Letter to Karl Marx, May 17, 1870

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 17 May 1870


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
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 17 May 1870

Dear Moor,

Liebknecht will hardly send you my letter, since it is just the opposite of what Wilhelm says it is. I took special care not to use any insulting expression, but the whole letter naturally centres on the bitter FACT that Wilhelm writes under my signature on subjects about which he knows nothing (as now admitted). And this must of course 'insult him'.

Even now it is incomprehensible how he could publish Nechayev's filthy letter,[1] which consists of a series of curses, and nothing else but the very stupidest Russian Herzenite platitudes. Something like this can only be explained by his enormous indolence, which makes him struggle as hard as he can to fill up his paper[2] without working himself.

To bring your 'condition' to an end, the best thing for you would be to come in the course of this week, and with Tussy. A change of air has always been good for you, and we shall see to it that you get better exercise here than there. Then, if things are bad, you can also consult Gumpert. But bring Tussy with you. Lizzie has already baked CURRANT BREAD against her arrival, and the whole house has been in jubilo since I announced I would ask you to bring her with you. If you can come tomorrow, tant mieux[3] ; just telegraph, no more notice is needed to have you rooms ready. Otherwise on Thursday[4] . It will do both of us good to march through the fields, and to laugh about the assorted humbuggery that has been abroad since I was last in London.[5] Lizzie has promised to go to bed unhesitatingly with Tussy at 11 o'clock every night—SUNDAYS ALWAYS EXCEPTED—so that this point will make no trouble either. And, finally, I feel that my 1857 Rüdesheimer is now just at the stage when it should be drunk, and for this I need your help.

Thus, either a telegram tomorrow and han selv[6] —not with 22,000 men as han selv said, but still with Tussy—or then the day after tomorrow. Best greetings.

Your

F. E.

Bracke queried me about publication of the letter,[7] and set a term for my prohibition, which I allowed to pass, since I attached no importance to it.

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Der Volksstaat
  3. ↑ all the better
  4. ↑ 19 May
  5. ↑ Engels visited Marx in London on his way to Germany late in December 1869.
  6. ↑ himself
  7. ↑ See this volume, pp. 498 99, 520.