Letter to Theodor Cuno, November 13, 1871

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 13 November 1871


First published in Die Gesellschaft, No. 11, Berlin, 1925
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO THEODOR CUNO[1]

IN MILAN

London, 13 November 1871 122 Regent's Park Road, N.W.

Esteemed Friend,

In reply to your kind letter of the 1st inst., I regret to have to tell you that we have no contacts in Milan at the moment, apart from the Gazzettino Rosa, to which we send documents for publication,[2] but which has otherwise made no offers so far on the establishment of sections, etc. The movement in Italy in International terms broke out so suddenly and unexpectedly that everything is still very disorganised and, as you know, the Mordecaians[3] are doing their best to hamper the organisation. That there must be useful elements in Milan is obvious enough, if only from the fact that the Gazzettino Rosa has a reading public. In the meantime, the only thing you can do is to try and discover them. I promise to send you the address of the first one to get into contact with me from there. This will undoubtedly happen shortly, since my name will soon enough become known everywhere as secretary for Italy through the flood of forthcoming publications from the General Council. As the stronghold of Mazzini's followers hitherto, and as major industrial city, Milan is of great importance for us, particularly since, if it falls to us, the areas in Lombardy where the silk industry is concentrated will automatically be ours, too. So anything you and your friends can achieve in Milan for the common cause will have a very special value.

We have a strong section in Turin (address: Proletario Italiano); letters from Lodi (the Plebe), which presumably reported on the establishment of sections, have gone astray.

I met Ricciotti Garibaldi at Marx's house this morning. He is a highly intelligent young man with a very calm manner, but a soldier rather than a thinker. However, he may turn out to be very useful. It is just as with the old man[4] ; his theoretical ideas give more proof of his good intentions than of his clarity of vision, but his last letter to Petroni is invaluable to us.[5] If the sons prove to have the same sure instincts in every great crisis as the old man, they will achieve much. Can you obtain a reliable address for us in Genoa? We want to be able to send our things safely to Caprera for the old man, and Ricciotti says that a lot gets intercepted.

Since the Mordecaians will now know my name as well, could I ask you to address letters for me to:

Miss Burns, 122 R.P.R., London, N.W. (as per letter-head), and not to High Holborn where I only go once a week and a lot of post just lies around waiting.

An inner envelope is not necessary. I am sending you an English paper chosen at random through the post and enclosing:

1. Résolutions de la Conférence de l'Internationale à Londres, Sept 1871.

2. The Civil War in France. Address of the General Council.

3. The new edition of the Rules,[6] available up to now only in English; French and German versions will appear shortly.

Write to me again soon. Salut et fraternité.

F. Engels

  1. ↑ This letter marks the beginning of Engels' correspondence with Theodor Cuno, a member of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party, who organised a section of the International in Milan. On 1 November 1871, soon after he had arrived in Milan and begun working as an engineer at the large Elvetica plant, Cuno wrote to Engels, the General Council's Corresponding Secretary for Italy, requesting assistance in making contact with members of the International in Milan and Italy at large.
    Part of the letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895. A Selection, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
  2. ↑ Engels established contact with the Gazzettino Rosa through Cafiero in July-August 1871; in the next few months the newspaper published several General Council documents.
  3. ↑ police informers (an allusion to The Book of Esther, 4:1)
  4. ↑ Giuseppe Garibaldi
  5. ↑ The reference is to Giuseppe Garibaldi's letter to Giuseppe Petroni, editor of La Roma del Popolo, of 21 October 1871. In it, Garibaldi declared his disagreement with Mazzini's attacks on the Paris Commune and the International. This letter was published in many Italian newspapers. On 7 November 1871 Engels reported the content of the letter to the General Council. Engels translated it and included it almost in full in the report of the Council's sitting. The report was published in The Eastern Post on 11 November 1871.
  6. ↑ K. Marx, General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men's Association.