Letter to Pyotr Lavrov, May 8, 1875

Author(s)	Karl Marx
Written	8 May 1875

First published, in Russian, in Letopisi marksizma, Book V, Moscow-Leningrad, 1925
Printed according to the original
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45

MARX TO PYOTR LAVROV

IN LONDON

[London,] 8 May 1875

My dear Friend,

I have just received a letter from a Berlin businessman^[1] (a very upright man and of no political importance at all, at any rate in the eyes of the world and the police), who asks me to explain to him some points in Capital.^[2] When replying to him, which I did at once, I took the opportunity of requesting, in my turn, that he give me a safe address for your letters from Russia.^[3] My letter will go off today.

Yours ever,

Karl Marx

↑ Carl August Schramm
↑ Marx is most probably referring to Schramm's letter of 31 March 1875, in which the latter wrote of his intention to contribute a series of popular articles about Capital to Der Volksstaat. Schramm requested Marx to explain to him some points on the theory of ground rent. Judging from Schramm's letter to Marx of 14 May (see Note 91), Marx actually did so, but his letter, written between 8 and 14 May, has not been found. The following year, Schramm published a book, Grundzüge der National Oekonomie. Abth. 1, Leipzig, 1876, a copy of which he probably sent to Marx. This book has been found in Marx's library.
↑ Replying to Marx, Schramm wrote on 14 May 1875: 'Many thanks for your kind and detailed letter which is particularly valuable to me in view of its explanations of ground rent. As you requested, I am sending you the desired addresses below: the owners, Bamberger and Bernstein, are both known to me personally, and I think I can vouch for their reliability.'
Probably a reference to the Berlin wholesale firm of Bamberger & Co., Leinen- und Baumwollwaren engros, Breitestraße 22. It was owned jointly by Jacob Bamberger and Ad. Bernstein.

[1] Carl August Schramm

[2] Marx is most probably referring to Schramm's letter of 31 March 1875, in which the latter wrote of his intention to contribute a series of popular articles about Capital to Der Volksstaat. Schramm requested Marx to explain to him some points on the theory of ground rent. Judging from Schramm's letter to Marx of 14 May (see Note 91), Marx actually did so, but his letter, written between 8 and 14 May, has not been found. The following year, Schramm published a book, Grundzüge der National Oekonomie. Abth. 1, Leipzig, 1876, a copy of which he probably sent to Marx. This book has been found in Marx's library.

[3] Replying to Marx, Schramm wrote on 14 May 1875: 'Many thanks for your kind and detailed letter which is particularly valuable to me in view of its explanations of ground rent. As you requested, I am sending you the desired addresses below: the owners, Bamberger and Bernstein, are both known to me personally, and I think I can vouch for their reliability.'
Probably a reference to the Berlin wholesale firm of Bamberger & Co., Leinen- und Baumwollwaren engros, Breitestraße 22. It was owned jointly by Jacob Bamberger and Ad. Bernstein.

[1]

[2]

[3]