Letter to Hermann Schluter, February 22, 1885

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	22 February 1885

First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1935
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47

ENGELS TO HERMANN SCHLÜTER

IN HOTTINGEN-ZURICH

London, 22 February 1885

Dear Mr Schlüter,

I look forward to seeing the proof-sheets of the Anti-Dühring.^[1]

In Wigand's case *° matters stand thus: it had already been noted in Leipzig in 1875 or 1876 that no more copies of the Condition were available and I possess the original invoice marked 'last copies'. However no harm can be done if confirmation of this is once again provided by the other party. I have at long last been given a legal opinion from which I gather that the matter is by no means as simple as had appeared at first glance. Now that I know how I stand, I shall take further steps and advise you as soon as I receive a positive reply from Wigand.

I knew Schabelitz even before 1848 when he was here in London and belonged to the Communist Society.^[2] Give him my kindest regards when you see him. Your explanation re the alleged 'ban' was just what I wanted^[3] ; it is quite typical of the German book trade. Obviously nothing can be done about it so long as not one agent can be found who is possessed of pluck. But the bulk of bourgeois readers don't buy our stuff, so in this case pluck is not a particularly paying proposition. It was a different matter when banned books were merely liberal or radical, or even when, prior to 1848, communism was still a cause with which the bourgeoisie flirted.

The last ms. of the 2nd book of Capital goes off tomorrow, and day after tomorrow I shall start on the 3rd book. So long as I have it on my conscience, I shall be unable to give serious thought to anything else.

Please tell Ede that I shall write to him as soon as I have a spare moment.

Kindest regards from

Yours,

F. Engels

↑ On 11 October 1880 Heinrich Wilhelm Fabian, a German émigré living in the United States, wrote to Marx and Engels asking them to contribute to a weekly journal called Einheit which he planned to start publishing in an American city on 1 January 1881. The journal's programme was compiled by Fabian together with Wilhelm Ludwig Rosenberg and sent together with the letter.
On 6 November 1880 Fabian wrote to Marx about V— 1 (on this, see Ch. XII of the first part of Anti-Dühring; present edition, Vol. 25, p. 112).
In April 1884 Fabian published in the Freidenker newspaper an article directed against Marx's and Engels' doctrine of the state.
↑ The reference is probably to the German Workers' Educational Society formed in London in 1840 by Karl Schapper, Johann Moll, Heinrich Bauer, and other members of the League of the Just. Marx and Engels took part in its activities in 1847 and 1849-50. The name of the society was changed in the following years, and from the 1870s it was called Communist Workers' Educational Society (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbildungsverein). Soon after the introduction of the Anti-Socialist Law (see Note 37), a group of extremist-minded members gained the upper hand in the society. They opposed the tactics employed by the German Social Democrats against the background of the Anti-Socialist Law, came out against a combination of legal and illegal methods of struggle, against the Social Democrats working in Parliament and for individual acts of terrorism. In March 1880 a considerable number of members left the society and formed their own organisation retaining the previous name. The refounded society announced that it intended to act in accord with the principles and tactics of the German Social Democrats. The remaining members, including the supporters of Most, continued to adhere to Leftist views and were active under the same name.
↑ To Engels' enquiry about the rumours regarding the prohibition in Germany of his work The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (see this volume, p. 252), Hermann Schlüter replied that, according to his information, the work had not been officially banned, but there had been a case of a large number of copies being confiscated in Leipzig. Although they had all been returned, booksellers refused to stock the book any longer and from that time it was being distributed directly from Zurich on advance order only.

[1] On 11 October 1880 Heinrich Wilhelm Fabian, a German émigré living in the United States, wrote to Marx and Engels asking them to contribute to a weekly journal called Einheit which he planned to start publishing in an American city on 1 January 1881. The journal's programme was compiled by Fabian together with Wilhelm Ludwig Rosenberg and sent together with the letter.
On 6 November 1880 Fabian wrote to Marx about V— 1 (on this, see Ch. XII of the first part of Anti-Dühring; present edition, Vol. 25, p. 112).
In April 1884 Fabian published in the Freidenker newspaper an article directed against Marx's and Engels' doctrine of the state.

[2] The reference is probably to the German Workers' Educational Society formed in London in 1840 by Karl Schapper, Johann Moll, Heinrich Bauer, and other members of the League of the Just. Marx and Engels took part in its activities in 1847 and 1849-50. The name of the society was changed in the following years, and from the 1870s it was called Communist Workers' Educational Society (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbildungsverein). Soon after the introduction of the Anti-Socialist Law (see Note 37), a group of extremist-minded members gained the upper hand in the society. They opposed the tactics employed by the German Social Democrats against the background of the Anti-Socialist Law, came out against a combination of legal and illegal methods of struggle, against the Social Democrats working in Parliament and for individual acts of terrorism. In March 1880 a considerable number of members left the society and formed their own organisation retaining the previous name. The refounded society announced that it intended to act in accord with the principles and tactics of the German Social Democrats. The remaining members, including the supporters of Most, continued to adhere to Leftist views and were active under the same name.

[3] To Engels' enquiry about the rumours regarding the prohibition in Germany of his work The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (see this volume, p. 252), Hermann Schlüter replied that, according to his information, the work had not been officially banned, but there had been a case of a large number of copies being confiscated in Leipzig. Although they had all been returned, booksellers refused to stock the book any longer and from that time it was being distributed directly from Zurich on advance order only.

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