London, 16 February 1884 

My dear Laura, 

To-morrow is Sunday and on Monday we shall have to rummage 
in Maitland Park again,!*° so if I don’t write to-day to you there is 
no telling how long it may be delayed. We have got the old ‘Speicher’* 
at last cleared out, found a whole lot of things that have to be kept, 
but about half a ton of old newspapers that it is impossible to sort. 
I think next week we can begin to clear out and the week after sell up 
the remainder for what it will fetch. I was afraid at one time I should 
have to give it up again, but fortunately I am getting better every 
day, I can walk again for half an hour as fast as ever and with Nim’s 
help get through two bottles of Pilsener and a fair allowance of claret 
every 24 hours. 

Amongst the manuscripts there is the first version of the Kapital 
(1861-63) and there I find several hundred pages: Theorten über den 
Mehrwert'’' partly worked up into the text of the later versions,'! 
but there will be quite enough left to swell the 2nd volume into a 2nd 
and a 3rd. 

Bernstein is sending me an article of Mohr’s on Proudhon, published 
in the Berlin Soctal-Demokrat of 1865. Very likely the whole of it will 
have to be translated for the French edition of the Misére. 

By the bye Bernstein will be in Lyons to-morrow and may come to 
Paris while once on the road, and even extend his trip to London. If 
he does come to Paris, pray engage him to come here too, I want to 
see him about a good many things; he knows he finds a bed here 
ready to receive him and if he is a little short of cash, that should 
not stop him, we can arrange about that.'77 

Paul tells me I can take my time about the preface to the Misére 
but I don’t believe in that sort of thing, I have too much experience of 
publishers. I want to know by what time Oriol will require it, though 
I won't undertake that I shall deliver it to the day or even the week; 
but I ought to have some idea. The house in Maitland Park has to be 

a 

‘storehouse’ 

delivered up on the 25th March, and I have plenty of other things to 
do besides; I must be able to arrange my plans beforehand to some 
extent at least. 

What Paul thinks is an article of Mohr’s on Proudhon’s la propriété 
c’est le vol,* is in the Hetlige Familie which I have got.? 

I cannot much share Paul’s enthusiasm about the London Justice, 
I find the paper awfully dull. But what can you expect of a set of peo- 
ple who take in hand the task of instructing the world about matters 
of which they themselves are ignorant? There is not a single burning 
question which they know how to tackle; Hyndman combines inter- 
nationalist phraseology and jingo aspirations, Joynes is a muddled ig- 
noramus (I saw him a fortnight ago), Morris is all very well as far as 
he goes, but it is not far, poor Bax gets himself fast in German philos- 
ophy of a rather antiquated character—all that might do for a 
monthly where they have time to get themselves into harness, but 
for a weekly, with all sorts of questions dactualité to be tackled, it is 
blamable. 

Anyhow the. new ‘respectable’ Socialist stir here does go on very 
nicely, the thing is becoming fashionable, but the working classes do 
not respond yet. Upon that everything depends. And this is why it 
was so stupid to hurry on the bringing out of Justice. Articles like these 
will never stir up the masses. Six months’ intercourse with working 
people would have prepared a public and taught the writers how to 
write for it. But what’s the use of grumbling? Les petits grands hommes 
veulent absolument faire leur petit bonhomme de chemin!° 

I hope the children are better. Nim is rather anxious about them. 
Do please let us know how they are going on. 

Best love from Nim and from 

Your affectionate 
F. Engels