Letter to Friedrich Engels, January 28, 1858

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 28 January 1858


First published slightly abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 2, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXII, Moscow, 1929
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 40


MARX TO ENGELS[1]

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 28 January [1858] 9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park, Haverstock Hill

DEAR Frederick,

The freezing weather which has set in here and the real shortage of coal in this house compels me—although there's nothing in the world I loathe more—to impose on you again. I have brought myself to do so only after HEAVY PRESSURE FROM WITHOUT. My wife has pointed out to me that you had miscalculated through having sent a remittance from Jersey earlier than usual, and hence would not send anything this month unless I wrote expressly; that she had pawned her SHAWL, etc., etc., and was at a loss where to turn. In short, I must write, which is why I am doing so. Indeed, if these conditions persist, I'd sooner be miles under the ground than go on scraping along in this way. Always to be a burden on others while constantly tormented oneself by beastly trifles becomes unbearable in the long run. I personally can bury myself in my work and escape the misère by devoting my attention to universalities. My wife, OF COURSE, has no such refuge, etc., etc.

Lassalle's book arrived today[2] ; it cost 2/ not the book, but the carriage. This circumstance ensured it a bad reception. 2 volumes of 30 sheets EACH. Have no more than squinted at it. In his preface the fellow deludes readers into believing that he has been gestating it since 1846. Seems altogether Old Hegelian. Very possibly the legal tradition of hermeneutics came in useful for the interpretation and comparison of passages. Nous verrons?[3] though the thing's too bulky to be read from cover to cover.

I have also heard from Mr Pieper. He imparts the interesting secret that, while here, he was suffering from 'abdominal difficulties' and hence 'may' have seemed a bore.

The Orsini, etc., conspiracy[4] might well put paid to the Prussian amnesty.[5] The day before yesterday the police here forced their way into Orsini's rooms at midnight, and INVEIGLED his maid[6] into accompanying them to Scotland Yard, where she was interrogated by Mr Richard Mayne and some French mouchards?[7] This escapade, besides compromising Mr Pam, failed in its purpose even more lamentably in that Martin Bernard has taken possession of all letters addressed to Orsini in London since the latter's arrest, Orsini himself having burned all the rest before leaving here.

Salut.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ This letter was first published in an abridged English translation 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.—12, 30, 45, 54, 61, 67, 70, 93, 110, 128, 132, 224, 227, 254, 265, 319, 333, 359, 407, 430, 448, 459, 461, 518, 524
  2. ↑ F. Lassalle, Die Philosophie Herakleitos des Dunklen von Ephesos.
  3. ↑ We shall see
  4. ↑ Marx refers to an attempt on the life of Napoleon III by the Italian revolutionary Felice Orsini on 14 January 1858. Orsini hoped thus to give an impetus to revolutionary actions in Europe and activate the struggle for Italy's unification. The attempt failed and Orsini was executed on 13 March of that year.—251, 255, 256, 257, 266, 271, 289
  5. ↑ The amnesty of political emigrants who had taken part in the 1848-49 revolution in Germany was not proclaimed by the Prussian government until early 1861.—255, 266
  6. ↑ Eliza Cheney
  7. ↑ police spies