Letter to Laura Lafargue, February 21, 1884

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 21 February 1884


First published, in the language of the original (English), in: F. Engels, P. et L. Lafargue, Correspondance, t. I, Paris, 1956
Reproduced from the original
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO LAURA LAFARGUE

IN PARIS

London, 21 February 1884

My dear Laura,

Your news about the children's[1] health is more or less reassuring — except poor Wolf[2] who, however, seems the strongest of the lot and, we hope, will have got over the worst when you next give us some news.

As to what is to be done in case anything happens to Longuet, well, that will have to be considered if that event should occur; I do not see what much should be gained if we 'speculated' on that now — I mean speculating in the philosophical sense — at any rate I do not see either what we can do under present circumstances with such a pa- ternal father as Longuet, but if you do, I shall be most happy to hear from you on the subject.

We have arranged with Gittens about packing and forwarding the books, etc., for you and Lavroff and as they have not come for them for two days, Nim has gone to stir them up.

Herewith the preface to the Misere by — Mohr himself! ' 5 ' Bern- stein has re-discovered this old article which I have at once translat- ed. Please, you and Paul, to turn my translation into proper French and return it along with the original which belongs to the Partei- Archiv 144 at Zurich. There will only a few more words be required. But what will the French public say to the rather unceremonious manner in which Mohr speaks of them? And will it be wise to have this true and impartial judgment at the risk that the Brousses say: voilà le Prussien[3] ? Anyhow, I should be very loth to soften the article down to suit le gout parisien[4] but it is worth considering. There is no denying that the bas empire[5] has been there for 18 years.

Paul's bon dieu[6] is charming, so is the introduction to his confér- ence. ' 7 9 The exposé too is quite taking for his public and I am not as- tonished at his success. But he might now and then give them a new il- lustration from the Kapital besides the old quotation of Liebig about the size of recruits[7] ; and not treat 1) la concurrence and 2) l'offre et la demande?[8] which is but la concurrence over again. If I am strict with him, it's because I see it does him good and he improves considerably by hammering a bit now and then; his last performances certainly show great progress, and if he would only be a little more attentive to certain theoretical points (mostly of detail) he would be a great light in Paris, ville-lumière[9] as it is.

Now I must conclude. Nim has come back and we must make up book-packets for Russia and America, in time for registering. She says Gittens cannot come before Tuesday or Wednesday[10] —so she sends you a kiss, I the same, and une bonne poignée de main[11] to Paul

From your affectionate

F. Engels

  1. ↑ Jean, Edgar, Marcel and Jenny Longuet
  2. ↑ Edgar Longuet
  3. ↑ here you have a Prussian
  4. ↑ the Parisian taste
  5. ↑ Lower Empire (designation of the late Roman, or Byzantine Empire, and also of any empire on the decline); here, the Second Empire in France.
  6. ↑ God
  7. ↑ K.Marx, Capital, Vol. I, Part III, Ch. X, Sect. 2 (see present edition, Vol. 35).
  8. ↑ 1) competition and 2) supply and demand
  9. ↑ illuminating city
  10. ↑ 26 or 27 February
  11. ↑ a firm handshake