Letter to Adolf Hepner, December 30, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 30 December 1872


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


ENGELS TO ADOLF HEPNER[1]

IN LEIPZIG

London, 30 December 1872

Dear Hepner,

[...] and provides a direct refutation of Sybel,[2] in such a way, moreover, as presupposes independent and quite accurate thought of his own. Both Marx and I were delighted with the article,[3] even though it contains minor inexactitudes here and there. Of course, I was not in a position to know what Schramm is like otherwise, but he certainly knows his economics.

4. In contrast, of the two articles on the 'Revival of the Reform Movement',[4] the first is good, while the second is in direct conflict with the facts. The many wretched little congresses, which are taken seriously in this article only because they are taken seriously by The Bee-Hive, which has sold out to the bourgeoisie, have no other purpose than as preparations for the impending parliamentary elections. All the reform leagues listed in the article are of absolutely no importance and, moreover, consist, for the most part, of the very same people. And what people? With a few exceptions, they consist of the labour leaders whom Marx branded as corrupt at The Hague![5] It is impossible to judge the movement here from over there, taking The Bee-Hive and Reynolds's as your guides. The fact that a few TRADES UNIONISTS attend such congresses does not mean that the TRADES UNIONS are thinking of becoming political, which they (at least most of them, including the biggest ones) couldn't do at all without totally revising their rules. [...In] reality the movement here is lousier than ever, as is only to be expected with such industrial prosperity.

[...] Whenever we send [articles] or pamphlets to Spain, [Italy] or elsewhere, we regularly receive in return a number of copies of them, without our asking for them, and a further quantity is put at our disposal, as is indeed right and proper. The only administration that makes an exception here is that of the Volksstaat. I had to buy a copy of my Peasant War[6] myself. As for my Housing Question, I see Part I announced daily in the Volksstaat, but do not have even a single complete copy here to enable me to reply to Mülberger,[7] since Frankel had managed to mislay the copy of the Volksstaat which contained the concluding section, and the offprint sent to me had the last page missing! If Marx had not finally succeeded in finding his copy of the issue in question, I would have been quite unable to reply. I would put a lot of this down to sheer carelessness, e.g. the fact that a bill was sent to me for the copies of the Manifesto[8] ; but in the long run it is going too far, and if a stop is not put to this truly shoddy treatment of us soon, the Volksstaat will have no reason to be surprised if one fine day Marx and I simply go on strike. It just will not do for us to have to beg for free copies or buy from the bookseller our own things which we have let you have for nothing. People in other countries immediately send us copies of all pamphlets, etc., because they know full well that we do more to publicise them and make them known [...] is not expressly requested.

  1. ↑ The manuscript of this letter has been seriously damaged; the words that have been deciphered are in square brackets. Part of this letter was published in English for the first time in: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Letters to Americans 1848-1895. A Selection. International Publishers, New York, 1953.
  2. ↑ H. Sybel, Die Lehren des heutigen Socialismus und Kommunismus.
  3. ↑ C. A. S[chramm], 'Der Tauschwerth', Der Volksstaat, No. 82, 12 October 1872.
  4. ↑ 'Der Wiederbeginn der Reformbewegung in England'. I, II, Der Volksstaat, Nos. 98 and 102, 7 and 21 December 1872.
  5. ↑ At the British Federal Council meeting of 12 September 1872, John Hales, the Council Chairman, who was supported by the reformist majority, managed to have Marx reprimanded for the speech he had made at the Hague Congress on 3 September in defence of the mandate of Maltman Barry, a member of the British Federation. In his speech, Marx accused those who called themselves the British workers' leaders of having more or less sold out to the bourgeoisie and the government. Many sections within the British Federation protested against this decision by the Federal Council.
  6. ↑ F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany, 2nd German edition.
  7. ↑ A. Mülberger, 'Zur Wohnungsfrage', Der Volksstaat, No. 86, 26 October 1872.
  8. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1872 German edition.