Letter to Friedrich Adolph Sorge, May 7, 1887

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 7 May 1887


First published, slightly abridged, in Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von Joh. Phil. Becker, Joss Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A, Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906 and in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition. Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1935
Printed according to the original
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48


ENGELS TO FRIEDRICH ADOLPH SORGE[1]

IN HOBOKEN

London, 7 May 1887

Dear Sorge,

I wrote to you on the 4th[2] and have received yours of 26 April. Very many thanks for your reports, which I feel sure must have been written while you were suffering from severe physical tribulations. As to the bit about la Wischnewetzky and her sorrow over the denunciatory letter[3] she sent, I can only assume that you wrote it with her consent in order that she be spared an outright pater peccavi![4] I had to write to her today and therefore told her: if that, as I must suppose, was written with her consent, I was perfectly satisfied and had no longer any reason to revert to that subject in a spirit of controversy. So you see, I want to make things as easy as possible for her. However she's not only inept, but a Jonah if ever there was one. She has written to say that she wants to bring out my preface in German.[5] Naturally I have no objection to that. But though aware that I hadn't got a copy, she nevertheless omit- ted to send me the ms. at the same time so that I could translate it. Nor have I received either the book itself or a proof-sheet of the preface— instead, the preface was handed over to the Volkszeitung for translation. This last has proved to be a thoroughly insipid affair and, what's more, the mistakes it contains almost lead me to imagine that she has not even made an accurate copy of my English ms.[6] Well, she now writes to say that the ms. has at last gone off (not a word about the Volkszeitung translation)—but there' s still no sign of the ms.!

I'm particularly pleased that Mr Jonas has had to eat humble pie.[7]

Considering his jealousy of the Executive in the business sphere, he was the last person one would have expected to bestir himself on their behalf and, precisely because he knew he had burnt his fingers, he has behaved as shabbily as could be throughout the whole episode.

Friend Liebknecht, too, is suddenly proving reluctant 'to break with the Executive'. As to the $8,000 that has been sent, the Executive is trying to use it as a bribe, nor could the Germans possibly stand up to such people! However I have put a pistol to the head of the worthy Liebknecht, who has grown anxious all of a sudden not to fall out with either side, and he'll come round all right. If he hadn't made such fools of us, our reply to Circular II would have long since been ready.[8] But it is not really so urgent and should clinch the matter. We have won, thanks to your support and all you have done; without you we should still be a long way from where we are now. What a good thing that we old chaps can still depend on one another.

Your

F. Engels

  1. ↑ This letter was first published in English in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895. A Selection, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
  2. ↑ See this volume, p.55
  3. ↑ See previous letter
  4. ↑ Father, I have sinned
  5. ↑ Kelley-Wischnewetzky had suggested that Engels's article, 'Die Arbeiterbewegung in America' ('The Labour Movement in America'), written as a preface to the US edition of The Condition of the Working Class in England, should be issued in the form of separate German and English pamphlets. This was also suggested by Sorge in his letter of 26 April 1887. Engels translated the preface into German himself. The pamphlets appeared in New York in July 1887. Engels's German translation was also published in the Sozialdemokrat, Nos 24 and 25; 10 and 17 June 1887.
  6. ↑ Engels' article 'The Labor Movement in America' opened the American edition of his The Condition of the Working Class in England, published in New York in 1887. That same year the article appeared, in Engels' German translation, under the heading 'Die Arbeiterbewegung in Amerika', in the Sozialdemokrat (10 and 17 June). In July separate prints, in German and English, were distributed in New York. The article was also published as a pamphlet in London (see present edition, Vol. 26) and, in French, in Le Socialiste (9, 16 and 23 July). Even before the publication of the book the article was, without Engels' knowledge, translated into German by Alexander Jonas, editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung, and published in this paper in April 1887. Engels, displeased with the quality of the translation, lodged an official protest.
  7. ↑ In his letter of 26 April 1887 Sorge informed Engels that Alexander Jonas, editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitnng, had stayed away from the meeting of the Executive of the Socialist Labor Party which discussed the Aveling case (see note 3). Sorge also noted that the Executive had dealt itself a mortal blow by its second circular on the matter (see note 98).
  8. ↑ Engels received the second circular letter of the Executive of the Socialist Labor Party of North America, dated 30 March 1887, from Friedrich Adolph Sorge on 18 April. On Aveling's statements see notes 47 and 65. Wilhelm Liebknecht issued a statement in defence of Aveling on 16 May.