Letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht, September 11, 1871

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 11 September 1871


First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1932
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT

IN LEIPZIG

London, 11 September 1871

Dear Liebknecht,

I do not require any credentials—as secretary for Italy and Spain, I shall probably have to represent 2 countries in any event.[1] If you send anyone you could nominate 2 others; the French here are also nominating 3. Alternatively, you could send credentials for 3, but they must be here by Saturday.[2]

Marx and I do not deal in secret first names; we each have only one.

Why have you not sent any copies of the German edition of the Address[3] ? We are daily being pestered for it here. I must say that to treat us in this manner is not the way to encourage us to do any further work. I shall not send another line of manuscript, nor Marx either, until you finally condescend to treat us with the barest minimum of common decency.

To compare Monsieur Goegg with Odger is a bit strong. In the first place, Odger has in his own way a thousand times as much political understanding as that stupid Badener, and in the second place, as secretary of the LONDON TRADES COUNCIL,[4] Odger was the spokesman for some 100,000 workers, and he still represents a whole sector of them, whereas I have never heard that Mr Goegg ever spoke for anyone other than a few reactionary Baden numbskulls in Switzerland, the only authentic 'numbskulls' still surviving in fossil form. But when you provide space in the Volksstaat for the lucubrations of such people,[5] while we throw the Odgers out,[6] it is evident that there the parallel ends. As for Bernhard Becker, whose shabby dealings began when he was still here, in London, and are known to you, you could have knocked us over with a feather when we read that you had forgiven him his rascality because of his—abilities! I had always believed hitherto that his shabby dealings, his total rascality, could only be overlooked, if at all, on the grounds of his stupidity! Well, you will see what joy your latest acquisition will bring you. The wretch will never forgive you for having had to come to you 'with a rope round his neck'.[7] And as for the newspaper, better none at all than one of his sort! If Mr B. Becker has not betrayed the Party (which I do not know for certain), it can hardly be his fault. The man who could write that swinish book on Lassalle, his lord and master, is capable de tout[8] . The book was of interest to us, but it rendered its author worthy of undying contempt.[9]

Marx was very astonished to see the notice in the Volksstaat announcing that you intend to publish a history of the Commune, etc., etc. (No. 73, p. 4).[10] I was no less surprised than him. How you arrived at the idea was a complete mystery to us. I have not promised you anything of the sort, and we have no idea where you might have heard the news that someone would write an authentic history of the Commune for the Volksstaat by agreement with the General Council. At any rate, since the General Council has been mentioned, could we be informed, since there would be questions about it?

You will soon have some jolly persecution to look forward to. There can be no doubt that Bismarck has just agreed a general witch-hunt with the Austrians and the Italians.[11] Bismarck does not feel too strongly about it himself; he wants to work off a little personal rancour and would also like to force the workers' movement back into the Schweitzer-channel that is useful to him. For the rest he is, as a Junker, a speculative bourgeois and a superficial, successful statesman (which he is all in one person), quite without fear of the red spectre. Austria is now being put in fear of the International, just as it was fooled about the 'revolution' and the 'Carbonari' in 1823 at Verona and later in Carlsbad.[12] But that you will come in for your share, is clear enough.

My wife[13] and Mrs Marx are in Ramsgate; I shall also spend a few days there this week, but shall be back here on Saturday.[14] If you do not come, I hope that Bebel will. We were very pleased to hear that the baby[15] is doing so well. With best regards from Marx and me to all your family.

Your

F E Still no news from Lafargue.

  1. ↑ Liebknecht offered Engels a mandate to attend the International's 1871 London Conference (see Note 265). Engels was to represent the Saxonian members of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party. See also this volume, p. 232.
  2. ↑ 16 September
  3. ↑ The German translation of Marx's The Civil War in France was made by Engels and published in Der Volksstaat (Nos. 52-61, 28 June and 1, 5, 8, 12, 16, 19, 22, 26 and 29 July 1871), and, in abridged form, in Der Vorbote in August-October 1871; it also came out as a pamphlet in Leipzig.
  4. ↑ The London Trades Council was elected at a conference of trade union delegates in 1860. The Council headed the London trade unions, numbering many thousand members, and was fairly influential among the British workers. On 14 January 1867 the London Council resolved to co-operate with the International Association 'for the furtherance of all questions affecting the interests of labour; at the same time continuing the London Trades Council as a distinct and independent body as before'.
  5. ↑ On 9 August 1871 Der Volksstaat published a statement by Amand Goegg addressed to the editors of the Schwäbischer Merkur, in which he declared himself an advocate of individualism. On 12 August Der Volksstaat published Bernhard Becker's letter headed 'Zur Geschichte des Preußischen Regierungssozialismus' referring to the time of his expulsion from the General Association of German Workers (1865).
  6. ↑ General Council members Odger and Lucraft expressed their disapproval of the Address of the General Council The Civil War in France, virtually joining in the campaign of slander against the International started by the bourgeois press when this Address was published. At its meetings on 20 and 27 June 1871 the General Council unanimously condemned Odger and Lucraft and accepted their resignations.
  7. ↑ Referring to Engels' doubts about the wisdom of inviting Bernhard Becker to contribute to Der Volksstaat (see this volume, p. 199), Liebknecht wrote on 8 September 1871 that the editorial board 'needed men of ability', but that they intended to keep him 'on a string'.
  8. ↑ capable of everything
  9. ↑ The reference is to B. Becker, Enthüllungen über das tragische Lebensende Ferdinand Lassalle's, Schleiz, 1868. Engels gave his assessment of this work in the article 'On the Dissolution of the Lassallean Workers' Association (Postscript)' (see present edition, Vol. 21, p. 24).
  10. ↑ On 9 September 1871 Der Volksstaat, No. 73, published an announcement, 'Zur Notiz', informing the readers that the paper, 'by agreement with the General Council, ... would be publishing an authentic history of the Paris Commune'.
  11. ↑ In the summer of 1871, Bismarck and the Chancellor of Austria-Hungary Beust took coordinated steps to curb the working-class movement. The German and Austrian emperors specially discussed joint measures against the International at their meetings in Bad Gastein in August, and in Salzburg in September 1871. The Italian government joined the general crusade against the International by breaking up the Naples Section in August 1871, and persecuting members of the International, Theodor Cuno among others (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 151-52).
  12. ↑ Czech name: Karlovy Vary.
  13. ↑ Lydia Burns
  14. ↑ Engels was on another holiday in Ramsgate (see Note 294) around 13-15 September 1871.
  15. ↑ Karl Liebknecht