Letter to Karl Marx, January 23, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 23 January 1868


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931. Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 42


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 23 January 1868

Dear Moor,

From the enclosed scrawl you can see what Wilhelmchen has not done.[1] I shall give him a fitting wigging in the next few days. A JOLLY IDEA, we should 'utilise' the position he has created for himself locally in Saxony, in fact stand up for him BODILY. His rag[2] arrived for me today, I have not yet been able to look at it.

I hope you are finally finished with that obstinate carbuncle. But you will at last realise, won't you, that simply letting this matter slide can no longer be tolerated, and that at the very least you must have daily vigorous exercise in the fresh air, and regular 'renunciation' of night work (as soon as the first is possible), in order that you should become at all capable of work again. Like this, the second volume will never eventuate.[3]

Enclosed are the shares for Strohn. I really don't know what to do about the Vienna articles. Apart from the Neue Freie Presse and Wiener Tagblatt, I do not know by name any paper in which Richter has a hand; owing to almost complete ignorance of the audience I have no idea where to begin, and this is the most important point. Laura writes that to instruct people is ALL VERY WELL, but to pick out the right point is the real difficulty. I am just going through the whole book[4] once again to make this clear to myself, and your opinion would be welcome.

It is also a good presumption on the part of Wilhelmchen to suggest that I should explain to him and his readers once and for all, on one page of his rag, and from this book, what the difference really is between Marx and Lassalle. This presumption has suggested to me that it might be a good idea to write a popular little pamphlet Marx and Lassalle of about 6 sheets for the workers; in this space it could be managed and the positive things required for the workers could be developed. It would have to be sold dirt cheap, and the Lassalleans would immediately be forced to take up a position. But for this, time is needed.[5]

You really cannot ask me to drudge my way through Borkheim's Russian pamphlets[6] —at least not at the moment. I have a lot to do in the office and come home late, so that I cannot get down to anything before 8 o'clock and, moreover, I have to live a life of great regularity, since for some time now I have been sleeping badly and as a result am often a wreck in the morning, something which has never happened in my life before. Besides, there are sometimes unavoidable hindrances, and the absolute necessity of having physical exercise so as to get my sleep back to normal. Each Russian pamphlet would consume 8-14 days in view of my necessity of working myself in again, and the poor quality of the dictionaries. Ne vaut pas la paine.[7]

About the Fortnightly[8] next time. I am still ruminating about this point. Monetary matters—important as they may be for England—I shall probably only be able to touch upon fleetingly in the first article; otherwise this subject would take up the whole article. If a second could be placed, then it would still be suitable. What do you think?

Best wishes to your wife and the girls as well as Lafargue.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels is probably referring to the operations by the Confederate army under General Lee in northern Virginia in the spring and summer of 1863. One of its corps was commanded by Longstreet. Successful counter-attacks on the part of the Confederates led to their victory at Chancellorsville on 2-4 May 1863. Lee's troops began to invade the territory beyond the Potomac and marched to Washington. But in the Battle of Gettysburg on 1-3 July, Lee's army sustained heavy losses and was compelled to retreat beyond the Potomac. General Hood, who succeeded Johnston as commander of the Confederate troops, undertook two major counter-attacks on 20 and 22 July 1864 against General Sherman's army, concentrated at die time to the north and east of Adanta (see Note 75). The attempt to throw back Sherman's troops failed and Hood's army retreated, taking cover in Atlanta.
  2. ↑ Demokratisches Wochenblatt See this volume, pp. 515 16.
  3. ↑ In a letter to Engels of 19 November 1864, Schweitzer, in reply to Engels' enquiry, named the proposed contributors to Der Social-Demokrat. They were: Moses Hess, Georg Herwegh, Bernhard Becker, Johann Philipp Becker, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Friedrich Wilhelm Rüstow and Johann Karl Heinrich Wuttke.
  4. ↑ the first volume of Capital
  5. ↑ Engels' project was not fulfilled.
  6. ↑ See this volume, p. 520.
  7. ↑ It is not worth the trouble.
  8. ↑ Engels wrote the review of Volume One of Marx's Capital for The Fortnightly Review much later, in May and June 1868. As can be seen from their subsequent correspondence, Marx and Engels exchanged opinions several times on the content and form of the article. In spite of Professor Beesly's request, the review was rejected by the editorial board and has only been preserved in manuscript form (see present edition, Vol. 20).