ENGELS TO MARX[1]
IN LONDON
Manchester, 11 May 1870
Dear Moor,
The relevant Liebknecht stuff was missing; I suppose it will turn up tomorrow.
Holding the congress in Germany would present some difficulties, since one simply does not know what laws rule there, though one does know which police practices prevail. But it is fairly certain that a dissolution of the congress by the police would be the worst to be expected; the people would be safe, with the exception of a possible 24-hour detention; but it would have to be determined now where the congress should reassemble if dissolved— in Belgium or Switzerland. Otherwise, Mainz would be quite a good place, and Mannheim, too; the Baden Government is so harassed by the People's Party[2] and the ultramontanists that it would scarcely take any action.
Since Wilhelm mucked about my Peasant War in such a manner,[3] think what he will do with your articles[4] !
Could you get together for me that material for a note, with citation of the sources, on the Welsh phanerogamic being[5] ? I could use it just now, in a few days I shall be writing about this.
The bourgeois vandalism with regard to Leibniz's house is very common. In any case, I congratulate you on the relics.
I shall hardly likely be needing Swift before I move to London. The decision in the large towns in France is very fine. The remainder is faked and doesn't count. Regarding the way the Republicans urged the army about non, this would only have been useful if immediate action had been intended, but it is agreed that this was not the case. As things have now turned out, the soldiers will have to suffer, and 'more reliable' regiments will be sent to Paris.[6]
If you and your family wish to reconnoitre the surrounding district for a house for me, this would be very agreeable for us here. I have my house here until the end of September, so if I move at the end of August there is time enough. In addition, I have enough material to made through here, and it's easier here than in London. You know the sort of house I need: at least 4, if possible 5 bedrooms (since Pumps[7] is growing up), and apart from a study for me, two living rooms and kitchen, etc. If possible without a close dominant vis-à-vis. It would be desirable that it should not be much higher up than you live, since Lizzie has an asthmatic reluctance about hill climbing. If you find something, then I can come over. It doesn't need to be as big as your house, and smaller rooms would suffice for me.
Best greetings to all.
Your
F. E.
Your letter appeared to have been opened again, and badly stuck down with too much gum, so that the excess of gum made it adhere to another letter, and traces remained.
Do you know of an Irish grammar, or is one to be had second-hand? I would very much dislike to quote a Celtic word incorrectly, perhaps in the genitive or nominative plural—instead of nominative singular.
- ↑ A short excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in: The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.
- ↑ The German People's Party (Deutsche Volkspartei) was set up in 1865 and encompassed the democratic elements of the petty bourgeoisie and part of the bigger bourgeoisie, chiefly from South and Central German states. As distinct from the National-Liberals, it opposed Prussia's supremacy and advocated the plan for the establishment of the so-called Great Germany incorporating both Prussia and Austria. While pursuing an anti-Prussian policy, the People's Party voiced the particularist aspirations of some German states. It was against Germany's unification as a single centralised democratic republic, advocating the idea of a federative German state.
In 1866, the German People's Party was joined by the Saxon People's Party, whose nucleus consisted of workers. This left wing of the German People's Party had, in effect, nothing in common with it except anti-Prussian sentiments and the wish jointly to solve the problems of national unification in a democratic way. Subsequently, it developed along socialist lines. The main section of the Party broke away from the petty-bourgeois democrats and took part in founding the Social-Democratic Workers' Party in August 1869.
- ↑ On 2 April 1870, Der Volksstaat, edited by Liebknecht, began the publication of Engels' work The Peasant War in Germany. A serious blunder was made by the editorial board when printing Chapter II: on 4 May, the newspaper featured the end of this chapter, while the preceding page had been left out and appeared only on 7 May with the editorial board's note: 'The excerpt contained in today's issue was to have appeared before the part published in the last issue. This vexing error was caused by the absence of our type-setter who is responsible for imposing the issue (this type-setter is away on an agitation tour).'
Engels is referring to Liebknecht's footnote on Hegel that appeared in Der Volksstaat on 30 April 1870.
- ↑ K. Marx, The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850.
- ↑ See this volume, pp. 512, 515-16.
- ↑ Engels is referring to preparations for the so-called plebiscite which Napoleon III hoped to use to consolidate his somewhat shaky position. On 20 April 1870, the government made public a new constitution which was a compromise between the authoritarian and the parliamentary systems. It was followed by a decree on 23 April, which proposed that the French people use the plebiscite to approve or reject the following: 'The People approves the liberal reforms effected in the Constitution since 1860 by the Emperor, with the cooperation of the great bodies of the State, and ratifies the Senatus-Consultus of the 20th April 1870.' The issue was worded in such a way that a positive answer to it would sound like an approval of the overall political structure of the Second Empire. As a result of a plebiscite held on 8 May 1870, about 3.5 million citizens in fact opposed the Empire (1,894,681 abstained, and 1,577,939 voted against). A large share of the votes against the Empire belonged to the French army; in Paris alone, 46,000 servicemen gave a negative answer.
- ↑ Mary Ellen Burns