Letter to Karl Marx, February 23, 1877

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 23 February 1877


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Brighton, 23 February 1877
42 King's Road

Dear Moor,

I wrote to Bignami last week, took out a subscription to the Plebe, and wrote to him about the elections.[1] Three days ago, before we left,[2] I received 3 numbers, and he is going to let me have some that are missing.[3] My intervention could not have come at a better time.

Plebe, 7 January, reports proceedings at the Assizes against Bignami, the Questore[4] of Turin (the self-same man who treated Terzaghi to a 'vermouth', see Alliance de la Démocratie Socialiste[5] ), for embezzlement (tout comme chez nous[6] ). A policeman, one Blandini, stated that, on Bignami's orders, he had carried out a pro-forma[7] house search chez Terzaghi, having also been ordered by Bignami only to remove what Terzaghi should give him. When a warrant went out for Terzaghi's arrest, he had already been notified by another policeman, Premerlani, acting on Bignami's orders; Terzaghi era un agente segreto di Bignami che gli dava tre lire[8] (francs) al giorno! About which the Plebe remarked that this showed what use the fondi segreti dei governi di classe[9] were put to. To which there came a reply from a little Bakuninist sheet, II Martello[10] —the name betrays my Cafiero.—Since discussion of the revolting Terzaghi case was not permissible, the little sheet fastened on the fondi segreti dei governi di classe: so in your case, it said, the governi non di classe[11] would likewise have fondi segreti,[12] so in your case, too, everything would remain as before—there follows all the same old anarchist rigmarole que l'on sait.[13] Having replied to this in due form, the Plebe at once proceeded to attack the Bulletin Jurassien for having been sent into a rage by four lines in the Plebe and acting as though the Plebe were enraged although it had simply been edificata[14] by the Jurassien's insinuation.

Come to that, [said the Plebe,] one would have to be exceedingly ingenuo[15] to take the bait proffered by people who, green with envy, went knocking at door after door to beg for a bit of animosity towards us in return for their calumnies. The hand, which has long been sowing tares and discord, is sufficiently well known for its Loyolan[16] machinations to be instantly detectable and gli onesti non ne facciano tantosto giustizia?[17]

The same No. contains a letter from E. Dörenberg (Drbg. of the Berliner Freie Presse) on the elections in Berlin.

No. of 16 February, letter from Brussels, 'Cesar De Paepe' about the recent Flemish agitation for factory laws and general suffrage, ends:

Noi crediamo altresi di arrivare, con questo metodo, più prontamente e più puramente all'emancipazione del proletario, piuttosto che star Xi, abbaiando alia luna per degli anni e dei quarti di secolo, e attendendo che mamma Rivoluzione voglia degnarsi di venire a spezzarsi le catene dei lavoratori)[18]

It further speaks of old Becker's proclamation[19] as a symptom, and in most amicable terms.

A very delighted letter from Bignami today, in which he says he will print my stuff on the elections, and confirms that the Federazione dell'alta Italia,[20] which extends from Venice to Turin and will shortly be holding a congress,[21] vuole lottare sul terreno del suffragio universale.[22] The Plebe is its official organ.

Thus the stronghold of lawyers, literati and dilettanti in Italy has been breached. And the best part of it is that all the former Alliance men[23] in Milan, Mauro Gandolfi, etc., of Cuno's time also seem to have gone over. Indeed, a bogus working men's movement could not have survived long in an industrial city like Milan. And Northern Italy is decisive not only strategically, but also to the working men's movement throughout the whole length of the agrarian peninsula.

Thus the world government in Neuchâtel[24] has nothing left that is uncontested except for Spain, and how long will that last?

If these events are to be followed more closely, by the way, it is high time that Mr Demuth took out a subscription to the Bulletin jurassien, as agreed. After all, we've got to know what anathemas are being uttered by the Holy See's universal dictator and deputy.[25]

Warmest regards to all,

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels' letter to Enrico Bignami of 13 February dealing with the results of the elections to the German Reichstag of 10 January 1877 (see Note 237), was read out at the congress of the Federation of Northern Italy (see Note 252) and then published in La Plebe, No. 7, 26 February 1877. See Engels' 'Letter to Enrico Bignami on the German Elections of 1877' (present edition, Vol. 24).
  2. ↑ From about 20 February to 17 March and in the second half of May 1877, Engels stayed in Brighton with his sick wife.
  3. ↑ On 20 February Engels received La Plebe of 7 and 21 January and 16 February 1877.
  4. ↑ chief of police
  5. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association.
  6. ↑ just like at home (a modified phrase from Nolant de Fatouville's comedy Arlequin, empereur dans la lune; 'tout comme ici' (just as here) is the stock response made by the people listening to Harlequin's inventions about life on the moon)
  7. ↑ formal
  8. ↑ was a secret agent of Bignami's who gave him three lire
  9. ↑ class governments' secret funds
  10. ↑ See La Plebe, 21 January 1877.
  11. ↑ non-class governments
  12. ↑ secret funds
  13. ↑ we are familiar with
  14. ↑ edified
  15. ↑ ingenuous
  16. ↑ from the name of St. Ignatius of Loyola, i.e. Jesuitical
  17. ↑ Honest folk won't take very long to size it up.
  18. ↑ We likewise believe that we shall, by this means, achieve the emancipation of the proletariat more promptly and more thoroughly than if we were to stand for years and generations baying at the moon and waiting until Mother Revolution should deign to come and break the workers' chains.
  19. ↑ The circular of the Central Committee of the German-language sections to the Zurich section, drawn up by Johann Philipp Becker, was published as pamphlets in German and French in Zurich in October 1876 (see Note 231). It criticised the proposal advanced by the Zurich section of the International to take part in the anarchist congress in Berne scheduled for October of that year (see Note 200).
  20. ↑ Federation of Northern Italy
  21. ↑ The second congress of the International's Federation of Northern Italy was held in Milan on 17 and 18 February 1877. On the significance of the congress, see Engels' article 'From Italy' (present edition, Vol. 24).
  22. ↑ intends to fight on the terrain of universal suffrage
  23. ↑ The Alliance of Socialist Democracy was founded by Mikhail Bakunin in Geneva in October 1868 as an international anarchist organisation which incorporated the secret conspiratorial organisation he had set up earlier in Italy (see Note 266). The Alliance had sections in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and in the south of France. In 1869, it applied to the General Council of the International Working Men's Association for admission. The General Council agreed to admit the sections to the International on condition that the Alliance was disbanded as an independent organisation. Having joined the International, Bakunin to all intents and purposes ignored this decision and incorporated the Alliance into the International under the guise of a Geneva Section (called the 'Alliance of Socialist Democracy. Central Section'). Marx, Engels and the General Council resolutely opposed the Alliance, exposing it as a sect hostile to the working-class movement which sought to split it and obstruct its independent development. At the Hague Congress of the International (1872), the Bakuninists sustained a shattering blow. Bakunin and Guillaume, the leaders of the Alliance, were expelled from the International.
  24. ↑ Neuchâtel (Switzerland) was the place of residence of James Guillaume who, after Mikhail Bakunin's death in 1876 headed the international anarchist alliance (see also Note 193).
  25. ↑ James Guillaume