Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge  
in Hoboken

London, 4 Jan. 73

Dear Sorge,

1. Your letters of 3 and 6 Dec. received. I cannot understand why the newspapers, etc. are not reaching you. I wrote to you on 7 and 14 Dec.? regarding the arrests in Lodi and sent: 14 Dec. “Emancipación” and “International Herald”, 22 Dec. “Emanc.” and “I. Her.”, 23 “Emanc.” and “Egalité” (Cluseret against the Blanquists, good, only a pity that his name is underneath it!) and 24 3 copies of the circular of the Manchester Foreign Section. Today follows: “Emanc.” and one copy of the same, as well as the circular of the minority of the British Federal Council.

2. So the majority of the British Federal Council has seceded!! – under the leadership of Hales, Mottershead, Roach and – Jung. They have issued a circular, declared against the Hague Congress, etc. We have only one copy so far; as soon as we get a second, you shall have it. Then, not the British Federal Council, but this hole-and-corner meeting of the majority called an English congress for 5 Jan. Among the English workers here, however, these sorts of coups d’état are not so easy to pull off. The minority remained assembled in the old premises, 7, Red Lion Court, constituted itself as the British Federal Council and advised all sections to suspend judgment until they had been heard as well. Right on top of that, the circular of the Manchester Foreign Section, drawn up by me, was already sent out on 23 Dec., and the circular of the minority of the Federal Council on 31 Dec. In the meantime, the West End Section here had already come out against the majority; Nottingham followed, even before the minority circular was in their hands; ditto Middlesbrough immediately deposed Jung and demanded that the minority propose a new delegate to them; ditto Manchester District Council. All declared themselves for the Hague resolutions, and according to Riley’s private reports, we can be certain of all the provincial sections with the exception of Liverpool. With that, this coup d’état would be settled. I am particularly pleased at the prompt justice meted out to Mr Jung. This he has got out of being towed along by Hales, becoming a tool of his mortal enemy Guillaume. Now he is stone dead.

2. Belgium. The Belgian Congress made a complete mockery of the General Council. It declared that it wanted nothing to do with you and that the Hague resolutions were null and void. I shall try to send you more precise information on Tuesday; I do not have the paper here.

3. The Spanish Congress will resolve the same, since our people have not sent any delegates to it at all. Unfortunately many of our people, as Mesa writes to me, are involved in the insurrection, in prison or with the bands in the mountains, which is very unfortunate just now.

4. So you now have 1. the Jurassians, 2. the Belgians, 3. the old Spanish Federation and 4. the present minority sections here which have declared themselves in rebellion. We are unanimously of the opinion here that this is no case for suspension, but that the General Council should simply state that these etc. etc. federations and sections have declared the legally existing rules of the Association to be null and void, thereby placing themselves outside the International and having ceased to belong to it. Then there can be no talk of a conference either, which would always be possible in the event of a suspension.

It goes without saying that you can only proceed to such steps once you have the official documents in your hands. We shall procure them for you.

5. In Portugal everything is perfectly in order; Lafargue received a letter yesterday in which a longer one to me is held in prospect.

6. Still not a line from Denmark. I suspect the Schweitzerians, through their Schleswig supporters, have been stirring up trouble there. Nothing can be done there, however, for the Alliance.

7. France. You will have received Serraillier’s report. There have been many arrests in the South, 37 men, of whom 27 have been released again; some of our people are still inside. Incidentally, a conference of our people was held in Toulouse right during the arrests.

8. Italy. The families of the 3 arrested and the 6 who have absconded in Lodi are in the direst need, and Bignami is bombarding me with letters asking for support, since the section has naturally been ostracised by the other Italian sections (of the Alliance). We have sent some money and have also intervened on their behalf in Spain and Germany. Not much is to be got there; the people themselves have enough outlays of this sort. But something ought to be done in America. It is of the utmost importance that Lodi should receive support from outside; it is our strongest post in Italy and, now that nothing more is to be heard from Turin, the only reliable one. As soon as these people see that the International is something more than a phrase, it will be a severe blow for the Alliance, which spends all its money on printed matter, etc. and never gives support. Lodi is much more important and something can be done there with less money than with the Geneva bijoutiers’ strike, on which Outine again, as usual, makes the existence of the International there depend. As regards that, these Genevans are like the Belgians; they never do anything and always demand everything. What you can do over there and we here for the bijoutiers is a drop in the bucket and does them no good – the days of the great Geneva strike are over and will not return; until the internal affairs of the International are sorted out, we shall not have the means to carry through any strike at all. On the other hand, with half the effort or less, a colossal success can be achieved in Italy. Just imagine the rage of the Alliance people when suddenly in the “Plebe” it says: Soscrizione per le famiglie etc. etc. Ricevuto dal Consiglio Generale dell’ Internazionale, Nuovo Jork! – Lire so-and-so, and the General Council suddenly proves its existence to the Italians in this form! So do what you can. The people have been locked up on account of your circular, and you are therefore in their debt. Some 30 to 50 dollars should be raisable there; but whether it is much or little, send something and soon, if need be with the promise of possible further remittances. If Lodi and the “Plebe” are lost to us, we shall have no pied-à-terre left in Italy; you may count on that.

9. As regards most of the international or Alliance newspapers, etc., we receive here at most 1 copy and that with difficulty. We shall try, however, to procure them for you regularly.

10. Your proclamations are entirely to the point; but as long as you correspond in French with people like the Jurassians and Belgians and in English with Hales, you run the risk of their having your things printed with all their linguistic errors and Germanisms, which would certainly not be pleasant. You will surely have people of French or English mother tongue who are capable of vetting these things. Our Frenchmen here would have raised a hell of a scandal if we had put their names beneath Marx’s or my French. None of us is so secure in a foreign language that he could write in it for print without revision by a native speaker. Apropos, Mesa says that in your address to the Spanish Congress you in some measure acknowledged their right to sit in judgment over the Hague resolutions and thereby gave yourselves away – since I do not know the document (it will only appear in the next “Emanc.”), I do not know what truth there is in this.

11. Serraillier likewise does not know the Arraing to whom you have sent credentials; if he is someone recommended by Walter, then it’s fishy. Walter is an agent for the Blanquists, scheming in Toulouse, Bordeaux, etc. Moreover, the Blanquists have fallen flat on their faces with their manifesto; one after the other here they are trying to worm their way back in, and on top of that Ranvier has disavowed the whole thing.

12. In Portugal the right of coalition exists, but not the right of association. The International is consequently not officially constituted there; but since everything is proceeding along the best lines, an authorised agent is for the time being superfluous and could only give rise to jealousy and quarrels. – You would also do best to leave the Danes to themselves until we have found out what is wrong there.

13. It serves Cuno right. Practical life in America will soon teach him manners.

Best greetings from Marx and myself.

Yours,  
F. E.

After the last Spring Street meeting – the “World” received from you this week – there can be little doubt that agents provocateurs are among them.