Letter to Georgi Plekhanov, May 22, 1894

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 22 May 1894


First published in Printed according to the original Russian in: Gruppa 'Osvobozhdeniye Truda', No. 2, 1924
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 50


ENGELS TO GEORGI PLEKHANOV

IN MORNEX (France)

London, 22 May 1894
122 Regent's Park Road, N. W.

My dear Plekhanov,

Yesterday, shortly after my letter to you had left, Bernstein and Kautsky arrived at my house. That has inevitably changed my plans. I thought that I ought—even without waiting for your express permission—to read them your letter, and put them both in a position to judge for themselves of the Krichevsky business. The impression this created on them will, I believe, be everything you could have desired. Indeed, however much one might wish to remain neutral in issues and disputes within the Russian emigre community, one cannot excuse the behaviour of Krichevsky as regards the translation of the Soziales aus Russland[1] after learning about the translation undertaken by Vera Zasulich.[2] As for the rest, these gentlemen knew Karl Kautsky had given his consent to the translation of his Erfurt Programme[3] ; however, he thought that it was to be printed in Russia, or at least, he had not the slightest idea that it would be published in Switzerland.

Ignatiev[4] is, so Kautsky told me, the pseudonym of Helfond (or some name similar to that), who is in Stuttgart. You probably know him. However, as I do not have Kautsky's authorisation to use this information, I would ask you to treat it as strictly confidential. According to Kautsky and Bernstein, it would seem that Helfond is an honourable fellow who has fallen into Jogiches' trap by accident rather than malicious intent.

Yours,

F.E.

  1. ↑ Boris Krichevsky, a Russian emigré Socialist, had sent Engels the Russian translations of Marx's works The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and Wage Labour and Capital with Engels' introduction to the 1891 edition (see present edition, Vols. 11,9,26); both works, published in Geneva in 1894 in the series Social-Democratic Library, were translated into Russian by Krichevsky. He told Engels in his letter that the same publishers undertook the printing of Engels' article 'On Social Relations in Russia' (in the series of his articles Refugee Literature) [see present edition, Vol. 24]. Krichevsky asked Engels to write a preface to the Russian edition of the above article. However, the printing was stopped because of protest from Engels who had earlier given Vera Zasulich the copyright. This article appeared in V Zasulich's translation in The Library of Contemporary Socialism (Geneva, 1894) under the title 'Friedrich Engels on Russia. 1) A Reply to P.N. Tkachev (1875), 2) The Afterword (1894)'.
  2. ↑ See this volume, p. 303
  3. ↑ in Russian in the original
  4. ↑ in Russian in the original