Letter to Pyotr Lavrov, February 12, 1885

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 12 February 1885


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1935
Translated from the French
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO PYOTR LAVROV

IN PARIS

London, 12 February 1885

My dear Lavrov,

I hasten to reply to your questions.[1] The item about the Neue Rheinische Leitung. Revue, edited by Karl Marx, Hamburg and London, 1850, is absolutely correct. It appeared in Heft[2] I-VI and was pub- lished by Schuberth in Hamburg. You yourself asked me a few months ago for information about the articles by Marx which ap- peared in the Revue on the subject of the February revolution and the events that followed it. ' 5 6 I possess only 3 of the instalments and have tried in vain to get hold of the complete set. The other facts provided by Groß are also correct, if memory serves me aright (Tussy has got my copy, so I can't compare it). Needless to say, I in no way agree with his silly strictures on Marx's theories. He was recommended to me by the Viennese socialists and, in reply to some biographical ques- tions he put to me, I gave him the facts.

The German translation of the Poverty contains just a few explana- tory notes by me,[3] but also an article written by Marx in 1865 on Proudhon and his speech of 1847 on free trade.

The 2nd volume of Capital is now being printed; yesterday I cor- rected the 4th sheet. The rest of the manuscript goes off from here in a fortnight's time. The 3rd volume will be the most important one, and I shall get to work on it as soon as the 2nd has been well and truly launched.— The English edition is dragging its feet, the two translators[4] being too busy with other matters to work at it with the proper ardour. It will be finished, I hope, come the sum- mer.[5]

I had already heard that you were having trouble with your eyes. Would it not be wise to give up working for a time so as not to tire your eyesight unduly? I find that, at our age, it is always best to tackle morbid symptoms when they first occur. Let's hope that you will be able to let me have better news before too long.

In the preface to the 2nd volume of Capital, I again revert to Rodbertus in order to show that the objections he raises against Marx result from his quite unbelievable ignorance of classical political economy.[6]

Yours ever,

F. Engels

(Фeдoрb Фeдoрbічb[7] )

  1. ↑ Pyotr Lavrov enquired as to whether the information about Marx contained in Groß' pamphlet was correct (see Note 350) and whether Engels had made any ad ditions or changes to the 1885 German edition of Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy.
  2. ↑ issue
  3. ↑ The reference is to the German translation of Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy. Answer to the 'Philosophy of Poverty' by M. Proudhon which was written in French and appeared in Brussels and Paris in 1847. The translation into German was begun by Eduard Bernstein who was later joined by Karl Kautsky. Engels edited the trans lation, wrote a special preface for it and a number of notes, using the amendments made by Marx on a copy of the French edition of 1847. The book was published by Dietz in Stuttgart in January 1885.
  4. ↑ Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling
  5. ↑ The idea of translating Capital into English occurred to Marx as early as 1865, when he was working on the manuscript (see Marx's letter to Engels of 31 July 1865, present edition, Vol. 42). The British journalist and member of the Interna tional's General Council, Peter Fox, was to help Marx find a publisher. However, this matter was not settled due to Fox's death in 1869. The English translation of the first volume of Capital, edited by Engels, did not appear until after Marx's death, in January 1887, and was published by Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co., London. The translation was done by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling between mid-1883 and March 1886. Eleanor Marx-Aveling took part in the preparatory work for the edition (see also this volume, pp. 33 and 127-28).
  6. ↑ See present edition, Vol. 36; see also F. Engels, 'Marx and Rodbertus'.
  7. ↑ (Russ.) Fyodor Fyodorych