Letter to Paul Lafargue, May 10, 1884

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 10 May 1884


First published in: F. Engels, P. et L. Lafargue, Correspondance, Vol. I, Paris, 1956
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE

IN PARIS

London, 10 May 1884

My dear Lafargue,

Herewith cheque for £14. Since I do not see any of the Paris papers, it is only from The Standard and from yourself that I know what is going on; your electoral tactics are just what I myself would have recommended 2 ' 6 — these people will do themselves in if left to their own devices; GIVE THEM PLENTY OF ROPE AND THEY ARE SURE TO HANG THEMSELVES. However, Bernstein wrote and told me that you had put up a candidate[1] in opposition to Joffrin, and that he thought this ill-advised; let me know what the circumstances are so that I can answer him.

Thank you for the article — it is only the first one and I cannot now remember if I wrote the sequel.[2]

I have only seen the first number of Vaillant's translation. It is good and accurate, save that he does not always appear to be conversant with military terminology.

Your lectures and those of Deville are excellent ' 7 9 but, at least for the published version, you should develop more exhaustively the conclusions of your second one on Darwinism. That part seems overwhelmed by the mass of premisses leading up to the conclusion, nor is the latter self-evident enough, while its detail is inadequately developed. I have not yet read the third one. As soon as the translation of The Poverty of Philosophy has been completed in Zurich, ' ' 8 I shall suggest that they bring out the lectures in German.

I shall now withdraw, having a rather important piece of work to complete: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State,[3] which I hope to have rid myself of by the end of next week. Until then I must soldier on.

Give Laura a kiss from me and from Nim, who also sends one to you.

Yours ever,

F.E.

  1. ↑ Louis Simon Dereure; see this volume, p. 141.
  2. ↑ Paul Lafargue's letter to Engels of 9 May 1884 gives reason to believe that the reference is to Engels' article on Marx's Capital which he (Lafargue) found at home ('Review of Volume One of Capital for The Fortnightly Review, present edition, Vol. 20). It is clear from Marx's correspondence with Engels that they intended to publish this review in Lafargue's French translation in Le Courier français, the newspaper of the Left-wing republicans (see Marx to Engels, 1 February 1868, present edition, Vol. 42, p. 532). However, the article was not published in Marx's and Engels' lifetimes.
  3. ↑ In his letter of 17 March 1883, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, on behalf of the Dutch Socialist Workers' Party, asked Engels to 'pass on our homage and grateful acknowledgement, to the Marx family and to all those who join us in mourning at the grave of the master'. Nieuwenhuis also informed Engels that he planned to translate his work Socialism: Utopian and Scientific into Dutch, which he actually did in 1886. Nieuwenhuis further enquired about Engels' plan with regard to Volume II of Marx's Capital, further study of the English labour movement after 1845 and the reissue of Engels' The Condition of the Working-Class in England.