Letter to Ludwig and Gertrud Kugelmann, December 23, 1872

Author(s) Jenny Marx Longuet
Written 23 December 1872


First published in Istorichesky arkhiv, No. 2, Moscow, 1959
Published in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44

LONGUET TO LUDWIG AND GERTRUD KUGELMANN

IN HANOVER

London, 23 December 1872
1 Maitland Park [Road]

My dear friends,

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!—All at home join me in that heartfelt wish! I say all at home—for as you will have seen from the above address I am again in my dear old home with my parents. My husband and I have left Oxford after a fruitless stay of six weeks, during which time not a single pupil was forthcoming. The learned Dundrearies who had taken lessons during the summer term were no doubt so much shocked at seeing Mr Longuet's name among the names of the delegates to the International Congress M0 that they resolved to have nothing to do with their former teacher. Of course this was a great disappointment to me at first, knowing how difficult it is to find employment where there is so much competition—this country is overflowing with all sorts of French professors, French exiled journalists, doctors, lawyers, tinkers and tailors having indiscrimi- nately taken to that line. Gradually I have however become reconciled to our Oxford misadventures. I am so very much happier in London than in orthodox snubbish Oxford. London contains Modena Villas and in the front room first floor of Modena Villas I can always find my dear Mohr. I cannot express you how lonely I feel when separated from him—and he tells me that he also missed me very much, and that during my absence he buried himself altogether in his den. If only my husband and I could find something to do in London, I shall bless the ill luck that has driven us from the grand seat of sham science.

The Lafargues are also staying at Hampstead, where they intend settling down for a few years. Mama wishes me to tell you that Laura is looking much better now than while staying at the Hague—she is much more cheerful, and we trust, will gradually altogether recover from the terrible shock caused by the death of her dear little boy.[1] All the other members of our family are well. I trust, my dear friends, you will be able to give me equally good news of yourselves. Do write me soon. You know I take a deep interest in all that concerns you. If you, my dear Trautchen,[2] would only condescend to let me have one letter for every half dozen you write your friend Mrs Tenge I should be satisfied. You see I am not very exacting and not at all jealous!

The French translation of Das Kapital is slowly progressing.[3] The next livraison[4] will be excellent. Papa has re-written it altogether. The translator, who is a very dull dog, had made a sad mess of it. Unfortunately this sort of correction gives Mohr as much, if not more work, than if he had written the whole thing himself. He works every night till two or three o'clock in the morning. Have you read the articles on the first livraison that have just appeared in the Liberté of Brussels?[5] It was left for these Belgian wiseacres to discover that Marx and Proudhon have together resolved the 'constitution de la valeur'. Voilà ce que c'est que l'esprit belge—du faro tout pur,[6] unadulterated. However dull these Belgians be, they are not too dull to carry on their miserable intrigues against the International. They work as hard as ever with their brothers of the Jura and have of late also joined hands with the model British workmen Hales and the drunken Mottershead. Their party has been further strengthened by the addition of Jung—whose shameful defection is the result of his grotesque vanity. The miserable wretch could not bear the idea of transferring the Council to New York, which robs him of all his importance. For weeks he fumed and fretted in silence, and now at length has openly entered the service of the Great Hales. All these petty intriguers however will soon have played out their small games, and certainly it will be a good thing for the Association to have got rid of such workers as the illustrious Jung, Hales etc. It is after all no misfortune these men have come out in their true colours.—

My paper is full—so I have just only time to repeat to you our best wishes for yourselves and dear Fränzchen.[7]

I remain your sincere friend

Jenny

  1. ↑ Charles Etienne Lafargue
  2. ↑ Gertrud Kugelmann
  3. ↑ The surviving manuscript copy of the letter does not bear the name of the addressee. However, its contents and Marx's correspondence on the subject indicate that it was addressed to the heads of the Lachâtre publishing house in Paris. On 13 February 1872 Marx received a reply from the manager Juste Vernouillet, who informed him about the despatch of copies of the agree ment on the publication of the French translation of Volume I of Capital. The agreement was signed on 15 February by Marx on one side, and Maurice Lachâtre and Juste Vernouillet on the other. It stipulated that the French edi tion was to be published in 44 instalments, and sold five instalments at a time.
    The French authorised edition of Volume I of Capital was published between 17 September 1872 and November 1875. The translation was done by Joseph Roy, who began in February 1872 and completed work in late 1873. The quality of the translation largely failed to satisfy Marx; besides, he was convinced that the original needed to be revised to adapt it to French readers.
  4. ↑ instalment
  5. ↑ 'Karl Marx et son analyse de la valeur', La Liberté, Nos. 49 and 51, 8 and 22 December 1872.
  6. ↑ 'composition of value'. There you have the Belgian spirit as it is—the purest beer
  7. ↑ Franziska Kugelmann