Letter to Natalie Liebknecht, September 4, 1877

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 4 September 1877


First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1929
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO NATALIE LIEBKNECHT

IN LEIPZIG

London, 4 September 1877 122 Regent's Park Road, N. W.

Dear Mrs Liebknecht,

No more than a short note in great haste in reply to your amiable letter of the 28th ult. Liebknecht had said something about coming to London[1] from the Ghent Congress[2] ; on my return from Ramsgate,[3] I now find that that Congress is to take place between 9 September (next Sunday) and 17 September (the following Sunday)[4] . Now, I myself am leaving for Scotland to-morrow with my wife, on the doctor's advice, and shall be there a fortnight,[5] during which time letters will not as a rule be able to reach me; I intend in any case to be back by Thursday the 20th, or Friday the 21st at the latest so that, even if Liebknecht were to come over on the 18th, he would arrive at most a couple of days before me. Moreover, during this period I shall keep in touch with my house by telegraph so as to ascertain all that is necessary concerning his arrival. The people who look after our house during our absence have been instructed to make him really comfortable when he arrives, his room is ready and waiting for him, and I am sure that my instructions will be complied with. Whether the Marxes will be back here by that time, I cannot quite say, but from the last news I got, I am inclined to think they will, as they had left Neuenahr and said nothing more about going to stay in the Black Forest, as originally intended.[6] Perhaps you know more about it through Mrs Marx than we do over here. At all events, Liebknecht can obtain the latest news about this when he is in Ghent by dropping a line to Mad. Lafargue (Marx's second daughter), 225 Camden Road, N. W., London. Should neither Marx nor I be here when Liebknecht arrives, he can find entertainment, not only at the Lafargues', but also at the house of Marx's eldest daughter, Mad. Longuet, 30 Leighton Grove, Leighton Road, Kentish Town, N. W., or look up our old friend Lessner, 12 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square. At the moment the Longuets are also away—at the seaside resort of Yarmouth—and will be back at any rate by the middle of September, though I can't say what day.

I do indeed share your view that Liebknecht spends too much time sitting down[7] ; it may be as well not to make a fuss about such things, but that doesn't mean one should accustom oneself to a sedentary way of life. Whether you can wean him away from service in the front line (or rather the avant-garde) is, I should say, somewhat doubtful; anyone who has spent so many years in that service derives too much pleasure from it; however, by long practice he will soon reach the stage of eluding the toils of the penal system. Doubtless, however, you could wish nothing better than that Liebknecht should not continue to spend in prison such time as he is not on duty and all such time as he is not in prison either in the Reichstag or on his travels.

My wife most cordially reciprocates your amiable sentiments. With warmest regards,

Yours,

F. Engels

Since I do not know whether Liebknecht is with you, might I request you to be so kind as to convey the contents of this letter to him.

  1. ↑ Wilhelm Liebknecht was unable to come to London after the Ghent Congress.
  2. ↑ The reference is to the international socialist congress in Ghent convened by the Belgian Proudhonists and the Swiss anarchists. They made a fresh attempt to unite all the socialist organisations in Europe on their platform. Present at the congress, which took place between 9 and 16 September 1877, was a group of Marxist delegates, including Wilhelm Liebknecht, Johann Philipp Becker and Leo Frankel, who opposed the anarchists. The majority confirmed the resolutions of the Hague Congress of the International (1872) on the need to set up national political parties in their own right in line with the principles of the International Working Men's Association.
  3. ↑ Engels and his sick wife stayed in Ramsgate between 11 July and 28 August 1877.
  4. ↑ A slip of the pen: 16 September was a Sunday.
  5. ↑ Engels was in Ramsgate at the time (see Note 289), and between 5 and 21 September 1877, he and his wife were on holiday in Scotland.
  6. ↑ Marx, accompanied by his wife and daughter Eleanor, took a course of treatment in Neuenahr (Germany) from 8 August 1877 and returned to London about 27 September.
  7. ↑ 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.