Letter to Valerian Smirnov, July 25, 1889

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	25 July 1889

First published in K. Marks, F. Engels in revolyutsionnaya Rossiya, Moscow, 1967
Printed according to the original
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48

ENGELS TO VALERIAN SMIRNOV

IN LONDON

London, 25 July 1889 122 Regent's Park Road, N.W.

Dear Citizen,

I have just received a letter from Brocher^[1] enclosing the one you had written him and asking me on your behalf for a loan of £20. As I am not used to reading Russian handwriting, I was not really able to decipher enough of your letter to find out exactly what is involved. But however that may be I have to tell you with infinite regret that it is out of the question for me to advance the sum for which you ask. My expenditure has of late been quite extraordinary as a result of my having to help numerous personal and political friends and then, to compound matters, there has been the congress,^[2] which has necessitated my making further advances of all kinds, so that I am now completely cleaned out. Having been asked by Brocher to let you have an immediate reply, I am losing no time in so doing, and am sorry that I am not able to give you a more favourable answer.

Yours very sincerely,

F. E.

↑ Gustave Brocher appealed to Engels and asked for material assistance for V. Smirnov.
↑ The International (Socialist) Working Men's Congress was in session in Paris on 14-20 July 1889, on the centennial of the storming of the Bastille. In fact, it became a constituent Congress of the Second International. Taking part were 393 delegates, representing the worker and socialist parties of 20 countries of Europe and America.
The Congress heard the reports of representatives of the socialist parties on the situation in the labour movement in their countries; it outlined the principles of international labour legislation in respective countries by supporting demands for a legislative enactment of an 8-hour working day, prohibition of child labour and steps toward the protection of the work of women and adolescents. The Congress stressed the need of political organisation of the proletariat and of a struggle for implementation of democratic demands of the working class; it spoke out for a disbandment of regular armies and their replacement by armed detachments of the people. It resolved to hold, on 1 May 1890, demonstrations and meetings in support of an 8-hour working day and labour legislation.

[1] Gustave Brocher appealed to Engels and asked for material assistance for V. Smirnov.

[2] The International (Socialist) Working Men's Congress was in session in Paris on 14-20 July 1889, on the centennial of the storming of the Bastille. In fact, it became a constituent Congress of the Second International. Taking part were 393 delegates, representing the worker and socialist parties of 20 countries of Europe and America.
The Congress heard the reports of representatives of the socialist parties on the situation in the labour movement in their countries; it outlined the principles of international labour legislation in respective countries by supporting demands for a legislative enactment of an 8-hour working day, prohibition of child labour and steps toward the protection of the work of women and adolescents. The Congress stressed the need of political organisation of the proletariat and of a struggle for implementation of democratic demands of the working class; it spoke out for a disbandment of regular armies and their replacement by armed detachments of the people. It resolved to hold, on 1 May 1890, demonstrations and meetings in support of an 8-hour working day and labour legislation.

[1]

[2]