Letter to Pyotr Lavrov, September 15, 1876

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 15 September 1876


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVI, Moscow, 1935
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO PYOTR LAVROV

IN LONDON

[London,] 15 September 1876
122 Regent's Park Road, N. W.

My dear Mr Lavrov,

At the bottom of this note I append a few observations that Liebknecht has just sent me on the subject of the people you mentioned in your letter.[1] You will see that Liebknecht disclaims all responsibility for what D.[2] may have written and what Ch.[3] might have done.

I trust Mr Smirnov is getting better.

Yours ever,

F. Engels

'The letters from me, which G.[4] allowed to fall into the hands of the police, were from the outset intended for Stieber's eyes—not, however, the numerous letters from the Russians. L. is mistaken if he imagines that I confided in any Russian refugee. I take no responsibility for such people's chatter, and chatter they do to a fearsome extent. Ch. went to Berlin not at my behest, though admittedly I was aware of it; there was no longer any damage to be done there.'[5]

  1. ↑ See this volume, p. 134.
  2. ↑ Vladimir Dekhterev
  3. ↑ Ivan Chernyshev
  4. ↑ Grigory Gurevich
  5. ↑ Engels quotes Liebknecht's letter in German.