a continuation of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Reuue whose publication was discontinued after the double No. 5-6 issue (see pp. 257, 266 of this volume). The plans of publishing a quarterly were never realised.—250
[336] This, presumably, refers to a refugee meeting held in London on 20 November 1850.— 251
[33] The socialist circle in Westphalia and the Rhine Province, with which Engels maintained close contacts and whose members were Otto Liming and Julius Meyer, was mentioned in the report of the Prussian police superintendent Duncker to the Minister of the Interior Bodelschwingh of 18 October 1845. This report contains the following remark concerning Engels: 'Friedrich Engels of Barmen is a quite reliable man, but he has a son who is a rabid communist and wanders about as a man of letters; it is possible that his name is Frederick.'—23
[338] Engels compares the grouping of refugee organisations whose representatives signed the address 'To the Democrats of All Nations!' with the Central Committee of European Democracy set up in London in June 1850 on the initiative of Giuseppe Mazzini. The Committee included, besides Mazzini, Ledru-Rollin from the French democrats, Arnold Ruge from the German, and Albert Darasz from the Polish democrats. The Central Committee members held sharply differing ideological views, and the strained relations between the Italian and French democrats led to its dissolution in March 1852.—255, 309,
[340] Dissenters were members of Protestant religious sects and trends in England who rejected the dogmas and rites of the official Anglican Church.— 255
[341] Engels' letter to Dronke mentioned here has not been found.— 256
[295] Marx's intention to enlist Joseph Weydemeyer as a regular contributor to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue was never realised. About mid-January Weydemeyer wrote his first article 'From South Germany' but it was not published in the first issue of the Revue owing to lack of space, and later lost its topical interest.—219, 225, 228, 549
[3] August 1844. On 13 December 1844 Bernays was sentenced to two months' imprisonment and a fine.—4 '* Engels left Germany in November 1842 and lived for nearly two years in England, working in the office of a Manchester cotton-mill of which his father was co-proprietor.—4
[43] This letter was first published in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.—30, 207,
[308] The Refugee Committee in Frankfurt am Main was founded by the Frankfurt Workers' Association at the end of 1849. At its meeting on 28 September 1849, presided by Joseph Weydemeyer, the Association decided to make weekly allocations to refugees.—231, 236