Letter to Laura Lafargue, November 2, 1886

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 2 November 1886


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, 2 November 1886

My dear Laura,

I am sorry you gave yourself the trouble to copy out the Menger balderdash.[1] The fellow is a simple Streber[2] who knows that, the thicker he lays it on, the better will be his chance of promotion. We have got the book here and I shall give Kautsky notes enough to enable him to smash the cheeky devil up. The position he takes is so utterly ridiculous that it will nowhere be accepted unless in national-liberal newspapers, and there we must expect to have it served up again and again, but that is of the utmost indifference. The Rodbertus scare was far more serious and that we have already smashed up so completely that it is quite forgotten by this time.[3]

I don't think even Hyndman will venture to make capital out of this, except perhaps in a very small way.

Now I must begin writing my preface,[4] as Swan Sonnenschein and Co. are asking for it, so this looks like coming to a conclusion!

Very affectionately yours,

F.E.

  1. ↑ In Das Recht auf den vollen Arbeitsertrag in geschichtlicher Darstellung, which appeared in 1886, the Austrian sociologist and lawyer Anton Menger set out to prove the 'unoriginality' of Marx's economic theory, claiming he had borrowed some of his conclusions from the English Utopian socialists of the Ricardian school (Thompson, etc.). Laura Lafargue wrote to Engels on 30 October 1886, informing him of the book's appearance. Feeling that if he personally was to oppose Menger in public, the latter might use this to boost his image, Engels thought it expedient to rebuff Menger with an editorial in Die Neue Zeit or a résumé of the book in the name of Karl Kautsky, the editor of the said journal. Engels originally intended to write the bulk of the article himself, but was unable to continue his work on it due to illness. The article was completed by Kautsky in line with Engels' instructions. It appeared unsigned in Die Neue Zeit, No. 2, 1887 and was headed 'Juristen-Sozialismus' (see present edition, Vol. 26, pp. 597-616).
  2. ↑ pusher
  3. ↑ See F. Engels, 'Marx and Rodbertus'; F. Engels, Preface to the first German edition of Volume II of Capital.
  4. ↑ Preface to the English edition of Volume I of Capital