Paris, [14-]15 November 1847 

Dear Marx, 

Yesterday, having sent friend Reinhardt several times to see 
Frank about your book,* I learned, suddenly and at last, that that 
cur, Frank, had begun by sending several of the free copies to 
Frenchmen, in every case demanding 15 sous expenses, and in 
every case getting the copies back again." Thereupon he calmly 
hung on, not only to those he had got back, but also to such as had 
not yet been sent out, and it was not until a few days ago that he 
sent them to the addressees without demanding 15 sous. The 
conspiration de silence was thus of Mr Frank’s making! I at once 
hurried along to L. Blanc, whom a few days previously I had 
again failed to find in because he was en garde (le petit bonhomme en 
bonnet a poil!)”; this time I did find him in and the copy had still not 
arrived! 1 have at last got my own copy back, which may be of help 
in case of need. Today, Sunday, nothing can be done. I have 
arranged to meet Reinhardt tomorrow, whereupon he will go with 
me to see Frank, which should have happened earlier but did not 
happen through negligence on Reinhardt’s part. He must intro- 

aK. Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy.- >’ on guard (the little mannikin in a busby) 

duce me to Frank, since I have no other means of establishing my 
bona fides with the fellow. I shall get him to give me the copy for 
L. Blanc and take it along with me. But what an ass Flocon is! 
L. Blanc told me yesterday that Flocon had objected to your 
libre-échange* article'” qu’il était un peu confus?!!!! The muddle- 
headed creature! I naturally objected, oh, said the little man, ce 
nest pas moi qui at trouvé cela, tout au contraire, Varticle m’a beaucoup 
plu, et en effet, je ne sais pas ce que M. Flocon ... mais enfin (with a 
somewhat equivocal grimace intended for Flocon), c’est ce qu’tl m’a 
dit’ All in all the editorial board of the Réforme is tout ce qu’il y a 
de plus* wretchedly constituted. The article on the English crisis 
and all economic topics en général are churned out by a poor, 
worthy PENNy-<-LINER Whose schooling appears to have been confined 
to the financial articles of a correspondence bureau, and who sees 
everything through the eyes of a third-rate Parisian clerk in a 
fourth-rate bank, and judges it with the infallibility peculiar to such 
an ‘empiric’, as the English say. Flocon understands nothing of the 
matter and seems to me to grow more ignorant day by day. C'est tout 
au plus un homme de bonne volonté! Indeed, L. Blanc also makes no 
secret of his contempt for him. 

Monday 

I did not find the accursed Reinhardt at home. I shall go there 
again this evening. Come what may, I must get the whole business 
cleared up by tomorrow. If I don’t write to you again at once, it 
means that everything’s in order. 

Yesterday evening the election of delegates took place.” After 
an extremely muddled session I was elected with a ?/; [majority]. 
This time I had engaged in no intrigues whatsoever, there had 
been little opportunity for any. The opposition was merely a 
fiction; a working man was proposed for appearances’ sake, but 
those who proposed him voted for me. 

The money is coming in. Write and tell me whether you and 
Tedesco are going. If that proves impossible, I can hardly go there 
and ‘congress’ on my own, that wouldn’t make sense. If neither of 
you can go, the whole business will fall through and will have to 

a free-trade - > which was a trifle muddled - © it’s not I who thought that, quite the 
contrary, I liked the article very much, and indeed I don’t know what Mr Flocon ... but 
anyway - 4 that’s what he told me - © quite the most - f At best he’s a man of good 
will. 

be postponed for a few months. Should this be the case, write and 
tell London, so that all can be advised in good time. 

Flocon had further told L. Blanc that if your article was to be 
accepted it would need altering a little, precisely to make it 
‘clearer’. L. Blanc asked me once again to remind Flocon de sa 
part? about the article; but in the circumstances I think it would be 
far better to let the matter drop. For Flocon to make the article 
clearer—that would be the last straw! Such block-headed stubborn- 
ness is beyond my comprehension and, as I have mentioned, 
Blanc plus ou moins’ apologised to me for his colleague. But what 
can be done in such a case? I shall let Flocon do what he wants, 
have little to do with him and deal mainly with L. Blanc, who is 
the most reasonable of the lot. There’s absolutely nothing one can 
do with the National, it’s becoming more narrow-minded every day 
and is increasingly allying itself with Barrot and Thiers, witness THE 
Lue Banouer.! 

Seiler will have written to tell you that your book’s going very 
badly here. That’s not true. Frank has told Reinhardt that he is 
pretty well satisfied with the sales. Despite his preposterous 
behaviour he has, I believe, disposed of some 40 copies. More 
about this shortly. Seiler—he called on me recently, met with a 
very cool reception and did not come again—maintains that he 
has left sufficient in the way of bedding, furniture, paper, etc., 
etc., to cover Wolff's and Heilberg’s needs. See to it, si cela est, 
that Lupus, at least, isn’t swindled again, this time by Heilberg. 
But no doubt it’s all so much hot air. 

Rothschild has made a profit of 10 million francs on the new 
loan—4 per cent net. 

I shall not be able to pass through Brussels on my way to 
London, since money is too short. We shall have to arrange to 
meet in Ostend—on the evening of the 27th (Saturday), and cross 
over on Sunday so that we can make a start on Monday. On that 
day, the 29th, the Polish anniversary, there may be something 
FRATERNALLY democratic going on, in which case we shall have to 
attend. That would be quite a good thing. You make a French 
speech in London and then we print it in the Réforme.'** The 
Germans absolutely must do something to hold their own with the 
French. A single speech would be of more help than ten articles or 
a hundred visits. 

You'll have seen in The Northern Star, 2 October, the demand 
put forward by Harney and the rrarernats for a democratic 

4 on his behalf - © more or less - © if that is so 

congress.* Do lend it your support, as I shall do among the 
French. We could try and hold it if possible next year in London, 
perhaps at the same time as our own. Should it come about, it 
might have a very salutary effect on the French and humble them 
somewhat. Should it fail to materialise, the fault will lie with the 
French and they will at Jeast be compelled to declare themselves. It 
would be even better if Brussels could be the venue; in London 
Feargus’ might get up to some kind of foolishness. 

Otherwise nothing new. Give the enclosed to Bornstedt* and 
write soon telling me whether you are going to London. 

Your 
E. 

Write to the painter’s* address if you still have it. It is better. 

Heine sends his regards. Is extremely weak and somewhat 
languid. Who actually sent your article to L. Blanc? He says the 
name at the foot of the letter was quite unknown. That could well 
be the reason why he allowed the matter to hang fire. 

[On the back of the letter] 

Monsieur Charles Marx, 42, rue d’Orléans, Faubourg d’Ixelles, 
Bruxelles