Letter to Theodor Cuno, April 22-23, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 22 April 1872


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


ENGELS TO THEODOR CUNO

IN DÜSSELDORF

London, 22[-23] April 1872

Dear Cuno,

This morning I received your letter,[1] which I had awaited with anxiety. Gandolfi wrote me some time ago[2] saying it was believed that the Italian government had handed you over to the Prussians.—I found out about your arrest, etc., from the papers, which indicated that you were being deported for 'lack of visible means of support'. A police statement to that effect appeared in a Milan newspaper. This affair is not without significance. It is the first exploit of the international police conspiracy organised by Prussia, Austria, and Italy, and if you haven't been transported by the police from the Bavarian frontier to Düsseldorf, you owe this solely to the stupidity of the Bavarians. Tomorrow evening I shall report the matter to the General Council, after which the whole story will be included in the official report, which will be printed in The Eastern Post and sent out to every part in the world.[3] In the meantime, write an article about this in your own name and send it to the Volksstaat, the Geneva Égalité, and the Gazzettino Rosa. We shall take care of here, America, and Spain, as well as of France, over here.[4] The rascals will finally have to realise that they cannot keep on doing this with impunity and that the Inter- national's arms are longer than those of the King of Italy.[5] As soon as the story is printed I shall send you a copy, together with all the newspapers I can collect for you—they won't be too numerous.

The advice Liebknecht gave you—to write to Bismarck—is very good, but for altogether different reasons. First, instead of assisting you to obtain redress, Bismarck will be very glad it happened and will merely be irritated that the Bavarians released you, instead of realising that this gave them a splendid opportuni- ty for having a member of the International transported all over Germany by the police. But you should write to Bismarck simply in order to be able to send his reply—which will be nothing but a lame excuse, of course—at a later date to Bebel, who will use it to raise a row in the Reichstag. But it is out of the question, of course, that Bismarck will do as much as lift a finger to punish Italy for having fulfilled his orders so well.

You must not be surprised that you have received so little support from the party comrades. From one of your previous letters I had already realised that you laboured under youthful illusions concerning the aid people receive when in need. Unfortunately, my answer to this letter was confiscated by the Mordecaians 09 and never reached you. I should add that, although our German workers have far outstripped all the others as concerns theory, in practice they have by no means shaken off their artisan-type mentality, and owing to the dreadfully petty- bourgeois character of life in Germany, they are tremendously narrow-minded, especially in money matters. That is why I wasn't at all surprised at what you experienced in this respect. If I had money, I should send you some, but we here are really on the rocks just now. We have more than a hundred helpless refugees of the Paris Commune, literally helpless, for no people ever feel as helpless abroad as do the French; and what they didn't eat up, we sent to a fine chap[6] in Cork, Ireland, who founded the International there and was rewarded by being excommunicated by the priests and the bourgeoisie and completely ruined. We are in a tight spot at the moment. If we get some money from somewhere or other, I shall see to it that you are not forgot- ten.

Let me know in what branches of your profession you have had practical experience and in general what you can do. I shall look around immediately to see if anything can be found for you here. England is overrun by foreign engineers, it is true, but perhaps something can still be done. I have some very good contacts.

During your imprisonment all sorts of things have happened. In Turin Terzaghi was sacked from the Emancipazione del Proletario for embezzlement and suspicious dealings with the Questore.[7] He still managed to publish 2-3 issues of the Proletario in which he attacks them as canaglia, borghesi, vigliacchi,[8] etc.—just as he earlier attacked the Federazione Operaia—but the paper now appears to be dead, just like almost all the little new papers in Italy—Martello, Campana, etc. I wrote to Terzaghi,[9] asking him about these accusations, and he sent me a copy of the Proletario full of abuse, saying that I could see from that what a lot of scoundrels they were! I had had my suspicions about the man for months. Regis (who visited you under the name of Péchard, and who is in Geneva at present) found out that he was constandy going to Locarno to see Bakunin, and it is a good thing that he now stands exposed as a plain rascal.

In Bologna the Fascio Operaio[10] of the Romagna has held a congress in the course of which they threw off their masks and emerged as outright Bakuninists.[11] The Romagnese are joining the International, but won't hear a word about the need to recognise the Rules, etc. They have not yet written to us, although the congress took place on 18 March; we shall give them a jolly reception!—The Ravenna section has written to us announcing that they intend to join but salva la propria autonomic.[12] I have simply asked them whether they accept our Rules or not.[13]

I have just been looking at a heap of papers that has been sent to me and see that Pezza and Testini have also been arrested in Milan (around 30 March).

The circular of the General Council on Bakunin and Co.[14] is in the press and will probably be ready by the end of next week. I shall send you a copy without delay. It sets forth everything quite blundy, and it will produce a terrific row.

I believe I'll be able to send you newspapers tomorrow— Gazzettino Rosa and some other Italian items, in general, anything I can lay my hands upon.

A congress of the Spanish members of the International was held in Saragossa on 8-11 April, at which our people won a victory over the Bakuninists.[15] It now turns out that the Alliance de la démocratie socialiste[16] continued to exist in Spain within the International as a secret society under the leadership of Bakunin—a secret society aimed, not against the government, but against the mass of the workers! I have every reason to suspect that the same thing is going on in Italy. What information do you have on this subject?

If anything comes of the job in Spain that Becker[17] had in mind for you, let me know at once so that I can give you letters of introduction to our people there. That job will probably be in Catalonia, the only industrial province of Spain, and you will be able to do very useful work, since the mass of workers there are admittedly good but leave their newspaper (La Federation in Barcelona) and the key positions in the hands of the Bakuninists.

There is only one newspaper appearing in Turin now— L'Anticristo, something of the order of a weekly Gazzettino Rosa. Then there are La Plebe in Lodi, II Fascio Operaio in Bologna, and L'Eguaglianza in Girgenti[18] —all the other Italian newspapers are dead. Experience in other countries made it obvious to me long ago that this was bound to happen. It is not enough to have a few people at the top; the masses in Italy are still too backward to be able to support so many newspapers. Prolonged and dogged work, with more theoretical content than the Bakuninists possess, is required to free the masses from the influence of the Mazzinist nonsense.

Many thanks for the Milan address. Would it not be a good idea for you to write first and ask the man[19] to send you a report on the present position of the International in Milan? You could then send it to me and I would reply to him. The present corresponding secretary is Mauro Gandolfi, i.e. one of Bakunin's supporters.

Write to me very soon—especially on what you are able to do in your profession, so that I can take the necessary steps.

Cordially yours,

F. E.

The address you have been using to write to me (that of your Düsseldorf letter) is by far the best.

23 April 1872

  1. ↑ Cuno's letter of 17 April 1872
  2. ↑ on 14 March
  3. ↑ F. Engels, 'On the Police Persecution of the Member of the International Theodore Cuno'.
  4. ↑ A piece Engels wrote on the persecution of Cuno was carried by The Eastern Post, No. 187, 27 April, and by the Gazzettino Rosa, No. 127, 7 May 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 151-52). Acting on Engels' advice, on 3 May Cuno wrote a letter to Der Volksstaat, which was published in No. 38 of 11 May 1872; a report on Cuno also appeared on 7 May in L'Égalité, Nos. 9 and 10.
  5. ↑ Victor Emmanuel II
  6. ↑ John De Morgan
  7. ↑ police superintendent
  8. ↑ canaille, bourgeois, cowards
  9. ↑ See this volume, pp. 352 53.
  10. ↑ Yhe Fascio Operaio (Workers' Union) was founded on 27 November 1871 in Bologna with Erminio Pescatori as its leader. The Union did not directly declare that it was joining the International, but its manifesto, which was approved on 4 December, did proclaim the principle of international solidarity of the working people. The Union acted as a governing centre for similar organisations formed at the turn of 1871-72 in a number of towns in the Emilia-Romagna (Imola, Forli, Lugo, Rimini, etc.). It did not maintain regular contacts with the International.
  11. ↑ The congress in Bologna was the first congress of anarchist groups from Mirandola, Genoa and Mantua, as well as representatives of the International's section in Naples and of the Romagna's workers' unions (Fascii opérai), held on 17-19 March 1872. A number of congress resolutions bore the imprint of Bakuninism; in particular, the congress opposed participation in the elections and declared that it regarded the General Council and the Jura Federal Committee as mere correspondence bureaus.
  12. ↑ reserving their autonomy
  13. ↑ A reference to one of the democratic societies in Ravenna, which, through the offices of Lodovico Nabruzzi, Sesto Montanari and Resta Luca, who were on II Romagnolo editorial board, requested Engels in late October 1871 to help them organise a section of the International. Engels replied to Nabruzzi in early November (the letter has not been found). On November 25 the latter wrote to Engels about considerable successes in spreading the ideas of the International. However, that is where the correspondence ended. On 3 December 1871 L'Internationale, No. 151, in its 'Bulletin de l'intérieur' column, carried a notice about the establishment of a section in Ravenna. Bakunin had managed to win Nabruzzi over to his side.
  14. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, Fictitious Splits in the International
  15. ↑ "phis assessment of the outcome of the Saragossa congress (see Note 423) was based on the information Engels received from Paul Lafargue. Following the receipt of more accurate information on the congress, specifically, on its decision to support the Belgian Federation's demand that the General Rules be revised, Engels changed his opinion. He wrote to Wilhelm Liebknecht about this on 22 May 1872 (see this volume, pp. 375-76).
  16. ↑ Alliance de la démocratie socialiste
  17. ↑ Johann Philipp Becker
  18. ↑ Modern name: Agrigento.
  19. ↑ Francesco Danieli