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Comment upon Giuseppe Garibaldi's Letter to Prospero Crescio
| Author(s) | Frederick Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 12 July 1873 |
First published in The Eastern Post, No. 250, July 13, 1873
Reproduced from the newspaper
Source: Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 23
Engels attached great importance to Giuseppe Garibaldi's criticism of anarchist doctrines and did his best to make known the ideas Garibaldi had expressed on that score in his letter to Prospero Crescio. Engels quoted from his letter in the German translation in his article "From the International", published in Der Volksstaat in early July 1873. He inserted it as a footnote in the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association written in French (see this volume, pp. 451, 504). To familiarise the members of the British Federation of the International with the letter, Engels translated it into English for the meeting of the British Federal Council on July 8, 1873. It was included in the report on the meeting, published in The Eastern Post on July 13, 1873. Engels supplied the translation with a short comment which he may have written after the meeting of the Council, when the report on it was being prepared for the press.
My dear Crescio,
Hearty thanks for sending to me your Avvenire Sociale which I shall read with interest.
You intend, in your paper, to make war upon untruth and slavery. That is a very fine programme, but I believe that the International, in fighting against the principle of authority, makes a mistake and obstructs its own progress. The Paris Commune fell because there was in Paris no authority but only anarchy. Spain and France are suffering from the same evil.
I wish success to the Avvenire, and,
Remain yours,
G. Garibaldi.[1]
It is necessary to explain that "the International" which Garibaldi evidently has in mind's eye is the Italian portion of the Association, the majority of which is, upon this very question of authority, in rebellion against the General Council. Garibaldi's censure of the "anti-authoritists" as they call themselves, is, therefore, a justification of the attitude which the Association generally, holds on this question.
- ↑ G. Garibaldi, "Caro Crescio", La Favilla, No. 134, June 5, 1873.— Ed