Letter to Friedrich Engels, July 22, 1869

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 22 July 1869


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


MARX TO ENGELS[1]

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 22 July 1869

DEAR FRED,

Wilhelm really has colossal impudence, issuing bulls of excommunication on behalf of the General Council of the International.[2]

I had written to him that I, personally, was keeping myself out of this scandal[3] (Hatzfeldt, the old trollop, would like nothing better than to drag me in), particularly since I am just as decidedly against the Lassalle clique as against the People's Party. I added that Wilhelm could give notice (to Schweitzer) that (in accordance with the resolutions of the Brussels Congress) only real members will be admitted at Basle. And this he did in a paragraph in the issue before last.[4]

After soliciting me in vain to take official steps against Schweitzer, he has had the impudence to involve me in this scandal! I wrote him an extremely rude letter immediately upon receipt of the last Wochenblatt,[5] in which I reminded him how often he had already compromised me, and declared frankly that I would publicly disavow him as soon as he showed such impudence again.[6] (Impudence which, in addition, is a lie, since the General Council has never discussed the Schweitzer affair, etc., let alone passed a resolution.)

It depends on how Schweitzer, who has been badly provoked, now acts. I shall cast off Mr Wilhelm if he should get me caught up in dirty work for the third time. The fellow does not even have the excuse that he marches with us through thick and thin. He commits his stupidities on his own behalf, betrays us when he sees fit, and identifies us with him as soon as he sees no other way out.

For about 6 days now I have had a large carbuncle on my left arm which, in this heat, is not pleasant.

I have another family unpleasantness. I have noticed for some time that my wife was not able to manage on the money I give her every week, although there has been no increase in expenditure. Since I am anxious not to run into debt again, and since the money I gave her last Monday had already run out, I asked for an explanation. And the daftness of females then emerged. In the list of debts she had made me for you[7] she had suppressed ABOUT £75, which she was now trying to pay back BY AND BY out of the housekeeping money. Why, I asked? Reply: she would have been afraid to admit to the full sum! Females obviously need to be under constant tutelage!

Jennychen returned yesterday. Although half a year has passed now, Mrs Monroe has not yet paid her. The Scots hold tight to their CASH!

I don't know what to do about the journey. You know that my only aim in this business is to provide Jennychen with the recreation that is practically indispensable for her. But Kugelmann's illness has changed everything. I would not go to Karlsbad[8] to be his comrade-in-sickness, even if I had needed the trip for myself. And now to leave the child as companion with Frau Kugelmann.[9] Nothing at all can come of this. I expect you will write to tell me your opinion.

Mr Schweitzer's discovery that the Geneva committee consists mainly of workers is good![10] Bakunin and Schweitzer state councillors!

Bonaparte's rickety ways will soon lead to defections amongst his generals.

Between Prussia and Russia there is a row that does not seem completely play-acting.

On Monday I wrote to Meissner, tersely and rudely.[11]

Laura and Lafargue and son are now in lodgings in Dieppe. My letter from Paris[12] to Lafargue senior had the desired effect.

Salut.

Your

Moor

Both Liebknecht's and Fritzsche's[13] letters indicate clearly that the delightful Wilhelm had directed the latter to me on the money issue.

The ideas the Germans in general hold about our financial means you will see from the enclosed letter from Kugelmann, voce[14] Bracke.[15] The fellows never sent a pfennig here. The General Council owes 5 weeks rent, and is in debt to its secretary. Peculiar conceptions!

I do not need to see the biography business. This appears to be a sort of mania with Kugelmann.

  1. ↑ Excerpts from this letter were first published in English in: The Letters of Karl Marx, Selected and translated ... by Saul K. Padover, New Jersey, USA, 1979; Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Selected Letters. The Personal Correspondence. 1844-1877. Edited by Fritz J. Raddatz. Boston, Toronto, 1981.
  2. ↑ See the previous letter.
  3. ↑ Marx's letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht written around the beginning of July (earlier than 10 July), 1869, has not been found.
  4. ↑ A reference to an item carried by the Demokratisches Wochenblatt, No. 28, 10 July 1869, which stated that only full members of the International Working Men's Association would be admitted to the Basle Congress.
  5. ↑ 'Man schreibt uns...', Demokratisches Wochenblatt, No. 29, 17 July 1869.
  6. ↑ Marx's letter to Liebknecht written around 17 July 1869, has not been found.
  7. ↑ See this volume, pp. 169-70.
  8. ↑ Marx is referring to his articles of 1856-57 for the New York Daily Tribune on the French joint-stock bank Crédit Mobilier—'The French Crédit Mobilier' (a series of articles) and 'Crédit Mobilier' (see present edition, Vol. 15).
  9. ↑ On 13 July 1869 Ludwig Kugelmann wrote TO ENGELS about his intention to ask Marx to prolong his stay in Hanover so that they could go to Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) for a cure together. While they were absent, Marx's daughter Jenny was to stay with Gertrud Kugelmann in Hanover. On 17 July 1869, Kugelmann replied to Marx's letter of 15 July, in which he again asked Marx to go with him to Karlsbad in August.
  10. ↑ On 1 July 1869, the Geneva Central Committee of the German-language sections of the International Working Men's Association passed a resolution published in Der Vorbote in July 1869, which censured Schweitzer's dictatorial behaviour and welcomed the proposal to convene an all-German Social-Democratic Workers' Congress (see Note 373). In this connection, on 14 July, a piece entitled 'Schwindel' appeared in Der Social-Demokrat, whose author was most probably Fritz Mende. He accused Johann Philipp Becker as Chairman of the Geneva Central Committee, and the International, of meddling in the affairs of the General Association of German Workers.
  11. ↑ Marx's letter to Otto Meissner, probably written on 19 July 1869, has not been found.
  12. ↑ See this volume, pp. 314-15.
  13. ↑ On 11 July 1869, Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche addressed Marx, on Liebknecht's recommendation, as a member of the General Council, to render financial support to the Leipzig cigar-makers' strike. Wilhelm Liebknecht also approached Marx with a similar request on 7 and 12 July. In his letter of 14 July Wilhelm Eichhoff enclosed a variety of material about the working-class movement in Germany and informed Marx that he would probably be elected delegate to the Eisenach Congress (see Note 373).
  14. ↑ regarding
  15. ↑ As Kugelmann's letter to Marx of 17 July 1869 makes clear, the reference is to Bracke's intention to appeal to the General Council of the International for financing the propaganda campaign against Schweitzer in Germany.