Letter to Karl Marx, January 29, 1867

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 29 January 1867


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 42


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 29 January 1867

Dear Moor,

I have been so overrun by philistines this morning that I did not manage to despatch the second half of the note by first post, but am doing so herewith.

I expect Meissner will accept your opinion. At all events it is obvious that after the first volume[1] you must have a 6 week rest,

[2] [3]

and also see how you can put money in your purse on the Continent. I think it will be all right if you take him the rest of the manuscript yourself.

The position regarding WORKINGMEN AND MANUFACTURERS is as follows: India, China, Levant, etc., grossly oversupplied, in consequence of which CALICOS have been almost unsaleable for the last 6 months. In some districts feeble attempts by the MANUFACTURERS to organise SHORT TIME ensued. Being only sporadic, all of these collapsed. Meanwhile, the manufacturers go and send consignments of their goods, unsaleable here, to India and China, etc., thereby aggravating the GLUT. They then discover that this does not agree with them either, and they finally propose the HANDS should take a 5% REDUCTION OF WAGES. Whereupon counterproposal from the HANDS to work just 4 days a week. Refus[4] of the MASTERS—AGITATION. In the last fortnight, finally, a situation has gradually been reached, and most recently become general, where SHORT TIME at 4 days a week has been introduced everywhere in the weaving mills and in the spinning mills that spin for them, in some cases with and in some cases without the 5% reduction in wages. The workers therefore were right in theory and were proved right in practice, too.[5]

The scoundrel Bismarck has splendidly gulled the scoundrel Bonaparte over the Peace of Prague, exactly as Bonaparte gulled the Austrians at Villafranca about the expelled Italian princes qui rentreront dans leurs états[6] —but without recourse to foreign troops.[7] Bismarck is thus saying: the South German states auront une existence internationale indépendante[8] but only for so long as they themselves wish; from the moment that they wish to join with us, they shall be entirely free to do so, otherwise after all they would be not indépendants![9] POOR Bonaparte has never been a member of a student fraternity at a German university, nor has he ever practised the art of interpretation at one of their beer-conventions, and is consequently no match for the Hon. Bismarck. In Hanover they are most frightfully vexed at the Prussians,[10] and not just the city itself but even more so amongst the peasantry — they are flocking to the queen[11] and putting all their assets at her disposal.

There is much ludicrous sentimentality therein, mixed with hatred for the military and the police; the very same people, e. g., are themselves saying that the administration is much improved, etc., but the Prussians' talent for inspiring hatred for themselves has once again proved itself here, too. I have this from 2 people who were there a short while ago and are themselves annexationists and Hanoverians.

If I can manage it, I'll come down and see you for a few days at the end of this week or next, i. e., from Friday to Sunday evening. Providing it does not freeze again. Kindest regards to the LADIES.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ of Capital (see this volume, p. 343).
  2. ↑ See this volume, pp. 339 and 340.
  3. ↑ in the first volume of Capital
  4. ↑ Rejection
  5. ↑ Marx used this information given by Engels in Volume One of Capital (see present edition, Vol. 35; English edition of 1887, Part IV, Chapter XV, Section 5, pp. 434-35).
  6. ↑ who will return to their states
  7. ↑ On 11 July 1859 Austria and France signed a separate preliminary peace treaty in Villafranca which put an end to the war of France and Piedmont against Austria. In accordance with the treaty, Lombardy fell to France, but later on Napoleon III ceded it to Piedmont in exchange for Savoy and Nice; Venice was to remain under the Austrian domination and the dukes of Tuscany and Modena were to be reinstalled to their thrones. Although some clauses of the preliminary treaty were never implemented (e. g. the clause on the restoration of the dukes of Tuscany and Modena) or were altered, on the whole it formed the basis of the final peace treaty signed in Zurich on 10 November 1859. The peace treaty between Austria and Prussia was signed in Prague on 23 August 1866. Under its terms Austria ceded its rights on Schleswig and Holstein and recognised Prussia's annexation of Hanover, Electorate of Hesse (Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt am Main; the German Confederation ceased to exist and instead of it the North German Confederation was formed under the hegemony of Prussia which did not incorporate Austria. The peace treaty between Austria and Italy was signed in Vienna on 3 October 1866. In accordance with it the region of Venice was returned to Italy, but its claims to Southern Tyrol and Trieste were rejected because of Prussia's opposition.
  8. ↑ will have an independent international existence
  9. ↑ Article 4 of the Peace Treaty of Prague between Prussia and Austria recognised the independence of the German states lying south of the Main and their right to form a separate South German Confederation (Napoleon III's aim). At the same time it mentioned the national ties between the North and South German states and envisaged the possibility of their joining the planned North German Confederation under Prussia's supremacy. In August 1866 Bismarck made a secret defence alliance with the South German states which provided that in the event of war their armies would be placed under the Prussian high command.
  10. ↑ A reference to Prussia's annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel, the Grand Duchy of Nassau and other territories as a result of its victory over Austria in the war of 1866. According to a report published in the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung on 7 June 1866, the King of Naples Francis II Bourbon, who had been overthrown by the Garibaldist movement, was presented with an honorary shield at an election meeting of the Prussian conservatives in Berlin which was chaired by Count Stolberg; however, at the same meeting there were calls for Prussia's union with the Italian 'revolution'.
  11. ↑ Marie of Hanover