Henderson W. O. - Marx and Engels and the English Workers: And Other Essays

Other Cass books by W.O.Henderson

Friedrich List: Economist and Visionary, 17891846 (1983)

Friedrich List: The Natural System of Political Economy (translated and edited) (1983)

The Genesis of the Common Market (1962)

Industrial Britain under the Regency (1968)

J.C.Fisher and his Diary of Industrial England 18141851 (1966)

Life of Friedrich Engels, 2 vols. (1976)

Studies in the Economic Policy of Frederick the Great (1963)

The Zollverein (1959, 2nd ed. 1968)

Other books by W.O.Henderson

Britain and Industrial Europe (1965)

The Industrialisation of Europe 17801914 (1969)

The Rise of German Industrial Power 18351914 (1975)

(editor) Engels: Selected Writings (1967)

Manufactories in Germany (Verlag Peter Lang, 1985)

MARX AND ENGELS AND THE ENGLISH WORKERS

And Other Essays

W.O.HENDERSON

First published 1989 in Great Britain by
FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
Gainsborough House, 11 Gainsborough Road,
London, E11 1RS, England

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

and in the United States of America by
FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
c/o Biblio Distribution Centre
81 Adams Drive, P.O. Box 327, Totowa, N.J. 07511

Copyright 1989 W.O.Henderson

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Henderson, W.O (William Otto), 1904
Marx and Engels and the English workers:
and other essays
1. Economics
I. Title
330

ISBN 0-203-98805-1 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-7146-3334-8 (Print Edition)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Henderson, W.O. (William Otto), 1904
Marx and Engels and the English workers: and other essays/W.O.Henderson.
P. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7146-3334-8
1. Marx, Karl, 18181883. 2. Engels, Friedrich, 18201895.
3. List, Friedrich, 17891846. 4. Falk, Herman Eugen. 5. Rathenau,
Walther, 18671922. 6. Labor and laboring classesEngland
History19th century. I. Title.
HX39.5.H45 1988
335.40922dc19 8818994
CIP

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Frank Cass and Company Limited.

1. Friedrich Engels (senior) and Godfrey Ermen facing page
2. Friedrich List. Lithograph by Kriehuber, 1845 facing page
3. Frederick the Great
4. The Mersey-Weaver Salt District
5. Walther Rathenau, 1922 facing page

The author thanks the publishers of the following books and journals for permission to include articles in the present volume: , in Preussens Grosser Knig (Ploetz Verlag, 1986).

are previously unpublished.

The picture of Friedrich Engels senior is reproduced by permission of Rheinland Verlag- und Betriebsgesellschaft.

The essays included in brings together essays on the economic activities of Frederick the Great and Walther Rathenau as well as an account of the contribution of a German entrepreneur (H.E.Falk) to the development of the salt industry in England.

I wish to thank Dr Douglas Farnie for checking the proofs of these essays.

W.O.H.

For twenty years between November 1850 and September 1870 Friedrich Engels was living in Manchester while Karl Marx was living in London. They corresponded regularly and they met from time to time either in London or in Manchester. The frequency of Marx's visits to Manchester has not always been appreciated. and there were six years in which he was there twice. Several visits were paid over the Whitsun holiday. Marx's expenses were generally paid by Engels. His main purpose in visiting Manchester was to see Engels and other friends such as Wilhelm Wolff, Carl Schorlemmer, Eduard Gumpert and Samuel Moore.

It was natural that such close friends as Marx, Engels and Wolff should wish to meet as often as possible to discuss their joint literary projects and the fortunes of their communist friends in Germany and elsewhere. Sometimes there were other reasons for Marx's visits. Once he came to Manchester for a rest after an illness and he always took the opportunity to consult Dr Gumpert on his numerous complaints. There were times when Marx came to Manchester to escape from his creditors in London who were clamouring for a settlement of their accounts. He came to Manchester in May 1864 to see Wolff who was on his death-bed. Marx generally came alone but he was accompanied by his wife in 1855 and 1880, by Hermann Meyer in May 1867, by Lafargue in September 1867, and by his daughter Eleanor on three occasions in 186870. He stayed either in Engels's official lodgings or at a house rented for Mary and Lizzie Burns. The official lodgings were in Great Ducie Street, Thorncliffe Grove and Dover Street while (after 1864) Lizzie Burns lived in Mornington Street.

Marx's first visit to England was in the summer of 1845. and studied the works of the English classical economists and statisticians. From Manchester Marx and Engels went to London where they met leading members of the League of the Just, the forerunner of the Communist League.

After the failure of the revolutions of 1848/1849 Marx had come to London as a refugee in August and Engels had followed him in November. A year later Engels moved to Manchester to serve as a clerk in the office of Ermen and Engels at 7 Southgate (off Deansgate). He found lodgings at 70 Ducie Street, Strangeways.

In 1852 Marx was in Manchester from May 26 to June 26. His visit was delayed because Engels's father was in Manchester to discuss with his partners the future of the firm. By June 30 Marx was in London again since on that day Engels wrote that he had found a wallet that Marx had left in his lodgings.

In April 1853 Engels wrote that the bedroom in my house is ready and invited Marx to visit him. Engels had recently moved with his landlady to 48 Great Ducie Street which was two doors away from his former lodgings. Since Engels mentioned that the library of Peter Ermenone of his father's partners was at their disposal it may be assumed that the purpose of Marx's visit was to work on their joint literary projects. Marx, as usual, was in financial difficulties and needed money for his fare. He told Engels that he was unable to raise money on an American bill of exchange for 32doubtless payments for articles contributed to the New York Daily Tribune. Engels offered to cash the bill in Manchester with an American firm. Meanwhile Marx borrowed 2 from Bamberger

Marx did not visit Manchester in 1854. He had an opportunity to do so when he was invited to attend a meeting of a Labour Parliament which met in Manchester between March 6 and March 10. This conference of trade union delegates was organised by Ernest Jones to support the power loom weavers of Preston who had been on strike for 29 weeks. The Manchester Guardian reported on March 8 that Marx was expected to be present today. But he was not present. He had written to the organisers: I regret deeply to be unable, for the moment at least, to leave London and thus to be prevented from expressing verbally my feelings of pride and gratitude on receiving the invitation to sit as honorary delegate at the Labour Parliament. The mere assembling of such a parliament marks a new epoch in the history of the world. The news of this great fact will arouse the hopes of the working classes throughout Europe and America.