Letter to Friedrich Engels, April 11, 1868

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Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 11 April 1868


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43
Keywords : Letter, Friedrich Engels


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

London, 11 April 1868

DEAR FRED,

D'abord[1] the GENERAL CONDOLATIONS, and especially from Tussychen, about the departed RIGHT HONOURABLE HEDGEHOG.

It is a good thing that the opium prescription arrived today.[2]

The affairs under my arm have become very vexatious since your departure.

From the young couple,[3] who are now in Paris, the most satisfying news.[4] They are obviously very happy. Lafargue has sent me Horn's pamphlet and another one on French finance. The second is twaddle, the first I shall send you soon. I wrote to Lafargue that the fact that he finds time 'AT SUCH A CRITICAL JUNCTURE' to think of me and send me printed matter goes a long way to prove 'THAT HE MUST BELONG TO A BETTER THAN THE EUROPEAN RACE'.[5] WE ARE ALWAYS 'CHAFFING' AT EACH OTHER.

I have read the Histoire du Crédit mobilière[6] As far as the real essence of the matter is concerned, I really wrote better stuff on it years ago in the Tribune.[7] The author knows the business. He is himself a Paris banker. But he has in fact nothing to draw on except the official material, provided by the Crédit itself in its reports, and the facts noted in the stock market quotations. The secret material could only be obtained by legal steps. What astonishes me particularly is this: the actual TRICKS all reduce themselves to stock-jobbing on the exchange, and in this department au fond[8] there has been nothing new since Law,[9] whatever the disguise. Neither on this side of the Channel, nor on the other. The interesting aspect of these things is the practice, not the theory.

I enclose a letter from Kugelmann (à renvoyer[10]). After you had left, I wrote to him.[11] But since writing is a nuisance for me at the moment because of my left arm, I enclosed Freiligrath's letter to me, so that Kugelmann should receive the SUFFICIENT quantum of written matter. I told him also, in reply to a previous enquiry, that I would visit him in any case for A FEW DAYS. However, he 'erred' about the date. It is not so close.

Do not forget to send me the Schweitzer BY NEXT POST. From The Times of today (telegraphic dispatch)[12] you will see that we have won a complete victory in Geneva, working day reduced from 12 to 11 hours, wages increased by 10%.[13] The matter went like this. Scarcely had you left when a deputy arrived from Geneva.[14] This FACT, that the workers sent an envoy to London, to the fearsome secret tribunal, was decisive, as earlier in the STRIKE of the bronze workers of Paris.[15] The MASTERS believe in the power and the fighting fund in London. This should show the workers in England and on the continent the power they would possess in us if they really put at our disposal the appropriate means, etc.

Enclosed returned Wilhelm, Siebel. Your draft[16] is not written in your EASYGOING style. Today I have particular pain in my left arm. As soon as this has passed, I shall return your draft with my probable emendations.

The children send their best greetings. In fact, if only for their sake, I wish you lived in London instead of Manchester.

MY COMPLIMENTS TO MRS BURNS.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ First of all
  2. ↑ See previous letter.
  3. ↑ Paul and Laura Lafargue
  4. ↑ Paul and Laura Lafargue wrote to the Marx family about their life in France. (Letters of Laura and Paul Lafargue to Karl Marx and his daughter Jenny, of 3 April 1868; to Jenny of 6 April 1868; of Laura Lafargue to her sister Jenny of 9 April 1868; and to her sister Eleanor of the same date).
  5. ↑ An allusion to J. G. Seume's poem 'Der Wilde'.
  6. ↑ M. Aycard, Histoire du Crédit Mobilier. 1852-1867.
  7. ↑ See this volume, p. 9.
  8. ↑ basically
  9. ↑ A reference to the speculative machinations of the Scottish economist and financier John Law in France between 1716 and 1720; he dealt with the issue of securities and the foundation of joint-stock trading companies. The bank which he founded in 1716, and later transferred to the French Government, as well as a number of companies for trade with foreign countries, went bankrupt in 1720.
  10. ↑ to be returned
  11. ↑ See this volume, pp. 3-5.
  12. ↑ 'Switzerland, Geneva, April 10', The Times, No. 26096, 11 April 1868.
  13. ↑ In March and April 1868, 3,000 building workers were on strike in Geneva. They demanded that the working day be reduced to ten hours, wages be raised, and payment by the day be substituted by payment by the hour. On the initiative of the Central Committee of the International's Geneva sections, the workers in other industries rendered assistance to the strikers. In 'The Fourth Annual Report of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association' to the Brussels Congress of 1868 written by Marx it is stated: 'In the struggle maintained by the building trades of Geneva the very existence of the International in Switzerland was put on its trial. The employers made it a preliminary condition of coming to any terms with their workmen that the latter should forsake the International. The working men indignantly refused to comply with this dictate' (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 16). The victory of Geneva workers was made possible by the solidarity action organised by the General Council in England, France and Germany.
  14. ↑ François Graglia, member of the Committee of the Geneva Section of the International, was sent to Paris and London to arrange financial aid for the Geneva building workers who had gone on strike. He stayed in London from 6 to 9 April, attended meetings of the French Section and the General Council, and, accompanied by Hermann Jung, visited a number of workers' societies.
  15. ↑ The bronze workers of Paris went on strike in February 1867 when, in response to their demand for fixed tariffs, their employers insisted that they dissolve their credit society, Société de crédit et de solidarité des ouvriers du bronze. Thanks to the General Council, which discussed the matter at its meetings of 5, 12, 19 and 26 March and 2 and 9 April 1867 (see The General Council of the First International. 1866-1868. Minutes, Moscow, 1964, pp. 101-03, 105-06, 107, 108), Paris workers received financial aid from the British trade unions. The strike ended in a victory for the bronze workers, who managed to preserve their organisation. The employers agreed to introduce fixed rates for individual types of work.
  16. ↑ See this volume, p. 5, and Note 8.
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