Marx-Engels Correspondence 1870
Written: February 1, 1870;
Source: Marx and Engels Correspondence;
Publisher: International Publishers (1968);
First Published: Gestamtausgabe;
Translated: Donna Torr;
Transcribed: Sally Ryan in 1999;
HTML Markup: Sally Ryan.
It is a real mercy that in spite of G. Flourens, there was no outbreak at Noir's funeral. The fury of the "Pays" shows the bitter disappointment of the Bonapartists. Indeed what could be wished for better than to catch the whole of the revolutionary masses of Paris in flagrant delinquency in an open space outside Paris and even outside the walls of the fortifications, which have only a few entrances? Half a dozen cannons at the passages through the walls, a regiment of infantry in skirmishing formation and a brigade of cavalry to charge in and pursue--and in half an hour's time the whole unarmed crowd--the few revolvers that some of them may have in their pockets do not count--will be blown up, cut to pieces or taken prisoners. But as there are 60,000 troops at hand the crowd could even be allowed inside the fortifications, these could then be manned and the whole mass shot or ridden down in the open ground of the Champs Elysees and the Avenue de Neuilly. Mad! Paris, manned by 60,000 soldiers, is to be captured from the open fields by 200,000 unarmed workers!