| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 10 January 1880 |
ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT
IN LEIPZIG
London, 10 January 1880
Dear Liebknecht,
Your letter arrived slap in the middle of the festive hurly-burly which, in view of the multiplication of the Marx family ' and also because two of our friends[1] from Manchester were staying with us, as- sumed pretty formidable proportions. In order to forward your letter I had to consult the latest POST OFFICE DIRECTORY which was not to be had except at some distance from this house. Enfin[2] I laid my hands on it at the beginning of this week and sent your letter to Alexander Macdonald Esq. M.P. Well Hill (according to the DIRECTORY, Well hi.) by Hamilton, North Britain (N.B.) Macdonald is the bigger scoundrel of the two 2 but more deeply in- volved officially with the coal miners. Maybe you will get his reply before mine. As soon as Parliament opens, you can address your let- ters simply: Alexander Macdonald, House of Commons.
Since you say you have asked Macdonald for the documents men- tioned in the main body of your letter, I shall of course do nothing further on this score until I hear from you again.
The silver and/or bimetallism 3 affair is the chimera of a few cotton speculators in Liverpool. Since it is virtually only silver that circulates among the Indian and Chinese traders, and silver has fallen from '/i5.5 to ' /17.5-1 /is of the value of gold over the past 10 years, this circum- stance has, of course, further accentuated the crisis in the said article brought about by the over-export of cotton goods to the Far East. In the first place, prices fell as the result of increased supply, and then, on top ofthat, these depressed prices represented an even lower gold value than hitherto so far as the English exporter was concerned. The crafty men of Liverpool, to whom it was quite inconceivable that cot- ton could ever fall in price as well, now blamed everything on the dif- ference in the currency and thought that all would be in order and the Indo-Chinese trade would flourish, once it had been decreed here that silver should again be '/[3] -5 of the value of gold; i. e. that the Brit- ish public must put up with silver at 13%-15% above its value so that cotton goods exporters might profit by that amount. That's all there is to the swindle, and a few more CROTCHET-MONGERS have latched on to it. It was never of any significance. Not long ago The Times was phi- lanthropic enough to opine that gold currency was unsuited to so poor a country as Germany and that it would be preferable to revert to the more convenient silver currency — in the unspoken hope of creating an outlet for the London money market where the latter could dispose of its depreciated silver at a price higher than its value. Again a pious hope, of course, just like our friend Bismarck's childish fancy not long since to go back to bimetallism and reissue the taler as good for all payments, although it is worth 15% less than the amount it is supposedly good for. However, the German money chaps have grown so crafty under friend Bismarck that this no longer proved an attraction and the talers that had been issued came hurtling back at lightning speed into the Bank and the imperial treasuries.
I, too, wish you and all the others success in the New Year, as I do the Russian revolution which will surely get under way in the course of it and at once impose a quite different character upon Europe. For this too we are largely indebted to our friend Bismarck. With his os- tentatious trip to Austria and the alliance he concluded there 4 he presented the Russian government at precisely the right moment (for us!) with the alternative: war or revolution. Quel génie![4]
Your
F.E.