Letter to Georgi Plekhanov, February 8, 1895

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 8 February 1895


First published, in Russian, in Gruppa 'Osvobozdeniye Truda, No. 2, 1924
Printed according to the original
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 50


ENGELS TO GEORGI PLEKHANOV

IN ZURICH

London, 8 February 1895

My dear Plekhanov,

Freyberger will happily undertake to give Vera[1] an examination, but how shall we make it seem plausible to her? Naturally, Freyberger cannot go to her and say: George Plekhanov has asked me to take a look at you. You will have to speak to her about it first, and obtain her consent, and then the best would be for her to talk to me, and I will take care of the rest. Or else she can talk to Louise Freyberger if she prefers, and Louise will see to everything. That is my suggestion, but if you think you have another idea on how to achieve your aim, tell me about it, and we can discuss it.

Vera has given me your book,[2] for which my thanks. I have begun to read it, but it will take time. However, it is a great success to have managed to have it published in your country. That is a step forward, and even if we cannot retain the new position we have just gained, a precedent has been established, the ice is broken. The suppression of the Russkaya Zhizn (Russian Life)[3] would seem to mark the beginning of reaction. Nikolai would seem to want to prepare his moujiks[4] for liberty by compulsory education, so that only the next generation will be ripe for the constitution; it is still just another formula for the old: après nous le déluge! However the deluge is like the devil in Faust! den Teufel spürt das Völkchen nie, und wenn er sie beim Kragen hätte—[5]

And when the Devil of the revolution has someone at his collar, then he has Nicholas II.

As for my health, it is better than it has been for a long time. My digestion is good, my respiratory system working perfectly, I sleep my seven hours per night, and work with pleasure—happy to be able, at last! to recommence my own work after an interruption of almost a year: proofs of the 3rd volume, correspondence, moving house, intestinal trouble, etc., etc.

Greetings to Mme Plekhanov and to Axelrod from myself, and also from Ludwig and Louise Freyberger.

Yours,

F. Engels

You did not give me any special address, and therefore I am using the old one.

  1. ↑ Vera Zasulich
  2. ↑ The reference is to G. V. Plekhanov [name in Russian], The Development of the Monist View of History [in Russian], published in St. Petersburg under the pen name of N. Beltov [name in Russian]
  3. ↑ The name of the newspaper is written in Russian
  4. ↑ This Russian word meaning "peasants" is written by Engels in Latin letters
  5. ↑ Goethe, Faust, Part I, Scene 5; this quotation and the following paragraph are written in German.