| May 9. 71.
56, rue
Naujac.
My dear general,
The delicious warm air of
the south has already done me a great deal of good. Jenny Marx (Tochter)
war im Winter 1870/71 an einer Bronchitis und Rippenfellentzündung
erkrankt.
Schließen I
am much better. Indeed, I felt a change so soon as we got into
the Bay of Biscay, & regretted nothing more than that Mohr was not with us, the voyage might have cured
him of his cough. The difference of climate is wonderfully great. Coming direct
from smoky dusty Liverpool, the bright sky of Bordeaux quite dazzled us. I do
believe one chimney in Liverpool sends forth more smoke than all the chimnies of
this town put together.
Thanks to our International nationality we passed for Londoners on board the | English steamer & for Parisians at Bordeaux, so that we had no difficulty whatever on landing. Tussy’s famous passport was allowed to remain in my pocket-book—our boxes were not even searched.
Bordeaux is as dull as ever, the Bordelais eats & drinks & plays at dominoes as usually, his sleep is not disturbed by the deadly struggle going on at Paris. Bordeaux-ventre a resolu le problème de se passer “de la tête, du cœur du monde”. However even in this sleeply place the International manages to keep awake, which proves that great things might have been done in the Provinces, if the “leaders” had not left their posts in order to play a part at Paris.
| Yesterday a third
section of the Inter. was formed under the auspices of M. Paul. Notre grand homme de Province est d’une
activité fievreuse, il fait de la propagande du matin jusqu’au soir. Il ne
rentre plus! comme dirait mad. Lormier. The
last election were a triumph for the International. Four of its members were
returned. The radical republicans who have just killed the Gironde, now feel
that their own days are numbered—that the Inter. in its turn will kill
them. They court the Internationals with a very sour face even place their paper
la Tribune at the service of the Association. Paul Lafargue besorgte die Übersetzung ins
Französische (siehe hierzu P. Lafargue an Marx,
frühestens Dienstag, 17. Januar 1871).
Schließen Paul is
having a translation of Beesly‘s
article
inserted in that paper.
Unfortunately the | first part published was one mass of miss-prints.
At a meeting we went to, held before the day of the elections, the mere mention
of the Association was the signal for bursts of
applause. Indeed it shared
the first honours with la Justice. As the Internationale
is of the feminine gender there is every reason to believe that it will soon be
worshipped along with the Goddesses liberté, égalité, fraternité! …
… Little Schnaps is calling out at the top of his voice for
“ma tante Jenny”. He wishes to show me his latest trick. The little imp is
immensely greedy of applause—he would jump down from a wall for a "bravo
Schnaps". I wish you & Lydia Burns.
Schließen Mrs Engels could have seen
him to-day at luncheon. He was most amusing. We had taught him to say Vive la
Commune!, to which he added vive le vin jaune! Schnaps is a
chip
of the old Block. he likes a glass of good wine, he does.
Marc-/ Laurent is rather unwell at this
moment so that I suppose our journey to the Pyrenees will have to be postponed
for a few days—With love from all to Mrs
Engels & yourself & Pumps. Believe me, my dear general
Zeugenbeschreibung und Überlieferung
Zeugenbeschreibung
Soweit aus der s/w-Fotokopie zu ersehen ist, besteht der Brief aus zwei Blatt (o. einem Bogen?) Papier. Jenny Marx (Tochter) hat vermutlich alle vier Seiten vollständig beschrieben; der letzte Abschnitt („Laurent ... Your affectionate Jenny.“) ist quer am linken Rand der dritten Seite notiert. Die Wiedergabe der dritte Seite ("Yesterday a third ... Unfortunately the") erfolgt nach der Ersttranskription des Archivs, da die Fotokopie nicht vorlag.
Zitiervorschlag
Jenny Marx (Tochter) an Friedrich Engels in London. Bordeaux, Dienstag, 9. Mai 1871. In: Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe digital, hg. v. der Internationalen Marx-Engels-Stiftung. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin. URL: https://megadigital.bbaw.de/M2838236. Abgerufen am 12.08.2026.