126 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHYwas to be the constant, if often unmentioned, companion to the family
until Marx's death.^2 Marx at first found difficulty in obtaining a residence
permit: the Belgian authorities were afraid that he would publish a resusci-
tated version of Vorwiirts and also the Prussian police were applying
pressure. Marx had to show the authorities the contract he had signed
for a book on Economics and Politics and declared that he was living off
his wife's money while waiting for the royalties. Only after signing a
promise to abstain from all political activity did he finally obtain per-
mission to stay. In October 1845 Marx thought of emigrating to the
United States and even applied to the mayor of Trier for a permit. When
the Prussian police continued to demand his extradition Marx abandoned
Prussian nationality in December 1845.
Nevertheless, the years in Brussels were probably the happiest ever
enjoyed by the Marx family. There was a comfortable source of income
from the sale of the furniture and linen in Paris and the 1500 francs
advance that Marx received for his forthcoming book. In addition, on
learning of his expulsion from Paris, Engels, together with Hess and Jung,
had organised a subscription for him 'in order to spread your extra
expenses among us all communistically'.' This appeal yielded almost 1000
francs, mainly from friends in the Rhineland, and Engels also put at
Marx's disposal the royalties from his own book The Condition of the
Working Classes in England. When Engels moved to Brussels he rented a
house next to the Marx family and Hess and his wife Sibylle soon moved
in next door to Engels. Sibylle acted as an 'auntie' to the Marx children.
They had an agreeable circle of friends, including the poet Ferdinand
Freiligrath and a socialist journalist Karl Heinzen, and Jenny remembered
with pleasure their evenings in the gay cafes of the city.^4 Joseph
Weydemeyer, an artillery officer with socialist leanings, who was to
become a lifelong friend of Marx, described one of their outings in early
1846 : 'To crown our folly, Marx, Weitling, Marx's brother-in-law and
myself spent the night playing cards. Weitling was the first to tire. Marx
and I spent some hours on a sofa and the next day, in the company of
his wife and brother-in-law, we vagabonded in the most agreeable manner
imaginable. Early in the morning we went to a cafe, then we took the
train to Villeworde, a nearby village, where we had lunch. We were madly
gay, and came back on the last train.'^5
The sorties were only reliefs from long periods of intense intellectual
activity. On the day he left Paris Marx had signed a contract with Karl
Leske, a progressive Darmstadt publisher, for a book to be entitled A
Critique of Economics and Politics to be finished by the summer of 1845.
The economic side would no doubt have been a reworking of the 'Paris
Manuscripts'. Marx got as far as sketching out a table of contents for the