MARX TO WILHELM BRACKE[1]
IN BRUNSWICK
[London,] 21 January 1877
Dear Bracke,
Congratulations on the most recent mustering of Social-Democratic forces in Germany.[2] It has greatly impressed other countries, in particular England, where for years Berlin newspaper correspondents have done all they can to bemuse their British readers concerning the state of our party. But 'MURDER WILL OUT', as John Bull says whenever he goes bankrupt.
Well, now I'd like to know at long last (didn't want to pester you about it during the election campaign) just where I am with Miss Isolde.[3] She had sent me the first sample sheet of translation[4] ; I had replied telling her she was fitted for the work provided she took her time and didn't go at it at full-tilt, and also sending her the four additional sheets.[5] At the same time, however, I also let her have a pretty lengthy catalogue of sins relating to the sample sheet.[6]
This would seem to have been something of a shock to the little lady's nerves, for her reply betrayed a certain petulance. Undeterred by this, I wrote again to the effect that I looked upon her as the translator of my choice.[7] Since that time weeks have gone by without sight or sound of her. It is now absolutely essential that the young lady should decide, oui ou non,[8] and, if the first, that she should actually let me have some work. Perhaps you would be so good as to write and tell her this. Should she have defected, we shall have to try the Scheus,[9] although I'd be reluctant (not that it's in any way relevant) to have anything to do with the Scheus. There's no more time to be lost. Should the gracious Isolde decline, she would also have to return me the French sheets she has received.
Would you be so kind as to draw up a contract in duplicate—in accordance with the conditions we have agreed—of which one, with your signature, will be retained by Lissagaray and the other, with his signature, will be returned to you.
Salut.
Yours
K. Marx
- ↑ This letter was published in English for the first time in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.
- ↑ Regular elections to the German Reichstag were held on 10 January 1877. About half a million votes were cast for the socialist candidates of whom 12 were actually elected (see also Note 248).
- ↑ Isolde Kurz
- ↑ An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx, On History and People, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 1977. It appeared in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.
- ↑ Marx's letter has not been found.
- ↑ Considering it very important to familiarise workers with the true history of the Paris Commune, Marx became actively involved in the commissioning of a German translation of a book written by one of its members, Prosper Olivier Lissagaray, Histoire de la Commune de 1871. He requested Wilhelm Bracke, and Engels asked Wilhelm Bios to find somebody to do the job. The sample translation done by Julius Grunzig failed to satisfy Marx, as did that by Isolde Kurz. Although Marx was already overburdened with work, he had to spend a great deal of time and effort editing the translation. In the autumn of 1877, on Marx's and Engels' proposal, Wilhelm Bios was recruited as another editor. Lissagaray's book appeared in German in Brunswick late in 1877.— 155, 172, 189, 196, 222, 230, 262, 266, 285 19.) The general socialist congress held in Gotha from 19 to 23 August 1876 decided, at its meeting of 23 August, to publish a single organ of the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, Vorwärts, that was to replace Der Volksstaat and Der Neue Social-Demokrat. The congress elected Wilhelm Liebknecht and Wilhelm Hasenclever editors of the new paper, which was to appear from 1 October.
- ↑ Marx's letter has not been found.
- ↑ yes or no
- ↑ Andreas and Heinrich Scheu