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Letter to Sigfrid Meyer, July 4, 1868
| Author(s) | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | July 4, 1868 |
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43
To Sigfrid Meyer in New York[1]
London, 4 July 1868
1 Modena Villas, Maitland Park,
Haverstock Hill
Dear Friend,
Your letter of 20 May arrived while I was away from London, a fairly long absence.[2] Hence the delay in replying.
Concerning Liebknecht's connections with New York, I know nothing, but will write to him on the subject.
For Sorge I enclose the following credentials.[3] Our direct connection is with Whaley, Sylvis and Jessup.
The Commonwealth has long ceased to exist. The weekly reports on the proceedings of the Central Council appear in The Bee-Hive. This far from means, however, that this paper, a narrow-minded trades-union-organ, represents our views.
In the German press, my book[4] has hitherto been reviewed—and mostly very favourably—in the Zukunft, the Stuttgart Beobachter,[5] the Württemberg Staatszeitung,[6] the Frankfurt Börsenzeitung,[7] ditto the Hamburger Börsenzeitung,[8] the Hamburg Anzeiger, etc., in various papers in Hanover and Rhine Province-Westphalia, particularly extensively in a series of articles in Schweitzer's Social-Demokrat (Berlin)[9] and the Elberfelder Zeitung.[10] The last two papers, although the latter is liberal bourgeois, are openly partisan.
The big bourgeois and reactionary papers like the Kölnische, the Augsburger, the Neue Preussische, the Vossische, etc., are carefully keeping their mouths shut.
From the ranks of the official economists, to date only in the Hildburghausen Ergänzungsblätter at the beginning of this year the review by Dr Dühring[11] (privatdozent at the University of Berlin, supporter of Carey) (this review was timid but, on the whole, appreciative)—and in the June issue of the economic magazine published by Faucher and Michaelis.[12] Mr Faucher naturally provides nothing except such remarks as one might expect from the comedian and hired jester of the German Bastiatites.
I would be grateful if you would send me a few newspapers from time to time. In particular, it would be of great value to me if you could dig up some anti-bourgeois material about land-ownership and agrarian relations in the United States. Since I shall be dealing with rent in my 2nd volume,[13] material against H. Carey's 'harmonies'[14] would be especially welcome.
Salut.
Yours,
K. Marx
[Appendix]
London, 4 July 1868
We recommend Mr Sorge to all the friends of the International Workingmen's Association, and, at the same time, empower him to act in the name, and on behalf, of that Association.
By order of the General Council of the Intern. W. Assoc.
Karl Marx,
Secretary for Germany
- ↑ This letter was first published in English in an abridged form in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
- ↑ Marx and his daughter Eleanor stayed with Engels in Manchester from 29 May to about 15 June 1868.
- ↑ See this volume, p. 59.
- ↑ the first volume of Capital
- ↑ The reviews for the Zukunft and the Beobachter were written by Engels.
- ↑ Marx means Engels' review for the Staats-Anzeiger für Württemberg.
- ↑ Marx evidently means the Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt. The review has not been found.
- ↑ Die Börsen-Halle. Hamburgische Abendzeitung, 14 February 1868.
- ↑ The reference is to Johann Baptist Schweitzer's review of Volume One of Capital anonymously printed in twelve issues of Der Social-Demokrat between 22 January and 6 May 1868, under the heading 'Das Werk von Carl Marx'. For Marx's opinion of this review, see his letter to Engels of 23 March 1868 (present edition, Vol. 42).
- ↑ The review by F. Schnacke (signed: E. F. S.) in the issues of 17, 20, 23, 25 and 27 June and 2 and 3 July 1868.
- ↑ E. Dühring, 'Marx. Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Oekonomie, I. Band, Hamburg, 1867', Ergänzungsblätter zur Kenntniss der Gegenwart, Bd. 3, Heft 3, Hildburghausen, 1867, pp. 182-86.
- ↑ 'Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Oekonomie von Karl Marx. Erster Band. Buch I. Der Produktionsprozess des Kapitals. Hamburg. Otto Meissner, 1867', Vierteljahrschrift für Volkswirthschaft und Kulturgeschichte, Bd. XX, 5. Jg., Berlin, 1868, pp. 206-19.
- ↑ After the first publication of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy appeared in 1859, Marx produced a lengthy economic manuscript throughout 1861-63, which was a second rough draft of Capital (the first was the manuscripts of 1857-58). In 1863, he evolved the final plan for a four-book work, the first three books theoretical and the fourth, a historical and critical one. Having finished work on the manuscripts of 1861-63, Marx began preparing them for the press in August 1863. This work from 1863-65 resulted in the third rough draft of Capital, three books of a theoretical character. The notes for the fourth book, the Theories of Surplus-Value, were incorporated in the manuscripts of 1861-63. Later, having completed work on them, Marx went back to the first book. On Engels' advice, he decided it should appear first. Preparation for the press continued throughout 1866 and most of 1867. The first German edition of the first book appeared in September 1867 as Volume One of Capital. Under the plan agreed upon with Meissner, the publisher, the second and third books (devoted to the circulation of capital and the process of capitalist production as a whole) were to appear as Volume Two, while the fourth book on the history of economic theories was to be Volume Three of Capital. Marx, however, had not completed the preparation of the last books of Capital for the press. After his death, this was done by Engels, who published Marx's manuscripts relating to the second and third books as volumes Two and Three of Capital (1885 and 1894). Engels also intended to prepare for the press and publish as Volume Four of Capital the above-mentioned manuscript of the fourth book, but did not have time to do this in his lifetime. This edition presents this book of Capital as part of the Economic Manuscripts of 1861-63, (volumes 30-34) while Volumes One, Two and Three of Capital are to be found in volumes 35, 36 and 37 of the present edition respectively.
- ↑ H. Ch. Carey, The Harmony of Interests, Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Commercial.