--- Title: Engels to Florence Kelley-Wischnewetzky, London, 15 September 1887 Description: Engels on the boycott of the English Condition of the Working Class by Trübner, Henry George's repudiation of the Socialists and the translation of Marx's speech on free trade. Author: Friedrich Engels Date: 1887-09-15 URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/cartas/originales/1887-09-15%20Engels%20to%20Florence%20Kelley-Wischnewetzky --- *Letter from Friedrich Engels to Florence Kelley-Wischnewetzky in New York, London, 15 September 1887. Written in English. Text from: F. A. Sorge (ed.),* Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von Joh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere *(Stuttgart, 1906), pp. 276-278. [Spanish translation](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/cartas/1887-09-15%20Engels%20a%20Florence%20Kelley-Wischnewetzky)* London, Sept. 15th 1887. Dear Mrs. Wischnewetzky. I have received your letter of August 28th. I am glad the pamphlet sells so well. The copies I received I shall hand over to Aveling who has just returned from the country, to be distributed partly among the Socialist periodicals partly at his East End meetings at his lectures on the Am. movements. I shall also try through him to get an Agent for its sale and let you know the result. What I wrote about Trübner has come true stronger than I expected. Yesterday Dr. Baernreither, Austrian M. P., told me that he had asked Tr. — with whom he dealt regularly — to procure him a copy of our book. Tr. said *he had none* and that Dr. B. *had better order it through an American Agency, whose adress he gave to B.* and through which B. ordered the book. Thus Tr. not only boycotts but actually burkes the book. As to the copies sent to Kautsky he could hardly act otherwise than he did. Neither Lovell nor yourself ever wrote him a line of instruction. I myself never heard whether any copies had been sent to the press here and to what papers. We were completely in the dark, and if the book has not got into the hands of the English press and not been noticed, that is entirely the fault committed on your side of the water. Had I been informed of what had been done in that respect, or had I been told that that was left to me I could have acted. There is no doubt of a sale for it here, but not while it is in Trübner's hands; and if I was authorized to find an agent here I have no doubt of being able to do so; of course you would have to send a limited number of copies as a consignment. The repudiation of the Socialists by George is in my opinion an unmerited piece of good-luck which will redeem to a great extent the — unavoidable — blunder of placing George at the head of a movement he did not even understand. George as the standard bearer of the whole working class movement was a duper; George as the chief of the Georgites will soon be a thing of the past, the leader of a sect, like the thousands of sects in America. Your pamphlet on philanthropy has not yet come to hand. Your translation of Marx's Free Trade speech I shall look over with pleasure and compare it with the French original of which I have perhaps the only copy extant. We will see about the preface later on. The 7th Bemerkung from the “Misère de la Phil.” would fit in very well. As to the chapter on Rent, that seems more doubtful, as there is a good deal of reference to Proudhon's notions in it and I doubt whether Mr. Tucker's lucubrations deserve any attention. The reply of the Ex. to my footnote is in itself so deprecatory and meaningless that to reply to it would be a work of supererogation. I cannot reply in time for the congress, and the fact remains that I have openly taken sides against the Ex. in this matter. A fresh controversy across the Atlantic can lead to nothing. As to the “Socialist” and “Volksztg.” boycotting me, I am sorry for it on account of the book and pamphlet, otherwise it is a matter of perfect indifference to me, I have got too often over such chicanery by simply waiting and looking on. Your expulsion I read in the “Volksztg.” at the time, it was what I expected. I hope your pamphlet will come in time for the congress, it would have been well if it had been out a month ago so as to come into the hands of the sections before they sent delegates. I am curious what the congress will do, but do not hope for too much. Faithfully yours F. Engels. Fortunately the movement in America has now got such a start that neither George, nor Powderly nor the German intriguers can spoil or stop it. Only it will take unexpected forms. The real movement always looks different to what it ought to have done in the eyes of those who were tools in preparing it.