Letter to Eduard Bernstein and Karl Kautsky, May 22, 1884

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	22 May 1884

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 47

ENGELS TO EDUARD BERNSTEIN AND KARL KAUTSKY

IN ZURICH

London, 22 May 1884

My Dear Fellows,

Herewith the ms.^[1] with the exception of the final chapter which still needs revising. You will find that it is not suitable for the open market in Germany, so consider whether it ought to be printed in Stuttgart under a false style or then and there in Zurich, and let me know in writing. Since the Prussian schnapps affair,^[2] everything bearing my name has been banned. If it goes to Stuttgart I shouldn't want it to be revealed beforehand to the Wise Men who hold sway there.^[3] In any case I must read the proof myself and would ask you for the sheets in duplicate, on good paper with a wide margin, otherwise one cannot make proper corrections. Perhaps you would be good enough to send a postcard acknowledging receipt. I shall answer your letters tonight or tomorrow; I have put everything on one side in order to get the enclosed finished and must presently set off for the funeral of Pumps' little boy who died on Sunday.^[4]

Your old friend

F.E.

↑ F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
↑ Engels' work 'Prussian Schnapps in the German Reichstag' (see present edition, Vol. 24) was written in February 1876. The publication of this work, which exposed the Prussian Junkers, in Der Volksstaat and as a separate offprint caused consternation in government quarters.
↑ Here Engels is apparently referring to several representatives of the Right wing in the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany such as Bruno Geiser, editor of the Stuttgart-based Die Neue Welt, and to journalists who were close to this trend, like Karl Frohme, Wilhelm Bios, Louis Viereck, etc.
↑ 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.

[1] F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.

[2] Engels' work 'Prussian Schnapps in the German Reichstag' (see present edition, Vol. 24) was written in February 1876. The publication of this work, which exposed the Prussian Junkers, in Der Volksstaat and as a separate offprint caused consternation in government quarters.

[3] Here Engels is apparently referring to several representatives of the Right wing in the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany such as Bruno Geiser, editor of the Stuttgart-based Die Neue Welt, and to journalists who were close to this trend, like Karl Frohme, Wilhelm Bios, Louis Viereck, etc.

[4] 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.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]