Letter to Pasquale Martignetti, January 13, 1890

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 13 January 1890


First published, in Italian, in: La corrispondenza di Marx i Engels con italiani. 1848-1895, Milano, 1964
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48
Printed according to the original


ENGELS TO PASQUALE MARTIGNETTI[1]

IN BENEVENTO

London, 13 January 1890

Dear Friend,

I have been deliberating the matter of the letter of introduction for Buenos Aires.[2] I cannot conceal what has happened from the comrades out there. In so far as I enjoy the workers' trust, this rests upon the assumption that what I tell them is the whole truth and nothing but the truth, no matter what the circumstances.

If I were you, I would prefer not to have any such letter of recom- mendation. The moment one person out there gets wind of your convic- tion, a hundred others will get wind of it too, and notably those who would neither read nor give a rap for my testimonial. And then you would be no better off there than you were at home; your conviction would pursue you everywhere. Better a new life under a new name. You are young and, to judge by your photograph, strong—just take courage!

But in order to take care of all eventualities, I enclose a document in which I say in your favour whatever can and may be said with a clear conscience. However, I would again advise you not to make use of it. This may render the struggle more arduous in the early days. But in the long run a complete break with the past cannot but make it easier.

Well, you must be the best judge of what you ought to do. But I hope that none of this will be necessary and that the Court of Appeal will pronounce you innocent.

Very sincerely yours,

F. Engels

Addresses

Vorwärts, Editorial Department; Calle Reconquista 650 nuevo (the streets have old and new numbers) Verein Vorwärts,[3] Calle Commercio 880.

Mr Pasquale Martignetti of Benevento (Italy) has corresponded with me regularly for some six years past. Under the most difficult circum- stances and with great perseverance he has learned German so as to make German scientific socialism available to his compatriots in translation. He then proceeded to translate, first my Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopia zur Wissenschaft[4] and later my Ursprung der Familie[5] etc., into Italian and to publish the translations after they had been looked over by me. Unfavourable circumstances[6] prevented the publi- cation of his translation of Marx's Kapital und Lohnarbeit.[7]

Mr Martignetti was employed as clerk in the Royal Notary's Office— a legal agency—in Benevento. There he was accused of embezzlement and this, or so it seems to me, simply by way of retaliation for his activ- ities as a socialist writer; and Mr Martignetti was eventually sentenced to imprisonment by the Italian stipendiary magistrates of two courts. I have read neither the documents of the case nor the reports of the proceedings, but only the accused man's defence. However, I believe that he was wrongly convicted, and this for the following reasons:

1. Because he was accused only as an accomplice of the chief defen- dant; the said chief defendant, however, was acquitted whereas Mr Martignetti, who was allegedly only his abettor, was convicted.

2. Because the sums alleged to have been embezzled were first stated to be over 10,000 francs but dwindled as the trial went on until finally only 500 fr. were said to have been embezzled.

3. Because the Prefect of Benevento, a highly placed civil servant, was so convinced of his innocence that he employed him in his office after his dismissal from the Notary's Office and even while the trial was in progress.

4. Again, because he was simply a clerk, no court funds passed through his hands, so that he could not very well have embezzled any.

Whatever the outcome of his trial may be, Mr Martignetti will prob- ably choose to leave Italy and seek out a new home for himself. If such be the case, I hereby authorise him to make use of this, my testimonial, in any way he thinks fit. Should he anywhere encounter German comrades to whom my opinion is not a matter of complete indifference, I would ask them to rest assured that the above is strictly in accordance with the truth and that I have withheld nothing whatsoever. Should they be able to help him find a post in which he could earn an honest living and upon which he could found a new existence, they would be doing a kindness to a man who, in my opinion, has been prosecuted only because of his activities on behalf of the international labour movement.

122, Regent's Park Road, London, N. W. 13 January 1890

Friedrich Engels

  1. ↑ Appended to this was a letter of recommendation from Engels; the rough draft of this letter is extant.
  2. ↑ See this volume, p. 351
  3. ↑ Refers to the socialist club Vorwärts, founded in Buenos Aires in January 1882 by German socialist emigres - H. Lalman, A. Kuhn and F. Weber. In 1886 this club launched the newspaper Vorwärts which advocated socialist ideas and called for strike action to secure better working and living conditions.
  4. ↑ Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
  5. ↑ Origin of the Family
  6. ↑ In February 1886 P. Martignetti sent his Italian translation of Marx's Wage Labour and Capital for Engels to peruse. However, because of his work on the English edition of Volume I of Capital, and his eye disease, Engels was unable to read the Italian translation immediately. It was published in Milan only in 1893.
  7. ↑ Wage Labour and Capital. In the draft the ensuing sentence reads: 'By engaging in these activities, Mr Martignetti has done signal service to the labour movement, notably in furthering mutual understanding between Italian and German socialists.'