Letter to Friedrich Engels, September 30, 1869

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Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 30 September 1869


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43
Keywords : Letter, Friedrich Engels


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

Hanover, 30 September 1869

DEAR FRED,

Your letter arrived yesterday evening. Better news today from London on Schnappy's health.[1] Laura and Lafargue intend to leave London as soon as the little one's condition makes it possible. Under these circumstances, Tussy's IMMEDIATE RETURN to London appears necessary. Laura will hold it against her very much if she should leave for Paris without Tussy attempting to see the Lafargue family first.

I have just gossiped away an hour with a deputation of 4 Lassalleans sent to me by the local branch of the German General Workers' Association.[2] I naturally conducted myself with great reserve and diplomacy, but sub rosa[3] I informed the people of the necessary.[4] We parted good friends. I naturally rejected their invitation—extended in the name of the Association—to lecture to them.

On Sunday another delegation arrives from Brunswick: Bracke, Bonhorst, Spier.[5] This is less agreeable to me.

Liebknecht writes that he can't come because of the Prussians.[6]

But: 1. In this way, to Hamburg 2 days instead of 4 hours. 2. Simply for travelling expenses—extra expenditure of ABOUT 40 thaler. I NEITHER LIKE NOR AM ABLE TO AFFORD.[7]

I must close, since the mail is only open until 1.15 (the first) and now it is 10 MINUTES PAST ONE. Shall speak to Meissner about your book.[8]

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ See this volume, pp. 353 and 356.
  2. ↑ The General Association of German Workers—a political organisation of German workers founded in Leipzig on 23 May 1863, at a meeting of workers' societies. Its foundation was an important step in the advancement of an independent nation-wide working-class movement in Germany and promoted the workers' emancipation from the ideological domination of the liberal bourgeoisie. However, Lassalle, who had been elected chairman, and his followers chose to direct the Association's activities along reformist lines, restricting it to a public campaign for universal suffrage. One of the items on the programme was the establishment of production cooperatives financed by the state, which were expected to resolve social contradictions. The Lassallean leadership of the Association supported the Prussian government's policy of the unification of Germany from above, through dynastic wars.
    Thanks to the experience of the working-class movement, and especially the International, and supported by Marx and Engels, the more advanced section of the Association began to drift away from the Lassallean dogmas. The Lassallean leaders, who were afraid to lose their influence among the workers, were forced to manoeuvre. The programme of the Hamburg Congress of the Association (which in its final version appeared in Der Social-Demokrat, No. 98, 21 August 1868) contained points that went against Lassalle's doctrine, i.e., advocated complete political freedom, positively assessed Marx's Capital, and urged the international cooperation of the working class. In the letter 'To the President and Executive Committee of the General Association of German Workers" (see present edition, Vol. 21), a reply to the invitation which had been extended to him, Marx gave his opinion of the programme and, as he remarked in a letter TO ENGELS of 26 August, congratulated the members of the Association on 'having abandoned Lassalle's programme' (see this volume, p. 90).
    The Hamburg Congress (22-26 August 1868) adopted important decisions: it approved the strike movement in principle, unanimously acknowledged that 'Marx had rendered outstanding services to the working class with his work Capital', and pointed to the necessity for joint action by the workers of different countries. In fact, however, the Lassallean leaders continued to oppose its affiliation with the International and adhered to their former standpoint.
    At the Gotha Congress (May 1875), the General Association of German Workers merged with the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party (the Eisenachers) founded in 1869 and headed by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht. The united party assumed the name of the Socialist Workers' Party.
  3. ↑ confidentially
  4. ↑ A report of this talk, which touched on the vital issues of the working-class movement, was published by J. H. W. Hamann, member of the delegation, cashier of the metalworkers' union, in Der Volksstaat on 27 November 1869. Marx spoke about the significance of trade unions as a school of socialism. He said that in trade unions, workers were getting ready to become socialists, since there they had an opportunity to watch the daily struggle between labour and capital. He emphasised the importance of an independent printed organ for the working-class movement. 'It is a printed organ of trade unions,' said Marx, 'that can serve as a means of the workers' mutual communication; it is there that the "pros" and "contras" must be discussed. It is necessary to discuss the issue of wages in the different regions, and to collect, as far as this is possible, the opinions of workers in different trades. However, this printed organ must never become the property of a private individual. If we want it to fulfil its purpose, it must belong to a collective. It is probably unnecessary to dwell on the reasons for this attitude, they are so obvious that everyone can be expected to understand: if you wish to see your union flourish, this tenet must be accepted as one of the basic conditions.' 'The talk ended', wrote Hamann, 'with Marx stressing once more the need never to try to cling to individuals but bear in mind the cause, and draw conclusions only to promote it. "Be it Liebknecht, be it Dr. Schweitzer, or be it myself, always think about the cause, for the truth is not to be found outside it."' Unfortunately, while recording the conversation, Hamann seriously distorted some of Marx's remarks in the Lassallean spirit, specifically, on the issue of the relationship between the political party of the working class and the trade unions. (See Internationale wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung, Berlin (W), 1986, Heft 1, S. 63-71).
  5. ↑ On Marx's meeting with the delegation of the Brunswick Committee of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party, see Note 447.
  6. ↑ In July 1865, Liebknecht was expelled from the Prussian state by the Berlin police 'for political reasons'. In 1867, he was elected deputy to the North German Reichstag from Saxony and enjoyed a deputy's immunity. However, in September 1869, he was unable to visit Marx in Hanover, as the Prussian police had a right to arrest him during a break in the Reichstag work between 22 June 1869 and 14 February 1870. Marx originally planned a meeting with Liebknecht in Brunswick, and later in Hamburg. However, the meeting never took place.
  7. ↑ See this volume, pp. 355-56.
  8. ↑ Engels first conceived the idea of a book on the history of Ireland in the summer of 1869. He studied a vast selection of literary and historical sources: works of classical and medieval authors, annals, collections of ancient law codes, legislative acts and legal treatises, folklore, travellers' notes, numerous works on archaeology, history, economics, geography, geology, etc. Engels' bibliography, embracing over 150 titles, is selective and includes but a fraction of the sources he studied. Preparatory materials take up the bulk of 15 paginated notebooks of excerpts, as well as notes, fragments on separate sheets and newspaper clippings. Marx attached great importance TO ENGELS' book and helped him all he could. The views of Marx and Engels on major problems of Irish history took shape in the course of joint discussions.
    In May 1870, Engels began working on it.
    Engels actually succeeded in finishing only the first chapter, 'Natural Conditions'. The second chapter, 'Old Ireland', is unfinished (see present edition, Vol. 21), while the two last chapters were not even begun. The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, which were soon to follow, made Engels concentrate on his work in the International and left him no time for the book.
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