Letter to Ludwig Kugelmann, October 20, 1876

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 20 October 1876


First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1939
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO LUDWIG KUGELMANN

IN HANOVER

London, 20 October 1876

122 Regent's Park Road, N. W. Dear Kugelmann,

You may give Mr Caro the most positive assurances that, aside from announcements of family events in the more distant past and personal statements signed with his name on the Vogt affair, etc., Marx has never written one line for the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung,[1] and, if the gentlemen in Breslau[2] know better, we can only treat it as a joke. We don't even know Mr Caro by name, though his friendship with Gorchakov leads us to suppose that he knows relatively little of Russia, for Gorchakov would not be on such a footing with people who were too well versed in this subject. So let us hope that the order which is still lacking will shortly pop into the buttonhole that is pining for it.

Just now I'm writing a work on Mr Dühring for the Vorwärts in Leipzig.[3] For this purpose I need the review of Capital which you sent to Marx in March 1868 and which, if I'm not mistaken, was published by Dühring in a periodical appearing in Hildburghausen. Marx simply can't find it. Knowing how conscientious you are in all matters, I presume you have something about it among your notes from that time—the name, perhaps, of the periodical and the No. of the volume in which the thing appeared. If you could let me know this, I would order the volume and have it here within a few days. But if you can't, you should, under no circumstances, write to Dühring about it, for the slightest—even if indirect—contact with the man and, still more, the very slightest service rendered by him would impair my freedom of criticism in a matter in which I should preserve it to the utmost.

Work on the second volume[4] will be started again in a few days. If, by the way, one wishes to correct all the inanities about Marx that circulate in learned circles, one would have one's work cut out. Yesterday, for example, a Russian told us about a Russian professor who stubbornly maintained that Marx was now engaged solely in Russian studies and was doing so because firmly convinced que la commune russe ferait le tour du monde[5]

The war in the Orient will doubtless really get going soon.[6]

Never before have the Russians been able to strike under such favourable diplomatic circumstances as now. Militarily speaking, on the other hand, circumstances are less favourable to Russia than in 1828, and financially very unfavourable, since no one will lend her anything. Just now I'm re-reading Moltke's history of the war of 1828-29[7] ; a very good book although the man could not be frank about political matters.

Thank you for the Schäffle article.

Your

F. Engels

  1. ↑ In connection with the Vogt affair Marx had four statements printed in the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung: 1) 'Letter to the Editor of the Allgemeine Zeitung' (No. 300, 27 October 1859); 2) 'Declaration' to the Editorial Board of the Allgemeine Zeitung (supplement to No. 325, 21 November 1859); 3) 'To the Editors of the Volks-Zeitung' (supplement to No. 48, 17 February 1860); and 4) 'Declaration' to the Editorial Boards of the Allgemeine Zeitung and other German Newspapers (supplement to No. 336, 1 December 1860). See present edition, Vol. 17, pp. 3, 8-9, 12-13 and 19-20).
  2. ↑ Polish name: Wroclaw.
  3. ↑ This is probably a reference to Dühring's Cursus der Philosophie als streng wissenschaftlicher Weltanschauung und Lebensgestaltung, Leipzig, 1875. Engels criticised the book in his Anti-Dühring (see present edition, Vol. 25, Part I, 'Philosophy').
  4. ↑ of Capital
  5. ↑ that the Russian commune would make its way round the world
  6. ↑ Engels' forecast based on an in-depth analysis of European policy in the Levant proved correct. The Russo-Turkish war began on 24 April 1877 and ended in defeat for Turkey. On 3 March 1878, the preliminary San Stefano Treaty (see Note 430) was signed, which granted complete sovereignty to Serbia, Montenegro and Romania.
  7. ↑ [H. K. B.] von Moltke, Der russisch-türkische Feldzug in der europäischen Türkei 1828 und 1829.