Letter to Hermann Schluter, June 16, 1885

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 16 June 1885


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVII, Moscow 1935
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO HERMANN SCHLÜTER

IN HOTTINGEN-ZURICH

London, 16 June 1885

Dear Mr Schlüter,

1) The two trials at Assizes — that of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and that of the democratic committee — of 1849 both appeared at the time as Zwei politische Prozesse and were based on the newspaper re- port. If you wish to republish one or both, it could be quite effective, and I should write you a foreword to it.[1]

2) It might also be a good thing to republish the Communist Trial;[2] for one thing, it will once again show the old Lassalleans that some- thing was already afoot in Germany before the great Ferdinand's[3] time and, for another, the proceedings of the Prussians did, in fact, even then set the pattern for what the Anti-Socialist Law has now made the norm. A preface[4] will be available for this as well, the mo- ment printing is actually in progress; unfortunately my time does not permit me to work in advance and on spec. Again, I haven't got a copy of the Leipzig edition with Marx's later notes.[5] It is typical of the way they used then to conduct their affairs that neither Marx nor I should ever have been sent a copy!

Do you have in your archives Stieber and Wermuth, Die Communis- ten-Verschwörungen des 19. Jahrhunderts[6] (Berlin, Hayn, 1853, 2 parts) — the so-called 'black book'? It contains two addresses from the Central Committee to the League[7] which you might print as an appendix.

3) If I understand you aright, you are thinking of publishing the series of articles from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung on the Paris battle in June 1848.[8] It's not a bad idea. I could arrange the relevant pas- sages for you, interspersed with a few notes to provide a context, and also whatever is needed from Marx's article in the Revue der Neuen Rheinischen Zeitung etc. Being the only contemporary account of the Paris proletariat's battle to take the side of the June fighters, the thing has a certain importance. Nor can the masses be reminded too often of the event. But it's a task that would take at least a week, and I cannot embark on it until the autumn.

4) Various other things from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung might fol- low, but just now I simply haven't got the time to look them out; if you could make some suggestions, we might be able to see. The same applies to other, lesser works of that period by Marx and myself. As soon as the rough ms. of the 3rd volume of Capital has been trans- posed into a legible one — in the autumn, that is — I shall have to put the papers[9] in order. Only then shall I once more obtain a general idea of what is in fact available and be able to look out some suitable stuff. Up till then I shall be more or less working in the dark. So long as the dictation of Capital, Book III remains incomplete, my days will be taken up from 10-5, while in the evenings, apart from visitors, I not only have to deal with an ever-increasing volume of correspondence, but also to read over what I have dictated, in addition to revising the French, Italian, Danish and English translations of our things (includ- ing the English one of Capital[10] ), and how, I should like to know, am I to find time for anything else? Hence — as you must realise — I cannot let myself in for anything, unless it is of the utmost urgency.

Besides the afore-mentioned edition of the Communist Trial, I would ask you to send me:

3 copies of Marx's Wage Labour and Capital. 6 Communist Manifestos, Zurich edition, and charge them up to me. I should also be grateful to have a statement of account so that I may know how we stand. We still have copies of Marx's photograph here in both sizes.

Kindly give the enclosed to Ede.

Most cordially yours,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ See this volume, p. 317.
  2. ↑ K. Marx, 'Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne.'
  3. ↑ Ferdinand Lassalle
  4. ↑ F. Engels, 'On the History of the Communist League'.
  5. ↑ K. Marx, 'Epilogue to Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne.
  6. ↑ Wermuth/Stieber, Die Communisten-Verschwörungen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts.
  7. ↑ 'Address of the Central Authority to the League, March 1850'; 'Address of the Central Authority to the League, June 1850'.
  8. ↑ K. Marx, 'The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850.'
  9. ↑ Marx's manuscripts
  10. ↑ The idea of translating Capital into English occurred to Marx as early as 1865, when he was working on the manuscript (see Marx's letter to Engels of 31 July 1865, present edition, Vol. 42). The British journalist and member of the Interna tional's General Council, Peter Fox, was to help Marx find a publisher. However, this matter was not settled due to Fox's death in 1869. The English translation of the first volume of Capital, edited by Engels, did not appear until after Marx's death, in January 1887, and was published by Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co., London. The translation was done by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling between mid-1883 and March 1886. Eleanor Marx-Aveling took part in the preparatory work for the edition (see also this volume, pp. 33 and 127-28).