Letter to Ludwig Kugelmann, May 3, 1872

Author(s) Jenny von Westphalen
Written 3 May 1872


First published, in Italian, in Movimento operaio, No. 2, Milan, 1955
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


To Ludwig Kugelmann[1] in Hanover

London, 3 May 1872

My dear friend,

Knowing how deep an interest you take in everything that concerns Papa, I hasten to tell you that he has just received the first proof-sheets of the livraisons[2] to be published in French.[3]

Unfortunately much time has been lost because M. Lachâtre, the publisher, insisted upon printing in the first livraison a portrait of the author of Das Kapital. Perhaps we ought to excuse Lachâtre for attaching so much importance to the publication of the portrait if we take into consideration the fact that the Russian government has allowed Das Kapital to be printed, but has put its veto upon the issue of the author's likeness![4] However that may be, the fact is that it is owing to the likeness which had to be first taken, then engraved, that a great delay has been occasioned.

The translation of the first part of the book is not so good as we had every reason to hope it would be from the fame of the translator, M. Roy, who has with great success translated Feuerbach. Papa is obliged to make numberless corrections, he has to re-write not only whole sentences but entire pages. This labour, added to the correcting of the proof-sheets[5] from Germany[6] and to the overwhelming International business is too much even for Papa, though you know his Arbeitskraft[7] is extraordinary. I hope therefore you will pardon him for not writing oftener to you. It is absolutely impossible for him to do so. I greatly fear he will soon fall ill again—as so much work will be unendurable when the hot weather sets in. At the present moment his health is not bad.

I suppose you have seen from the German papers that the International has been fiercely attacked in the House of Commons? Enclosed is the answer issued by the General Council[8] and which (with the exception of The Eastern Post) not one London paper has had the common fairness to insert.[9]

Though the British Government has been obliged to declare its inability to comply with the wishes of M. Thiers openly to interfere with the International, it secretly does all the dirty work demanded of it. Mr Gladstone furnishes M. Thiers with the correspondence of the General Council to the Continent. Last week, for instance, Outine from Geneva wrote to inform us that a letter Papa had written to him on International affairs[10] had evidently been opened, and that, strange to say, at the post-office in London the words via Ostende had been changed for via Calais, which of course enabled the Versaillists to make themselves acquainted with the contents of the letter. And this letter had been registered!

We have had very sad news from Spain. Our poor little Schnaps[11] is very very ill. He has never recovered from the terrible attack of cholera he had last August. He is getting weaker and weaker.

Will you please give my love to Trautchen and tell her I will write to her soon.

With kindest regards from all at home to yourself, Trautchen and Käuzchen[12]

Believe me, my dear friend,

Very sincerely yours,

Jenny Marx

  1. ↑ Part of this letter was published in English for the first time in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Writings on the Paris Commune, Monthly Review Press, New York-London, 1971.
  2. ↑ instalments (of Volume I of Capital)
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ The second German edition of Volume I of Capital appeared between July 1872 and April 1873 in nine separate instalments, and in June 1873 it was published as a book. While preparing this edition Marx partly revised the text and introduced some changes in its structure.
  5. ↑ of the second German edition of Volume I of Capital
  6. ↑ 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 Emancipacion, the organ of the Spanish Federal Council, on 25 December 1871.
  7. ↑ capacity for work
  8. ↑ K. Marx, 'Declaration of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association Concerning Cochrane's Speech in the House of Commons'.
  9. ↑ The declaration was written by Marx in connection with the slanderous speech made in the House of Commons by Alexander Baillie-Cochrane on 12 April 1872. It was published in The Eastern Post, No. 186, 20 April 1872.
  10. ↑ This letter by Marx has not been found.
  11. ↑ Charles Etienne Lafargue
  12. ↑ Gertrud and Franziska Kugelmann