London, 7 July 1868 

Dear FRep, 

The children are progressing well. Yesterday for the first time 
they were outside for half an hour. The peeling is still very 
pronounced. Only when this is finished will they be moved.e. 

During the past few days I have been pressed very hard by the 
baker, CHEESEMONGER, ASSESSED TAXES, God and the Devil. 

You will recall that the German Workers’ Educational Society 
here has celebrated the June Insurrection™ for about 18 years 
now. Only in the last few years have the French (their society here 
now exists as the Frencu srancu of the International”) taken part. 
And the old meneurs* always stayed away. I mean the petits grands 
hommes.” 

But this year, 1 rustic MEETING, along came Mr Pyat and read out 
an alleged address of the Paris Commune (this is a euphemism for 
the wenticat Pyat, who is in no way inferior to Blind in this tine) in 
which the assassinat of Bonaparte was preached, as it was years 
ago in his Lettre aux étudians.© The Frencu srancu, reinforced by 
other bawlers, acclaimed this. Vésinier had it printed in Cigale 
and Espiégle,° Belgian PAPERS, and presents Pyat as giving his direction 
to the ‘International’. 

As a result, we get a letter from the Brussels committee,” which 
just at the moment is making great propaganda, under difficult 
circumstances (Charleroi affair”). Contents: This demonstration 
threatens to wreck the entire Association on the continent. Will the 
FRENCH BRANCH Never move forward from the old demagogic 
phrases, etc.? etc., etc. It should be remembered that, at this very 
time, our people are behind bars in Paris.*! We yesterday issued a 
declaration (to be printed in Brussels), disavowing any connection 
between the above-mentioned Pyat and the International.’ 

Indeed I regard the whole affair (naturally based upon the 

a leaders - > Jittle great men -¢ F. Pyat, Lettre aux étudians, London, 1866. - 4 F. 
Pyat’s speech at a meeting in Cleveland Hall on 29 June 1868. In: La Cigale, No. 29, 
19 July 1868. - ¢ Address to the Parisians by the Paris Central Committee of Action, 
24 June 1868. In: L’Espiégle, No. 27, 5 July 1868. -f K. Marx, ‘Resolution of the 
General Council on Félix Pyat’s Provocative Behaviour’. 

42, Engels ‘to Marx. 10 July 1868 63 

background of the enormous stupidity of the Frencu Branch) as an 
intrigue of the old parties, the republican jackasses of 1848, 
especially the petits grands hommes who represent them in London. 
Our Association is a thorn in their flesh. After trying in vain to 
work against the Association, THE NEXT BEST THING, Of course, is to 
compromise it. Pyat is just the man to do this de bonne foi. The 
cleverer ones therefore push him forward. 

What could be funnier than this squint-eyed melodrama-writer 
and Charivari man before 1848, this Toastmaster of 1848 who now 
plays Brutus, but from a safe distance! 

The Frencu branch here will have to be thrown out of the 
International if it does not put a stop to its asininity. One cannot 
allow 50 unprincipled louts, round whom loudmouths of all 
nationalities gather at such public opportunities, to endanger the 
International Association at a moment when, as a result of 
conditions on the continent, it is beginning to become a serious 

power. 
Salut. Your 
K. M.