Letter to Karl Marx, May 11, 1869

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 10 May 1869


First published 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, 10 May 1869]

Dear Moor,

Letter and 2 consignments received. Best thanks. Enclosed with speed for tomorrow's meeting £1 in STAMPS from us here for your Belgian subscription. The Irish pamphlet caused a great sensation here. Ask Eichhoff if he can get the Peasant War[1] printed by his brother/ Meissner is obviously frightened.

Here we are in a lovely industrial crisis, and despite the SHORT TIME, too much is still being produced. The only means the manufacturers have of agreeing among themselves on SHORT TIME and a shutdown is—a STRIKE by the workers. They have been working towards this in a planned way for 2 months now. The one in Preston was the first attempt, now followed by the 5% wage reduction in East Lancashire.[2] If the workers accept this, it will be followed by a new one, and so on, until they strike, for this is the sole aim. The honest Watts did not even mention this type of strike in his pamphlet,[3] et pour cause. When will you be coming?

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany.
  2. ↑ The strike of workers in the cotton yarns and goods industry in Preston (Lancashire) began in March 1869 as a response to the provocative decision of the manufacturers to cut wages by ten per cent. The General Council and the trade unions organised financial support by workers in other towns, as a result of which the strike lasted until August 1869, and ended in a compromise (wages were reduced by 5 per cent). Reports on the progress of the strike appeared regularly in The Bee-Hive.
  3. ↑ J. Watts, Trade Societies and Strikes.