London, 20 March 1873 
122 Regent’s Park Road 

Dear Sorge, 

First of all let me convey to you our heartfelt sympathies on the 
great family misfortune that has befallen you.” We have all had to 
endure similar losses and know how deeply they scar a person’s 
whole life. It takes a long time and a hard struggle to overcome 
them, but we know that you have the strength to do so. 

Your last or rather your penultimate letter is in Marx’s hands. 
He intended to drop you a few lines, but I doubt whether he has 
done so and cannot ask him today since he and Tussy have gone 
off to Brighton for a few days. As far as the minutes of the 
former General Council are concerned, they can be of no use to 
you, since you have already been notified of all the resolutions of 
general interest, and the others have lost all their validity. For us, 
on the other hand, they are absolutely vital in our struggle against 
the secessionists, if we are to be able to answer their lies and 
slanders. I think that the interests of the International are more 
important than the need to comply with a formality—That the 
other secretaries‘ have failed to send in reports is indeed 
irregular. The one from Serraillier was in the letter that went 
astray. Wroblewski is unable to send one since everything in 
Poland is secret and we never used to ask for details from him 

a Mary Ellen Burns-»> the death of Sorge’s daughter - © the corresponding 
secretaries of the former General Council in London 

earlier either. How matters stand in Austria and Germany is 
something you know as much about as we do, since you 
correspond with people there directly and we do not have any 
further details about the position of the sections either. No report 
can be demanded from the secretaries who have resigned — Jung 
for Switzerland and Cournet for Denmark. So who else is left to 
report? We have not heard a word from Denmark, I am afraid 
that the Lassallean intrigues may have taken root there. 

In France everyone seems to have been caught. Heddeghem has 
been the traitor, as proved by the trial in Caen, where the 
prosecutor actually named him as the informer. Dentraygues in 
Toulouse (Swarm), with his accustomed pedantry, kept a mass of 
useless lists which have told the police all they needed to know, 
His trial is now in progress,°” we expect the reports any day. 
Larroque fortunately managed to escape to San Sebastian via 
London, from where he is attempting to renew contacts with 
Bordeaux. His address (to be kept secret) is: 

Senor Latraque 
21, Calle de la Aduana, San Sebastian, Spain. 

No inner envelope is necessary. 

Cuno was out of luck with his resolution from Section 29. He 
sent it to the Alliancist Spanish Federal Council, adding that 
Capestro=Cuno! So why the comedy of names? ” The Federacién 
of Barcelona duly printed the stuff and concluded—not without 
some apparent reason—that Cuno too had repented and realised 
that the old General Council was in the wrong.* That comes from 
mediating. 

Ad vocem Lodi. When your letter of 12 February arrived, they 
had all been released and Bignami was reinstated as editor. So I 
took it upon myself not to send the $20, since money was no 
longer needed, particularly as the General Council needs its 
money itself. May I ask you for instructions by return of post 
about whether to send it or whether you wish to dispose of it 
otherwise.“ 

As far as payments for the General Council are concerned, I 
have not yet received a penny. You will see from the Administra- 
tive Regulations, III, Art. 4, that subscriptions do not fall due until 
1 March; the almost universal practice was for them not to be paid 
in until shortly before or at the Congress. Until then we lived 

@ ‘La verdad se va abriendo paso’, La Federacién, No. 183, 15 February 1873. - b As 
for - © See this volume, p. 466. 

mainly from individual contributions and from credit. As to the 
former, I shall try to exact payments, but it will be difficult unless 
we wish to use up all the resources for the next Congress in 
advance and leave the course of the Congress itself to chance. 

Send 80-100 English-language trade-union plans at once.*”? The 
40 that have been sent, like most of the letters, have not yet 
arrived—a search is being made—and 40 is not enough for here 
anyway; we could distribute 30-40 in Manchester alone, since the 
Travis Unions here are mainly local and not centralised. For the 
moment you could send everything for the Brirish Feperat Councit 
either to me, or to S. Vickery, the secretary, at 3 Oak Villas, 
Friern Park, Finchley, N. London. Or to F. Lessner, 12 Fitzroy 
Street, Fitzroy Square, W. London. The present headquarters of 
the Feprrat Councit is itself only provisional. I could also use some 
copies of the French version for Italy, Holland and Belgium; I 
send them out individually or 2-3 at a time to strike committees 
wherever a strike breaks out. 

I cannot obtain any addresses in Holland or Belgium at the 
moment. Liebers is no longer in The Hague, but in Germany; van 
der Hout, who is an idler, by the way, is a coat Miner near Essen. 

The resolution of 26 January is very good. All that is needed 
now to settle the matter is for you to pass a resolution after the 
conclusion of the Jurassian, Italian and other congresses which are 
due to be held in March in which the resolution of 26 January is 
applied to the secessionists in Spain, Belgium, England and the 
Jura by name. Italy could only be referred to in so far as 
recognised sections— Naples, Milan, Ferrara, Turin, Lodi, Aquila— 
might be affected by it—the others have never belonged to the 
International. 

The Address to the Spaniards™’ will also have a very good 
effect. On the one hand, it is thoroughly correct from a theoretical 
point of view and, on the other, it avoids everything which might 
provide the Alliancists with a pretext to make an anarchis- 
tic song-and-dance about it, and thirdly, it is brief. In general, 
all your Addresses have been received very well by the work- 
ers. 

I have sent the resolution of 26 January to the British Feperar 
Counc, where it will be presented this evening. 

The demands of the General Council (of 15 December) about 
the admission of sections will beyond doubt never be fulfilled in 
this manner. The General Council must admit every section that 

2 ‘An alle Mitglieder der Internationalen Arbeiterassoziation’. 

fulfils the conditions of the Rules and Administrative Regulations. 
It cannot lay down any new conditions, so No. 1 lapses in part 
(the General Council is entitled to require the statistics of numbers 
and branches of work, but not names), and No. 4 lapses entirely 
since Section III of the Administrative Regulations provides 
otherwise for the mode of payment. The best thing would be just 
to drop this quietly—we here have never obtained more than is 
prescribed in Nos.2 and 3, and even then only with difficulty, and 
where people acted reliably in good faith we were never strict 
about formalities. For doubtful cases, of course, it is good to have 
such a resolution behind one. 

It will be just as impossible for Wrdéblewski to stick to his 
instructions. The authorised representative for Poland must be 
taken fully into your confidence, otherwise we cannot achieve 
anything at all there, and a detailed monthly report from him is 
quite out of the question.— Quant a moi,* I can only report about 
Italy that there is nothing to report apart from the fact that the 
Lodi section has not yet reconstituted itself and the one in Turin 
has probably come apart at the seams. 

It really was an unfortunate idea to pass the stameson to me. 
Last year we did not receive them before March or April, now it 
will be even later. Le Moussu, like all Frenchmen, is bone-idle in 
business affairs, unless matters are really pressing, and even a 
good kick is of no avail. Formerly, Jung saw to the printing and 
that task too now falls to Le Moussu, who does not know any 
English. 

I have sent you The International Herald and the Emancipacion, 
the former up to No. 50 (goes off today), the latter up to No. 88; 
I hope they have arrived safely. 

I had almost forgotten to thank you for the wine that arrived at 
last after a lengthy journey. It went by German sreamer to Bremen 
and was then sent on carriage paid from there to here where it 
arrived safely after some further wanderings. I have shared it with 
Marx, but have only tried a few bottles myself. The sweet Catawba 
pleased the ladies very well. The red is not bad and the white I 
have tried so far is an interesting drink somewhere between hock 
and pry sherry. The few bottles I still have in my cellar are being 
saved up for great occasions. The wine is pleasant to drink but 
lacks the individual character of the original European wines. I am 
very grateful to you for having enriched my knowledge of wine by 

a As for me 

a whole hemisphere and in such an agreeable manner; I was most 
astonished to discover the northerly position of the Ohio vineyards 
on this occasion. I had supposed they lay much further to the 
South. 

The set-to in Sprinc Srreer* about Woodhull amused me greatly. 
I shall spread the story to Spain, etc. Likewise, that Eccarius has 
ventured to describe their sham congress? in The World as a mere 
friendly gathering. Have received the Arbeiter-Zeitung up to No. 4. 
Very good, if stylistically a little rough here and there—which 
does no harm at all, but bears witness to its proletarian character. 
Very good attack on Singer Co.°—Ought To BE CONTINUED AND EXTENDED 
TO OTHERS. 

Otherwise, nothing new here. The Jung-Hales slanders have 
been going through the entire Jurassian, Belgian and other 
secessionist papers. Longuet intends to answer them in the Liberté, 
whether it will come to anything is not quite clear to me, given his 
laziness.‘ 

Must catch the post. 

Best wishes. 

Your 
F. Engels