Letter to Sigfrid Meyer, January 21, 1871

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To Sigfrid Meyer in New-York

[London,] 21 January 1871

Dear Meyer,

The formation of the so-called Central Committee in New York was absolutely not to my taste. I deferred the approval of the General Council as long as possible but found the ground taken from under my feet as soon as it emerged from a letter from Mr Charnier that Dupont, our French secretary—a thoroughly good man, but too forceful and so often led astray by his thirst for action—had been responsible for starting the whole thing. Alors, il n’y avait plus rien à faire. He was officially rebuked by the General Council, mais le jeu était fait! Engels (who now lives here) and I would just like to remind Vogt and yourself that according to our Rules the General Council can only intervene with a veto in the event of open VIOLATIONS of the Rules and principles of the International. Apart from that, however, it is our invariable policy to let the sections have their head and conduct their own affairs. The only exception to this was France, because of her special situation under the Empire. It follows, therefore, that our friends will just have to cut their coat according to their cloth. Here in London, we work together with Englishmen, some of whom are not at all to our liking and who, as we know perfectly well, only want to exploit the International as a milch-cow for their own petty personal ambitions. Nevertheless, we have to put bonne mine à mauvais jeu. If we were to withdraw in indignation on their account, we would only give them a power which is at present paralysed by our presence. And you must act in the same way.

Quant à Vogt I was convinced from the outset that pompous Sorge was just blustering. However, I had to make a reply when he questioned me directly. Otherwise he would have taken his gossip to my friend Schily in person, a piece of unpleasantness I wished the latter to be spared.

We have given rise to a powerful movement among the working class over here against Gladstone (in support of the FRENCH REPUBLIC), which will probably bring about his downfall. Prussia is wholly under the sway of the Russian Cabinet. If it gains a conclusive victory, the HEROIC GERMAN PHILISTINE will get what he deserves. Unfortunately, the present French government thinks it can wage a revolutionary war without a revolution.

Freiligrath, the noble poet, is on a visit to his daughters here at the moment. He does not dare to show his face to me. The 60,000 thalers presented to him by the German philistines129 have to be paid off in Tyrtaean hymns like ‘Germania, thou woman proud’, etc.

My health has again been abominable for months on end, but who can give thought to such trivia at a time of such momentous historical events!

The semi-official Archives of Forensic Medicine are published in St Petersburg (in Russian). One of the physicians writing for this journal published an article, ‘On the Hygienic Conditions of the West European Proletariat’, in the last quarto issue, chiefly quoting my book and mentioning the source. This resulted in the following calamity: the censor was severely rebuked by the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, the EDITOR-IN-CHIEF was fired, and that issue of the journal—all the COPIES they could still get hold of—was consigned to the flames!

I don’t know whether I told you that at the beginning of 1870 I began to study Russian, which I now read fairly fluently. This came about because Flerovsky’s very important work on The Condition of the Working Class (especially the peasants) in Russia, had been sent to me from Petersburg and because I also wanted to familiarise myself with the excellent economic works of Chernyshevsky (who was as a reward sentenced to the Siberian mines where he has been serving time for the past seven years). The result was worth the effort that a man of my age must make to master a language differing so greatly from the classical, Germanic, and Romance language groups. The intellectual movement now taking place in Russia testifies to the fact that fermentation is going on deep below the surface. Minds are always connected by invisible threads with the body of the people.

You and Vogt still owe me your photograms. At least I think they were promised to me.

Regards to you and Vogt,

Yours,

Karl Marx

I wrote to my old friend G. J. Harney, who is now Assistant Secretary of State of Massachusetts, concerning the PUBLIC LANDS.