Letter to Wilhelm Bracke, April 21, 1877

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 21 April 1877


First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1932
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


MARX TO WILHELM BRACKE[1]

IN BRUNSWICK

[London,] 21 April 1877

Dear Bracke,

On the sheet enclosed herewith I have again noted down for your benefit the most glaring of Kurz's mistakes.[2]

Months ago, when I ceased to correspond with her, I told Miss Kurz that, being so short of time, I could at most only undertake to correct errors of fact such as might be made by any foreigner insufficiently au fait with French conditions—but not mere mistakes in translation.

Hence, if she does not proceed more carefully (I shall spare enough time for one or two more proof-sheets), you will have to find an expert corrector and deduct what you pay him from the translator's fee.

You should devise one footnote in which you say once and for all that all notes, unless expressly stated otherwise, are Lissagaray's own. By so doing you would save the cost of having to put A. d. V.[3] several times on every page.

Your idea of disseminating a portrait of me taken from the caricature provided by Lachâtre[4] does not appeal to me in the least.

It is to be feared that Prussia has concluded a secret treaty with Russia; without such a treaty Russia could not invade Romania.[5]

The workers' press concerns itself too little with the oriental question, forgetting that the government's politics gamble wantonly with the lives and money of the people.

At all events, public opinion amongst the workers, petty bourgeoisie, etc., should be duly alerted long enough in advance to make things difficult for the Prussian government (in its plans e.g. to get Russia to cede a little bit of Poland or to indemnify itself at Austria's expense), should it attempt to involve Germany in the war on Russia's behalf or so much as put pressure on Austria to that end.

With kindest regards,

Yours,

K. M.

ad p. 17, Mandat tacite, the gracious lady translates this as 'silent mandate', which is nonsense; the term 'unspoken' agreements is used in German, to be sure, but never silent ones. But in the same sentence démarche de Ferrières', meaning Jules Favre's journey to Ferneres, where Bismarck was, is translated as Ferrière's demarche', thus changing Ferrières the place into a person!

ad p. 18, she has omitted the place-name from battle 'of Chevilly'.

ibid. 'Trochu... lui fit une belle Conférence'. This she translates 'read him a fine lecture', a literal schoolroom rendering which, however, makes no sense in the German.

ad p. 20, l'Hôtel de Ville she translates as 'town house'; what is meant is the September government which was housed in the 'Hôtel de Ville'.

ibid, à ce lancé, another rendering that smacks strongly of the schoolroom: 'at this throw there came a roar from the whole rabble'. What on earth does the German mean—at this throw (which?) there came a roar, etc.? Lancé should here be translated as 'virulent cry'.

ibid. 'D'autres tocsins éclatent is translated 'new' (why not old?) tocsins were pulled (!)'—What is meant is that more distress was being ventilated. The very word éclatent',[6] not to mention the[7] whole context, should have shown her what nonsense she was writing.

p. 25 Miss Kurz changed what the text calls the Cordeliers[8] of the old French Revolution into the latter's non-existent 'Franciscans'. Not content with that she changes le prolétariat de la petite bourgeoisie—the proletariat of the petty bourgeoisie—into 'the proletariat, the petty bourgeoisie'. Sheer carelessness, this!

ad p. 26, contre-maîtres she translates as 'senior boatswains', whereas here it means foremen, while chefs d'ateliers are captains of industry.

ad. p. 30, 'Paris capitulait avant le 15 sans l'irritation des patriotes'. Kurz translates this as 'Paris capitulated before the 15th, without exacerbation on the patriots' part', which would be correct if the original read:

'Paris capitulait etc. sans irritation de la part des patriotes (instead of what it actually says: sans l'irritation des patriotes').

Hence, what is meant is precisely the opposite, namely: 'Had it not been for the exacerbation of the patriots, Paris would have capitulated before the 15th.'

What is patently at fault here—the sentence is a very simple one—is once again the most unpardonable carelessness.

ad. p. 32, 'Jules Favre demandait à Trochu sa démission'. Kurz translates this as: 'Jules Favre demanded his dismissal of Trochu.' Since a man does not dismiss himself from office, but is dismissed by his superiors, this sentence could only mean that Jules Favre wished to be dismissed from office by Trochu. In fact, however, Jules Favre demanded his (Trochu's) resignation of Trochu which is, indeed, the literal rendering of 'démission'.

  1. ↑ An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.
  2. ↑ Considering it very important to familiarise workers with the true history of the Paris Commune, Marx became actively involved in the commissioning of a German translation of a book written by one of its members, Prosper Olivier Lissagaray, Histoire de la Commune de 1871. He requested Wilhelm Bracke, and Engels asked Wilhelm Bios to find somebody to do the job. The sample translation done by Julius Grunzig failed to satisfy Marx, as did that by Isolde Kurz. Although Marx was already overburdened with work, he had to spend a great deal of time and effort editing the translation. In the autumn of 1877, on Marx's and Engels' proposal, Wilhelm Bios was recruited as another editor. Lissagaray's book appeared in German in Brunswick late in 1877.— 155, 172, 189, "l 96,' 222, 230, 262, 266, 285 19.) The general socialist congress held in Gotha from 19 to 23 August 1876 decided, at its meeting of 23 August, to publish a single organ of the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, Vorwärts, that was lo replace Der Volksstaat and Der Neue Social-Demokrat. The congress elected Wilhelm Liebknecht and Wilhelm Hasenclever editors of the new paper, which was to appear from 1 October.
  3. ↑ Short for Anmerkung des Verfassers—author's note.
  4. ↑ In the second half of July 1874, Marx took a rest cure in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Engels was in Ramsgate (Eastbourne) between mid-July and mid-August 1874.
  5. ↑ In March 1877, the Romanian government agreed to let Russian troops pass through its territory. On 24 April Russia declared war on Turkey.
  6. ↑ break out
  7. ↑ See this volume, p. 227.
  8. ↑ In Mid-June 1877, Engels wrote a short biography of Marx which was published in the Volks-Kalender for 1878 (see present edition, Vol. 24, pp. 183-95).