Letter to Karl Marx, April 29, 1870

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 29 April 1870


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


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 29 April 1870

Dear Moor,

I wrote immediately to Borkheim,[1] addressed to 10 Brunswick Gardens, Kensington W.[2] If that is not correct, be so good as to notify him.

I would, in fact, have been glad to come over to see Schapper, and would still do so, had not your letter led me to assume he was already dead. There was always something so elementally revolutionary about him, and even if the poor fellow has to go sometime, I am pleased at least that he is behaving so finely to the end. If, as the result of the pleurisy, he has contracted consumption, then there is nothing to be done, and it will happen very quickly.

Bakunin's letter is really very naïve.[3] What hard luck for the world, were it not a ghastly lie, if there were 40,000 revolutionary students in Russia, without a proletariat or even a revolutionary peasantry behind them, and with any career ahead of them except the dilemma: Siberia, or emigration to Western Europe. If there were anything that could ruin the West European movement, it would be the importation of these 40,000±[4] educated, ambitious, hungry Russian nihilists; all of them officer cadets without an army, which we should provide them; a marvellous piece of impertinence that, in order to bring unity to the European proletariat, it must be commanded in Russian! Yet however greatly Bakunin exaggerates, it is as clear as day that the danger exists. CattTafi Pycb[5] will spit out a certain number of these 'careerless' Russians every year, and, with the excuse of the principe international, they will creep in everywhere amongst the workers, swindle their way into leading roles, carry their private intrigues and brawls—unavoidable amongst the Russians—into the sections, and then the GENERAL COUNCIL will have its work cut out. It has already struck me that Utine has already found a way to obtain a position with the Genevans. And these Russians moan that, back at home, all positions are occupied by Germans!

I have had it out in all friendship with Wilhelm on various points, both about his previous attitude and also about his present attitude in the Reichstag. Bonhorst was arrested in Eschweiler because he lacked legitimation papers, after the Reichstag had passed the Passport Abolition Law, yet Monsieur Liebknecht misses the chance to interpellate the government about flagrant illegality and to force it to confess that such laws are in no way intended to apply to workers. And the jackasses expect the workers to re-elect them. Incidentally, I have also written to Bracke, who approached me for money for the 'Party', saying how necessary it is that they should nominate worker candidates and force them through everywhere. Wilhelm is capable of saying that this is not necessary at all.

The Spanish papers and the Flag[6] —received with thanks. When I travelled past Majorca in 1849 I would not have dreamed that, in 20 years, we would have a paper[7] there. At the time that hole was regarded as a Corsican wilderness.

Pigott remains the same ambiguous figure. In Ireland they must have a 'Republic', but the French should remain under Bonaparte. They will pass over my book[8] in silence when it appears, just as they do now with the Irish articles in the Marseillaise.[9]

The ancient laws of Ireland,[10] through which I am at present rummaging, are a bitter mouthful. First, the text itself is not very clear, since it assumes a knowledge of all ancient Irish law, which no longer exists. 2. It is very garbled. 3. The translation is bad, and in places definitely wrong, but it is clear that the agrarian conditions were not quite as simple as good old Davies[11] —with interest—described them. The laws insofar as published, give only the complicated side, not the simple one. Incidentally, I am not yet through with the stuff; from time to time I am forced to refer to the Celtic text, too, and since I don't even have a grammar, I don't get along very fast. But so much is clear: the editors, for all their knowledge of Celtic, don't understand the contents any more than I do.

These things have been published at state cost by the COMMISSIONERS FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE ANCIENT LAWS AND INSTITUTES OF IRELAND.[12] It is obviously a gruelling job. In which PARLIAMENTARY PAPER can one find out how much these fellows cost annually? They have been in session since 1852, do nothing except engage WORKING UNDERSTRAPPERS, and these two volumes are all that has appeared so far.

Best greetings to you all.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels' letter to Borkheim, written later than 28 April 1870, has not been found.
  2. ↑ Ibid., p. 496.
  3. ↑ On 16 and 20 April 1870, Liebknecht published in Der Volksstaat, nos. 31 and 32, Bakunin's article 'Briefe über die revolutionäre Bewegung in Russland. I.'
  4. ↑ more or less
  5. ↑ Holy Russia
  6. ↑ The Flag of Ireland
  7. ↑ El Obrero
  8. ↑ F. Engels, The History of Ireland
  9. ↑ Jenny Marx's articles on the Irish question.
  10. ↑ Ancient Laws of Ireland. Senchus Mor. Volumes I-II.
  11. ↑ J. Davies, Historical Tracts.
  12. ↑ The Commission for the Publication of the Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland was set up by the British Government in 1852 (see Note 481).