Letter to Friedrich Engels, September 23, 1868

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 23 September 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 43


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

London, 23 September 1868

DEAR FRED,

From the enclosed you will see that Liebknecht wants to get rid of Schweitzer through me, just as Schweitzer wants to get rid of Liebknecht.[1] I have replied to Wilhelm: No overhastiness! If he acts with tact, Schweitzer will himself SETTLE DOWN TO MORE MODERATE PROPORTIONS or ruin himself. The dissolution of the General Association of German Workers brings Lassalleanism qua[2] such to a forcible end, although it still may carry on for SOME TIME A LINGERING SECT LIFE.

I enclose Schweitzer's report in the Social-Demokrat on the catastrophe.[3]

I completely share your view that the Spanish revolution (it has the same significance as the Neapolitan revolution of 1848[4] ) gives a new turn to European history and, in particular, like a deus ex machina, cuts the Gordian knot of the repulsive German-French war.

Strohn has just arrived from the continent. So, more next time.

Your

Moor

The Times paid Eccarius 2 ½ GUINEAS per column, sang hymns of praise to him, and made him advantageous proposals.

Send Wilhelm[5] back to me.

  1. ↑ In a letter to Marx of 16 September 1868, Liebknecht proposed that an address to the German workers be drawn up urging unification and criticising Schweitzer and his followers as opponents of unity in the ranks of Social-Democrats.
  2. ↑ as
  3. ↑ [J. B.] Schweitzer, 'An die Mitglieder des Allg. deutsch. Arb.-Vereins', Der Social-Demokrat, No. 110, 20 September 1868.
  4. ↑ The bourgeois revolution of 1848 in the Kingdom of Naples began on 12 January 1848 with a popular uprising in Sicily against the feudal absolutist monarchy of Ferdinand II of the Bourbon dynasty. It triggered off revolutionary events in other Italian states. However, as a result of the conciliatory stand of the liberal bourgeoisie, the revolution was suppressed in May 1849.
  5. ↑ Wilhelm Liebknecht's letter to Marx of 16 September 1868.