| Author(s) | Jenny Marx Longuet |
|---|---|
| Written | 22 January 1872 |
JENNY MARX (DAUGHTER)
TO LUDWIG KUGELMANN[1]
IN HANOVER
[London,] 22 January 1872
My dear Doctor,
I am afraid your plan with regard to the refugees cannot be carried out. On the slightest pretext they would be delivered up into the hands of the Versailles hangmen. Why, even here in England the ministry have been working underhand to introduce a bill for their extradition. If it does not come to that it is simply owing to the fact, that so soon as the intention of the Government had been discovered, it was at once made known to the English people, who now being forewarned will be forearmed, and will not stand tamely by to see their country degraded by such an act. I do not know whether I have told you that it was Papa who first obtained information of the plans of the Government by means of an acquaintance of his connected with the Home Ministry,[2] and that he at once made them known in the General Council, after which the news was published in The Eastern Post.[3] And yet, with such proofs of the absolute necessity for the political and diplomatic action of the General Council staring them in the face, the miserable band of intrigants, who style themselves Internationals, continue to work as indefatigably as ever to undermine the Council. In the Belgian Congress[4] you will have seen that they have already reaped the first fruits of their intrigues. They have passed a resolution, the object of which is to transform the General Council into a bureau de renseignement.[5] De Paepe, who had written to the Council some time before the Belgian Congress, and with the contents of whose letter I acquainted you, had been altogether mistaken in his appreciation of the state of affairs!
In London, Bradlaugh is doing all the dirty work, together with his understrapper Le Lubez. They do not shrink from employing the vilest means to obtain their ends. Mr Bradlaugh's latest expedient consisted in spreading the report that Karl Marx is a police agent. But instead of entering into the details of that affair, I will send you the numbers of The Eastern Post, containing the correspondence on that subject.[6]
Papa has already sent off more than half his book[7] to Meissner.[8] In the first chapter he has made great alterations, and what is more important, he himself is satisfied (which does not happen often) with these alterations. The work he has done these last few weeks is immense, and it is really a wonder that his health (it continues to be good) has not given way under it.
Entre nous, my dear friend, I must say that I think Meissner has been behaving very badly to Papa—that instead of forcing him to do all this work at the last moment, he ought to have informed him of the forthcoming publication of a second edition at least four months ago and thus have given him time.
Unfortunately Papa is obliged at this moment likewise to prepare the first chapter for the French translator who is at once to set to work, Lafargue having come across a first-rate French publisher,[9] who is very anxious to publish Das Kapital. The translator is not Keller, who was prevented from resuming his translation, because he is engaged on another work. Charles Longuet, one of the ex-members of the Commune, has found another translator for it—Leroy I believe his name is[10] —who has translated several works of Feuerbach with much skill. He is said to have succeeded in rendering in the fixed formal French language much of the movement of German thought—no easy task. The book is to come out in livraisons[11] —thirty I believe.
I must not forget to tell you that Lafargue has again been disturbed by the police, has been obliged to leave St Sebastian and is now staying at Madrid. So Laura is left alone with her child[12] in a strange country. We cannot imagine on what pretext Lafargue has again been expelled as the International, of which he formed sections, is not being persecuted at this moment in Spain.
As I wish to post this letter to-day I must say good-bye to you now. Hoping soon to have the long-promised letter from Trautchen and with my best love to her and Käuzchen,[13]
Believe me, my dear Doctor,
Very faithfully yours,
Jenny Marx
Not only in Germany books, papers and letters are being continually lost. I do not know whether this is owing to the so-called postboxes in the streets. The next time I send you anything I will post it at the office.