---
Title: To the Editor of The Times, 21 March (1871)
Description: Statement against the forged letter which the Paris-Journal attributed to Marx.
Author: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Date: 1871-03-21
URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/originales/1871%20To%20the%20Editor%20of%20The%20Times%2C%2021%20March
---


*Draft in Engels's hand, written for Marx (the letter speaks in Marx's name), London, March 1871; undated and unsigned. Manuscript preserved at the IISG (Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers, inv. K 1672), transcribed from the digital facsimile by the Escuela de marxismo, 2026. Diplomatic transcription: spelling, capitals and punctuation as in the manuscript; deletions as ~~text~~ only where they can be read with certainty, otherwise ~~[ilegible]~~; interlinear additions inserted where marked, with a note; [?] after an uncertain reading; [ilegible] for an illegible word. [Traducción al español](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/1871%20Al%20director%20de%20The%20Times%2C%2021%20de%20marzo)*

To the Editor of the Times

Sir In your impression of the 16th March your Paris[^1] Correspondent states: „Karl Marx ~~[ilegible]~~ .... has written a letter to one of his principal affiliés ~~[ilegible]~~ in Paris, stating that he is not satisfied with the attitude which the members of that society (the „International"[^2]) have taken up in that city &c." This statement ~~[ilegible]~~ your Correspondent has evidently[^3] ~~[ilegible]~~ taken from the ~~[ilegible]~~ Paris Journal of the 14th March ~~[ilegible]~~ where also the publication, in full, of the pretended letter is promised. The Paris Journal of the 19th March does indeed contain a letter dated London 28th February 1871 & purporting to be signed by me;[^4] ~~[ilegible]~~ the contents of which ~~[ilegible]~~ agree with the statement of your Correspondent. I now beg to declare that this letter is, from beginning to end, an impudent forgery,[^5]

[^1]: «Paris» written above the line.

[^2]: Above «International» a small sign like an «E» or «&», perhaps a correction of the initial letter; not legible.

[^3]: «has evidently» written above the line, over two deleted words.

[^4]: «& purporting to be signed by me;» written above the line, over a deletion that runs over two and a half lines.

[^5]: The draft ends here, with a comma; the page is otherwise blank.