{Manchester,] Thursday, 13 February 1851 

Dear Marx, 

I had been more or less expecting this business with Harney.* I 
saw the notice of the Bem meeting in The Friend of the People, 
which stated that the Germans, French, Poles and Hungarians, as 
well as the Fraternal pemocrats |”? would be taking part, and it was 
quite clear that these could be none other than Great Windmill 
Street**' & Co. I forgot to draw your attention to this announce- 
ment before. There’s no possibility of my pursuing the matter any 
further today. But tomorrow J shall write a letter to Harney in which 
I shall tell him not to print the manuscript I sent him, as [ shall not be 
providing a sequel,*”’ and in which I shall at the same time explain 
the whole business to him in detail. If this letter is of no avail, the 
whole rigmarole will have to be dropped until Mr Harney returns of 
his own accord, which will happen very soon. I have a very strong 
suspicion that he will be up here shortly and then I shall duly take 
him to task. Its about time he realised that we’re in earnest with him, 
too. At any rate, so as to save time and avoid writing twice I shall send 
the letter to you to be passed on to him as quickly as possible once 
you've read it. 

Personally I find this inanity and want of tact on Harney’s part 
more irritating than anything else. But au fond it is of little 
moment. 

At long last we again have the opportunity—the first time in 
ages—to show that we need neither popularity, nor the support of 
any party in any country, and that our position is completely 
independent of such ludicrous trifles. From now on we are only 
answerable for ourselves and, come the time when these gentry 
need us, we shall be in a position to dictate our own terms. Until 
then we shall at least have some peace and quiet. A measure of 
loneliness, too, of course— mon Dieu, Pve already had a 3 months’ 
spell of that in Manchester and have grown used to it, and this, 

a See this volume, p. 285. - ‘Honour to General Bem, the Patriot and Hero’, The 
Friend of the People, No. 9, 8 February 1851. - © basically 

moreover, as a bachelor, which here, at any rate, is excessively 
boring. Besides we have no real grounds for complaint if we are 
shunned by the petits grands hommes*; haven’t we been acting for 
years as though Cherethites and Plethites were our party when, 
in fact, we had no party, and when the people whom we 
considered as belonging to our party, at least officially, sous réserve 
de les appeler des bétes incorrigibles entre nous, didn’t even understand 
the rudiments of our stuff? How can people like us, who shun 
official appointments like the plague, fit into a ‘party’? And what 
have we, who spit on popularity, who don’t know what to make of 
ourselves if we show signs of growing popular, to do with a ‘party’, 
i.e. a herd of jackasses who swear by us because they think we’re 
of the same kidney as they? Truly, it is no loss if we are no longer 
held to be the ‘right and adequate expression’ of the ignorant 
curs with whom we have been thrown together over the past few 
years. 

A revolution is a purely natural phenomenon which is subject to 
physical laws rather than to the rules that determine the 
development of society in ordinary times. Or rather, in revolution 
these rules assume a much more physical character, the material 
force of necessity makes itself more strongly felt. And as soon as 
one steps forward as the representative of a party, one is dragged 
into this whirlpool of irresistible natural necessity. By the mere 
fact of keeping oneself inpepenpent, being in the nature of things 
more revolutionary than the others, one is able at least for a time 
to maintain one’s independence from this whirlpool, although one 
does, of course, end up by being dragged into it. 

This is the position we can and must adopt on the next occasion. 
Not only no official government appointments but also, and for as 
long as possible, no official party appointments, no seat on 
committees, etc., no responsibility for jackasses, merciless criticism 
of everyone, and, besides, that serenity of which all the con- 
spiracies of blockheads cannot deprive us. And this much we are 
able to do. We can always, in the nature of things, be more 
revolutionary than the phrase-mongers because we have learnt our 
lesson and they have not, because we know what we want and they 
do not, and BECAUSE, AFTER WHAT WE HAVE SEEN FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS, WE 
SHALL TAKE IT A GREAT DEAL MORE COOLLY THAN ANY ONE WHO HAS AN INTEREST IN 
THE BUSINESS. 

The main thing at the moment is to find some way of getting 

a petty panjandrums - > 2 Samuel 15:18 -¢ with the reservation that between 
ourselves we called them incorrigible fools 

our things published; either in a quarterly in which we make a 
frontal attack and consolidate our position so far as persons are 
concerned; or in fat books where we do the same without being 
under the necessity of mentioning any one of these vipers. Either 
way suits me; in the long run, and with reaction on the increase, it 
seems to me that the feasibility of the former is decreasing and 
that the latter will come more and more to be the expedient to 
which we must apply ourselves. What price all the tittle-tattle the 
entire émigré crowd can muster against you, when you answer it 
with your political economy? 
Tomorrow, the letter for Harney. En attendant, salut. 

Your 
F. E.