Letter to Ludwig Schorlemmer, July 25, 1892

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 25 July 1892


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO LUDWIG SCHORLEMMER

IN DARMSTADT

London, 25 July 1892

My dear Schorlemmer,

Do please let us drop the ceremonious 'Mr' in future. I'm glad you were satisfied with the obituary in the Vorwärts.[1] I had to write it in great haste and without any external aids on the afternoon before the funeral. Had I been able to wait until I got back to London I could have gone into greater detail. But in cases like these one must work exactly like a journalist, i. e. quickly, making do with the material to hand.

Justice, the English Socialist paper, also published an excerpt from the obituary.[2] This paper is the organ of Mr Hyndman who is in personal control of the Social Democratic Federation,[3] a society that is Marxist in principle and anti-Marxist in practice. Hyndman is a petty-minded intriguer who looks down on the German party with indescribable envy because his little society is incapable of achieving what our own people can pull off without a second thought and who therefore allies himself with anyone who opposes the German party— over here with the noble Gilles, for example, with the French Possibilists of Broussian persuasion,3 etc. Two months ago, however, he stepped down as editor in favour of Bax who is a talented and in other respects decent fellow with a complete mastery of German, and who often visits me and the Avelings. Hyndman hoped that he would thereby get him into his clutches, but apparently Bax has decided that there is nothing doing in that quarter so far as he is concerned — at all events it was he who published the notice in the last number he edited; he knew Carl[4] very well and often used to meet him at my house and elsewhere.— Shall try and send you the number.

But now I had better speak to you about one or two business matters connected with the estate, as will probably be some time before you hear from Manchester.

In accordance with the law over here, every will must be deposited with the Court of Probate where anyone may inspect it on payment of one shilling = 1 M. But before it gets as far as that, it must be approved by the Court of Probate and estate duty must be deducted and paid, the amount in your case being 1% or 3% — I cannot say exactly which — of the gross assets. The executors must swear to the value of the estate they have declared, and all in all this is the kind of case that requires the attention of a solicitor from start to finish if one is not to be atrociously rooked. So you will doubtless have to be patient a little longer and will also have to reckon on expenses that are very high by German standards. That, however, is inevitable.

The books, etc, he left will fetch little when sold. The chief items in the estate consist in cash on deposit at the bank and the copyrights.

The former will amount to about £1,800 from which must be deducted the cost of the funeral, current petty debts, estate duty, court and solicitor's expenses, etc., which may amount in all to between £200 and £250; I am unable to assess it from here, but it's nevertheless my opinion that you can reckon on a net sum of at least £1,500 = 30,000 marks.

So far as works on chemistry are concerned, the value of the book rights is only of very limited duration. Science is making such rapid strides that things become outdated in a year or two unless they are constantly revised. And then again the death of an important chemist always provides younger men of varying quality with an opportunity to take upon themselves the preparation of new editions, which also means that they receive most of the profit. The same thing will happen here. The executors are consulting me in the course of their negotiations, likewise Gumpert, so we may be sure that nothing precipitate will be done. Moreover I have backed them up in their view that nothing final should be decided in this respect without the consent of the family. That is not only their duty but also an excellent way of bringing pressure to bear on the opposing side. The latter, publishers no less than collaborators such as Roscoe, is in a hurry to bring matters to a conclusion, while the executors, on the other hand, have plenty of time and can therefore wait for these people to approach them and contribute towards a quick settlement by making this or that further concession. So here too it would be in your own interest not to press for a quick settlement.

I hear from Gumpert that you have written and told him your mother is unwell and has taken to her bed. I hope for the best but she is very old and Carl's death will have hit her very very hard. But I hope that despite everything you will be able to send me better news before long.

Yours very sincerely,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ F. Engels, 'Carl Schorlemmer', Vorwärts, No. 153, 3 July 1892.
  2. ↑ Excerpts from the obituary 'Carl Schorlemmer' by Engels were published under the heading 'A Socialist F.R.S.' in Justice, No. 445, on 23 July 1892.
  3. ↑ The Social Democratic Federation, set up in August 1884, consisted of English socialists of different orientations, mostly intellectuals. For a long time the leadership of the Federation was in the hands of reformists led by Hyndman, an opportunist sectarian. In opposition to them, the revolutionary Marxists within the Federation (Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Edward Aveling, Tom Mann and others) worked for close ties with the revolutionary labour movement. In the autumn of 1884 — following a split and the establishment by the Left wing of an independent organisation, the Socialist League (see Note 49) — the opportunists' influence in the Federation increased. However, revolutionary elements, discontented with the opportunist leadership, continued to form within the Federation, under the impact of the masses.
  4. ↑ Carl Schorlemmer