Letter to Natalie Liebknecht, March 2, 1871

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 2 March 1871


First published abridged in: H. Lange, Aus einer alten Handwerksburschen-Mappe, Leipzig, 1925 and in full in Einheit, Berlin, April 1953, special edition
Printed according to the original
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


MARX TO NATALIE LIEBKNECHT[1]

IN LEIPZIG

London, 2 March 1871

My dear Mrs Liebknecht,

The unfortunately very meagre contributions that I sent you for the benefit of the families of the imprisoned men did not in any sense stem from the General Council of the International which has absolutely no funds for such purposes. The General Council was merely chosen by the subscribers as 'trustee' to ensure that the money was duly sent. Incidentally, no further evidence of receipt is necessary.

On the subject of the articles on the German workers' movement which have appeared in English reviews, what Liebknecht probably had in mind was the enclosed article on the International by Professor Beesly[2] which appeared in the November number (1870) of The Fortnightly Review. It may well be the passages from p. 531 on (I have put a mark to show where they begin)[3] which Stieber wants to use to cook his proof. In the first place, Professor Beesly is not a member of the International and his statements are not authoritative for that reason. In the second place, he himself refutes Stieber's inferences.

The letter I sent to the Brunswick people[4] was not written in the name of or on the instructions of the General Council. That is why it was not written on paper with the letterhead of the General Council. My statements there are made entirely in my own name. It was in fact a reply—and a long-deferred reply at that—to a letter asking me for my personal views. They were perfectly within their rights to ask for this. At least, I know of no § in the Penal Code that would proscribe it. At any rate, it is not Mr Bismarck's fault if 'my views' cannot be found printed in the Preussischer Staats-Anzeiger. The worthy Lothar Bucher did invite me after the heady days of Sadowa to write the financial column for that paper. More likely than not he took care not to publicise my reply.[5]

The German Empire is carrying on the campaign of the French Empire against the International. Nothing is so characteristic of the last days of the latter empire as the legal persecution of members of the International because they waged war on the intended war. The secret papers of Mr Ollivier published by the Republic are very revealing in this respect.

I was very pleased to receive your letter today. An article by me was to have appeared in The Fortnightly Review, but I shall postpone it for the time being, since the inability of the Prussian government to intervene here might be more than made good at the expense of friends there [in Germany], who are of course in no way responsible for things that happen without their knowledge.

I would be greatly obliged to you if you could send me the complete stenographic report of the last session of the Reichstag that ended on 10 December 1870. I would of course reimburse you for the costs.

Jennychen has unfortunately come down with pleurisy. With warmest regards to Liebknecht and yourself.

Yours very sincerely,

K. M.

  1. ↑ This letter is Marx's reply to letters he had received from Wilhelm Liebknecht's wife Natalie, dated 18 January, 22 and 27 February 1871. Natalie Liebknecht informed Marx that she could not send a receipt for monies received for the benefit of the families of the leaders of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party who had been arrested in Germany. Such a receipt, she wrote, might have been used as additional evidence against Liebknecht and Bebel who had been charged with high treason. One of the points on the indictment was the affiliation of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party to the International Working Men's Association since Prussian laws banned participation of German political parties and associations in any international organisation.
  2. ↑ E. S. Beesly, 'The International Working Men's Association', The Fortnightly Review, No. XLVII, 1 November 1870.
  3. ↑ In his article 'The International Working Men's Association' (The Fortnightly Review, p. 531) Beesly wrote that the members of the International 'are all Republicans, and all determined opponents of war. In both these qualities they have drawn upon themselves the persecution of the despots of France and Prussia'.
  4. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, 'Letter to the Committee of the Social Democratic Workers' Party'.
  5. ↑ In a letter of 8 October 1865 Lothar Bucher invited Marx to become the London financial correspondent of the Königlich Preußischer Staats-Anzeiger, and also suggested that Marx change sides and back Bismarck's government. These attempts to bribe him met with vehement protests from Marx (see present edition, Vol. 42, p. 202). At the Battle of Sadowa (3 July 1866) in the Austro-Prussian war the Austrian army sustained a crushing defeat at the hands of the Prussian troops.