Letter from Sándor Ferenczi to Sigmund Freud, November 16, 1924

Budapest, November 16, 1924

Dear Professor,

The railway workers' strike, with which I was able up to now to excuse my not writing, is over, and I must now admit to myself that my tardiness was in large part motivated by the fact that I wanted to withdraw as profoundly and for as long as possible from the embarrassing, I would like to say, disgusting, recollection of the altercation with Rank.1 Silent doubts about his honesty have also emerged in me earlier from time to time; since his American adventure they became more intrusive, and now I had to convince myself of the fact that the man, whose manifold talents (not least also in the scientific field) made him appear to be the most reliable co-worker, wants to fructify his capabilities only for egoistic purposes, and in addition to that, in a dishonest and incorrect manner. Under such conditions there can no longer be any question about personal contact between him and me, and the importance of our common interests makes it my duty, taking the suggestion made by you, to propose the restoration of the Committee and the Committee correspondence. I also simultaneously wrote to Abraham, Jones, Eitingon, and Sachs about this. A copy of the Rundbrief is enclosed with this letter.

As hard as it was for me at the beginning, I see myself forced finally to give up any plan of some kind of understanding between you and Rank, and to assume the from now on necessary viewpoint with respect to him, that he is threatening to become a not unhazardous opponent, at least one who ruthlessly pursues his own interests, and to whom the common interests of psychoanalysis count for nothing.

I recently received the news from America that Rank was already traveling to Europe with the plan to set up a psychoanalytic school there. I don't know anything about whether he wants with that to found a training institute independent of the Association, or his own school, in the sense of a