Letter to Natalie Liebknecht, January 13, 1871

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 13 January 1871


First published in Russian in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1932
First published in English in full in: Karl Marx, On the First International, Arranged and edited, with an introduction and new translations by Saul K. Padover, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1973
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


MARX TO NATALIE LIEBKNECHT

IN LEIPZIG

London, 13 January 1871
1 Maitland Park Road,
Haverstock Hill, N.W.

My dear Mrs Liebknecht,

The General Council of the 'International' has started a collection for the families of the German 'patriots' persecuted by the Prussian government—patriots in the true sense of the word. The first £5 I am sending you now are intended for Mrs Bebel and yourself.

The libellous London correspondent of that pedant Bieder­mann[1] undeniably belongs to the police personnel of the local Prussian Embassy, which was active in like fashion at the time of the Communist trial in Cologne in 1852. We shall track the man down and publicise the activities of this clique in the local press and so shed light on the latest phase of Christian-Prussian-Germanic ethics.

In the issue of the Volksstaat[2] that arrived today I see that there is a notice in which Mr Nechayev is yet again being treated with undue seriousness. All the things that this Nechayev has had printed in the European press about his deeds and sufferings in Russia are bare-faced fabrications. I have the proofs of this to hand. His name, therefore, is one which should never be mentioned.

My wife and daughters[3] send their warmest regards to you, your children and to Liebknecht.

With best wishes for the New Year.

Yours very sincerely,

Karl Marx

  1. ↑ A pun: 'Biedermann' means an honest man, and Biedermann is the surname of the editor of the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  2. ↑ See 'Politische Uebersicht', Der Volksstaat, No. 4, 11 January 1871.
  3. ↑ Jenny and Eleanor Marx