Letter to Carlo Terzaghi, March 21, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 21 March 1872


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVI, Moscow, 1935
Printed according to the original
Translated from the Italian
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO CARLO TERZAGHI

IN TURIN

[Draft]

London, 21 [March] 1872

Dear Citizen,

I wrote to you on the 13th of this month[1] and later received your letter of the 10th. Péchard was told in Turin[2] that you had been expelled from the Emancipation of the Proletarian society for various reasons: that you refused to hand over a certain sum belonging to the Society as well as the 200 stamps which I sent you, etc., etc.

When such accusations are made, it is absolutely essential that the General Council should know whether or not they are true, before it can declare itself for one side or the other. I should be grateful, therefore, if you would tell me what is going on, because it is certain that such matters cannot be passed over in silence.

As for the contribution of 150 frs,[3] this money did not belong to the General Council but to a private Committee formed to collect funds with which to support the friendly press and other international causes, and since your sudden and enthusiastic declaration in favour of the Jura was such as to lead the Committee to believe that you had taken sides in a cause whose very foundations were necessarily unknown to you, the money was immediately spent on another purpose, and there are no more funds available at present.

I have not received II Proletario, which you promised to send me regularly, for the last 6 weeks.

We have changed the address of the Council meetings. I cannot at present give you another personal address, but I believe the one you have, C. R.,[4] 122 Regent's Park Road, is still better than that of the General Council.

I think Savio is no longer in London but has gone to work in the provinces.[5]

Greetings and emancipation.

  1. ↑ This letter by Engels has not been found.
  2. ↑ On Vitale Regis' (Etienne Pechard's) trip to Milan and Turin, see Note 475.
  3. ↑ Engels has £150, presumably a slip of the pen. See this volume, p. 294.
  4. ↑ Probably for reasons of secrecy Engels gives the initials of Charles Renshaw, a Manchester businessman of his acquaintance, as the name of the addressee.
  5. ↑ In a letter of 10 March 1872 Terzaghi asked Engels to remember him to Pietro Savio, an Italian refugee Communard.