| Seaton
Axminster.
14 Sep.
1870
Dear Sir
I am not acquainted with Mr Serrailler but the confidence you & the International Society have reposed in him is a sufficient guarantee to me that it is a case where one ought to give assistance & I gladly offer my small contribution of £ I. The order is drawn in favour of “Charles Marx, London” by E S Beesly, Seaton.
I not only most thoroughly endorse your Siehe
The General
Council of the International Working Men’s Association on the
War und Second address of the General Council of the International
Workingmen’s Association on the War (1870). [Karl Marx: The General Council
of the International Workingmen's Association on the War
(MEGA2 I/21. S. 245–249 und Erl. S.
1594-1612) und Karl Marx: Erste Adresse des Generalrats der Internationalen
Arbeiterassoziation über den Deutsch-Französischen Krieg.
(MEGA2 I/21. S. 478–484 und Erl. S.
1744-1750); Karl Marx: Second Address of the General Council of the
International Working Men's Association on the War. (MEGA2 I/21. S. 485–491 und Erl. S.
1751–1766. / Karl Marx: Zweite Adresse des Generalrats der Internationalen
Arbeiterassoziation über den Deutsch-Französischen Krieg.
(MEGA2 I/21. S. 492–499 und Erl. S.
1767–1776)].
Schließen two addresses, | but I think their importance can
hardly be overrated. They are admirably reasoned, & the spirit is excellent.
I now recognise as I never did before the usefulness of the International, and I regret that I have not
cooperated with it actively in the past, though I have always sympathised. It is
clear that this plague of militarism in France and still more in Germany can
only be got rid | of by the promotion of a social & industrial spirit
among workmen, and a belief that their interests are the same throughout Europe.
I am afraid you & I differ rather widely in our economic doctrines;
but at
least we agree in this that all our social arrangements have been made for &
by the non-work-men and will continue to be so until the workmen know their
strength and use it. I entirely distrust the Provisional
government. I am | told Ferry is a good
man, but the rest as you say are, for workmen’s interests, no better than
Thiers or Schneider.
Still I hope the socialists of all schools will subordinate everything else to
the Defence of the Republic at present. A socialist outbreak just now would set
all the governments in Europe against France when she needs their open or covert
assistance.
Tell me if I can cooperate with you to any purpose. I have been here for some weeks. I came up to London for 4 days to try to influence the leading workmen. What a pernicious old goose | Beales is. He is expecting a County Court Judgeship & is on his good behaviour
Yours trulyE S Beesly. /
Zeugenbeschreibung und Überlieferung
Dieser Brief wird hier erstmals veröffentlicht.
Zeugenbeschreibung
Soweit aus der Fotokopie zu ersehen ist, besteht der Brief aus einem Bogen weißem Papier. Wasserzeichen: „J Allen & Sons / Super Fine“. Beesly hat alle vier Seiten vollständig beschrieben. Die erste Seite ist schwarz umrandet. Schreibmaterial: schwarze Tinte.
Die letzten Zeilen („Beales is ...“) sind oben links auf der ersten Seite quer notiert.
Archivsignatur des Moskauer Marx-Engels-Instituts (IMĖ) auf allen beschriebenen Seiten oben rechts: „Rj 1460a–d“.
Zitiervorschlag
Edward Spencer Beesly an Karl Marx in London. Seaton, Mittwoch, 14. September 1870. In: Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe digital, hg. v. der Internationalen Marx-Engels-Stiftung. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin. URL: https://megadigital.bbaw.de/M7790154. Abgerufen am 10.08.2026.