IN HOTTINGEN-ZURICH 

London, 16 June 1885 

Dear Mr Schliter, 

1) The two trials at Assizes — that of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and 
that of the democratic committee — of 1849 both appeared at the 
time as wet politische Prozesse and were based on the newspaper re- 
port. If you wish to republish one or both, it could be quite effective, 
and I should write you a foreword to it.4! 

 See this volume, p. 317. - > goose-step - © William I 

2) It might also be a good thing to republish the Communist Trial*; 
for one thing, it will once again show the old Lassalleans that some- 
thing was already afoot in Germany before the great Ferdinand’s° 
time and, for another, the proceedings of the Prussians did, in fact, 
even then set the pattern for what the Anti-Socialist Law °’? has now 
made the norm. A preface‘ will be available for this as well, the mo- 
ment printing is actually in progress; unfortunately my time does not 
permit me to work in advance and qn spec. Again, I haven’t got 
a copy of the Leipzig edition with Marx’s later notes. It is typical of 
the way they used then to conduct their affairs that neither Marx nor 
I should ever have been sent a copy! 

Do you have in your archives Stieber and Wermuth, Die Communis- 
ten-Verschworungen des 19. Jahrhunderts’ (Berlin, Hayn, 1853, 2 
parts) — the so-called ‘black book’? It contains two addresses from 
the Central Committee to the League’ which you might print as 
an appendix. 

3) If I understand you aright, you are thinking of publishing the 
series of articles from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung on the Paris battle in 
June 1848.8 *!” It’s not a bad idea. I could arrange the relevant pas- 
sages for-you, interspersed with a few notes to provide a context, and 
also whatever is needed from Marx’s article in the Revue der Neuen 
Rheinischen Zeitung," etc. Being the only contemporary account of 
the Paris proletariat’s battle to take the side of the June fighters, the 
thing has a certain importance. Nor can the masses be reminded too 
often of the event. But it’s a task that would take at least a week, and 
I cannot embark on it until the autumn. 

4) Various other things from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung might fol- 
low, but just now I simply haven’t got the time to look them out; if 
you could make some suggestions, we might be able to see. The same 
applies to other, lesser works of that period by Marx and myself. As 
soon as the rough ms. of the 3rd volume of Capital has been trans- 
posed into a legible one —in the autumn, that is——I shall have to put 

4 K. Marx, Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne. - » Ferdinand Las- 
salle - ° F. Engels, ‘On the History of the Communist League’. - ¢ K. Marx, ‘Epi- 
logue to Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne’. - ° Wermuth/Stieber, 
Die Communisten-Verschworungen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. -' K. Marx and F. Engels, 
‘Address of the Central Authority to the League, March 1850’; ‘Address of the Central 
Authority to the League, June 1850’. - § 1849 in the original. - "K. Marx, The Class 
Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850. 

the papers* in order. Only then shall I once more obtain a general 
idea of what is in fact available and be able to look out some suitable 
stuff. Up till then I shall be more or less working in the dark. So long as 
the dictation of Capital, Book III remains incomplete, my days will 
be taken up from 10-5, while in the evenings, apart from visitors, I not 
only have to deal with an ever-increasing volume of correspondence, 
but also to read over what I have dictated, in addition to revising the 
French, Italian, Danish and English translations of our things (includ- 
ing the English one of Capital), and how, I should like to know, 
am I to find time for anything else? Hence-——as you must realise — 
I cannot let myself in for anything, unless it is of the utmost urgency. 

Besides the afore-mentioned edition of the Communist Trial, 
I would ask you to send me: 

3 copies of Marx’s Wage Labour and Capital. 

6 Communist Manifestos, Zurich edition, and charge them up to me. 
I should also be grateful to have a statement of account so that I may 
know how we stand. We still have copies of Marx’s photograph 
here in both sizes. 

Kindly give the enclosed to Ede. 

Most cordially yours, 

F. Engels