MARX TO ENGELS” 

{London,] 2 December 1864 

Dear Frep, 

THANKS FOR THE GUARDIAN.” 

I did send on a few cops of the ‘Address’’ to E. Jones 
afterwards, with a letter to him saying that he would probably 
receive one from you first. He writes today that he has neither 
seen nor heard anything from you. His address is 55, not 52, 
Cross Street. He says in his letter that, when the Assizes are over, 
he will form a branch association in Manchester amongst his 
acquaintances. 

Could you by any chance dig up the address of the musician 
Petzler (maybe from the Manchester directory, or the Schiller 
Association **)? He has a lot of contacts among the Manchester 
workers, and without any INTERVENTION ON your PART I could put him in 
touch with E. Jones from here. You would only need to send me 
Petzler’s address. 

The worst thing about agitation of this kind is that one gets very 
BOTHERED aS soon aS one becomes involved in it. E.g. Address to 
Lincoln now on the agenda again, and again I had to compose the 
thing‘ (which is far more difficult than writing a proper work)—so 
that the phraseology to which that kind of writing is limited, is at least 
distinguishable from vulgar-democratic phraseology.” Fortunately, 
Mr Fox is doing the Polish business which is coming up in connection 
with 29 November, the anniversary of the Polish revolution of 
1830.7! 

In the Committee, since the address for Lincoln is to be handed 
over to Adams, some of the English wanted to have the deputation 
introduced sy a MEMBER OF Parliament— as is customary. This desire was 
suppressed by the majority or the Encuis and the unanimity of the 
continentals, and it was declared instead that such o_p Enc.iisu cusroms 
OUGHT TO BE ABOLISHED. On the other hand: M. Le Lubez, as a real 
crapaud,* wanted the address to be directed not to Lincoln but to THE 

a The Manchester Guardian - > K. Marx, ‘Inaugural Address of the Working Men’s 
International Association’. - © K. Marx, “To Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States of America’. - ¢ philistine 

American Prope. I made him look suitably foolish and made it clear to 
the English that Frencn pemocratic ETIQUETTE is Not worth a FARTHING 
more than MONARCHICAL ETIQUETTE. 

Apropos. Naturally it is impossible to have a movement here 
without its own press-organ. The Bee-Hive (weekly, organ of the 
Traves-Unions) was therefore declared to be the organ of the 
Association. By a stroke of ill-luck, to which the workers are 
particularly susceptible, a scoundrel called George Potter (in the 
BUILDING strikes’? he acted as mouthpiece in The Times, but with 
articles written not by himself but by others) has installed himself as 
MANAGER With a clique of shareholders, who have so far formed the 
majority. The Commirrer, whose English members are mostly 
Bee-Hive shareholders (a share costs only 5s., and no one can have 
more than 5 votes, even if he holds 5,000 shares; thus 1 vote per 
share up to a maximum of 5), has therefore decided that we 
should set up a share-fund here which will enable us to create 
shareholders anp to swamp THE OLD Majority. I would appreciate it if 
you would let us have a contribution for this purpose as well. The 
whole operation must, of course, be confined to the close friends 
of the members of the Committee, as otherwise counter-measures 
would be promptly taken by the other side (i.e. before the Genera. 
Meetinc or Suarenoipers Which is not far off now). 

Besides the Hermann, there was also another little paper here, 
the Londoner Anzeiger, which belongs to the worthy Jewish 
bookseller Bender. It is trying to build itself up as a competitor to 
the Hermann, as the editorship has been taken over by a certain 
L. Otto von Breidtschwerdt, although he writes under the name of 
L. Otto. I shall hardly become directly involved in the thing at all, 
as I had my fill with the Volk, but it is good for reprinting 
statements in London as soon as they appear in the German 
newspapers, e.g. like the one against Blind.* 

This Otto first got to know Eccarius, at whose suggestion he 
became a German member of the Inrernationat Committee. He is a 
Swabian, Stuttgarter born and bred. Quite a young fellow, asout 27 
or 98. Very much hke my wife’s elder brother. Began as a cadet in 
the Austrian army, where he learnt all kinds of languages and was 
stationed all over the place. Subsequently studied in Tübingen. As 
a person, he is a very pleasant, witty fellow and well-mannered. 
His head is still stuffed full of petty Swabianisms and Germanic 
nonsense. For al] that, very good knowledge and ability. But he 

aK. Marx, ‘To the Editor of the Stuttgart Beobachter: - > Ferdinand von 
Westphalen 

seems to me to have more inclination than a gift for writing; dull, 
doctrinaire. He is useful as a go-between with South Germany and 
especially the Land of the Swabians. Also writes in the Augsburger* 
from time to time, which is, incidentally, entirely what you would 
expect from the Vogt standpoint. 

I wrote to Mr Klings that it was difficult, but also quite 
unnecessary, to decide between Moses and Bernhard. Both were 
honest and both incompetent. I said that, at the present moment, 
it was neither here nor there who has the title of President. When 
the time became decisive, there would be no difficulty in finding 
the right people.‘ 

I am very much afraid I can feel another carbuncle starting on 
my right hip. Allen knows nothing about it as I have been treating 
myself for some time, If I went to him now about the arsenic 
business, which after all you cannot start without a doctor and to 
which he might perhaps not even agree, he would give me the 
most dreadful dressing down for having been carbuncling for so 
long behind his back!! 

Yours 

K. M. 

In his reply to Mayer the Swabian (via his man-of-straw 
Bronner),‘ Blind states that Lincoln and Frémont were fighting for 
his vote because it would decide the rection. And in an American 
newspaper, The Radical Democrat, that he was responsible for the 
Polish revolution.