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Special pages :
Letter to Friedrich Engels, March 19, 1870
Extract published in Marx and Engels on Ireland, Progress Publishers, 1971;
Published in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43
To Engels in Manchester
This letter was written on a form stamped: 'General Council of the International Working Men's Association, 256, High Holborn, London, W.C;the letter carries an oval stamp 'International Working Men's Central Council London'.
London, March 19, 1870
Dear Fred,
Enclosed is a Marseillaise, which should, however, be returned with the preceding one. I havenât read it myself yet. The article was written jointly by Jennychen and myself because she didnât have sufficient time. That is also why she hasnât answered your letter and sends Mrs. Lizzy her thanks for the shamrock provisionally through me.
From the enclosed letter from Pigott to Jenny youâll see that Mrs. OâDonovan, to whom Jenny sent a private letter together with 1 Marseillaise[1], took her for a gentleman, even though she signed it Jenny Marx. I answered Pigott today on behalf of Jennychen and took the opportunity to explain to him in short my views on the Irish question.
Your HINT about Bruceâs falsification has already been used in the letter Jenny sent yesterday to the Marseillaise.[2] We have Knoxâ et Pollockâs Report[3] (but did not consult it) and ditto âTHINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWNâ. On the other hand, you would oblige me if you would send by return: 1. Lassalleâs publication against Schulze-Delitzsch, and 2. the book by âClementâ, the crazy Frisian.[4]
The sensation caused by Jennychenâs second letter (which contained the condensed translation of OâDonovanâs letter) in Paris and London has robbed the loathsome and importunate (but very fluent with gab and pen) Talandier of his sleep. He had denounced the Irish as Catholic idiots in the Marseillaise. Now he espouses their cause no less fullmouthed in a review of what has been said in the Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily News about OâDonovanâs letter. Since Jennychenâs second letter was unsigned (by accident) he apparently flattered himself with the idea that he would be considered the secret sender. This has been frustrated by Jennychenâs third letter. This fellow is du reste a teacher of French at the military school of Sandhurst.
Last Tuesday[5] I was back again, for the first time, at a meeting of the GENERAL COUNCIL. With meâFelix Holt, THE RASCAL.[6] He had a very good time since, for a change, there was really something interesting going on. As you know, the prolĂ©taires âpositivistesâ in Paris had sent a deputy[7] to the Basle Congress. There was a discussion as to whether he should be admitted, since he represented a philosophical society and not a workersâ society (although he a n d his consorts all belong âpersonallyâ to the WORKING GLASS). Finally, he was admitted as a delegate of personal MEMBERS of the âInternationaleâ. These fellows have now constituted themselves in Paris as a branche of the Internationaleâan event about which the London and Paris Comtists have made a great FUSS. They thought that they had driven in THE THIN WEDGE. T h e GENERAL COUNCIL, being informed by the âprolĂ©taires positivistesâ of their affiliation, reminded t h em politely that the COUNCIL could only permit their admission after examining their programme. So they sent a programmeâreal Comtist-orthodoxâwhich was discussed last Tuesday. In the chair was Mottershead[8], a very intelligent (though anti-Irish) old Chartist, and a personal enemy of, and expert on, Comtism.[9] After a longish debate: Since they are workers they may be admitted as a simple branch. Not, however, as âbranche positivisteâ, since the principles of Comtism directly contradict our Rules. And anyway, it was their own affair how they reconciled their philosophical private views with those of our Rules.
About the screeds from Solingen soon.
Salut
Your
Moro
- â Apparently carrying the second article by Jenny Marx from the Irish question series.
- â The fourth article by Jenny Marx from the Irish question series.
- â [A. A. Knox and G. D. Pollock,] Report of the Commissioners on the Treatment of the Treason-Felony Convicts in the English Convict P
- â F. Lassalle, Herr Bastiat-Schultze von Delitzsch, der ökonomische Julian, oder: Capital und Arbeit; K. J. Clement, Schleswig, das urheimische Land des nicht dĂ€nischen Volks der Angeln und Frisen und Englands Mutterland, wie es war und ward.
- â 15 March
- â Dakyns
- â Gabriel Mollin
- â See Letter to Friedrich Engels, November 26, 1869
- â A programme of the Paris society of proletarians-positivists was read at the General Council meeting of 15 March 1870. It stressed that the society members âaim at social regeneration without God or King and hope to bring it about by the propagation of the positivist doctrineâ. When discussing their admittance to the International, Marx stated that âtheir rules were too exclusive and contrary to the General Rules of the Associationâ. Marx and Mottershead spoke out âagainst admitting them as positivistsâ. On Milnerâs suggestion, a decision was reached to instruct Dupont as Corresponding Secretary for France to try and make the proletarians-positivists aware of the discrepancies in their programme.
Comtism (positivism), a trend in bourgeois philosophy and sociology founded by Auguste Comte which opposes both speculative idealism and materialism; it recognises the practical results achieved by science but rejects its philosophical materialist conclusions from the position of agnosticism. Comtism reduces all scientific cognition, including that in history and sociology (the latter term has been coined by Comte) to empirical knowledge. Social development is considered from a biological angle. According to Comte, capitalism is the highest stage of social development, and attempts at its revolutionary change are supposed to be futile. Comte believed that the road to social harmony lies through 'new religion', a cult of an abstract higher being.