London, 13 November 1871 
122 Regent’s Park Road, N.W. 

Esteemed Friend, 

In reply to your kind letter of the 1st inst., I regret to have to 
tell you that we have no contacts in Milan at the moment, apart 
from the Gazzetttno Rosa, to which we send documents for 
publication,*“* but which has otherwise made no offers so far on 
the establishment of sections, etc. The movement in Italy in 
International terms broke out so suddenly and unexpectedly that 
everything is still very disorganised and, as you know, the 
Mordecaians* are doing their best to hamper the organisation. 
That there must be useful elements in Milan is obvious enough, if 
only from the fact that the Gazzettino Rosa has a reading public. In 
the meantime, the only thing you can do is to try and discover 
them. I promise to send you the address of the first one to get 
into contact with me from there. This will undoubtedly happen 
shortly, since my name will soon enough become known 
everywhere as secretary for Italy through the flood of forthcoming 
publications from the General Council. As the stronghold of 
Mazzini’s followers hitherto, and as major industrial city, Milan is 
of great importance for us, particularly since, if it falls to us, the 
areas in Lombardy where the silk industry is concentrated will 
automatically be ours, too. So anything you and your friends can 
achieve in Milan for the common cause will have a very special 
value. 

We have a strong section in Turin (address: Proletario Italiano); 
letters from Lodi (the Plebe), which presumably reported on the 
establishment of sections, have gone astray. 

I met Ricciotti Garibaldi at Marx’s house this morning. He is a 
highly intelligent young man with a very calm manner, but a 
soldier rather than a thinker. However, he may turn out to be 
very useful. It is just as with the old man’; his theoretical ideas 
give more proof of his good intentions than of his clarity of vision, 
but his last letter to Petroni is invaluable to us.*” If the sons prove 

a police informers (an allusion to The Book of Esther, 4:1) - > Giuseppe Garibaldi 

to have the same sure instincts in every great crisis as the old man, 
they will achieve much. Can you obtain a reliable address for us in 
Genoa? We want to be able to send our things safely to Caprera 
for the old man, and Ricciotti says that a lot gets intercepted. 

Since the Mordecaians will now know my name as well, could I 
ask you to address letters for me to: 

Miss Burns, 122 R.P.R., London, N.W. (as per letter-head), and 
not to High Holborn where I only go once a week and a lot of 
post just lies around waiting. 

An inner envelope is not necessary. 

I am sending you an English paper chosen at random through 
the post and enclosing: 

1. Résolutions de la Conférence de l’Internationale a4 Londres, Sept. 
1871. 

2. The Civil War in France. Address of the General Council. 

3. The new edition of the Rules,’ available up to now only in 
English; French and German versions will appear shortly. 

Write to me again soon. 

Salut et fraternité. 

F. Engels