Letter to Karl Marx, December 8, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 8 December 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


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 8 December 1868

Dear Moor,

Enclosed five pounds and the letters from Lugau[1] and Schweitzer[2] returned. That things would come to this pass with Schweitzer was fairly clear to me from previous practical experience. This honourable gentleman was not inclined to hand over his 'strict' organisation, headed by the nominal king of the tailors; for him the only question was whether good old Wilhelm[3] would subordinate himself to him or not. I don't exactly mind his assessing Wilhelm correctly, but he forgets that he himself, with much more brain, is, in his LINE, just such a twopenny-halfpenny character as Wilhelm. His confidence that he can regularly be given ticket of leave from the cachot[4] also has an unpleasant ring; he should not have written this to you after using this method so often, and precisely during his Bismarck era, with such success.

The Lugau lads' letter does them great honour. That jackass Liebknecht has described the conditions of these workers in his sheet[5] in more than 20 articles, yet only here does one see clearly where the infamy lies. Incidentally, Moore says that similar conditions—though not so bureaucratically intricate ones:—obtain in English coalmines.

The letter from Serno-Solovyevich[6] was not enclosed. In haste.

Your

F. E.

Today in the office I was overrun, without a break, from twelve-thirty until five.

  1. ↑ A reference to the letter from the Saxon miners of Lugau, Nieder-Würschnitz and Oelsnitz, dated 15 November 1868, which expressed their wish to join the International, was sent TO MARX and read at the General Council meeting of 24 November 1868 (see Note 281).
  2. ↑ A reference to Schweitzer's reply of 2 December 1868 TO MARX's letter of 13 October 1868 (see this volume, pp. 132-35). Schweitzer defended the draft Statutes of the Lassallean trade unions (which Marx had criticised) and the political course of the General Association of German Workers which he headed (see notes 104 and 164). Schweitzer declared that he had more rea son for leadership of the German workers' movement than Liebknecht, and claimed that control should be concentrated in his hands. As he put it, a reconciliation between Liebknecht and him was possible only if Marx, whom both sides recognised as the 'spiritual Eminence' should personally intervene to support Schweitzer against Liebknecht.
  3. ↑ Wilhelm Liebknecht
  4. ↑ a gaol
  5. ↑ Demokratisches Wochenblatt
  6. ↑ See this volume, p. 172.