Letter to Karl Marx, May 22, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 22 May 1868


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 22 May 1868

Dear Moor,

Schorlemmer had told me about one carbuncle, but two a tempo,[1] and in addition in that place where, it is true, everything exists in pairs, c'est vraiment trop[2] I hope they have gone, and that the arsenic will hold back further ones.

I shall send you the money for the bill. Have you heard anything from Meissner? If not, the time would have come to ask how sales have been going; on this point he owes you an accounting after the Easter Fair as associé in the business. Then you could also refer to the advertisement asked for by Meissner,8 the man is still waiting for a reply from me.

The Fortnightly article[3] will thus be written as though by an Englishman—that is how I understand you. Incidentally, I still cannot get past the beginning. It is damned difficult to make clear the dialectical method to the English who read the reviews, and I surely cannot approach the crowd with the equations C— M— C, etc.

Did my last letter give you the data you need?[4] If not, formulate your questions and I shall see what can be done.

Schorlemmer says that you spoke of coming here soon, which would be very desirable. The change of air will do you more good than anything else. This week and the beginning of next our house is in a revolution because of CLEANING AND WHITEWASHING, but if you can come at the end of next week, that would be very nice; you know that in the Whit week I always have plenty of time to spare. Don't forget that you promised to bring Tussy with you.

Eichhoff has finally terminated his lectures on crises.[5] As was to be expected, the mortgage crisis in Berlin was the core and finale of the whole thing. But the poor devil appears finally to have bored even the reporter of the Zukunft so much that he only reported on it quite briefly and incomprehensibly.[6]

Liebknecht has this time committed great folly. First he has completely identified himself with the South German federalists, ultramontanes, etc., by signing their protest,[7] and always votes with them, and in addition has so lost all fruitfulness in his speechifying that the impertinent Lasker could tell him—and rightly so—that he was making the same speech once again which he had delivered for weeks past in all popular meetings.[8] The cunning Schweitzer, who confines himself simply to workers' representation, has quite overshadowed him.

The rag,[9] too, as you will have seen, is achieving the impossible: it is getting even more stupid.

Enclosed Borkheim returned.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ at a time
  2. ↑ that is really too much
  3. ↑ A reference to Engels' intention to write a review of Volume One of Marx's Capital for The Fortnightly Review to which Professor Beesly was a contributor, (see Marx's letter to Engels of 8 January 1868, present edition, Vol. 42). While working on the review, Engels wrote out excerpts from Capital, which later made up a synopsis (see Note 26). The review was written around 20 May-1 June 1868, but rejected by the editorial board (see present edition, Vol. 20).
  4. ↑ See this volume, pp. 32-34.
  5. ↑ A reference to the newspaper reports on Eichhoffs lectures on the causes of modern trade crises ('Die Ursachen der Handelsstockungen der Gegenwart'), which he delivered in Berlin in February-May 1868. In them, he quoted Capital and the Manifesto of the Communist Party, and used material that Marx had sent him. Eichhoff's lectures did a great deal to advertise Volume One of Capital in Germany. The reports were printed in Die Zukunft and the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  6. ↑ Die Zukunft, No. 174, 15 May 1868 (morning edition). Engels refers to the report on the last of Eichhoff's series of lectures, 'Die Ursachen der Handelsstockungen der Gegenwart', delivered in Alt-Kölln, Berlin.
  7. ↑ Marx is referring to a Protest signed by representatives of South German states and four members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation (see Note 10) on 7 May 1868. The authors opposed Bismarck's intention to expand the competence of the Customs Union Parliament (see Note 37) by stretching it to cover political issues. The text was printed by the Demokratisches Wochenblatt, No. 20, 16 May 1868.
  8. ↑ Engels refers to Lasker's speech at the first session of the Customs Union Parliament held on 18 May 1868 (on the Customs Union Parliament, see Note 37).
  9. ↑ Demokratisches Wochenblatt