Letter to Richard Fischer, April 15, 1895

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 15 April 1895


First published abridged in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. I, Preface, 1928 and in full: ibid., Vol. XXIX, 1946
Printed according to the original
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 50


ENGELS TO RICHARD FISCHER

IN BERLIN

London, 15 April 1895
41 Regent's Park Road, N. W.

Dear Fischer,

The 400 marks received with thanks. I shall change them tomorrow and distribute them to the heirs. 583

So the position as regards the essays in the old Rheinische Zeitung is as I feared.[1] The copyright has lapsed and only by acting swiftly can we restore our title to it. It will therefore be perfectly in order if you at once announce that the articles will be published by you and edited and annotated by me. Possibly under the title:

Karl Marx's Early Writings. Three Essays from the (First) 'Rheinische Zeitung' of 1842. I. The Rhine Province Assembly on Freedom of the Press. II. The Same on the Law relating to Thefts of Wood. III. The Condition of the Wine-Growers on the Mosel. Edited and with an Introduction by F. Engels.[2]

I am not quite happy about the title and should like you if possible to refrain from giving it a definite title until we have found one that is more suitable. As to the Mosel article, 584 I am sure of the facts in as much as Marx always used to tell me that it was precisely his preoccupation with the law on thefts of wood and the condition of the Mosel wine-growers that led him from politics pure and simple to economic conditions and thus to socialism. And during our conversations we always treated the Mosel article as having emanated from him. I didn't read it, as I was already in England at the time. It is so long ago since we spoke of the matter that I cannot entirely rule out the eventuality of a misunderstanding. Once I have the article in front of me, I cannot possibly go wrong.

Now as to your great scheme, 585 I think you would do best to shelve it until the fate of the Subversion Bill 428 has been decided. A library which re- issues historical documents and writings from earlier periods cannot tolerate any kind of censorship—quite literally or not at all. Still less could I consent to Marx's and my own early works being subjected to a process of emasculation, however wild, in order to conform to the conditions temporarily obtaining in the press. But in view of the fact that we used to write in a very unrestrained way and were forever justifying things which, in the territories of the German Empire, are regarded either as a crime or an offence, a re-issue in Berlin after the passing of that exemplary Bill would be quite impossible without numerous deletions.

Secondly, however, I have a scheme for again presenting Marx's and my lesser writings to the public in a complete edition—not, that is to say, by instalments but all at one go, in whole volumes. I have already been in correspondence with August[3] on the subject and we are still discussing it. So you might have a word with him when he gets back. I am by no means certain that an enterprise like this is really your cup of tea, nor do I know whether you, i.e. the publishing side of the Vorwärts, are the best people for the job—quite aside from the harassment of the press which has already inclined me to believe that we may be forced to have recourse to a publisher outside the German Empire.

Marx would never have consented to the issue of a work by instalments. In the case of the 2nd Ed. of Capital I he once allowed Meissner to bring out seven big instalments, each of some seven sheets, but that was as much as he could stomach. 586 To chop up books such as The Holy Family, Herr Vogt, etc., into instalments of two sheets or so would certainly not do. In such cases people derive absolutely nothing from their reading and to read a work in this way, piecemeal, is conducive only to incomprehension.

The Tribune articles exist only in English. 587 We survived the holiday without too many mishaps and the weather was really beautiful. Otherwise no news. As soon as you have a copy of one of the three articles from the Rheinische Zeitung, please send it to me straight away so that I can set to work. By registered book post or, if not, in some other manner with adequate regard for safety precautions.

Many regards to everyone.

Yours

F.E.

  1. ↑ See this volume, pp. 490 91
  2. ↑ A reference to the following articles written by Marx and published by the Rheinische Zeitung in 1842-early 1843: Proceedings of the Sixth Rhine Province Assembly. First Article. Debates on Freedom of the Press and Publication of the Proceedings of the Assembly of the Estates; Proceedings of the Sixth Rhine Assembly. Third Article. Debates on the Law on Thefts of Wood; Justification of the Correspondent from the Mosel (present edition, Vol. I, pp. 132-81, 224-63, 332-58). Engels never realised his intention to have these articles published in a separate edition.
  3. ↑ Bebel