Letter to Ferdinand Jozewicz, February 1, 1872

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 1 February 1872


First published in Die Gesellschaft, No. 3, Berlin, 1933. Printed according to a handwritten copy
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


MARX TO FERDINAND JOZEWICZ[1]

IN BERLIN

[London,] 1 February 1872

Dear Citizen,

I have delayed my reply to your letter for 3 reasons. Firstly, overwork, since in addition to all the confusion which a few vain mediocrities under the control of government agents have stirred up in the International—my time is taken up with a second German edition of my book on capital,[2] with a French edition,[3] for which I have to prepare a plan after the second German edition, and, finally, with a Russian edition, for which I had to supply a number of alterations to the text.[4]

Secondly, the stamps[5] were only delivered to the General Council at the beginning of this week. I enclose 500. The German edition of the Rules and Administrative Regulations is in the press and will soon be available for despatch from the Volksstaat at 1 silver groschen each.

Thirdly, we are busy drawing up a circular[6] to be printed for private circulation which will give a clear account of the intrigues of Bakunin and his comrades, etc. As soon as it is finished and in print, you shall receive a copy. For the moment, I would only say that as regards the French, everyone worth keeping is sticking by us. The small separate section that was formed here has now split into 3 sections which are devouring each other.[7]

With fraternal greetings,

Karl Marx

  1. ↑ A copy of this letter, written by Marx in reply to Jozewicz's letter of 6-7 December 1871, was discovered in the Prussian Secret State Archives among the documents of Berlin's Police Presidium.
  2. ↑ A reference to the 'Circulaire à toutes les fédérations de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs' adopted at Sonvillier on 12 November 1871 (see Note 374). It was printed in La Emancipation, the organ of the Spanish Federal Council, on 25 December 1871.
  3. ↑ In his letter to Marx of 28 November 1871 Meissner wrote that almost the whole of the first German edition of Volume I of Capital, issued in 1867, had been sold out. He suggested that Marx should start preparing the second German edition (see Note 145).
  4. ↑ See this volume, p. 238.
  5. ↑ Resolution IV of the 1871 London Conference introduced penny stamps for the payment of membership dues. 'These stamps are to be affixed to a special sheet of the livret or to the Rules which every member is held to possess' (see present edition, Vol. 22, p. 424). Consequently, the General Council ceased to issue membership cards.
  6. ↑ In his letter of 18 July 1870, Eugen Oswald, a German refugee, asked Marx to sign an Address on the Franco-Prussian War drawn up by a group of French and German democratic refugees. The Address was published as a leaflet on 31 July 1870; the editions that followed were signed by Marx, Engels, Liebknecht, Bebel and other members of the International. Marx and his associates agreed to sign it on conditions outlined by Marx in his letter to Oswald of 3 August 1870 (see this volume, p. 34).
    Oswald enclosed with his letter an excerpt from Louis Blanc's letter in which he called for the Address on the Franco-Prussian War to be signed by as many people as possible.
  7. ↑ The French Section of 1871 was formed in London in September of that year by French refugees. The leaders of the Section established close contacts with Bakuninists in Switzerland. The Rules of the French Section of 1871, published in Qui Vivel, its official newspaper, were submitted to the General Council at its extraordinary meeting on 16 October 1871 and referred to a special commission (see Note 341). At the General Council meeting of 17 October Marx tabled a resolution on behalf of the commission (present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 24-27), recommending that the Section bring several paragraphs of its Rules into line with the Rules of the International. In its letter of 31 October signed by Augustin Avrial, the Section rejected the General Council resolution. This reply was discussed in the commission and at the General Council meeting of 7 November 1871. Auguste Serraillier, Corresponding Secretary for France, submitted a resolution written by Marx, which was adopted unanimously by the Council (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 37-42). In December 1871 the French Section of 1871 split up into a number of groups. In some of his letters Marx called this section French Section No. 2 to distinguish it from the French Section in London, established in 1865 (see Note 50).