ENGELS TO MARX?” 

Manchester, 12 September 1870 

Dear Moor, 

Our friends over there—both in France and Germany—do 
indeed surpass each other in political adroitness. Those jackasses 
in Brunswick! They were afraid you would resent it if they 
tampered with the guidelines you had given them, so they printed 
them as they stood.” The only awkward thing in reality is the 
passage about shifting the centre of gravity. To have printed that 
was an unprecedented piece of tactlessness. However, it is to be 
hoped that the Parisians have more urgent concerns now than to 
devote themselves to the study of this manifesto, particularly since 
they do not understand German. Their German in the proclama- 
tion is beautiful. And in his paper Wilhelm? is full of praise for 
this chauvinistic mishmash.''’ Longuet is another fine one. Just 
because William I has presented them with a republic, a revolution 
should break out without delay in Germany. So why did they not 
make a revolution after the one in Spain? '!! 

The passage on Alsace-Lorraine from the manifesto‘ is printed 
in today’s Zukunft, but as something emanating from the Brunswick- 
ers. Send me 2 or more copies of the new Address as soon as it is 
ready. 

If anything at all could be done in Paris, the workers ought to 
be prevented from letting fly before peace is concluded. Bismarck 
will soon be in a position to make peace, either by taking Paris or 
because the European situation will oblige him to put an end to 
the war. However the peace may turn out, it must be concluded 
before the workers can do anything at all. If they should be 
victorious now—in the service of national defence—they would 
have to enter upon the legacy left by Bonaparte and the present 
lousy republic. They would be needlessly crushed by the German 
armies and thrown back another twenty years. They themselves 
can lose nothing by waiting. The possible boundary changes are in 

a Der Volksstaat - > Wilhelm Liebknecht - ¢ K. Marx, ‘Second Address of the General 
Council of the International Working Men’s Association on the Franco- 
Prussian War’. 

any case only provisional and will be reversed again. To fight for 
the bourgeoisie against the Prussians would be madness. Whatever 
government concludes peace will on that account alone become 
impossible before long, and in internal conflicts there will not be 
much to fear from the army returning home from prisoner-of-war 
camps. The situation will present more favourable chances to the 
workers after the peace than it ever did before. But won’t they let 
themselves be carried away under the pressure of the attack from 
without, and proclaim the Social Republic on the eve of the 
storming of Paris? It would be appalling if, as their last act of war, 
the German armies had to fight a battle with the Parisian workers 
at the barricades. It would set us back 50 years and would throw 
everything into such disarray that everybody and everything would 
get into a false position—to say nothing of the national hatred 
and the rule of rhetoric which would then take hold of the French 
workers! 

It is a damned nuisance that there are so few people in Paris 
who have the courage to see things as they really are in the present 
situation. Is there anyone in Paris who dares to admit to himself 
that the active resistance of France has been broken as far as this 
war is concerned, and that consequently there is no prospect of 
successfully repulsing the invasion by means of revolution! 
Precisely because people do not wish to hear the actual truth, I am 
afraid that it may come to that. For the apathy of the workers 
before the fall of the Empire will no doubt have been changed 
now. 

Could you let me know the title of the book by Schaffle*? He 
really is a worthy opponent for you! The fellow was in the 
Customs Parliament’? and is a very undistinguished vulgar 
economist, rather along the lines of Faucher, but a Swabian. You 
will just love his book. 

Since it looks as if something has to be annexed in any case, it is 
high time for us to think of a way for French and German 
workers to agree to regard it all as nul et non avenu” and to reverse 
it when occasion presents itself. It was my view that this would 
have been prudent at the outbreak of war; now, however, that the 
lot of ceding territory falls to the French, it is essential, otherwise 
they will all raise a terrible hullaballoo. 

a A. E. F. Schiffle, Kapitalismus und Socialismus mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Geschafts- 
und Vermégensformen. - > null and void 

Tell Tussy that my wife* is very grateful to her for her letter, 
and she will shortly receive an answer. With best regards to you 
all, 

Your 
F, E.