Letter to Friedrich Engels, August 8, 1877

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MARX TO ENGELS

IN RAMSGATE

[London,] 8 August 1877

DEAR FRED,

Still no news from the Longuets, which is all the more awkward in that we are leaving today (this evening).

Herewith the Tableau économique together with a few marginal notes.

It was not possible for me to find Owen's stuff (or for that matter Fourier's Fausse industrie) in the attic since everything up there (it also does duty as Carry's bedroom, and the ladies have arrayed all their trunks there, to be packed with what is indispensable for the journey) is in the utmost confusion.

Ad vocem Owen. Sargant's work would be easily obtainable; of greater importance and unobtainable is the little pamphlet ON PRIVATE MARRIAGES. The two stout tomes which Jennychen has got were definitely not at her house; I went through everything there; perhaps Longuet took them away with him. If the worst comes to the worst, all Owen's works could probably be obtained from OLD Allsop. MEANWHILE I have found here at home a very important work of Owen's in which he gives a résumé of his entire doctrine. The Revolution in the Mind and Practice of the Human Race, 1849. I had forgotten all about it. I shall take this to your house today, together with Fourier's Théorie des quatre mouvements and Nouveau Monde industriel, and Hubbard's piece on Saint-Simon. 329

My wife is in a far from satisfactory state of health. I hope Madame Lizzy is improving; with any luck she will soon be able to begin bathing in the sea which has, after all, always helped her hitherto. We all send her our best wishes.

And now, OLD BOY, au revoir. The damned Prussians can't stop bickering and the bogus old N.C.O. will do his utmost to push Francis Joseph into perpetrating some stupidity. All the latter needs now is a Hungarian revolution.

The Constantinople correspondent of the République Française writes that an intrigue of Mahmud Damad's has led to the deposition of the old Sheikh-al-Islam³³⁰ because of his revolutionary opinions, and his replacement by some other jackass. He believes that, unless the palace intrigues cease very soon, Constantinople is in for a tumultuous time.

Adio.

Your

Moor

So much for Quesnay's Tableau! Sub I a) avances annuelles des fermiers, paid out by the same; replaced by product of 5 milliards, of which 2 milliards (a^lv), the replacement in natura of the said avances annuelles, are spent by the Classe Productive (fermiers and their ouvriers) in the course of the following year, i.e. the year beginning with the new harvest.

The avances primitives of 10 milliards do not figure in the Tableau, but are presupposed, just as it is further presupposed that the farmers have paid 2 milliards in money as rents to REVENUE (LANDLORDS, CHURCH AND STATE) before the circulation depicted in the Tableau begins. Besides the replacement of the avances annuelles of 2 milliards in natura, the gross product provides a further 3 milliards of which 2 in vivres, 1 in matières premières for industry. These 3 milliards under a', a", a'" are SURPLUS PRODUCE of which, however, only 2/3 counts as NET PRODUCE, produit net or REVENUE because 1/3, (IN FACT, the farmers' profit), forms the interest produced in natura for the avances primitives of 10 milliards. Sub III c) avances of the classe stérile of 1 milliard consist solely of raw materials (see my previous exposition); expended in the course of the year ending with the last harvest. Are replaced by industrial goods (c' and c") to the value of 2 milliards; of which 1 milliard = value of matières premières, 1 milliard = value of means of subsistence, which the classe stérile has received as salaire from the other two classes in return for its labour.

Now for the mouvement depicted in the Tableau: 1. b — a'. LANDLORDS (incl. church, state) buy vivres for 1 milliard from fermiers; thus 1/2 the money they paid for RENT OF LAND returns to them.

2. b—c'—a. LANDLORDS buy industrial goods for 1 milliard from classe stérile, the latter, for that same milliard, means of subsistence from classe productive; thus, the second half of the money, which it has paid for RENT OF LAND, returns to it.

3. a—c. Farmers buy industrial products for 1 milliard from classe stérile (details in previous exposition). The line runs from a to c" and from c" back to a, so as to indicate that the greater portion of this expenditure by the farmers is capitalised, i.e. serves to maintain and enrich elements of the avances annuelles and primitives.

4. c — a. Classe stérile buys from classe productive raw materials for 1 milliard and thus replaces its avances for the coming year, IN FACT, its productive capital. Thus 1 milliard in money flows back to the farmers and they again find themselves in possession of the 2 milliards in money which constitute the nation's pécule and which they put back into circulation primarily via the LANDLORDS (in payment of rent). The circulation of money within each individual class is excluded from the Tableau, and rightly so.

Bearing in mind the time of its publication, the whole thing is one of the most brilliant generalisations political economy has ever produced.

The exposé I originally gave you is based on the Tableau somewhat modified, with Quesnay's consent, by Abbé Baudeau in Explication du Tableau économique. The line a—c" had given rise to misunderstandings. Similarly, in Baudeau's case, the mouvement does not start from b (LANDLORDS) but from a' (farmers), inasmuch as payment of monetary rent is not assumed to have been made. This and sundry other details in no way alter the case.

On the whole I think you would be well-advised to use the Tableau solely for your own guidance, but to confine yourself solely to words when describing the various very simple movements for the Vorwärts. If the Tableau itself were reproduced, it would be necessary to go into small, inessential details, which would confuse people rather than enlighten them.