Letter to Karl Marx, September 25, 1851

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 25 September 1851


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. I, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 38

TO MARX IN LONDON

[Manchester,] [25][1] September 1851

Dear Marx,

Your letter has arrived. Will write about Techow's erudition tomorrow. Kinkel's begging letter to New Orleans is very charming, but unfortunately I only saw the French version. Mr Stechan must also be in London by now; should he fail to announce himself, you will be absolutely right to leave the fellow to his own devices and to wait and see what happens before allowing anyone to take his side. Those released in Paris, of whom there is word in today's papers, will doubtless include Mr Conrad.[2] I, too, was much annoyed by the stupidity of the German newspapers in laying Willich's document[3] at our door. However, it will soon transpire that we have nothing to do with this wretched screed. Par dieu, nous en avons assez sur les bras[4] with other people's documents, as regards both style and content. Herewith article No. 3[5] for New York, at least a little less trashy than No. 2. I shall shortly be tackling No. 4.

You might from time to time send me an American paper sous bande,[6] it being occasionally desirable to see the muck in natura. I shall shortly be sending you another LOT OF STAMPS for this purpose.

Adieu!

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Manuscript damaged
  2. ↑ Conrad Schramm
  3. ↑ The reference is to the appeal to the members of the separatist organisation set up by Willich and Schapper after the split in the Communist League. (Marx and Engels called this organisation the Sonderbund by analogy with the separatist union of the Swiss Catholic cantons formed in the 1840s.) The appeal adopted at the congress of this organisation in the summer of 1851 was pervaded with adventuristic tendencies and voluntaristic-sectarian ideas of carrying out a revolution without any regard for objective conditions. In September 1851 the appeal fell into the hands of the police when they arrested members of local communities of this organisation in France (see Note 478). It was published in French papers under the heading: 'Instructions pour la Ligue, avant, pendant et après la révolution'. Excerpts were also published in the Kölnische Zeitung, No. 225, 19 September 1851.
  4. ↑ By God, we have enough on our hands
  5. ↑ F. Engels, Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany. Article III.
  6. ↑ in a wrapper