Letter to Hermann Schluter, November 11, 1885

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 11 November 1885


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


ENGELS TO HERMANN SCHLÜTER

IN HOTTINGEN-ZURICH

London, 11 November 1885

Dear Mr Schlüter,

Have received clean sheets of Dùhring up to 20 inch 208; ending and prefaces are still to come. As soon as these arrive you will be sent the list of printing errors.

The introduction to the Schlesische Milliarde[1] is in hand and would have been finished long ago but for a series of interruptions of all kinds. It has been lying heavily on my conscience, so you may be sure that it will not be held up for a moment longer than is absolutely necessary.

You will have received the corrected proofs of the Communist League.[2]

You might be good enough to tell Ede that I had already received via Kautsky the book by a sparrow calling itself 'Adler',[3] and had deliberately not mentioned it because it, too, draws on Stieber[4] as the final authority. The passage about Buttermilch-Born was worded in that way precisely because the book left me in no doubt that Born had surreptitiously poured out some buttermilk[5] for Adler but had refused (see preface) to allow his name to appear. Hence he had to be given a kick or two in the pants.

Dietz has written to Kautsky saying he wants to take over publication of my Origin[6] now and asking whether I would have any objection. I have told him I have no objection provided he comes to an agreement with you and Schabelitz. So you should act in whatever way you think best. All being well, Dietz promises to place the work in the bookshops, which would of course be most acceptable to us, but then, too, Zurich[7] is also entitled to a say now that it has been circulating for a year without being banned. On the other hand it was his shilly-shallying which caused the printing to drag on for months; it's all very well for him to talk after arriving belatedly on the scene when others have already taken the risks. Moreover I'm not acquainted with the actual details of what was discussed at the time and hence have no alternative but to refer him to you. So please settle the affair in any way you think fit.

I have found another whole mass of printing errors in the Dühring — all of which I myself had allowed to stand. I have become so accustomed to correcting two proofs — one for the meaning, the other for individual errors—that when there isn't an opportunity of doing so I allow utter nonsense to stand. Hence most of them were in the first 11 sheets which were, moreover, corrected in difficult circumstances.

Kindest regards.

Yours,

F.E.

  1. ↑ The reference is to a separate edition of Wilhelm Wolff's series of articles on the situation of the Silesian peasants called Die schlesische Milliarde and printed in a number of issues of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung between 22 March and 22 April 1849. Engels included a preface in this edition, which came out in 1886. Its first section was a biography of Wolff which he had written back in 1876 (see F. Engels, 'Wilhelm Wolff', present edition, Vol. 24) but in a much abbreviated form, whilst the second section was the article 'On the History of the Prussian Peasants. Introduction to Wilhelm Wolff's pamphlet The Silesian Milliard (Vol. 26) specially for that edition.
  2. ↑ F. Engels, 'On the History of the Communist League'.
  3. ↑ Adler = eagle in German; this refers to G. Adler, Die Geschichte der ersten sozialpolitischen Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland...; see also this volume, p. 344.
  4. ↑ Wermuth/Stieber, Die Communisten-Verschwörungen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts.
  5. ↑ Born's real name was Buttermilch = buttermilk in German.
  6. ↑ The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
  7. ↑ The editorial board and the press of Der Sozialdemokrat were located in Zurich, as well as the bookshop (Volksbuchhandlung).