Letter to Karl Marx, May 24, 1876

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 24 May 1876


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Ramsgate,[1] 24 May 1876
3 Adelaide Gardens

Dear Moor,

I have just received the two letters enclosed herewith.[2] The curse of paid agitators, of the semi-literate, lies heavy on our party in Germany. If things go on at this rate the Lassalleans will soon be more lucid than anyone else because they assimilate less rubbish and Lassalle's writings provide the least noxious form of agitation. I wonder what this man Most really wants of us and what we should do to satisfy him. Obviously, these people imagine that Dühring, by his scurrilous onslaughts upon you, has rendered himself invulnerable vis-à-vis ourselves, for, if we make fun of his theoretical nonsense, it will look as though it's out of revenge for those personalities! The ruder Dühring is, the more humble and propitiating we are to be, and can, in fact, thank our stars that Mr Most, besides requiring us to point out Mr Dühring's howlers kindly and privily to him (as if nothing more than howlers was involved) in order that he might eliminate them from the next edition,[3] shouldn't ask us to kiss his most worthy of posteriors. This fellow—Most, I mean—has contrived to do a résumé of the whole of Capital without understanding a word of the thing. Of this the letter provides striking proof while showing up the fellow for what he is. All such nonsense would be out of the question if only, instead of Wilhelm,[4] there were at the top a man with some modicum of theoretical insight, someone who wasn't eager to print every and any kind of nonsense—the crazier the better—and commend it to the workers with all the authority of the Volksstaat. Enfin,[5] the business has made my blood boil, and the question is whether it isn't about time we seriously reconsidered our position vis-à-vis these gentlemen.

So far as that silly ass Wilhelm is concerned, all this is simply a welcome pretext to dun us for manuscripts. What a party leader!

I enclose an interesting news item from Constantinople in yesterday's Daily News[6] ; one is all the more prepared to credit the man in that the softas' revolution goes very much against the grain with him. The affair in the east is about TO COME TO A HEAD; the Serbians' renewed attempt to raise a loan, likewise their suspension of bills of exchange and the fresh demands of the Herzegovinian insurgents are all evidence of the extent of Russia's machinations there. I am curious to see what turn things will take.

We've had our first rainy day here; yesterday there was only a brief shower. I hope all continues to go well with Jenny.[7] Lizzie and I send our love to all of you, the Longuets and Lafargues.

Your

F. E.

I have just noticed that Wilhelm has sent me the whole of Most's manuscript in a wrapper. Who knows whether that is internationally admissible and hence whether it will arrive? Would you go and see some time if it's there and, IF SO, send it to me? I shall be staying here until the Friday of next week![8] Mrs Leeson will show you where she keeps any papers, etc., that arrive for me.

  1. ↑ Between 20 May and 2 June 1876, Engels and his wife Lizzie Burns were on holiday in Ramsgate.
  2. ↑ Engels received Wilhelm Liebknecht's letter of 16 May 1876 and Johann Most's letter. Liebknecht wrote: 'A manuscript by Most enclosed, which will show you that the Dühring epidemic has hit even people who are otherwise quite sensible; it needs to be dealt with. Send the manuscript back.'
    On Most's manuscript, see Note 159.
  3. ↑ This is probably a reference to Dühring's Cursus der Philosophie als streng wissenschaftlicher Weltanschauung und Lebensgestaltung, Leipzig, 1875. Engels criticised the book in his Anti-Dühring (see present edition, Vol. 25, Part I, 'Philosophy').
  4. ↑ Wilhelm Liebknecht
  5. ↑ In short
  6. ↑ 'The Revolution in Constantinople', The Daily News, No. 9386, 23 May 1876.
  7. ↑ On 10 May 1876, Jenny, Marx's daughter, gave birth to a son, Jean Laurent Frederic Longuet, who was called Johnny in the family.
  8. ↑ 2 June