Letter to Karl Marx, February 25, 1869

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 25 February 1869


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913. Printed according to the original. Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 25 February 1869

Dear Moor,

I have just sent Borkheim a CHEQUE for £162.10, of which £100 is to pay off his advance and £62.10 is for you, which makes, together with the £25 brought to you, the sum of £87.10=1/4 of £350. At the beginning of March, or as soon as I possibly can in March, you will get a further £87.10, then again at the beginning of July, etc.

I hope the English press will take the report,[1] but I am firmly convinced that it will not, and that, in the last resort, only The Bee-Hive will remain. At best the fellows will make huge cuts.

I have not yet read the resolutions.[2] But at first glance one is surprised that the 1867 Lausanne resolutions are not reprinted also.

NB. about the money: I only had the choice of sending it through Borkheim or else in some other way, which would cause gossip here in the office; I preferred the lesser evil. In future this will naturally not happen again.

The final sentence in the report[3] was, of course, aimed only at Liebknecht's sheet[4] and the public.

Foster ON EXCHANGES is being sent to you today by GLOBE PARCEL EXPRESS, since the BOOKPOST is not certain enough for an irreplaceable book. If you have not received it by Saturday[5] morning, you must immediately complain to GLOBE PARCEL EXPRESS, 150 Cheapside or 150 Leadenhall STREET. Best you should return it the same way. Even by MAIL TRAIN, the GLOBE is much the cheapest way to send larger consignments of books.

Regarding the copies, I would immediately haul Wilhelm over the coals, and categorically demand information. The same with Meissner. The fellow has obviously had second thoughts, but since Eichhoff is ready to print, he must decide oui ou non.[6]

Nothing but rain here. Apropos, I have written to Borkheim about Bakunin[7] that he should raise the question as to whether it is in any way possible for us Westerners to cooperate with this Pan-Slav pack while the fellows preach their Slav supremacy; he will probably read this to you tomorrow[8] when you collect the money—but, in addition, I told him he should discuss the matter with you.

Best greetings to the household.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels wrote the 'Report on the Miners' Guilds in the Coalfields of Saxony' (see present edition, Vol. 21) at Marx's request on the basis of material sent in by the Saxon miners from Lugau, Nieder-Würschnitz and Oelsnitz, who informed the General Council and Marx personally of their wish to join the International (see Note 241). The report, which Engels had written in English, was read at the General Council meeting of 23 February 1869. An abridged version appeared in The Bee-Hive, No. 385, 27 February 1869. Other English newspapers, including The Times, The Daily News and The Morning Advertiser, refused to carry the report. In early March 1869 Marx himself translated it into German, and it was published in Der Social-Demokrat, No. 33, 17 March, Demokratisches Wochenblatt, No. 12 (supplement), 20 March, and Die Zukunft, nos. 67 and 68, 20 and 21 March 1869.
  2. ↑ The decision to publish the resolutions of the Geneva and Brussels congresses was adopted by the General Council on 6 October 1868 on a suggestion by Lafargue and Dupont. The preparatory work was done by Eccarius, while Marx put the finishing touches and checked the translation into English. The first part of the pamphlet was published in The Bee-Hive, No. 371, 21 November and the second, in No. 374 on 12 December 1868. In February 1869 the resolutions were published in London in pamphlet form, under the heading: 'The International Working Men's Association. Resolutions of the Congress of Geneva, 1866, and Congress of Brussels, 1868'.
  3. ↑ F. Engels, Report on the Miners' Guilds in the Coalfields of Saxony (see present edition, Vol. 21, p. 39; see also this volume, Note 281).
  4. ↑ Demokratisches Wochenblatt
  5. ↑ 27 February
  6. ↑ See this volume, pp. 211 and 222.
  7. ↑ The letter in question has not been found.
  8. ↑ A reference to the preparatory materials for Borkheim's articles 'Michael Bakunin' (VIII-X) in the Russische Briefe series (see Note 274), brought out by Die Zukunft on 21 July, 13 and 15 August and 2 November 1869. Among the materials used by Borkheim was Bakunin's 'Address to the Russian, Polish and All Slavic Friends' (printed in the Kolohol, No. 123-124, supplement, 15 Feb ruary 1862).