Letter to Ludwig Kugelmann, October 12, 1867

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 12 October 1867


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXV, Moscow, 1934
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 42


ENGELS TO LUDWIG KUGELMANN

IN HANOVER

Manchester, 12 October 1867

Dear Kugelmann,

Marx sent me your letter of the 8th,[1] believing I would be better able to give you the right ideas for a review of his bookf than he could himself. To save trouble, I have just set out what are, in my opinion, the most suitable ideas for the populus[2] in two complete articles which will probably be appropriate for almost any bourgeois paper[3] ; they may, however, be of use to you until you have worked your way through the 50 sheets' yourself, for writing both long and short articles for other publications. The[4] main thing is not what and how but that the book be discussed, and that the Fauchers, Michaelis, Roschers and Raus are forced to express an opinion on it. In as many papers as possible, political and other, wherever it can be done. Long and short notices, provided they come thick and fast. We must make it impossible for these gentlemen to pursue their policy of total silence, which they would dearly love to try, and indeed as quickly as possible. Make sure you always send a copy of what is printed to Marx, so that we, and Meissner, too, are informed of events.

Liebknecht is giving a pretty good account of himself in the Berlin cattle-shed.[5] He is consistently voting against everything and also made a good maiden speech—immediately interrupted by Zeus Cronion Simson. And what's more, his motion[6] was the only sensible one.

I hope all has been well with you since my departure.[7] I have been back here for 2 months now, sitting at my office desk and frittering good time away with this lousy COMMERCE. You will have heard about our little Fenian coup de main[8] here. The affair was splendidly organised and executed; but the ringleaders were caught unfortunately.[9]

With best greetings.

Yours

F. Engels

Marx expressly asks that all the articles should be placed there immediately and that you should only send them to him after publication.[10]

  1. ↑ In his letter to Marx of 8 October 1867 Ludwig Kugelmann offered to publish short notes about Volume One of Capital and asked for the corresponding instructions. For Engels' efforts to popularise Volume One of Capital see Note 479.
  2. ↑ public
  3. ↑ A reference to Engels' reviews of Volume One of Marx's Capital, of which one was published with Kugelmann's help in Die Zukunft, No. 254 of 20 October 1867, Supplement (unsigned), while the other, meant for the Rheinische Zeitung, remained unpublished (see Note 523).
  4. ↑ Between ourselves—the first volume of Capital
  5. ↑ A reference to the North German Reichstag.
  6. ↑ In his first speech in the North German Reichstag on 30 September 1867 that he made in the discussion on the passports bill, Liebknecht violently criticised the police and bureaucratic order. He proposed a number of amendments to the bill that would restrict the authorities' arbitrary rule. Liebknecht's bold statements about the political system and the government's policy were repeatedly interrupted by Simson, president of the Reichstag, and his proposals were rejected. Apart from the reports in the newspapers, Liebknecht's speech was also published as a pamphlet, Was ich in Berliner Reichstag sagte, Leipzig, 1867.
  7. ↑ Between 5 July and early August 1867 Engels travelled in Sweden, Denmark and Germany and visited Ludwig Kugelmann in Hanover. His wife Lizzie Burns accompanied him during some part of the trip.
  8. ↑ surprise attack
  9. ↑ On 18 September 1867 in Manchester there was an armed assault on a police van in order to free Thomas Kelly and Michael Deasy, two Fenian leaders (see Note 257) who had been arrested after the suppression of the armed uprising of February and March 1867 organised by Fenians. Kelly and Deasy managed to escape but during a clash a police officer was killed and mass arrests followed. From 1 to 23 November a trial of the arrested Fenians was held in Manchester in the course of which false evidence and other disgraceful methods were used by the prosecution. In spite of all the efforts by the counsels for the defence, primarily by Ernest Jones, five Fenians were sentenced to death. One of them (Thomas Maguire) was subsequently pardoned; the death sentence of another (Condon), an American citizen, was commuted to life imprisonment; the other three (Michael Larkin, William Allen and Michael O'Brien) were hanged on 23 November. During the investigation of the case and the trial, the General Council of the International organised, on Marx's initiative, a broad campaign of the English workers in support of the Irish national liberation movement (see this volume, pp. 460, 464).
  10. ↑ This sentence was written by Engels in the margin.