Letter to Karl Marx, February 11, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 11 February 1868


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 42


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 11 February 1868
7 Southgate

Memorandum from Engels to Mr Moor[1]

I have received your letter and that from your HONOURABLE SECRETARY[2] and return enclosed the Viennese cuttings and Meyer's letter. What a frightful tragedy at the Weydemeyers.[3] I am of the opinion that an article should be contributed to the Debatte (via Richter), and that one should strike while the iron is hot.[4] It will be sent this week. The specialist criticism in the Frankfurter Börsenzeitung is extremely amusing.[5] It is significant that these Viennese literary gents, all Jews as cunning as foxes, who well know all the tricks, should regard the German press outside Austria as bona fide.

Dühring amuses me very much. The thrusts at Roscher, Mill, etc., were a godsend for him—but what a difference there is between the embarrassed tone of the criticism[6] and the saucy nature of the pamphlet.[7]

I do not believe either there will be war, if only because the Peace League[8] describes it as unavoidable; in any case, Sadowa[9] has made it impossible for Bonaparte to start a war against Germany without great alliances. And since at the best he could only get Austria (England, as always, or more than ever, would not count militarily), and would have Prussia and Russia against him, the whole business is fishy. Italy is no good either, and furthermore he mucked things up for himself there. HE IS FLOORED. Even the great Karl Schurz, ex-student General Fart,[10] has confided this to Bismarck secretly.

It is nearly 7 o'clock, and I have not had dinner yet. I must go home first, so enough for today.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ This letter is written on a form with the letterhead: 'Memorandum from Ermen & Engels to M'. Engels crossed out the words 'Ermen &' and filled in 'Mr Mohr' as the addressee.
  2. ↑ Laura Marx
  3. ↑ In his letter TO MARX on 26 January 1868 from Saint Louis Hermann Meyer told him about the death of Louise Weydemeyer, Joseph Weydemeyer's widow.
  4. ↑ It is not known what happened to this article by Engels (the reference is probably to a review of Volume One of Capital).
  5. ↑ Engels' review of Volume One of Capital which was written for the Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt has not been found.
    The review for the Düsseldorfer Zeitung, was published unsigned, with Carl Siebel's assistance, in No. 316 of 16 November 1867 (see present edition, Vol. 20).
  6. ↑ E. Dühring, 'Marx, Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Oekonomie, 1. Band, Hamburg 1867'.
  7. ↑ E. Dühring, Die Verkleinerer Carey's und die Krisis der Nationalökonomie.
  8. ↑ The League of Peace and Freedom—a pacifist organisation that was set up in 1867 with the active participation of Victor Hugo, Giuseppe Garibaldi and other democrats. The League owed its origin to the anti-war sentiments of the masses. However, its leaders held pacifist positions; they failed to see the social causes of war and often confined its anti-war activity to mere declarations.
    The League's constituent congress was originally scheduled for 5 September 1867 in Geneva. Its organising committee, which enjoyed the support of a number of radical and democratic public figures like John Stuart Mill and the Reclus brothers', also counted on the participation of the leaders of the European proletariat. Therefore the committee sent invitations to the sections of the International and its leaders, Marx included, to attend the congress. It was also decided to postpone the opening of the congress until 9 September, so that the delegates of the Lausanne Congress of the International (due on 2-8 September) could take part in it too.
    The International's attitude towards the League of Peace and Freedom was discussed both in the General Council and in local sections. Marx's speech at the Council meeting of 13 August 1867 and the resolution adopted at his proposal (see present edition, Vol. 20, p. 204) formulated the principles of the International's tactics in such a bourgeois-democratic movement. In contrast to the unconditional support of the League, which is what the leaders of the British trade unions inclined towards, the International's tactics envisaged both the joint participation with the democrats in the struggle against the threat of war, provided the class independence of the proletarian organisation was retained, and a revolutionary proletarian approach towards the questions of war and peace in opposition to bourgeois pacifist illusions. Marx believed that the International should not take part in the League's congress on an official basis because that would mean the International's solidarity with its bourgeois programme. However, it was recommended that the International's members should attend the congress privately in order to influence its decisions in a revolutionary-democratic way.
  9. ↑ A reference to the decisive battle in the Austro-Prussian war (see Note 345), which was fought at Königgrätz (Hradec-Králové) not far from the village of Sadowa (Bohemia) on 3 July 1866. The battle of Sadowa resulted in grave defeat for the Austrian forces. It is also known as the battle of Königgrätz.
  10. ↑ Furz in German, rhyming with Schurz.