MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE” 

London, 28 March 1859 
9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park, 
Haverstock Hill 

Dear Lassalle, 

Ad vocem‘ financial predicament: D’abord' many thanks for your 
offers of help. In the meantime, however, I have tried other 

@ Marx refers to Lassalle’s letter to Engels of 21 March 1859. - > F. Engels, Po and 
Rhine. -« A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy -4 That’s all. - ¢ As 
regards - § First 

means, namely writing to my mother asking her if she will lend 
me the money for a few weeks. Je verrai. Here in London a bill 
could have been negotiated only through Gerstenberg. But the 
latter, a petty pompous gentleman and Kinkel’s patron, shall not 
have the gratification of being asked to do me a service, even a 
purely formal one. 

Ad vocem Duncker. This Wednesday (day after tomorrow), the 
man will have had the manuscript” for almost 9 weeks. So far I’ve 
been sent only 3 proof-sheets. Between ourselves I should say quite 
frankly that Duncker is regretting having undertaken the business 
and that’s why he is handling it in this dilatory, Wetzlar 
chancellery fashion.”*' If he goes on like this the thing won’t even 
be out by Easter. And this puts me in another quandary. I am. 
negotiating with an Englishman over the English rendering of 
these first instalments. This last depends, of course, on the 
publication of the work in German, and since everything is done 
at high pressure in London, the Englishman is growing mistrust- 
ful. You absolutely cannot make an Englishman understand the 
German way of doing business. 

You will see that the first section does not comprise the 
principal chapter, Le. the 3rd, on capital. I thought this advisable 
on political grounds, for it’s in If] that the battle really begins and 
it seemed ta me better not to frighten people de prime abord.< 

Ad vocem telegraphy. 1 accept THE orrer..”” The matter isn’t as 
simple as you think. Obtaining the information is nothing, but 
takes up a great deal of time. I shall set up office near the Exchange 
(where the telegraphic companies who despatch the things also 
have their offices). However, your cousin’ must now let me know: 
1. By what route does he want the despatches sent? There are 3 
companies, one sends via France, the second via Ostend and the 
third via Antwerp. The only things which should be sent via 
France, I think, are those for which no French censorship can 
present a danger. This is, incidentally, the shortest route. 2. What 
does he want telegraphed? Different papers base their views of 
what is important on very different principles. 3. How frequently 
does he want me to telegraph? 4. Besides news from England, do 
these people want news from America, in short, from outside 
Europe? He must give me exact instructions about all this since 
telegraphy demands first and foremost that all non-essentials 
should be omitted. 5. Finally, | must know at what hour of the day 

a I shall see. - » K. Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. - « at the 
very outset - ¢ Max Friedlander 

the Presse prefers to receive its news (in the English provinces, at 
any rate, this varies with individual newspapers, according to the 
time they come out). In the case of extraordinary events no time 
could, of course, be laid down, as it could, presumably, for 
ordinary despatches. For stock-market news I would, of course, 
have an exceptional source of information in Freiligrath. 

Ad vocem ‘Presse’: 1 accept this offer, too: Firstly, because, unlike 
last time, no conditions are imposed on me as regards the 
treatment of specific political personalities. I make it an absolute 
principle never to assent to a condition. On the other hand, every 
newspaper has a right to expect tact of its correspondents. 
Secondly, because times have changed and I now consider it 
essential that our party should secure positions wherever possible, 
even if only for a time, so that others should not gain possession 
of the terrain. For the time being, of course, it must be used 
cautiously, but the most important thing is to acquire influence at 
various points against more crucial contingencies. I never received 
the copies of the Presse which you say Friedlander sent me, 
probably because they were wrongly addressed. I ought, by the by, 
to be sent a few numbers immediately; one has to find out from 
the actual paper how, not what, one should write for the Viennese 
public. 

Ad vocem your writing for the ‘Presse’. 1 am quite convinced you 
should write for them. True, it would be ‘improper’ for you, as a 
Prussian, to write for an Austrian paper just now. But on principle 
we should, as Luther says of God, ‘use a thief to catch a thief’,* 
and whenever we get the chance, contribute to the general state of 
disintegration and confusion. Before the start of the present 
troubles I would neither have written for the Presse myself, nor 
have advised you to do so. But the fermentation process has 
begun and now it’s up to everyone to do what he can. It is now 
advisable to infiltrate poison, no matter where. Should we confine 
ourselves to writing for papers which on the whole share our 
viewpoint, we'd have to postpone all journalistic activity indefinite- 
ly. And should one really allow so-called ‘rustic opinion’ to have 
nothing but counter-revolutionary stuff pumped into it? 

Ad vocem ‘Tribune’: You certainly misunderstood me if you 
thought I was asking you to take the Tribunés subscribers into 
account. The fact of the matter is this: My real business with the 
Tribune consists in writing leaders about anything I choose. Here, 
England heads the bill and France comes second. Much is of an 

1M. Luther, Von Kauffshandlung und Wucher. 

: ? ‘ 336 
economic nature. But since the change of course in Prussia,” I 

have amused myself on the sly by writing an occasional report 
from ‘Berlin’ and owing to my ‘internal’ ties with the Hohenzollern 
homeland I have been able to assess conditions there with great 
assurance. Among the said subscribers to the Tribune there are a 
great many Germans. Moreover, the German-American newspa- 
pers, whose name is legion, reprint stuff from it. This being so, it 
was important for me to give local colour to the occasional article I 
wrote from ‘Berlin’ in order that my polemic with the Prussian 
State might also be pursued in the New World. A little gossip is 
indispensable to local colour of this kind. Besides, present Prussian 
history consists largely of chronique scandaleuse. Hinc illae lacrimae.* 
In this respect your last letter served me to good purpose. 
Salut. 

Your 
K. M. 

P.S. Have just received a letter from Nutt, the City booksellers, 
advising me that your parcel has arrived. I shall collect it without 
fail today. 

What is happening about Engels’ pamphlet?? I sent it off on the 
1014 of Marcu. Pd have thought this kind of thing could have been 
done in 5 days.