Letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht, April 23, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 23 April 1872


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, 23 April 1872

Dear Liebknecht,

We all send you our congratulations on your performance in court.[1] After the trial of the Brunswickers[2] it was essential for someone to stand up to that gang and you have fairly done so. The only thing you might have left unsaid was the statement about the 1,000 members of the International.[3]

Here in England jurymen are locked up overnight or kept prisoner under guard in an hotel, to make sure that they do not come into contact with anyone. They are taken for walks under escort and are also escorted to church on Sundays, if they wish to go. An exception is only made in cases like the Tichborne trial,[4] where this was not possible because of the inordinate duration of the proceedings (105 days), but even then the jurymen are harassed in all sorts of ways.

Marx will reply to the Concordia[5] as soon as he has compared The Times of 1864.[6]

Your letter appeared in The Eastern Post[7] ; whether it also appeared in The Morning Post is not to be discovered, since the paper is unobtainable here. The fact is that reading rooms where such things would be preserved, have simply ceased to exist. We send The Eastern Post regularly to the ends of the earth so that the letter will be publicised far more widely—and among the right people—than through other papers.

We can scarcely doubt that the sentence must be quashed. Such breaches of the law have been unheard of since the Demagogue trials.[8] Nor can it be to the advantage of the national-liberal bourgeoisie to establish such precedents, and I doubt very much whether Bismarck, who is hiding behind the small states with the intention of discrediting them, would be willing to risk that sort of thing in Prussia.

I have seen very little about the trial in the English press—I have so many foreign papers to read that I can only read The Daily News and you must realise that since the introduction of the PENNY PRESS[9] it is not possible to find papers anywhere to read without buying them. The article from The Daily News[10] is enclosed; you can make good use of it.

I have passed the bill for the Rules[11] on to Marx; we shall send the money at the first opportunity.

I have not been able to get hold of a photograph of Blanqui up to now. The French have one but will not part with it, and there is none to be found here.

Enclosed the receipt for the 6 reichsthalers for the refugees. It is just not possible for us to conjure up an introduction to the Manifesto out of a hat for you.[12] We shall have to study the socialist literature of the last 24 years, if we are to bring Section III up to date. This must be postponed for a subsequent edition, but we intend to send you a small preface[13] for the separate edition, and that will suffice for the moment.

What Scheu[14] has to say about the Belgians is partly correct; the fellows have never been worth much and are now worth less than ever. We have sent someone over there who will let us have a detailed report shortly. At all events Scheu's deductions are wide of the mark—the mass of the people will never go so far with Messrs Hins (who through his Russian wife has a certain connection with Bakunin) and Steens (whose vanity is great enough to seduce him into foolish adventures). Particularly since we are making very good progress elsewhere in the world. Our people have defeated the Bakuninists at the Spanish Congress in Saragossa.[15]

As for Cuno, he has behaved extremely well in Milan and what he tells me in his letters about his fate is completely true and has been confirmed by the Italian press.[16] But it seems quite undeniable to me that, on his journeyings, having been shown the door for the sake of the International through no fault of his own and having landed in Bavaria, helpless and penniless, he has since been treated very uncouthly indeed by the people he has encountered in various places. He may have had rather dewy-eyed ideas about the help he might look forward to, but your money would be better spent if it were reserved for people such as him, instead of its being squandered on tramps and rogues like Rüdt, etc., about whom you yourselves write letters like those read out at the trial (and which have unfortunately not appeared in the Volksstaat—as though that might help!). But, of course, Cuno was not one of the full-fledged men of the 'Party' and so had no business getting into trouble! If I had money I would really sooner send it to him than to anyone else.

The General Council's circular against the Bakuninists[17] is now likely to appear next week; it is a French edition. The first instalment of Marx's second edition[18] will also come out soon, but do not mention it until Marx writes to you about it or until it is out.[19] The Russian translation[20] —a very good one—is out, the French version[21] is in the press.

Enclosed are:

1. Receipt for the 6 thalers. 2. 3 cuttings from The Eastern Post—meetings of the General Council,[22] etc. 3. 1 ditto on the celebrations of 18 March.[23] 4. 2 Irish documents.[24] 5. Our reply to the debate in Parliament.[25] 6. Article from The Daily News on your trial.[26]

So nine items in all.

Must catch the post. Best regards to Bebel and keep your chin up; they haven't got you in jug yet. But make sure that the sale of the stamps goes through properly and not just in Leipzig; we shall be very strict at the next Congress.

Best wishes to your family.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Following the arrest of Bebel, Liebknecht and Hepner (17 December 1870), Bismarck's government started preparations for a trial of the leaders of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party, who were charged with 'high treason' (see Note 134). The trial was held in Leipzig between 11 and 26 March 1872.
    Though the charges brought against them had not been proved, Bebel and Liebknecht were condemned to two-year imprisonment in a fortress (with the deduction of the two months they had spent in prison before the trial); Hepner was acquitted. Following the trial in Leipzig, early in July 1872 Bebel was again brought before the court 'for insulting His Majesty', which he had allegedly done when addressing workers in Leipzig. Bebel was sentenced to additional 9 months in prison and deprived of his seat in the Reichstag.
  2. ↑ The trial of Wilhelm Bracke, Bonhorst, Spier and other members of the Committee of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party took place in the Brunswick district court in November 1871. (On their arrest see Note 115.) The main point of the indictment was their membership of the International. The court found Bracke and Bonhorst guilty of 'infringing public order' and sentenced them to 16 months in prison. In February 1872, however, the court of appeal quashed the sentence as groundless and cut the term of imprisonment from 16 to 3 months, also deducting the period of preliminary detention; this virtually amounted to an acquittal.
  3. ↑ On 14 March 1872 at the trial in Leipzig, replying to the question of defence counsel Freytag II from Plauen about the strength of the International in Germany, August Bebel quoted the figure of 1,000 members.
  4. ↑ In his letters to Engels of 28 and 30 March 1872, Liebknecht wrote about violations of legal procedure at the Leipzig trial (the pressure placed on the jury by the prosecuting counsel, who constantly mixed with the jury and visited inns with them, etc.), and asked him about the corresponding English procedure.
    Engels mentions the Tichborne trial in London against adventurer Arthur Orton who, posing as Roger Charles Tichborne, tried to obtain a legacy by means of forgery and fabricated evidence; the trial began on 11 May 1871 and lasted until April 1872.
  5. ↑ Responding to the slanderous article, 'Wie Karl Marx citirt', written by the German bourgeois economist Lujo Brentano and published in the Concordia magazine, No. 10, 7 March 1872, Marx wrote a letter to Der Volksstaat on 23 May, which the newspaper carried on 1 June 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 164-67). Following the publication of Marx's reply in Der Volksstaat, Concordia, No. 27, 4 July 1872, featured another anonymous article (also written by Brentano), 'Wie Karl Marx sich vertheidigt'. Marx's reply to the second article was published in Der Volksstaat, No. 63, 7 August 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 190-97).
  6. ↑ 'The Budget', The Times, No. 24535, 17 April 1863.
  7. ↑ W. Liebknecht, 'To the Editor of The Eastern Post', The Eastern Post, No. 185, 14 April 1872 (the letter concerned the Leipzig trial).
  8. ↑ On 9 September 1870 Wilhelm Bracke, Leonhard von Bonhorst, Spier, Kühn, Gralle, and Ehlers, members of the Brunswick Committee of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party, as well as Sievers, a printer, were arrested for publishing the Manifesto on the war on 5 September (see Note 107). In November 1871 these members of the Brunswick Committee were brought to trial (see Note 335).
  9. ↑ The penny press became widespread in England after the abolition, in 1855, of the stamp tax which greatly increased the price of newspapers.
  10. ↑ 'News from Berlin', The Daily News, No. 8096, 9 April 1872.
  11. ↑ K. Marx, General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men's Association.
  12. ↑ In a letter to Engels of 19 April 1872, Liebknecht again wrote that the editorial board of Der Volksstaat intended to publish the Manifesto of the Communist Party as a separate pamphlet and requested the preface to this edition as promised. Marx and Engels wrote the preface to the new edition on 24 June 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 174-75).
  13. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, 'Preface to the 1872 German edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party'.
  14. ↑ Heinrich Scheu
  15. ↑ This assessment of the outcome of the Saragossa congress (see Note 423) was based on the information Engels received from Paul Lafargue. Following the receipt of more accurate information on the congress, specifically, on its decision to support the Belgian Federation's demand that the General Rules be revised, Engels changed his opinion. He wrote to Wilhelm Liebknecht about this on 22 May 1872 (see this volume, pp. 375-76).
  16. ↑ See this volume, p. 356.
  17. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, Fictitious Splits in the International
  18. ↑ of Volume I of Capital
  19. ↑ In early February 1871, at Marx's request, Harney sent a written inquiry to the General Land Office in Washington (see The Harney Papers. Ed. by F. G. Black and R. M. Black, Van Gorcum and Co., Assen, 1969, pp. 267-69).
  20. ↑ The Russian edition of Volume I of Capital was published at the end of March 1872; the edition of 3,000 copies was rather large for that time. It was sold very quickly, contrary to the Tsarist censors' expectations; they considered Capital to be a work 'difficult to understand', and that was the reason they allowed its publication (see also Note 146).
  21. ↑ The surviving manuscript copy of the letter does not bear the name of the addressee. However, its contents and Marx's correspondence on the subject indicate that it was addressed to the heads of the Lachâtre publishing house in Paris. On 13 February 1872 Marx received a reply from the manager Juste Vernouillet, who informed him about the despatch of copies of the agreement on the publication of the French translation of Volume I of Capital. The agreement was signed on 15 February by Marx on one side, and Maurice Lachâtre and Juste Vernouillet on the other. It stipulated that the French edition was to be published in 44 instalments, and sold five instalments at a time.
    The French authorised edition of Volume I of Capital was published between 17 September 1872 and November 1875. The translation was done by Joseph Roy, who began in February 1872 and completed work in late 1873. The quality of the translation largely failed to satisfy Marx; besides, he was convinced that the original needed to be revised to adapt it to French readers.
  22. ↑ Presumably The Eastern Post, Nos. 184-86; 7, 14 and 20 April 1872, containing reports on the General Council meetings of 2, 9 and 16 April.
  23. ↑ The General Council meeting of 20 February 1872 approved Hermann Jung's proposal to mark the anniversaries of the Paris Commune with mass rallies in London. Still, the public meeting, for which 5,000 French and British democrats had gathered, did not take place, since at the last moment the owner of the hall where it was to be held refused admission. The meeting then elected 150 delegates who made their way to Frances Street, where the Cercle d'Études Sociales was housed (see Note 613), and marked 18 March, the first anniversary of the Paris Commune, with a ceremony. At the suggestion of Commune members Albert Theisz and Zéphirin Camélinat and General Council member George Milner, the delegates adopted three short resolutions written by Marx (see present edition, Vol. 23, p. 128).
  24. ↑ Probably a reference to Police Terrorism in Ireland, a leaflet issued by the General Council of the International around 9 April 1872, and either to Propaganda Fund for Ireland (April 21st, 1872), a leaflet by the General Council Corresponding Secretary for Ireland Joseph Patrick MacDonnel, or to his To the Irish Sections of the International and the Working Classes in General (March 26th, 1872).
  25. ↑ K. Marx, 'Declaration of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association Concerning Cochrane's Speech in the House of Commons'.
  26. ↑ 'News from Berlin', The Daily News, No. 8096, 9 April 1872.