Letter to Eleanor Marx-Aveling, March 25, 1886

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	25 March 1886

First published in Die Wahrheit, Nr. 39, 1./2. Oktober 1988
Reproduced from the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47

ENGELS TO ELEANOR MARX-AVELING

[IN LONDON]

[London,] 25 March 1886 122 Regent's Park Road, N.W.

My dear Tussy,

You know I would do anything in my forces to please our friend Donkin, but I am afraid I cannot do so in this case.

The work I have had in hand for the last few years is so urgent and of such dimensions that I have had to give up, once for all, attending meetings and societies and taking part in discussions or preparing for such. If I am to accomplish my work, I cannot break through this rule, and the less so, as having given way once, I could not plead the same reason again for refusing in other cases.

Moreover the subject I am asked to discuss, has been lost sights of by me for more than a year,^[1] and I should therefore be compelled to read it up again and to look at whatever has been published since with respect to it, which would take me more than a week to be exclusively devoted to that purpose, and that week, I am sorry to say, I cannot spare.

And therefore, highly flattered as I feel by the invitation, I very much regret that circumstances will not allow me to avail myself of it.

Yours affectionately,

F. Engels

Kindest regards to Dr Donkin!

↑ Engels is probably referring to the discussions at Pearson's Club of issues relating to the family and the social emancipation of women (see Note 678). He dealt with these questions in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (see notes 174, 264 and 555).

[1] Engels is probably referring to the discussions at Pearson's Club of issues relating to the family and the social emancipation of women (see Note 678). He dealt with these questions in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (see notes 174, 264 and 555).

[1]