London, 22 December 1882

Dear Moor,

To come back to Podolinski again,’ I stand corrected: storage of energy by means of labour takes place strictly speaking only in arable

farming. In stock farming the energy stored in plants is, in general, merely transferred to the animal, hence we can only speak of storage in so far as nutritive plants are put to use which would, in the absence of stock farming, go to waste. In all branches of industry, on the other hand, energy is merely expended. The most one can say is that vegetable products such as wood, straw, flax, etc., and animal products in which plant energy is stored, are made available by processing, i.e. are preserved for a longer space of time than if they had been allowed to decay naturally. Hence the time-honoured economic fact that all industrial producers are dependent for their sub- sistence on the products of agriculture, stock farming, hunting and fishing can, if desired, also be translated into physical terms, though this is not particularly rewarding.

Herewith letter from Laura; Jenny’s case would not, in fact, appear to be too bad, always providing she obtains proper and regular treatment— this being necessary not because of any immediate danger, but because of the extremely unpleasant consequences that might result from neglect.

Hartmann has thrown up the sponge here and tomorrow is crossing the ocean again. It’s just as well. His contracts over here have involved him in such a mass of legal obligations (some of them unfulfilled) that he himself no longer knows where he stands. I shall tell you all about it when I see you and am glad he is going away. It has now transpired that, all the while he was touching me for loans, he was pocketing anything from five to six pounds a week.

You are right when you say that Bernstein doesn’t always allow himself adequate time for reflection. But he’s not alone in that. Take a look at Lafargue’s recent discoveries in ‘Prétres et commergants’ (Egalité, 20 December) and, ibid., Deville’s latest reconstruction of Weitlingianism *”—- by no means an improvement.

Iam glad that ‘we concur’, as they say in business, on the subject of serfdom. Certainly, serfdom and bondage are not a form peculiar to the Middle Ages and feudalism; we find them everywhere, or almost everywhere where conquerors have the land tilled for them by the original inhabitants e.g. at a very early date in Thessaly. Indeed, this fact has clouded my view, like that of many others, of medieval servitude; we were all too eager to see it as being simply based upon

conquest; it rounded things off so neatly and tidily. Cf. Thierry, among others.*

Again, the position of the Christians in Turkey during the heyday of ancient Turkish semi-feudalism was not dissimilar.

But here is Pumps arriving for dinner, it being now 5 o’clock, and thus I am the victim of force majeure.” J hope that this glorious weather has pulled you round again.

Your Fred