Letter to Laura Lafargue, July 26, 1884

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 26 July 1884


First published, in the language of the original (English), in: F. Engels, P. et L. Lafargue, Correspondance, t. I, Paris, 1956. Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO LAURA LAFARGUE

IN PARIS

London, 26 July 1884

My dear Laura,

La suite, la suite de la suite et la conclusion par Paul Lafargue to hand. I have just sent my amanuensis[1] home and have a few minutes left to say that I shall be very glad not only to revise Paul's article but also to offer suggestions as to points of attack.[2] But for that I must have the book[3] and to get it I must know the exact title — please let me have that at once so that I can order it.

It appears, then, that after all we shall have to do without you at the seaside.[4] Well, I don't know — if this weather continues, whether France is not preferable. We have now, 5 p.m., hardly 17° Centigrade and plenty of rain so that poor Jollymeier has not been able to take his walk.

Pumps and Percy are just coming in for dinner so I must conclude. Love from all.

Yours affectionately,

F.E.

  1. ↑ secretary (Oskar Eisengarten)
  2. ↑ In a letter of 25 July 1884 Paul Lafargue asked Engels to look through his résumé of P.P. Leroy-Beaulieu's book Le Collectivisme... in which the author set out to disprove some of the propositions of Marx's economic theory. For Engels' remarks on Lafargue's work 'La théorie de la plus-value de Karl Marx et la critique de M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu' see this volume, pp. 179-83.
  3. ↑ P. Leroy Beaulieu, Le Collectivisme. Examen critique du nouveau socialisme.
  4. ↑ Given the fact that a cholera epidemic was expected in Paris in the summer of 1884, Engels and Paul Lafargue agreed to persuade Laura Lafargue to move to England for some time. However, Laura did not arrive at Engels' home until the autumn of 1884.