Bakunin (Marx, August 2, 1848)

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The New Rheinische Zeitung of July 6, 1848, carried a report received from Ewerbeck, its Paris correspondent, under the heading “Bakunin”. The author reported the current rumour that Mikhail Bakunin was in the secret service of Nicholas I and that George Sand was in possession of evidence to this effect. Such rumours circulated among Polish emigrants even before the 1848 revolution. On July 16, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung reprinted Bakunin’s statement to the editors of the Allgemeine Oder Zeitung in which he refuted these accusations. It also carried Bakunin’s letter to George Sand asking her to make a public statement testifying to the falsity of the rumour, which discredited him as a revolutionary. On August 3, Marx received George Sand’s letter to the New Rheinische Zeitung through the Polish democrat Kokielski and immediately published it with an introductory note from the editors.

In 1853 certain English newspapers accused Marx of having used the Neue Rheinische Zeitung to spread insinuations against Bakunin. Early in September 1853 Marx refuted these charges — the authors of which were emigrants hostile to proletarian revolutionaries — in statements to the editors of the Morning Advertiser and the People’s Paper (see MECW, Vol. 12). In the statement to the Morning Advertiser he recalled that the Neue Rheinische Zeitung had published Bakunin’s letters of self-acquittal and the relevant letter of George Sand; he also quoted the editors’ introductory note to this letter.

Subsequently, in his letter to Lassalle written on March 3, 1860, Marx gave the following description of this episode: “I printed in the New Rheinische Zeitung a denunciation of Bakunin received from two different sources in Paris, the one being a Pole I knew and the other — the Paris lithographic bulletin which would anyway have circulated this denunciation to al(papers even if I had not printed it. The fact that the accusation was made publicly was in the interest of the cause as well as of Bakunin himself. I reprinted immediately Bakunin’s refutation which appeared in the Neue Oder Zeitung. Koshkielski, whom Bakunin sent to Cologne in order to challenge me to a duel, examined the letters from Paris and became convinced that as an editor I was in duty bound to have the denunciation printed (it appeared as a report with no comments). Coupon he wrote to Bakunin informing him that he could no longer represent his interests. Koshkielski became one of the best and most treasured friends of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. 1 gave public satisfaction to Bakunin in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and made it up with him when we met in Berlin in August 1848. Subsequently (in 1851) I broke a lance defending him in the Tribune.” (This refers to “Revolution and Counter Revolution in Germany”, an article which Engels wrote for Marx and in which he highly praised Bakunin as a participant in the Dresden uprising of May 1849.)

In number 36, of this paper, we communicated a rumour circulating in Paris, according to which George Sand was stated to be possessed of papers which placed the Russian refugee, Bakunin, in the position of an agent of the Emperor Nicholas. We gave publicity to this statement, because it was communicated to us simultaneously by two correspondents wholly unconnected with each other. By so doing, we only accomplished the duty of the public press, which has severely to watch public characters. And, at the same time we gave to Mr. Bakunin an opportunity of silencing suspicions thrown upon him in certain Paris circles. We reprinted also from the Allgemeine Oder Zeitung Mr. Bakunin’s declaration, and his letter addressed to George Sand, without waiting for his request. [Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 46 (supplement), July 16, 1848] We publish now a literal translation of a letter addressed to the Editor of the New Rhenish Gazette, by George Sand, which perfectly settles this affair.

To the editor
Sir,

Under the date line Paris, July 3, you have published the following article (there follows a translation of the relevant item) in your newspaper. The facts conveyed by your correspondent are entirely false and do not have even the slightest semblance of truth. I have never had the smallest scrap of evidence in support of the imputations you seek to make against Mr. Bakunin, who was banished from France by the dethroned King. [Louis Philippe] I have therefore never had any warrant for the slightest doubt about the sincerity of Mr. Bakunin’s character and the honesty of his views.

Yours etc.
George Sand

P.S. I appeal to your honour and your conscience to publish this letter immediately in your newspaper.
La Châtre (Dept. Indre), July 20, 1848