MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
London, 19 September 1868
DEAR FRED,
Enclosed a letter from Schweitzer,[1] ditto one from Essen and also 6 numbers of the Social-Demokrat. I must have all this stuff back by Tuesdaya What answer should I give the cunning Schweitzer? You will see from the debates of the General Association of German Workers congress[2] (in the Social-Demokrat) that the 'true-blue' Lassalleans smelt that their president was leaving Lassalle's course in proposing a congress for the establishment of TRADES UNIONS and settlement of STRIKES.[3] He only received permission to launch this agitation independently of the Association of German Workers by threatening to resign. His purpose, of course, is to get in ahead of Liebknecht, etc. He was also aware that, with the development of a real workers' organisation in Germany based on TRADES UNIONS, his artificial sectarian Association WOULD SOON BE NOWHERE. What he now describes in a LEADER (No. 104)b as the summa of Lassalle's discoveries: 'state credit for the foundation of productive associations', is literally copied from the programme of French Catholic socialism, ducec Bûchez, in the Atelier at the time of Louis Philippe.[4] I must answer diplomatically and would like to know your view.
Vogt is no longer available here.a But yesterday I wrote to Liebknecht and categorically requested information about the copies (perhaps 150) sent to him.[5]
Next Tuesdayb at the first session of the GENERAL COUNCIL there will be stormy weather. Dupont is also furious about Eccarius because he took as good as no part in the congress.[6] I shall try to protect Eccarius against 'positive' measures,c but this time I shall not be able to take sides for him so strongly as I did last year against Fox, Carter, etc.[7]
A Bordelaised merchant, friend of Lafargue, English-speaking, passed through here after a journey through Sweden and Denmark. He told Lafargue that in higher circles there they speak much about my booke which does not sound very likely to me.
Laurachen is somewhat better. Her SUFFERINGS are connected with certain natural processes of development. They want to leave at the beginning of October, and this is awkward because the linen part of the trousseau is still incomplete.
L'illustre Gaudissartf returned today. The loan was like this: You borrow money FOR A CERTAIN TERM. If you die before maturity, the sum need not be paid back. On the other hand, in the contrary case repayment must be made on the date of maturity with the STIPULATED interest. The transaction is then at an end. It is thus no life insurance. You do not receive a policy, but the money, for which you make out a BOND. This was naturally returned to me. It is the peculiar form that makes the whole business so expensive — certainly the worst and the dearest way to borrow money.
The sole circumstance which would, in my opinion, favour Bonaparte in a belated campaign is that Russia would then be more paralysed, at least for military action. One thing is certain. The whole of France believes that war is IMMINENT.
As for the advertisement, I shall d'abordg see what Meissner answers. I have asked him about it.h
How did things go with fat Vogt?i
Salut.
Your
K. M.
The report on the Brussels Congress in the Opinion nationale states, inter alia:
'Je dois mentionner ici le rapport général de l'Association, rédigé par le conseil de Londres. Mentionner, c'est bien le seul mot que je puisse employer, car, je ne suis point assez fort légiste pour trier et élaguer les phrases incriminables par les lois de France, et il s'en pourrait trouver quelques-unes de ce genre.'a
Speaks then of the PASSAGES dealing with 'le gouvernement français'.
'La critique y est verte parfois, et souvent ironique. Je le répète, je ne puis m'en faire juge; mais je dois avouer que le public a été moins timide que votre correspondant; il a couvert d'applaudissements frénétiques tous les passages que je m'abstiens de citer.'b
There were 12 REPORTERS from France there. The Emancipationc and the Journal de Bruxellesd attacked the congress in exactly the same way as they attacked us 20 years ago.
One Russian was there as a journalist. He said he would send the General Council the Russian papers that wrote about the congress.
a Marx means his book Herr Vogt. - b 22 September - c See this volume, pp. 101-02. - d man from Bordeaux - e the first volume of Capital - f Sigismund Borkheim - g first - h See this volume, p. 102. - i Ibid., p. 100.
a 'I must mention here the general report of the Association, drafted by the Council in London. Mention is in fact the only word which I can use since I am not sufficiently qualified in law to identify and weed out the phrases punishable under French law, and there could well be some of this sort in it' (from J. I. Blanc's report on the Brussels Congress of the International Working Men's Association in L'Opinion nationale, 10 September 1868). - b 'The criticism here is sometimes sharp and often ironical. I repeat I cannot make a judgment; but I must admit that the audience was less timid than your correspondent; it received with frantic applause all those passages which I refrain from quoting' (ibid). - c L'Emancipation belge, No. 254, 10 September 1868, leading article. - d Journal de Bruxelles, Nos 252, 254-260; 8, 10-16 September 1868.
- ↑ In a letter of 15 September 1868, Schweitzer wrote to Marx: 'I consider you to be the head of the European working-class movement — not only through democratic election but by the will of God. You can also be assured that I will promote your intentions as best I can. Of course no prestige is great enough to prevent one, under certain circumstances, from adhering to one's own opinion. I believe, however, that conflict does not arise easily. When it appeared to me that you were not right, subsequent consideration showed me, at least until now, that I was mistaken myself. Yet I cannot find much in common with your followers—at least with some of them.
'...I intend to get you the Statutes which we want to propose to the organisation at the congress after they have been discussed by a limited number of persons, so that before the congress, has started you will have a chance to note the points which may not tally with the spirit of the [congress's] organisation, although this shouldn't occur.
'It may happen that it will be too late to send the Statutes to you; however, I shall try to make the dispatch possible.'
- ↑ The General Association of German Workers—a political organisation of German workers founded in Leipzig on 23 May 1863, at a meeting of workers' societies. Its foundation was an important step in the advancement of an independent nation-wide working-class movement in Germany and promoted the workers' emancipation from the ideological domination of the liberal bourgeoisie. However, Lassalle, who had been elected chairman, and his followers chose to direct the Association's activities along reformist lines, restricting it to a public campaign for universal suffrage. One of the items on the programme was the establishment of production cooperatives financed by the state, which were expected to resolve social contradictions. The Lassallean leadership of the Association supported the Prussian government's policy of the unification of Germany from above, through dynastic wars.
Thanks to the experience of the working-class movement, and especially the International, and supported by Marx and Engels, the more advanced section of the Association began to drift away from the Lassallean dogmas. The Lassallean leaders, who were afraid to lose their influence among the workers, were forced to manoeuvre. The programme of the Hamburg Congress of the Association (which in its final version appeared in Der Social-Demokrat, No. 98, 21 August 1868) contained points that went against Lassalle's doctrine, i.e., advocated complete political freedom, positively assessed Marx's Capital, and urged the international cooperation of the working class. In the letter 'To the President and Executive Committee of the General Association of German Workers" (see present edition, Vol. 21), a reply to the invitation which had been extended to him, Marx gave his opinion of the programme and, as he remarked in a letter TO ENGELS of 26 August, congratulated the members of the Association on 'having abandoned Lassalle's programme' (see this volume, p. 90).
The Hamburg Congress (22-26 August 1868) adopted important decisions: it approved the strike movement in principle, unanimously acknowledged that 'Marx had rendered outstanding services to the working class with his work Capital', and pointed to the necessity for joint action by the workers of different countries. In fact, however, the Lassallean leaders continued to oppose its affiliation with the International and adhered to their former standpoint.
At the Gotha Congress (May 1875), the General Association of German Workers merged with the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party (the Eisenachers) founded in 1869 and headed by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht. The united party assumed the name of the Socialist Workers' Party.
- ↑ Marx is referring to the six editorials printed under the common heading 'Der allgemeine deutsche Arbeiter-Congress' in Der Social-Demokrat in September 1868, which mirrored the ideological conflict between dedicated Lassalleans and the followers of Schweitzer. Fearing that their influence among the workers might dwindle under the impact of the mounting strike movement and the International's ideas, Schweitzer's followers were forced to abandon some of the Lassallean concepts and change their attitude towards the economic struggle of the working class. Specifically, a general German workers' congress in Berlin that Schweitzer and Fritzsche had been planning (see Note 164) was to consider the issues of the strike movement and the trade unions of German workers. The address drawn up by Schweitzer and Fritzsche for the congress and published by Der Social-Demokrat, No. 101, 30 August 1868, read: 'It is urgently necessary to establish a mass and stable organisation of all workers throughout Germany for the purpose of jointly moving forward by means of strikes... We are convening a general German workers' congress to set up, and also strengthen and evolve the uniform organisational principles of general trade unions in all industries throughout Germany, as well as to discuss the general lines along which strikes can be organised.'
- ↑ The principle of setting up production associations on the basis of state credit as a means of emancipating the workers from exploitation was first proclaimed by Philippe Bûchez in 1831 in the philosophical journal L'Européen, which he published. His plan was popularised in the 1840s by L'Atelier magazine, which represented the interests and ideas of French handicraftsmen and workers influenced by the doctrine of Christian socialism (see also this volume, p. 260).
- ↑ Marx's letter to Liebknecht has not been found. In his reply of 20 September 1868, Liebknecht wrote that '...there are a few dozen of "Vogts" in Berlin. I had to leave them there when I was expelled; and most copies were distributed by me to political persons,—sold very few. In 5 or 6 days I hope to have news'.
- ↑ The question of Eccarius' reports published in The Times (see also notes 136, 155) was not discussed at the General Council meetings because of his long illness.
- ↑ At the General Council meeting of 8 October 1867 Peter Fox, James Carter and Robert Shaw accused Eccarius of misrepresenting the reports on the Lausanne Congress published in The Times on 6, 9, 10 and 11 September 1867. See also Marx's letters TO ENGELS of 4 and 9 October 1867, present edition, Vol. 42.-97, 106, 148