{London,] 22 June 1867 

Dear Fren, 

Herewith 4 more sheets” enclosed for you which reached me 
yesterday. The fellows have left a number of misprints that I 
corrected perfectly legibly. One error we corrected in ourselves 
was ‘Children's’ Employment Commission’, Children's’. For Cuipren is 
nominative pluralis, genitive mark is’. I saw it at once when I had 
another look at the Brvz Booxs*** myself. 

King has written to say that the Fenians are not yet out. They 
are postponing it for as long as possible and as near to the close of 
the session as possible. 

I hope you are satisfied with the 4 sheets. That you have been 
satisfied with it so far is more important to me than anything the 
rest of the world may say or rr. At all events, I hope the bourgeoisie 
will remember my carbuncles until their dying day. Here is a fresh 

a 

@ Paul Lafargue (an allusion to his inclination to use electricity in medicine) - > of the 
first volume of Capital 

sample of what swine they are! You know that the Cumpren’s 
Employment Commission has been at work for 5 years now. When its 
first report appeared in 1863, the industries it exposed were at 
once ‘called to order’. At the beginning of this session the Tory 
ministry introduced a su per Walpole, tHE weeping willow, accepting 
all the Commission’s proposals, though on a very reduced scale. 
The fellows who were to be called to order, among them the big 
metal manufacturers, and especially the vampires of ‘domestic 
industry’, maintained a cowardly silence. Now they are presenting a 
petition to Parliament and demanding—a New Enquiry! The old 
one, they say, was biassed! They are counting on the Reform 
Bill*> taking up the public’s entire attention, so that the thing 
would be cosily and privarety smuggled through, at the very time 
that the Trape Unions are having a rough passage.**? The worst 
things about the Reporrs are the fellows’ own statements. They are 
well aware that a new enquiry means one thing only, and that is 
precisely ‘what we bourgeois want’—a new 5-year lease for 
exploitation. Fortunately, my position in the ‘Inrernationa’ enables 
me to frustrate those curs’ little game. It is a matter of the utmost 
importance. What is at stake is the abolition of torture for 
1'/, million people, not including the poor MaLe workincmen! ** 
With regard to the development of the form of value, I have both 
followed and not followed your advice, thus striking a dialectical 
attitude in this matter, too. That is to say, 1. I have written an 
appendix in which I set out the same subject again as simply and as 
much in the manner of a school text-book as possible, and 2. I 
have divided each successive proposition into paras. etc., each with 
its own heading, as you advised. In the Preface I then tell the 
‘non-dialectical’ reader to skip page x-y and instead read the 
appendix.*** It is not only the philistines that I have in mind here, 
but young people, etc., who are thirsting for knowledge. Anyway, 
the issue is crucial for the whole book. The economists have 
hitherto overlooked the very simple fact that the equation 20 yards 
of linen=1 coat is but the primitive form of 20 yards of linen= £2, 
and thus that the simplest form of a commodity, in which its value is 
not yet expressed in its relation to all other commodities but only 
as something differentiated from its own natural form, embodies the 
whole secret of the money form and thereby, in nuce,* of all bourgeois 
forms of the product of labour. In my first presentation (Duncker),° 
avoided the difficulty of the development by not actually analysing 

* in embryo - > K. Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. 

the’ way value is expressed until it appears as its developed form, as 
expressed in money. 

You are quite right about Hofmann.’ Incidentally, you will see 
from the conclusion to my Chapter III, where I outline the 
transformation of the master of a trade into a capitalist—as a 
result of purely quantitative changes—that in the text there I quote 
Hegel’s discovery of the law of the transformation of a merely 
quantitative change into a qualitative one as being attested by history 
and natural science alike. In the note to the text (I was as it 
happened attending Hofmann’s lectures at that time) I mention 
the molecular theory, but not Hofmann, who has discovered nothing 
in the matter except contributing general direction; instead I do 
mention Laurent, Gerhardt and Wurtz the latter being the real 
man“ Your letter struck a faint chord in my memory, and I 
therefore looked up my manuscript. 

Printing has proceeded slowly in the last two weeks (only 4 
sheets), probably on account of Whitsun. But Mr O. Wigand will 
have to make up for this lost time. Apropos. Your book? is still 
available. The Workers’ Association‘ has ordered and been sent 2 
new copies from O. Wigand. (2nd impression 1848.**°) 

Now for private matters. 

My children are obliged to invite some other girls for dancing 
on 2 July, as they have been unable to invite anyone for the whole 
of this year, to respond to invitations, and are therefore about ro 
Lose caste. So, hard-pressed though I am at the moment, I had to 
agree to it and am counting on you for the wine (claret and 
Rhenish), i.e. on your supplying me with it in the course of next 
week. 

Secondly, as ‘misfortunes’ never come singly, Lina‘ has an- 
nounced her arrival for next week. My wife will then have to 
return to her the £5 which she owes her, and you will understand 
that after fending off the first wave of creditors, I cannot arrorp 
that. 

I am in fact exceedingly vexed with the people who have 
promised me money but have not sent word (so far, at least). They 
have a personal interest in me. That I do know. They also know 
that I cannot continue my work unless I have a modicum of peace 
and quiet. And yet they have sent no word! 

Our ‘noble’ poet Freiligrath really is going to collect a tidy 
sum.*” For they say that going begging to the rich Germans in 

a A. W. Hofmann, Einleitung in die moderne Chemie (see this volume, pp. 382-83). - 
b F. Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England. - © the German Workers’ 
Educational Society in London - 4 Caroline Schéler 

South America and—China! and the West Indies! is most 
lucrative, as these fellows regard it as national duty! Meanwhile, the 
Freiligraths are continuing to live in_ relatively grand _ style, 
constantly entertaining and constantly visiting. That is one reason 
why the German merchants in London are so unforthcoming. Fat 
as he is, he is said (so I am told by my wife, who called on them) 
to look very nerve-wracked and unwell and depressed. But Ida* is 
positively blooming and has never been in better spirits in her life. 
Kindest regards to Mrs Lizzy.” 

Your 
K. M. 

Honoris causa‘ you must procure Madame Gumpert’s photo- 
gramm for me.