Letter to Friedrich Engels, May 16, 1870

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 16 May 1870


First published in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


MARX TO ENGELS[1]

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 16 MAY 1870[2]

Dear FRED,

Enclosed—a very well-behaved screed from Wilhelm[3] ! The old fool is beginning to take fright. In my last letter,[4] I told him that Borkheim was very sick; the Dr had forbidden him to do literary work for a long time even after his recovery; the continuation of Bakunin's twaddle,[5] which should never have been started, must now be stopped, etc.!

And what does the brute do? In the issue of Volksstaat that arrived today he published a personally defamatory article against Borkheim, written by the vagabond Nechayev.[6] I am really afraid this will excite Borkheim in a dangerous manner. Borkheim wrote to me the day before yesterday; he wanted to see me. I could not go because of my very foul cold and cough. But my wife was there yesterday. He is still very weak, and all excitement has specifically been prohibited by the Dr! The arrival of Volksstaat today will have caused an awful scene!

I wrote immediately to Wilhelm, the silly blockhead, and fittingly hauled him over the coals. At the same time, I mentioned that his effusions about you were 'too childish' to be answered, but he could rely upon it that his (Wilhelm's) 'private views about Hegel or ANYTHING ELSE' were a matter of indifference to you,[7] ditto the circumstance 'which' and 'what assortment of studies' he (Wilhelm) 'rather despises'. The fellow's claim that he has led 'for 22 years a restless life, with no time for any leisure' is delicious. We know he spent ABOUT 15 years of the 22 in idleness.

I am sending you the Echo, which you must preserve, because of the disavowal of the FRENCH BRANCH[8] also published in the Marseillaise, Internationale (Brussels), and our other organs. Circumstances were finally so favourable that we had an opportunity to give an official kick to the rabble.

Mayence! soit![9]

It is un peu indiscret[10] for Bracke to have had extracts from your private letter to him[11] published in Volksstaat. But the intention is good, and I even believe this operation was politically correct. They obviously wished thereby to take a kick at Schweitzer.

There has already been a lot in The Irishman about the scurvy IRISH Laws COMMISSION.[12] I shall try to find out the necessary about it.

If my condition doesn't quickly change so that it no longer disturbs my work, I might come for 8-14 days to Manchester.[13] If nothing else helps, perhaps a change of air will.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Selected Letters. The Personal Correspondence, 1844-1877, Ed. by F. J. Raddatz, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Toronto, 1981.
  2. ↑ In the first publication of this letter in: MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931, and in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIV, Moscow, 1931, this letter was erroneously dated 16 March 1870.
  3. ↑ Marx forwards to Engels Liebknecht's letter of 11 May 1870, in which the latter explained the errors, including the footnote on Hegel, made when publishing Engels' work The Peasant War in Germany (see Note 647) in Der Volksstaat. Liebknecht promised to put in a statement to the effect that the notes had been supplied by the editorial board and not Engels. He considered it unnecessary to publish Engels' official statement (see this volume, pp. 508-09).
  4. ↑ This letter, written after 7 May 1870, has not been found.
  5. ↑ On 16 and 20 April 1870, Liebknecht published in Der Volksstaat, nos. 31 and 32, Bakunin's article 'Briefe über die revolutionäre Bewegung in Russland. I.'
  6. ↑ On 16 March 1870, Der Volksstaat, No. 22, carried Borkheim's article 'Ein Brief Netschajeffs' (in German, with a Russian translation made by Borkheim himself). The article was signed 'Der Autor der Russischen Briefe in der Berliner Zukunft. Russischen Briefe was the name of Borkheim's articles about Russia featured by Die Zukunft in 1869-70 (see Note 274). On 14 May the editorial board of Der Volksstaat published the opening passages of Nechayev's reply, which is what Marx is writing about to Engels.
  7. ↑ See this volume, pp. 509-10.
  8. ↑ K. Marx, Draft Resolution of the General Council on the 'French Federal Section in London'.
  9. ↑ Mainz! for all I care!
  10. ↑ a little indiscreet
  11. ↑ See this volume, pp. 498-99.
  12. ↑ The Commission for the Publication of the Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland was set up by the British Government in 1852 (see Note 481).
  13. ↑ Marx and his daughter Eleanor went on a visit to Engels in Manchester on 23 May and stayed there until about 23 June 1870.