To Czech Socialist Workers. To the Editorial Board of the Socialny Demokrat in Prague

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 18 September 1893


First published, in Czech, in the newspaper Rude Pravo, March 24, 1981 and, in the language of the original (German), in the journal Nova Mysl, No. 4, 1981
Printed according to a photocopy of the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 27

Berlin, September 18, 1893

Großgörschen-Straße, 22a

Dear Comrades,

I received your letter of the 13th at the moment of my departure from Vienna, so I could not answer it at once.

Unfortunately, we only saw your city briefly when passing through. Hence it was impossible for us to comply with your wish and visit the editorial offices of the Sociâlny Demokrat and meet the comrades there. Both Bebel and myself sincerely regret this, but our travelling arrangements, once made, could not be changed. However, since a state of emergency had been introduced in Prague in the meantime, [1] other obstacles too would have prevented our complying with your desires.

With best wishes for the success of the Czech working-class movement

Yours sincerely,

Frederick[2] Engels

  1. ↑ The Austrian authorities declared a state of emergency in Prague and its suburbs on September 12, 1893 following demonstrations by radically minded Czech youth. The demonstrations provided an excuse for police reprisals against the Social-Democratic movement.
  2. ↑ Engels uses the Czech form: Bedfich.— Ed.