Letter to Karl Marx, about August 27, 1851

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 27 August 1851


First published: abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. I, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. I, 1929
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 38, pp. 444-445


[Manchester, about 27 August 1851]

Dear Marx,

The homeric struggles of these great men in their striving after unity have cheered me up wonderfully. What an Iliad!

I have written to Fischer.[1] But is it absolutely certain that my name appears in the letter to Kinkel? For I don't want to make an ass of myself with Fischer. The Freiligrath idea is a splendid one; it must surely have been thought up by your wife. A request to Fischer to raise money specifically for our party purposes is altogether inappropriate; but if any should be forthcoming­ which to judge by the experience of the people in America, I rather doubt-I think my letter will be enough to channel it into Freiligrath's hands et cela suffit.[2]

Write to me immediately about the upshot of Friday's scene so that I can take the necessary steps against Kinkel. To begin with I can do no more than ask for information and to be sent the records and then, after their receipt or non-receipt, take further steps. But do you know Kinkel's address?

It would have been a good idea had you let me have Freiligrath's address, too, so that I could have passed it to Fischer immediately. It's now too late for this steamer and, by the time his answer arrives, 4 weeks will have gone by during which we ought not to bombard him overmuch with letters.

My letter will have cooked Kinkel's and Willich's goose over there. It will give them something to think about.

More on Proudhon tomorrow or the day after.[3] Weerth's presence and then this mummery, combined with office rubbish, have prevented me from tackling the thing seriously. At all events the charlatanry of it is superb. Part 2, from liquidation onwards, is to be marvelled at for its blend of Girardin display and Stirner braggadocio. Moreover, both grammatically and logically much of it is pure galimatias, of which he himself knows that it is totally devoid of meaning. This second part is really not to be treated seriously; with the best will in the world one couldn't do so.

I have not, of course, been able to do anything for the Tribune—shall resume next week. In great haste.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels' letter to Fischer has not been found.
  2. ↑ and that is sufficient
  3. ↑ F. Engels, 'Critical Review of Proudhon's Book Idée générale de la Révolution au XIXe siècle.