Letter to Carlo Cafiero, June 14, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 14 June 1872


First published in: M. Nettlau, Bakunin e I'Internazionale in Italia. Dal 1864 al 1872
Printed according to the original
Translated from the Italian
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO CARLO CAFIERO[1]

IN NAPLES

[Draft]

London, 14 June 1872

No newspapers received from him since 16 May, although The Eastern Post, etc., sent regularly. How come?[2] Might it be too much of a coincidence that at the same time (10 May) the Bulletin jurassien boasts of having in its possession private letters from me to friends in Italy 'full of odious slanders',5 etc., etc.? In any case, I have not written to anyone in Italy other than you, and it must be these letters of mine to you that Schwitzguébel's paper is referring to. You owe me an explanation of that matter and I expect you to give it to me. I am amazed that you did not supply it as soon as this was published.

My letters have nothing to fear from publication, but it is a question of honour for you to inform me whether they were sent to my enemies with your consent or not. If it was done with your consent, I can only come to one conclusion: that you have allowed yourself to be persuaded to join the Bakuninist secret society, the Alliance'10 which, preaching to the profane—behind the mask of autonomy, anarchy and anti-authoritarianism—the breaking up of the International's organisation, practises towards its initiates an absolute authoritarianism, with the aim of taking over the leadership of the Association. It is a society which treats the working masses as a flock of sheep, led by a few initiates whom they follow blindly, and which imitates, within the International, the role of the Jesuits in the Catholic Church.

If my conjecture is correct, I must congratulate you on having permanently safeguarded your precious 'autonomy' by delivering it entirely into the hands of Pope Bakunin. But I cannot believe that you, an anarchist and anti-authoritarian of the first water, should have so far forsworn your dearest principles, still less that you could stoop to such depths towards myself, when I have always treated you with the greatest sincerity and trust. In short, you must clarify this matter, and without delay. Greetings and emancipation.

Yours,

F. E.

  1. ↑ This letter was published in English for the first time in: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972.
  2. ↑ Thus far in German in the original, the rest is in Italian.