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Title: To the Editor of the Echo (1871, draft)
Description: Beginning of a draft letter of Marx to the London Echo, quoting its leading article of 19 June 1871 on the International and the civil war in France.
Author: Karl Marx
Date: 1871-06-20
URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/originales/1871%20To%20the%20Editor%20of%20the%20Echo
---


*Transcription with doubtful readings: 3 of the 41 words of the text (7.3 %) are marked as uncertain ([?]) or illegible ([ilegible]), and each of them is explained in a note. Draft by Karl Marx, probably 20 or 21 June 1871 (date according to the MEGA²). Manuscript kept at the IISG, Amsterdam (Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers, inv. C 168, image 2), transcribed from the digital facsimile by the Escuela de marxismo, 2026 (double reading and collation with the image). The draft breaks off after the quotation from the Echo and is struck through with a vertical line. Below a rule, on the same sheet, there is a second, different draft in another hand (to the editor of the «P. M. G.», signed «J. H.», i.e. probably John Hales as secretary of the General Council), which is not part of this piece. Nothing has been completed from other editions. Diplomatic transcription: spelling and punctuation of the manuscript; underlining in italics; deletions as ~~text~~; [?] after an uncertain reading, [ilegible] for a word that cannot be read. [Traducción al español](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/1871%20Al%20redactor%20de%20The%20Echo)*

*To the Editor of the "Echo".*

Sir,

In your leading article of June 19 you say:  
"If the 'International' boasts of having ~~[ilegible]~~[^1] caused this[?][^2] civil war and having directed the councils of its leaders, let it at least be [ilegible][^3] etc.[?][^4]"

[^1]: A short word struck out.

[^2]: First reading «the»; the word has four letters, apparently «this».

[^3]: A word beginning with «h», of some seven letters; the second reading has «honourable», but no «-able» ending can be seen.

[^4]: Three letters followed by the closing quotation marks; «etc.» is likely but not certain.