Letter to Friedrich Engels, February 10, 1870

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Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 10 February 1870


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Published: Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe, International Publishers, 1942;

Excerpts from this letter were first published in English in: Marx K., Engels F., Correspondence. 1846-1895, London [1934]; and in: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Selected Letters. The Personal Correspondence. 1844-1877 edited by Fritz J. Raddatz, translated from the German by Ewald Osers, Boston, Toronto, 1981.

Published in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43
Keywords : Letter, Russia, Economics, Working class, Capitalism, Mikhail Bakunin, Inheritance, Friedrich Engels

To Engels in Manchester

[London] 10 February, 1870[edit source]

DEAR FRED,

I first went out again last Saturday, but as a result of this damned foggy weather immediately contracted a sort of inflammation of the tonsils. The body is naturally sensitive after some weeks of SEQUESTRATION. A north-east wind is howling here and, under the circumstances, prolongs imprisonment. But I hope to have my throat ALL RIGHT again in the course of this week.

On Sunday, LITTLE Dakyns (the geologist) visited me. I invited him for next Sunday. His Scottish cap was the sole MEMENTO of his costume as Felix Holt, THE RASCAL.[1] He was as sprightly as ever, and Tussy was DELIGHTED to see him.

As far as new things are concerned—such as the Irish Laws, etc.[2]—it is very difficult to get them here SECOND HAND.

Laura writes to us today, inter alia, that since last June the excitement in Paris has been steadily rising. Since the Victor-Noir[3] tragic balladry,[4] the females in the working strata have gone daft, and you know what that means in Paris.

Flourens, the CRACK-BRAINED youngster, is the son OF LATE Flourens, secrĂ©taire perpĂ©tuel de l’AcadĂ©mie, who always adhered to the existing government throughout his nearly 100 years of life, and who was, in turn, Bonapartist, legitimist, Orleanist and again Bonapartist. During the last years of his life he still made himself noticeable with his fanaticism against Darwin.

Apropos, about Napoleon I. In one of the copies of Cloche that you have, there is, in one of the memoirs—I no longer remember which—a passage about the wretched behaviour of the hero.[5] Jennychen wants to have the quotation. She has had a squabble at the Monroes’ about it, where they wished to deny the FACTS.

I have read the first 150 pages of Flerovsky's book[6] (they are taken up by Siberia, North Russia and Astrakhan). This is the first work to tell the truth about Russian economic conditions. The man is a determined enemy of what he calls "Russian optimism." I never held very rosy views of this communistic Eldorado, but Flerovsky surpasses all expectations. In fact it is wonderful and undoubtedly a sign of change that such a thing could be printed in Petersburg at all.

"Our proletariat is small in number but the mass of our working class consists entirely of workers whose lot is worse than the lot of all other proletarians."[7]

The method of presentation is quite original, at times it reminds one most of Monteil[8]. One can see that the man has travelled around everywhere and seen everything for himself. A glowing hatred of landlords, capitalists and officials. No socialist doctrine, no mysticism about the land (although in favour of the communal form of ownership), no nihilistic extravagance. Here and there a certain amount or well-meaning twaddle, which, however, is suited to the stage of development reached by the people for whom the book is intended. In any case this is the most important book which has appeared since your Condition of the Working Class. The family life of the Russian peasants--the awful beating to death of wives, the vodka and the concubines--is also well described. It will therefore come quite opportunely if you would now send me the imaginative lies of Citizen Herzen.

You will recall that ÉgalitĂ©, inspired by Bakunin, attacked the GENERAL COUNCIL, made all sorts of interpellations publicly, and threatened more.[9] A communication[10]—which I composed—was, thereupon, sent to the ComitĂ© Romand in Geneva, and ditto to all the other ComitĂ©s of French tongue corresponding with us. Result: The entire Bakunin gang has quit EgalitĂ©. Bakunin himself has taken up residence in Tessin, and will continue intriguing in Switzerland, Spain, Italy and France. Now the armistice is at an end between us, since he knows that I attacked him heatedly and inveighed against him on the occasion of the latest Geneva Ă©vĂ©nements?[11] The brute really imagines that we are ‘too bourgeois’ and, therefore, incapable of grasping and esteeming his lofty concepts about ‘inheritance right’, ‘equality’, and the replacement of the present state systems by ‘l’Internationale’. Nominally, his ‘Alliance de la DĂ©mocratie Socialiste’[12] has been dissolved, but, in fact, continues. From the enclosed copy of a letter (which you must return to me) from H. Perret, secrĂ©taire du Conseil Romand, to Jung,[13] you will see that, in fact, the catastrophe in Geneva took place before they received our communication there. This, however, strengthened the new status rerum.[14] The Belgian ‘Conseil’ (Brussels) has officially declared itself completely in favour of our stand against EgalitĂ©, but the secrĂ©taire of the Belgian COUNCIL, Hins (brother-in-law of De Paepe, but fallen out with him), has sent a letter to Stepney[15] in which he takes Bakunin’s side, accuses me of supporting the reactionary party amongst the Geneva workers, etc., etc.

Did you notice, in one of the copies of Marseillaise sent to you, that Mr K. Blind had inserted an advertisement for K. Blind in the aforesaid sheet, according to which the aforesaid Blind was sent to Paris as ‘ambassador’ with General Schurz (SchĂŒtz does not sound good enough), was exiled from Paris by Bonaparte, and still is! and also was previously member of the German National Assembly.[16]!

MY COMPLIMENTS TO MRS LIZZIE AND FRIENDS.

K. M.


[Postscript from Eleanor Marx]

MY DEAR Engels,

I AM VERY MUCH OBLIGED TO YOU FOR SENDING ME THAT ADVERTISEMENT. THE SITUATION IS ONE THAT WILL SUIT ME VERY WELL, SO I SHALL LOSE NO TIME IN APPLYING FOR IT. YOU WILL I AM SURE GIVE ME A REFERENCE.

WITH THANKS AND BEST LOVE TO ALL.

GOOD BYE.

TUSSY.

  1. ↑ A personage from George Eliot's Felix Holt, the Radical.
  2. ↑ See Letter to Karl Marx, January 19, 1870 and Letter to Karl Marx, February 9, 1870.
  3. ↑ in the original: Louis Noir
  4. ↑ On 10 January 1870, Prince Pierre NapolĂ©on Bonaparte murdered Victor Noir, a reporter on the republican newspaper La Marseillaise, in his house. Noir visited Pierre Napole’on as a second of the Blanquist Pascal Grousset, also a La Marseillaise reporter, who had challenged the prince to a duel. The murder was committed a few days after the coming into office of Ollivier’s liberal ministry, which the liberal bourgeoisie expected to introduce a number of reforms. The murder of Noir provoked an outburst of indignation in democratic quarters and bolstered the republican movement in France.
  5. ↑ Probably a reference to the book by P. Lanfrey, Histoire de NapolĂ©on I, Tomes I-IV, Paris, 1867-1870. Excerpts from Chapter VII, Volume IV, ‘Le Guet-apens de Bayonne’, were printed in La Cloche, Nos. 44-46, 1-3 February 1870.
  6. ↑ N. Flerovsky, The Condition of the Working Class in Russia.—Ed.
  7. ↑ In the letter the quotation is given in Russian.—Ed.
  8. ↑ Monteil, Amans Alexis (1769-1850) French historian who defended the ideas of the great French Revolution. His chief work was his Histoire des Francais des divers Etats. [History of the French in their Different Orders.)—Ed.
  9. ↑ See Letter to Friedrich Engels, December 17, 1869
  10. ↑ K. Marx, The General Council to the Federal Council of Romance Switzerland.
  11. ↑ events
  12. ↑ This refers to the Programme and Rules of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy (Programme et RĂšglement de l’Alliance Internationale de la DĂ©mocratie Socialiste), founded by Mikhail Bakunin, in Geneva in October 1868. Besides Bakunin, members of its Provisional Committee were Brosset, Duval, GuĂ©tat, Perron, Zagorsky and Johann Philipp Becker. In 1868 leaflets in French and German containing these documents were published in Geneva. On 29 November, Becker, who shortly afterwards broke with Bakunin, sent the Alliance’s Programme and Rules to the General Council for approval.
    On 15 December, the General Council spoke against the admission of the Alliance to the International Working Men’s Association, and on 22 December unanimously approved, with insignificant amendments, a circular letter ‘The International Working Men’s Association and the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy’ written by Marx and approved by Engels, which exposed the Alliance’s wish to split the workers’ movement. The circular letter was sent out to all the sections of the International as a confidential communication.
  13. ↑ The first attempt to translate Marx’s book The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte into French was made by Keller in December 1869, who interrupted his work on the French translation of Capital. Keller’s work remained unfinished.
  14. ↑ state of affairs
  15. ↑ When under discussion during the spring of 1869, the Bill on regulations for handicraft trades in the North German Reichstag was severely criticised by the working-class deputies. Following Engels’ directions, on 18 March Bebel demanded that factory work be subjected to some sort of reglamentation, i.e., that a ten-hour working day be introduced, work on Sundays prohibited, factory inspection organised and freedom of association granted to trade unions (see Die Zukunft, No. 67, 20 March 1869). Of the numerous proposed amendments, only Bebel’s suggestion that ‘workers’ books’ be abolished was adopted. On 29 May the Bill was passed (see ‘Stenographische Berichte ĂŒber die Verhandlungen des Reichstages der Norddeutschen Bundes. I. Legislatur-Periode-Session 1869’, I. Bd. Berlin, 1869, S. 114-19, 124 and 146-48). Reporting to the General Council on 13 April 1869 about the speeches of the worker deputies at the North German Reichstag, Marx mentioned Bebel’s speech in particular (see The General Council of the First International, 1868-1870. Minutes, Moscow, 1974, pp. 81-82).
  16. ↑ Marx is referring to an item that appeared in La Marseillaise on 2 February 1870, and was inspired by Blind. It dealt with the fact that in 1849, Blind was unlawfully arrested in France and put into prison, although as an official representative of the revolutionary Baden government he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. The item contained a demand for an amnesty for Blind as an alleged former member of the German National Assembly) and a diplomatic representative of the Frankfurt Parliament. In actual fact, Karl Blind and Jacob Friedrich SchĂŒtz (Blind wrote Schurz, since that name was better known belonging as it did to a Brigadier General of the Northern States of America, subsequently the American Secretary for Home Affairs) had never been members of the National Assembly. SchĂŒtz had been sent to Paris as a chargĂ© d’affaires of the Palatinate to establish diplomatic relations with France, buy munitions, and recruit commanding officers.
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