| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | March 1893 |
ENGELS TO HENRY DEMAREST LLOYD
IN CHICAGO
[Draft]
Eastbourne, middle of March 1893
Dear Sir,
I have duly received your two favors of 3/2 and 9/3 with enclosures. I very much regret that I shall not be able either to assist personally at your Congresses or to supply the papers you ask me for. I should send them to you with the greatest pleasure, were it not that all my time is at present taken up with the manuscript of the third book of my late friend Karl Marx's great work on Capital, which I am preparing for publication. This third book ought to have been out years ago; but never until now could I secure that continued freedom from interruption which alone will enable me to finish my task. I have been compelled to decline all outside work, though ever so tempting, unless absolutely necessary. By the time your congress meets, the MS ought to go to press, but this could not be, were I to accede to your request. For the work you ask me to do ought not to be journalistic commonplace; it ought to be the very best I can furnish, it would require mature study and thought; and that means a considerable amount of time, which for the reasons given, I am not in a position to sacrifice.
I have, however, forwarded you per bookpost a copy of the English edition of the Communist Manifesto of 1848 (by K. Marx and myself) and another of my Socialism: Utopian and Scientific[1] published a few months ago, as a small tribute which I hope may prove of interest to some members of your Labor Congress.