| Author(s) | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | 27 June 1880 |
MARX TO FERDINAND DOMELA NIEUWENHUIS
IN THE HAGUE
London, 27 June 1880
41 Maitland Park Road, N. W.
Dear Sir,
At the urgent insistence of my doctor I must refrain from work of any kind for some time to come; [indeed][1] I should already have left London on a recuperative trip to the seaside or mountains had I not been prevented from doing so by the very serious illness of my wife. Letters sent to the above address, however, will always find me, as they will be forwarded.
But my present state of health apart, I could not have complied with your request, if only because I don't know enough Dutch to be able to judge whether this or that expression is appropriate.
Nevertheless, to go by the essays of yours I have read in the Jahr- buch der Sozialwissenschaft (Volume I, Second Half), I have not the slightest doubt that you are the right man to provide the Dutch with a résumé of Capital—I would also mention en passant that Mr Schramm (C. A. S., p. 81)[2] misconstrues my theory of value. From a note in Capital to the effect that A. Smith and Ricardo are mistaken in lumping together value and price of production2 7 (let alone market prices, therefore) — he could already have gathered that the connec- tion between 'value' and 'price of production', hence also between 'value' and the market prices that oscillate about the 'price of pro- duction', has no place whatever in the theory of value as such, still less can it be anticipated by cliché-ridden, scholastic generalisations.
Under present circumstances the 2nd part of Capital cannot appear in Germany, which I am quite glad of inasmuch as certain economic phenomena are, at this precise moment, entering upon a new phase of development and hence call for fresh appraisal.
With kindest regards,
Yours sincerely,
[Karl Marx]