My Dear Friend,

I hope you have received my letter of 3 July addressed to Barletta. I received yours of 28 June the day after mine left, and was glad to learn that you had received the Address, which is in the course of translation into Italian and will be published in that language. As for the Russian translation, urge the lady on by every means to finish it, for the sooner it is done and published the better. The German, Dutch and Spanish translations are, moreover, in course of publication in Madrid, the French translation will be published in Geneva, and perhaps another in Brussels. In this way, with all the persecutions of the Continental Governments, it is a satisfaction to see that our Association has greater means of international publication than the officious press of any European government.

When your letter arrived, mine for Florence had not yet been sent, and considering the position I thought it better not to write directly to that city. A letter enclosing printed documents sent from London to a shoemaker in Florence whose name having figured beneath the Address to the Commune would naturally arouse suspicion, while the same letter addressed to a Doctor of Law in Naples would arrive as an ordinary thing. I therefore enclose herewith: 1. The Rules and the Inaugural and Provisional Address 1864; 2. Rules as laid down by the Congress; 3. Resolutions of the Congresses of 1866 and 1868; 4. Two Addresses of the General Council on the War; 5. Address on the Civil War in France, 2nd Edition, 2 copies; 6. Idem of Mr. Washburne, 3 copies. Be so good as to forward to Florence some of these documents as you can economically, and keep the rest for your own use. I do not know exactly which documents our Secretary gave you before you left him. If you require more copies of some or all of them, kindly let me know and they shall be sent to you as quickly as we have them. At any rate, you now have material enough to communicate any information about the present state of the Association which our friends in Florence may ask for. It will perhaps be well if for the present I do not correspond with them save only through you, until the present persecutions are over, for it would not be advantageous to compromise anyone more than is necessary. In the meantime, and until their Society is reconstituted, they might at once form a Section of our Association from among their most intimate friends, from six to a dozen, and write us a letter stating the fact of their adherence, naming their Secretary with whom I shall then enter into correspondence. This Section could later be merged into the reconstituted Society. As soon as the letter arrives, the list of names will be drawn up to send it to the press.

We are glad to hear that you and other friends do not fear the persecutions, but on the contrary welcome them as the best means of propaganda. This is my opinion and it seems we are destined to have such persecutions in abundance. In Spain many have been imprisoned and others are in hiding. In Belgium there is every desire on the part of the Government to put the law into full force and even more against us. In Germany the partisans of Bismarck are also beginning this game, only that they are more crossed here than in Spain by the energetic resistance of our men, who have been much more successful. No doubt you will yet have your share in Italy, but we are satisfied that these persecutions will meet with a different spirit from that of Caporusso and his friends. It is truly astonishing that these partisans of Bakunin should display such cowardice as soon as there is the slightest danger. The Spanish Bakuninists, who a short time ago wrote us that their conduct of abstention from political matters had had immense success, so much so that the Socialists were no longer feared, but regarded as a perfectly innocent people (!!), did not in any way behave well in the face of the recent persecutions, and we are unable to find one among them of any nation who has ever of his own free will exposed himself in danger either on a barricade or anywhere else. It will be a good piece of luck to get rid of them entirely, and if you can find elements in Naples, or in other cities, who have none of this Geneva current, it will be far better. Whatever we may do or whatever congress we may prescribe, these men will always form in reality, if not in name, an internal International sect within our society, and the men of Naples, Spain, etc. will lay greater weight on the communications they receive from their own head-quarters than on anything else the Association may do. Thus, if they re-enter our Association, it seems to us that it will be for a short time only, and questions will arise anew leading to their exclusion. We have had proofs which show us that they are still intent on forming an International of their own alongside the great International, and they may be sure that neither the General Council nor the Congress will permit any violation of our rules.

What you say about the state of the populations in the south of Italy does not surprise us. Yet here in England, where the movement of the working classes is almost as old as the century, apathy and ignorance are met with in abundance. The trades union movement, among all the great powerful and wealthy trades unions, has become more an obstacle to the general movement than an instrument of its progress, and outside the trades unions there exists here an immense mass of London workers who for several years have kept completely aloof from the political movement and are consequently very ignorant. But on the other hand, they are also free from many of the traditional prejudices of the trades unionists and other ancient sects, and therefore form excellent material upon which one can work. They are on the point of being set in motion by our Association, and we have found them intelligent. I could perfectly well understand your position in Naples; it is the same as that in which some of us found ourselves in Germany 25 years ago, when we first founded the social movement. At that time, we had among the proletarians only the few men who in Switzerland, France and England had imbued themselves with socialist and communist ideas; we had very few means of working upon the masses, and like you, we had to find adherents among schoolmasters, journalists and students. Fortunately, during this period of the movement such men, not belonging exactly to the working class, were easily found; later when the working people dominate the movement as a mass, they naturally become rare.

With the freedom secured by 1848, with the press, the right of meeting and of association, this first stage of the movement was naturally very much shortened, and no doubt in a year or two you will be able to give us a different account of the state of things in Naples.

We thank you also for your determination to lay before us the facts as they really are. Our Association is strong enough to show that it knows the real truth, even when it appears unfavourable, and nothing could weaken it but exaggerated reports which had no reality. Act thus and you will never receive from me any account which might in the least make you see things otherwise than they are.

I enclose the report of the Council meeting of 3 July, with all the facts concerning Major Wolff. As he is a man well known in Italy, it will be well to publish them there.

I may add that we have a rule for all periodicals published by our organisation, two copies are to be sent regularly to the Council here, one for the Archive where all are kept, and one for the Secretary for the country in which they are published. Will you take the trouble to have this done as soon as there is an Italian organ of the Association? A few copies of the Italian translations should also be sent here. We have now six Italian refugees here who fought in Paris for the Commune and are helping one another with our funds for the refugees.

Health and fraternity.

Signed, F. Engels