Letter to Friedrich Engels, December 7, 1873

Author(s)	Karl Marx
Written	7 December 1873

First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. IV, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44

MARX TO ENGELS

IN LONDON

[Harrogate,] 7 December 1873

Dear Engels,

Of the £60 you gave me, ABOUT £23 remained for my journey (having made payments as follows: £10 to Moore^[1] et Co.; instalments: £5 to BEERMAN, £5 to GROCER, £5 to Withers, £2.l7sh. interest to the pawnbrokers, £4 dress, boots, etc., for Tussy, £5 left for my wife). With £10 more I shall have LARGELY enough, but will need £12 if I return via Manchester, as I promised Gumpert, and stay there for 2 days.

Be so good as to give my wife only £20 of the £100, and keep the £80 for me in reserve, as I have to make major payments on 3 and 16 January and would not like to expose her to the temptation of paying off less urgent debts.

The £5 will just have to be shoved down the throat of the Co.^[2]

I shall write to Moore today about collecting the remittances.

My COLD, which was damned SEVERE, has not yet gone completely, and I am still downing the medicine which Gumpert prescribed me from Manchester as soon as he heard of it. I hope it will be cured in 1-2 days. But you can see from the fact that I have not felt so well for years, despite this irksome, dizzy-making incident, what an extraordinarily beneficial effect the air here and the peaceful life have had on me (I have done absolutely no work whatsoever).

I caught the COLD through following too literally Gumpert's advice to take vigorous exercise after drinking the waters. It should have been clear from the state of the sky that a storm was to be expected.

The cure is doing Tussychen a world of good. Likewise the regimen which prescribes bed by 11 o'clock at the latest.

The table of contents of De Paepe's planned magnum opus^[3] features, as the main section of Book 2, données physiologiques^[4] :

'Analysis of Labour Power and Physiological Conditions of Its Existence.' 1. Karl Marx's theory of labour power, necessary labour and surplus labour.—The great economic and social significance of this theory; 2. Physiological analysis of what Marx calls labour power or the power of the labourer.—This force comprises three principal elements: the power of the nerves, the power of the muscles, the power of the senses."

You see how he thus takes the opportunity to enter medical territory. The section ends:

14. How the foregoing physiological data enable us to determine, as precisely as possible, the value of labour power as the basis of all exchange value and the foundation of all economic science.

The last sounds like a misunderstanding. Then comes the theory of population under the heading: 'Data furnished by the study of the functions of reproduction.' I see from the table of contents that because of the delays in publishing the French translation of Capital,^[5] he is unfamiliar with what has been done there and hence has been unable to appropriate it in any way.

The recalcitrance of the Cuban SLAVEHOLDERS is a GODSEND; it would be highly undesirable for the matter to drift on so indecisively. Moreover, any unpleasant complication that overtakes Castelar et Co. is to be welcomed.^[6]

Have you read the Pope's^[7] Encyclical in which, very transparent- ly, our handsome William^[8] is compared to the Roman Emperors who persecuted the Apostles and followers of Christ?^[9]

The Left in the French Assembly will probably find itself subjected to special regulations. The scoundrels are reluctant to walk out en masse, for that would mean the end of the security which is the citizen's prime duty, as well as the official position of importance and the parliamentary remuneration, etc.

Gumpert wants to know when you are next going to show yourself in Manchester? I have reassured him by saying that you would in all likelihood come up on business in the spring.

COMPLIMENTS TO MRS LIZZY.

Your

K. M.

^[10]

↑ George Moore
↑ In 1873 Lafargue together with Benjamin Le Moussu and George Moore tried to open up in London an association dealing in the production of engravings. After Lafargue had resigned from the business in late summer 1873, he was replaced by Marx. The association fell apart in the spring of 1874.
↑ In November and December 1873 L'Internationale printed announcements of the publication, scheduled for 1874, of César De Paepe's work Considérations et recherches sur le problème social au XIX siècle, and gave the table of contents of this work. Below Marx quotes the table of contents of Volume 2 featured in L'Internationale, Nos. 254, 255 and 257, 23 and 30 November and 14 December 1873. De Paepe's work was not published.
↑ physiological data
↑ On 7 January 1872 Lafargue wrote TO ENGELS that since Proudhonist ideas held considerable sway with Spanish workers he had arranged with José Mesa to have Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy translated into Spanish, and passed on Mesa's request that a special foreword be written for the Spanish edition. However, the translation was not completed, and the foreword was not written. Several excerpts translated into Spanish were carried by La Emancipaciôn.
↑ In 1868-1878 the Cuban people waged a national liberation war against Spanish colonial rule. On 31 October 1873 the Spanish corvette Tornado attacked and captured the American steamer Virginius on the open sea. The steamer was carrying military supplies and reinforcements for the insurgents in Cuba. On arrival in Santiago de Cuba, Captain Fry, several of the crew and passengers were put to death. The US government demanded that the culprits be punished, the vessel returned, and the surviving crew members and passengers released. The Spanish head of government Castelar agreed to meet some of the demands, but the authorities in Havana refused to act on his orders. The conflict was finally settled on 12 December 1873.
↑ Pius IX
↑ William I
↑ A reference to the Pope's Encyclical of 21 November 1873 issued in connection with the measures introduced by Bismarck's government against the Catholic Church in Germany (the so-called Kulturkampf).'
↑ Here and below Marx quotes from De Paepe in French.

[1] George Moore

[2] In 1873 Lafargue together with Benjamin Le Moussu and George Moore tried to open up in London an association dealing in the production of engravings. After Lafargue had resigned from the business in late summer 1873, he was replaced by Marx. The association fell apart in the spring of 1874.

[3] In November and December 1873 L'Internationale printed announcements of the publication, scheduled for 1874, of César De Paepe's work Considérations et recherches sur le problème social au XIX siècle, and gave the table of contents of this work. Below Marx quotes the table of contents of Volume 2 featured in L'Internationale, Nos. 254, 255 and 257, 23 and 30 November and 14 December 1873. De Paepe's work was not published.

[4] ysiological data

[5] On 7 January 1872 Lafargue wrote TO ENGELS that since Proudhonist ideas held considerable sway with Spanish workers he had arranged with José Mesa to have Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy translated into Spanish, and passed on Mesa's request that a special foreword be written for the Spanish edition. However, the translation was not completed, and the foreword was not written. Several excerpts translated into Spanish were carried by La Emancipaciôn.

[6] In 1868-1878 the Cuban people waged a national liberation war against Spanish colonial rule. On 31 October 1873 the Spanish corvette Tornado attacked and captured the American steamer Virginius on the open sea. The steamer was carrying military supplies and reinforcements for the insurgents in Cuba. On arrival in Santiago de Cuba, Captain Fry, several of the crew and passengers were put to death. The US government demanded that the culprits be punished, the vessel returned, and the surviving crew members and passengers released. The Spanish head of government Castelar agreed to meet some of the demands, but the authorities in Havana refused to act on his orders. The conflict was finally settled on 12 December 1873.

[7] Pius IX

[8] William I

[9] A reference to the Pope's Encyclical of 21 November 1873 issued in connection with the measures introduced by Bismarck's government against the Catholic Church in Germany (the so-called Kulturkampf).'

[10] Here and below Marx quotes from De Paepe in French.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]