Karl Marx to Edward Spencer Beesly in London; [London,] 19 October 1870. Written in English. The manuscript is not known; text after the first print (The Social-Democrat, London, vol. 7, no. 4, 15 April 1903, p. 233), MEGAdigital (MEGA², Section III, letters of 1870, no. 336), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, CC BY-SA 4.0, without the editors’ apparatus. Underlining in italics; deletions omitted; editorial additions in square brackets; […] illegible word(s). Traducción al español

October 19, 1870.

My dear Sir,—

Deak is against the workmen. He is, in fact, a Hungarian edition of an English Whig.

As to Lyons, I have received letters not fit for publication. At first everything went well. Under the pressure of the “International” section, the Republic was proclaimed before Paris had taken that step. A revolutionary Government was at once established—La Commune— composed partly of workmen belonging to the “International”, partly of Radical middle-class Republicans. The octrois were at once abolished, and rightly so. The Bonapartist and Clerical intriguers were intimidated. Energetic measures were taken to arm the whole people. The middle class began if not really to sympathise with, at least to quietly undergo, the new order of things. The action of Lyons was at once felt at Marseilles and Toulouse, where the “International” Sections are strong.

But the asses, Bakunine and Cluseret, arrived at Lyons and spoiled everything. Belonging both to the “International”, they had, unfortunately, influence enough to mislead our friends. The Hotel de Ville was seized—for a short time—and most foolish decrees on the abolition de l’état and similar nonsense were issued. You understand that the very fact of a Russian—represented by the middle class papers as an agent of Bismarck—pretending to impose himself as the leader of a Comité du Salut de la France was quite sufficient to turn the balance of public opinion. As to Cluseret, he behaved both as a fool and a coward. These two men have left Lyons after their failure.

At Rouen, as in most other industrial towns of France, the sections of the International, following the example of Lyons, have enforced the official admission into the “committees of defence” of the working class element.

Still, I must tell you that according to all information I receive from France, the middle class on the whole prefers Prussian conquest to the victory of a Republic with Socialist tendencies.—

Yous truly,

Karl Marx.

I send you a copy of the New York Tribune which I received yesterday. You will oblige me by returning it after perusal. It contains an article on the International, penned I do not know by whom, but to guess from style and manner, Mr. Dana might be the writer.

I forward also three copies of the Défense Nationale , which Lafargue sends you with his compliments.