Letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht, July 2, 1877

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 2 July 1877


First published, in Russian, in Marx- Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1932
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT

IN LEIPZIG

London, 2 July 1877

Dear Liebknecht,

You would have spared both of us a great deal of unnecessary annoyance had you at once informed me of the simple fact that the supplement would actually be appearing now, and that you were going to publish my articles in it. From your earlier letters I could only assume that the supplement could not appear before October and had, moreover, already been incorporated into the review[1] scheduled to come out at that time; hence I could only assume that, despite the resolution, you proposed to print the sequel to the article in the main body of the Vorwärts. Hence my many misgivings—all too justified in the event.

I have sent Ramm three articles and am today taking the precaution of writing to him again to say that he can go ahead with their publication in the supplement. A fourth article is finished and I am working on a fifth. Unfortunately there are all manner of lets and hindrances; the day after tomorrow I have to go to Manchester for a few days, and after that, my wife being unwell, to the seaside[2] where, however, I shall nevertheless be able to do a few hours' work every day.

As regards Urquhart, we have taken steps to get the material together.

The round of trials and/or sentencings seems to be getting even merrier over there.[3] You ought to amend the penal code so that you can spend your nights in jug—or more precisely your prison cot—and be at large during the day.

It seems to us that the Vorwärts is taking the business in France a trifle too lightly.[4] True, it's no immediate concern of the workers and they know it and say: à vous maintenant, MM. les bourgeois, faites votre jeu![5] All the same, it's of the utmost importance to future developments in France that the present lull before the next workers' movement should occur under the régime of a bourgeois republic when Gambetta & Co. would discredit themselves, rather than, as hitherto, under imperial pressure when they would regain their popularity and, on the day of action, assume the leadership again; that the squabbling over forms of government, now meaningless in France, should finally cease, and the republic appear for what it is—the classical form of bourgeois rule and simultaneously that of its impending dissolu- tion. Come to that, you'd damned well know it in Germany if reaction were to be victorious in France.[6]

So far all has gone well on the Danube. An oriental army like that of the Turks, unfit for use in big strategical operations, could not possibly prevent the Russians from crossing.[7] But this is compensated by the fact that an oriental army of this kind is never the victim of its own stupidity. We shall now see how the Russians propose to feed their army in Bulgaria. With every step they advance their difficulties mount up in geometrical progression and the peculiar performance under fire of the best they have—the Caucasian army in Armenia—does not augur well for them. Meanwhile Montenegro is being reduced to pulp. I'm particularly glad for G. Rasch's sake.[8]

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Die Zukunft
  2. ↑ Engels and his sick wife stayed in Ramsgate between 11 July and 28 August 1877.
  3. ↑ From 15 June to 15 August 1877 Liebknecht was serving a sentence of two months. In a letter to Engels despatched on 27 June from Leipzig prison, he wrote that as the editor of the Vorwärts and an organiser of the Social- Democrats' election campaign in the winter of 1876-77 he had had a multitude of charges brought against him, and this would entail several court trials.
  4. ↑ From 10 June 1877 the Vorwärts carried a series of articles covering the conflict between the monarchists and the republican majority in the French Chamber of Deputies and Mac-Mahon's attempt to effect a coup d'état (see Note 283). The first of them was an editorial 'Zum jüngsten Staatsstreich des Herrn Mac-Mahon'. The editorial board took a nihilist stand on these events, implying that it was immaterial to the proletariat whether it was campaigning under a bourgeois republic or a monarchy. These views were stated most directly in the editorial 'Nieder mit der Republik!' (Down with the Republic!) featured by the Vorwärts on 1 July 1877 and written, most probably, by Wilhelm Hasenclever.
  5. ↑ Now it's up to you, Messrs bourgeois, put up your stake!
  6. ↑ For the most part, this paragraph coincides with the note printed by the Vorwärts on 11 July 1877 in the 'Sozialpolitische Uebersicht' column, which opened with the words 'We have received a letter from Pam'and was supplied with editorial comments. The note may have been written by Carl Hirsch, who used a passage from Engels' letter to him (which has not been found). The comment on the note was probably written by Hasenclever.
  7. ↑ On 27(15) June 1877, Russian troops crossed the Middle Danube in the vicinity of Sistovo (Svistov in Bulgarian).
  8. ↑ when staying in London in 1876, the German Social-Democrat Gustav Rasch maintained friendly relations with Prince Nicholas of Montenegro.