Letter to Sophie von Hatzfeldt, September 12, 1864

Author(s)	Karl Marx
Written	12 September 1864

First published in: F. Lassalle. Nachgelassene Briefe und Schriften, Bd. III, Stuttgart-Berlin, 1922
Printed according to the original
Published in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 41

MARX TO SOPHIE VON HATZFELDT

IN BERLIN

London, 12 September 1864

1 Modena Villas, Maitland Park, Haverstock Hill

My Dear Countess,

You will realise how surprised, dismayed and shocked I was by the utterly unexpected news of Lassalle's death. He was one of the people by whom I set great store. For me it is all the more distressing in that of late we had no longer been in touch. The reason for this was neither his silence alone—for it was he who was the instigator, not I — nor my own illness, which lasted over a year and of which I only rid myself a few days ago. There were also reasons which I could tell you by word of mouth but not in writing. Let me assure you that no one can feel greater sorrow over Lassalle's untimely end than I. And, above all else, I feel for you. I know how much the deceased meant to you and what his loss must mean. One thing you can be glad of. He died young, at a time of triumph, as an Achilles.

I hope, my dear Countess, that your proud and courageous spirit will enable you to withstand this blow fate has dealt you, and that you will never doubt the wholly loyal devotion of

Your sincere friend,

Karl Marx