Paris, (25-J26 October 1847 

Dear Bartholomäus, 

Only today am I able to write to you because it was only today 
that I managed to see little Louis Blanc—after terrible tussles with 
the portiére. As a result of my long conversation with him, the little 
man is prepared to do anything. He was courtesy and friendliness 
itself, and seems to have no more urgent wish than to associate 
with us as closely as possible. There is none of the French national 
patronage about him. I had written to tell him that I was coming 
with a mandat formel to him from the London, Brussels and 
Rhineland democrats, and also as a cuartist acent. He asked for 
details about everything; I described the condition of our party to 
him in the most glowing terms, spoke about Switzerland, Jacoby, 
the Badeners as allies etc., etc. 

You, I said, were the chief: Vous pouvez regarder M. Marx 
comme le chef de notre parti (i.e. de la fraction la plus avancée de la 
démocratie allemande, que je représentais vis-a-vis de lui) et son 
récent livre contre M. Proudhon* comme notre programme.” Of this 
he took most careful note. Then finally he promised to comment on 
your book in the Réforme. He told me a great deal about the 
mouvement souterrain, that is now going on among the workers; he 
also said that the workers had printed 3,000 copies of his 
Organisation du travail cheaply and that at the end of a fortnight a 
further edition of 3,000 copies had been needed—he said the 
workers were more revolutionary than ever, but had learned to bide 
their time, no riots, only major coups that would be sure to succeed, 
etc., etc. By the way he too would seem to have got out of the habit of 
patronising the workers. 

‘Quand je vois des choses comme ce nouveau programme de M. de 
Lamartine, cela me fait rire! Pour bien juger de Vétat actuel de la société frangaise, 
il faut étre dans une position qui vous permet de voir un peu de tout, d’aller le 
matin chez un ministre, Paprés-diner chez un négociant, et le soir chez un 

eee 
ouvrier. 

The coming revolution, he went on, would be quite different 
from, and much more drastic than, all previous ones, and it would 
be sheer bétise to keep on thundering only against kings, etc., etc. 

By and large, he was very well-behaved and perfectly cordial. 
You see, the man is autricut, il a les meilleures dispositions du monde! 
He spoke of you with great sympathy and said he was sorry that 
you and he had parted rather froidement,’ ect., etc. He still has a 
special hankering after a German and French review to be 
published in Paris. Might come in useful later. 

As to Ruge, after whom he inquired, I warned him; il s’est fait le 
panégyriste de la diéte prussienne, et cela méme aprés que la diéte s’était 

a K. Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy. - * You can regard Mr Marx as the head of 
our party (i. e. of the most advanced section of German democracy, which I was 
representing vis-a-vis him) and his recent book against Mr Proudhon as our 
programme. - © underground movement - 4 ‘When I see such things as M. de 
Lamartine’s new programme, I can’t help laughing! In order to assess the present 
state of French society properly you have to be in a position which enables you to see a 
little of everything, to visit a minister in the morning, a merchant in the afternoon, and 
a working man in the evening.’- © stupidity - he has the best intentions in the 
world - & coldly 

Done il a fait un pas en arriére*?—Yes, 

séparée sans résultat. 
indeed. 

With pére Flocon I am hitting it off well. I first approached him 
as if I were an Englishman and asked him in Harney’s name why 
he so ignored the Star.” Well, yes, he said, he was sorry, he’d be 
only too glad to mention it, only there was no one on the editorial 
staff who understood English! I offered to write a weekly article 
for him’’’ which he accepted de grand coeur.“ When I told him I 
was the Star’s correspondent, he seemed quite moved.'” If things 
go on like this we shall have won over this whole trend in four 
weeks. Flocon wishes me to write an essay on Chartism for his 
personal benefit, he hasn’t the vaguest idea about it. I shall call on 
him presently and ensnare him further in our net. I shall tell him 
that the Atelier is making approaches to me (which is true; I am 
going there this evening), and that, if he behaves decently, I shall 
turn them down. That will touch his worthy heart. 

When I’ve been here a little longer and have grown more 
accustomed to writing French, I'll make a start on the Revue 
indépendante. 

I quite forgot to ask L. Blanc why he hadn’t accepted your 
Congress article.'” I shall tax him with it when he next comes to 
see me. By the way I doubt whether he has, in fact, received your 
book. He was quite unable to remember having done so today. And 
before I went away he spoke in very uncertain terms about it. I shall 
find out within a day or two. If he hasn’t got it, I shall give him my 
copy. 

Just imagine, little Bernays, who trots round here and plays the 
‘martyr—one betrayed by everybody, one ‘who has helped 
everybody with money or good advice’ (littéralement)—this crea- 
ture has a worse anv cic! It’s Bornstein’s, of course, but no matter. 
This same chap who makes himself out to be an oppressed, 
penniless martyr one day, boasts the next that he is the only one 
who knows how to earn money. He has been plodding away at 21 
sheets (!) on the Praslin affair'* which are coming out in 
Switzerland.? The nub of the matter is this: not la duchesse but le 
duc is the martyr! My response to his prating about martyrdom 
was to remind him that he has long owed me 60 fr. He is 
becoming every inch the industrialist and brags about it. In any 
case he’s cracked.—Even Ewerbeck is furious with him. 

a he has appointed himself panegyrist of the Prussian Diet, and this even after the 
Diet had dispersed without a result. So he’s taken a step back? (A reference to 
A. Ruge’s ‘Adresse an die Opposition des Vereinigten Landtages in Berlin’ on 11! June 

1847.) -> The Northern Star - © wholeheartedly - ¢ K. Bernays, Die Ermordung der 
Herzogin von Prastin. 

I have not yet seen Cabet. He is happy, it seems, to be leaving, 
having noticed that things are showing signs of disintegrating 
here. Flocon wants to commence the attack, not so L. Blanc, and 
rightly, although L. Blanc has a finger in all manner of pies and 
looks forward with glee to seeing the bourgeoisie jolted out of 
their security by the sudden onset of revolution. 

I have been to see pére Flocon. The good man was cordiality 
itself, and the honest frankness with which I told him about my 
affair with the Atelier nearly brought tears to his eyes. From the 
Atelier I went on to talk about the National: ‘Lorsque a Bruxelles 
nous discutions la question a quelle fraction de la démocratie 
francaise on s’adresserait, nous étions unanimement d’accord que 
dés le premier abord on se mettrait en rapport avec la Réforme; car a 
Pétranger il existe de fortes et de bien fondées préventions contre le 
National. D’abord les préjugés nationaux de cette feuille empéchent 
tout rapprochement’ —‘oui, oui, c’est vrai,’ said Flocon ‘et ceci était 
méme la raison pour laquelle la Réforme fut fondée; nous avons 
déclaré des le premier jour que nous ne voulons pas des 
conquétes’—‘et puis, I went on, ‘si je peux en croire mes 
prédécesseurs, car moi je n’ai jamais été au National, ces messieurs se 
donnent toujours lair de vouloir protéger les étrangers, ce qui au 
reste est parfaitement d’accord avec leurs préjugés nationaux; et 
nous autres, nous n’avons pas besoin de leur protection, nous ne 
voulons pas de protecteurs, nous voulons des alliés.’-—‘Ah oui, mais 
cest tout a fait différent avec nous, nous n’y pensons pas.’—‘C’est 
vrai, aussi n’ai-je qu’a me louer des procédés des Messieurs de la 
Réforme’* 

But how helpful it was that I reminded little Blanc of our 
affairs. Your Congress speech had, 4 ce qu’il parait? been mislaid; 

a When in Brussels we were discussing the question of which faction of French 
democracy to approach, we were unanimously agreed that our very first move 
should be to make contact with the Réforme, there being a strong and well-founded 
bias against the National abroad. In the first place this paper’s national prejudices 
prevent any rapprochemeni’—‘yes, yes, that’s true,’ said Flocon, ‘and this was precisely 
why the Réforme was founded; we declared from the very outset that we were not out 
for conquests’ —‘and then,’ I went on, ‘if I am to believe my predecessors, for I myself 
have never been to the National, those gentlemen always give the impression of 
wanting to patronise foreigners, which for that matter is perfectly consistent with 
their national prejudices; we for our part have no need of their patronage; it is not 
patrons we want, but allies..—‘Ah, yes, but we’re not at all like that; it would never 
occur to us:—“True, and I have nothing but praise for the way the gentlemen of the 
Réforme proceed.’ - » it appears 

today he hastened to look for it and send it to Flocon with a very 
urgent note requesting him to print it forthwith. I explained the 
thing to Flocon; the man was unable to understand the cur, 
quomodo, quando,* because Blanc had sent it to him without any 
further explanation. Flocon greatly regretted that the thing had 
become so outdated; while parfaitement d’accord with it, he 
thought it was now too late. Nevertheless he would see whether it 
could not be included in an article. He would, he said, do his very 
best. 

The article in the Réforme on Lamartine’s pious intentions was 
by L. Blanc, as you will have seen. It isn’t bad, and in all respects a 
thousand times better than perpetual Flocon. Undoubtedly he 
would attack Lamartine very harshly, did he not happen to be his 
rival just now. 

People, you see, are as well-disposed as one could wish. My 
relations with them are already ten times better than Ewerbeck’s 
ever were. I shall now utterly forbid the latter to write for the 
Réforme. He can relieve himself in the National and there compete 
with Venedey & Co.; he'll do no harm there, and anyway nothing 
of his will be published. 

Afterwards I again visited the Atelier. I took with me an 
amendment to an article in the last issue on English working men* 
which will also be included. The fellows were very well-behaved; I 
told them un tas d’anecdotes about English workers, etc. They 
requested me most urgently to collaborate, which I shall only do, 
however, if needs must. Just imagine, the rédacteur en chef’ thought 
it would be a good idea if the English workers were to dispatch an 
address to their French counterparts, calling on them to oppose 
the libre-échange movement and champion the cause of travail 
national"! Quel héroique dévouement!' But in this he failed even 
where his own people were concerned. 

By the way, I was not compelled to make any concessions to 
these people. I told L. Blanc que nous étions d’accord avec eux sur 
toutes les questions pratiques et d’actualité, et que dans les questions 
purement théoriques nous marchions vers le méme but; que les 
principes énoncés dans son premier volume! s’accordaient sous 
beaucoup de rapports avec les ndétres, et que pour le reste il en 

a why, how and when -> entirely in agreement -¢ L. Blanc, ‘Programme de 
M. Lamartine’, La Réforme, 27 October 1847. - 4 F, Engels, “Fhe Masters and the 
Workers in England’ written in reply to the article ‘Les maitres et les ouvriers en 
Angleterre’ in L’Atelier, No. 1, October 1847. - ¢ a lot of anecdotes - f editor-in- 
chief - & free trade - * national labour - ' What heroic devotion! - 1 L. Blanc, Histoire 
de la révolution frangaise, t. 1. 

trouverait de plus amples développements dans ton livre. Quant ala 
question religieuse, nous la considérions comme tout-a-fait subor- 
donnée, comme une question qui jamais ne devrait former le 
prétexte d’une querelle entre les hommes du méme parti.* For all 
that, I went on, a friendly discussion of theoretical questions was 
perfectly feasible and indeed desirable, with which he was 
parfaitement d’accord. 

Lupus was perfectly right in assuming that I would very soon 
meet the management.'” Barely three days after my arrival here I 
ran into Seiler in the Boulevard des Italiens. You will long since 
have heard that he has done a bolt and has no intention of 
returning. He is going the rounds of the French correspondence 
bureaux in search of a berth. Since then I have repeatedly failed 
to find him and don’t know how his affairs are going. If he 
meddles with the Réforme we shall have to disown him. 

Ask that accursed Bornstedt what he means by not sending me 
his paper.” I cannot forever be chasing after the Straubingers for 
it. Should he feign ignorance of my address, give it to him, 5, rue 
Neuve Saint-Martin. I'll send him a few articles as soon as ever I 
can. 

Hellish confusion among the Straubingers. In the days im- 
mediately preceding my arrival, the last of the Griinians were 
thrown out, an entire community of whom, however, half will 
return. We are now only thirty strong. I at once set up a 
propaganda community and I rush round speechifying. I was 
immediately elected to the district‘ and have been entrusted with 
the correspondence. Some 20-30 candidates have been put up for 
admission. We shall soon grow stronger again. Strictly between 
ourselves, I’ve played an infernal trick on Mosi." He had actually 
put through a delightfully amended confession of faith.’ Last 
Friday “© at the district I dealt with this, point by point, and was not 
yet half way through when the lads declared themselves satisfaits. 
Completely unopposed, I got them to entrust me with the task of 

a that we -were in agreement with them on all practical and current questions and 
that on purely theoretical questions we were marching towards the same goal; that 
the principles propounded in his first volume agreed in many respects with our 
own and that, regarding the rest, he would find it more fully developed in your 
book. As for the religious question, we regarded this as altogether secondary, as a 
question which should never be allowed to become a pretext for strife between men 
of the same party. - > Deutsche-Briisseler-Zeitung - © Paris District Committee of the 
Communist League - ¢ Moses Hess - ¢ 22 October 1847 

drafting a new one* which will be discussed next Friday by the 
district and will be sent to London behind the backs of the 
communities. Naturally not a soul must know about this, otherwise 
we shall all be unseated and there’ll be the deuce of a row. 

Born will be coming to see you in Brussels; he is going to 
London.'” He may arrive before this letter. He will be travelling, 
somewhat rashly, down the Rhine through Prussia, always 
provided they don’t cop him. Drum something more into him 
when he arrives; the fellow is the most receptive of all to our ideas 
and with a little preparation will be able to do good service in 
London. 

Great heavens, I was on the point of forgetting all that 
avalanche of trash unloosed upon me from the heights of the Alps 
by the great Heinzen.” It is truly fortunate that it should all have 
been packed into one issue; nobody will plough his way through it. 
I myself had to break off several times. What a blockhead! Having 
first maintained that he can’t write, I now find myself compelled 
to add that he can’t read either, nor does he seem particularly 
conversant with the four rules of arithmetic. The ass ought to read 
F. O’Connor’s letter in the last Star, addressed to the radical 
newspapers, which begins with ‘vou rurrians’ and ends with ‘vou 
RUFFIANS, then he would see what a miserable duffer he is in the 
matter of invective. Well, you will be duly hauling this low, stupid 
lout over the coals.“ I’m very glad that you intend to keep your 
answer quite brief. I could never answer such an attack, simply 
couldn't bring myself to—save perhaps with a box on the ears. 

Tuesday 

My article’ has appeared in the Réforme. Curiously enough 
Flocon hasn’t altered one syllable, which greatly surprises me. 

I have not yet called on pére Heine. As you can well imagine, 
with all this business, I’ve had a devilish lot to do and a fearsome 
amount of running about and writing. 

a F. Engels, ‘Principles of Communism’,- > K. Heinzen, ‘Ein “Reprasentant” der 
Kommunisten’, Deutsche-Briisseler-Zeitung, No. 84, 21 October 1847 (written in reply to 
Engels’ polemical article “The Communists and Karl Heinzen’). - © F. O’Connor, “To 
the Editors of the Nottingham Mercury, the Nonconformist, the Dispatch, the Globe, the 
Manchester Examiner and Lloyds’ Trash’, The Northern Star, No. 522, 23 October 
1847, - 4 K. Marx, ‘Moralising Criticism and Critical Morality’..- ¢ F. Engels, “The 
Commercial Crisis in England.—The Chartist Movement.—Ireland’. 

I have written to Elberfeld about the Free rrape-protective tariff 
business and am daily expecting a reply.'”* Write again soon. My 
regards to your wife and children.’ 

Your 
Engels 

You really should read O’Connor’s article in the last Star attacking 
the six radical newspapers; it’s a masterpiece of inspired abuse, in 
many places better than Cobbett and approaching Shakespeare. 

Quelle mouche a donc piqué ce pauvre Moses qu’il ne cesse pas 
d’exposer dans le journal ses fantaisies sur les suites d’une révolution 
du prolétariat°?