Speeches by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels at the Meeting Held to Celebrate the 36th Anniversary of the German Workers' Educational Society in London

Author(s) Frederick Engels
Karl Marx
Written 7 February 1876


First published in Der Volksstaat, No. 24, February 27, 1876
Printed according to the newspaper
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 24
Collection(s): Der Volksstaat, Ireland and the Irish Question (Marx-Engels)

Apart from Marx and Engels, former Communards and other participants in the meeting spoke at the celebration held by the German Workers' Educational Society in London (see Note 123). Friedrich Lessner, a veteran of the German and international workers' movement, sent a greeting.

An account of the meeting was featured by the Neue Social-Demokrat of Berlin, No. 20, February 18, 1876. The report published in this volume was drawn up on February 12 by Carl Scharr and printed by Der Volksstaat, No. 24, February 27, 1876, in the section "Aus England". Besides his own speech, Engels translated into German Walery Wrôblewski's speech, indicating the milestones of his career. Wrôblewski's speech was also included by the editorial board into the report on Engels' speech. Serious factual errors were made in the account of Marx's and Engels' speeches.

A report of the meeting was also carried by the Russian periodical Nabat published in Geneva, No. 4, 1876. It differed substantially from the text in Der Volksstaat, and also contained a great number of factual errors.

Comrade Carl Marx then spoke about the work of the Society since its inception. The Society had been founded in 1840 by Carl Schapper in collaboration with 6 other like-minded persons. There existed an organisation within the Society, "The League of the Just",[1] which had its seat in various countries and opposed the oppression of the people. Four or five nationalities had been involved in the foundation of this Society. In 1845[2] a congress had been convened in London at which the Communist Manifesto had been worked out and whose motto was: "Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!" Marx then gave a most interesting account of the associations in those days, stating that the number of members had reached a level of 400-500. In March 1848 the Society was closed down by the British government,[3] which was otherwise not so swift to resort to police measures. The Chartist movement, which had received a great deal of support from the Society, may have been the cause of the closure. The organisation called "The League of the Just" was dissolved in 1849,[4] whereupon many members moved to America. In the fifties the Society worked more by itself, though it had always remained a refuge for the persecuted and oppressed. Marx then went on to discuss the present movement, stressing that the Society had contributed to its rise and he hoped that it would continue to do so.

Comrade Frederick Engels then recalled a faithful champion of truth and justice, Wilhelm Weitling. He was in fact the first person to try to spread the Communist idea in Germany. He was extradited by Switzerland to the Prussian government, which kept him in prison for a considerable time without any grounds. Weitling had died in America. His book Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit had appeared at the advice of his friends. The speaker further recalled Comrade Moll, who had been one of the first members and had been killed in Southern Germany in the battle for freedom. The speaker then came to the movement in Germany, saying that in his view it had achieved a strength unmatched in any country hitherto. The speaker was of the opinion that the socialist movement was bound to go forward, since agitators such as Bismarck, Eulenburg and Tessendorf were active on its behalf. [...]

Comrade Wroblewski, speaking in French, said: As long as there are Poles alive, the great movement of workers will have defenders in them; they will show by word and deed that their place is wherever the cause of the proletariat is being fought for. Speaker pays tribute to the workers' movement in all countries.

Comrade Engels translates Wroblewski's speech into German and then provides information on his activities. Wroblewski was a general and in 1863, during the Polish revolution,[5] managed to keep 2 Russian armies in check with a small band; he was sentenced to death by the Russian government and succeeded at some risk in escaping to France, where he earned his daily bread as a worker. When the Paris Commune rose up, he took part in its battles and defended the southern part of Paris[6] ; also condemned to death by the Versailles people, he was fortunate enough to escape; he was still suffering greatly from the wounds he had incurred. [...]

  1. ↑ See Note 378.
  2. ↑ The reference is to the second congress of the Communist League held on November 29-December 8, 1847 (see Note 220). A number of its members also belonged to the German Workers' Educational Society in London.
  3. ↑ As is clear from the correspondence of the members of the London District of the Communist League with the League's Central Authority (see letters of March 15 and June 18, 1848 in Der Bund der Kommunisten, Dokumente und Materialien, Vol. I, Berlin, 1970, pp. 726-28 and 804-07), in early March 1848 the owner of the pub where the members of the Educational Society used to assemble cancelled the lease, and the meetings could no longer be held there. The author of the letter of March 15 stressed that in future the Society's meetings would be held only, under police surveillance, and that the British government had established strict supervision over the connections between foreign revolutionaries and the Chartists (see Note 368).
  4. ↑ An inaccuracy in the text: the reference is to the dissolution of the Communist League in November 1852.
  5. ↑ See Note 14.
  6. ↑ See Note 26.