Collected Works, volume 48

Volume 48 contains Engels’ letters dated from January 1887 to July 1890. Many of the letters are to key participants in the working-class and socialist movement in Europe and the USA. In particular the letters in this volume concern the two 1889 International Paris Congresses organised by The Workers Party of France and the Possibilists. Following on from the success of the Worker’s Party conference, an international celebration of Mayday was organised for the following year in many European countries, which Engels also documents. These events were the beginnings of the Second International.

Other letters contain information about Engels’ work in carrying on the editing of Marx’s writings, especially Capital Volume 2. Engels also corresponds with his US publishers about his own work, particularly the American edition of the Condition of the Working Class in Britain.

A recurring theme is Engels’ fear that rivalry between the great European powers will bring war, which will destroy the nascent socialist movement. He also comments on Bismarck’s relations with three generations of German emperors—both William I and Frederick III died in 1888, to be succeeded by William II, of whom Engels had a very low opinion.
—from the back flap of dust jacket