74 Ladywood RoadBirmingham21 July 1871Dear Docter Doctor

I have not yet been able to get up my lecture in Birmingham, It seems it will take some time to get the collective support of the Trades Council here, the more so as a lecture looks like a personal matter, and that I am seeking my own interest, What is Wanted here is a large Public meeting in the Town Hall so as to command the presence of the Press, We can make our voices heard from Birmingham all over the World, It is my intention to get up a requisition to the Mayor for a Town’s meeting and make an appeal to the public on behalf of the refugees, You can do for others what you cannot do for yourself; I beleive believe more money could be raised by public meetings and subscriptions than ever I shall get as a private lecturer, and our cause will be served fiftyfold.

I beg to propose to the Council of the International, that if they will give thirty Shillings a weak to support my family I will get up public meetings instead of lectures in every town I visit, There can allways be a certain number of tickets sold for reserve seats to defray expences, I shall get the support of the public and the presence of the Reporters, I will get a committee to manage the meetings and whatever money is over shall be sent to London for the International, I think this might be tried for a few weeks and then you could judge whether you will continue it, This is not a matter of private interest to me, it is a duty, under any circumstances I am determined to bring the truth to light, but with your assistance the task would be more easy and more immediate, I beg to call your attention to the London Daily News of to-day, you will see a statement from an Italien who has been expulsed from Paris, which corroberates my statement that nine tenths of the fires in Paris were caused by the Versailles projectiles,

I received the Washbourne papersKarl Marx: Mr. Washburne, The American Ambassador in Paris.—To the New York Central Committee for the United States' Sections of the International Working Men's Association. London 1871., and should they give rise to any disscussion discussion in the press please to let me know,

I enclose the only notice I had of my lecture in NorthamptonDie Beilage ist überliefert: Siehe Digitalisat (RGASPI, f. 1 op. 5 d. 2414)., I am affraid this will be my fate unless I can get up public meetings

In every private circle in Birmingham that I have visited I find that the facts of the struggle in Paris are becoming better known, and that a public meeting might be held with good results,

Yours RespectfullyRobt Reid

To Dr Karl Marx