Letter to Friedrich Engels, February 6, 1865

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 6 February 1865


First published (without Postscript) in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 42


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 6 February [1865]

Dear Engels,

As good luck would have it, in the feuilleton section in the Social-Demokrat which arrived today your call for the crushing of the aristocracy comes right after my article[1] condemning even a 'pseudo-compromise'.

In the first instance, I now believe it is better to send in the few lines below,[2] instead of the statement I had originally intended.[3]

They will inevitably provide the occasion for a further statement. But my 'aesthetic' sense tells me—on further reflection—that the latter would not be entirely appropriate, because it would come too soon after Becker's APPEAL.[4] These few lines, on the other hand, will quite certainly provoke a real tussle between Schweitzer and Red Becker etc., in which we can then intervene and declare our policy briefly, forcefully and without any beating about the bush.

I enclose letter from the unfortunate Liebknecht and note sent him by the old Hatzfeldt woman; there is still not enough 'Lassalle' in the paper[5] for her liking.

As TO Klings, I am not going to answer at all. Let the fellows manage by themselves.[6]

Letter from Schily just received (can only send it to you in a few days time), from which it emerges:

1. that Moses'[7] insinuations were pure invention, 2. that our plan will have a 'fantastic' effect in Paris, and the workers there are not taking any notice whatsoever of L'Association, which Mr A. Horn, Lob Sonnemann and other riff-raff use to indulge their self-importance.[8]

If the attached statement meets with your approval, make a copy of it and sign it. Then send it back. I will then put my name to it as well and post the thing to Berlin.

Apropos. Lincoln's answer to us is in today's Times.[9]

[Postscript]

Liebknecht's private address is: 13 Neuenburger Strasse, Berlin. You can send to Mrs Liebknecht at that address whenever you want to write privately. Poor W. Liebknecht is obviously in an exceedingly embarrassing situation. He will have to be told that it is a case of either bending or breaking. In the latter case, I should think he could certainly earn an honest living as a schoolmaster in Manchester.

  1. ↑ F. Engels, 'Herr Tidmann. Old Danish Folk Song', K. Marx, 'On Proudhon [Letter to J. B. Schweitzer]'.
  2. ↑ Marx attached to this letter his rough copy of a statement to the editor of Der Social-Demokrat (see present edition, Vol. 20, p. 36) with a protest against the publication of the report by Hess, who libellously accused the French members of the International (see Note 91). The criticism by Marx and Engels compelled the editors to change the newspaper's tone to some extent. Issue No. 21 of 12 February 1865 carried an item by Hess in which he withdrew his accusations. For that reason Marx and Engels did not insist on the publication of their statement. However, they decided to stop contributing to the newspaper for the time being. Marx and Engels announced their final break with Der Social-Demokrat on 23 February 1865 (see this volume, p. 97).
  3. ↑ See this volume, pp. 75, 76 77.
  4. ↑ The cutting from the Rheinische Zeitung enclosed in Siebel's letter to Marx of 1 February 1865 has not been found. Siebel assumed that the leading article was written by Hermann Becker (Red Becker). Judging by Liebknecht's letter to Marx of 16 February, the author contrasted the revolutionary position of Marx and Engels who supported the democrats against the government with that of the Lassalleans who supported the government against the democrats.
  5. ↑ Der Social-Demokrat
  6. ↑ See this volume, p. 82.
  7. ↑ Moses Hess
  8. ↑ Marx is referring to the discussion of the conflict in the Paris Section by the Central Council on 24 January 1865. The Paris Section of the International Association was founded at the end of 1864 by the Proudhonistically-minded workers, Henri Tolain and Charles Limousin who took part in the inaugural meeting of 28 September 1864 at St Martin's Hall. Besides Tolain's group, a French lawyer and bourgeois republican, Henri Lefort, who also participated in organising the 28 September meeting, likewise claimed to be representative of French workers. Soon it became evident that Lefort was in touch with the Council's Corresponding Secretary for France, Le Lubez, and with the French petty-bourgeois refugees in England who strove to bring their influence on the International Working Men's Association. The bourgeois republicans accused Tolain of being in contact with the Bonapartists (in particular with Prince Joseph Bonaparte). The accusation was published by Moses Hess in Der Social-Demokrat. In reply to Marx's enquiry sent to Schily and Schweitzer, the former answered on 19 January 1865 that Tolain's libellous accusation had originated with the people close to L'Association, the journal of co-operative societies, of which Lefort was an editor. Schily also promised to send additional information. The conflict in the Paris Section was repeatedly discussed in the Sub-Committee and the Central Council in February and March 1865. Marx sought to protect the section from attacks by bourgeois republicans and, at the same time, to find ways of overcoming the influence of Proudhonist Utopian ideas on the French workers
  9. ↑ On 28 January 1865, on Lincoln's instructions the American Envoy Adams handed over the President's reply to the address of the Central Council of the International (see Note 70). This reply, in the form of Adams' letter, was published in The Times, No. 25101, on 6 February 1865, under the title 'Mr. Lincoln and the International Working Men's Association'.