Letter to Friedrich Engels, November 12, 1869

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 12 November 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

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 12 November 1869

DEAR FRED,

This week something suspicious has displayed itself in my left arm-pit (as in Manchester[1] ), and on my leg. Arsenic again immediately. Additionally, Tussy forces me to take long walks with her after 1 or 2 o'clock every day. Finally, today introduced surreptitiously for the first time a flannel vest, since a cold in this state is not pleasant.

You are surprised by the pluck of the French, and speak SOMEWHAT SNEERINGLY of us upright Germans. What risks we take you will see from the enclosed extravaganza.

In Stuttgart, in accordance with his habit, Freiligrath once again had himself photographed in several dozen poses, decked out as a statue, etc. The most successful holy picture of this Classen-Kappelmann-hero[2] is—verbotenus[3] —a scene in which he as a lion rides on a camel. This is probably a back-hander for Heine's camel who defeats the lion.[4]

Liebknecht will be taking off next week for 3 months in prison, and has sent Borkheim a desperate plea for money.

What scares me about the French is the terrible confusion in their heads. Ledru-Rollin's circular letter is quite that of a pretender.[5] He really appears to take au sérieux[6] the dictatorship over France offered him by Heinzen. On the other hand, Zukunft has been good enough to offer Mr Acollas, whom nobody in Paris knows, a post in the provisional government, because he had called the French to accept Dr J. Jacoby's programme instead of the antiquated human and citoyen[7] rights of 1793. One good turn deserves another. I find that OLD Jacoby himself is not playing properly the role he dictated for himself. Grasping the opportunity of the Hanoverian event,[8] should he not call on the Prussian sergeant-major-government—since Prussia is, after all, a 'military state'—also to lay aside those useless and, at the same time, expensive decorations, such as chambers, civil courts and the like? Wrapping oneself up silently in the depths of one's own moral indignation does not lure a soul from his hearth.

A while ago, the Russian gentlemen bombarded an island near Korea just for amusement, as Borkheim discovered in a Moscow newspaper.[9] Not a word about it in the English papers. If things go on like this, these fine fellows will soon be in possession of Japan.

The latest MEETINGS in Ireland were very nice; the clerics were seized by their collars and removed from the speaker's stand. Instead of the programme on Ireland,[10] for which there is no proper motive, I have had (in order to adopt resolutions) the following placed on the agenda for next Tuesday.[11] [12]

1. Proceedings of the English ministry on the Irish amnesty question!

2. The attitude of the English working class to the Irish question.

Salut.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ See this volume, p. 369.
  2. ↑ Marx ironically likens Freiligrath to the manufacturer Classen-Kappelmann, member of the Cologne city council, who became a notorious figure in 1865. In July 1865 he took part in the preparation of a banquet for the Party of Progress members who were deputies of the Chamber of Representatives of the Prussian Landtag in opposition to the Prussian Government. The banquet was banned and Classen-Kappelmann, who feared arrest, left for Belgium. The guests arrived to find the premises closed and assembled at the Zoo. The assembly was dispersed by the police.
  3. ↑ literally
  4. ↑ See H. Heine, Atta Troll.
  5. ↑ Marx refers to the circular letter to the French electors drawn up by Ledru-Rollin, participant in the 1848-49 revolution, who lived in London as an emigre up to 1870. Describing it as that of a pretender, Marx alludes to the fact that in the Presidential elections in France on 10 December 1848, Ledru-Rollin nominated himself as a representative of petty-bourgeois democrats. His letter, dated 7 November 1869, was published in Le Réveil on 10 November under the heading 'Aux électeurs'.
  6. ↑ seriously
  7. ↑ citizen
  8. ↑ A reference to Liebknecht's letter to Marx of 22 July 1869.
  9. ↑ «BoMÖap/urpoBaHie KopeficKoft KpenocTH BHHTOBOH AO^KOH Co6ojn>», MocKoecKÏR etdoMOcmu, No. 207, 23 September 1869.
  10. ↑ See this volume, p. 364.
  11. ↑ 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).
  12. ↑ 16 November