Letter to Karl Marx, July 29, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 29 July 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
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 29 July 1868

Dear Moor,

Enclosed Liebknecht returned.[1] What a feeble business with Schweitzer. He should recognise 1. you and 2. the International Working Men's Association! Wilhelmchen appears to me to have once again failed to control his tendency to stupidities. Incidentally, you see that Schweitzer did, after all, show off with your letters.[2]

As regards Liebknecht's promises about Nuremberg and the Swiss workers, I SHALL WAIT FOR PERFORMANCE BEFORE GIVING AN OPINION.

Now enclosed a letter from Kugelmann.[3] The business with Keil is splendid—if Kertbény is not in fact inventing a bit. Just in case, I sat down and scribbled in great haste the enclosed scrawl, trying to make it as Beta-like as possible—as is suitable for that miserable rag[4] ; kindly let me have your comments on it by return so that we may send the stuff off without delay and strike while the iron is hot. We may not despise this bit of humbug, any more than we despise the stratagems through Siebel's mediation.[5] And the Kinkels, Freiligraths and Blinds, etc., will be badly annoyed; the philistine, however, as you know, trusts his Gartenlaube, and it will greatly impress Meissner. Your wife will also enjoy it very much—I think it would be best if you keep it secret for the time being, because of possible disappointment, and then you will surprise her when the paper comes out.

It is a good thing that owing to the delay of the article[6] caused by Beesly's absence I get some time for the second one.[7] Working at night still affects my eye slightly, and it then hurts all the next day.

Best greetings to your wife, the girls and Lafargue and his spouse. In haste.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels is referring to Liebknecht's letter TO MARX of 17 July 1868 about the arrangement made by Liebknecht and Schweitzer in Berlin in July 1868. During the meeting, Liebknecht told Schweitzer about his and Bebel's intention to recommend the forthcoming congress of the Union of German Workers' Associations in Nuremberg (see Note 135) to adopt the programme of the International, and insisted that the Lassallean Association be affiliated with it, believing that this would remove the cause for dissent between the Lassalleans and the followers of Bebel and Liebknecht, and make unification possible.
  2. ↑ See this volume, pp. 26 and 28-30.
  3. ↑ A reference to Kugelmann's letter to Engels of 26 July 1868, which stated that, according to Kertbény, Keil of Leipzig agreed to feature Marx's biography in Die Gartenlaube magazine. However, the biography written by Engels was not printed. In July 1869, Engels revised it for Die Zukunft newspaper, and it appeared in No. 185 under the heading 'Karl Marx' on 11 August 1869 (see present edition, Vol. 21).
  4. ↑ Die Gartenlaube. Illustrirtes Familienblatt
  5. ↑ A reference to the article featured by the Mannheimer Zeitung reviewing Volume One of Capital. It was not signed and was probably promoted by Siebel.
  6. ↑ A reference to Engels' intention to write a review of Volume One of Marx's Capital for The Fortnightly Review to which Professor Beesly was a contributor, (see Marx's letter to Engels of 8 January 1868, present edition, Vol. 42). While working on the review, Engels wrote out excerpts from Capital, which later made up a synopsis (see Note 26). The review was written around 20 May-1 June 1868, but rejected by the editorial board (see present edition, Vol. 20).
  7. ↑ Engels did not carry out his intention to write a second review of Capital for The Fortnightly Review.