Marx and Engels at Christmas 1874-79
Collected Works Vol. 45
Below are references to Christmas and the New Year in the correspondence of Marx and Engels in the second half of the 1870s. The correspondence is far from complete but it does suggest that while both Marx and Engels marked the New Year, it was Engels who gave Christmas presents. That is obviously no surprise as he had the money to do so, while Marx didn’t.
Marx to Wilhelm Liebknecht 7th Jan 1875
Happy New Year!
Engels to Philipp Pauli 16th Dec 1876
Yesterday I sent you, carriage paid, per CONTINENTAL PARCELS EXPRESS and thereon per German Imperial parcel post, a crate addressed to: Dr Pauli, Mannheim (Chemical Works, Rheinau),
Germany, containing a PLUM PUDDING for your wife, a currant cake baked for you by my wife, a book, a small box of handkerchiefs and a small ink-pot for Pumps….
…..The small crate also contains some Christmas evergreen, holly with its ritual red berries, for sticking into the pudding when it’s dished up. The holly’s right on top, so that the customs men get their fingers pricked.
Engels to Hermann Engels 18th Dec 1876
… Love to Emma and the children, and the compliments of the season
Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 9th January 1877
D’abord,” a Happy New Year to you and family and all our friends
Marx to Thomas Allsopp 1st Jan 1878
I hope one good thing the new year will do—act beneficently upon your health… The whole family send you their new year wishes and you know that they come from the heart
Engels to Johann Becker 11th Jan 1878
Avant tout, a Happy New Year to you, and may it bring you less in the way of troubles and burdens than the previous one!
Engels to Johann Becker 18th Dec 1879
…..So you’ve deprived me of the pleasure of giving you an unexpected Christmas treat. Well then, I have drawn a money order for five pounds sterling, against which, according to the rate here, 126 frs should be paid to you over there — as will, no doubt, be done without delay.
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