Letter to Karl Marx, April 14, 1869

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 14 April 1869


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 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 14 April 1869

Dear Moor,

Enclosed the Solingen letter[1] returned, which is also significant because it clarifies Liebknecht's boasts about the 'establishment of associations in Solingen and Bourscheid'. The one in Solingen was already there,[2] and the Solingen people established the one in Bourscheid.

The article on the Cretan insurrection[3] in The Diplomatic Review is the best thing they have published for a long time; ditto Urquhart's letter to Fuad Pasha.[4] But, as always, the source is not given for Brunnow's statement in the Greek dispatch,[5] i.e., 'The "Eastern Question" Closed. Summary from the Blue-Books', The Diplomatic Review,[6] whether this dispatch is published in one of the official publications, which is not easy to believe (unless a Greek book), or whether it found its way into Urquhart's hands along private channels. It would be interesting to know this, in case it is quoted later. The statement coincides completely with my constant claim that Russia will not unleash a war before 2 railways are completed to the Black Sea and the Pruth. They are now building like mad, and borrowing money like crazy—in the past 3 years—about £47,000,000! A major part of this represents the future costs of war.

However, in the light of these negotiations, Beust appears to be the Austrian Palmerston, and here too there could be a motive that would favour a speed-up of the action.

Doesn't Eichhoff still send you the Social-Demokrat? It would be very important to see how Schweitzer is conducting himself at the moment in his own paper.

You will have read the article about Lassalle in the Fortnightly,[7] and will have seen that you are regarded therein as the real papa of Lassallean and other socialism. Who is this Ludlow? If he could be prevailed upon to write an article in the Fortnightly about your book,[8] this would be better than nothing after all.— Congreve's reply to Huxley is the DULLEST, most stupid and most confused thing I have ever seen[9] ; if this is the supreme wisdom of the Comtists, they can let themselves be buried without further ado.

I still must not strain my eye too much, and I feel it a little again today, since I read too much by lamplight yesterday evening; so I am closing. On Saturday[10] we received a very jolly letter from Tussy.

Best greetings to your wife and Jenny.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ On the instructions of the Solingen Section of the International (see Note 330), Friedrich Wilhelm Moll wrote to Marx about the disagreements with Schweitzer in his letter of 6 April 1869 (see Note 327).
  2. ↑ The Solingen Section of the International was set up in February-March 1866. Its members were in touch with the Central Committee of the German-language sections in Geneva and applied for assistance to the General Council and to Marx and Engels personally. The most active members of the Section, including Klein and Moll, took part in the International's congresses. In the autumn of 1867, this Section initiated the establishment of a cooperative of workers engaged in the production of steel and iron goods; it played a major part in the work of the Section (the Rules of the cooperative were drawn up by J. Ph. Becker).
  3. ↑ In the summer of 1866, the Greek population of Crete rebelled against Turkish rule demanding that the island be incorporated into Greece. Turkish troops undertook harsh punitive measures against the rebels and the island's civilian population. However, supported by volunteers from many countries, the insurgents carried on their struggle.
    The events in Crete provoked a fresh exacerbation of international contradictions in the Balkans. In November 1866 the Russian tsarist authorities suggested that the European powers should urge the Turkish Empire to hand Crete over to Greece. However, fearing that Russia would further consolidate its position in the region and that the national liberation movements of the peoples under the Sultan would mount, the Western states preferred Crete to remain under Turkish rule. Support for the Cretan insurgents was confined to a joint statement by Russia, France, Italy and Prussia on 29 October 1867. It advised the Turkish Government to refrain from bloodshed on the island. The conference convened by the European states in Paris in January 1869 to settle the Turkish-Greek conflict forced Greece to discontinue support for the uprising, thereby hastening its defeat. In 1869, the uprising was suppressed.
  4. ↑ D. Urquhart, 'Au grand Vizir, 16 août, 1867', The Diplomatic Review, 7 April 1869, in the column 'Insurrection en Candie. M. Urquhart à Fuad Pasha'.
  5. ↑ 'Le Ministre Grec à Londres à son Gouvernement', 29 December 1868, [extract] The Diplomatic Review, 7 April 1869.
  6. ↑ The Diplomatic Review, 7 April 1869.
  7. ↑ J. M. Ludlow, 'Ferdinand Lassalle, the German Social Democrat', The Fortnightly Review, 1 April 1869. (See this volume, p. 259.)
  8. ↑ the first volume of Capital
  9. ↑ R. Congreve, 'Mr. Huxley on M. Comte', The Fortnightly Review, Vol. V, No. XXVIII, 1 April 1869.
  10. ↑ 10 April