Brentano vs. Marx

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F. Engels.)
No. 15. FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY REPORTS OF THE LONDON PRESS OF APRIL 17,1863
No. 16. GLADSTONE TO BRENTANO
No. 17. ENGELS REPLY TO No. 16

(The remainder has nothing to do with the charge and is simply a "Contribution to the Question" etc. -- F. Engels.)

No. 14.

FROM THE APPENDICES TO BRENTANO'S REPLY

a) From [H. Roy,] The Theory of the Exchanges, London, 1864, p. 134.

"From 1842 to 1852, the taxable income of the country increased by 6 per cent ... in the eight years from 1853 to 1861, it

had increased from the basis taken in 1853, 20 per cent! My honourable friend says, it is owing to Australian gold. I am

sorry to see that he is lost in the depths of heresy upon the subject of gold. This intoxicating augmentation of wealth and

power is entirely confined to classes of property, but must be of indirect benefit to the labouring population, because it

cheapens the commodities of general consumption -- while the rich have been growing richer, the poor have been

growing less poor! at any rate, whether the extremes of poverty are lest, I do not presume to say." *

"Voilà l'homme en effet. II va du blanc au noir.

Il condamne au matin ses sentiments du soir.

Importun à tout autre, à lui meme incommode,

Il change a' tous moments d'esprit comme de mode."

"The average condition of the British labourer hat improved during the last twenty years in a degree we know to be

extraordinary and unexampled in the history of any country or any age, a matter of the greatest thankfulness, because, etc

hardly have earnings given a sufficiency of prime necessaries,..."

Noteworthy for the connection between The Theory of the Exchanges, and Marx's remarks in Capital, I, 1st edition, p. 639 is

also the following. Having advanced here the details, quoted from The Theory of the Exchanges, given by the LONDON

ORPHAN ASYLUM, against Gladstone's sentence "WHETHER THE EXTREMES OF POVERTY ARE LESS EXTREME

THAN THEY WERE, I DO NOT PRESUME TO SAY", Marx turns against Gladstone's budget speech of April 7, 1864; The

Theory of the Exchanges has an APPENDIX, in which, as a supplement to the pages just printed here, there is also a gloss on

the budget of 1864. The style in which this is done is the same as that which is familiar enough from the foregoing. This

excursus contains the following passage (p. 234):

"But the Chancellor is eloquent upon 'poverty'... 'Think of those who are on the border of that region...', upon 'wages ... in

others it is true not increased... human life is, but, in nine cases out of ten, a struggle for existence'."

Now compare with this Marx, 1, 1st ed., p.640, 4th ed., p. 618. Here too again, instead of the reproduction of the actual budget

speech verbatim, [we find the same mosaic of sentences torn from their context as in The Theory of the Exchanges. And here

too it is not this source which is referred to, but simply to Gladstone, H.o.C., April 7, 1864. And then the text continues: "The

continual crying contradictions in Gladstone's budget speeches of 1863 and 1864 were characterised by an English writer by the

following quotation from Molière" (followed by the verse from Molière printed above).

It becomes clear that Marx took not only this quotation, but also the "continual crying contradictions in Gladstone's budget

speeches of 1863 and 1864", invented by the author of The Theory of the Exchanges, from this book.

----

b) At was already remarked in the introduction to this reprint, Engels, in the fourth edition of the first volume of Marx's

Capital, p. 617, added "The Morning Star, April 17, 1863" to the now-as-ever falsely reproduced quotation from Gladstone's

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budget speech. The relevant portions of this speech are given above on pp. 8 and 9 according to Hansard's shorthand report.

Although on p.13 the Times report -- completely coincident in sense, with its wording condensed only as is a newspaper's wont,

this report, together with that in The Morning Star quoted by Engels, and the wording of the quotation in Marx are presented

parallel here:

The Times

April 17, 1863

"In ten years, from 1842 to 1852

inclusive, the taxable income of the

country, as nearly as we can make

out, increased by 6 per cent; but in

eight years, from 1853 to 1861, the

income of the country again

increased from the basis taken by

20 per cent. That is a fact so

strange as to be almost incredible...

I must say for one, I should look

almost with apprehension and with

pain upon this intoxicating

augmentation of wealth and power,

if it were my belief that it was

confined to the classes who are in

easy circumstances. This takes no

cognizance at all of the condition

of the labouring population. The

augmentation I have described, and

which is founded, I think, upon

accurate returns, it an

augmentation entirely confined to

classes of property. Now, the

augmentation of Capital it of

indirect benefit to the labourer,

because it cheapens the commodity

which in the business of production

comes into direct competition with

labour. (Hear, hear.) But we have

this profound, and, I must say

inestimable consolation, that while

the rich have been growing richer

the poor have been growing less

poor. Whether the extremes of

poverty are less extreme than they

were I do not presume to say, but

the average condition of the British

labourer, we have the happiness to

know, has improved during the last

twenty years in a degree which we

know to be extraordinary, and

which we may almost pronounce to

be unexampled in the history of any

country and of any age. (Cheers.)"

The Morning Star April 17, 1863

"I must say, for one, I should look

with apprehension and with pain

upon this intoxicating

augmentation of wealth and power,

if it were my belief that it was

confined to the classes who are in

easy circumstances. This great

increase of wealth takes no

cognizance at all of the condition

of the labouring population. The

augmentation is an augmentation

entirely confined to classes of

property. But that augmentation

must be of indirect benefit to the

labouring population, because it

cheapens the commodities which

go to the general consumption. So

that we have this profound, and I

almost say, inestimable consolation

-while the rich have been growing

richer, the poor have been growing

less poor. (Hear, hear.) At any rate,

whether the extremes are less

extreme than they were I do not

presume to say, but the average

condition of the British labourer,

we have the happiness to know to

be extraordinary, and that we may

almost pronounce it to be

unexampled in the history of any

country or any age. (Cheers)"

Capital I, 1st ed., p. 639, Note 103

"From 1842 to 1852 the taxable

income of the country

increased by 6 per cent. In the

eight years from 1853 to 1861 it

had increased from the basis taken

in 1853, 20 per cent! The fact is so

astonishing as to be almost

incredible

"This intoxicating augmentation of

wealth and power

"is entirely confined to classes of

property, but must be of indirect

benefit to the labouring population,

because it cheapens the

commodities of general

consumption --

"while the rich have been growing

richer, the poor have been growing

less poor! At any rate, whether the

extremes of poverty are less, I do

not presume to say."

Here, in the middle of a sentence,

as the reprint above shows, The

Theory of the Exchanges breaks off

to insert a quotation from Molière;

Marx who, as the comparison

above shows, did not take the

quotation from The Morning Star

but -- omitting a passage marked

by him with dots -- verbatim from

The Theory of the Exchanges, has

Gladstone end in the middle of a

sentence...

The comparison above shows us that the arbitrarily thrown-together mosaic of sentences torn from their context, which Marx

presents as Gladstone's budget speech, can be found as little in The Morning Star as in The Times or Hansard; on the other

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hand, it can be found solely in The Theory of the Exchanges. The heavily leaded sentences a are those omitted by Henry Roy,

and still more by Karl Marx-compare the last sentence -- in order to have Gladstone say the opposite of what be really said.

No. 15.

FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY REPORTS

OF THE LONDON PRESS OF APRIL 17,1863

Morning Herald. I may say that I for one would look with fear and apprehension at this intoxicating increase of wealth if I were

of opinion that it is confined to the classes in easy circumstances. This great increase of wealth which I have described, and

which is founded on accurate returns is confined entirely to the augmentation of Capital, and takes no account of the poorer

classes.

Morning Post. I may say, I for one, would look with fear and apprehension when I consider this great increase of wealth if I

believed that its benefits were confined to the classes in easy circumstances. This augmentation of wealth which I have

described, and which is founded on accurate returns is confined entirely to the augmentation of Capital, and takes no account of

the augmentation of wealth of the poorer classes.

Daily Telegraph. I may say for one, that I should look almost with apprehension and alarm on this intoxicating augmentation

of wealth and power if it were my belief that it was confined to the masses who are in easy circumstances. This question to

wealth takes no cognizance at all of the condition of the labouring population. The augmentation stated is an augmentation

entirely confined to the classes possessed of property.

Daily News. I may say that I for one would look with fear and apprehension when I consider this great increase of wealth if I

believed that its benefits were confined to the classes in easy circumstances. This augmentation of wealth which I have

described, and which is founded upon accurate returns, is confined entirely to the augmentation of Capital, and takes no account

of the augmentation of wealth of the poorer classes.

Standard. I may say that I for one would look with fear and apprehension at this intoxicating increase of wealth if I were of the

opinion that it was confined to the classes in easy circumstances. This great increase of wealth which I have described, and

which is founded on the accurate returns is confined entirely to the augmentation of Capital, and takes no account of the poorer

classes.

No. 16.

GLADSTONE TO BRENTANO

DEUTSCHES WOCHENBLATT,

No. 49, DECEMBER 4,1890

Message

In number 45 of the Deutsches Wochenblatt Professor Lujo Brentano published an essay My Polemic with Karl Marx", which

served at the same time as an introduction to a republication of this polemic as a pamphlet. This polemic dealt mainly with a

parliamentary speech delivered by Gladstone in 1863, and which Marx reproduced in a distorted form in his Inaugural Address

on the formation of the International Working Men's Association.

Obviously nobody is more qualified to settle this dispute about the wording of Gladstone's speech than Gladstone himself. It is

therefore of special interest that Gladstone, as a result of the republication of Brentano's polemic with Marx, has addressed two

letters to Brentano. On November 22 Gladstone wrote to Brentano: "You are completely correct, and Marx completely

incorrect", and on November 28: "I undertook no changes of any sort". Thus the affair, which throws a revealing light on the

Social Democratic line of argumentation, may finally be decided to the detriment of the Social Democratic standpoint.

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By uncovering this deceit Brentano has done a service, and it was very timely that he chose this precise moment to rekindle the

memories of this dispute.

O.A.

No. 17.

ENGELS' REPLY TO No. 16

DIE NEUE ZEIT,

No. 13, 1891, p.425

In the Case of Brentano V. Marx

In my preface to the fourth edition of Marx's Capital, Vol. I, I was obliged to report upon the course of Mr. Lujo Brentano's

favourite anonymous campaign against Marx, a campaign based upon the charge that Marx had forged a quotation from a

speech by Gladstone.

Mr. Brentano responded to this with a pamphlet My Polemic with Karl Marx by Lujo Brentano, Berlin, Walter und Apolant,

1890.1 shall reply to this in his own coin.

In the meantime, No. 49 of the Deutsches Wochenblatt, December 4, 1890, carries a further note on this matter, which states:

"Obviously nobody is more qualified to settle this dispute about the wording of Gladstone's speech than Gladstone

himself. It is therefore of special interest that Gladstone, as a result of the republication of Brentano's polemic with Marx,

has addressed two letters to Brentano. On November 22 Gladstone wrote to Brentano: 'You are completely correct, and

Marx completely incorrect', and on November 28: 'I undertook no changes of any sort'."

What is this supposed to mean? In what "are you completely correct" and Marx "completely incorrect"? In what "have I

undertaken no changes of any sort"? Why is Mr. Brentano's message confined to these two short sentences?

Either Mr. Gladstone has not given his permission to publish the whole of the letters. This is then proof enough that they prove

nothing.

Or else Mr. Gladstone wrote the letters in the first place for the public, and permitted Mr. Brentano to make what use he would

of them. Then the publication only of these meaningless extracts proves even more strongly that Mr. Gladstone's testimony in

its entirety is unusable for Mr. Brentano, and therefore "bodged together" as above.

In order to know what the two sentences above are worth, we must have before us not only the two letters from Mr. Gladstone,

but also the relevant letters from Mr. Brentano. And as long as the whole correspondence in this matter has not been published

in the original language, the fragments above are completely insignificant to the question under dispute, and not worth the

paper they are printed on.

F. Engels

Marx / Engels

Document Outline

marxists.org
- 1891: Brentano vs. Marx
- 1891: Brentano vs. Marx -- The documents
- Marx/Engels Internet Archive
- Marxists Writers Archive

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