It is unquestionably a rare opportunity that has been given me to comment on developments the world has undergone in almost a century since I was observing it with some regularity. For the sake of perspective I might point out that less than half a century elapsed between the French Revolution and my own university matriculation. I then kept a pretty close watch on the world, particularly the European part of it, for nearly another half-century. And now, suddenly, I am asked to render judgment on what has happened in a period of like duration.

So, despite the extraordinary opportunity that has been vouchsafed me (and it is, of course, quite flattering as well), I cannot pretend to be altogether comfortable with it. To be sure, I was not unfamiliar with the deadlines of either newspapers or creditors, but I think Engels and I were well known to (if not always well loved by) our nineteenth-century associates for the care and thoroughness with which we approached any subject we had to write or speak about.