Letter to Karl Marx, September 29, 1853

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 29 September 1853


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 1, Stuttgart 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 39


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

[Manchester,] 29 September 1853

Dear Marx,

Herewith the article on the Turkish armies.[1] If you tell me what you are sending tomorrow on the STRIKES in Lancashire and the STATE OF TRADE,[2] I shall be able to link on to that and let you have a further REPORT on these matters by Tuesday.[3] The local MANUFACTURERS and MERCHANTS are at great pains to convince one another that things are not too bad, and the Guardian does what it can, but it's ALL SHAM AND HUMBUG. Since last week ordinary yarns are down by between 1/2d and 3/4d per pound, i.e. at 9d a fall in value of 3-4 1/2%, at 8d of 3-6%, at 7d of 4-7%; in the same period COTTON fell by about 1/8. STOCKS are accumulating and the HOME TRADE DEMAND is also falling off. There has been such frightful overspeculation in the Australian trade that 80,000 barrels of American flour were reconsigned to this country from Australia at a freight charge of 8/- per barrel. In 4 weeks' time the Australian CRASH should be well underway. All that the 'good news' from India amounts to is that the rise in prices over there and the fall in prices here added together still leave a loss on exports to that market. Nothing is flourishing save TRADE with America and speculation in corn. In Uxbridge, 80/- per quarter is already being paid for first quality wheat. CORN LOOKING UP, YARN LOOKING DOWN, and the Turkish rot IN THE FAIREST POSSIBLE WAY OF BORING OUR MERCHANTS ALL WINTER OVER.

MANUFACTURED GOODS are also coming down smartly, and here STOCKS are far more catastrophic than in the case of yarn. The manufacturers' decision to stop work thus kills two birds with one stone: 1. it disarms the workers, 2. it cuts down production. The fellows in Preston are sure to receive a general vote of thanks, if not compensation.[4] In Ashton, Stalybridge and Glossop, the manufacturers are also considering a stoppage, and some here as well. However there is a snag to it, namely that it only benefits those who don't stop, and only harms those who do.

If Borchardt is to be believed, Lupus has some prospect of obtaining a post as corresponding clerk. The old gent is studying Russian and the like and is as enthusiastic as ever over the Turkish question, of which I wish him joy.

My regards to your wife and children.

Your

F. E.

What do you think of Jacobi's melancholic and virtuous views about the end of the world?[5]

  1. ↑ F. Engels, 'The Russians in Turkey'.
  2. ↑ Presumably Marx mentioned his intention to write articles on these subjects in a no longer extant letter to Engels written between 17 and 28 September 1853
  3. ↑ 4 October
  4. ↑ In September 1853 the Preston manufacturers responded with a lockout to one of the biggest strikes by English workers in the 1850s. The strike was started by the weavers and spinners of mills in and around Preston who demanded a ten per cent wage rise; they were supported by workers in other trades. The lockout lasted until February 1854, but the strike continued after that date. To break the strike the Manufacturers' Association started bringing workers to Preston from Ireland and from English workhouses. In March 1854 the leaders of the strike were arrested, and as funds were low the workers were compelled to return to work. The strike ended in May 1854 (see K. Marx, 'Panic on the London Stock Exchange.—Strikes', present edition, Vol. 12)
  5. ↑ A. Jacobi, 'Ueber den Untergang der Erde'.