International
Working Men’s
Association
.
256 High Holborn, London W.C,
5 April
1871.
To Citizen Ph. Coenen, Antwerp.
Dear Citizen,
As I already told you
in
my last letter
, I made
it my duty to submit the content of
your
letter concerning the cigar makers’ strike
, to the
Central
Council at its meeting yesterday evening
.
At the same time I requested that the Council give our Antwerp members all
possible aid and support.
I was warmly supported,
in this, particularly
m
by Citizen
Cohn
, president of the London cigar makers, who informed the
Council that the cigar makers of his society had voted a
| loan of
£150 sterling, or about 3,750 fr., to their Antwerp colleagues; that the
society of Belgian cigar makers working here had voted £20; that his
society was going to engage another society here and that of the
Liverpool cigar makers, to make advances in support of the strike, etc.
The Council then
unanimously resolved:
1) That an
appeal
to the
English
resistance societies
of
London and the provinces be at once drawn up, printed and
addressed to all the societies to induce them to intervene in favour
of the Antwerp strikers.
2) That deputations of the Council be sent to the large
centralised societies in London, with which we are in
relation, to solicit them for the same purpose.
| Having learned from
Cit.
Cohn
that you had already taken the
necessary steps to prevent the recruitment
of Dutch cigar makers by the Antwerp manufacturers and that
similar attempts would have no chance here in England, I could do
nothing else in your interest but write
a
short notice for our German newspaper the
Volksstaat
of Leipzig,
in which I recount the origin of the strike and call upon the
German cigar makers
to prevent any recruitment
of workers for the Antwerp district, and if possible to advance you
funds to sustain the strike.
This notice will be
published next week; I have also asked the
editor
to interest himself in your
cause
.
As to the success of these
various steps, it is difficult to judge 
| in advance. If the
English societies grant us advances, it will well last some
weeks before the necessary formalities
may be completed. The German societies will hardly be in a
position to make advances, the war will have ruined them.
Meanwhile, please
keep me informed of what is happening concerning the cigar makers’ strike so
that I can act in case of need and without losing time. Is it true, as
Citizen
Cohn
says, that the 300 cigar makers
in Brussels are on strike as well? Nothing has been communicated to the Council, and it
would be a great mistake on the part of the Brussels people if this is so; for how
can we act, if we are not given
any news?
For some time, the
copies of the
Werker
destined
for the Council, have not
reached
us. The General Council must receive
two
copies
of each of our newspapers, 
| one is for the
library where we keep a complete collection of all these newspapers to
serve the future history of the proletarian movement in all countries; the
second is for the secretary of the country where the newspaper is published. It would be
a great pity if
De
Werker
were to reach us no longer; we have always read it with
much attention.
The
£150
must have been sent to you today. If they
have
not arrived within 24 hours after receipt of this, please
write without delay to Citizen
Cohn
whose
address you have.
I shall make it my duty to
do everything possible for the Antwerp workers, whom I have the honour to
represent here on the Council; only, please keep me well informed of everything
that happens.
Receive my fraternal greetings
Frederic Engels.