Letter to Friedrich Engels, September 18, 1874

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 18 September 1874


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


MARX TO ENGELS

IN LONDON

Karlsbad, 18 September 1874

Dear FRED,

We shall set off on Monday[1] ; we shall make for Hamburg via Leipzig,[2] where I shall stop off for a while and see Wilhelm.[3]

You know that I am very lazy when it comes to writing, but on this occasion that was not the cause of my stubborn silence. The first three weeks were spent almost without sleep. Together with the exertion here that will make it all clear to you.

Although you drink only in the morning (evenings, before going to bed, we have a cold glass from a special spring brought into the house), the fact is that the whole day you find yourself caught up in a sort of machine that hardly leaves you a minute.

Up at 5 or half past 5 in the morning. Then 6 glasses from different springs, one after the other. There must be at least a quarter of an hour between each glass.

Then breakfast is prepared, beginning with the purchase of pastry appropriate to the cure. After that, a walk lasting at least one hour. Finally, some of the very excellent coffee available here in one of the coffee houses outside the town. This is followed by a walking tour through the surrounding hills; at ABOUT noon you return home, but have to take a bath every other day, which takes up yet another hour.

There follows a change of toilette; puis luncheon in a local hotel.

Sleeping after meals is strictly forbidden (it is allowed before meals) and rightly so, as I have become convinced after a single attempt. So, another tour, alternating with an excursion. Return to Karlsbad 6-8 in the evening, a light snack, and — to bed. This programme is varied by visits to the theatre (which always closes at 9, like all other ENTERTAINMENTS), concerts and reading room.

The effect of the waters is to make my head very IRRITABLE. SO you will appreciate how unbearable Kugelmann has become in the long run. He had been so considerate as to give me a room between his and Tussy's so that I enjoyed him, not just when we were together, but also when I was alone. I patiently endured the way he incessantly poured out his solemn, long-winded balderdash in his deep voice. I had greater difficulty in putting up with the gang of Hamburg-Bremen-Hanover philistines, male and female alike, who simply refused to leave me in peace. But my patience came to an end finally when he inflicted his family scenes on me. The fact is that this arch-pedant, this pettifogging, bourgeois philistine has got the idea that his wife[4] is unable to understand him, to comprehend his Faustian nature with its aspirations to a higher world outlook, and he torments the woman, who is his superior in every respect, in the most repulsive manner. So it led to a quarrel between us; I moved to a higher floor, completely liberated myself from him (he was having a ruinous effect on my cure) and we only became reconciled once more just before his departure (which took place last Sunday[5] ). However, I declared point-blank that I would not visit him in Hanover.

A man who turned out to be quite an agreeable companion was Simon Deutsch (the same one I had the row with in Paris, and who looked me up without more ado here). In addition half the local medical faculty soon assembled round my daughter[6] and me; all very acceptable people for my present purpose when I have to think little and laugh often. Also Knille, the painter from Berlin, a very charming chap.

Shall regale you in London with some amusing details of my adventures with Hans Heiling Kugelmann.

The more one hears of the details about the 'situation in Austria' the more one becomes convinced that this state is coming to the end of the line.

Up to now I have lost about 4 lbs (imperial weight) and even with my hand I can feel that the fat on my liver is in a status evanescens. I believe that I have finally achieved my purpose in Karlsbad, at least for a year. It would give me great pleasure if I could find a few lines from you awaiting me at Meissner's in Hamburg.

With best regards from Tussy and me to Madame Lizzy and Pumps.

Your

Moor

I was invited to go to Ischl (by Dr Kraus, editor of the Wiener Medizinische Zeitung) and to Prague by Mr Oppenheim (the brother of Mrs Kugelmann and a very agreeable man), but after a certain stage is reached, one longs to be back at home.

  1. ↑ 21 September
  2. ↑ On 15 August 1874 Marx, accompanied by his daughter Eleanor, left for Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) on doctors' recommendations, where he stayed from 19 August to 21 September. On the way back to London, Marx stopped off in Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg. In Leipzig, where he stayed approximately from 25 to 28 September, he had talks about the state of the German working-class movement with Wilhelm Liebknecht and Wilhelm Bios, as well as with members of the Leipzig party branch. While in Hamburg on 29 September-1 October, Marx met Social-Democratic leaders.
  3. ↑ Liebknecht
  4. ↑ Gertrud Kugelmann
  5. ↑ 13 September
  6. ↑ Eleanor Marx