Letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht, April 5, 1871

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	5 April 1871

First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1932
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44

ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT

IN LEIPZIG

London, 5 April 1871 122 Regent's Park Road, N.W.

Dear Liebknecht,

Could you have the enclosed^[1] inserted in the next issue of the Volksstaat? Precisely this STRIKE is one of supreme importance for the International in Belgium.^[2]

I congratulate you on your release.^[3]

Best regards.

Your

F. E.

If the German cigar-workers can afford to advance funds to Antwerp, this should be set in train. The Elberfeld Address was received by the GENERAL COUNCIL yesterday to be sent on and has already gone off.^[4] I have read it.

↑ F. Engels, 'On the Cigar Workers' Strike in Antwerp'.
↑ Marx and Engels learned about the strike of the cigar-workers in Antwerp from a letter written by Philippe Coenen, an organiser of the International's sections in Belgium and the Netherlands, on 29 March 1871. They immediately took steps to organise international aid for the strikers. At the General Council meeting of 4 April 1871 Engels spoke about the strike and proposed that the Council send letters and delegations to the British trade unions to organise support.
In response to the General Council's appeal, money to the Antwerp cigar-workers was sent by a number of British trades unions and by the workers of Brussels, where the cigar-workers walked out in solidarity.
The support by the General Council of the Antwerp cigar-workers defending their trade union enabled them to hold out till September 1871 and to push through their demands.
↑ Wilhelm Liebknecht, August Bebel and Adolf Hepner, arrested on 17 De cember 1870 on a charge of high treason (see Note 134), were released from detention on 28 March 1871. Their trial took place in March 1872 (see Note 274).
↑ Engels is referring to a message of greetings to the Paris Commune members which was adopted on 26 March 1871 at a meeting of the General Association of German Workers in Elberfeld. The message was despatched direcdy to Paris, while a second copy, for safety's sake, was sent to the General Council, and later Eccarius forwarded it to Commune member Léo Frankel.

[1] F. Engels, 'On the Cigar Workers' Strike in Antwerp'.

[2] Marx and Engels learned about the strike of the cigar-workers in Antwerp from a letter written by Philippe Coenen, an organiser of the International's sections in Belgium and the Netherlands, on 29 March 1871. They immediately took steps to organise international aid for the strikers. At the General Council meeting of 4 April 1871 Engels spoke about the strike and proposed that the Council send letters and delegations to the British trade unions to organise support.
In response to the General Council's appeal, money to the Antwerp cigar-workers was sent by a number of British trades unions and by the workers of Brussels, where the cigar-workers walked out in solidarity.
The support by the General Council of the Antwerp cigar-workers defending their trade union enabled them to hold out till September 1871 and to push through their demands.

[3] Wilhelm Liebknecht, August Bebel and Adolf Hepner, arrested on 17 De cember 1870 on a charge of high treason (see Note 134), were released from detention on 28 March 1871. Their trial took place in March 1872 (see Note 274).

[4] Engels is referring to a message of greetings to the Paris Commune members which was adopted on 26 March 1871 at a meeting of the General Association of German Workers in Elberfeld. The message was despatched direcdy to Paris, while a second copy, for safety's sake, was sent to the General Council, and later Eccarius forwarded it to Commune member Léo Frankel.

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