Letter to Friedrich Adolph Sorge, March 17, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 17 March 1872


First published in Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von loh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO FRIEDRICH ADOLPH SORGE

IN HOBOKEN

London. 17 March 1872
122 Regent's Park Road, N.W.

Dear Sorge,

I have a favour to ask of you, which I hope will not put you to too much trouble.

Would you be so kind as to buy 50 copies of the issue of Woodhull & Claflin's which contains the translation of the Communist Manifesto, and 50-100 of the issues of the Socialiste with the French translation, and send them on to me? I shall send you the money for them as soon as I know how much it comes to. If there are not enough copies available, may I ask you to send what you can obtain. However much both translations leave to be desired, we still have to use them as propaganda for the time being, the French version especially is quite indispensable for the Latin countries of Europe as a counter to the nonsense purveyed by Bakunin, as well as the ubiquitous Proudhonist rubbish.

As soon as we have time, Marx and I, we shall prepare a new edition of the Manifesto with an introduction,[1] etc., but at the moment we have our hands full. Apart from Spain and Italy, I have to act as Secretary for Portugal and Denmark as well at present. Marx has quite enough to do with his second edition of Capital[2] and the various translations that are now looming.

We had intended to celebrate the revolution of 18 March with a PUBLIC MEETING tomorrow—but yesterday evening the HALL we had hired suddenly became unavailable! The pretext given was that THE FRENCH COMMUNISTS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MEET IN ANY HALL IN LONDON! Since the owners are sure to be most unwilling to lose the 10 guineas rent, and since we shall sue for DAMAGES and shall get them too, it is obvious that they are being compensated by the government. Meanwhile we shall chance it and just go along quietly and if we find the door locked, which is probable, but not certain, we shall put the man who made the aforementioned statement into the WITNESS-BOX and see what can be made of the affair.[3] At all events we shall contrive to embarrass Mr Gladstone.

With warmest regards,

F. Engels

In Lisbon a paper has come out called O Pensamento Social, Rua de S. Boaventura, No. 57, Lisboa, which has a number of outstanding articles in the first issue.[4]

I enclose an article on Arthur O'Connor from the Brussels Liberté, which certainly deserves to appear translated in The Irish Republic. Up to now it is the only article in the entire European press to have come out in support of the poor devil.

  1. ↑ A new German edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party being prepared, Wilhelm Liebknecht, on behalf of the editors of Der Volksstaat, requested Marx and Engels to write a new preface for it, which they duly did at the close of June 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23).
  2. ↑ A reference to the 'Circulaire à toutes les fédérations de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs' adopted at Sonvillier on 12 November 1871 (see Note 374). It was printed in La Emancipacion, the organ of the Spanish Federal Council, on 25 December 1871.
  3. ↑ The General Council meeting of 20 February 1872 approved Hermann Jung's proposal to mark the anniversaries of the Paris Commune with mass rallies in London. Still, the public meeting, for which 5,000 French and British democrats had gathered, did not take place, since at the last moment the owner of the hall where it was to be held refused admission. The meeting then elected 150 delegates who made their way to Frances Street, where the Cercle d'Études Sociales was housed (see Note 613), and marked 18 March, the first anniversary of the Paris Commune, with a ceremony. At the suggestion of Commune members Albert Theisz and Zéphirin Camélinat and General Council member George Milner, the delegates adopted three short resolutions written by Marx (see present edition, Vol. 23, p. 128).
  4. ↑ See this volume, p. 340.