Letter to Karl Marx, April 21, 1870

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 21 April 1870


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, 21 April 1870

Dear Moor,

Enclosed, returned, the Swiss letters. The Genevans are, at all events, rather sluggish, otherwise they would not have got into this unfortunate position with the Bakuninists formally having the rules on their side with regard to them. This does not, of course, alter the fact that the Genevans must remain in the right; but, for the time being, the General Council has no reason to intervene, since the Genevans have appealed for a ballot in the sections, and you will have to wait for the result of this, one way or the other, before making a decision. The Bakuninists will probably not let themselves in for this referendum, since their règlement fédéral[1] probably makes no mention of it, and they will, thereby, expose their weak point in wishing to sacrifice the unity of the International, and the International itself into the bargain, to their empty formalism. Then there would be reason enough to intervene. On the other hand, the Genevans themselves must see to it this time that they gain the majority in their plebiscite. Till then, the General Council could, at the most, suspend both central committees, and replace them by a neutral provisional one (Becker,[2] etc.).

In the matter itself it is clear that the Alliance, even if tolerated by the General Council, has no place in a local organisation like the Suisse Romande,[3] since it wishes to correspond with all countries and maintain sub-sections there. Thus it should either stay out of it, or abandon its international character. Whereas, if the business in Switzerland continues to develop, the result will be either that it leaves the International completely, or can be thrown out. But it must be impressed on the Messrs Genevans that they cannot be helped unless they help themselves. If Bakunin were to get a majority of the workers of the Suisse Romande on his side, what could the General Council do? The only conceivable point is that of the total abstinence from all politics, but even this action would not be so certain.

The Messrs Genevans might have kept their God in the bag too![4]

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Statuts pour la Fédération des Sections Romandes adoptés par le Congrès Romand...
  2. ↑ Johann Philipp Becker
  3. ↑ Romance Switzerland
  4. ↑ Engels is referring to a speech at the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress (see Note 606) by François Dupleix, who accused Bakunin's followers of atheism and alleged that the workers were unwilling to have the question of their faith discussed.