Letter to Karl Marx, May 2, 1869 (2)

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 7 May 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, 7 May 1869

Dear Moor,

Your liver must be raging, since we neither see nor hear anything of you. How are things, and when are you coming? And is your wife well again?

No answer from Wilhelm.[1] I wrote to him in a BUSINESSLIKE manner to stop him indulging in any more dodges. If he does not reply soon, we shall have to see to it that Eichhoff prints the stuff.[2]

He, i.e., W.,[3] apparently doesn't give any sign of life either.

A few numbers of Zukunft by post today, and enclosed the Belgian letter,[4] returned with thanks. It is curious how, everywhere on the Continent, the people, relying on the International, simply launch strikes, and apparently have not the faintest intention of filling the general war-chest.

Tomorrow will, I hope, finally be that more lively 'tomorrow' when you will 'at last' get down to letting us have more news of you.[5]

In the debate on the trade regulations Wilhelm played a quite deplorable role. All the motions came either from Schweitzer or from Bebel, and Wilhelm wisely kept his mouth shut, since positive knowledge was called for in this case. Schweitzer was also a treat when he tried to prove that the ban on Sunday work=increased consumption by the worker=wage rise.

Best greetings.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Wilhelm Liebknecht
  2. ↑ F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany; see also this volume, p. 262.
  3. ↑ Wilhelm Eichhoff
  4. ↑ See this volume, p. 272.
  5. ↑ Ibid., pp. 272 73.