1889
My dear Laura,
All our best wishes for the New Year to yourself and Paul! We got into it in a very queer way — we went as usual to Pumps' in a cab, the fog was thickening — in Belsize Road we stuck fast — the man had to lead the horse; by and bye that was not sufficient; a man with a lantern took hold of the horse and led; after a full hour's drive in the dark and cold we arrived at Pumps' where we found Sam Moore, Tussy and the Schlüters (Edward never turned up) and also Tauschen Dinner of course was an hour late in consequence of our adventure. Well, it got blacker and blacker, and when the New Year came, the air was as thick as pea-soup. No chance of getting away; our cabman, ordered for one o'clock, never arrived, and so the whole lot had to stop where they were. So we went on drinking, singing, card-playing and laughing till half-past five, when Sam and Tussy were escorted by Percy to the station and caught the first train; about seven the others left, and it cleared up a little; Nim slept with Pumps, Schorlemmer and I in the spare bed, Percy in the nursery (it was after seven when we went to sleep) and got up again at out 12 or 1 to return to Pilsener etc.; the sun shone brightly on a beautifully frozen ground. The spree agreed with all of us most amazingly and none of us is any the worse for the bout. The others drank coffee about half past four, but I stuck to claret till seven.
I am glad to hear that the Boulangitis was a personal affection of Paul's though the Parti ouvrier pretends that Guesde and Deville have given in to him.[325] What you say about the Possibilists we are perfectly agreed on,[326] but I was bound to place before you and Paul the excuses which Liebknecht and others — for instance the Belgians— may draw from the tender treatment the Boulangists undoubtedly have had from our side. All I insisted on from the beginning, and all Paul declined to let me have, was a clear and unmistakeable assurance that the Boulangists should be treated as bourgeois enemies quite as much as the Cadettists.[327] For under no circumstances could I encour-age our German friends to attend a congress the convokers of which had so far forgotten the old traditional policy of the proletariat as to coquet with a bourgeois party, et encore un parti tel que les boulangistes.*
Well, the impending Paris election must bring our people to their senses — that was my first thought on Hude's death,[328] and indeed the Troyes Congress has taken at least one step in the right direction by proclaiming the necessity of an independent socialist candidature[329] (I hope Vaillant 's who seems to me at present the only one to unite a certain number of suffrages, as our own people appear to be quite out of the race at this moment). But no paper says what the other resolutions of the Congress are; there have been individual anti-Boulangist pronunciamen-tos (though none of Paul's that I saw) but nothing on the part of the Congress officially except the above resolution.
Now Liebknecht will come to Paris about middle of January[330] and I have to write to Bebel in a few days.b Therefore if Paul wishes me to act in the interest of their congress, he must enable me to do so by a clear and unequivocal declaration as to what our people may expect of him and the others with regard to the Boulanger mania. And the sooner the better, there is not much time to lose.
I have never doubted the really anti-chauvinist character of the Marxists, but that was the very reason why I could not conceive how they could think of an alliance open or disguised with a party which lives upon chauvinism almost alone. I never asked more than the open acknowledgment that Cadettists and Boulangists, dass sie alle beide stinken,c surely such a self-understood thing I ought to have had long ago! Also the Troyes resolutions I ought to have.
If there has been an idea of getting some of our people into the Chamber by having them placed on the Boulangist list, that would be far worse than not getting into the Chamber at all. After all, if the poor old Socialiste had been kept alive somehow or other, we should be better off, I think.
Cunninghame Graham was here last Sunday week — a nice fellow, but always in want of a manager, otherwise brave to foolhardiness, altogether much of an English Blanquist.
Love from Nim, Schorlemmer and myself.
Ever yours affectionately,
F. Engels
152. Engels to August Bebel 5 January
Dear Bebel,
First of all let me heartily reciprocate your kind New Year's wishes. Today, fog permitting, I must write to you by request concerning two delicate matters. Both have to do with the fear that Liebknecht might commit the party to a not altogether desirable course when, as has been announced, he visits London and Paris[330] (if he comes on bis own, that is), nor, in view of his dependence on passing moods (which again is often due to self-deception), can I altogether disagree with the chaps.
In Paris it is a question of the congress or rather two congresses — the Possibilists' and our own, in other words the international congress decided upon at the Trades Unions Congress in Bordeaux in November[331]
and again at the Socialist Congress in Troyes.[329] Lafargue is afraid that Liebknecht has had dealings with the Possibilists and that you might perhaps send delegates to their congress. I have written and told Lafargue* that in my view you cannot possibly do this. The Possibilists, having joined in mortal combat with our people, the so-called Marxists, have now set themselves up as the one true church which absolutely prohibits any inter-course, any cooperation with the others — Marxists no less than Blanquists — and have formed an alliance with the one true church over here (the Social Democratic Federation[269]), an alliance not the least of whose aims is to oppose the German Party everywhere so long as it refuses to join this unsavoury league and cease associating with other Frenchmen and Englishmen. Moreover, the Possibilists have sold themselves to the present government, their fares, congress expenses and periodicals are paid for out of secret funds, and all this on the pretext of combating Boulanger and defending the republic, hence also France's Opportunist exploiters, the Ferrys, etc., their present allies.[199] And they defend the present Radical government which, in order to remain in office, must do all the Opportunists' dirty work for them, a government which ordered an assault on the people on the occasion of Eudes' funeral[332] and in Bordeaux and Troyes, just as in Paris, is more rabid in its opposition to the red flag than any government before it. To go along with this gang would be a denial of your entire foreign policy to date. Two years ago in Paris the same lot made common cause with the venal English trades unions against the socialist demands[333] and if they took a different stand over here in November,[320] it was because they had no alternative. Moreover, it is only in Paris that they are strong; in the provinces they're a negligible quantity, proof of this being that they cannot hold a congress in Paris because the provinces would either stay away or prove hostile. Nor are they able to hold one in the provinces. Two years ago they went to a little place tucked away in the Ardennes[334]; this year they expected to find accommodation in Troyes, where several of the labour town councillors, having betrayed their class after the election, had joined them. But they were not re-elected and the comité—their own comité—extended an invitation to all French Socialists. Thereupon, dismay in the Paris camp; an attempt to rescind this — in vain. And so they didn't go to their own congress, which was taken over and brilliantly run by our Marxists. What the provincial trades unions think of them can be seen from the enclosed resolution passed at the Bordeaux Trades Unions Congress in November. On the Paris Municipal Council they have 9 men, whose main purpose it is to oppose, on no matter what pretext, Vaillant's socialist activities, to betray the workers and in return to secure not only grants of money for themselves and their supporters but also sole control of the labour exchanges.[317] The Marxists, who control the provinces, are the only anti-chauvinist party in France; the stand they have taken on behalf of the German labour movement has made them unpopular in Paris, and to send delegates to a congress there that is hostile to these people would be to cut off your nose to spite your own face. They also know how best to comb at Boulanger,[326] who stands for the general feeling of dissatisfaction in France. When Boulanger wanted to hold a banquet in Montluçon, our people took 300 tickets so as to put to him through Dormoy — a most able little chap — some highly categorical questions about his attitude to the labour movement, etc. When the worthy general learned of this, he cancelled the whole banquet.
The fog precludes any further writing today. More in a day or two.
Your
F. E.
153. Engels to Ludwig Kugelmann 10 January
Dear Kugelmann,
May I reciprocate with best wishes for a very Happy New Year to yourself, your wife and daughter.*
I should be amused to see Soetbeer's piece of sagacityb if you would be so good as to send it to me; the post office here would be unlikely to take exception to the marginal notes; all it bans is anything in the nature of a letter.
As regards the French peasants, the thing should be taken cum grano salis.[3]- The cultivation of parcels of land was the rule in France as it was in Germany and Eastern Europe while, so far as acreage is concerned, farming on a large scale with corvée labour was relatively rare. As a result of the Revolution,[335] the peasant gradually came into possession of his parcel of land, but he often for some time at least remained a nominal tenant (without as a rule having to pay rent). What happened to state-owned land (much of which Napoleon and the Restoration[336]
returned to the aristocracy, the other part of it being purchased after 1826 by the aristocracy with the help of the émigré milliard[337]), and how, by 1830, small peasant landownership had reached its highest degree of development, is to be found in Avenel's Lundis Révolutionnaires and Balzac's novel, Les Paysans. Taine isn't up to much.b I haven't read the Schweichel article.[337]
The third volume^ is going ahead slowly. My health was given a tremendous fillip by my American jaunt, but my eyesight is still not all it might be — slight but chronic conjunctivitis and increasing myopia in the left eye due to the displacement of the rear wall of the sclerotic as a result of strain. The first duty of a citizen is rest.[338]
Your
F. Engels
154. Engels to Conrad Schmidt 11 January[4]
Dear Sir,
I am in receipt of your two letters of 5 November and 28/31 December and have followed with much interest the progress of your experimentation with German universities.[339] The domination of the Junkers in alliance with the bourgeois differs from the pre-'48 domination of the Junkers in alliance with the bureaucrats only in having a broader basis. In those days their treatment of Bruno Bauer[295] stirred up indignation throughout Philistia; today, when similar treatment is being meted out to Diihring,[340] and the doors of all the universities are being slammed in your face, that self-same Philistia considers it perfectly right and proper.
You will, in fact, have no other recourse than to take up writing, and for that purpose there is, of course, no better place in the Empire than Berlin. I am glad that you say no more (in your second letter) about your American plans, for you would have experienced a bitter disappointment over there. I can see that anyone subject to the Anti-Socialist Law[52] might think highly of the American-German socialist press, particularly from the viewpoint of a journalist. In actual fact it isn't up to much, either from the theoretical or from the local, American standpoint. The best paper is the Philadelphia Tageblatt; the St Louis Tageblatt is well-meaning but feeble; the New Yorker Volkszeitung is managed in a proper, businesslike way, but is first and foremost a business; the Sozialist (New York), the official organ of the German party, is very poor. Just now there is little place in America for theoretical thinkers. The Germans — at any rate in their official organisation — insist upon remaining a branch of the German metropolitan party, look down with a truly Lassallean arrogance upon the 'ignorant' Americans and expect them to join their German party, i.e. place themselves under German tutelage — in short, they behave with sectarian pettiness and bigotry. Further inland things are better, but the New Yorkers still retain the upper hand. I seldom see the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung (now edited by Christensen). In America, in short, the only possible openings are in the daily press, and you would have to be over there for at least a year in order to gain the necessary confidence and personal insights; in addition you would have to adapt yourself to the prevailing opinions, which are often all the more parochial for the persis-tence amongst the Germans there of that loutish mentality which, in Germany, has been eradicated by large-scale industry (one of the curious things about America is that what is most antiquated and out of date continues to vegetate happily alongside what is newest and most revolutionary). Things can and will, no doubt, improve within a year or two, but anyone who wishes to promote the scientific side will find a far better prepared public here in Europe.
Incidentally, you will also find that a career as a writer offers ample scope for worthwhile work. You will presumably have access to Braun's Archiv/ Conrad's Jahrbücher etc.,(1) and to Schmoller's collection of papers.[341] For instance, a work on the system of exploitation by middle-men (sweating system)—at least as prevalent in the Berlin garment trade as in that of London, etc.—would be very useful as providing a parallel to the English Report by the Select Committee of the House of Lordsc— which I will gladly send you if you'd care to have it. Many other types of economic conditions would similarly reward investigation and description, quite aside from actual theoretical works, which might now and then provide relief from the common run of writing. We can discuss this further once you are in Berlin and have started work.
If your experiences (which might well be worth publishing) recall the time of Frederick William IV, those of Hoch hark back directly to the worst period of demagogue-hunting.[342] It must surely be the first time since 1835 that anyone has been refused matriculation because of his political views.
As regards Volume III,d Section I (of seven) is ready for the press, and I am busy with II and III, which I hope to finish shortly. The work is more time-consuming that I had thought, and I have to take great care of my eyes. The stupendous fogs in December caused a temporary setback, but now they are better again. On New Year's night we went to Pumps'—we being Schorlemmer, Sam Moore, Tussy and a few of the Sozialdemokrat peopled She lives 2 miles away and, because of the fog, it took us over an hour to get there. Then it got so bad that no one could leave. So nolens volens? the whole party of us had to go on tippling until day (or rather a pitch black morning) dawned, which we did with much merriment. Towards five o'clock some of us were able to leave for town by the first train; the rest lay down at seven on hastily improvised beds and slept until the first noon of the New Year. Voilà la vie de Londres^
With kindest regards,
Yours sincerely,
F. Engels
155. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 12 January
Dear Sorge,
A very Happy New Year and my most cordial greetings to you and your wife.c
Have got your letter of 29 December. I am sorry to hear that you as well as your wife are beginning to find the work a strain. But I hope this is only a passing phase and that you will gradually get used to it. I am well, but during the ghastly December fogs my eyes got rather worse again. I have pretty well sorted that out by taking more exercise and spending more time out of doors.
The chief characteristic of European socialism just now is contentiousness. In France the Possibilists have sold themselves to the government and are using the secret funds to keep their unsaleable news papers afloat; at the elections on the 27th they will vote for the bourgeois Jacques, while our people and the Blanquists have put up Boulé,[344] of whom Lafargue believes that he will get no more than 16 to 20 thousand votes, and this they regard as a defeat. In the provinces, on the other hand, things are healthier. The Possibilists had convoked their congress at Troyes, but cancelled it when the local organisers issued an invitation to all Socialists.[322] So only our lot went, proving there that, if Paris was dominated by the Possibilists, the provinces were theirs. Now there are going to be 2 congresses (international ones) in Paris this year — ours and the Possibilists'. The Germans probably won't go to either.
Here in London the tuck[3] of an army of officers sans soldiers still goes on. It's like Robert Blum's column of 1849[345]—one colonel, 11 officers, 1 trumpeter and 1 private. Outwardly and before the public they appear to hit it off all right but the cliquishness behind the scenes is all the greater. Every now and again the bickering comes out into the open. Thus Champion, having been thrown out of the Social Democratic Federation,[62] has founded a paperb (of which one No. goes off to you this week) and is now attacking Hyndman, but more especially his ally, Adolphe Smith Headingley, who is half French, swears by the Possibilists and is chief mediator in the Hyndman-Possibilist alliance. In the days after the Commune, the fellow was co-loaferc of the London Branche française[1]**' by whom we were abused and misrepresented, then ditto of the pseudo-General Council consisting of Jung, Hales & Co. I have evidence that he is still telling lies about us. This lout-interpreter at the international Trades Congress over here had the effrontery to come to my house one Sunday under the aegis of Anseele and Van Beverend; when Schlüter arrives, he will tell you how I sent the fellow packing.
As soon as the working class, as yet only just stirring, really gets under way here, every one of these gentry will be relegated to his level and station — some inside, some outside the movement. It's now at the tooth-cutting stage.
Contentiousness also prevails in the office of the Sozialdemokrat. Schlüter will be able to tell you about it. By the way, he is also to some extent party to it and capable of concealing what doesn't suit his book. When I see how badly mismanaged the paper is here at headquarters, I can only admire our workingmen the more for the way in which they counterbalance and neutralise it all.
Mother Wischnewetzky is much offended because, instead of paying her a visit at Long Branch, I stayed with you so as to recuperate from my indisposition and get back into shape for the voyage. She seems to have been pained by the breach of etiquette and the want of gallantry towards ladies. However, I refuse to allow these little madams, who clamour for women's rights, to demand gallantry into the bargain — if they want the same rights as men they should submit to being treated as such. She will probably simmer down however.
We spent New Year's Eve with Pumps and, because of the fog, had to stay the whole night tippling there. Tussy only left at 5 a.m. by the first train. She is now staying in Cornwall for a week or two.
Bismarck has been nicely cuffed over the ears by Geffcken and Morier.[347] If the Supreme Court has not yet gone so far as to accept his undergraduate-bully boy's version of the penal code, this is thanks to the singular contempt with which young William(1) lately favoured those gentlemen at Leipzig.
Diplomatic intrigue is at its height. The Russians have received 20 million pounds,[348] in April the Prussians will get their new 8 mm magazine rifle (the 11 mm one — a new version of the Mauser — was utterly unsuitable for war), the Austrians are boasting like mad, claiming to be prêts et archiprêts,*[348] which proves that they're ready for another drub-bing, and in France Boulanger might come to the helm. Bismarck's machinations with Salisbury in East Africa[349] have only one purpose, namely to involve Britain so deeply in a joint operation with Germany that, even under Gladstone, it wouldn't be able to draw back. Thus it was definitely against his will that William staged the Morier affair, but it's he who has to carry the can. In short, the situation is becoming critical and could lead to war in the spring.
Your
RE.
Section I of Vol. IIIe is finished, II and III in hand. Seven sections in all.
Edition, Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
156. Engels to Florence Kelley-Wischnewetsky 12 January
Dear Mrs Wischnewetzky,
No doubt you feel disappointed at my having left America[281] without coming to see you at your sea-side retreat. But I was really too unwell, while in New York, to attempt an excursion of any kind — as you are aware I arrived with a severe cold which Dr Wischnewetzky declared to be bronchitis. This got worse, instead of better, and moreover I got a severe indigestion which made me feel on shore the sea sickness I had not had on the ocean. Under these circumstances, and with a long journey over unknown ground before me, I felt bound to get cured at once and to subordinate everything else to this consideration — I therefore placed myself under the motherly care of Mrs Sorge, did not leave Hoboken for days together, and at last got right again — about the time when we had to leave New York. Had it not been for this, I should certainly have come to pass a day with you; as it was, I had to choose between perfect rest at Hoboken, and an excursion which was almost sure to have upset me for the whole of the journey and maybe laid me up somewhere far out in the country.
The 500 copies[3] from Lee and Shepard have arrived — but too late to be sent out before the Christmas holidays, when nothing but holiday literature is noticed — I have therefore kept them back until now. On Monday the copies to the press will go out and the rest be handed to Reeves. As the boycott of the London Socialists against Marx and myself (exactly like that of English prehistoric old fogies against Morgan)[350]
seems still in force, I am curious what the effect will be.
With best wishes for the New Year.
Yours faithfully
F. Engels
157. Engels to Paul Lafargue 14 January
My dear Lafargue,
Reply from Liebknecht and Bebel after mutual consultation.[351] It would appear that they never had any intention of going to the Possibilist congress direct and without reference to you. But
1) Since the London congress[320] resolved to convene a congress in Paris and entrusted its organisation to the Possibilists, the latter do have certain rights, notably in regard to the nationalities represented in London who concurred with that resolution. (Why, by the bye, have you abdicated so completely and abandoned the field to the Possibilists?)
2) The Dutch have expressly asked that the Possibilists be invited to the congress, making this a condition for their (the Dutchmen's) attendance.
3) And Liebknecht is right when he says that the Germans cannot expose themselves to attack by French workers in Paris — a hazard, he avers, against which you have been unable to give them any sort of guarantee.
Apparently, then, it has been resolved to convene a preliminary conference at Nancy,[352] one delegate per foreign nationality, and one delegate from each of the three French parties — yourselves, Blanquists, Possibilists; also to move that, at the congress, the right to speak be withdrawn from any speaker alluding to the internal affairs of those three parties and to the differences between them. In this way there would be only one congress, at which everyone would be represented.
I don't see how you can turn this down. If it then be seen that you are prepared to act along with everyone else, and that the Possibilists are trying to exclude you, it would be enough to put the Possibilists in the wrong, even in the eyes of the Dutch and Belgians (the Flemings are all right but, where their foreign policy is concerned, they are under the thumb of those false brethren in Brussels of whom you know); if, on the other hand, they accept, you will only have yourselves to blame should you fail to prove to one and all that it is you, and not they, who represent French Socialism.
Here is the text of what Liebknecht says: 'Ich richtete also am Dienstag 8. Januar nach Besprechung mit Bebel eine formelle Einladung an das Blatt(1) (der Possibilisten).b Kommt kein Delegierter derselben (zur Konferenz) so haben wir freie Hand. Kommt einer oder kommen mehrere, so werden wir schon mit ihnen fertig werden. Fügen sie sich, dann gut. Fügen sie sich nicht, dann sind sie isoliert und werden von uns tot gemacht'... 'In jedem Fall sichert die Konferenz das Gelingen des Kongresses und die Lahmlegung der Broussisten.'c
If all this is correct, I cannot see that you have cause for complaint; on the contrary, it would provide an excellent opportunity to force the hand of the Possibilists. Before answering, however, I am anxious to ascertain the facts and to hear what you have to say. After consulting your friends, therefore, and after seeking the advice of the Blanquists, do write and tell me what you think about all this; and do it soon, it's urgent.
Give Laura a kiss from Nim and from myself.
Yours ever,
F. Engels
158. Engels to Karl Kautsky 18 January
159. Engels to Karl Kautsky 28 January
The proposed discussion with Tussy and Edward[3] cannot take place as they are both in Cornwall and don't intend to return until next week or later. Meanwhile Tussy has already written to tell your wife what she could about the case in point. But however that may be, we've got to get you both back here and no doubt this can be done somehow or other by the spring. Now I must return to my mss.,(1) which I have had to neglect for the past month — on account of the fog and all manner of correspondences to do with the rumpuses in Paris and London. Warm regards to Louise
from your old friend The General
159
ENGELS TO KARL KAUTSKY211
IN VIENNA
London, 28 January 1889
Dear Kautsky,
Today I have a proposal to make to you which has Ede's, Gina'sb and Tussy's blessing.
I foresee that in the most favourable circumstances I shall have to continue to spare my eyes for a very long time if they are to get right again.
And that rules out the possibility, at least for several years to come, of anyone taking down the ms. of Book IV of CapitaP5i at my own dictation.
On the other hand, I must see to it that not only this but Marx's other mss. remain usable even in my absence. There is no way of my doing so other than by giving coaching in these hieroglyphics to people who can, if necessary, take my place and in any case help me with the editing in the meantime. And for this purpose you and Ede are the only ones I can employ. So for the time being I propose that that is what the three of us should do.
But then the first thing to be tackled is Book IV, and Ede is too preoc-cupied with the editing of the Sozialdemokrat and with the many hold-ups and intrigues that are part and parcel of the shop here. But I imagine that, after a bit of coaching and practice and with the help of your wife,(2)
you would in the course of, say, two years, find sufficient time to turn the 750 pages or so of the original (a good part of which will probably be dropped as having been included in Book IIIb) into a legible ms. Once you were able to read the writing fairly well, you could dictate to your wife and then things would go faster.
Now I have worked it out as follows: if, as hitherto, I could dictate to Eisengarten for 5 hours a day, that would take me a year — allowing for interruptions. In return I would have to pay Eisengarten £2 a week— £100. So that is what it would cost me in any event and, if you are prepared to take the work on for that amount, that is what I shall pay. Spread over two years it would mean a payment of £50 each year; should the work go ahead faster, payment would be forthcoming sooner. We here are of the opinion that in these circumstances you might perhaps have no objection to returning. I would suggest that I pay you in quarterly advances of £12.10, for progress would be slow at first and faster later on, and hence there would be no sense in proposing that payments should be related from the outset to the quantity of work done.
Ede simply cannot wait to be initiated in the hieroglyphics. I have in fact some other mss. for him and shall likewise give him coaching, but I told him, of course, that I could only pay one of you and this he readily accepted.
What I have in mind here is the ultimate publication at some later date — though perhaps this won't be possible during my life time — of collected editions of things by Marx and myself, and it is in regard to this particular matter that I would now like to make the necessary provi-sions. I have also mentioned it to Tussy and we can expect all possible help from that quarter. Once I have got you both to the stage of reading Marx's handwriting well, a heavy load will have been lifted from my shoulders and I shall then be able to spare my eyes without neglecting an important duty, for by that time there will be two people, at any rate, to whom the mss. are no longer a book with seven seals.
Apart from Lenchen, only Ede and Aveling and their wives know of my plan and, if you are in agreement, no one save the two of you need know anything about the details of the affair. It might also provide Louise with a congenial occupation.
So give the matter some thought and, if you agree to it, come over as soon as you can. You'll be able to secure Schlüter's furniture at little cost and at the same time attractive, if temporary, lodgings. Louise will doubtless want to get her course and exams[354] over first, but how that can be arranged is something of which the two of you are better judges than we over here.
Boulanger's election[344] is bringing the situation in France to a head. The Radicals, in their haste to come to power, have made themselves the servants of opportunism and corruption and by doing so have virtually become a breeding ground for Boulangism.[137] But it bodes ill for Paris that in its rage at these goings-on it has cast itself into the arms of a barely disguised Bonapartism. For the present, the only conclusion I can draw from all this is that Paris is renouncing its traditional revolutionary mission. Fortunately the provinces are better. The worst of it is that the danger of war looms ever larger and that Bismarck can now have a war whenever he wants one. He only needs to provoke another Schnaebelé-type incident"—which Boulanger won't be able to swallow as Ferry did.
Best wishes to Louise from Nim and myself,
Your
F. E.
Give my regards to those trusty friends who sent me their New Year's greetings, in particular Frankel. You all seem to be going strong again over there.
160. Engels to Hermann Schlüter 31 January
Dear Schlüter,
I had hoped to see you and your wife(1) here yesterday. Did Mrs Bernstein come with you? If so, I hope to see her and you both at my house one evening — Sunday at the latest. Kindest regards.
Your
F. Engels
161. Engels to Laura Lafargue 4 February
My dear Laura,
The news about the Egalité (ominous name, égalité devant la mortb
I hope not!) is good news indeed and I await anxiously the results.[355]
That the Blanquists would be brought to their senses, as to the extent of their journalistic capacities, was pretty clear — but that this necessary experience would eat up the necessary funds for a paper, was clearer still.
So it's well that another speculative bailleur de fonds* has turned up. That our people can make a paper a success they have proved at the Citoyen and the Cri where in both cases other intruders tried to make capital out of our people's success and came to grief. And the composition of the comité is in their favour, the Blanquists secure them the majority on economic questions, and the Hovelacque elements will help holding Blanquist madcap notions in check. But how long will these various elements hold together? Anyhow, let us wait till everything is shipshape. The Boulanger election[344] I cannot look upon otherwise than as a distinct revival of the Bonapartist element in the Parisian character. In 1798, 1848 and 1889 this revival arose equally from discontent with the bourgeois republic, but it took this especial direction — appeal to a saviour of society — entirely in consequence of a chauvinistic current. And what is worse: in 1798 Napoleon had to make a coup d'état to conquer those Parisians he had shot down in Vendémiaire;[356] in 1889 the Parisians themselves elect a butcher of the Commune. To put it mildly, Paris has, at least temporarily, abdicated as a revolutionary city; abdicated, not before a victorious coup d'état and in the midst of war, as in 1798; not six months after a crushing defeat, as in December 1848; but in the midst of peace, 18 years after the Commune, and on the eve of a probable revolution. And when Bebel says in the Vienna Gleichheit:
'Die Pariser Arbeiter haben sich in ihrer Mehrheit einfach erbärmlich benommen — mitt ihrer sozialistischen und klassenbewussten Gesinnung muss es sehr traurig stehn, wenn nur 17,000 Stimmen auf einen sozialistischen Kandidaten fallen und ein Hanswurst und dema-gog wie Boulanger 244,000 Stimmen erhält'b357
— Nobody can say that he is wrong. The effect upon our party everywhere has been that if Floquet has suffered a crushing defeat, so have we. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is no doubt also a sort of policy, but what sort?
Well, Boulanger is now sure to be master of France unless he commits some egregious blunder, and the Parisians will have their bellyful of him. If the thing goes off without war being brought on, it will be something gained — but the danger is great. Bismarck has every reason to hurry on a row, because William[3] is doing his best to ruin the German army by putting his favourites in the places of the old generals, and if he is allowed to proceed, in five years hence the Germans will be led by nothing but nincompoops and conceited jackasses. And how Boulanger, once in power, can outlive the effects of the universal désillusionnement which he must produce, without going to a war — that is more than I can see.
In all this mess it is but a poor consolation that the Possibilists have ruined themselves a little sooner than they would have done otherwise. But such as it is, let us rejoice over it. I send you two Recht voor Allen in which you see how they are getting treated by the very mass who insisted on their presence at the Congress.[358] Bernstein has given it them this week in the Sozialdemokrat^ too, and even Hyndman has not the courage to stick up for them in Justice. To take his revenge, he writes a letter to Bax (5 Canning Road, Croydon) and asks him what it was that he, Bax, said about this point at the office of the Sozialdemokrat and what was repeated to me yesterday by Joos (one of the men there). I should be the more glad of this, as Bax was here yesterday too and never mentioned a word to me about it — it came out only after he had left. He can tell Bax that I told him so.
Well, I hope the new paperc will come out; we must take the situation as it is and make the best of it. When Paul gets to work at a paper again, he will brace himself up for the fight and no longer say despondingly: il n'y a pas à aller contre le courante Nobody asks of him to stop the current, but if we are not to go against the popular current of momentary tomfoolery, what in the name of the devil is our business? The inhabitants of the Ville lumière^ have proved to evidence that they are 2 million 'mostly fools' as Carlyle says, but that is no reason why we should be fools too. Let the Parisians turn reactionists if they cannot be happy otherwise — the social revolution will go on in spite of them, and when it's done they can cry out: Ah tiens! C'est fait—et sans nous—qui l'aurait imaginée
With Nim's love
Ever yours RE.
Doesn't Paul want any cash?
162. Engels to Karl Kautsky 7 February
Re the ms., there is absolutely no hurry.* So just do whatever suits you best. For the time being I shall be fully occupied with III b (about 1/3 is now done). L'Égalité comes out today in Paris as the successor to the Cri du Peuple, a daily; on it, besides Vaillant and his faction, are Lafargue, Guesde, Deville, perhaps others. Malon will doubtless have to be brought in as well. More anon as regards any other matters; today I simply wanted to get off a prompt reply to your main question. Warm regards to Louise — also from Nim.
Your
F. E.
163. Engels to Laura Lafargue 11 February[4 0]
My dear Laura,
Well this Egalité anyhow is quite a relief after the dear dull deadly Cri du Peuple {ennuyeux*). The last few numbers of that defunct paper were really crushing. Poor Vaillant who can write a very good article when a critical point has been reached, but who is the last man in the world to spin out yarns by the yard day after day — you actually saw him perspire over his daily task, and it was a desponding sight. The involu-tions, evolutions and circumvolutions of Longuet in his attempts to set himself right (and at the same time wrong) with his Radical ex-friends are at least amusing, and artistically done.[359] Paul's [article on] night-work is really good; though he might have tapé un peu plus durb on Boulanger. Today I had no Egalité—perhaps the snow has delayed it. We are six inches deep in it here.
I read your admonition yesterday to Tussy and she pleads guilty. How far she will mind is beyond my cognizance.
Nim was rather out of sorts last week, some sort of derangement of the bowels, but is all right now.
Of Capital, III, vol. I finished section IV yesterday — about 1/3 of the whole cubic foot of ms.
In the Dispatch I send you please note A. Smith on page 2C — full of lies as usual — but it shows what the Possibilists are after. That the Germans are going to their congress is a barefaced lie, and that the Danes, Dutch etc. are, is probably another. Bax told Tussy that Hyndman had sounded him as to what the Germans intended doing in this respect, and Bax asked him: are you then the representative of the Possibilists in London? to which Hyndman said he was and in that capacity wanted the information. Whereupon Bax said: then you better write me a letter which I can submit to Engels and Bernstein. There the matter rests at present. But you see how busy they are.
Is Paul going to the Hague 28th inst. (Conference[360])? Bebel and Liebknecht are going, from here perhaps Bernstein, I am pressing him to go-As to the cash, herewith cheque £20 — which I hope will pacify M. Vautour.
Ever yours RE.
164. Engels to John Lincoln Mahon 14 February
As far as I know G. J. Harney is still in England. Will let you know positively as soon as I can, will try to write to him and ascertain his whereabouts at once. If I can be of any use to Mr. Atherley Jones,[361] shall be glad to see him, am at home almost every evening.
Have not yet had the time to study your programme[131] sufficiently to give an opinion. I am very much debarred from reading by gas by medical orders.
Yours truly
F. Engels
165. Engels to Karl Kautsky 20 February
Dear Kautsky,
I return herewith the Neue Zeit articles* with brief marginal notes. The chief defect lies in the want of good material — Taine and Tocqueville, those idols of the philistines, are inadequate here.b Had you been working over here, you would have found material of quite a different order — better secondary and masses of primary sources. Quite apart from the fact that the best book on the peasants, by Kareyev, is in Russian. But if, over there, you can get hold of:
Moreau de Jounès, Etat économique et social de la France depuis Henri IV jusqu'à Louis XIV, Paris 1867, you could profitably read the same.
Section II, p. 3. Here you could do with a clear exposé showing how absolute monarchy comes into being as a natural compromise between aristocracy and bourgeoisie and hence must protect the interests of, and share out favours to, either side. To the — politically super-annuated — aristocracy falls the share of plundering the peasants and the Exchequer, and of exercising indirect political influence through the Court, the army, the Church and the upper reaches of the administration; to the bourgeoisie, protection by means of tariffs and monopolies, and a relatively well-organised administration and judi-ciary. If you make that your starting-point, much will be elucidated and simplified.
This paragraph also omits all mention of the judicial aristocracy {noblesse de robef and of lawyers—la robe—in general who, in fact, also constituted a privileged estate and wielded considerable power in the parlements where, in their political capacity as the champions of institu-tions curbing the power of the Crown, they took a stand against the latter, i.e. sided with the people but were, in their judicial capacity, the very soul of corruption (cf. Mémoires de Beaumarchais^. What you say further on about this gang will not suffice.
III, p. 49. Cf. Note I from Kareyev herewith. P. 50 'this species of bourgeois' suddenly becomes 'the' bourgeois par excellence, which gives the lie to the dichotomy of the bourgeois class of which you are speaking. Altogether you generalise far too much and this often makes you absolute where the utmost relativity is called for.
IV, p. 54. Here there ought to be some mention of how it was that these plebeians, who were outside the system of estates and thus more or less disenfranchised or outlawed, arrived in the course of the revolution only by degrees at what you call 'Sansculottism' (yet another ism!); likewise some mention of the role they played. That would get you over the difficulties on p. 53, which you seek to cope with by means of casual references and veiled allusions to new modes of production. Then it becomes plain that, here as always, the bourgeois were too cowardly to stand up for their own interests, that, from the time of the Bastille onwards, all their work had to be done for them by the plebs, that without the latter's intervention on 14 July, 5/6 October, and right up to 10 August, 2 September, etc., the bourgeoisie would invariably have been defeated by the ancien régime and the revolution have been crushed by the Coalition in alliance with the Court, and hence that it was those plebeians alone who effected the revolution;[363] but that this would not have been possible had the said plebeians not put a construction on the revolutionary demands of the bourgeoisie which these did not possess, had they not pushed equality and fraternity to their furthest logical conclusion, thereby standing the bourgeois meaning of those catch-words completely on its head because, if taken to extremes, that meaning in fact turned into its opposite; that this plebeian equality and fraternity must have been sheer moonshine at a time when it was a question of producing precisely the opposite and that, as always, this plebeian construction placed upon the revolutionary catchwords became, by a quirk of history, the most powerful lever in effecting that opposite — namely bourgeois equality — before the law — and fraternity — in exploitation.
I would say a great deal less about the modern mode of production. In every case a yawning gap divides it from the facts you adduce and, thus out of context, it appears as a pure abstraction which, far from throwing light on the subject, renders it still more obscure.
As regards the Terror, it was essentially a military measure, so long as it had any point. It enabled the class or faction of the class group which alone could secure the victory of the revolution, not only to remain at the helm (the least of their problems once the rebellions had been subdued), but also to ensure that they had freedom of movement, elbow-room, and could concentrate their forces at the crucial point, the frontier. By the end of 1793 this last had been pretty well secured; 1794 began well, with the French armies advancing almost everywhere. The Commune[364] with its extremist tendencies became redundant, its pro-revolutionary propagandism became an embarrassment to Robespierre no less than to Danton, both of whom — if each after his own fashion— wanted peace. In this conflict of three elements Robespierre was the victor, but now the Terror became for him a means of self-preservation and therefore absurd: when, at Fleurus on the 26th of June, Jourdan laid the whole of Belgium at the Republic's feet,[365] it became unwarrantable; on 27 July Robespierre fell and the bourgeois orgy began.
'Prosperity for all based on labour' is far too definite a way of expressing the aspirations of the plebeian 'fraternité' of those days. What they wanted no one could say until, long after the fall of the Commune, Babeuf gave it definite form.[366] If the Commune with its aspirations to fraternity came too soon, Babeuf for his part came too late.
P. 100. Beggars — see Note II from Kareyev.[367]
The section on peasants suffers most from the absence of all but the most common sources.
Ranke 's howlers are nice!(1) in the case of Sybelb you unfortunately failed to make use of the Austrian refutations, from which you could have gleaned a good deal about the second partition of Poland,[368] etc., and which, in so far as they are in the archives, are certainly available.
As regards Rudolf,c history shows that even in Austria feudal licen-tiousness, whereby the prince and his family honoured their female subjects in bestowing carnal favours upon them, gives way to bourgeois licentiousness, whereby the bestower of the favour becomes answerable on the duelling ground or in the DIVORCE COURT to the husband or brother, etc., of the person favoured.
My cordial regards to Louise, likewise Frankel, Alder, etc. What is Bardorf doing? One never hears anything of him nowadays.
Hyndman is endeavouring to entice Ede, via Bax, into an alliance with himself and the Possibilists.[19] The silly ass imagines that we carry on in exactly the same way as the London literary cliques, in which alliances are made and broken at will simply because those concerned have no one behind them.
How do you like the Égalité's novel about Rudolf?
Your
F. E.
Note I. Fourth Estate
The conception of a Fourth Estate, alongside I, II and III, arose very early in the Revolution. Dufaurny de Villiers' Cahiers du 4e ordre, celui des pauvres journaliers, des infirmes, des indigents, etc., l'ordre des infor-tunés—25 avril 1789 appeared at the very start. But as a rule the Fourth Estate was regarded as consisting of peasants. E.g. Noilliac, Le plus fort des pamphlets. L'ordre des paysans aux États-généraux. 26 février 1789, p. 9: 'Prenons de la constitution suédoise les quartre ordres.'*—Vartout, Lettre d'un paysan à son curé, sur une nouvelle manière de tenir les États-généraux, Sartrouville, 1789, p. 7: 'J'avons entendu dire que dans un pays qui est au Nord ...on admettait aux États assemblés l'ordre des paysans. *
A few other versions of the Fourth Estate also occur; one pamphlet suggests a Fourth Estate of merchants, another, of magistrates, etc.
According to Kareyev, The Peasants and the Peasant Question in France in the Last Quarter of the 18th Century, Moscow, 1879, p. 327.
Note II. Beggars 'Characteristically, the number of the impoverished (niscich; niscyi means beggar) was highest in the provinces which were considered the most fertile; this was due to the fact that there were very few landown-ing peasants in these areas.
'But let the figures speak. In Argentré (Brittany), out of the 2,300 inhabitants not living by industry or trade, more than half can barely make ends meet, and over 500 people have been reduced to destitution. In Dainville (Artois), 60 families out of 130 are impoverished. Normandy: in Saint-Patrice 400 out of the 1,500 inhabitants, and in Saint-Laurent three-quarters out of the 500 live on alms (Taine). From the Cahiers[369] of the Douai bailliage we learn that in one village (Bouvignies parish) half of the 332 families live on alms, in another (Aix parish) 65 families out of the 143 are impoverished, in a third (Landus parish) about one hundred out of the 413 are destitute, and so on and so forth. In the Puy-en-Velay sénéchaussée, according to the Cahiers of the local clergy, 58,897 of the 120,000 inhabitants are not in a position to pay any taxes at all (Archives Parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, Vol. V, p. 467). In the villages of the Carhaix arrondissement the position was as follows: Frerogan: 10 well-to-do families (dostatochnyi, possessing enough), 10 poor, and 10 destitute. Motref: 47 well-to-do families, 74 less prosperous ones, 64 poor ones and families of day labourers. Paule: 200 households, most of which fully deserve the description of beggars' homes (Archives Nationales BA, IV, 17). The Cahier of the Marboeuf parish states that out of the 500 inhabitants nearly 100 are destitute (Boivin-Champeaux, Notice historique sur la Révolution dans le département de l'Eure, 1872, p. 83). The peasants of Harville village say as many as one-third of them live in poverty for lack of employment ('Requête des habitants de la Commune d'Harville', Archives Nationales).
'In the cities the position was no better. In Lyons 30,000 workmen were destitute in 1787. Paris, with a population of 650,000 had 118,784 indigents (Taine I, [p.] 507). In Rennes 1/3 of the inhabitants lived on alms and another 1/3 were in constant danger of destitution (Duchatellier, L'agriculture en Bretagne, Paris, 1863, p. 178). The Jurassian town of Lons-le-Saunier was so poor that, when the
Constituante[370] introduced the electoral qualification, only 728 of the 6,518 inhabitants were qualified as eligible to vote (Sommier, Histoire de la révolution dans le Jura, Paris, 1846, p. 33). Small wonder, therefore, that during the revolution those living on charity were counted by the million. For instance, a church pamphlet published in 1791 says there were 6 million paupers (indigents) in France (Avis aux Pauvres sur la rév olution présente et sur les biens du clergé, p. 15). This is doubtless a somewhat exaggerated estimate, but that given for the year 1774 — 1,200,000 paupers — perhaps does not fall below the actual figure (Duval, Cahiers de la Marche, Paris, 1873, p. 116).'
(I thought you might like to have a few genuine examples.) Kareyev, pp. 211-13.
(Should the tone of my notes appear abrupt, this is due to want of time and the narrowness of your margins. Nor did I have the time to consult my sources and had to do it all from memory — hence much is not as clear-cut as I should like it to be.)(2)
166. Engels to John Lincoln Mahon 21 February
Dear Mahon,
I had a letter from Harney.b He is still at Macclesfield (58 Bridge St.) suffering from his old complaint, rheumatic gout, so badly that he had to dictate his letter. He says in his present condition he is
'in no mood to meet people', and, 'as you see, little fitted to write however briefly. But do not think I can be of any service to Mr Atherley Jones in his laudable object and very proper filial duty, that of collecting his father's writings for re-issue'.
So I must leave you and Mr A. Jones to make the best of it, as far as Harney is concerned.
I may have a few odd numbers of The People's Paper but, if so, shall not be able to lay my hands on them until I find time for a re-arrangement of my collection of old papers, pamphlets, etc.
Faithfully yours,
F. Engels
167. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 23 February
Dear Sorge,
Your postcard of 19 January and letter of 10 February received.[372] I take The Labor Standard and shall give Mrs Wischnewetzky's articles to Tussy, who will use them, should the 'Labor Movement' happen to be re-issued. The stuff in them is typical of America. Neglect of fire precautions, etc., on that scale simply would not pay in Europe. But it's the same attitude as you take to railroads and everything else; provided only that they exist, no matter how, that is sufficient.
Thank you for the item on Appleton.[373] On being approached, Sonnenschein said he had sold 500 copies of the cheap edition to Appleton.
I didn't see Der arme Teufel. It is Motteler's favourite reading and that is something no one will begrudge him. Any remarks it makes about Aveling, no matter what they may be, are downright lies.[374] I shall write and tell Kautsky what you have said about Rappaport.[375]
Lack of material and a desire to be versatile mean that many get in who have no business to be there. Kautsky has been in Vienna since July and won't be returning here before July.
I have sent you The Holy Family by registered book packet along with some French stuff. But you mustn't tell Schlüter that I sent it to you; I had more or less promised him my spare copy for the archives[227] before my trip to America, but you come first. It will probably arrive in March or April.
In addition to this — all of them by today's post — there's a further parcel of French stuff as well as Commonweal and Gleichheit. Lafargue's and Deville's lectures[376] are no longer to be had here and I can't get a reply out of the authors. However I keep pegging away at them.
You will have received the copies of the Egalité. The Blanquists have had no luck with their Cri du Peuple; having bored people to tears, they found themselves compelled to join forces with Guesde, Lafargue, etc. (which Vaillant wanted to do from the beginning but was outvoted). In addition there are a few discontented Radicals. Up till now they have all got on well together — let's hope it will remain so. Some more copies will go off shortly.
During the latest election in Paris the Possibilists thoroughly disgraced themselves and actively supported the Opportunist Jacques.[344]
The workers are now beginning to desert them. In the provinces, which are far better than Paris, they have lost all support. Their attempt, with the help of the English Trades Unions and of Hyndman, their trusty ally over here, to arrange an international congress in Paris without our Frenchmen but with the Belgians, Danes, Dutch and hence, or so they hoped, the Germans as well, is proving an ignominious failure. The Germans say they will not attend either congress if 2 of them are held in Paris. And both parties have been summoned to a conference at The Hague on the 28th of this month[360]; of the Germans, Liebknecht, Bebel and Bernstein will be there, and so will the Dutch and Belgians. Lafargue is going. So they must either eat humble pie or face universal opposition.
In Germany things are getting more and more confused. Now that old William[3] is dead and Bismarck is tottering, the philistines have lost all confidence in the wielders of power. That vain young fool,b the new, greater version of Old Fritzc (pour rired) wants to be Emperor and Chancellor in one; the arch-reactionaries, priests and Junkers at court are doing their utmost to incite him against Bismarck and to bring about a clash — and meanwhile little Willie is pensioning off all the old generals and replacing them with his favourites. Another three years and the commands will all be in the hands of impudent coxcombs and the army will be ripe for another Jena.[377] Bismarck knows this and that is what might induce him to embark on a quick war, especially if that vagabond Boulanger gets to the top. And then we'll have a pretty state of affairs: an alliance between France and Russia which will completely rule out any revolution in France, for otherwise Russia will turn against her. But I hope it blows over.
Warm regards to your wife.(1)
Your
F. E.
168. Engels to Paul Lafargue 12 March[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
The Possibilists have behaved just as they should — both as regards themselves and as regards us.[378] I was afraid they would accept — with reservations which, though apparently insignificant, would have been enough to bedevil the whole issue. Fortunately they appear to be too much committed to the course already embarked upon — the financial exploitation of their position on the Municipal Council. This time they have dealt themselves the coup de grâce.
As for the Municipal Council's 50,000 frs, they will probably get them, you cannot prevent it. Let them use the money for their congress — what does it matter? Not all the money in the coffers of the Municipal Council of Paris would suffice to manufacture a socialist congress, except as a joke.[379]
The Germans have made concessions enough and are unlikely to make any more. The Dutch have been subjected to direct attack by the Possibilists, the Swiss and the Danes are following the German lead and the Belgians are divided, for while the Brussels people are, as you say, Possibilists at heart, the Flemings are very much better, and all that is wanted is to extricate them from the Brussels sphere of influence. Up till now they have left their foreign policy entirely in the hands of the Brussels people, but this time we may well see a change.
It is a great misfortune that you should be without a paper at this vital juncture. M. Roques is an idiot and is simply throwing his money down the drain. The present editors will cost him ten times the 35 frs a day on account of which he has let go the only editors who might have made a success of his paper.[380] But that does not alter the fact that this business has happened at the most inopportune moment.
If you have invited the League[21] to the conference without also invit-ing the Federation,[62] as I can only conclude from your letter,(1) it was a mistake on your part. Either both should have been invited, or both should have been left out. In the first place, the Federation is indubitably more important than the League and, in the second, it gives them an excuse to say that the whole conference has been arranged without their knowledge. Hyndman, face to face with all of you, couldn't have done the least harm — quite the contrary and, although he claims to represent the Possibilists over here in matters connected with the congress, he has not dared of late to stand up for them in his paper,b but rather has rapped them over the knuckles, if very gently. And Bernstein, who is aware of all this, would have kept him within decent limits. However, it was the Germans who were to convene the conference and, as always, Liebknecht acted — or refrained from action — in response to some passing whim.
I am forwarding your letter to Bernstein so that he can use it for the issue of the paper(2) due to appear on Thursday.[381]1 must also send a letter to Liebknecht by this post and so will break off. I enclose herewith a cheque for £20, which I hope will relieve you of your difficulties for the time being.
Give Laura a kiss from me. I hope she has got rid of her cold.
Yours ever, RE.
169. Engels to Conrad Schmidt 12 March
Dear Dr Schmidt,
You must excuse me for being unable to reply to your note of the 5th inst. Until today. I have had a family over here from Germany on a visit and there hasn't been a moment to spare.
So your academic adventures have been followed by adventures with the press.[382] It's just like it was between 1842 and 1845[383] and you'll now have some idea of how we fared then. However, we have made a bit of progress since that time and the tricks played by the world of official-dom today, even though they may be quite as beastly as they were then, are no longer so far-reaching.
If you approach Meissner, don't hesitate to refer him straight to me, and if he sends me an inquiry, I shall gladly do whatever I can. But I know that he usually rejects pamphlets on principle and it wouldn't surprise me if that is the reason he will give.
However, I have yet another suggestion: You should write and ask Karl Kautsky, whom you know, of course, from the time you were both over here — Igelgasse 13/I, Vienna IV — whether he cannot arrange for Dietz in Stuttgart to take the piece. Or again to Dr H. Braun, Munich, to see whether he can suggest a publisher.
If you would like me to send you an introduction to Bebel, Liebknecht or Singer while the Reichstag is in session, you are very welcome to one.
If the thing isn't too long, Kautsky might possibly take it for the Neue Zeit.™[4]
So you too live in the Dorotheenstrasse — I myself lived there in 1841[191] on the south side, a bit to the east of the Friedrichstrasse — it will all have changed a great deal by now.
I was also glad to get your note of 18 January. I trust the plan you outlined in it to live by your pen will come off. Obviously you will first have to learn the ropes to some extent in this new world and if the gentlemen of the press are of the same breed over there as they are here, you can hardly fail to make a number of unavoidable, if somewhat undesirable, acquaintanceships.
I have taken a look at the Sweating Committee report[3]—there are two fat folio volumes (containing the witnesses' statements) and hardly believe you will feel impelled to work your way through them. However, if you want to take a preliminary look at them, you will find them in the Reichstag library; one or other of the deputies could get hold of them for you, and if you then felt inclined to go into the matter more thoroughly, I should be happy to send them to you.
Meanwhile my sincere regards combined with the request that you send me further news of yourself from time to time.
Yours,
F. Engels
170. Engels to Paul Lafargue 21 March[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
You and Bebel are both right and the thing is quite simple. It was resolved at The Hague[385] that, should the Possibilists not accept the conditions laid down, the Belgians and Swiss would together take steps to convene a congress in Paris, and that a joint declaration would be made against the Possibilists; the congress would be held by the end of September.
This was resolved — if you were absent — in the presence of Bonnier, who was your interpreter from the German and who should know. The Belgians gave their express consent.
Now, if the Belgians and Swiss take the initiative, it will be your organisation to which the organisation and all the preparations will be entrusted, which means that you will be getting everything you have asked for, so do be a little patient.
If your groups prove to be as unreasonable as the Possibilists, it will be their own fault if the whole thing ends up in victory for the latter.
It's a matter of making the Possibilist congress a failure, of which there are good prospects, provided you don't spoil everything by your impatience.
The Possibilists have put themselves in the wrong in the eyes of all the world. Now, mind you don't go and do the same yourselves by appearing to want to lay down the law for the Socialists of other nations.
Either the Belgians must comply or they too will put themselves in the wrong — I would beg you not to provide them with a plausible excuse for extricating themselves from their quandary. Even if the Belgians cannot comply, all will not yet be lost, not in my opinion, at any rate. Always providing you don't spike your own guns by undue precipitation.
That you will not be able to hold your congress on 14 July is beyond doubt, unless you choose to hold it in isolation. I am not arguing about which date is or is not suitable but, since the matter appears to have been decided at The Hague, there's no changing it, do what you will.
In negotiations one cannot always get one's own way. The Germans for their part have had to concede quite a number of points in order to ensure common action. So accept what is offered you which, in fact, is all you are entitled to ask and which, provided you don't put a foot wrong, will result in international exclusion of the Possibilists and recognition of yourselves as the only French Socialists with whom contact should be maintained.
It was a mistake that you should not have been officially presented with a copy of the relevant resolution taken at The Hague. But, as you are aware, it is not the first case of carelessness at an international conference.
Yours ever,
F. E.
Herewith a copy of Justice. We are preparing a reply in which Possibilists' intrigues[386] will be unmasked to the English. So, as you can see, we are doing everything we possibly can but, if you are as obstinate as the Possibilists, it will be all to no avail.
171. Engels to Paul Lafargue 23 March[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
There is no denying that agreement was reached at The Hague[385] that, should the Possibilists fail to comply, the Belgians and the Swiss, the two neutral nations, should convene the congress; that a joint declaration against the Possibilists be issued; and that the congress be convened in Paris for the end of September.
According to what Bernstein tells me, he told you as much, besides which, it seems impossible that something so important could have happened without your knowing anything at all about it. And Bonnier, so Bernstein tells me, was present — even if you were not.
Well, now, if things are to be taken to a successful conclusion, it is absolutely essential that everyone abides by what has been resolved.
You can perfectly well leave the initiative of the convocation to the Belgians and Swiss; an international congress can perfectly well meet without its having been convened by the Socialists of the locality where it is to be held. What is certain is that the real business — organisation and preparation — will be in your hands, and this must suffice you. If you ask anything more, you will not have a congress at all and the Possibilists will emerge victorious from the fray. Before the eyes of all Europe they will hold their own congress, which will then be the only international working men's congress of the year.
If the matter were still open to discussion, I myself would be inclined to share your view that the congress should be held alongside that of the Possibilists, even at the risk of a fight with them. But it was thought fit to hold it in September and resolved accordingly. There is no going back on that and, should you insist, you will hold a congress all on your own, to the glee of Europe and the delight of the Possibilists.
On the other hand, I have written to Bebel telling him he has no right to present you with an ultimatum or to say: if the Belgians go back on their word, we shall be free and will not attend the congress. Also that they, the Germans, are too deeply committed to pull out in such a way, and that a Belgian withdrawal, should it take place — and this we cannot tell — would not relieve the others of their mutual obligations. Bebel is a man of great common sense and I have every reason to believe that he will think better of it, provided you do not raise fresh objections and attempt to go back on the resolutions taken once and for all at The Hague.
Things are going admirably and you are the only people who can put a spoke in the wheel.
But even supposing the Belgians were to withdraw — in that event the Swiss would convene the congress on their own and, as they would be acting on behalf of the other nationalities, success would be assured.
But there is only one way in which the Belgians can be relieved of their responsibility or given a pretext for breaking faith and that is for you, the French, to act in contravention of the Hague resolutions and to be the first to do so. If you abide by them, I am pretty sure the Belgians will also assent, in which case the Possibilists will be isolated, which is, after all, the main objective to be kept in view.
Our reply to the attacks in Justice[3]*[6] (essential, now that the Sozialdemokrat has set up in London) has appeared and, at the same time as this, but by book post, I am sending you six copies, of which 1 each for Laura, Longuet and Vaillant. On Monday the thing is going to be disseminated throughout London, handed out at all socialist meetings, and despatched into the provinces. It will, I hope, give the Possibilist gentry and Mr Hyndman something to think about.
You have doubtless seen the attack injustice, which I believe I enclose in my last letter.[3]
Now, let me repeat: Be reasonable, carry out faithfully what has been resolved, do not make it impossible for your best friends to lend you their support, give and take, use the position gained at The Hague for your point of departure, as the first position wrested from the enemy and as a base for future victories. But do not force down the throat of the other nationalities things which they certainly will not swallow. The battle's as good as won, I tell you, and if you were to lose it now, you and you only would be to blame.
Yours ever,
F. E.
172. Engels to Paul Lafargue 25 March
My dear Lafargue,
You speak of a congress in August, although you know that the conference[385] resolved to hold it at the end of September. I repeat: If you deviate by so much as a fraction of an inch from what was agreed to by everyone at The Hague, you will provide the Belgians with a pretext for withdrawing, and then, as Bebel has told you, everything will be jeopar-dised. I am quite willing to urge the Germans to put pressure on the Belgians, but I shall do nothing until I know for certain that you, the French, like everyone else, unreservedly assent to the resolutions taken at the conference. Otherwise people will tell me, and with reason: How can you ask us to commit ourselves for the sake of people who do not respect their own commitments?
Either, then, you hold a congress as resolved at The Hague, or you do not hold one at all. And only on the day when I am given the assurance that you Parisians whole-heartedly and unreservedly assent to the resolutions that have been taken, only then shall I feel able to act, and shall act.
It is not a question of deciding which would be better, August or September — that question has already been decided and to raise it again would be to play into the Possibilists' hands.
As for Boulanger, I myself feel pretty sure that you will have to put up with him and that that idiot Rochefort, if he doesn't become a complete scoundrel, may, as a reward for his services, find himself once again in Caledonia.[388] Every now and again the French go through a Bonapartist phase, and the current one is even more shameful than the last. They will pay for the consequences of their own actions — that is the law of history — and the day of reckoning will probably be the centenary of their great revolution.—That is the irony of history. What a fine spectacle it will present to the world at large — France celebrating her revolutionary jubilee by paying homage to an adventurer such as this.
Doubtless he will bleed the big financiers, if only to pay the debts incurred during his dictatorial campaign and to reward his gang. And the money from the big financiers will not be enough. As Marx said of Boustrapa,[260] he would have to rob France of all her money in order to use that money to bribe the whole of France." And as for you, he will crush you.
As for war, that is, to my mind, the most terrible of eventualities. Otherwise I shouldn't give a fig for the whims of Mme la France. But a war in which there will be 10 to 15 million combatants, unparalleled devastation simply to keep them fed, universal and forcible suppression of our movement, a recrudescence of chauvinism in all countries and, ultimately, enfeeblement ten times worse than after 1815, a period of reaction based on the inanition of all the peoples by then bled white— and, withal, only a slender hope that that bitter war may result in revolution — it fills me with horror. Especially when I think of our movement in Germany, which would be overwhelmed, crushed, brutally stamped out of existence, whereas peace would almost certainly bring us victory.
Nor, during such a war, would France be able to have a revolution for fear of impelling her only ally, Russia, into the arms of Bismarck and finding herself crushed by a coalition. The slightest revolutionary move would be a betrayal of one's country.
How the Russian diplomats would laugh!
Yours ever,
F. E.
173. Engels to Paul Lafargue 27 March[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
You know what Hegel says: Anything that is spoiled is spoiled for the best possible reasons.[3] And your Parisians are going to the greatest pains to prove it.
This is the position: After the demise of the Socialiste[91] your Party disappeared from the international scene. You had abdicated, you were dead so far as the other Socialist Parties abroad were concerned. It was entirely the fault of your workingmen; for they did not choose to read or support one of the best papers the Party had ever had. But, after having killed off your medium of communication with other Socialists, they must inevitably suffer the natural consequences of their behaviour.
The Possibilists, left in sole possession of the battle field, took advantage of the situation you had yourselves created for them. They had friends in Brussels and in London with whose assistance they have presented themselves to the world at large as the sole representatives of the French Socialists. They have succeeded in enticing the Danes, the Dutch and the Flemish to their congress. And you know what trouble we have been to in neutralising the victories they have won.
Now the Germans are offering you an opportunity, not only of re-entering the stage with éclat, but also of seeing yourselves recognised by all the organised parties of Europe as the only French Socialists with whom they wish to fraternise. They are offering you an opportunity of wiping out at one stroke the effect of all the mistakes you have made, and of all the defeats you have suffered, and of rehabilitating yourselves in the position to which your theoretical understanding entitles you, but which has been compromised by your faulty tactics. They are offering you a congress which all the genuine workingmen's parties, even the Belgian, will attend, they are offering you a chance of isolating the Possibilists so that they will have to confine themselves to a bogus congress — in other words, they are offering you far more than you had a right to expect, having regard to the position you had placed yourselves in. And then — what do you do? Seize it with both hands? Not a bit of it. You behave like spoilt children, you haggle, you ask for more and, when you have at last been persuaded to assent to what has been agreed by everyone else, you insist on conditions which jeopardise everything that has been gained for you.
So far as you are concerned, what is important is that there should be a congress and that it should be in Paris, where you can be acknowledged by all to be the only French Socialist Party to have gained international recognition; also that the Possibilist congress should, for its part, be a bogus congress, notwithstanding the éclat deriving from secret funds and the 14th of July.(1) Everything else is of secondary, indeed less than secondary, importance. If you are to be set on your feet again, your congress must be held, no matter if it's a flop in the eyes of the bourgeois public. In order to regain your position in France, what you need above all is international recognition of yourselves and international condem-nation of the Possibilists, etc. You are offered it — and all you do is sulk!
As I have already said, I believe your date to be the better one for creating an impact in France. But then this should have been explained at The Hague.[385] You can't blame anyone else if, at the critical moment, you went to the next room and everything took place in your absence. And I have conscientiously explained your line of reasoning to Bebel, asking him to give it his serious consideration. However, I felt impelled to add that, in my opinion, the meeting of the congress, on no matter what date, must be assured, and that any move that might jeopardise that meeting would be a false one. You cannot but be aware that, by re-opening the question of the date, we shall all become embroiled in endless discussions and disputes and that we can expect, probably some time towards the end of October, to obtain general assent to the date of 14 July — if, indeed, in the absence of another conference, which will certainly never take place, any new date is agreed at all.
And then, with typically Parisian naivete, you say: We impatiently await the fixing of a date for the international congress! But the date had been fixed for the end of September, and it is the same 'we' (who 'await', etc.)—the same 'we' that want to cancel this date and open a fresh debate. 'We' will have to wait until the others have familiarised themselves with the new proposals of these same 'we', have discussed them and have reached an agreement on the matter, if such an agreement is at all possible.
'We also await protests from the Belgians.' But the Belgians will not be the only ones to protest, all are resolved to protest in common. This protest would probably already have been lodged, had you not put everything in question by demanding a change of date. And as long as there is no agreement on this score, nothing will be done.
So accept what is being offered you, it is, in effect, what matters most: victory over the Possibilists. Don't jeopardise the holding of the congress. Don't give the Brussels people a pretext for extricating themselves from the business, for tergiversating and intriguing, don't upset afresh what has already been gained for you. You cannot have all you want, but you can have victory. Don't press the Germans, who are doing everything for you, to the point where they might despair of the possibility to co-operate with you. Withdraw your demand for a change of date, act like men, not like spoilt children who want to have their cake and eat it. Without this, I believe, there will be no congress and the Possibilists will jeer at you, and with good reason.
Yours ever,
F. E.
Needless to say, I have written to tell Bebel that you assent to all the Hague resolutions, but he will say that, after all this, you are putting everything in question again.
I have not found Bernstein, so shan't be able to send you the addresses of the Swiss before yesterday.
Our pamphlet[386] is beginning to have an effect here.
174. Engels to Paul Lafargue 1 April[389]
My dear Lafargue,
If this business of the congress has done nothing else, it has at least taught me a capital lesson in patience, a virtue in which I can hardly be said to excel. Barely do we succeed in eliminating one difficulty than you conjure up another, and wax wroth about nothing at all. I have again questioned Bernstein, in whose word I have complete faith, and he has again assured me that no resolution of any kind was taken clandestinely in your absence. It is ridiculous to suppose that they were trying to hide something from you. If you did happen to be absent, Bonnier was there and could, besides, understand everything that was said in German. And unless I hear anything to the contrary, I must suppose he was sufficiently in the know to pass the information on to you; if not, what the devil was he doing there? Especially since I have drawn your attention on more than one occasion to the fact that Bonnier was, or ought to have been, exceptionally well-posted, and you have never replied to, let alone contradicted, this.
And what will be the result of this squabbling with the Germans, unless to preclude any sort of congress and to enable Messrs Brousse & Co. to flaunt their victory before the eyes of all the world and his wife.
That the Germans should have no desire to expose themselves to a bout of fistcuffs with Possibilists, aided and abetted as these would be by the police, nor to have their heads broken, as Prussians and Bismarckians, by the Paris riff-raff — valiant as in all big cities when the odds are ten to one — I can readily understand. We know from our experience in Lassallean days how unprofitable hand-to-hand fighting with a rival party can be when that party is in alliance with government and police[390]—and that was on our home ground. You certainly cannot hold it against them if they hesitate to engage in a similar struggle on ground where the mere cry of Prussian, of Bismarck's agent, would be enough to rouse against them an ignorant mob, eager to prove its patriotism at small cost to itself. And although it is my personal belief that the impact of the congress would be far greater in July than at any other time, I have no right to tell Liebknecht or Bebel that they would not be exposed to such risks, were they to fall in with your plan.
So you can see that in no circumstances is your July congress feasible. The more you insist, the less you will get. You have the majority against you and, if you wish to co-operate with it, you will have to submit. Demand everything and you get nothing, grasp all, lose all. You should remember that, though the Germans, the Dutch and the Danes can get along very well without a congress, you cannot. For you, the congress is essential if you are not to disappear for years from the international scene.
If only you had a tiny little paper, as a token of your existence! The most puny party in other countries has its weekly, and you have nothing with which to make your presence felt or to keep you in regular touch with the rest. For you, it was either a daily or nothing at all. Are you going to make the same mistake over the congress?—Either all or nothing? All right, then, it'll be nothing, and no one will ever allude to you again and, six months from now, Boulanger will do the rest and snuff you out, you and the Possibilists as well.
To the best of my knowledge, Antoine(1) never did anything in the Reichstag other than protest. From his own point of view he could do nothing else.
The Radicals are mad. It is the height of stupidity to try and destroy Boulanger by means of a lawsuit[391] and to suppose that the tide of universal suffrage (foolish as this is) will be turned by a political verdict. You will get him all the same, the good Boulanger whom you crave, and the Socialists will be his first victims. For a First Consul has got to be impartial and, for every time he lets the blood of the Stock Exchange, he will place another curb on the proletariat, if only to even things out. If it weren't for war, this new development would be a prize joke, it would soon be over, and then there really would be something to laugh about.
Yours ever,
F. E.
175. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 4 April
Dear Liebknecht,
Besides your letters to myself, I have before me those to Bonnier and Ede.[392]
From them I see that, as usual, we diverge very considerably as soon as it comes to taking action.
Your 'politeness' post festum* would now simply make you look ridiculous in the eyes of the English.
Your advice to the French, namely that they might ultimately arriver à un arrangement quelconque avec les Broussistes,b i.e. deliberately go and present their backsides to be kicked, has, quite understandably, infu-riated them. The above advice, and your annoyance at the fact that we— for the pamphlet was embarked upon at my instigation and almost wholly edited by me[386]—should have presented the Possibilists for what they are — recipients of reptile funds[30] of the Opportunists,[199] i.e. haute finance(1)—thereby opening the eyes of large numbers of Englishmen to things which had been deliberately withheld from them,—your annoyance, I say, is explicable only if you were intent on keeping a foot in the back door so that — even after being spurned by the Possibilists — you might cook up some little deal for the account and at the risk of the German party. If that's how things are, then I am not at all sorry to have taken some of the wind out of your sails.
This, along with your opinion[393] that Ede should have replied to the Justice with an editorial, i.e. in the Sozialdemokrat, i.e. in German and thus in a form neither accessible nor comprehensible to the English, shows that you are totally out of touch with conditions both in France and over here, and that your calculations are based on out-of-date information and imaginary situations. Nor is anything else to be expected since you receive none of the relevant journals there and have no regular correspondence with anyone of note (I mean, of course, in the socialist parties) in England and France. Ede is infinitely better informed than you are about all these matters, and you would do better to turn to him for information rather than haul him over the coals about matters in which he is and must needs be far and away your superior.
That the pamphlet was not only the greatest service we could do you people, but also completely indispensable, is something I trust I shall be able to bring home, if not to you, then at least to Singer, when the two of you come over here.
One thing I do know — you can arrange the next congress yourselves; I shall wash my hands of it.
The Hague resolution was sent to me by Lafargue expressly for publication, as was absolutely essential after the brazen rebuff meted out to you by the Possibilists.[394] So I'll damned well forget about etiquette and just wait and see whether anyone else besides you complains.
As regards the date of the congress, any alteration to what has already been resolved will put fresh difficulties in the way of an understanding, since everybody will propose a different date and it will be the 10th of October before they have agreed upon, let us say, the 10th of August. For us to make proposals to you on this matter will serve no useful purpose and I can only hope that, after all this bother — for the past 4 weeks I haven't been able to do a stroke of work on Volume IIP because of this damned business — something real will actually come of it.
Cordial regards to your wife and to the others when you see them.
Your
RE.
I fully understand — and have plainly intimated as much to Lafargueb
that you should want to avoid a set-to with the Possibilists which, be it noted, would take place with the consent of the powers that be, and with police protection for the Possibilists; in other words, out of gratitude for the favourable attitude you have adopted towards France since 1870, you would be beaten up as Prussiansb by the French.
176. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 5 April
Dear Liebknecht,
When I wrote to you yesterday I hardly expected that by today I should already be in a position to point the moral of my letter.
Our pamphlet[386]—of which, 2,000 copies were distributed in London and 1,000 in the provinces and, thanks to Tussy, just at the right places— has acted like a bombshell, making a tremendous rent in Hyndman's and Brousse's tissue of intrigue, and this at the most crucial spot. The people over here, suddenly enlightened as to the real state of affairs, have now discovered that Hyndman has shamefully deceived them about the congress, the French socialist parties, the Germans and the Hague affair[385] and has concealed the essentials from them. The rebellious, progressive elements in the Trades Unions,[395] whom Hyndman was just in process of annexing, are now turning to Ede, and all are anxious for further enlightenment. Inside his own camp, the Social Democratic Federation,[62] Hyndman has also encountered opposition, which means that our pamphlet has induced some uncertainty in the ranks of the Social Democratic Federation, the only sure ally the Possibilists had. The consequence, enclosed herewith, was Hyndman's backward-looking and, as compared with his previous insolent language, almost hang-dog, reply injustice* Never before has Hyndman beat so ignominious a retreat, and the article will bring us further victories. At one fell swoop the Sozialdemokrat has attained in London a position of respect such as would otherwise not have accrued to it for years. And instead of abus-ing us, they are now all but begging us to ensure that there should not, after all, be two congresses.
Well, Ede is going to reply to the effect that he can only speak in his own name, but believes he can say that, should the Possibilists now instantly and unreservedly accept the Hague resolutions, it might not be too late to reach an understanding and he would be glad to do what he could to bring it about.
Now that the Possibilists have also had bad news from Spain, their agent Gély having simply been sent packing in Madrid — where we are in full control — and having no prospects whatever anywhere else if you except a Trades Union in Barcelona, and now that the Belgians also appear to be taking a tougher line than they, the Possibilists, expected, there's every possibility that this final blow, which is causing their chief reserves to waver, will make them more amenable. In order that you may strike while the iron is hot, it might be a good idea for you to copy,— more or less — the enclosed letter to Ede, preferably just as it stands, and send it to him without delay.[396] I am sending the same letter to Bebel with the same request.[397] Preferably just as it stands, however, for one single expression inappropriate to the situation over here would prevent us from using the thing. Then the letters might be published. What we hope to do is to induce Hyndman to influence the Possibilists along the lines we want, in which case they'd be bound to submit and we should have salvaged one congress.
All this was agreed today between Ede and myself. And now, having regard to my letter of yesterday,[3] you may again call me the rudest man in Europe.
Your
F. E.
Dear Ede,
I am very glad to hear that the Social Democratic Federation is showing itself more conciliatory. But the rejection of the Hague resolutions by the Possibilists has forced us into the position of proceeding independently and convoking a congress to which all will be admitted and which will have the last word in its own affairs. Preparations for this are already under way and cannot be broken off.
If the Social Democratic Federation earnestly desires an understanding, it might perhaps still contribute thereto. There may yet be time. Such an understanding might possibly still be reached if the Possibilists were to accept the Hague resolutions purement et simplement*—but without delay, for, having already once been rebuffed, we can no longer allow ourselves to be trifled with.
I cannot speak here in the name of the German Party since the faction is not now in session, and still less in the names of the other groups represented at The Hague. But one thing I will gladly promise: If, by the 20th of April at the latest, the Possibilists can lodge with the Belgian delegates Volders and Anseele written notice of their unconditional acceptance of the Hague resolutions, from which we cannot deviate by a hair's breadth, I shall do all I can to promote an understanding and likewise the attendance of all concerned at the congress convoked by the Possibilists with due regard for the Hague resolutions.
Your
W.L.
The date, 20 April, is important — because of the need to come to a decision before the Belgian National Congress on the 21st.[398]
I also enclose something from the Sozialist™—the Americans are wholly of one mind with Ede as to this.
What has proved more effective than anything else over here has, in fact, been the publication of the Hague resolution[385] concerning which Hyndman had disseminated nothing but lies and which has struck home all the more forcibly for restricting itself to the demand for things that were pretty well axiomatic.
177. Engels to Paul Lafargue 10 April
My dear Lafargue,
I have just seen Bonnier and we discussed the situation. As I expected, your request that the date of the congress be changed has spread confusion everywhere. Liebknecht has stated in the Berlin press that, since there is little hope of the congress being held this year in Paris, it would be advisable to hold it next year in Switzerland. The Swiss press has seized on this idea with enthusiasm. Bebel, evidently tiring of all these difficulties, is prepared to leave the whole thing to Liebknecht. And the Belgians will not reply, either to Bebel or to Liebknecht.
Fortunately we know the Belgians' secret. Anseele, who is an honest man, wrote and told Bernstein about it: They intend to submit the Hague resolutions[385] to their national congress at Jolimont on 22 April, and their national council will act only after authorisation by the congress. That is how the good folk of Brussels interpret international action.
The thing's as plain as daylight. It will give the Brussels Possibilists a whole month to compound and intrigue with the Paris Possibilists; at the Jolimont congress they will put forward a proposal made by Brousse & Co., offering a few more or less derisory concessions (depending upon the position at the time), the Belgians will accept and will suggest that the others be satisfied with these great and magnanimous concessions. And, since the masses are always in favour of conciliation, and since the lesser nationalities dote on congresses, the Dutch, the Danes, the Swiss themselves, the Americans and,—who knows?—maybe also Liebknecht, will come out in favour of unity and of a Paris congress in 1889, short of having another tipsy session in Switzerland in 1890. For this much is certain: should the idea gain ground that the 1889 anti-Possibilist congress in Paris has been shelved, the Possibilists will have won the day, and everyone will attend their congress save only, perhaps, for the Germans.
It is what I have been telling you from the very start. You wanted everything and now you run the risk of getting nothing.
There is still a chance of saving the situation, and this we have resolutely seized upon.
Our pamphlet[386] has created an immense stir here, as I have told you. You have no doubt had a letter from the committee of the rebellious Trades Unionists[395] who have written to Bernstein and to others besides. Although they incline towards the Possibilist congress, they are still in doubt. And in the Social Democratic Federation,[62] too, there are rebellious elements, otherwise Hyndman would not have written last Saturday's article.* We have thus undermined the Possibilists' reserves and must now follow up the advantage we have gained.
Bernstein has therefore written to Justice^ saying that, in view of that journal's more conciliatory style, and speaking only for himself, it might not be too late to come to an understanding; that {{Justice so greatly desires such an understanding, it need only urge the Possibilists to accept the Hague resolutions unreservedly and forthwith; that two points — the admission of all on an equal footing, subject to ratification by the congress, and the sovereignty of the congress — are not open to discussion; they must take it or leave it; but that, if the Possibilists were to accept immediately, he would do his best to promote general agreement.
He and Tussy went to see Hyndman on Monday evening to hand him this reply, which is going to be inserted. They took advantage of the occasion to let him know that they were better acquainted than he with the situation abroad and no less well than he with that in England, and that there was no hope of his bamboozling them with his usual tricks. They told him that, if there were two congresses, ours would be attended, not only by the Germans, Dutch, Belgians and Swiss, but also by the Austrians, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Romanians, Americans and by those Russians and Poles living in the West. They made it clear to him that they knew perfectly well the extent to which his personal position over here had been undermined by our disclosure of the lies disseminated by him regarding the situation in France, etc. They gained the impression that his friends the Possibilists had themselves deceived him on several counts, and left, convinced that he would do all he could to make the Possibilists give way.
We have also had a letter from Liebknecht in which he undertakes to do what he can to bring about conciliation, on condition that the Hague resolutions are unreservedly accepted by the Possibilists before 20 April. I am also awaiting one from Bebel, whereupon we shall make use of them. It is stated in both that in no circumstances shall we budge an inch on the two main points.
According to Hyndman, the Possibilists were afraid of being chucked out of their own congress, hinc Mae lacrimaeH
In this way we shall foil the Brussels intrigues, by letting it be known from the outset that no compromise is possible. Either the Possibilists accept, in which case our victory over them will be complete; we shall have forced their hand, made them eat HUMBLE PIE, and trampled underfoot for good and all their claim to be the one and only French Socialist Party worthy of recognition; you will have all that you require and the congress will see to the rest if, as Bonnier tells us, you can satu-rate it with delegates from the provinces. Or else they refuse, and then we shall enjoy the advantage of being seen by everyone concerned to have done our utmost towards conciliation. All the waverers will be for us, and we shall hold a congress in Paris in the autumn whatever Liebknecht may say, for by that time there will not be any one sitting on the fence anywhere.
I am sending you two papers with articles relating to the congress from which you will see how much we are bestirring ourselves.
What could be better, after all, than to destroy the Possibilists through their own congress, supposing it can be managed?
Liebknecht thought he could get the Possibilists to rally round him in opposition to Brousse, in Brousse's despite and over Brousse's head! What an idea — ruling the world with Borsdorf for your capital!
Give Laura a kiss from me. What is she doing? She isn't ill, is she?
Yours ever,
F. E.
178. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 17 April
Dear Liebknecht,
I never doubted for one moment that you aborigines of Borsdorf were the better men — better, I might almost say, to the point of incorri-gibility.
Your conference at The Hague[385] gets funnier and funnier. Lafargue and Bonnier (who is over here) know nothing about one resolution— what was to happen after the Possibilists' refusal — and neither Lafargue, nor Bonnier, nor Ede know anything about the other, the maintenance of secrecy. It must have been a curious sort of presidency and an odd sort of secretariat for something like that to have happened. So what we didn't know about we couldn't have abided by.
That silence should have been observed until the Possibilists had refused goes without saying and this is what in fact happened. But afterwards it was essential to let fly at once. And if, as usual, you yourself were unlucky enough to be prevented by unforeseen circumstances from doing so and if none of the rest of you stepped into the breach and Lafargue sent me the resolution precisely for the purpose of getting it published, it was damned well up to us — especially so, considering the circumstances over here — to take this responsibility upon ourselves and commit this horrendous breach of etiquette.
Your joint protest,* you say, would certainly have had an effect altogether different from that of our pamphlet[386]—indeed it would, if it had ever appeared in the first place. Why then hasn't it yet done so? What the devil is stopping you? You know as well as I do that it will never materialise or not at any rate until six months post festum.b
Your little scheme for busting up the Possibilists by means of moral exhortations from Borsdorf and coming to an understanding with them over Brousse's head is a childish chimera from the execution of which, come to that, our 'railing' at the Possibilists will not be able to deter you.
After all, you can protest your innocence to the gentlemen for all you are worth. So long as the gentlemen you correspond with sail under Brousse's flag, they too are responsible for his intrigues, and to present these in the right light could not, one might have thought, be other than helpful to you. If everything that Brousse gets them to do is good and apparently they have, after all, absolutely no cause to oppose him.
If Ede, who throughout the pamphlet speaks on his own behalf and adopts a line no different from the one he adopts in the paper* itself, has provided the public prosecutors with grist for their mill, the paper itself constitutes a far greater danger to you people than the pamphlet. In which case for heaven's sake write to the chaps over here, telling them to attack rather than defend you, or better still to shut up shop. And if you're on such uncertain ground, you ought above all to avoid meddling in such things as international congresses, etc.
As to the Schlesinger business,[400] we should like to discuss this further by word of mouth. I haven't seen the piece yet, but this really cannot go on, a situation in which something of the kind — if only the advertisement — is able to appear under your own aegis and without you yourself protesting. What I myself shall feel it necessary to do about the matter will of course depend on the concoction's contents.
Schorlemmer has been here since Saturday. He and Lenchen send you their regards.
Your
F.E.
Your letter to Edeb will not be used. It would be far better if you wrote to Leec along the same lines.
In lighter vein: Last Friday Ede was at a socialist soirée for the eddicated socialists here[401] and was told by Mr Sidney Webb, who is professor of political economy at the Working Men's College and has actually refuted Marx's theory of value, that 'we are only 2000 socialists in England but we are doing more than all the 700,000 Socialists in Germany'
Der Sozialdemokrat - b See this volume, pp.292-3 - c Henry William
179. Engels to Karl Kautsky 20 April
Dear Kautsky,
As regards Schlesinger, I shall have a word with Liebknecht when he comes over here in about a fortnight. I have already written to him outlining the essential points. But you might be so good as to send me the thing*—stuff of this sort is unobtainable over here and I shouldn't like to be in the position of having to accept everything he says at its face value.
As to Schmidt, I have advised him to send you the ms. and see whether you can place it.b Schmidt has quietly developed into a Marxian and, as a result, no longer has any prospect of a university career, having been turned down by Halle — that noble university is confessional!—as a dissident and by Leipzig as a socialist,[297] while the Swiss have begged him to spare them his presence. Just now he is trying to get someone to publish the thesis he wrote for his habilitationf the academic socialists[402]
tell him it is too Marxist and really won't do. So the publishers are none too many. Schmidt came over to us entirely of his own accord, without any prompting and, indeed, despite numerous indirect warnings from myself, simply because he could not set his face against the truth. As things are today that is greatly to his credit and he has, moreover, acted most courageously.
Now the point is that I am the very person who must not read and pass an opinion on his ms. He is seeking to reply to the question I raised in the preface to Volume II.[298] But I mustn't come out prematurely with the contents of Volume III, and that is what is preventing me from taking a direct hand in the business. So I can't be of any help to you this time.
He — Schmidt — has thrown himself into journalism in Berlin; how he'll get on I have no idea. At all events he has behaved with more energy and good sense than I credited him with. For a journalist, his style is quite exceptionally ponderous, but that, after all, doesn't matter much in Germany.
I hope Louise gets through her last six weeks all right, and that she'll then take a rest.[354] That damned Paris congress is causing me nothing but vexation. What a muddle! Ede helps me and I help him, where possible, and Tussy helps us both, but for the rest all is chaos.
Your lieutenant[3] hasn't been here yet. On the other hand we have Schorlemmer with us. The weather is glorious. Nim and I were in Highgateb today — three hours' stroll. But it's now time for a meal and— at 5.30 — for the post.
Kindest regards from us all to Louise and yourself.
Your
F. E.
180. Engels to Paul Lafargue 30 April
My dear Lafargue,
Père Duchêne,[403] I see, is in a filthy temper this morning, describing everyone as ne'er-do-wells even when they have not done anything at all. The worthy fellow would do well to look about him and ask himself what name would be most fitting for those who allowed three Egalités and one Socialiste[4]®* to die, thus putting paid to your Party's international existence, for a Party which can neither communicate with the others nor make its presence felt ceases in their eyes to exist.
But enough of that. Can you really not see that what the Belgians have done[405] has restored your freedom of action? That now, since you are so intent on it, you can convene your congress for whatever date you choose, 1 July, 14 July or 1 August? That it's by no means too late to do something about it now, provided you act at once and provided, as seems to be the case, you have at your back a Party prepared to foot part of the bill?
I have written and told Bebel that I shall no longer feel able to advise you not to act and that, since mistakes have been made on all sides, you were right to complain.[406] That was yesterday; today he writes[407] to say that the Dutch intend to follow the example of the Belgians and send delegates to each of the two congresses; that the Germans will not go to the Possibilist congress, despite the votes of Auer and Schippel, who expressed a contrary opinion (Bonnier replied to both)[408]; that he, Bebel, is in favour of sending a delegation to your congress, which he suggests should be held in August; but that, in order to pass a definitive resolution, the deputies would have to meet,[409] which cannot be done until the next session of the Reichstag on 7 May.
Now, having already waited long enough, you cannot wait until 7 May for an uncertain result. I shall therefore write to Bebel saying that you will probably act now, in accordance with your own views, and I shall beg him to prevent over-hasty resolutions, should the date you select not be altogether agreeable to them.
There is very good reason for the Germans' reserve. Within the next day or two there is to be a monster trial of 128 Barmen-Elberfeld Socialists. In the bill of indictment now being drawn up, the public prosecutor has made it known that, after sentence has been passed on the 128 and the Reichstag has adjourned, he intends to accuse all the Party deputies of constituting the central committee of Germany's vast Socialist secret society.[410] It's the most sinister ploy they have ever concocted against us. Included in the evidence is the convocation of the Wyden[411] and St. Gallen congresses. We knew all about this five or six weeks ago and it was fear of providing additional material for the indictment which inhibited Bebel from doing anything.
As for the attitude of the Dutch, it seems a bit dubious to me, considering the way Nieuwenhuis behaved at The Hague.[412]
Bernstein believes that, if the two congresses meet at the same time, this would suffice to create a climate of opinion, especially among the
181. Engels to Paul Lafargue 1 May
foreign delegates, that would be strongly in favour of a merger. You will be able to judge whether or not this view holds water; in any case, supposing the above should happen, your congress might very well join the other, on the invitation of the whole congress and after verification of credentials by each congress individually. If you freely assent to voting by nationality, the sovereignty of the congress will be saved.
Bernstein also tells me that, as regards propaganda in Germany in support of your congress, the Sozialdemokrat will do its utmost, despite the right honourable deputies; he says: 'They have asked me so often to pursue an independent policy that would enable them to disown the Sozialdemokrat, supposedly their organ, that I shall oblige them for once. This might, of course, lead the deputies to issue a categorical order, but we haven't nearly got to that stage yet.'
So my advice is that you assemble your committee,[413] convene the congress, settle on the date you think best in the circumstances, and write a convocation circular, which Laura will translate into English and I shall gladly translate into German. All this will take until next week and if, in the meantime, further news arrives involving, perhaps, some minor alteration, there will still be time enough. Your circular should be printed in French by the end of next week and distributed forthwith. I shall send you the addresses you will need. Printing in English and German would be done over here. Your congress once convened for a definite date, the dispute will again revive and we shall help to keep it going.
In your convocation circular you must stress the sovereignty of the congress and the purely provisional character of the rules laid down by you. You would also have to suggest some basis for representation, i.e. one delegate per local group — subject, of course, to confirmation by the congress. This has been kept open by the others in order that they might have three or four delegates per Paris group in the event of your being represented by one delegate per provincial group. By proposing a cut-and-dried basis, you would force the others to lay their cards on the table.
To work then! You have a good two months ahead of you and that should be ample. And see that your convocation circular is conciliatory — the Possibilists are not sparing of soft soap, so the more thickly you apply it, the better things will go. You are perfectly entitled to say that, while yet there was hope, you submitted to all the demands made by the others, but that it has now become your duty to take the initiative. But play down the Belgian betrayal as much as you can — so as not to give the Possibilists cause for rejoicing. Of one thing, however, we may be sure, and that is that, this time, the Belgians have done for themselves. They won't ever mislead anyone again.
Yours ever,
F. E.
181
182. Engels to Paul Lafargue 1 May
My dear Lafargue,
Since my letter of yesterday,[3] Bernstein has received the following from Liebknecht:
'In the present circumstances the congress can be saved only if the French act in such a way as to present a fait accompli; they should therefore convene the congress — seeing that the Belgian resolution[405]
has made combined action on the part of members of the Hague conference[385] impossible — and without the assent of the Germans, Austrians, Swiss (Danes, etc.) which, at this late date, cannot be ascer-tained in advance.
Tt is essential that the congress be convened for precisely the same day as that of the Possibilists (14 July) and strictly in accordance with the procedure laid down at The Hague, while expressly stating that the date, 14 July, was chosen, not in any spirit of competition with the other congress, but in the firm hope that feelings of solidarity would compel the two congresses to hold their sittings jointly.'
This would be foolish; we, too, anticipate such an outcome, but to say so would be to play into the hands of the Possibilists, who would thereupon dictate their own conditions. You might, perhaps, say that the two congresses, by holding parallel sessions, might themselves resolve all their differences.
'At the same time, of course, a short exposé of the situation should be given, comprising recent events (the congresses at Troyes[329] and Bordeaux,[331] negotiations with a view to achieving a merger, the conference, etc.)—but omitting any kind of anti-Possibilist polemic.
'It should further be said: We would ask working-class and Socialist groups in other countries to indicate their assent to our convocation address by appending their signatures, there having been no time to obtain that assent beforehand.
'If there is no fait accompli, there will be no congress; the Belgian vote has restored freedom of action to our French friends. Once presented with a fait accompli, people will come to the congress.'
There you are — that's Liebknecht all over. H e is capable of heroic determination, but only after he himself has so clouded the issue that nothing else will serve.
For that matter, I agree with what he says, with the exception of what I have noted above. In drawing up your Convocation you cannot be too mealy-mouthed, not that this need prevent your saying that the raison-d'être of your congress is the Possibilists' refusal to recognise the full and absolute sovereignty of that congress.
After Liebknecht 's letter, you have no reason whatever to hesitate. So do something, hold your national congresses and, if you can, get all the delegates who attend them to go to the international congress that is to result therefrom.
As soon as your circular[414] comes out, we shall begin to agitate, first to promote your congress, and next to ensure that those delegates whom we cannot prevent from attending the Possibilist congress — Belgians, etc.,—be told that they must insist on a merger of the two congresses.
But now that you have a free hand, don't hesitate, do not lose a moment; if your circular reaches us by Monday, or Tuesday morning even, it will go into the Sozialdemokrat and be advertised in the Labour Elector. As soon as the date of your congress has been settled, there may be something further to be done over here, although the dishonourable action of the Belgians has done us untold harm.
Yours ever,
F. E.
182
183. Engels to Paul Lafargue 2 May
My dear Lafargue,
Now things are beginning to move. This is what Bebel writes:
'Liebknecht and I have agreed that Lafargue and his friends should be urged to convene a congress immediately for 14 July. This we are doing in the conviction that, once the two congresses have met on the same day, it will prove impossible for them to hold separate sessions, and that they will join forces, whether the Possibilists like it or not.
I think you people should now be satisfied. As soon as the convocation circular is published by the French, we shall issue an open appeal to the Germans, asking them to elect delegates to the congress and indicating the procedure by which this may be done' (under German law). T have written in the same vein to the Austrians, and the Danes and Swiss will likewise be notified. In this way we shall, I hope, manage to expropriate the Possibilists — or at any rate well and truly thwart their plan.'[415] 4.30 p.m. I am just back from Bernstein's who, however, was not at home. He has had a postcard from Liebknecht in which the latter says that you are at liberty to make use of 'their names' as having assented to your congress. 'Their names' presumably means Bebel and Liebknecht, for they are not as yet officially entitled to commit the German Party. I didn't see the card but Bonnier, who dropped in while I was out, told Nim about it.
I hope to get a few lines from you tomorrow morning which would enable me to rekindle Bebel's ardour by telling him that you are now taking action.
Don't forget, by the bye, to return to me, deciphered, the letter from Lyons.[416] I must not keep the workmen there waiting for an answer.
Now that you've got several provincial papers, choose one to be your Monitor for the duration of your congress and arrange for it to be sent to the various Parties, along with all your publications.[417] Below you will find some of the addresses. The rest will follow.
Give Laura a kiss from me. I shall write to her as soon as this bally congress ceases to monopolise my right hand.
Yours ever,
F. E.
A. Bebel, Hohestrasse 22, Dresden-Plauen, Germany W. Liebknecht, Borsdorf-Leipzig, Germany The Editor, Socialdemokraten, Römersgade 22, Copenhagen, Denmark F. Domela Nieuwenhuis, 96 Malakkastraat, The Hague, Holland The Editor, Recht voor Allen, Roggeveenstraat 54, The Hague The Editor, Arbejderen, Nansensgade 28A, Copenhagen, Denmark The Editor, Gleichheit, Gumpendorferstrasse 79, Vienna VI, Austria The Editor, Muncitoriul, 38 Strada Sarariei, Jassy, Romania The Editor, Justice, 181 Queen Victoria Street, London, E. C. The Editor, Labour Elector, 13 Paternoster Row, London, E. C. The Editor, Commonweal, 13 Farringdon Road, London, E. C.
A. Reichel, Barrister-at-law, Berne, Switzerland 1 t w 0
Henri Scherrer, Barrister-at-law, St Gall, Switzerland | ™g u e
J delegates[385]
The Editor, Sozialdemokrat, 114 Kentish Town Road, London, N. W. The Editor, Volkszeitung, Box 3560, New York City, U.S.A. The Editor, Sozialist, 25 East 4th St., New York City, U.S.A.
(to be continued).
The (German)[3] Americans although pressed by the Possibilists and Hyndman have said that it is you they still favour, and not the Possibilists. If they get your circular in time, I have no doubt they will give their assent, but they will go to some congress or other.
Arbejderen is the radical opposition paper run by Petersen (who was acquainted with Rouannet and Malon in Paris, but has changed greatly since then) and by Trier, translator of my Origin of the Family. For tactical reasons you would be well-advised not to send them anything that is not simultaneously dispatched to the Socialdemokraten, organ of the moderate majority.[418]
The address of P. Christensen, delegate to London (a good one)[419] is 9 Römersgade, Copenhagen.
Belgians: Vooruit (The Editor), Marché au fil, Ghent. Same address for Anseele (E.). At the Jolimont congress[405] the Ghent people declared that they would not attend the congress of the Possibilists so long as the latter persisted in their claims. The report in the Prolétariat is riddled with Possibilist lies.[420]
183
184. Engels to Laura Lafargue 7 May
My dear Laura,
I was very glad to receive this morning the Convocation.[414] As you say, there is no time to lose, and Paul who seems boiling over with virtu-ous indignation had made me expect an interminable series of bureau-cratic difficulties and delays. Now, as there has been such quick and determined action, everything is all right. The Convocation is short and sweet, contains the needful and no more, and all the fault I can find with it is that it would have been better to state in it, that the second circular with the signatures of the foreigners, unobtainable on account of want of time, would follow. Moreover I hope that the announcement, that the Socialist League[21] had beforehand adhered to the Hague resolutions,[385]
is founded upon fact and not upon a misunderstanding, as a disavowal on their part would be awkard. As to obtaining their signature, we ought to be informed of the contents of Morris' reply to Paul, so as not to be quite in the dark.
Now will you make an English translation and Paul put at the bottom: 'For the English translation, Paul Lafargue'—and will he authorise me to do the same with a German translation to be made by me? We will then get them printed here at once and spread them by the thousand; also forward you copies as you may require them.
The loss of time is entirely due to Liebknecht who considers himself, or would like to figure as, the centre of the international movement, and who, being cocksure of bringing about a union, allowed himself to be led by the nose by the Belgians for six or eight weeks. Even now he is certain that if only he shows himself on the scene at Paris, the union will follow. But as it is not too late now, the lost time is not lost in reality. It has rallied round to the date desired by the French the mass of foreigners who at first objected and certainly would have abstained, had the date been settled without these preliminaries and against their wishes. Nobody suffers in reality through Liebknecht 's action, but we here, who, having entered upon our campaign with uncommon success, were entirely left to our own resources, as all the letters addressed by the working men here whom we had stirred up against the Possibilist congress, were replied to in the most uncertain and vague way by Danes, Dutch, Belgians and Germans; and nobody could tell them anything about the other congress, in consequence of which they fell into the hands of Smith Headingley and Hyndman. Well, as soon as the English Convocation is out, we must begin afresh and I hope with better success.
But if Paul thinks we can cram down people's throats, here in England, the fictio juris[3] that the Possibilists are no socialists, that consequently their congress does not exist at all or does not count, he is strangely mistaken. He says Bonnier's letter to the Labour Elector*[21] was a bêtiseb because it did not start from that point of view. Now I am responsible for that bêtise as I wrote the letter and Bonnier only signed it. The Possibilists may be all that Paul says, and I believe him, but if he wants us to proclaim that publicly, he ought to have proved it first publicly, and before there was any question of a congress. Instead of that, our people made a conspiration du silence against themselves, left the whole wide world of publicity to the Possibilists, who anyhow were recognized as socialists by the Belgians, Dutch and Danes and some English last autumn in London[320]; and the decree of excommunication launched by a party which even now has not a paper in Paris in which it can make itself heard, cannot and will not be accepted by the rest of the world without further proof.[422] We must speak to people here a language which they understand and to talk in the way Paul wants us to do, would be to make ourselves ridiculous and to be shown the door at every office of a paper in London. Paul knows too well that the Possibilists are a power in Paris, and though it may be very well for our Parisian friends to ignore them, we cannot do the same, nor deny the fact that there will be two rival congresses on 14 July. And if we were to tell people here that in our Congress 'ce sont les ouvriers et les socialistes de France sans distinc-tion de parti qui convoquent le congrès'* that would not only be a bêtise but a gross untruth, as Paul knows well enough that the ouvriers de Paris, as far as they are socialists at all, are in their majority Possibilists.
Anyhow we shall here continue to work for the Congress in our own way and never mind faultfinding. I have not yet done a single act in this affair but it has been found fault with by someone. So I am quite used to that sort of thing and go on acting as I think is right.
The finest thing of it all is that three months after these two congresses Boulanger will be in all probability dictator of France, do away with parliamentarism, epurate the judges under pretext of corruption, have a gouvernement à poigneb and a chambre pour rire,c and crush Marxists, Blanquists and Possibilists all together. And then, ma belle France—tu l'as voulu\AA2i
Six months after that we may have war — that depends entirely on Russia; she is now engaged in vast financial operations to restore her credit and cannot well go in for a fight until these are finished.[424] In that war the neutrality of Belgium and Switzerland will be the first thing that goes to smash, and if the war becomes really serious, our only chance is that the Russians be beaten and then make a revolution. The French cannot make one while allied to the Czar — that would be high treason. But if no revolution interrupts the war, if it is allowed to run its course, then that side will win which is joined by England, if England goes in for the war at all. For that side can then, with the help of England, starve out the other side by cutting off the corn supplies from abroad, which all Western Europe requires nowadays.
To-morrow there will be a deputation to the Star to protest against last Saturday's article on the Congress (Bax, Tussy, Edward)[425] which article was smuggled in, probably by Hyndman and Smith Headingly, in Massingham's absence.
Love from Nim and from
Ever yours
F E .
185. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 11 May[3 4 3]
Dear Sorge,
There's so much writing and running about to be done in connnection with the damned congress that I hardly have any time left for other matters. It's the devil of a job — nothing but misunderstandings, rows and vexation all round, and in the end there'll be nothing to show for it.
The Hague Conference people[385] allowed the Belgians to make fools of them. Instead of at once proceeding, as had been decided after the Possibilists'[19] refusal, to protest and convoke a rival congress (which ought to have been done jointly by the Swiss and Belgians), the Belgians did nothing, obstinately refused to answer any letters and ended up by trotting out the lame excuse that they had got to submit the matter to their national congress — 21/22 April[405] —! Whereupon the others did nothing whatever (because, through the Swiss, Liebknecht was intriguing with some of the Possibilists since it was he who must succeed in bringing about an understanding), and thus the Possibilists captured all the publicity with their proclamations while our chaps either remained silent or, when asked about the possibility of a rival congress by such Englishmen as were still wavering, returned nothing but non-committal answers. The ultimate outcome of this cunning policy was that even in Germany our people turned rebellious, and Auer and Schippel demanded that delegates be sent to the Possibilist congress.[408] This finally opened Liebknecht's eyes for him and, after I and Ede Bernstein had told the French they were now at liberty to convoke their congress, also on the 14th of July(1) as originally intended, he wrote and told them exactly the same thing. And so the French have got their way, but are rightly cursing Liebknecht's procrastination and general jiggery-pokery, the blame for which they are laying on the Germans as a whole.
In this country, however, it is we who are having to suffer worst from Liebknecht's clever-clever goings-on. Our pamphlet[386] had struck home like a thunderbolt and shown up Hyndman & Co. for the liars and cheats they are; everything was in our favour and, if Liebknecht had been prompt to act vis-à-vis the Belgians, as he damned well ought to have done, or else had let them go hang and himself negotiated with the others, either convoking, or getting the French to convoke, the congress at some definite date, we should have won over the masses, and the Social Democratic Federation[62] would have deserted Hyndman. But as it was, we were fobbed off with assurances and told to wait; and, since the chief bone of contention in the Trades Unions here was whether to comply with the leaders' wishes and not send delegates to the congress or whether to defy them and send delegates regardless — the quality of the congress being of secondary importance and their sole concern, entry or non-entry into the international movement — it was clear that the chaps would join forces with those who know their own minds rather than with those who didn't. And thus we lost a splendid position we had only just won, nor, unless some miracle happens, will any Englishman of note attend our congress.
Bernstein was here just now and has held me up until posting time, so I must close.
Wischnewetzky(2) hasn't been to see me. Don't know what these people are after.
Your
RE.
185
186. Engels to Paul Lafargue 11 May
My dear Lafargue,
We have never called you anything but 'the so-called Marxists' and I would not know how else to describe you. Should you have some other, equally succinct name, let us know and we shall duly and gladly apply it to you. But we cannot say 'aggregate',[325] which no one here would understand, or anti-Possibilists, which you would find just as objection-able and which would not be accurate, being too all-embracing.
Tussy must have returned you your letter to the Star yesterday. Since Tussy's translation of the Convocation had already been in the hands of the Star the day before that, your paraphrase of the said document stood no earthly chance of being inserted.
What we need are letters from Paris, sent direct to the Star, bearing the Paris postmark and refuting the Possibilist calumnies which appeared in Saturday's and Tuesday's editions, namely, that Boulé's election campaign was run on Boulangist money, that Vaillant had acted as an ally of the Boulangists, etc.[426] I should say that you could do this perfectly well without ruffling your newly-found dignity as the one and only Catholic Church in matters connected with French Socialism.
No other daily is so widely read by working men as the Star—the only one to which we have a measure of free access. In Paris, Massingham had Adolphe Smith for his guide and interpreter and was steered by him into the arms of Brousse and Co., who took possession of him, refused to let him go, made him tipsy with absinthe and vermouth, and thus succeeded in winning over the Star to the cause of their congress and making it swallow their lies. If you wish us to be of use to you over here, you must help us regain some influence over the Star by demonstrating that the course which it has been led to embark upon is a dangerous one and that, in fact, Brousse and Co. have been feeding it with lies. And here nothing will serve but letters of complaint about such articles, sent direct from Paris. Otherwise we shall be told as before that no one in Paris has complained, hence these things must be true.
Aside from the Star we have only the Labour Elector, a very obscure and distinctly shady paper which depends on money from unavowed sources and is therefore highly suspect. You could most assuredly do with a bit of publicity here in England, so bombard the Star with complaints — you, Vaillant, Longuet, Deville, Guesde and tutti quanti? But if you leave us in the lurch, you can't complain if your congress is passed over in silence by the press and if the Possibilists are regarded over here as the only French Socialists and yourselves as a worthless clique of intriguers and nincompoops.
For the past three months Tussy and I have done virtually nothing but labour on your behalf; we had won the first battle with Bernstein's pamphlet,[386] when Liebknecht 's inertia and irresolution lost us in rapid succession all the positions we had previously gained. Now that we are back on the defensive and threatened with the loss of even those positions we originally held, it is very hard to find ourselves similarly abandoned by the French when a few letters, however short, arriving at the right moment, could prove so very effective. But if you are bent on losing all means of publicity in England at the very time when it could be of greatest moment to you, there's nothing we can do about it; I, for one, will certainly have learnt my lesson; I shall go back to Volume 3,a
abandoned for the past three months, and shall not be unduly upset if the congress comes to nothing.
To organise lodgings and eating-places for the delegates is an excellent idea — Bebel wrote and told me about itb and, since Paris in July will be positively swarming with people, this is of the utmost importance.
We shall have Laura's English translation[414] printed. As for the German translation, one has appeared in the Sozialdemokrat of which one sentence towards the end was amended by Bernstein (No. 3 in your invitation) as being too dangerous for the Germans. Send the French text of the Convocation which is to be signed by everyone to Bebel and Liebknecht so that they can let you know what passages they cannot sign without compromising themselves in the eyes of the law, for otherwise you will run the risk of not getting any German signatures. I shall wait until I have heard from Bebel before printing the German translation here, and shall first submit to you the changes he suggests.
It is some time since Labusquière's name has appeared in the Possibilist press — can he, too, have joined the ranks of the malcon-tents?[427] The incipient disorganisation of the Possibilists is undoubtedly agreeable to ourselves, but our onslaughts upon them, combined with the congress, may well bring about a return to unity. In any case, the disintegration is not yet so far advanced as to make any impact on the Possibilists' allies abroad.
Herewith cheque for £20.—As for Ferry's coup d'état,[428] it might well fail, for in 1889 the foot-slogger is much more of a Boulangist than he was a Republican when he disrupted MacMahon's coup.[198] The worthy Boulanger would not be so stupid as to evoke a call to arms over the High Court affair, but the same might not apply if there were to be a direct violation of the Constitution. That Ferry will not surrender power, direct or indirect, without a struggle, I can readily believe. But there is a risk.
Yours ever,
F. E.
of Capital - b Bebel to Engels, 7 May 1889 186
187. Engels to Eleanor Marx-Aveling 3 May
As Laura has sent her letter to you in open envelope, I enclose this.[429]
Shall see you tonight at Sam's.(1)
187
188. Engels to Laura Lafargue 14 May
My dear Laura,
Could not your people in Paris, now that things are mending and going on swimmingly, look with a little less morosity upon what we are trying to do in order to help them? Nobody has asked them to enter into polemics with the Star, nor write long refutations. But supposing Vaillant wrote to the Star: 'In your No.- you assert, on the strength of Possibilist assertions made to you, that I ... (did so and so, Star, May 7th).b I have not the time nor you the space to refute in detail such rubbish. I merely ask you to allow me to state, in your next issue, that this is an infamous calumny' (or something of the sort).
And supposing the Treasurer, Chairman, or Secretary of Boulé's Committee[344] wrote: 'In your issue etc. you say that Boulé's election was supported by Boulangist money. As Chairman (or whatever he was) of Boulé's Committee, I know where the very small amount of money we could dispose of, has come from — all from working men's subscriptions. I therefore declare the above assertion which was made to you by Possibilists, to be an infamous lie' etc.
And so a few more by different people. That would strengthen our hands with the Star very much.
Especially at this moment. This morning's Star has Paul's invitation[430]—I am afraid, put in in order to give him(1) an excuse not to put in the official Convocation with all the signatures. Still, Bernstein shall try him again with that (copy enclosed) in a day or two. And Edward and Bonnier saw him this morning, when he promised to put in a letter of Bonnier's tomorrow1, and asked Bonnier to dinner for next Monday when Bonnier must try and work him. You see the iron is still a little hot and may be welded if only we could be supported by a few blows from Paris. If we do not strike now, it will be too late soon.
You say the Paris Committee[413] will work by its numerous proclamations and that is better than letters to the Editor. Most certainly; but the letters to the Editor are wanted exactly for the purpose of getting him to insert the proclamations when they come. What use will be all the proclamations here when we cannot get them into any paper except the Labour Elector, which does perhaps more harm than good if it is the only paper to notice them?
As part of the conversation with Massingham was carried on in English, not understood by Bonnier, I do not yet know all that happened. Anyhow I hope you will see that our plan of campaign — to maintain the position we had from the beginning and to keep the Star open for communications from our side — was the only one possible, and not quite so absurd as our Paris friends seem to think. We know that at the Star office great weight is laid upon such bombardments with letters from the outside public, and in this case it is the more important as you know yourself that Possibilists, Smith Headingly and Hyndman all'unisono shout into Massingham's ears that the whole affair is a personal affair of the Marx family and nothing else.
I have written to Bebel[431] to write to Danes and Austrians to hurry on with their signatures, and through the Danes, work on the Swedes and Norwegians, and also I have consoled him about his fear of not getting lodgings and meals in Paris at the impending festive time. Bebel never having seen anything bigger than Berlin (for here he was only a few days and under good protection) is a little kleinstädtisch* in these matters. The sooner the circular with all the signatures appears, the better; that will tell best with people here.
I am sure your people in Paris have every reason to be content. They have got what they wanted, and there is plenty of time left for everything. Why then should they be so anxious to take revenge on friend and foe alike, look glum at every proposal made to them, try to find out difficulties where there are none and grumble like John Bulls? Surely tout le gaîté française ne s'est pas évanouie*b—let them become French again, the road to victory is open before them; it is we here that have suffered defeat but this is not the decisive position and as you see we keep fighting on as well as we can.
Ever yours
F.E.
188
189. Engels to Paul Lafargue 16 May[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
Herewith my notes on your draft appeal,[432] which I have discussed with Bernstein. If, by the bye, you say that the Troyes[329] congress represented the whole of the French working class you are putting yourselves in flagrant contradiction to the facts and laying yourselves open to protests and refusals from abroad — and quite needlessly at that. Your dicta will not cause the Possibilists and their Paris majority to vanish into thin air.
I have sent out the English circular to the weekly papers, tomorrow it will go to the daily press, to the London radical clubs,[22] to Socialist organisations and to such influential people as may be interested.
This will account for perhaps 1,000 copies, Tussy will dispose of 500 others and Keir Hardie of another 500 in Scotland. The addresses and wrappers are ready, and everything will go off tomorrow so that by Saturday evening, when the clubs, Trade Unions, etc., meet, all will have been distributed.
Bonnier's letter is in the Star.[433]
Clara Zetkin(1) has written an excellent article in the Berlin Tribune— had we had so exact an account of things three months ago, it would have helped us a great deal. Bernstein will make good use of it when he goes to see Massingham tomorrow, as also of the affair of the 13th[427]
whose significance was not apparent from the Egalité article, but all the details of which she has given to Bernstein.
You are quite right not to locate the National Council in Paris — since your strength lies in the provinces, it is there rather than in Paris that the official leadership belongs. That the provinces should be better than Paris is, moreover, a very good sign.
Tomorrow will see the first performance of another of Aveling's plays.[434] Although he has not taken the public by storm, he is attracting the notice of some critics, even those who have hitherto adhered to the conspiracy of silence.
The miners' strike in my part of Germany (Barmen lies some five or six miles from the edge of the coal-field) is an event of the very greatest significance.[435] Whatever the outcome, it will open up territory hitherto closed to us and, as of now, will earn us 40,000-50,000 more votes in the elections. The government is scared stiff, for any attempt at resolute action or, as they say in Prussia (although the term is an Austrian one), 'schneidiges Handeln\(2) might precipitate a week of bloodshed, as happened in Paris in 1872. Henceforward the miners will be ours throughout the length and breadth of Germany — and they are a force to be reckoned with.
As for Boulanger, I hope you are right and that that mountebank has lost the game.[391] But...
POST-TIMEI Yours ever,
F. E.
I shall write to Danielson(3)
International Socialist Working Men's Congress. 14th to 21st July, 1889.
Workers and Socialists of Europe and America, —
The Bordeaux[331] Working Men's Congress, held by the delegates of upwards of 200 trades unions from all the industrial centres ofFrance,b
and the Troyes[329] Congress, constituted by the delegates of 300 workmen's andc Socialist groups representing the French^ working class and revolutionary Socialism at large, have resolved to convene an International Congress in Paris, during the Exhibition, that shall be open to the workers of the whole world.
This resolution has been joyfully welcomed by the Socialists of Europe and America, happy to be able to meet and to clearly formu-late the demands of the working-class on the subject of international labour legislation, which question will be treated at the Berne Conference, to be held by the representatives of the Governments of Europe in September.
The capitalists invite the rich and mighty to the Universal Exhibition, to contemplate and admire the achievements of the workers doomed to misery in the midst of the most colossal wealth ever possessed by any human society. We, Socialists, whose aim is the emancipation of labour, the abolition of wage-slavery, and the creation of an order of things in which all workers — without distinction of sex or nationality — shall have a right to the riches produced by their common toil; it is the producers whom we invite to meet us on the 14th July in Paris.
We call on them to seal the bonde of fellowship that, by consolidat-ing the efforts of the proletariat of all countries, will hasten the advent of the new world.
'Working men of all countries, unite!' —to seal the bond may give rise to difficulties. The Germans are forbidden to have any kind of organisation whatever and such as they have in defiance of the law is regarded as a secret society. Hence one must avoid any expression which suggests the idea of formal organisation. Bid them to a fête of solidarity, to a public demonstration of fraternity — anything you please, so long as you do not invite them to form an official organisation or words to that effect, as the English jurists say.
It also seems to me that one or two good sentences are needed to make an effective ending.
And you might tell the international Socialists who are going to sign this that the details of place of meeting, etc., will be communicated later by the Paris commission. A little prose after so much rhetoric would not come amiss. It would be more businesslike.
189
190. Engels to Paul Lafargue 17 May[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
Herewith 25 English circulars.[422]
When are you going to send me back the — deciphered — letter from Lyons ?(1) I wouldn't like to seem negligent or in any way discourteous towards French working men.
Since the Sozialdemokrat and the Berlin Volksblatt have published German translations, there is no further need for a separate edition to be printed over here. In any case, which text ought we to use?
1) French text: The Socialist League of England[21] and the Danish Socialists ... have given their prior assent to the resolutions to be taken.
2) English text: W. Morris of the Socialist League and the Danes, etc., etc.
3) German text in the Berlin translation (probably Liebknecht's): The Socialist League and the Danes have made their excuses, and the Socialist League has given prior assent to the resolutions, etc., (according to this version the Danes did not assent).
Since the Possibilists have German friends in Paris and English ones over here, it seems not unlikely that they will get wind of these discrep-ancies. That would be most undesirable, and we can only hope it won't happen; but you can also see what might result from yet another circular,[432] featuring yourselves as 'the whole of the French working class'— the translations would again vary, for you may be sure that Liebknecht would change that in the German.
A hundred English circulars go off to America tomorrow. The Star hasn't printed the circular yet. Massingham was out when Bernstein called yesterday.
Aveling's play went off better than I had hoped — it's a sketch, very well made, but ends, after the manner of Ibsen, without a solution— something to which English audiences are not accustomed. The piece preceded another — by Baby Rose and someone else[436]—a very free English version of Conflicto entre dos deberes* by Echegaray. This one, being strongly spiced with sensationalism, went down very well, although ponderous and vulgar and in the English taste.
Yours ever,
F. E.
190
ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE87
AT LE PERREUX
London, 20 May 1889
My dear Lafargue,
I am sending you two newspapers, 1) Reynolds[3] which, at Tussy's request, printed the circular but without the signatures. This provides you with a first-rate pretext for writing to them as follows: 'The Commission of Organization is very much obliged to you for publishing in your paper our circular of convocation for the International Working Men and Socialist Congress at Paris to be opened on July 14th, but as you have not given any address will you allow me to state, through your columns, that all communications from abroad are to be sent to the undersigned Foreign Secretary to the Commission. Yours etc. P. Lafargue, Le Perreux, Paris, Banlieue, May — etc.,' or something of that sort.
2) The Sun, a new radical Weekly, which carries one paragraph, again thanks to Tussy's influence.[437] We shall have to see if there isn't some way in which we can make further use of this newspaper, but the influence of the Star might do us a mischief here.
Injustice, which I shall send you as soon as I have some copies of it, Hyndman gives vent to a cry of triumph[438] in the belief that, along with the Star, he has deprived us of all means of publicity in London. He says that, though you are an amiable and estimable man, you are making a fool of yourself, and Bebel, Liebknecht and Bernstein likewise; and he hopes that we shall at last desist from our futile intrigues, etc.
Have you seen the Prolétaire (or Parti ouvrier}) in which the Possibilists say they are sure of the Danes?[439] Bernstein has written to Germany to find out what it's all about.
The moment he no longer feels the boulevards under his feet, Rochefort insists on making a fool of himself — in Geneva when he quar-relled with old Becker, here, by drawing his revolver in Regent Street after he had been given a slap in the face. The case is to be heard today in the Police Court[440]; I shall send you the paper.
Yours ever,
F. E.
191. Engels to Karl Kautsky 21 May
Dear Kautsky,
At last a few minutes in which to write to you. The damned congress and everything connected with it has taken up all my time for the past 3 months; there's the devil of a lot of writing, running about and slaving to do, and nothing comes of it but vexation, trouble and strife. At St Gallen,[174] our worthy Germans imagined, as they have done ever since, that they only had to convoke a congress for it to happen—jehi ôr, vajebi ôr*\ (get Adler to tell you what that means). Having themselves got over their internal quarrels, they imagined that love and friendship, peace and harmony, prevailed throughout the socialist world, and it never occurred to them that convoking a congress would mean either submitting to the Brousse-Hyndman alliance or else combating it. Now, however, having had ample experience they still seem to be somewhat in the dark and flat-ter themselves with dreams of the merger of both congresses at the instant of meeting; thus they abjure the only mode of combat capable of bringing this about, namely snarling defiance at Brousse and Hyndman. Anyone who knows anything about these men is aware that they will only cede to force and regard every concession as a sign of weakness. Instead, Liebknecht demands that we treat them considerately, not only handling them with kid gloves but even going so far as to give them a helping hand. Liebknecht has made a mess of the whole business. The Hague Conference, described over here as a caucus[441] by Hyndman because he wasn't invited (which in itself was a stupidity), could, in the absence of the Possibilists, only acquire significance and become something more than a caucus if other signatures — those of the Austrians, Scandinavians, etc.—had been secured after the event. That would also have brought pressure to bear on the Belgians. Nothing of the kind, indeed nothing whatsoever, was done; the Hague business, which had been a good start, was also, it seemed, to be the finish. Well, after the Possibilists' refusal, the Belgians dragged their feet, refused to reply and eventually said that they wanted to leave the decision to their congress on 21 April.[405] Instead of sending somebody to force the Belgians to give a prompt yes or no and then induce the others to act accordingly, they allowed everything to slide. Liebknecht made commemorative speches in Switzerland[442] and, when we let fly over here — at a crucial moment so far as this country was concerned—, he began to fume, alleging that we had infringed the secrecy agreed upon in regard to the Hague resolutions[385] (secrecy it would have been madness to observe after the Possibilists' refusal, and of which, moreover, we knew nothing), that we had frustrated, etc., his move to bring the Possibilists over to our side over the heads of Brousse, etc. (!). And when, at our instigation, the English — discontented Trades Unionists[395] —, sought information from Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark about the position as regards our congress, they got nothing but vague, noncommittal replies and, needless to say, came down in favour of the men who knew their own minds, the Possibilists. So months were spent dithering and dawdling while the Possibilists swamped the whole world with their circulars, until in the end people lost patience, even in the German camp, and insisted on attendance at the Possibilist congress.[408] This made its mark and, 24 hours after we over here had told the French that the resolutions of the Belgian congress[405] had set them at liberty to do as they pleased, and that they, too, could convoke their congress for the 14th of July,— 24 hours later, up comes Liebknecht with this self-same and hitherto so hotly contested proposal. The fact of the matter is that, if he is to be capable of reaching a bold decision, he must first get himself into a complete and utter mess.
But now it is, in many ways, too late. Over here the battle has been lost all along the line because we were left in the lurch at the crucial moment. People who sympathised with us could count themselves lucky to be selected — to go to the other, Possibilist congress. In Belgium, thanks to those intriguers in Brussels, the Possibilists have all but gained the upper hand; Anseele, in other respects a good chap, seems anxious to avoid a breach with the Brussels lot. And even the Danes seem to be wavering, and they'll be followed by the Swedes and Norwegians, who admittedly do not yet count for very much, but nevertheless represent 2 nations. When one considers the way in which Liebknecht has so utterly compromised, if not actually in part ruined, the magnificent international position enjoyed by the Germans, it's enough to drive one mad.
Close alliance with the Austrians; the Americans up till now merely a branch of the German party; the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Swiss as it were offshoots of the Germans; the Dutch a reliable intermediary for the West; add to that, German colonies everywhere and the non-Possibilist French almost wholly dependent on their alliance with the Germans; likewise the Slav colonies and refugees in the West, who have also been gravitating towards the Germans ever since the fiasco of the anarchists:—what a magnificent position it is! And all this placed in jeopardy by Liebknecht's illusion that he only has to open his mouth for all Europe to dance to his tune, and that, unless he gives the order to advance, the enemy won't do anything either. And, thanks to Bebel's comprehensible but most regrettable ignorance of foreign affairs, Liebknecht has had a pretty free hand. If things go wrong, it will be he who is to blame because of his failure to do anything (save intrigue) and his failure to make a public stand between the time of the Possibilists' refusal early in March and the Belgian congress on 22 April.
However, I think all may yet be well, provided we all of us pull together. If we can win over the Danes, we shall carry the day — but it so happens that it's only from Germany — i.e. through Liebknecht — that influence can be brought to bear on them. Yet it's absolutely maddening that we should have got into this frightful predicament at all, when swift action in March and early April must have secured us the whole of Europe. The Possibilists acted, whereas Liebknecht not only failed to act, but also made it impossible for anyone else to do so — the French might not lift a finger, come to any decision, issue a circular or convoke a congress — until it finally dawned on him that for the past six weeks the Brussels people had been leading him by the nose and that the effect of the Possibilists' activities, in contrast to his own masterly inactivity, was to make his own Germans desert him. And on top of all that there was the business of that scoundrel Schlesinger.[400] He, Liebknecht, has appealed to my better feelings, saying that the least public move might ruin him, load him with debts to the tune of 6,000 marks and force him to emigrate to America. In these circumstances I shall wait — or so I think just now at any rate — until the whole thing has been published, and then see what ought to be done. However, the business is most compromising so far as he's concerned, and if he imagines he can simply get away with allowing his name to be attached to anything so unsavoury, he's in for a surprise. Would you be so kind as to send me the next instalments? The rascalV overweening arrogance is only matched by his crass ignorance. You're perfectly right; if Liebknecht's name didn't feature on it, it would simply be a joke.
What is Louise doing? Is she still busily engaged in helping to multi-ply the human species? I trust she is well and happy and that she got through her last exam.[354] Nim and I send her our love. Presumably she will now be able to take a bit of a rest.
I have had to give up smoking because of its effect on my nerves and more especially on my heart, which is otherwise very sound. I have also got to cut down my drinking a lot, its effect being more marked when the nerves are disordered. I am taking sulphonal to help me sleep, and spend a lot of time in the open air in Hampstead and Highgate. That, too, is time-consuming. If only the damned congress were over, so that one didn't have to plough through so many newspapers; it prevents me from doing anything else and, when I do at last get round to some sensible reading, my eyes are too tired and I have to turn to some other occupation. The doctor tells me my eyes won't ever be quite right again, though it's nothing serious, only a constant nuisance — i.e. having to restrict the time I spend reading and writing.
Tussy now uses a machine with keys for writing with. Kindest regards from Nim and
Your
F. E.
192. Engels to A. F. Robinson 21 May
Mr A. F. Robinson 47 Little George St. Hampstead Road
Sir,
As I am informed that you are now in good work and well able to repay gradually the 25sh. I advanced to you, and Mr Lahr your neigh-bour is out of work, I request you to pay the above money to him in such weekly payments as you may agree amongst yourselves and as are reasonable, and I shall consider their receipt — Mr and Mrs Lahr's — for the money as good as my own.
I am, Sir,
Yours respectfully
F. Engels
193. Engels to Paul Lafargue 24 May
My dear Lafargue,
Do for goodness' sake expedite the circular[432] with the foreign signatures! Here as everywhere else it will be of the greatest importance to us.
Never mind the content, however colourless and devoid of rhetorical flourishes — it's the signatures that count. If it reaches us within the next eight or ten days, it will mean victory for us here, otherwise we shall lose the battle for the second time, and this time it will be the Parisians' fault. It is really so difficult to write a circular anyone can sign?
Herewith Justice with a manifesto* of which the fury and bare-faced mendacity betray all too plainly the effect created here by the Convocation,[414] even at this late hour. The Social Democratic Federation,[62] you see,—or rather Hyndman — are well aware that what is at stake is their position over here, and likewise that of the Possibilists in France. We shall, of course, reply. But if we could append to our flysheet the Convocation with the foreign signatures, the effect would be tremendous.
The Convocation has appeared in Commonweal}[3] and Morris has come out openly in support of our congress. In the Labour Elector W. Parnell, a delegate to the London congress[320] and a very good and capable chap — a worker — says he has got copies of the Convocation for anybody who may want one.[443] A very good acquisition. Tussy has arranged a meeting for tomorrow at which Bernstein (over here we call him Ede, so if I happen to use that name, you will know whom I mean) will meet Burns, Tom Mann and other influential working men. Burns has been nominated for the Possibilist congress by his branch. It will be a very good thing to have men of that stamp at the Possibilist congress, supposing we cannot have them at our own.
The Star has not yet printed Okecki's letter,c but only Bax's on Vaillant.d We shall remind hime about the former. As he wishes to promote the sale of his paper in Paris, we shall give him introductions to the radical Socialists of the Municipal Council, Longuet, Daumas, etc. What does Okecki say in his letter? Does he deny outright the imputa-tion that Boulé accepted Boulangist money? You cannot conceive the importance — both to ourselves and to you — of this English daily, nor how much it would repay the trouble of getting it out of Hyndman's clutches.
The manifesto in Justice claims that Farj at voted for the Possibilist congress (at the London congress). This cannot be true! I am asking him by this post to send us a letter we can publish.[444] But no, on second thoughts, I haven't got his address, and the man I had in mind was Fréjac of Commentry and not Farjat. So you would be doing us a great service if you could obtain a letter of this kind for us, and as soon as possible, for over here there's no time to be lost if we are not to lose our public.
I have written to Denmark to find out what is holding things up there[445]—but my correspondent belongs to the radical opposition and not to the moderates who lead the party. We have also written to Bebel, telling him how important it is to secure the Danes who, in turn, will be followed by the Swedes and Norwegians, and have suggested that one of the Germans should go there in person if things don't go well.
And now, my dear Lafargue, make haste with the Convocation, signed by everybody concerned. It is the only effective way of stifling all the calumnies and lies put about by the others. And it is most important for the countries still hesitating that they should get it before they have made up their minds. Liebknecht, with his irresolution and dilatoriness, has cost us many a position; do not follow his example. For of one thing you may be certain — if you cause us to lose another battle by what others can only regard as incomprehensible delays, we over here shall be fully justified in losing patience and leaving you to 'shift for yourselves'. It is impossible to help people unless they are willing to help themselves just a little. So send out a circular of some sort, but not one liable to arouse opposition, to the Parties abroad without further delay, collect the signatures and have the thing printed, or send it to us for that purpose — with an English translation by Laura to save time. The prospects are so good, if only the lot of you would deign to put first things first, setting aside all petty rivalries and matters of detail. Don't ruin your own congress, don't be more German than the Germans.
Love to Laura, Yours ever,
F. E.
Herewith Justice and Commonweal.
194. Engels to Paul Lafargue 25 May
My dear Lafargue,
From a letter written by Guesde to Bonnier I learn that the Convocation with the foreign signatures[432] has gone to the printers. You may add:
K. Cunninghame-Graham, English Member of Parliament, and, unless you hear to the contrary by telegram on Monday, also
W. Parnell
Tom Mann .
delegates to the 1888 London congress. 320
The latter have not given their official assent. Bernstein saw them this morning, as also Graham and Burns, when the latter declared his intention of disassociating himself entirely from the Social Democratic Federation,[62] saying that he is sick and tired of the underhand methods of Hyndman, who has ruined the Federation, that the circulation of Justice has dropped from 4,000 to 1,400 etc. Although elected to the Possibilist congress by his branch, he is going to support our line. How he can best set about doing so is still under discussion.
Send a copy of the Convocation as soon as possible.
Yours ever, RE.
195. Engels to Paul Lafargue 27 May[8][7]
My dear Lafargue,
By the same post I am sending you the report on the Alliance* Would you also like to have the Fictitious Splits^} Send me the article for the Russian review,[446] and I'll send it on to Danielson.
Since Lavrov has turned coy,[447] write to N . Axelrod, Képhir-Anstalt, Hirschengraben, Zurich and ask him to get you, besides his own, the signatures of Vera Zasulich (since you haven't got her address), and those of G. Plekhanov and other Russian Marxists. That will astound our worthy eclectic.
The English Convocation[432] is already at the printers; tomorrow I shall have the proofs, and distribution will begin the day after.
Parnell has refused his signature as a private person, but has given it in his capacity as the HONORARY SECRETARY of the LABOUR ELECTORAL ASSOCIATION.[449]
Since you must have received this signature, together with those of its other members (Champion, Mann, Bateman), I did not telegraph you, for you would, of course, take the signatures as sent to you direct, and not from my letter.
The reason is that he is being sent by his TRADES UNION (cabinet makers) to the Possibilist congress, where he and Burns will support our line. If the Possibilists oppose their proposal for a merger, they might even part company with them and join us. But that is, as yet, the music of the future.[449]
If I seemed insistent, it was because of the contradictory information that was coming in from Paris, and because I didn't know whether or not agreement had been reached as to the text of the Convocation. But now things will get going over here as well.—It will be a thunderbolt.
Your tactics are best, more especially since you haven't got a paper and since everyone in France has already taken sides. Here, where not a few are still sitting on the fence and where, in addition, we must try and shake the faith of those who have already gone over to the enemy — and it can be done — we must go into the attack.
Tomorrow I shall at least, I hope, be able to put in a little anti-Hyndman work[450]; today, all my time has been taken up with arrangements for the English Convocation and with running errands.
The letter from Lyons was in the enclosed envelope. I sent it to you so that you might decipher the name and address of the signatory for me.[416] It contained a request for copies of my writings. However, you appear to have received my accompanying letter asking you to enlighten me on the above.
Yours ever,
In haste F. E.
Farjat must let us have a definite yea or nay — perhaps he had left before the vote was taken?[444]
196. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 8 June[3 7 1]
Dear Sorge,
I am almost sorry that you should have taken the Wischnewetzkys seriously enough to break with them. I was glad to let them have the satisfaction of conveying to me her most august displeasure through his failure to call; I can only assume, however, that he forced your hand by the uncouthness of his behaviour vis-à-vis yourself.
The mood re the congress in which you wrote your letter was also mine from mid-March until nearly mid-May. Now, miraculously, all is saved, as you will see from the second circular we sent you containing the convocation with signatures from almost everywhere in Europe (brought up to date in the appendix to Bernstein's No. II,[450] sent off today).
The first pamphlet, signed by Bernstein,[386] was edited by me, like everything else that appeared in English on the subject. Such of it as you are able to find fault with was necessary from a local point of view. Particularly the explanations concerning the Possibilists which you see as attacks. But most necessary of all was the publication of the Hague resolutions[394] which, in their wisdom, the chaps at The Hague had decided to keep secret, and ad infinitum at that. Fortunately no one either here or in Paris knew of this canny decision and we therefore let fly, since the Possibilists and their supporters over here were daily harp-ing on those very resolutions, telling the most whopping lies about them, etc.
Prompt action ought, of course, to have been taken after the Possibilists' refusal. But the Belgians, who were, after all, supposed to be convoking the congress along with the Swiss, didn't lift a finger — they wanted to put the matter off until their congress at Easter in Jolimont,[405]
and take refuge behind such resolutions as might be adopted there. And of the Swiss, Scherrer, too, was a wee bit dilatory on the pretext that, with Liebknecht 's assent, he would lure the bulk of the Possibilists onto our side 'over the heads of Brousse & Co.'!! Liebknecht, however, was making commemorative speeches in Switzerland,[442] and Bebel was insufficiently acquainted with the terrain to go ahead independently in his absence.
The real battlefield was here. The impact of Bernstein's pamphlet No. I here was that of a thunderbolt. People realised they had been outrageously hoodwinked by Hyndman & Co. Had our congress been convoked straight away, they would all have rallied to us, and Hyndman and Brousse would have found they were on their own. The discontented elements in the Trades Unions here[395] appealed to us, to the Germans, the Dutch, the Belgians and the Danes. But from no one did they obtain any information about our congress — when, where or how it would be held. Their main concern, however, was with opposing Broadhurst, Shipton & Co. by sending delegates to a congress, no matter which, and they therefore came down in favour of the one that had been convoked.
Thus, step by step, we lost ground here, and our foothold in this country's radical press grew distinctly precarious, on top of which came the resolution of the Belgian congress whereby one delegate was to be sent to each of the two congresses. And, even in the German party press, Auer and Schippel declared themselves in favour of attending that of the Possibilists,[408] if only to show that the Germans weren't Francophobes and chauvinists. In short, I gave the thing up for lost, at any rate so far as England was concerned.
However, I at once wrote to the French[3] (who from the start had insisted that the congress must be held on 14/21 July, alongside that of the Possibilists, if it was to be worth holding at all) and told them that the Belgian resolution had restored their liberty of action and that they should immediately convoke the congress for that time. And Monsieur Liebknecht, galvanised by Auer's and Schippel's articles, tendered the same advice to the French,b having suddenly discovered that he had been dragging his feet long enough and rapid action was now called for. The convocation followed — and the impact it made exceeded all edpecta-tions. Letters of adhesion came flooding in and continue to do so. And even over here we have scored more than a succès d'estime, while the sensation created by the publication of the signatures has still not died down. Even in this country everything outside the (very down-at-heel) Social Democratic Federation is ours, as is, morally speaking, part of what's still inside it. For John Burns, the socialist London County Councillor,[451] is probably going to resign, along with the entire Battersea Branch,[452] and may already have done so. He and Parnell (who signed our circular) have already been selected as delegates to the Possibilist congress and, while there, will be working for us.
With the exception of the Social Democratic Federation, the Possibilists haven't got a single socialist organisation anywhere in Europe. Hence they are falling back on the nonsocialist Trades Unions and would do anything in the world to get hold of even the old Trades Unions, Broadhurst and Co., but the latter had their fill of that last November here in London.[320] From America they'll be getting one Knight of Labor.[60]
The point of all this — and the reason why I've thrown myself into it as I have done — is that what we are now witnessing is the re-enactment of the old rift in the International, the old battle of the Hague.[453] The antagonists are the same, save only that the anarchist flag has been exchanged for the Possibilist — principles sold to the bourgeoisie in return for concessions on minor points, more particularly in return for well-paid positions for the leaders (Municipal Council, Labour Exchange, etc.). And the tactics are identical. The manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation, which has clearly been written by Brousse, is a new version of the Sonvillier circular.[454] And Brousse knows it full well: He still uses the same lies and calumnies in attacking le Marxisme autori-taire, and Hyndman apes him — his chief sources of information about the International and Marx's political activities being the malcontents of the General Council here, i.e. Eccarius, Jung and Co.
The alliance between the Possibilists and the Social Democratic Federation was meant to constitute the nucleus of the new International which was to be founded in Paris — with the Germans as the third party in the alliance,(1) provided they toed the line, otherwise in opposition to them. Hence the series of little congresses, each one larger than the last, hence the aloofness towards all other French and English tendencies, which were treated as though nonexistent by the allies, and hence the clique-forming, notably with the small nations, which had also been the mainstay of Bakunin. But these goings-on were rudely interrupted when the Germans naively — and in absolute ignorance of what was happening elsewhere— also entered the congress stakes with their St Gallen resolution.[178] And since the fellows preferred to oppose rather than co-operate with the Germans — whom they regarded as altogether too Marxified — a struggle was inevitable. But you have no idea how naïve the Germans are. I had to go to immense pains to make even Bebel see what was really at stake, although the Possibilists are very well aware of, and constantly proclaim, it. And because of all these mistakes I had little hope that things would turn out well, that the immanent reason, which throughout this affair has gradually been gaining awareness of itself, would triumph so soon. I am all the more glad to receive proof that what happened in 1873 and 1874 is no longer possible today.[455] The intriguers have already been beaten, and the significance of the congress — whether or not it absorbs the other — lies in the fact that the concord of the socialist parties of Europe will be plain for all the world to see, while the handful of intriguers, should they refuse to toe the line, will be left out in the cold.
Otherwise the congress is of no great significance. I, of course, shall not attend it, being unable to throw myself into agitation again for any length of time. But if the chaps are intent on playing at congresses once more, it's better that these shouldn't be directed by Brousse and Hyndman. For it is high time a spoke was put in their wheel.
I am curious to see what effect Bernstein's No. II will have.[450] Let's hope it will be the concluding document in this affair.
In other respects, things here are so-so. I have had to give up smoking because of its effect on my nerves, and this has cost me surprisingly little effort; every 2 or 3 days I smoke about one-third of a cigarette, but next year I think I shall take it up again. Sam Moore is going to Africa as Chief Justice in the Niger territory. Leaves Liverpool next Saturday and will come back for six months after serving a year and a half; will translate Volume IIP while out there. Kind regards to your wife,
Your
F. Engels
197. Engels to Laura Lafargue 11 June
My dear Laura,
At last, I can find a few minutes for a quiet chat with you. And first of all let me thank you for your charming invitation to Le Perreux for the Congress. But I am afraid I shall have as yet to delay accepting it. There are two things which I avoid visiting on principle, and only go to on compulsion: congresses and exhibitions. The din and throng of your 'world's fair',(1) to speak the slang of the respectable Britisher, is anything but an attraction for me, and from the Congress I must keep away in any case; that would launch me in a new agitation campaign, and I should come back here with a load of tasks, for the benefit of a variety of nationalities, that would keep me busy for a couple of years. Those things one cannot decline at a congress, and yet I must, if the 3rd volumeb is to see the light of day. For more than 3 months I have not been able to look at it, and it is too late now to begin before the holidays I intend taking; nor am I sure that my congress troubles are quite over. So if I do not come over to Le Perreux this year, aufgeschoben ist nicht sufgehobene but this summer I shall take a little rest in a quiet seaside place and try to put myself in condition again to be able to smoke a cigar which I have not done for more than two months, about a gramme of tobacco every other day being as much as I can stand — but I sleep again, and a moderate drink does no longer affect me unpleasantly.
Here is a bit of news for Paul; Sam Moore gives us tonight a parting dinner, he sails on Saturday for the Niger, where, at Asâba, in the interior of Africa, he will be Chief Justice of the Territories of the Royal Niger Company, Chartered and Limited, with six months' leave to Europe every other year, good pay, and the expectation of returning in 8 years or so an independent man. It was chiefly in honour of Pauld that he consented to become Lord Chief Justice of the Niger Niggers, the very cream of Nigritione Niger Niggerdom. We are all very sorry to lose him, but he has been looking out for some thing of the sort for more than a year and this is an excellent place. He owes his appointment not only to his legal qualifications, but very much, also, to his being an accomplished geologist and botanist and ex-volunteer officer — all qualities very valuable in a new country. He will have a botanical garden, and make a mete-orological station; his judicial duties will mainly consist in punishing German smugglers of Bismarck's potato spirit and of arms and ammuni-tion. The climate is far better than its reputation, and his medical examination was highly satisfactory, the doctor telling him he would have a better chance than young men who kill themselves — out of pure ennui — with whisky and black harems. Thus when the 3rd volume comes out, a portion, at least, of it will be translated in Africa as I shall send him the advance sheets.
To return to our beloved congress. I consider these congresses to be unavoidable evils in the movement; people will insist on playing at congresses, and though they have their useful demonstrative side, and do good in bringing people of different countries together, it is doubtful whether le jeu vaut la chandelle* when there are serious differences. But the persistent efforts of the Possibilists and Hyndmanites to sneak into the leadership of a new International, by means of their congresses, made a struggle unavoidable for us, and here is the only point in which I agree with Brousse: that it is the old split in the International over again, which now drives people into two opposite camps. On one side the disciples of Bakunin, with a different flag but with all the old equipment and tactics, a set of intriguers and humbugs who try to 'boss' the working class movement for their own private ends; on the other side the real working-class movement. And it was this, and this alone that made me take the matter up in such good earnest. Debates about details of legislation do not interest me to such a degree. But the position reconquered upon the Anarchists after 1873[455] was now attacked by their successors, and so I had no choice. Now we have been victorious, we have proved to the world that almost all Socialists in Europe are 'Marxists' (they will be mad they gave us that name!) and they are left alone in the cold with Hyndman to console them. And now I hope my services are no longer required.
As they have nobody to come to them, they fall back upon non-Socialist or half-Socialist Trades Unions and thus their congress will have a quite distinct character from ours. That makes the question of fusion a secondary one; two such congresses may sit side by side, without scandal.
My dear Laura, I was going to write a lot more, but I cannot see hardly, it is so foggy, and thus I had to interrupt for brighter intervals, until now it is post-time. So I can but enclose the cheque £10.—about which Paul writes.
As to money for Congress, the Germans ought to do something — if I can, will write to Paul about that tomorrow.b
Ever yours
F. Engels
198. Engels to Conrad Schmidt 12 June
Dear Sir,
A thousand apologies for having been so thoroughly remiss in answering the inquiry in your esteemed letter of 15 April.[456] Contrary to my intentions I have got involved in the debate over the international congress and have thus taken upon myself a great deal of work, correspondence, running about, etc., which unfortunately has meant my neglecting a mass of other things, among them many letters, which remain unanswered.
So as not to keep you waiting a moment longer, I must inform you that I have not seen the pamphlet in questiona since the time it appeared in Cologne, nor, to my knowledge, is there a copy among Marx's papers. The pamphlet came out shortly before the trial began and I have never heard of a second part. Something of that kind would probably have been advertised in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung but all I can find there is the announcement, which first appeared on 9 July 1848, of this one pamphlet, described as Part I; the proceedings began on 5 August. There are no advertisements for a second part in the intervening numbers and I feel sure it never appeared. After his acquittal Lassalle would have had no cause to continue with a critique whose sole purpose had been to secure that acquittal.[193]
[1] Lassalle [Ferdinand], Der Criminal-Prozeß wider mich wegen Verleitung zum Cassetten-Diebstahloder: Die Anklage der moralischen Mitschuld I am most anxious to see that piece of yours,[3] which has found a berth at last. I shan't be able to read the article on Kant in the Vossische until after the post has gone, so for the present I can do no more than say how very grateful I am to you for sending it.
If you join the Vossische and are required to belabour the East, the Standard is the only paper I would commend to your attention. Of all the London and, possibly, European, papers (a few in Hungary excepted), none is better informed on the East in so far as Russia's interests are concerned. A day or two ago, for example, it was first with the news of Russia's little scheme, which has now re-emerged into the light of day, for a greater Serbian empire under the Prince of Montenegro — a little scheme whose furtherance has, for the present, been entrusted by the Russian government to the pan-Slav Comité so that, depending on circumstances, the former can either itself pursue it, or shelve it again for a while; 2., with the news of the secret agreement between Tsarb and Shahc whereby Persia would not grant railway, shipping, etc., concessions without Russia's approval and, in case of war, would place Khorassan at the Russians' disposal (i.e. make possible their strategic encirclement of Afghanistan). Months often go by without anything of this kind appearing in the Standard, but then the disclosures usually come thick and fast. The Standard is supplied with the stuff by Russophobes in the Conservative Party, the army and the Indian Civil Service.
I fear that, once Russia has fixed up the conversion of her debt[424] and acquired thereby a financial status she has never enjoyed before, the pan-Slav party on the one hand and, on the other, the need to provide employment for the army (whose younger, educated officers are without exception constitutionalists,[457] hence far in advance of the Prussians), thus keeping its mind off political conspiracies, will precipitate the Russian government into war. What will happen then, no one can tell; the old oracle of Delphi comes to mind: Croesus by crossing the Halys will ruin a mighty realm.
In any event much will be destroyed in the process, including, perhaps, the German army, provided a certain conceited young rascald is given a bit of time to disorganise it.
Meanwhile there has also been the splendid business of the coalminers' strike,[435] which illuminated the whole situation like a flash of lightning. That's three army corps that have come over to us. So until my next and with best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
F. Engels
199. Engels to Paul Lafargue 15 June[8 7]
My dear Lafargue,
I have written and told Bebel[458] that your contributions are coming in rather slowly, and that you are hard put to it to obtain adequate funds for the congress, etc. I explained to him the reasons (your numerical weakness in Paris, the necessity for the provincials to scrape up their funds for their delegations, the habitual sluggishness of the French in paying contributions, etc.) and I suggested that here was an opportunity for the German Party to make a grant as a good international invest-ment. You would be well-advised to ginger up Liebknecht with a view to obtaining the said grant since you would be better able than I to put your case to him, at the same time mentioning that you have written to him on the subject at my instance.
I am sending you Justice, containing Hyndman's reply.[459] It is an outburst of impotent rage from a man aware that he has been well and truly trounced. What he says about Parnell and Stepniak is an out-and-out lie. I have before me a letter from Stepniak, sent to Tussy yesterday just after he had seta. Justice, in which he says it is false and that he will be writing to Justice without delay.[460] As for Parnell, his name was given to us officially by the LABOUR ELECTORAL ASSOCIATION[448]
and, so long as he has not divested himself of his functions as secretary to that Association, he cannot contest the validity of his signature.[3] He had refused to sign as a private person and we had respected his scruples on that score.
No one knows who this Field is — the chap who has evinced such ardour in defending our congress.[461]
The Danish paper run by Trier and Petersenb has come out publicly in our favour, but they are right not to have gone further than this. Should they propose sending a delegation to our congress, they would impel the official Danish Party into the arms of the Possibilists. We have the satisfaction of knowing that these cryptic-Possibilists will not dare go to the other congress.
Since the nature of the two congresses is now quite distinct — ours consisting of all the Socialists combined, the other of men who stop short at Trades Unionism (it'll get nothing more, except for the Possibilists and the Social Democratic Federation), it is beginning to seem unlikely that there will be a merger, and if there is none there will be no disgrace. For it is a matter of common knowledge that Socialism has, as yet, failed to unite under its banner the whole of Europe's working class — knowledge which the existence of two parallel congresses would merely go to confirm.
On the other hand, our congress being now more progressive than the other, we now have different responsibilities. If the two congresses were both avowedly Socialist, we could avoid a rumpus by making sundry concessions of a formal nature. But now that the forces have been mustered, without intervention by us, in two different camps and under two different banners, it behoves us to safeguard the honour of the Socialist banner, while the merger — if it happens — will be not so much a merger as an alliance. Hence it is a matter of thoroughly thrash-ing out the terms of that alliance.
Whatever the case, we must wait and see how things go, and not tie ourselves down beforehand by making irrevocable decisions. The real aim must always be to put one's adversary in the wrong and so to arrange things that, in the event of a breach, it is he who will take the blame.
You may be sure that, after what has happened, neither the Possibilists nor the Social Democrat Federation will be animated by a desperate urge to effect a merger, but rather by an ardent desire to saddle us with the blame for the breach they secretly desire and which alone could give them some semblance of continued existence. To do them the kindness of provoking a breach would mean giving them a new lease of life. Only mistakes on our part would enable them to recover from their defeat, and those mistakes are going to be made by us if we let ourselves be swayed by passion or any kind of sentiment. It is a matter of pure calculation, nothing else.
Give Laura a kiss from me and from Nim. This morning Sam Moore left Liverpool for your African homeland.
Yours ever, RE.
200. Engels to Laura Lafargue 28 June
My dear Laura,
As to your 'free and easy' translation of my aufgeschoben* etc., I am afraid I can, in this tropical heat, muster no more energy than to entirely leave to you the responsibility of the same and to do so, as lawyers say, 'without prejudice'. All I know is that if this weather lasts, I don't envy you the Congress; the only congress I care for is one with Nim over a bottle of beer from the cool cellar.
As to this Congress of yours I see, from your letter to Maggie Harkness, that it is intended to keep the administrative sittings in private. Now I am fully convinced that this question can only be decided by the Congress itself, and after having heard the Germans, Austrians, etc. But as far as the order of the day questions are concerned, I do not see any necessity for insisting upon private meetings at all, and should think the Germans themselves would prefer public sittings all through— unless there is in some quarters a hankering after a restoration of the International in some form or other, and that the Germans would and ought to oppose with might and main. Our people and the Austrians are the only ones that have a real struggle to go through, real sacrifices to make, with always a hundred men or so in prison, and they cannot afford to play at international organisations which are at present as impossible as they are useless.
On the other hand, the Possibilists and Co. will do everything to give retentissement[3]- to their congress, will probably have no private meetings at all, after the vérification des pouvoirs}' and perhaps not even for that— and with the odds in their favour in their connection with the bourgeois press in France and here, they will get the pull of us — handicapped heav-ily as we are — unless we act boldly and have the press admitted as often as ever possible.
From all this, I conclude that it will be best not to have any settled opinion upon this or other questions connected with the Congress, but to wait until the others have been heard and then come to a conclusion. This I would apply also to what Paul writes about making the fusion of both congresses impossible.[462] It strikes me that when that question crops up, there will be so many practical difficulties that, unless the Possibilists give way on every point, nothing is likely to come of it. But the Possibilists won't give way, and as they are sure to make up by Trades Unions what they lack in Socialists, and will have a pretty fair show of French and English (which two nations, as you know, make up, in their own opinion, the whole civilised world) and as they will have one Knight of Labour,[60] representing, on his own statement, at least 500,000, and one American Federationist of Labor,[463] representing 600,000, they will represent, on paper, an immense number of working men and expect us poor Socialists to give in. All I fear is that they may make a sham move to put us in the wrong before the public (a trick they understand to a T) and that Liebknecht will fall into the trap. In that case I reckon upon you especially, upon Tussy and D. Nieuwenhuis to open Bebel's eyes and to prevent the success of Liebknecht's Vereinigungswut.*
Tussy has replied to Paul's question about Lavy; I was not there, she knows all about it.[464]
In my opinion the two congresses might sit side by side without any harm — they are essentially different in character, the one of Socialists and the other chiefly of aspirants to Socialism, and I do not think Bebel would under these circumstances be prepared to go in for union at any price. He wrote to me that the fusion could only take place on the footing of perfect equality, and that will no doubt be the minimum of his conditions. But he has never lived outside Germany, and is no judge of English or French conditions of life or ideas — and there Liebknecht may become dangerous, especially as he is unfortunately, for want of a better informed man, the foreign minister of the Germans. One point you must press upon Bebel is that the Possibilists and SDF intend using the Congress as a means of restoring the International, a thing the Germans cannot countenance without calling down upon themselves prosecutions innumerable; and that therefore the Germans had better keep away from such a congress.
My congratulations to Paul for his double candidature[465]—at Avignon he is sure to win, c'est la ville de Laurel he ought to have cards engraved Paul Lafargue, candidat, successeur (plus heureux) de Pétrarque.c But I suppose you have heard these bad puns long and often enough at Paris without me.
I suppose our people in Paris are preparing a projet de règlement^ for the Congress? That is absolutely necessary to save time, and it should be very short and leave all details to the chairman.
If I have time I shall send Paul a few lines on the question of national armament and suppression of standing armies.
Same will be about Senegal or Gambia now, we expect to have a few lines from Madeira in a day or two.
Of Schorlemmer not a word. Shall try and stir him up a bit. But perhaps he has written to you, he has said to M. Harkness that he intends to be at the Congress in Paris.
Parnell has had a letter published in the Labour Elector that he did sign in his quality of Hon. Sec. of Labour Elector Association - e cio basta.*4b(>
Love from Nim. Ever yours
RE.
5 p.m. Just received your letter to, and from, Tussy, she writes the enclosed on the subject of the private meetings which I fully endorse. I shall also write to Bebel tomorrow on the same subject.
201. Engels to Nikolai Danielson 4 July
My dear Sir,
I communicated to Mr Lafargue and to Mr Kautsky[467] what you were kind enough to say as to their articles published in the Northern Review. Mr Lafargue, in consequence of this, has sent me an article on the Evolution of Property[468] which he wishes me to forward to you and to request you to be good enough to offer it to the Editor of the Northern Review" on the usual terms as to honorarium etc. I forward it to you today by Book Post, registered.
The news you are enabled to give us about the state of Mr M[utual]'sc
health are very cheering, and in full agreement with what we heard from other sources.[469] A man with such a tremendous constitution is sure to pull through and one fine morning we may hope to see him here again restored to full youthful health.
The third volume(1) has lain fallow for the last three months in consequence of various unavoidable circumstances, and as the summer season is always a very idle time, I am afraid I shall not be able to do much at it before September or October. The section on Banks and Credit offers considerable difficulties. The leading principles are announced clearly enough, but the whole context is such that it presupposes the reader to be well acquainted with the chief works of literature on the subject such as Tookeb and Fullerton,c and as this is not the case generally, it will require a deal of explanatory notes, etc.
By the way I have a second copy of Fullerton's Regulation of Currencies, the chief work on the question; if you have not got the book I shall be most happy if you will allow me to send it to you.
The last section 'on rent of land' will, as far as I recollect, require but formal revision, so that, the Bank and Credit section once finished (it is 1/3 of the whole), the last third (Rent, and the different classes of revenue) will not take long. But as this crowning volume is such a splendid and totally unanswerable work, I consider myself bound to bring it out in a shape in which the whole line of argument stands forth clearly and in bold relief. And with the state of this Ms.—a mere first sketch, often interrupted, and left incomplete — that is not so very easy.
I am trying to make arrangements to have two competent gentlemend
to copy out for me the elements of the fourth volume from the Ms. which my eyes will hardly allow me to dictate. If I succeed in this, I shall also have trained them to the deciphering of these manuscripts which at present are a sealed book to everyone except myself who am used to the handwriting and abbreviations, and thus the author'se other manuscripts will remain available, quite independent of my life and death. I expect that these arrangements too may be concluded this next autumn.
Yours very faithfully P. W. Rosher[39] The English translator of the greater part of Volume I Mr Moore[2] has just left for Africa, having been appointed Chief Justice of the Territories of the Niger Company. Thus the 3rd volume will be translated, in part at least, at the banks of the Niger!
202. Engels to Paul Lafargue 5 July
I quite appreciate that a congress consisting of delegates from an association should hold private meetings for the discussion of matters that concern no one but its members and, indeed, this would as a rule be obligatory. But that a congress of working-class and Socialist delegates, convened in order to discuss general questions such as the 8 hours' day, legislation on female and child labour, the abolition of standing armies, etc.,—that such a congress should close its doors to the public and deliberate in camera, strikes me as unjustifiable. The presence or otherwise of the Parisian public is of little moment, although the interest your Party must take in the said congress should certainly suffice to ensure it some sort of audience. But even if the usual nincompoops were to be conspic-uous by their absence, the public meetings would, I opine, be none the worse. What we need is some reaction from the press, and for that to happen, publicity is essential. The press can only write about those things to which it is admitted. And the evening meetings devoted to oratory, in which French is obligatory as the only language the public understands, will hold out few charms for delegates who cannot speak it. After a lengthy afternoon or morning session they will want to look round Paris rather than listen to incomprehensible speeches. Not that this should prevent you from holding one or two evening meetings in a large hall, but to close the doors for fear of it's being said that the hall was half empty is to attach, I should say, an exaggerated importance to the Parisian public. The congress is being held for the benefit of the world at large, a fact which the absence or otherwise of a handful of Parisians does nothing to alter. You, who are for ever saying that the Possibilists carry no weight, and that it is you who represent the French proletariat, now tremble lest they may have a bigger audience than yourselves!
For that matter, Bebel has written(1) saying that, for them, there can be no question of closed meetings and that, so far as the Germans are concerned, publicity is the only guarantee against renewed accusations of being a secret society. In the face of that argument, lesser considera-tions relating to the Parisian public and its possible abstention will probably have to go by the board.
He further says that 60 German delegates will probably be coming. In Germany, enthusiasm seems to be boundless.
The Social Democratic Federation is well and truly in the shit. And who do you think has come to the rescue? Poor H. Jung, who this week declares in a letter^ that our congress is of no consequence whatsoever, that it's a HAPPY FAMILY of enemies, that Longuet is not a Socialist, that Jaclard is not a Socialist, that Liebknecht voted for Bismarck's colonial policy (which is a lie), etc. Poor fellows, they are at their wits' end.
You doubtless know that Ferdinand D. Nieuwenhuis is going to propose a merger 'in view of the fact that the agenda is the same for both congresses'. Since the agenda is not the same, I cannot see that anyone can vote for this motion. At all events I have written to Bebel,[470] point-ing out that things are no longer at the stage they had reached at the Hague[385]; that since that time you have been authorised by them to convene your congress; that this was supported by the whole of Socialist Europe and that, in consequence, you were entitled to lay down new conditions for a possible merger; that the mania for unity may force the unionists to adopt a course ultimately leading to union with their enemies and separation from their friends and allies; and, finally, that there will be a host of minor difficulties. Indeed, in my opinion, there will not be the slightest chance of a useful merger unless detailed conditions are hammered out between committees from both congresses, and are agreed by the latter. Otherwise the union will not last for more than a couple of hours. And if a solution is to be reached, time will be needed, which means that the merger, if it happens at all, could not be effected until things are nearly over.
Your article went off to Russia yesterday, REGISTERED. What you tell me about the wine-growers of Champagne[471] is extremely interesting — the ruination of the peasant is now gathering speed, thanks to advanced capitalism!
It is most fortunate that Liebknecht should be staying with Vaillant; I have strong suspicions that he will make another attempt to join forces with the 'good elements' among the Possibilists, going 'over Brousse's head', as in March and April.
A kiss to Laura from myself and Nim.
Yours ever,
F. Engels
203. Engels to Pasquale Martignetti 9 July
Dear Friend,
When I read your letter of 7 June I could only conclude that you might, perhaps, no longer be at liberty by the time my answer arrived. Rather than allow my letter to fall into the wrong hands and in the end cause you further harm, I preferred not to write at all. Your letter of the 6th inst.[472] has reassured me on that score.
The harsh blow that fate has, I'm sure, quite undeservedly dealt you has aroused my most heartfelt sympathy. You must allow me, at this moment when the whole of your life lies in ruins, to send you a further small loan in the shape of the enclosed money order for five pounds sterling.
As things are now, I certainly believe that your family is right about Buenos Aires and that you ought to put this plan into operation at once.
But circumstances being what they are at present, the slightest, albeit involuntary, indiscretion on my part might prove harmful to you. The post is not to be relied on anywhere, so I would prefer to say nothing more until we can again correspond in complete safety.
With my sincere sympathy
Yours ever, RE.
204. Engels to Nikolai Danielson 15 July
My dear Sir,
Excuse my ridiculous oversight in not giving you the address of Mr Laf argue.
It is
P. Lafargue 60 Avenue des Champs Elysées Le Perreux Seine — France.
The book — and the other important one on the same question by Tooke,(1) of which too I happen to have a doublette, will be sent to you tomorrow.
Yours very truly
P. W. Rosher[39]
205. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 17 July
Dear Sorge,
Our congress is in session[473] and proving a brilliant success. By the day before yesterday 358 delegates had arrived and more are on their way. About half are foreigners, 81 of them being Germans from all the larger and smaller states and provinces excepting only Posen. On the first day the first hall was found to be too small, on the second day the second, whereupon a search was made for a third. The sessions, despite various objections on the part of the French (they thought that the Possibilists would attract larger audiences in Paris and that it would therefore be preferable to meet in camera), are all being held in public — the only safeguard against mouchards[3]-—at the unanimous request of the Germans. All Europe is represented. The Sozialdemokrat will be informing America of the numbers by the next post. For the first time Scottish and German miners from the colliery districts are foregathering there for joint discussions.[474]
The Possibilists have 80 foreigners (42 British, of whom 15 are from the Social Democratic Federation and 17 from the Trades Unions), 7 Austro-Hungarians (obviously little more than eyewash, this, since the whole of the genuine movement over there is on our side), 7 Spaniards, 7 Italians (3 representing Italian societies abroad), 7 Belgians, 4 Americans (2 of whom, Bowen and Georgei from Washington, DC,(1)
visited me), 2 Portuguese, 1 Swiss {nommé par lui-même^), 1 Pole. Almost all of them are Trades Unionists. Besides these there are 477 Frenchmen who, however, represent only 136 chambres syndicales^ and 77 cercles d'études socialistes^ since each little clique may send 3 delegates, whereas each of our 180 Frenchmen represent one particular society.
The eyewash with regards to fusion is, of course, much in evidence at both congresses; the foreigners want fusion, but in both cases the French are holding back. Fusion on rational terms is perfectly all right; the eyewash, however, consists in the clamour for fusion a toutprixj which some of our own people are raising.
Have just seen in the Sozialdemokrat that Liebknecht's motion in favour of fusion has actually been carried by a large majority. What it consists in and whether it signifies genuine fusion based on private negotiations or merely an abstract desire which might lead up to them is not, unfortunately, apparent from the report. The easy-going nature of the Germans is above such trifles, but the fact that the French have accepted it is sufficient guarantee, so far as I'm concerned, that no disgrace will be incurred vis-à-vis the Possibilists. I shan't know more until after the post has left, probably not until tomorrow.
In any case you'll no doubt hear the essentials as soon as I shall, for the Avelings have made arrangements regarding cabling with the New York Herald's man in Paris. Today I shall send you Saturday's Reynolds* and Monday's Star—which contain everything of any importance to have appeared in the press over here up till now. More on Saturday.
At all events the intrigues resorted to by the Possibilists and the Social Democratic Federation in order that they might worm their way into the leading position in France and England respectively have proved a total failure and their pretensions to the international leadership still more so. If the two congresses, one alongside the other, merely fulfil the purpose of deploying their forces — Possibilists and London intriguers here, European socialists (who, thanks to the former, figure as Marxists), there — so that the world may see where the genuine movement is concentrated and where the bogus, that will be enough. Obviously any real fusion, supposing it came, would do nothing whatever to stop the squabbles continuing in England and France — quite the contrary. It would merely mean an imposing demonstration for the benefit of the great bourgeois public, a working men's congress more than 900 strong, ranging from representatives of the most docile Trades Unions to the most revolutionary communists. And it would put an end once and for all to the machinations of the intriguers at subsequent congresses, for they have now seen where the real power lies, they have seen that we are a match for them in France and their superiors throughout the Continent and that their position in England is also very precarious.
I have received Schlüter 's letter and shall answer it shortly.[475]1 trust his business is doing well and that the American climate suits his wife.
Warm regards to your wife. Schorlemmer arrives this evening. Adlerb
of Vienna is coming over here next week from Paris.
Your
F. E.
1906, and, in full, in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition,
Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
206. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 20 July
Dear Sorge,
In my last letter I forgot to ask you if possible to question Hartmann about the article in the Evening News and Post. If you could get him to write a brief note in his own hand to the effect that the story is false and that he has not been to Europe, it would be important for us over here.[476] Because,
1. Bismarck is trying to make the Tsar(1) beholden to him by revealing alleged plots against his (the Tsar's) life.
2. Hitherto these have been going on in Switzerland, but now that the Swiss have expelled all potential plotters, operations must be transferred to London.
3. This end is being served by the mouchardb Carl Theodor Reuss, who had already, on a previous occasion, used the Evening News as a repository for his lying allegations with regard to dynamite.
4. This latest Reussiad was telegraphed from Berlin to all German newspapers.
If we can expose this business outright, there'll be a nice rumpus over here.
Yours of the 7th inst. received yesterday evening.[477] I don't demand any particular satisfaction of Wischnewetzky for his failure to visit me.— It didn't grieve me. So if he eats humble pie vis-à-vis yourself, that will suit me. I did not call on his wife,c whereat she took umbrage, which was why he failed to visit me, so that makes us quits. If these people view the matter in a similar light, I shall be content. Obviously if they demand more, I shan't be able to oblige them. But as I have business matters to settle with his wife, it's always best to be at least on speaking terms; I'll be in no hurry to let them revert to anything more intimate, now that I know as much about them as you do. They're a couple of conceited fools.
Pop! The bubble of reconciliation has burst in Paris. How fortunate that the Possibilists and the Social Democratic Federation, having rightly understood their position, should have preferred to deal our people a kick, thereby bringing the silly business to an end. That the thing had been prepared de longue main* is evident from the whole series of now comprehensible manoeuvres and utterances on the part of these gentry over the past 2 months. It is the old Bakuninist libel against the Hague Congress,[453]
etc., to the effect that we had always operated with false credentials.[478]
This libel, which Brousse has been raking up off and on ever since 1883, was bound to come to the fore again on the present occasion, once they saw that they had been abandoned by all the socialists and that they could only save themselves with the help of the Trades Unions. The nature of their credentials will doubtless be revealed in the course of the furious polemic that is now flaring up. Unfortunately this old rubbish cuts no more ice today than it did back in 1873[455]; but something had to be found to cover up the fact that they have been utterly disgraced. However it's just as well that our sentimental brethren, the advocates of reconciliation, received a savage kick on the backside in return for all their assurances of friendship. That will doubtless cure them for some time to come.
I shan't be able to send you any more papers until the next post (week-lies which Aveling writes for but which won't come out until this evening and tomorrow); I have not had a single letter from Paris since Tuesday.
As regards Lingenau,[479] congratulations on the sum extracted. Liebknecht alone was at fault here; Bebel is methodical and precise in such matters. No doubt Mount Desert will do you good; I too shall make for the water before long.
Warm regards to your wife and the Schlüters.
Your
F. E.
Schorlemmer has been here since the day before yesterday and sends you both his best wishes.
1906, and, in full, in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition,
Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
well in advance
207. Engels to Pasquale Martignetti 20 July
My dear friend Martignetti,
All I can say in reply to your letter of the 14th inst. is that my funds are only limited and, furthermore, that there are calls on them from a great many quarters. Hence, if your Buenos Aires plan goes ahead, I cannot possibly assume the responsibility of guaranteeing your liveli-hood until such time as you are able to lay the foundations of a new livelihood yourself. I will tell you quite candidly what more I can do. I can place another five pounds sterling at your disposal and, should something very important be at stake, shall try and send you another five, i.e. ten pounds in all. That, however, would in fact exhaust my funds for a long time to come and render it impossible for me to do anything further for you.
I hope you will be justly treated by the court of appeal and remain
Yours very sincerely,
F. Engels
208. Engels to Valerian Smirnov 25 July
Dear Citizen,
I have just received a letter from Brocher[480] enclosing the one you had written him and asking me on your behalf for a loan of £20. As I am not used to reading Russian handwriting, I was not really able to decipher enough of your letter to find out exactly what is involved. But however that may be I have to tell you with infinite regret that it is out of the question for me to advance the sum for which you ask. My expenditure has of late been quite extraordinary as a result of my having to help numerous personal and political friends and then, to compound matters, there has been the congress,[473] which has necessitated my making further advances of all kinds, so that I am now completely cleaned out. Having been asked by Brocher to let you have an immediate reply, I am losing no time in so doing, and am sorry that I am not able to give you a more favourable answer.
Yours very sincerely,
F. E.
209. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 17 August[3 4 3]
Dear Sorge,
Letters of 1 August received.[481] So we are both taking a summer holiday — a summer of which the main feature over here is plenty of nice fresh rain.
I can't send any papers, since these are forwarded to me only at very irregular intervals from London. Just the Labour Elector, a paper which is now assuming some importance. It was started by Champion in opposition to Hyndman, but kept afloat with suspect funds (from a Liberal-Unionist quarter[482]), and hence was egregiously pro-Tory and inanely anti-Irish, so that one had to be very wary of it; but because it was suspect and already so notoriously Tory-Socialist[483] people stopped buying the thing. This, however, brought about a revolution. The Tory funds would seem to have run out and thus Champion—au fond[3] a no less unreliable bloke than Hyndman — found himself forced to do something he had long resisted, namely accept the terms offered by a committee — Burns, Bateman (typographer), Mann (engineer), Cunninghame-Graham — whereby the said committee became proprietor of the paper and Champion its temporary editor. The names of the committee members are a guarantee that all association with other parties and their funds has been broken off, and the paper, which is clearly on the up and up, is said to be almost paying its way. The Tory and anti-Irish nonsense has ceased, while the paper has done us yeoman service in the matter of the congress.[473]
The plan of Hyndman and Co's gang was to cast doubt on the credentials — which they alleged to be false — of the Marxist congress. Hence their unacceptable terms for fusion. The same old Bakuninist tactics as of yore, but specially adapted for English consumption. That it wouldn't be much of a catch on the Continent was plain, but all one to them; provided it caught on here in England, their position would, for a time, be secure — and here all the odds were in their favour. But our vigorous offensive brought the business to an abrupt conclusion — Burns' arti-cle(1) and mineb (on the Austrian credentials) in the Labour Elector have, I think, robbed them of all desire to cast doubt on other people's credentials, an activity in which the Possibilists themselves have recently indulged to such good purpose as to leave small scope for anyone else.
There is now some prospect that a viable socialist organisation may be formed here which will gradually undermine the Social Democratic Federation[62] or else absorb it. Nothing can be done with the League;[21]
they're just a bunch of anarchists and Morris is their lay figure. The idea is to agitate for an eight hour day among the democratic and radical clubs[22]—our recruiting grounds here — and the Trades Unions, and to organise the May the First 1890 demonstration. Since the latter was decided upon at our congress, the Social Democratic Federation must either adhere to it — i.e. submit to our resolutions — or oppose it and thus commit suicide. As you can see from the Labour Elector, the movement is at last taking hold amongst the Trades Unions[484], and the star of Broadhurst, Shipton and Co. would seem to be rapidly on the wane. By next spring we shall, I believe, have made considerable progress.
Russian jiggery-pokery continues amain. First the Armenian atroci-ties, followed by others on the Serbian border. Next, for the benefit of the Serbs, magic lantern slides of the Greater Serbian Empire, and hints about the necessity of a Serbian military convention with Russia. And now the Cretan fracas which began, strangely enough, with internecine carnage among the Cretan Christians, until the Russian consul contrived to get them to sink their differences and massacre the Turks. And the stupid Turkish government goes and sends Shakir Pasha to Crete, a man who spent 8 years as Turkish ambassador to Petersburg and, while there, was bought by the Russians! The whole of this Cretan affair was intended, amongst other things, to prevent the British concluding an alliance with the Prussians.[485] That is why it was launched when William came over herec—so that Gladstone could return to his hobby of phil-hellenism and the liberals wax enthusiastic about the Cretan sheep steal-ers. Little Willie wanted to be 'one up' on the Russians, wangle Crete for the Greeks as a dowry for his sister[1] and, by the magic of his presence, induce the Sultanb to abdicate. But once again the Russians have shown him that, by comparison with them, he is but a babe in arms. If Greece gets Crete, it will be by the grace of Russia.
Thanks for the news about Hartmann. I'd very much like to have further details as I want to put paid to this Prussian pack of lies in the Evening News.*7b
It's very sensible of your sonc to want to find a post. I only wish my Rosher nephewd could also be persuaded to do so. These young gentlemen imagine the whole world's made of money and that we old folk are simply too stupid to pick the stuff up. By the time they have learnt how things really are it will have cost a fortune.
Warm regards to you and your wife. Schorlemmer left here on Wednesday for Germany.
Your
RE.
1906, and, in full, in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition,
Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
210. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 17 August
Dear Liebknecht,
I have put off answering your letter of 19.4 until after the congress because there seemed to be no prospect of agreement beforehand; the fact is that our ways were utterly divergent. And even now I shall make no mention of your attempts to foist your sins of omission on to other people.
You say: 'Your complaint that, even in the matter of the congress, I was "as usual" prevented by "unforeseen circumstances" from carrying out my duty, is more than merely blunt; it is downright insulting.'
You can only make an insult of my words if you distort their meaning, turning something passive — that it is the usual thing for such and such to happen to you,—into something active — that you deliberately make a habit of such and such. You thereby turn a complaint of weakness into a complaint of wilfulness and there you have your insult ready-made.
But you must yourself by now have noticed that you very often happen not to be at home when someone wants to keep you to your word or to make a quite common or garden request. What about the Aveling business in America?[3] At the beginning, while the turpitude of the New York Executive was still fresh in your mind, you wrote:
'The New Yorkers owe Aveling an apology; I shall demand one of them and, if they dig their heels in, shall come out publicly against them.'
But later on, when it came to doing as you had said, it was a different matter: You sent a statement that was neither one thing nor the other, and did Aveling no good and the New Yorkers no harm,—unforeseen circumstances! And it was only gentle pressure from me that induced you to make a statement containing at least part of what you had promised.
Even in your letter of 19.4. you can't help providing fresh proof. Under the aegis of your name as editor, your son-in-law* brings out a series of books. You, knowing what he's like, entrust him with the selection, the editing — in short, the entire management of the thing. The inevitable happens. There appears, under your name, a trashy work by a more than dubious scoundrel, a really vile concoction in which the said ignorant scoundrel presumes to improve on Marx.[400] This vile concoction is recommended to German working men as instructive reading along party lines by the appearance on the title page of your name as editor. That such a vile concoction should be published somewhere or other is, of course, a matter of complete indifference, nor would it be worthy of mention. But that it should be published by you, under your sponsorship, as having been sanctioned and recommended by you (for what else does the appearance of your name on it signify?)—that is what's intolerable. Of course your son-in-law pulled the wool over your eyes — you'd never have done it deliberately. But now, when it's your bounden duty to rid yourself of the said vile concoction, to declare that you have been scandalously imposed upon and that not so much as one more sheet of it will appear under your name — what happens? You devote an entire page of your letter to the unforeseen circumstances that prevent you from doing so.
Why then the moral indignation over my having for once called this habit of yours by its proper name? Anyhow, I'm not the only person to have remarked on it. And if anyone has been insulted on this occasion it is I rather than you.
If you have taken any further steps in the Schlesinger affair, I for one have heard nothing of it. But one thing I do know: if you put a stop to the publication of Schlesingers vile concoction, I shall be able to let the matter rest at that. But should a sequel or conclusion appear under your name I shall owe it to Marx to make a public protest. I trust you will not let things go as far as that, for I feel sure that this changeling that has been foisted onto you is altogether more than you can stomach. And as, no doubt, you yourself realise, Mr Geiser cannot be allowed to sell for a mess of potage the position you have attained in the party, the fruit of forty years' labour.
I have been here a fortnight and shall probably stay on through the first week in September — in the same house I was in when you left for America.[486]
Warm regards,
Your
F. E.
211. Engels to Eduard Bernstein 22 August
Dear Ede,
Who is Paul Fischer? He wishes to translate my old article in Progress[4]*[9] for the Berliner Volks-Tribüne. Since I should have to do some notes for it and thus appear as an actual contributor to the Volks-Tribüne, I have my reservations which, having sent a non committal answer, I shall keep in abeyance until my return.
In your next number(1) you ought to deal with the dock labourers' strike.[489] The matter is one of crucial importance so far as this country is concerned. Hitherto the East End had been in a state of poverty-stricken stagnation, its hallmark being the apathy of men whose spirit had been broken by hunger, and who had abandoned all hope. Anyone who found himself there was lost, physically and morally. Then, last year, there came the victorious strike of the match-girls.[490] And now, this gigantic strike of the most demoralised elements of the lot, the dock labourers, not the regular, strong, experienced, relatively well-paid men in steady employment, but those who have happened to land up in dock-land, the Jonahs who have suffered shipwreck in all other spheres, starvelings by trade, a welter of broken lives heading straight for utter ruin and for whom Dante's words, 'lasciate ogni speranza, voi che' entrate'b might be written up on the dock gates!
And this dully despairing mass of humanity who, every morning when the dock gates are opened, literally fight pitched battles to be first to reach the chap who signs them on — literal battles in the competitive struggle of the redundant workers amongst themselves — that mass, haphazardly thrown together and changing every day, has successfully combined to form a band 40,000 strong, maintain discipline and inspire fear in the powerful dock companies. It is something I am glad that I have lived to see. For this stratum to be capable of organisation is a fact of great significance. Whatever the outcome of the strike may be — and I'm never sanguine about such matters before the event — it means that, with the dockers, the lowest stratum of East End working men has entered the movement and that the higher strata are bound to follow suit. The East End has a greater number of ordinary labourers, those whose work requires little or no skill, than anywhere else in England. The organisation of these strata of the London proletariat, hitherto treated with contempt by the Trades Unions of skilled working men, will set an example for the provinces.
And there's more to it than that. Because of the lack of organisation and the passively vegetable existence of the real East End workers, the lumpen proletariat has hitherto had last say there, purporting, and indeed being held, to be the prototype and representative of the million starvelings in the East End. That will now cease. The hawker and his ilk will be pushed into the background, the East End working men will be able to develop a prototype of their own and so organise themselves as to assert it, and this will be of enormous value to the movement. Scenes such as took place during Hyndman's procession along Pall Mall and Piccadilly[491] will no longer be possible; a ne'er-do-well who tried to go on the rampage would simply be put down.
In short, it is an event. And just look how even the abject Daily News is covering the affair![3] That alone shows what a tremendous impact it has made. It's just like the miners' strike at home[435]—a new stratum is coming into the movement, a new army corps. And your bourgeois who, only 5 years ago, would have been cursing and fuming, now finds himself forced to applaud half-heartedly just when, and precisely because, his bowels have turned to water. Hurrah!
What you said about parliamentarianism and its decline in your article on the anarchistsb is absolutely right. I was delighted.
Here it's so-so — changeable weather — am again somewhat lame as a result of too much walking, and hence teetotal, whatever Juliusc may say — but I'm not allowed tea in the evenings because of my nerves, and therefore I do take a glass of beer instead — on teetotal grounds!
Regards to your wife and children and all our friends.
Your
F. E.
212. Engels to Hermann Engels 22 August
Dear Hermann,
The statement of account received with thanks; no doubt it will be correct.
Would you be so kind as to forward the enclosed note to young or now, I suppose, old Caspar"—I don't know whether he lives in Krefeld or Barmen. As I learn from R. Blank, whom I ran into here a week ago, things aren't going too well with those chaps; if so, I am sorry.
I have been here a fortnight but am, alas, having more rain than I can do with. Ever since the English have begun holding their naval manoeu-vres in August, the weather during that month has been truly atrocious and yesterday the words of the old song came true here:
On 21 August, just gone by, In storm and rain there came a spy, Who tidings to the prince did give, etc.[492]
In consequence of which three big warships sailed past this morning, but we still await the famous naval battle which is to take place in the Channel, before our very eyes.
I shall probably be staying here another fortnight or three weeks, if the rain isn't too bad, for
'Back to my home I cannot go', the place being full of whitewashers, paperers, painters and other workmen, who make three-quarters of the rooms uninhabitable and, once they're in the house, you never know when you'll be rid of them again. This is because in England large-scale industry has ruined the crafts but has not been able to find anything else to put in their place. For a long time now the Germans have not had the sole prerogative of providing shoddy wares in return for good money; the Londoners have a positively stunning aptitude for this. In America, however, it's altogether different. So far as ordinary, everyday business dealings are concerned, in which no speculation is involved, America is, I believe, the most reliable country in the world — the only one in which you will still find 'good workmanship'.
I trust you are all well. Much love to Emmaa and to the children and grandchildren, as well as to the rest of the Engels-kirchen, from
Your old
Friedrich
213. Engels to Laura Lafargue 27 August
My dear Laura,
That letter-writing at the sea-side is well nigh an impossibility, I thought you knew long since. And if, as in my case, a lot of people
* Emma Engels whom I never saw seem to have conspired to overwhelm me with letters, visits, inquiries, requests of all sorts, the impossibility becomes a complete fact. Austrian student-clubs, a Viennese inquirer after 'truth' who wishes to know had he not better devour Hegel (better not, I replied), a Romanian socialist in propria persona, an unknown man from Berlin now in London, etc, etc., all have come down at once upon me and all expect to be attended to at once. So, with six people around me in the room whither they are but too often driven by rain, nothing remains for me but to retire from time to time to my bedroom and to turn that into my 'office'.
You had your adventures with Séraphine, Nim had hers with Ellen. Which Ellen having been long suspected by the knowing ones was one morning reported by the doctor to be six months gone in the way all flesh comes into the world and had consequently to leave — about a month before we came here. When we return there will be fresh engagement of someone — perhaps worse.
I am glad Paul is off on his election trip[465] and moreover with funds from his Mamma." Of the three put up for Marseilles, one, perhaps two, may get in; I hope Paul may be one. But anyhow it is a distinct step in advance to have once been put up as candidate for the party, and facili-tates further moves; especially with a rising party as ours at this moment undoubtedly is in France, once a candidate generally means always a candidate.
I do hope Boulangism will come to grief next elections. Nothing worse could happen to us than even a succès d'estime of that humbug which might prolong, at least, the apparent dilemma: either Boulanger or Ferry — a dilemma which alone gives vitality to either scoundrel. If Boulanger got well thrashed, and his following reduced, more or less, to the Bonapartists, it would prove that this Bonapartist vein in the French character — explicable by the inheritance from the great Revolution — is gradually dying out. And with the elimination of this incident the regular development of French republican evolution would reprendre son course the Radicals[200] would, in their new incarnation Millerand, gradually discredit themselves as much as in the incarnation Clemenceau, and the better elements among them pass over to us; the Opportunists[199]
would lose their last pretext for political existence, that of being at least defenders of the republic against pretenders; the liberties conquered by
"Anna Virginia Armaignac - b resume its course the Socialists would not only be maintained but gradually extended, so that our party would be in a better position for fighting its way than anywhere else on the Continent; and the greatest danger in war would be removed. To believe as the Boulangeo-Blanquists[494] do that by sustaining Boulanger they can get a few seats in Parliament is worthy of these ignorant purs[3]- who would burn down a village in order to fry a côtelette. It is to be hoped that this experience will do Vaillant good. H e knows perfectly what sort of fellows the mass of those Blanquists are, and his delusions as to the work to be got out of such materials must have received a severe shock.
Hyndman's campaign with regard to the discredit to be thrown on the Marxist credentials[478] seems to have utterly broken down. Burns' disclosuresb were a ready blow, and our further revelations, especially about the Austrian Possibilist credentials,c did the rest. These people never know what a glass-house they are living in themselves. And as in France the Possibilists seem to have kept quiet with regard to that point (these fellows are far cleverer than Hyndman and Co — in their small way) there will be no further necessity to follow up the victory unless fresh attempts are made. The whole trick was calculated for the British market, and there it has failed—cela suffit.^ Then there is the resolution about the 1st of May demonstration. That is the best thing our Congress did. That will tell immensely here in England, and the Hyndman lot dare not oppose it; if they do, they ruin themselves; if they don't, they must follow in our wake; let them choose.
Another great fact is the Dock Labourers strike.[489] They are as you know the most miserable of all the misérables*[95] of the East End, the broken down ones of all trades, the lowest stratum above the Lumpenproletariat. That these poor famished broken-down creatures who bodily fight amongst each other every morning for admission to work, should organise for resistance, turn out 40-50,000 strong, draw after them into the strike all and every trade of the East End in any way connected with shipping, hold out above a week, and terrify the wealthy and powerful Dock Companies — that is a revival I am proud erlebt zu haben? And they have even bourgeois opinion on their side: the merchants, who suffer severely from this interruption of traffic, do not blame the workmen, but the obstinate Dock Companies. So that if they hold out another week they are almost sure of victory.
And all this strike is worked and led by our people, by Burns and Mann, and the Hyndmanites are nowhere in it.
My dear Laura, I am almost sure you are in want of some cash and I should have sent a cheque with this if I was not myself hard up. My balance at the bank is at the lowest ebb; a dividend of some £33, due generally about 18th August, has not yet been paid and Edward has borrowed £15 till end of month, as he was quite fast. So I have hardly room to turn round in, but as soon as I receive a supply I shall remit; at latest next Monday, I hope before.
Domela(1) becomes quite incomprehensible. Is he perhaps after all not Jesus Christ, but Jan van Leiden? la prophète de Meyerbeer} Vegetarianism and solitary confinement seem apt to produce queer results in the long run.
Edward and Tussy will be going to Dundee to report Trades Union Congress and then we shall get the boysb here in the meantime.
Ever yours
F. Engels
214. Engels to Laura Lafargue 1 September
My dear Laura,
Yesterday evening late I had news from my bank that the long expected dividend of £36 has been paid in and so I hasten to send you cheque for £30, ten of which are the second half of the money I promised Paul for his electioneering expenses and for which he applied in a letter, to hand here last Friday, from Cette. His prospects in the town seem good but then Cette is but small and the country votes will decide — hope I shall hear more from him in a few days. Let's hope for the best.
Cannot write much being Sunday and our people always in and out, moreover have to write to Tussy about the strike[489] which was in an important crisis yesterday. As the dock directors kept stubborn, our people were led to a very foolish resolution. They had outstripped their means of relief and had to announce that on Saturday no relief could be dealt out to strikers. In order to make this go down — that is the way at least I take it — they declared that if the dock directors had not caved in by Saturday noon, on Monday there would be a general strike — reckoning chiefly on the supposition that the Gas works for want of coal or of workmen or both would come to a stand and London be in darkness — and this threat was to terrify all into submission to the demands of the men.
Now this was playing va banque, staking £1000 to win, possibly, £10; it was threatening more than they could carry out; it was creating millions of hungry mouths for no reason but because they had some tens of thousands on hand which they could not feed; it was casting away wilfully all the sympathies of the shopkeepers and even of the great mass of the bourgeoisie who all hated the dock monopolists, but who now would at once turn against the workmen; in fact it was such a declaration of despair and such a desperate game that I wrote to Tussy at once:[406] if this is persisted in, the Dock Companies have only to hold out till Wednesday and they will be victorious.
Fortunately they have thought better of it. Not only has the threat been 'provisionally' withdrawn, but they have even acceded to the demands of the wharfingers (in some respect competitors of the docks), have reduced their demands for an increase of wages, and this has again been rejected by the Dock Companies. This I think will secure them the victory. The threat with the general strike will now have a salutary effect, and the generosity of the workmen, both in withdrawing it and in acced-ing to a compromise, will secure them fresh sympathy and help.
On Friday* we shall return to London. Shorlemmer has left about a fortnight ago for Germany, where he is now, what he is doing and what his intentions are, I don't know.
As to Boulanger his weakness is shown in his electoral proceedings: he takes Paris and leaves to the monarchists all the provinces. That ought to disabuse his most obstinate adherents if they pretend to be Republicans. Paul writes to me that a Marseilles Boulangist has owned to him that Boulanger has had from the Russian government 15 millions. That explains the whole dodge. The Russian dynasty, now allied by Denmark to the Orléans,[496] wishes for an Orléans restauration and one brought about by Russia; for then the Orléans would be its slaves. And only with a monarchical France can the Czar(1) have a sincere alliance, such as he requires for a long war with dubious chances. To bring this about, Boulanger is put forward as the tool. If he is successful as a stepping stone to monarchy, he will, at the proper time, be bought off or in case of need put out of the way, for the Russian government will not have in that case the scruples which our Socialists have; 'denn die abzumurksen ist uns Wurscht'^ is their motto. As to Millerand I believe you are right. In his paperc there is, for all its attempted radi-calism, a tone of weakness, half-despondency, and above all so much of the milk of human kindnessd (stale as it is, it has not the stuff in it to turn sour) that compared even with La Justice as I have once known that paper, it inspires pity mingled with a drop of contempt. And these be the successors of the old French Republicans, les fils des héros de la rue Saint-Méryl
Ever yours RE.
Love from Nim and all the lot here.
215. Engels to Laura Lafargue 9 September[4 0]
My dear Laura,
Today I have the pleasant task of remitting you cheque for £14.6.8, one-third share of Meissner 's Remittance of £43,—the account is to follow. A fourth edition of Vol. Ia 497 is impending, maybe before New Year we shall begin printing it.
Tussy was here yesterday with Liebknecht, his son and daughter Gertrud, Singer, Bernstein, Fischer, etc. etc. She is still over head and ears in the strike.[489] The Lord Mayor's,[13] Cardinal Manning's and Bishop of London'sc proposals were ridiculously in favour of the Dock Companies and had never a chance of acceptance. This is the busiest time; from Christmas to April nearly no work is done at the docks, so that the real purport of delaying the advance to January would have been to delay it till April.
You will have Liebknecht in Paris in about a week, that is if you are there still. And also his wife and one or two more of the family.
Domelad and his Dutchmen seem to stick to their new line. Another proof that the little nations can play but a secondary part in Socialist development, while they expect to be allowed to lead. The Belgians will never give up the idea that their central situation and neutrality give them the manifest destiny of being the central seat of the future International. The Swiss are and always were philistines and petits bourgeois, the Danes had become the same and it remains to be seen whether Trier, Petersen and Co. can move them on out of this their present stagnation. And now the Dutch begin the same way. None of them can forget and will forget that at Paris the Germans and French led the way, and that they were not allowed to occupy the Congress with their petti-fogging troubles. Never mind, there is a greater hope now of French, Germans and English pulling together, and if the little babies get obstreperous, nous en ferons cadeaux aux possibilistes.e Liebknecht now is awfully anti-possibilistic, says they have turned out rogues and traitors and it's impossible to act with them. Whereupon I told him we knew that six months ago and told them — him and his party — so but they knew better. He pocketed that in silence. He is not at all as cock-sure of his infallibility as he used to be — at least if otherwise, he does not show it. Otherwise he is personally the opposite of what he is in correspondence — he is the old jovial hail-fellow-well-met Liebknecht.
But I must conclude. I have got the two boysa here who were enchanted at little Marcel'sb letter. They have been to the Zoo and want to write to their cher papa and I must clear out from the desk.
Success to Paul in the Cher — I fully expected his fate at Cette, the town being too small not to be outvoted by the 74 hamlets making up the circonscription^
Nim's love.
Affectionately yours
F. E.
216. Engels to Karl Kautsky 15 September[211]
Dear Kautsky,
I am taking advantage of its being Sunday morning to write you a letter, which I should have done long since — but for interruptions! First
Jean and Edgar Longuet - b Marcel Longuet - c constituency the congress[473] and all it entailed, then Eastbourne,[498] whither the after-math of the congress in the shape of letters of all kinds still pursued me and, on top of that, six persons in one room — reflection or repose impossible. Then back home, only to find Paul* and the soldier,b not to mention 2 children,c here, then the dock strike,[439] etc. Today at last a brief respite. Longuet's two sons,(1) who have come to stay, do not disturb me.
We are all of us, Nim, Tussy, Edward and myself, tremendously sorry that your relations with Louise should have ended in so negative a fashion. But there's no help for it. You two alone are competent to judge, and whatever you think is right, the rest of us must accept. But what I don't understand — if I can be said to understand anything at all of this business — is your continual use of the word 'compassion'—that all you now feel for Louise is 'compassion'. Louise has conducted herself throughout with such heroism and such womanliness that we cannot admire her enough. If anyone is to be pitied in this affair, it certainly isn't Louise. And I still maintain you have perpetrated a folly which you will yet live to regret.
As I have already told Adler, this turn in your relations does nothing to alter the proposal I made you in regard to the ms. of Volume IV.e The work has got to be done and you and Ede are the only people to whom I can entrust it. The business of the archives[227] has, Paul tells me, likewise now been settled which means, no doubt, that you will be coming over here again this winter, when we can discuss and make a start on what is to be done. Because of the damned congress I've been able to do no work at all on Volume III since February, and even now I am kept from it by the necessity of bringing out a fourth edition of Volume I, which I must attend to first. It's no great task but when one is not allowed to spend more than three hours a day at one's desk, it tends to be rather long-drawn-out. And then we have got two months of perpetual fog and darkness ahead of us.
A correspondent in St Petersburg has informed me that the Revue du Nord has published a translation of your Klassengegensätze in Frankreich and that this has caused a furore in Russia. When you come over here I shall give you a hint or two as to how you might, perhaps, extract money from Russia for your articles.
Your articles on the miners in Thuringia(2) are the best you have done so far — a genuine study that deals exhaustively with the main issues and, moreover, aims simply at investigating the facts and not, as in your paper on population[13] or that on the primaeval family,c at confirming a precon-ceived opinion. That is why you have succeeded in producing something substantial. The work throws light on an important part of German history and, though there may be a few minor gaps in the argument, this is of no real moment. Reading it, I realised clearly for the first time (what I had only dimly and vaguely perceived in Soetbeerd) the extent to which gold and silver production in Germany (and Hungary, whence precious metals were distributed throughout the West via Germany) provided the final impulse which, between 1470 and 1530, put Germany in the lead economically in Europe, thereby making her the focal point of the first bourgeois revolution, in the religious guise of the so-called Reformation. The final impulse in the sense that the guild crafts and the commission trade reached a relatively advanced stage of development, thus turning the scales in Germany's favour rather than in that of Italy, France or England.
Liebknecht has now come to see that there's nothing to be done with the Possibilists[19]; when you're talking to him he's not nearly so cocksure as he otherwise tends to be, particularly when he writes. How lucky it was that the Possibilists refused, since a union of the two congresses would have led to fighting and general loss of life and we should have been hugely discredited. The campaign launched by the Possibilists and the Social Democratic Federation with a view to casting doubts on our people's credentials has failed miserably.[478] Not only were Adler's revelations about the possibilist Austrianse (in the Labour Elector here) quite devastating, but in this country — and this made an even greater impact over here — the idiots had admitted Burns to the credentials committee, whereupon he mercilessly demolished the credentials of the Social Democratic Federation in the columns of the Labour Elector} Hyndman represented 28 people! The entire Federation, alleged to be but 1,925 strong, consists, in fact, of less than half that number!
The Trades Union Congress[499] was Broadhurst's swan song. Burns, Mann and Bateman, the only people to know the details of the charges against Broadhurst, were tied down here by the Dock Strike, and Broadhurst benefited from it; but the congress was rigged, everything having been done to ensure that only Trades Unionists of the old type attended, as was still feasible on this occasion. Nevertheless, there is every sign that the old is in the process of disintegration.
In Denmark the old party leadership have put their foot in it badly over the matter of the congress, and the opposition, Trier, Petersen, etc., are gaining ground.[418] You ought to engage Trier as correspondent for the Arbeiter-Zeitung—Gerson Trier, Ahlefeltsgade 16, Copenhagen. The Dock Strike has been won. It's the greatest event to have taken place in England since the last Reform Bills[500] and marks the beginning of a complete revolution in the East End. The reason for the universal sympathy shown by the press, and even by the philistines, is, 1. Hatred of the monopolistic Dock Companies who, instead of writing off the non existent capital they have squandered, fleece the shipowners, business-men and workers so as to be able to declare dividends on it; 2. The knowledge that the Dockers are voters and need to be cajoled if the 16 to 18 East End M.P.s of Liberal and Conservative complexion wish to be re-elected (which they won't be; this time there'll be Labour M.P.s). What decided the victory was the £14,000 from Australia, whereby the Australian workers will prevent themselves from suddenly being landed with a mass influx of English workers. Burns, Champion, Mann and Tille« have earned their laurels, while the Social Democratic Federation was nowhere. The strike is to England what the coalminers' strike[435] was to Germany— it means that a new system, a vast army, has entered the labour movement. If we can now get by without a war, the fun may soon begin.
Guesde is standing for parliament in Marseilles, Lafargue in Saint Amand (Cher).
Kindest regards to Adler.
Your
F. Engels
As I don't know whether you still have your hedgehog's apartments I am sending this to Adler, whose address is a safe one. Have received only Nos 1 and 4 of the Arbeiter-zeitung. Is it still in the land of the living? Are you still getting the Labour Elector} I'm sending you a copy.
217. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 26 September[3 4 3]
Thanks for the Volkszeitung, etc. I was much tickled by the revolution in a tea-cup you have had over there.[501] May possibly be a turn for the better. The progress of Nemesis is slow but sure and, by a quirk of history, it's the very people who have always relied on the support of the New Yorkers against the bulk of the party, especially that in the West, who are now being overthrown by the New Yorkers.
Haven't heard a word from the Russian.(1) Will return his postcard in my next.[476]
If I'm writing no more than a postcard it's because there's so much work to do. Awaiting me on my return from Eastbourne was the news that a fourth edition of Capital, Vol. I, was wanted. Though only a few alterations and additional notes will be needed, they will have to be selected and worked out all the more carefully, and the printed text will require a minute scrutiny in order that no distortion of the sense slips through. Again, the references to Book III will now have to be made more precise.
The dock strike[489] was magnificent. Tussy was involved and worked like a Trojan and the envy aroused by the position she thus gained is already becoming apparent in sundry quarters. I am sending you Harney's article which was quoted in the Labour Elector.[502] The old chap's laid up 12 miles away from here; in August he almost gave up the ghost, but is now better. Lenchen thanks you for the Kalender* and sends her regards. In France Guesde has a chance of getting in on the second ballot. Unfortunately I have no precise news about the elections. Kindest regards to your wife and to the Schlüters.
Your
F.E.
The Nationalzeitung of Boston (Nos 1-5) received with thanks. They're the local 'Fabians'.bm
1906, and, in full, in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition,
Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
218. Engels to Paul Lafargue 3 October[5 0 4]
My dear Lafargue,
So after all ours is the only Party able to register an increase in strength at the elections. Altogether, though our information is by no means complete, we can reckon on 60,000 votes for our candidates, i.e.
those put forward by the groups represented at our congress[473] and, in addition, 19,000 which may be accounted ours (the candidates being neither Possibilists nor 'Radical Socialists'), but to which we would not venture to lay claim in the absence of further advice.
But how comes it that we over here have been left without any statistical information regarding the elections except for that contained in the bourgeois press, from which we cannot possibly deduce the position of all those unknown candidates? How are we to know how many votes are ours when the papers fail to classify the candidates save in the vaguest possible manner? Yet I should say that it would be very much worth your while to keep German and English Socialists informed about your doings, seeing that you no longer possess a paper through which this might be done. And, as you know, we over here are all of us ready to work in the interests of your Party as, indeed, we have always done to the very best of our ability; but if you French gentlemen will not deign to keep us au fait with las cosas de Francia* we shall be powerless, and more than one of our number will tire of a task so little appreciated by those for whom it is performed.
So as soon as possible after the poll send us a complete list of Socialist candidates belonging to the groups represented at our congress, as also of other Socialists (if any) who are neither Possibilists nor Radical Socialists, with the number of votes cast for each in both the first and the second ballots. We cannot here run the risk of having our facts contested by men like Hyndman, etc., as is bound to happen if we are again thrown back on our own sources of information.
At the congress you set up a National Council[505] which passed certain resolutions. Not one of you deemed it necessary to breathe a word to us about it; and if I hadn't come upon the thing by chance in the Madrid Socialista, it would not have appeared either in the German Sozialdemokrat or in the Labour Elector—and, what is more, two months after the event.
You yourselves must realise that, by carrying on in this way, you are playing into the hands of the Possibilists and of their friends in this country.
I have written and asked Bebel[506] to send some money for Guesde's election campaign, of the importance of which I am very well aware. I hope it will be voted, but it must be remembered that the Germans have already contributed 500 fr. towards the congress, 1,000 for Saint-
Etienne,[507] 900 for the congress report (the first instalment of which hardly redounds to the credit of those who compiled it and who seem to have gone to undue pains to garble the names),[3] 2,500 for the Swiss paperb
for which, furthermore, they are holding more than 3,500 fr. in reserve. In all, 8,400 fr. voted for international purposes, and this on the eve of their own general election! And, after all these sacrifices, M. Jaclard goes and gratuitously insults them in the Voix by calling them machines who vote to order.[508] As if it was the Germans' fault that the workmen of Paris are Possibilists or Radicadets[327] or Boulangists or nothing at all! It would seem that, in Jaclard's eyes, the Germans' ability to accept a majority vote and to act in concert of itself constitutes an insult to the Parisian gents, and that, if Paris marks time, the rest are forbidden to march on.
But if memory serves me aright, M. Jaclard is a Blanquist for whom Paris is therefore a holy city, Rome and Jerusalem at the same time.
To come back to the elections. If it is true that Guesde and Thivrier stand a chance, and if they are successful, we shall be vastly better placed in the Chamber than the Possibilists.—Baudin appears to be a certainty, then there's Cluseret, Boyer and Baslu,[509] one or the other of whom will succeed and, with four or five such, Guesde could form a group which would not only impress the Chamber and the public, but would also place the Possibilists in a rum sort of position. It was the co-existence in the Reichstag of our deputies and those of the Lassalleans which, more than any other circumstance, brought about a merger between the two groups, i.e. the capitulation of the Lassalleans.[510] In this case, too, our group would be the stronger and would end up by forcing the Dumays and the Joffrins to enter its orbit, so that the Possibilist leaders would have to choose between capitulation and abdication.
For the time being, however, all this is the music of the future.[449] But of one thing you may be sure, and that is that Boulangism is in extremist And to my mind that is something of the utmost significance. This has been the third attack of Bonapartist fever; the first, involving a genuine and great Bonaparte, the second a bogus ditto,d the third a man who isn't even a bogus Bonaparte, but simply a bogus hero, bogus general, bogus everything, whose chief attribute has been his black charger. And, even with this charlatan-cum-adventurer, it was a dangerous business — as you know better than I. But the acute stage of the attack, the crisis, is over, and we may hope that the French people will now cease to suffer from such Caesarean fevers — proof that its constitution has grown much more robust than it was in 1848. But the Chamber was elected to combat Boulangism and is suffering the consequences in the shape of an inher-ently negative character, which leads me to doubt whether it will be capable of reaching its natural term. Unless the majority becomes convinced of the necessity for constitutional revision, it will soon have to be replaced by a new Chamber with a revisionist but anti-Boulangist majority. You, being better acquainted with the elements that make up the new majority, will be able to tell me if I am wrong. But I believe that, had it not been for the Boulangist episode, there would by now already have been a revisionist republican majority, or at any rate a healthy minority.
All this if there is no war. The Portland Place HUMBUGV defeat will at least postpone that but, on the other hand, the amassing of armaments by all the powers will have the reverse effect. And if war does come, then goodbye to the Socialist movement for some time. Everywhere we shall be crushed, disorganised, deprived of elbow-room. France, bound to Russia's chariot wheel, will be unable to move and will have to renounce all revolutionary pretensions for fear of seeing her ally go over to the other camp. With the forces of the two sides pretty well equal, England will be in a position to tip the scales in favour of whichever side she may take. This will hold good for two or three years to come but, if war does break out later, I am willing to wager that the Germans will be beaten hollow for, within three or four years, young Williamb will have replaced all the good generals with his favourites — imbeciles or fake geniuses, like those who commanded the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz,[511] and each with a prescription for military miracles in his pocket. And just now Berlin is swarming with that breed, which has every chance of success since young William belongs to it himself.
Give Laura a kiss from Nim and me. I shall be writing to her soon.
Yours ever,
F. E.
219. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 3 October
Dear Liebknecht,
On hearing for certain that Guesde was in the second ballot, i.e. a week ago yesterday, I at once sent a most urgent letter to Bebel. What was decided I don't know.[512]
As regards your letter from Paris, I stick as firmly to my opinion concerning your conduct apropos the congress[473] in March and April as you do to yours. So it's useless to bicker over what is past.
As to the Schlesingeriad, I should be very happy were you to succeed in ridding yourself of it. Meanwhile you have seen that the affair cannot really be hushed up in that way and have been forced to issue a statement, which pleases me greatly.[513] Had you issued it at once, the two of us would have been spared this unpleasant correspondence. I know as well as you do, and you as well as I, that it was by no means just Kautsky and I who considered it a scandal that your name should have served to shelter a piece such as this by so worthless a fellow.
At all events your statement relieves me of the need to criticise the concoction myself. But the thing will inevitably be singled out, precisely because your name has unfortunately found its way onto it and not, what's more, simply as publisher, but as editor.
I too regard Guesde's election as highly important. So far as the number of votes is concerned, the elections have turned out very well for us. I estimate that 60,000 votes were certainly cast in favour of ourselves (of those represented at our congress) and a further 18,000 probably so. Against this some 43,000 throughout France for the Possibilists. Baudin seems a certainty, also Boyer, Cluseret and Ferroul and besides these there are a few others whose prospects look bright. If Guesde gets in as well, he's the sort of man round whom they would all rally. In which case the Possibilists, Joffrin and Dumay, will be in the same situation as the Lassalleans were in the Reichstag in 1874 and then, but only then, can there be any question of our having dealings with them, just as we had dealings with the Lassalleans in Germany;[510] and it is a condition of our success that until that time they should be treated as enemies and belaboured as such, that they should learn to respect the might of our people.
At all events Boulangism[137] is done for and will presumably be dealt further blows at the second ballots, unless the fatuous annulment of the poll in Montmartre[514] brings it new supporters, at least in Paris. If the Russians' cash then fails to appear, le brave général will have to move from Portland Place to Soho,(1) or rent a couple of rooms from Lessner.
Regards to your wife and Theodor.b
Your F. E.
220. Engels to Laura Lafargue 8 October
My dear Laura,
What a melancholy set our French friends are! Because Paul and Guesde have not succeeded, they seem to despair of everything and Paul thinks the less said about these elections, the better! Why, I consider the result of the elections not a déroutec but a relative success worth regis-tering both in England and Germany. At the first ballots we had between 60 and 80,000 votes, which is quite enough to show that we are nearly twice as strong as the Possibilists, and while they got but two men(1) (of whom one moribunde) elected, we have Baudin, Thivrier, Lachize, and then Cluseret and Ferroul who are bound to cast in their lot with the first three; that makes five to two, and will be sufficient, with proper management, to put the two Possibilists in a very impossible position. But both in England and Germany, the effect will be made, not by the number of seats secured but by the number of votes given. So let me ask you to see to it that we get, as soon as possible, say not later than Monday morning next, but if possible before, the list of votes cast for our candidates at 1st and 2nd ballots, for the Labour Elector and the Sozialdemokrat. Surely Paul will not push the droit à la paresse[35]^ far enough to refuse us that little bit of work.
Of course Guesde's defeat is a misfortune, but then while I thought it necessary to do everything to prevent it, I never believed much in his success, after the 1,445 votes au premier tour!b What cannot be helped we must put up with. It is a far greater advantage for us to have got rid of Boulanger. Boulanger in France and the Irish question in England are the two great obstacles in our way, the two side-issues which prevent the formation of an independent working men's party. Now Boulanger is smashed up, the road is cleared in France. And at the same time, the monarchist attack on the Republic has failed. That means the gradual passage of monarchism from the ground of practical to that of sentimental, politics, the transfer of Monarchists to Opportunism,[199] the formation of a new Conservative party out of both, and the struggle of that Conservative-Bourgeois-party with the petits bourgeois and peasants (Radicals[200]) and the working class; a struggle in which the working-class Socialists will soon get the upper hand of the Radicals, especially after the way they have discredited themselves. I do not expect that everything will pass off in this simple, classical form, but the innate logic of French development is sure to overcome all side-issues and obstacles, especially as both forms of antiquated (not simply bourgeois) reaction — Boulangism and monarchism — have been so well beaten. And all we can ask for is that all these side-issues be removed and that the field be clear for the struggle of the three great sections of the French society: bourgeois, petits bourgeois et paysans, ouvriers? And that I think we shall get.
Then Ferry is got rid of and I think Mother Crawford is right when she considers him an obstacle to even his own party.[516] Colonial adventures will no longer bar the way; nor will the formation of the new bourgeois party be trammelled by the necessity of respecting the tradi-tions of Ferryism.
Thus I do not despair at all, on the contrary; I see a distinct advance in the result of the elections, eine sehr bestimmte Klärung der Lage* Of course you will get Conservative government to begin with; but not what you had, the government of a distinct set of the bourgeoisie only. The Opportunists were as much a mere section of the French bourgeoisie as were the satisfaits^[17] of Louis-Philippe and Guizot: these were the haute finance}' the others are the set which strives to become the haute finance. Now, for the first time, you will get a real government of the entire bourgeoisie. In 1849-51, the Rue de Poitiers[518] under Thiers, too, formed a government of the whole bourgeois class, but that was by the truce between the two opposing monarchical parties, and by its very nature passager.c Now you will get one based upon the despair to upset the republic, upon its recognition as an unavoidable pis-aller^ and therefore a bourgeois government which has the stuff to last until its final smash-up.
It was the splitting-up of the French bourgeoisie into so many sections, fractions and factions which has so often deceived the people. You upset one section, say the haute finance, and thought you had upset the whole bourgeoisie; but you merely brought into power another section. There are 1/ the legitimist or generally monarchist landed proprietors, 2/ the old haute finance of Louis-Philippe's time, 3/ the second set of haute finance of the Second Empire, 4/ the Opportunists[199]
who to a great extent have still their fortunes to make, 5/ the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie chiefly of the provinces, who are generally hangers-on, practically, to whatever section happens to be in power, being themselves scattered and without their common centre. Now these all will now have to unite as 'Moderates' and 'Conservatives', will have to drop their old shibboleths and party-cries which divided them, and for the first time act as a bourgeoisie une et indivisible? And this concentration bourgeoise will be the real meaning of all the concentrations républicaines et autres[1] so much talked about of late, and it will be a great progress, leading gradually to a scattering of Radicals and a real concentration of Socialists.
Ouf! Now that's enough on this blessed subject. Tonight I expect Longuet here and shall cull wisdom from his lips. I am sorry he is beaten as it was a very important personal issue with him.
Of Sam Moore no news since he passed Sierra Leone. Tussy has tried to see his brother, but cannot find him at home. So we don't know whether his family have heard of him.
Nim has raved all the summer about your garden and the vegetables and fruit therein, and I have her special orders to say that she anxiously awaits what she calls her share of the pears, grapes and other good things now about due.
Will you give Paul the enclosed cheque for £20.
Ever your old
F. Engels
221. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 12 October
Herewith as usual the Labour Elector and Commonweal. The International Review is said to have already met its end, thus quickly has Hyndman ruined it by his mismanagement. Bax, however, is in negotia-tion over another revue[3]; if he acquires it, Aveling will probably be his assistant editor. The revolution in New York[501] gets funnier and funnier; the attempts by Rosenberg & Co. to remain on top à tout prix,h while amusing, are fortunately doomed to failure. Your exchanges with the nationalists[501] in the Workmen's Advocate[520] have gladdened me, firstly because one can recognise old Sorge from 10 miles off and, secondly, because they have once more provided me with public proof of your existence.
I don't know whether I wrote and told you that Sam Moore left for Asaba on the Niger (Africa) in June as Chief Justice for the territories of the English Niger Company. I received the first letter from there yesterday; he finds the climate very good and apparently salubrious; the heat is not very great — 75° F in the mornings and 81°-83°(1) in the afternoons. Cool, therefore, by comparison with New York. Thus the 3rd volume of Capital will probably be translated into English in Africa. I am working on the 4th edition of the 1st volume; the quotations are all having to be revised to conform to the English edition, but it can't be helped. After that I shall buckle down to the 3rd.
Longuet arrived yesterday to fetch his two elder boys,b who have been staying with Tussy. As a result of the Opportunists'[199] abstention he polled 800 votes fewer than his opponent. Of our people about 6 were elected, but not, alas, Guesde.c
Your
F. E.
222. Engels to Laura Lafargue 17 October
My dear Laura,
Many thanks from Nim and myself for the splendid box of pears which arrived in capital condition and into which we have already eaten a considerable hole. I stick to my American habit[1] of eating fruit every morning before breakfast and so you may imagine that the rate of disappearance of the produce of your garden is anything but slow. Tussy and Pumps, too, will claim their shares — in fact they are already set apart.
Since the Dock Strike[489] Tussy has become quite an East-Ender, organising Trades Unions and supporting strikes — last Sunday we did not see her at all, as she had to speechify both morning and night. These new Trades Unions of unskilled men and women are totally different from the old organisations of the working-class aristocracy and cannot fall into the same conservative ways; they are too poor, too shaky, too much composed of unstable elements, for anyone of these unskilled people may change his trade any day. And they are organised under quite different circumstances — all the leading men and women are Socialists and Socialist agitators too. In them I see the real beginning of the movement here.
The Federation[62] is for the moment played out — the violent attacks of Justice on Champion, Burns, etc., have suddenly ceased, there is instead a sort of hidden, verschämtes(1) sighing for some sort of universal brotherhood — the last report of the French elections[521] for instance gives our results too, and without any nasty allusions or remarks; it looks as if the rank and file had become rebellious. If our lot here — I mean Champion especially — don't make mistakes, they will soon have it all their own way. But I confess I cannot get myself to have full confidence in that man — he is too dodgy. He used to go to Church congresses and preach Socialism there, and now he has formed a Committee for organising the East End women with a lot of middle class philanthropists who held a meeting with the bishop of Bedford in the chair — and of course from this business they took good care to exclude Tussy! Now I don't like that, and if they go on that way I shall soon leave them alone. Burns is too fond of popularity to be able to resist such things and goes in with Champion — if I once see him alone, I shall speak to him.
Longuet told us you had said you were coming over at Christmas. We shall be very glad to see you here and have everything comfortable for you, unless you prefer coming in the better season, as you said to Nim you would do next time. But then what is the better season here? After the exceptionally fine summer we had (and are having, for it is a regular rheinischer Altweibersommer* now) perhaps we are in for a whole year's rain!
Sam Moore has arrived at Asaba and has sentenced, as soon as he put his foot ashore in Africa, a Nigger Captain of a Steamer to 9 months hard labour for attempted rape. He says the climate is very fine, 23°C in the morning, 26-29° at 3 in the afternoon (in July and August!) and to all appearance healthy. Fuller news we are promised, but alas, between Akassa and Asaba (both on the Niger) there seems to be no regular mail, and the post-mark of Akassa is the stamp of the Niger Co. with the date filled in in ink!
Love from Nim.
Ever yours
F. E.
223. Engels to Conrad Schmidt 17 October
Dear Schmidt,
Your work,(1) which you kindly sent me and for which I am most grateful, has brought us so much closer together that I no longer can bring myself to address you in the ceremonious style required by custom and, if you would like to oblige me, perhaps you would treat me similarly.
Even though I cannot actually say that you have solved the problem under discussion,[298] your own line of reasoning coincides with that of Volume III of Capital at many, and indeed, at important, points, and does so in such a way that the reading of Volume III will give you quite exceptional pleasure. For obvious reasons I am barred from making a detailed criticism of your work just at present; this will be done in the preface to Volume IIIb, when it will give me particular satisfaction to accord your work the full recognition that is its due. So until then, perhaps you will be patient. This much however is now quite certain— that your work has secured you a place in economic literature that must be the envy of all the worthy professors.
The work has been a source of particular pleasure to me personally in one further respect, namely by showing that we now have someone else who can think theoretically. Among the younger generation in Germany there are remarkably few who are capable of doing so. Bebel, who has a fine theoretical brain, is prevented by his practical party work from exercising this, the best of his attributes, other than in the application of theory to practical cases. Consequently there have hitherto been only Bernstein and Kautsky, though in Bernstein's case far too much of his time is taken up by practical activities for him to be able to participate in, and further his knowledge of, the theoretical side as much as he would no doubt like and be capable of doing. And there is, after all, so
Werthgesetzes - b See present edition, Vol. 37 much still to be done here in the way of theory, especially in the field of economic history and its links with political history, as with the history of law, religion, literature and civilisation generally where the only sure guide through the labyrinth of facts is a clear theoretical insight. So you can imagine how I patted myself on the back for finding a new collaborator.
It's a very good thing that you should be re-editing Knapp's Bauernbefreiung for the Neue Zeit. Excellent material for this task is provided by Wolff's Schlesische Milliarde from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung of 1849, reprinted as No. VI of Volume I of the Sozialdemokratische Bibliothek. I shall send it to you in separate sheets enclosed in English newspapers, which would seem to be a pretty safe way. Kautsky will also be glad to have found another capable contributor — he has to accept quite enough trash.
I haven't been able to do a stroke of work on Volume III since February. That damned Paris congress[473] saddled me with such a mess of correspondence to all parts of the globe that everything else had to be pushed into the background. The chaps had everywhere lost their international contacts and as a result hatched up the most incredible schemes — sheer good will and a lack of knowledge of one another, as of things and circumstances, would have given rise to some fine old set-tos and everywhere the chaps would have made enemies of their friends, yet failed to appease their enemies. But luckily that's all over now and I've just had news that a 4th edition of Volume I is needed. And since the English edition[2] has appeared in the meantime and a comparison by Mrs Aveling of each quotation with its original revealed occasional formal discrepancies but an even greater number of copyists' and printers' errors in the relevant passages, I cannot possibly allow the 4th edition to appear unless I put these right. All this will take time, after which I shall have the proofs to correct, but in a fortnight or so I shall get back to Volume III and thereafter allow nothing whatever to get in my way. I think I'm past the most difficult bits.
Kindest regards from
Yours very sincerely,
F. Engels
224. Engels to Max Hildebrand 22 October
Dear Sir,
In reply to your note of the 19th,[523] I made Stirner's acquaintance around the beginning of 1842 in Berlin[191] when he was hobnobbing with E. Meyen, Buhl, Edgar and subsequently Bruno Bauer, etc. It is true that his name was Schmidt; he owed the nickname of Stirner[1] to his remark-ably high forehead. He cannot have been hobnobbing with this circle for very long, since he didn't know Marx, who had left Berlin, if my memory is correct, less than a year previously[524] and was much respected by the others. He was, I think, no longer a grammar school master or at any rate ceased to be one shortly afterwards. Apart from the above named, others who used to meet together at that time were a certain von Leitner, an Austrian, K. F. Koppen, who taught at a grammar school and was a special friend of Marx's, Mussak, his colleague, Cornelius, the bookseller who appears in Fritz Reuter's Festungstid, Miigge, Dr J. Klein, the dramatist and dramaturgist, a certain Wachenhusen, Dr Zabel, subsequently editor of the National-Zeitung, Rutenberg who, however, left for Cologne shortly afterwards to join the first Rheinische Zeitung, a certain Waldeckb (not the jurist and high court counsellorb) and others whose names escape me; there were in fact several groups which would meet and mingle depending on the time and the opportunity. Jungnitz, Szeliga and Faucher did not arrive until after November 1842, the month in which I completed my year of military service and left Berlin. We would meet at Stehely's and, in the evenings, at this or that Bavarian ale-house in Friedrichsstadtd or, if we were in funds, at a wineshop in the Poststrasse, which was Köppen's favourite haunt. I knew Stirner well and we were on Due terms; he was a good sort, not nearly as bad as he makes himself out to be in his Einzige^ and with a slight suggestion of pedantry that had clung to him since his teaching days. We discussed Hegelian philosophy a great deal; at that time he had made the discovery that Hegel's logic begins with an error. Being, which proves to be Nothing and thus becomes the antithesis of itself, cannot be the beginning; the beginning must consist in something which is itself already the immediate, sponta-neously evolved unity of Being and Nothing and from which alone that antithesis arises. And this, according to Stirner, was 'It' (it snows, it rains), something which is and which, at the same time, is Nothing. Later on he seems to have come round to the realisation that there was, after all, nothing in It, any more than in Being and Nothing.
I saw less of Stirner during the latter part of my time in Berlin; no doubt he was even then pursuing the lines of reasoning that resulted in his magnum opus. By the time it came out, our views had already diverged a great deal; the two years I had spent in Manchester had left their mark on me.[525] When, later on in Brussels,[526] Marx and I felt it necessary to join issue with the offshoots of the Hegelian school, we criticised Stirner amongst others — the critique is as bulky as the book itself. The ms.,(1) which has never been published, is still here in my house in so far as it hasn't been eaten by mice.
Stirner enjoyed a revival thanks to Bakunin who, by the way, was also in Berlin at the time and, during Werder 's course of lectures on logic (1841-42), sat on the bench in front of me along with four or five other Russians. Proudhon's harmless, purely etymological anarchy (i.e. absence of government) would never have resulted in the present anarchist doctrines had not Bakunin laced it with a good measure of Stirnerian 'rebellion'.[527] As a result the anarchists have themselves become nothing but a collection of 'Unique Ones', so much so that no two of them can abide one another's company.
For the rest I know nothing about Stirner; I never found out what subsequently befell him, except that Marx told me he had almost literally starved to death; where he got this from, I don't know.
I saw his wifeb in this country on one occasion; while here she took up with - ah que j'aime le militaire^ - ex-Lieutenant Techow and, if I'm not mistaken, accompanied him to Australia.
If I have time later on I might well write a sketch of that period, which was most interesting in its way.[528]
Yours most respectfully,
F. Engels
225. Engels to O. A. Ellissen 22 October
Dear Sir,
In reply to your circular[529] I regret to inform you that as the papers in my possession have not been sorted for the past 20 years, I cannot possibly search out F. A. Lange's letters — there are only a few — from the pile until I have 3 or 4 weeks' spare time in which to put the whole lot in order. As soon as I have finished the final editing of Volume III of Marx's Capital—some time early next year — I must address myself to this task, for it admits of no further delay, whereupon I shall be glad to place the aforementioned letters at your disposal.
You may, of course, publish my letters to Lange in full or in part depending on the circumstances, but in the latter case I would ask you to be good enough to ensure that the passages concerned appear in their full context.
Yours faithfully,
Fr. Engels
226. Engels to Laura Lafargue 29 October
My dear Laura,
A solemn vote of thanks I have to transmit to you for the fresh batch of pears sent by Edward and consumed, in great part, last Sunday with the port wine. They were splendid, and what was left will be mellow by next Sunday.
The Christmas trip legend(1) was also explained by Edward — that it was little Marcelb who caused the misunderstanding in Longuet 's brain. Anyhow, whenever you are ready to come, we shall be ready to receive you.
I must have expressed myself rather badly about the impending rule of the French bourgeoisie as a class.c1 meant that zunächst^ the rank and file of the Royalists and Bonapartists will pass over — gradually — into the ranks of the Moderate Republicans, and forsake, as in 1851, when the mass of the Republicans and Royalists passed over to Bonaparte, such of their leaders as will stick to their old-fashioned party shibboleths. That will mean a strengthening of the Moderate Republicans (though not necessarily of the Ferryist or the Léon Sayist cliques of speculators) but at the same time a cessation, once for all, of the power of the old cry: La république en danger? [53]° Then, and only then, the Radicals[200] can come to the fore as 'Her Majesty's, the Republic's, most faithful opposition', and then you have the real conditions of the rule of the whole bourgeois class, of parliamentarism in full blossom: two parties struggling for the majority and taking in turns the parts of Ins and Outs, of Government and opposition. Here, in England, you have the rule of the whole bourgeois class; but that does not mean that Conservatives and Radicals coalesce; on the contrary, they relieve each other. If things were to take their slow, classical course, then the rise of the Proletarian party would no doubt finally force them to coalesce against this new and unparliamentary opposition. But that is not likely to come off; there will be violent accelerations of the development.
The progress consists, to my mind in the proof that to fight against the Republic has become hopeless; in the consequent gradual dying out of all anti-Republican parties, which means the participation of all sections of the bourgeoisie in the government — as Ins, or as Outs; the Ins to be, for the present, the reinforced Moderates, and the Outs the Radicals. One election cannot do everything at once, let us be satisfied that this one has cleared the ground.
About the defeat of the Socialists we agree perfectly. Only that I expected it — and a far worse one — and that our Paris friends have expected miracles which of course did not come off. I am perfectly satisfied with the result — under the circumstances. That we got six or seven men in against either the Cadettists[327] or the Boulangists, and something like 120,000 votes, is more than I expected.
As to the policy with regard to the fellows that came in under Boulanger's flag, I am rather of the opinion of Vaillant and Guesde than of Paul. If you admit the Boulangists, you must admit the Cadettists too — Joffrin and Dumay. But moreover, after the infamous way in which the Boulangeo-Blanquists[494] behaved to Vaillant in his circon-scription* and brought him to fall, we ought I believe not to have anything to do with them. Moreover, we have no interest to reconstitute the dissolving Blanquist faction as such. We know what peculiarly 'pure' elements it always contained. Granger is an imbecile chauvin, to have got rid of whom appears to me a blessing. As to Jourde (who seems to me the one after whom Paul really longs), perhaps he can be made to slip in later on, if he vaut la peine, ce que j'ignore^ and if he breaks off point blank with the Boulangists. But there is no mistake, Paul's whilom Boulangist sympathies have done us an immense deal of harm and are now being used by Liebknecht who throws them into my face.
As it is, the new socialist faction will be hard to manage, and the less its numbers are swelled by doubtful (still more doubtful) elements, the better it will be. Especially as Guesde is not elected. If the thing is found to work well, then fresh additions of the above sort might be less harmful and could be taken into consideration; and then, the novices ought to do public penance, unless the French party is to stand out as corrupt before the Germans, Swiss, Dutch and even Belgians. What a triumph would it be for the Possibilists[19] if they could point to declared Boulangists in our ranks! And how difficult then for me to make the Germans understand the doings of our French party!
Now another subject. Percy is completely smashed up. In order to avoid getting execution into their house, they have locked it up and are all here. There are negotiations going on with his father and brothers, to avoid an open bankruptcy, but how that may end nobody can tell; and unless it comes to something, he will have to declare himself bankrupt before the week is out. Old Rosher is half idiotic, has muddled his affairs irretrievably, has handed his business over to the two younger boys, and says he is himself without cash or credit (the latter he has managed to ruin almost deliberately). I had an interview with his mother the other day — it's a precious mess altogether. However it may end, it's sure to cost me a lot of money.
Kautsky is not here yet. Great lamentations by all here when they heard that Diane was lost or stolen.
Love from Nim and yours affectionately
F. Engels
227. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 29 October
Dear Liebknecht,
I can tell you very little about the Prophet Gottschalk, having long since forgotten the creature. Moses Hess brought him into the League[531]
prior to 1848 and made him out to be a veritable prodigy. In Cologne early in March 1848 he posed as a working men's leader.[532] For the conditions as they then were, he was the perfect demagogue who flat-tered the masses at the very moment of their awakening and pandered to all their traditional prejudices — but apart from that he was a complete numskull, as befits a prophet, and for that reason actually regarded himself as a prophet. Moreover, as a genuine prophet he was above all scruples and thus capable of every kind of dirty trick. Whether he ever uttered the words you cite[533] seems to me doubtful; he would systemat-ically invent legends about himself. In short, he played a certain role in Cologne at the beginning of March and had quite crazy schemes, the details of which I have forgotten, that were supposed to work miracles overnight. All this was before our time. When we arrived in Cologne in April his star was very much on the wane and, when we foregathered there again, having finally decided to publish the paper,(1) it had all but set. The paper and our Workers' Association[534] placed him in a quandary; either he went along with us or he opposed us. Luckily for him, he and Anneke were arrested at the beginning of July — on account of speeches of some sort, I believe. They were acquitted at the end of 1848 or the beginning of 1849 (I have been vainly searching through the Neue Rheinische Zeitung for the date, etc., and shall have to discontinue the search if this letter is to go off). Thereupon the Prophet Gottschalk went into voluntary exile in Paris in the expectation of being recalled by gigantic demonstrations. But no one lifted a finger. After our departure Gottschalk returned to Cologne (it might even have been just before we left) and, having gained his former popularity on the strength of his medical practice in the poorer districts, went back into harness with a will at the outbreak of the cholera epidemic, treated his proletarian patients free of charge, contracted cholera himself, and died.
That is all I know. In Paris things would seem to have settled down again. Laf argue is by no means as bad as you make him out to be — Jourde is no Boulangist; rather, he masqueraded as a Boulangist in Bordeaux with the consent of the local party comrades, which I, of course, definitely disapprove of. The man has blundered and will have to pay for it, at any rate for the time being. If, however, he is all right in other respects, and that is something I don't know, he may be restored to grace later on.
I'm very sorry that the Volks-Bibliothek[535] should have involved you in such losses. But in view of your lack of business experience it was only to be expected that Geiser would land you in the cart. After all, the rotten stuff he published was made no better by having your name on it, while the Schlesingeriad must inevitably have proved the last straw. That, I think, explains it all quite naturally, without your needing to seek the reason in the ill-will of others. You surely can't expect the party to enthuse over this Volks-Bibliothek. I too am having a bad time. Percy has gone bankrupt and the whole family is living here so as to avoid execution at their house; nothing has been decided yet. Negotiations are going on with the old man(2) but he maintains that he himself is in a mess — and he's really a bit cracked. In short Augustine is in a mess — O my darling Augustine, everything's gone.b How it will all end I don't know.
Warm regards from Lenchen and
Your
F. E.
228. Engels to Pasquale Martignetti 9 November
Dear Friend,
Difficult as your situation is I can proffer no definite advice; for that, I should have to be on the spot, it being impossible to give an expert opinion from a distance.
Only one thing can be said with certainty, and that is that neither here not anywhere else in Europe would it be possible to find anything for you. Your proximity to Italy would mean that, wherever you were, they would demand your extradition, and not for a moment would you be safe.
To find you even temporary employment in this country would be utterly impossible. Neither I nor my friends could procure this for you— your having been sentenced could not be kept secret. It would be impossible to accommodate you on the Sozialdemokrat. And in any case, the demand for your extradition would soon catch up with you. On the other side of the Atlantic things might be different.
So there only remains the choice between prison and Buenos Aires. If you are finally convicted by the court of appeal and go to prison, it seems unlikely that, on the day of your release, you will have any other alternative but to go to Buenos Aires, for you would surely not be able to find work in Europe. In my opinion, therefore, the only question is whether you want to go now, or after having spent three or four years in gaol.
Should you decide to go now, I can put 200 francs at your disposal as a contribution towards your travelling expenses. But this is the last help I shall be able to give you. At the moment I am having to maintain two families who are related to me, which means that I am myself sometimes at a loss to know where to turn for the necessary cash.
I am sorry that I cannot do more for you. But the funds I have available are limited, and I am powerless against the Italian judiciary. I know full well how desperate your plight is and assure you of my sincere sympathy but it is not in my power to help you beyond the extent indicated above.
Very sincerely yours,
F. Engels
229. Engels to August Bebel 15 November
Dear Bebel,
I got your letter of 17 October when I was up to my eyes in work on the 4th edition of Capital[3]'—no small task, as it meant comparing yet again all the quotations Tussy had checked for the English edition and correcting the numerous copyist's and printer's errors. Hardly had that been done than I had to set to work again on Volume III, which has now got to be brought out quickly, for in Berlin little Schmidt has published a work on the average rate of profitb which shows that the laddie has — greatly to his credit — puzzled out more than one could wish. So you can see that my hands are already completely full; add to that the necessity of keeping up with the international party press and referring back to the economic literature relevant to Volume III, some of which has to be read cover to cover — and you will see that I'm pretty well bogged down and hence you must forgive me if I don't communicate with you as often as I should like.
As for the French,[537] if you were to spend longer in their midst and become more closely acquainted with the sort of effect produced by their curious modes of procedure, you would probably take a more lenient view. The Party[33] there found itself in what was, for France, the unprecedented, if in the long run favourable, position of being strong in the provinces and weak in Paris. Thus what was needed was a victory of the steady-going provinces over arrogant, domineering, supercilious and partially corrupt Paris (the corruption being evident in 1. The domi-nance there of the corrupt Possibilist leaders, 2. The fact that successful opposition to that domination could, in Paris, only take the form of Boulangism). On top of that, there were two executives in the provinces — one in Bordeaux for the Trades Unions and one in Troyes[538]
for the socialist groups, these being organised as such. So they lacked not only the customary executive in Paris (or any possibility thereof) but also a unified provincial executive resp. the intellectual aptitude for such and the general recognition it would call for.
That the position during this interregnum should seem to you people exceedingly confused and unsatisfactory I can quite understand. It is but temporary, however, but it was typical of the French that, despite such a disorganisation of their own party, and despite having made one mistake after another, they should nevertheless have convoked a congress in Paris[473] where all this must be plain for Europe to see. They rightly considered that any discredit incurred would be far outweighed by the fact of Europe's being represented at their congress and no more than a few sects at that of the Possibilists.[478]
That the creation of an immediate impact on the public should be to them a consideration of greater moment than it is to you and me and the bulk of the German party is a failing that is not confined to France. Here and in America the case is just the same. It comes from the greater freedom of their political life and their long familiarity with it. Besides, Liebknecht is acting in just the same way in Germany (one of the chief reasons for our perpetual rows), and, if you were to abolish the Anti-Socialist Law[52] tomorrow, you'd soon see how quickly the deplorable consideration mentioned above would come to the fore.
Again, I think you would be deceiving yourself were you to conclude from what you experienced at the Paris congress that the working men were being thrust into the background by, say, the literary men. Such may appear to be the case at a congress in Paris, the more so as the impossibility of communicating in foreign languages thrusts the working men into the background. In actual fact the French workers set far greater store than those of any other country by complete and, in particular, formal, equality with men of letters and bourgeois, and, had you read the reports I received regarding Guesde's, Lafargue's, etc., agitation during the last elections,[539] you would probably take a different view.
It was only on account of Protot (see enclosed proclamation) that Guesde wasn't elected at Marseilles.[540] In France (because the number of candidates is not restricted in the second ballot, while the relative majority is decisive) it is the general rule that where there are 2 candidates of the same party, the one who polled fewer votes at the first ballot must stand down. Protot was in that position, but he remained a candidate and disseminated the most infamous calumnies about Guesde. Neither was known locally in Marseilles but, as an old member of the Commune, Protot was supported by the followers of that brag-gart Pyat, the former deputy for Marseilles. Hence it was understandable that he should obtain the 900 votes that would have put Guesde in the Chamber. The best constituency in Marseilles had been chosen by Boyer who had, indeed, previously been returned there, and it was he who got in.
So now we have 7 men — by no means the best possible ones. They have chosen Guesde for their secretary and he is to concoct their speeches for them. On the Municipal Council, Vaillant, Longuet and others likewise constitute a separate group. The two groups will enlist the co-operation of Lafargue, Deville, etc., and afterwards form a central committee of the united (or federated) Blanquists and Marxists.[541] In this way an organisation will gradually take shape.
Besides the above, 3 socialists were elected as Boulangists and 2 as Possibilists but these will, of course, be excluded and allowed to fend for themselves.
I am very sorry that Auer should be in such poor case[542]—but no doubt you'll be getting better news anon. I can only deplore the relative weakness — and this also applies in the field of theory — of the younger generation. But now we have got little Schmidt; he was here for a year and I should never have guessed how much he had in him. If he retains his former modesty — megalomania being today the most insidious and commonest of diseases — he may do excellently.
Over here everything is going swimmingly, but not along the same simple, straightforward lines as in Germany. That calls for people with a natural aptitude for theory. In this country we shall have blunders and to spare. But never mind; the masses are now in motion and every new blunder will bring its own lesson with it. So man tau,[3]- as the Lower Saxons say.
What are your wife and the future wife of the doctor of medicineb
doing?
Your
F. E.
230. Engels to J. H. Johnson, J. Johnson and G. B. Ellis 15 November
Dear Sirs,
I have received and considered your letter of the 7th inst.[543] It strikes me as rather peculiar that you expect me to treat your enquiries as 'confi-dential', but never offer to extend the same treatment to my reply. Of course I cannot undertake such one-sided engagements.
If I understand you rightly, I am to report to you and eventually name the author of any reports I may have heard on board, from passengers, officers, or sailors, as far as they may have been disrespectful towards the circulating pumps of the City of New York. Such communications, if any, could only be made to me in the expectation that I would treat them after the manner of gentlemen, and not bring their authors into difficulties even supposed they had used an unguarded word or two. To act otherwise, would in my opinion be to turn common informer. Unless I misinterpret what seems to me the clear meaning of your proposal, that is what it amounts to; and in that case it is of a naivete equalled only by its refreshing coolness.
Anyhow, to set your minds at rest, I will tell you that I don't recol-lect that anybody in my presence, cast the slightest slur upon the immac-ulate circulating pumps which you have the honour to represent and that I neither know nor care who made them.
I will not condescend to ask you to treat this letter as confidential. A perusal of this correspondence by a Continental or American lawyer or man of business might lead to some valuable hints as to the manner of conducting similar enquiries.
231. Engels to Paul Lafargue 16 November
My dear Lafargue,
Let us say no more about your proclivity for Boulangism, now happily a thing of the past, and why re-read, at this late date, your letters of yester-year? In any case the gallant general has ruined himself, not only by his failure to remain on the field of battle, but — and this was infinitely worse — by his royalist and Bonapartist alliances; this he now sees and would like to recover his Republican virginity but, as in the case of the fair Eugénie:
Should he this night find a maidenhead,
(Bonaparte, on his wedding-night) It'll mean the fair lady had two.
No one is in any doubt that the discontent underlying Boulangism[137]
is justified, but it is precisely the form assumed by that discontent which goes to show that the majority of Parisian working men are as little aware of their situation as in 1848 and 1851. Then, too, their discontent was justified; the form it assumed, Bonapartism, cost us eighteen years of Empire — and what an Empire! And at that time a fair number of the Parisian working men were still fighting against it; but in 1889 they thought fit to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of 1789 by grovelling at the feet of a mere scallywag. That being so, you can hardly expect other people to defer to the Parisians with the same respect they so readily accorded their forebears.
I am much relieved to hear that the Boulangists — genuine or otherwise — have been kept at arm's length by the Party, and the Possibilists[19]
likewise. Had they been admitted such as they are I should have been at a loss what to say to the English, Danes, Germans, etc. For the past twenty years we have been advocating the formation of a Party that was distinct from and opposed to all bourgeois parties — and the inclusion of men elected under Boulanger's banner, a banner whose protection, in those same elections, was extended to the Monarchists and repudiated by them — would have spelt our French Party's ruin vis-à-vis other national parties. And how exultant would the Hyndmans and Smiths have been then!
You say that the attacks on Boulé achieved nothing save to gain him access to the Intransigeant and to get him nominated as a municipal candidate — in other words, publicly profess himself a Boulangist, fall into line with that crew and receive the due reward of his treachery.[544] Thank you!
Your plan is very good if it is practicable — if, that is to say, the provinces are prepared to assume the leadership of this committee.[3]
You keep talking about your provincial papers, but you hardly ever send me any.[545] A few used to be forwarded to me by Bonnier, but now I seldom see one. Everything you send me, or get others to send me, will bear fruit in that it will help me keep Bebel posted, and Bebel is ten times more important than Liebknecht; if, moreover, I know what is going on, I can get to work on Ede and the Sozialdemokrat.
It would be a good idea if all your newspapers were to arrange exchanges with the Sozialdemokrat and the Labour Elector, 13 Paternoster Row, E. C. In all other countries this is done as a matter of course; but the French gentlemen wait to be begged — and sometimes begged in vain — to put us in a position to work in their interest. Should this kind of behaviour exceed certain limits, we for our part might begin to tire. Is it really too much to expect some small modicum of order and organisation?
But enough of that. I stand up for you so often and with such ardour vis-à-vis other people that, by way of return, it is only fair that I should give you a thorough dressing-down. At the moment I have no means of checking M. de Paepe's intimations[546] and the Vienna Arbeiterzeitung has received confirmation of his deathb from St. Petersburg; in view of the Russian government's mendacity and the myths about Russian revolutionaries, there's no knowing what is true and what is false.
Now for Laura.
Yours ever,
F. E.
232. Engels to Laura Lafargue 16 November
My dear Laura,
After I finished the enclosed to Paul, I went in the kitchen and had some Pilsener with Nim and Pumps, partly for the sake of the Pilsener and partly because I am ordered to write with interruptions only. Having been, before, to the bank to pay in Sonnenschein 's cheque, because I cannot afford to run the risk of keeping it, it will not astonish you to learn that it is now close upon four p.m. and as I dare not write by the gas-light you see I am rather pinched for time.
Anyhow you have done a marvellous thing in the Senator^[7], about the most difficult thing on earth to be put into English. Not only that you have done it with all the proper impropriety, but even with a near approach to the lightness of the original. And that while both subject and metre are rebellious to translation, the Senator of Empire No. l(1)
being an unknown quantity over here. If you were a boy I should say: Molodétz, but I am not versed enough in Russian to know whether that epithet (equal about to the English: you're a brick!) can be feminised into: Molodtzàl
The reflex of Thivrier's blouse has fallen upon, and lighted up for a moment, even the English press.[548] If he tears a hole into it, the whole respectability of great Britain will cry out about the bad manners of these Frenchmen. Barring old Mother Crawford, who is Irish and with all her crotchets immensely superior to the other lot — because she does move on — the rest of the British journalists in Paris beat your French ditto into fits as far as imbecility goes.
The wise men of Cette appear to be quite up to our Krähwinkler and Schildbürger}' If Senegas has retired, Paul would be deputy.[465] If they had not put up Senegas — they inside or outside the town — Senegas (who seems to be a worthy descendant of Seneca) would never have been in a position not to retire.
Glad to learn that the barometer is rising again with our French friends — it is sure to rise more than it ought, but that we are used to and cannot be avoided; how else could the proper average be restored.
Kautsky is in London and has been in possession of Paul's letter, etc., for about a fortnight, I will tell him tomorrow that Paul expects news from him.
Your pears are gradually being eaten up, but we keep them religiously until at their best, and then I get most of them for my breakfast. Nim has just discovered that the long-shaped ones are sold here at 5d a piece today. Nim has what my poor wife[3] called 'a gammy leg', rheumatism (articular) wandering from knee to hip and back. That of course is a most variable quantity though not, unfortunately, une quantité négligeable}' The asthma will become less whenever the weather allows me to take her out a bit to Hampstead. Gumpert told her hill-climbing would mend it and so it does.
Pumps and Co are still here — if a settlement is come to today, they will go back to Kilburn on Monday. The family of Percy has been forced to fork out a bit, but the job will cost me some 60 pounds at least, and then fully half their keep. Percy works for his brother Charlie who has some inventions that seem just now to suit the British philistines, but the pay is but trifling, and the whole thing uncertain.
The 4th edition Vol. Ie is in the press and I am back to my Vol. III. No easy job, but mun be done as they say in Lancashire.
Tussy is hard at work — tomorrow she won't be here at all, having two speeches afternoon and evening, so she won't get her cheque before Monday. Yours is enclosed, also the account — your share unfortunately but £1.17.6, but then in francs it looks much bigger.
We have got hold of another Mother Schack in Miss Harkness. But this time we have nailed her, and she will find out whom she has to deal with.
Ever yours
F. E.
233. Engels to Paul Lafargue 18 November
My dear Lafargue,
Herewith cheque for £20. If the editors of your newspapers do not understand foreign languages, it would be sensible for them to send out their papers, without the others (the foreigners) having to reciprocate with what is, for the French, incomprehensible gibberish. But I can't see that this would be any reason for the French not to send their papers to people who can read them and who are more than willing to make use of them in the interests of the French Party.
The Pumpses are still here and it is hoped that things will be settled today.
Last night I read Laura's translation of the Sénateur[3]- to some friends. Everyone was delighted. That ought to be printed, Aveling said — But where? I asked — in the Pall Mall Gazette}—whereupon Aveling's face assumed almost unlimited vertical dimensions.
Suppose Laura was to set about translating some of Heine's stuff— next time she comes over here she could go to the British Museum, compare the translations that have already appeared, and choose some different piece — it might be possible to do something with it over here. Heine is fashionable at the moment and the translations are so British!
Give Laura a kiss from Nim and myself — Nim is pretty fit.
Yours ever,
F. E.
Published in: F. Engels, P. et L. Printed according to the original Lafargue, Correspondance, t. II, Paris, 1956 Translated from the French
234. Engels to Jules Guesde 20 November
Dear Citizen Guesde,
I have just had a letter from Mrs Aveling who asks me to write to you if I should happen to have your address. Luckily it had been given me by Bonnier and hence I am doing so without delay. The case is as follows:
In Silvertown, a London suburb, Mrs Aveling is conducting a strike[549]
in Messrs Silver's works where rubber goods, etc., are produced. The strike, in which three thousand working men and women are involved, has been going on for ten weeks and has every prospect of success. That it should succeed is important, for its failure would mean the interruption of the long series of successes scored by the workers since the dock strike,[489] and would spell victory for the English employers whose rapidly dwindling confidence would thus be restored.
A few days ago, the Silver company received very urgent orders they would not possibly be able to carry out with 3,000 out of their 3,500 work people on strike. Furthermore, there was an order for a considerable quantity of submarine cables, which was to be shared out between four factories, among them Silver's. They will miss their chance, if the strike continues. They made tempting offers to some of the strikers, but to no avail. They then played their last card.
Messrs Silver (a joint stock company which operates under that name) owns a similar establishment at Beaumont-Persan near Paris, where Frenchmen work under English foremen. Some of them were brought over to England. It is known for certain that 70 working men and women from Beaumont have arrived at the docks, but whether they have been introduced into the Silvertown factory is not yet known. It is now imperative that a stop be put to this. They were probably induced to come over under false pretences, without having been told that it was because of a strike.
Mrs Aveling at once telegraphed to Lafargue and Vaillant but, the matter being urgent, we are also addressing ourselves to you, with the request that you do everything in your power to prevent the French workers from coming to replace the Silvertown strikers, and that you make known the true situation, thus calling upon the class feeling of your workers. It would be frightful were the strikers' resistance to be broken by the arrival of a number of French Blacklegs. There would be a revival of old national animosities and no means of suppressing them. For the past four months the workers of London's East End have not only given themselves to the movement body and soul; they have also provided, for their comrades in all other countries, an example of discipline, self-sacrifice, courage and perseverance equalled only by the Parisians when under siege from the Prussians.[550] Just imagine what the effect would be if now, in the midst of the struggle, they were to find French workers fighting under the standard of the English bourgeoisie! No, that is unthinkable! Only let the true situation be known in France and it will, on the contrary, be thanks to the action of the French proletariat that the English strikers will achieve victory.
When, during the dock strike, we sent Anseele a telegram informing him that the employers were bringing in Belgian workmen, he immediately took the necessary action and his letters and telegrams went a long way towards reviving the sometimes flagging spirits of the combatants.
If you feel able to offer similar encouragement to the people of Silvertown, you should write direct to Mrs Aveling, 65 Chancery Lane, London, W. C , which would create an excellent impression.
I hear from Bonnier that your health has greatly improved and that the Marseilles campaign[551] has strengthened your constitution instead of weakening it. I am delighted, for we need every ounce of your energy. It is good news that your slogan 'Neither Ferry nor Boulanger' should have excluded the renegades and traitors of both these camps from the Socialist Workers' Party[552] in the Chamber.
With cordial and fraternal greetings,
F. Engels
235. Engels to Pasquale Martignetti 30 November
Dear Friend,
This is just to let you know in great haste that, immediately after the receipt of your letter, I wrote to Lafargue about Labriola.[553] I have today heard from Lafargue, who tells me that he had already written to Labriola about your case, asking him to do all he could for you, and that there was hence no need for me to write to him as well.
Trusting that these steps will meet with success, I remain
Very sincerely yours,
F. Engels
236. Engels to Victor Adler 4 December
Dear Adler,
I suggest that you undertake a revision of Avenel's Cloots[3] for the following reasons:
In my view (and Marx's) the book contains the first accurate account, based on a study of the records, to deal specifically with the critical epoch of the French Revolution, namely the time between 10 August and 9 Thermidor.[555]
The Paris Commune[364] and Cloots were in favour of a propaganda war as the only possible expedient, whereas the Comité de salut public[556]
went in for politics, was afraid of the European coalition and sought peace by dividing the members of that coalition. Danton wished for peace with England, in other words with Fox and the opposition party, which hoped to come to the helm at the elections. Robespierre was conducting intrigues in Basle with Austria and Prussia and wished to compound with those powers. Both joined forces against the Commune, primarily with the intention of overthrowing the men who wished for a propaganda war — the republicanisation of Europe. They succeeded and the Commune (Hébert, Cloots, etc.) had their heads cut off. From then on, however, no peace was possible between those who wanted to conclude peace only with Britain and those who wanted to conclude peace only with the German powers. The English elections turned out in favour of Pitt, which meant Fox's exclusion from power for years to come; as a result Danton's position was ruined, Robespierre emerged victorious and cut off Danton's head. But — and this was a point upon which Avenel didn't lay enough stress — whereas the reign of terror was now intensified beyond all reason, because indispensable if Robespierre was to remain at the helm in the conditions then obtaining in France, it was rendered wholly superfluous by the Fleurus victory of 26 June 1794,[365] which not only liberated the frontiers but delivered up to France both Belgium and, indirectly, the left bank of the Rhine, whereby Robespierre was also rendered superfluous and fell on 28 July.
The whole of the French Revolution is dominated by the war with the coalition, a war upon which its every pulsation depends.—Let the coalition army advance into France, and the vagus takes over, the heart pounds, there's a revolutionary crisis. Let it be pushed back — and the sympathetic ganglion takes over, the heart slows down, reactionary elements again push themselves to the fore, the plebeians — the forerun-ners of the later proletariat, thanks to whose energy alone the Revolution was saved — are restored to reason and order.
The tragic thing about it was that the party of war à outrance,[3]- of war for the liberation of the peoples, eventually turned out to be right, and that the Republic successfully tackled the whole of Europe, but not until after that party had itself long since been decapitated, while instead of the propaganda war, there ensued the Peace of Basle[557] and the bourgeois orgy of the Directory.[558]
The book must be completely revised and abridged — the bombast must be excised, and the facts, having been supplemented from ordinary history books, made to stand out clearly. In the process Cloots can be completely relegated to the background; the most important things from the Lundis révolutionnaires can be interpolated[3]—and in this way it can be made into a work on the Revolution such as has never existed before.
The account of how the Battle of Fleuras precipitated the collapse of the reign of terror appeared in 1842 in the (first) Rheinische Zeitung, in an excellent review by C. F. Koppen of H. Leo's Geschichte der franzö-sischen Revolution.™
Many regards to your wife and to Louise Kautsky.
Your
F. E.
237. Engels to Nikolai Danielson 5 December[5 6 0]
Dear Sir,
Immediately on receipt of your letter of the 14/26 November[561] I informed Mr Lafargue of its contents. He replies that he has written to you at once, saying that he never received any letters from the Lady Editor of the Northern Review," that he places at her disposal 5 articles or any of them; as to the cutting out of certain passages of the article now in hand he says nothing to me, but if he should have omitted replying on that point, it seems to me clear that such must be left to her discretion. His address is
P. Lafargue, 60, Avenue des Champs Elysées Le Perreux
Seine, France
I now forward to you registered a copy of Th. Tooke, on the Currency Principle,b London, 1844. This is a copy I bought second hand, it contains some pencil notes by the former owner, mostly confused stuff; also two old newspaper cuttings, one referring to the crisis of 1847 and rather interesting.
In the meantime I have got ready the 4th edition of Volume Ie now in the press, there are two or three fresh additions from the French edition; the quotations have been looked over with the help of the English edition, and I have added a few notes of my own, especially one about Bimetallism.[562] As soon as ready I shall forward you a copy.
Yours sincerely yours P. W. Rosher[39]
238. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 7 December[5 6 3]
Dear Sorge,
Letters of 8 and 29 October received with thanks.[564]
That the 'Socialist Labor Party'[3] might go into liquidation is too much to hope. Apart from Shevich, Rosenberg has other heirs in plenty, and the conceited, doctrinaire Germans out there will certainly not be anxious to give up their position as self-appointed tutors to the 'imma-ture' Americans. Otherwise they'd be complete nonentities.
Here, too, we have seen that it's not so easy to educate a great nation in doctrinaire and dogmatic fashion, even if one is in possession of the best of theories deriving from that nation's own mode of existence, and has relatively better educators than those of the Socialist Labor Party. Now the movement has at last got going — as I believe for good. But it isn't actually socialist and those Englishmen who have understood our theory best remain outside it — Hyndman because he's an incorrigible intriguer and dog-in-the-manger, Bax because he's too much of an academic. In form, the movement is first and foremost a trades union movement, but totally different from the movement of the old Trades Unions, that of the skilled labourers or working men's aristocracy. The way the chaps are tackling the job now is altogether different; they are leading vastly greater masses into the fray, are convulsing society far more profoundly and making much more extensive demands — 8-hour day, the universal federation of all organisations, complete solidarity. Thanks to Tussy, the Gas Workers' and General Labourers' Union[565] has, for the first time, got women's branches. Moreover, the chaps consider their present demands to be merely provisional, although they themselves don't yet know what their ultimate goal will be. But this obscure presen-timent is deep-seated enough for them to choose only avowed socialists for their leaders. Like everyone else, they will have to learn by experience and from the consequences of their own mistakes. But it won't take them long since, unlike the old Trades Unions, they greet with derision any reference to an identity of interests between capital and labour. I hope there won't be any general elections for the next three years, 1. so that Russia's minion, Gladstone, should not be at the helm at the time when the threat of war is greatest, this being alone sufficient to make the Tsar(1) precipitate a war: 2. so that the anti-Conservative majority grows big enough to ensure genuine Home Rule for Ireland,[175] for otherwise Gladstone will again play a dirty trick on the Irish and this obstacle — the Irish question — won't have been removed: 3. but also so that the labour movement can develop still further and, perhaps, mature more quickly as a result of the bad trading conditions that will surely come as a back-lash of the present boom. Then the next parliament might boast between 20 and 40 labour M.Rs, and they of a quite different calibre to your Potters, Cremers & Co.
What is most repellent here is the workers' deeply ingrained sense of middle-class 'respectability'. The division of society into innumerable, incontestably recognised grades, each having its own pride but also an innate respect for its 'betters' and 'superiors', is so old and so firmly established that it's still pretty easy for the middle classes to practise their allurements. I am by no means sure that John Burns, for one, isn't secretly prouder of his popularity with Cardinal Manning, with the Lord Mayorb and with the middle classes generally than he is of his popularity with his own class. And Champion — an ex-subaltern — has always indulged in intrigue with middle-class, and notably Conservative, elements, preached socialism at the priest-ridden Church Congress, etc. And even Tom Mann, who to my mind is the best of the lot, likes to say that he's going to lunch with the Lord Mayor. You only have to compare them with the French to see what the benefits of a revolution are. Incidentally, it won't greatly profit the middle classes if they do succeed in luring a few of the leaders into their web. By then the movement will be strong enough to cope with things of that kind. The 4th editionc has been finished and is printing.
Rappaport has been sent to Kautsky.[566] Anyone with such an appalling name must be capable of every kind of nonsense.
Little Hepner[567] is such a clever and, in his own eyes, such an impartial, and at the same time such an impractical, little chap (what the Jews call Schlemihl—a born Jonah) that I'm surprised he hasn't long ago come to grief out there. It's a pity about the little fellow, but there's nothing we can do.
Time has now been bought by Bax, who has also, I believe, arranged everything with the Avelings. But it depends on what Bax makes of it. For all his talent and good intentions, Bax is an unknown factor — an impractical academic who has plunged himself into journalism and been somewhat thrown off balance as a result. Add to that his peculiar notion that nowadays it is men who are downtrodden by women.
Your catalogue of the Tribune articles by Marx[568] is doubtless buried under a mountain of unsorted letters. I have got the Tribune articles pasted in somewhere, but whether they are complete I can't say just now. I only came upon them again this autumn.
Strictly between you and me, I have only just heard that, before leaving here, Schlüter's wife apparently alleged that Kautsky had elbowed Schlüter out of his post. If she should say anything of the sort out there, there is no truth whatever in it. Schlüter resigned of his own accord and his resignation was accepted by the parliamentary group in Germany.[409] He had a personal quarrel with Motteler, with whom no one can get on, but who is of great value to the party leadership because of his absolute and universally acknowledged reliability in money matters. If on this occasion Schlüter didn't get from Ede Bernstein all the support he might have expected, the blame rested partly with Ede but also partly with Schlüter himself. Our thoughts only turned to Kautsky as a replacement for Schlüter in the post of archivist[227] after Schlüter's resignation. I would not have bothered you with this tittle-tattle, but now feel obliged to do so.
A fortnight ago a long letter arrived from Sam Moore. He finds the district salubrious, the situation very fine, and the company tolerable, subscribes to a whole lot of periodicals, but nevertheless would already appear to be looking forward to 1891 and his 6 months' leave in Europe.
In Germany things are going swimmingly; little Willie(2) is an even more proficient agitator than Bismarck, the miners of the Ruhr are certainly ours, those of the Saar soon will be, and the Elberfeld trial, with its revelations about mouchardsb is also doing its bit.[569] In France our parliamentary group now numbers 8 men, amongst whom 5 of the delegates to the Marxist congress in Paris[473], Guesde is their secretary and prepares their speeches for them. There is once more some prospect of a daily paper. The group is going to put forward as a motion the resolutions taken by the congress. Everywhere work is under way for May Day 1890.—In Austria things are also going very well, Adlerb has managed splendidly and the anarchists there are done for.
I, too, am well, my eyes have improved and if this goes on until the end of January, through the period of fog and shorter days, I shall be able to work at a brisker pace again. Tussy is busy with the Silvertown strike,[549] which would have been over long ago had it not been neglected by Burns & Co.
Cordial regards to your wife,
Your
RE.
1906 and, in full, in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition,
Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
239. Engels to Conrad Schmidt 9 December
Dear Schmidt,
Best thanks for your letter of 10 November. I am glad to hear that you are getting along so well in your journalistic career, only you should make sure you are properly paid, otherwise it's only half the battle. Journalism is a very useful training ground, particularly for us Germans since we all of us tend to be a bit clumsy (which is why the Jews are so 'superior' to us in this sphere too); it makes one more flexible in every way, one gets to know and assess one's own abilities better and, above all, one learns to do a given piece of work in a given length of time. On the other hand, it can also lead to superficiality because shortage of time accustoms one to dashing off things one knows one has not yet fully mastered. But someone like you with a scientific bent will nevertheless be able to preserve his powers of discrimination and not be tempted to place a dazzling tour de force, calculated for immediate effect and drawn exclusively from the handiest sources, on a par with a scientific work painstakingly produced if outwardly, perhaps, not so brilliant; although here too the cash forthcoming tends to be in inverse proportion to the actual value.
Once you have made a position for yourself in journalism you ought to try and establish contacts that would enable you to return to London for a year or two. It's pretty well the only place that is any good for the study of political economy. Despite the great advances happily made by German industry during the past 25 years, we still lag behind others — in the customary manner — in this respect too. England has anticipated us in heavy goods, and France in fashion goods; for the export trade, as I once said in an article for the Paris Égalité, our industry could have recourse only to goods that 'étaient trop mesquins pour les Anglais ou trop vilains pour les Français'.* Hence, too, the remarkable phenomenon in Germany that the most notable feature of the present industrial boom is a drop in exports because, with the rise in internal consumption and thanks to protective tariffs, the manufacturers can sell more goods at home at monopolistic prices and are therefore having to sell fewer abroad at give-away prices. Hence all the economic phenomena there are manifested, firstly in a derivative form and, secondly, in a form vitiated by the protective tariff system, and are therefore always special instances nor, save as exceptions and after having been thoroughly purged of irrel-evancies, can they be used to demonstrate the general laws and phases of development of capitalist production. Today, more than ever before, free trade has made England the classical field for the study of those laws and this all the more in that England, though in absolute terms still increasing its production, is, in relative terms, definitely declining by comparison with other countries and rapidly becoming a Holland-type nation. However, the decline of British industry is, in my view, coincidental with the collapse of capitalist production generally. And whereas there can be little doubt that Germany will be the ground on which the struggle will be fought out, it may well be in England that the issue is decided.
Which is why it's so splendid that here too, and at this particular juncture, the movement should have got under way in real earnest and, as I think, for good and all. The strata of working men who are now buckling to are infinitely more numerous, energetic and aware than the old Trades Unions, which represented only the aristocracy of the working class. They have far more drive. Whereas the old men still continue to believe in 'harmony', the young deride anyone who mentions an identity of interests between capital and labour. And whereas the old reject all socialists, the young refuse to have anyone at all except avowed socialists for their leaders. Here I have a splendid informant in the person of Tussy, who is deeply involved in the said movement.
As I have already said, do try and come back here. You could risk it if you were to work as correspondent and do various other jobs for the Neue Zeit, Braun's Archiv and one or two other magazines. We should all — and I especially — be delighted to see you here again.
Sam Moore is in Africa, in Asaba on the Niger, as Chief Justice to the territories of the Royal Niger Company. He left in the middle of June and writes very contentedly; he finds the region salubrious and the company tolerable. Sleeps sweetly, I hope, in a negress' arms.
Otherwise everything here is much as it was. Aveling seems to be doing well with his dramatic endeavours — his last piece, a fortnight ago, was much liked. The Swiss expellees[81] are gradually settling down. Time, a monthly controlled by Bax, will be appearing as from 1 January.b
With kindest regards
Yours
F. Engels
240. Engels to Gerson Trier 18 December[571]
Dear Mr Trier,
Many thanks for your interesting communication of the 8th.[572]
Since you ask my opinion about the recent dramatic events in Copenhagen[418] to which you fell victim, let me begin with one point upon which I am not of one mind with you.
You reject on principle any kind of collaboration, however transient, with other parties. I am revolutionary enough not to deprive myself even of this recourse in circumstances in which it would be more to our advantage or at any rate do us least harm.
That the proletariat cannot seize political power, which alone will open the doors to the new society, without violent revolution is something upon which we are both agreed. If the proletariat is to be strong enough to win on the crucial day, it is essential — and Marx and I have been advocating this ever since 1847 — for it to constitute a party in its own right, distinct from and opposed to all the rest, one that is conscious of itself as a class party.
This does not mean, however, that the said party cannot occasionally make use of other parties for its own ends. Nor does it mean that it cannot temporarily support other parties in promoting measures which are either of immediate advantage to the proletariat or spell progress in the direction of economic development or political freedom. I would support anyone in Germany who genuinely fought for the abolition of primogeniture[573] and other feudal relics, of bureaucracy, protective tariffs, and Anti-Socialist Law[52] and restrictions on the right of assembly and of association. If our German Party of Progress[45] or your Danish Venstre[418] were genuine radical-bourgeois parties and not just a miser-able bunch of windbags who creep into their holes at the first threat uttered by Bismarck or Estrup, I would by no means unreservedly reject any kind of temporary collaboration with them having a specific end in view. When our deputies vote for a motion tabled by a different party— as they all too often have to do — even this could be described as a form of collaboration. But I would be in favour of it only if its immediate advantage to ourselves or to the country's historical progress towards economic and political revolution was instantly apparent and worth the effort. And provided the proletarian class character of the party were not jeopardised thereby. Thus far and no further I am prepared to go. You will find this policy propounded as early as 1847 in the Communist Manifesto*; we pursued it in 1848 in the International, everywhere.
Disregarding the question of morality — a point I am not concerned with here and shall therefore not discuss — I would, as a revolutionary, countenance any means, the most violent but also what may seem the most moderate, that were conducive to the ends.
Such a policy demands insight and strength of character, but what policy does not? It exposes us to the dangers of corruption, or so say the anarchists and friend Morris. Very well, if the working class is an assort-ment of blockheads and weaklings and downright venal blackguards, then we might as well pack up at once, for in that case neither the proletariat nor any of the rest of us would have any business to be in the political arena at all. Like all other parties, the proletariat will be best taught by its own mistakes, and from those mistakes no one can wholly save it.
In my opinion, therefore, you are wrong when you elevate what is primarily a question of tactics to the level of a question of principle. And so far as I'm concerned, the only question that confronts us at the start is a tactical one. A tactical error, however, may in certain circumstances, lead to an infringement of principle.
And here, so far as I can judge, you are right in criticising the tactics of the Hovedbestyrelsen.h For years the Danish Leftc has been acting out an undignified comedy of opposition, nor does it ever tire of demonstrating its own impotence to the world at large. It has long since missed the opportunity — if ever it had one — of avenging the infringement of the Constitution[574] by force or arms; indeed, an ever increasing proportion of the Left would seem to be yearning for reconciliation with Estrup. A genuinely proletarian party could not, or so it seems to me, collaborate with a party of that kind without in the long run forfeiting its class character as a working men's party. Hence, in so far as you stress the class character of the movement as arguing against this policy, I can only agree with you.
Now as regards the methods adopted towards you and your friends by the Hovedbestyrelsen, such summary expulsion of an opposition from the party certainly occurred in the secret societies of 1840-51; the very secrecy of the organisation made this inevitable. It also occurred— not infrequently — among the English Physical Force Chartists[575] under the dictatorship of O'Connor. But the Chartists, being a party specifically organised for the use of force as their very name implies, were subject to dictatorship, and expulsion was an act of military discipline. On the other hand I have heard of no such high handed procedure in time of peace save in the case of the Lassalleans in J. B. von Schweitzer's 'rigid organisation'; von Schweitzer had to make use of it because of his suspect dealings with the Berlin police, and in doing so only precipitated the disorganisation of the General German Workers' Association.[576] It would be most unlikely to occur to any of the socialist labour parties presently in existence — now that Mr Rosenberg has happily made himself scarce in America[501]—to treat along Danish lines an opposition it had nurtured in its own bosom. No party can live and prosper unless moderate and extreme tendencies grow up and even combat one another within its ranks, and one which expels the more extreme tendencies out of hand will merely promote their growth. The labour movement depends on mercilessly criticising existing society, criticism is the breath of life to it, so how can it itself avoid being criticised or try and forbid discussion? Are we then asking that others concede us the right of free speech merely so that we may abolish it again within our own ranks?
If you should wish to publish the whole of this letter, I should have no objection.
Yours sincerely
241. Engels to Natalie Liebknecht 24 December
Dear Mrs Liebknecht,
First of all my most sincere thanks for the greetings you and your son(1) so kindly sent me on my last birthday, which was a most merry occasion. We all had to sit up until midnight so as to kill two birds with one stone, for the next day was Aveling's birthday and this we proceeded to celebrate together.
We were glad to hear that you are all in the best of health. We, too, are getting on pretty well; Nimmi has had some bad colds and all of us have had attacks of rheumatism — not that it can be wholly avoided in this climate, but so long as it doesn't get too bad, no one complains about it.
All is also well with the Roshers, except that last Sunday Papa Percy caught a bad cold which very nearly developed into pneumonia. However he's improving though it will, of course, put paid to any Christmas jollifications so far as he is concerned and he won't be allowed to leave the house tomorrow. At the moment Pumps is without a maid; the last one upped and left a fortnight ago while she and the children were out, and when Pumps returned she found the house deserted and locked and, since she had no key, the company had to come round to me and await Percy's arrival; until then they were unable to get in. So here too, you see, all kinds of petits misères^[1] keep cropping up.
There will be a big party here tomorrow evening if Pumps and her children are able to come; besides them, the Mottelers, Fischers and Bernsteins will be coming, as will the Avelings, of course, and then there'll be Schorlemmer, who has been here since yesterday. The number coming corresponds exactly to the number we can, at a pinch, find place for. Nimmi is busy cooking and baking — the plum puddings were made a week ago. It's an awful chore, with no purpose other than to bring on attacks of indigestion! But such is required by custom, and one has to conform. Nevertheless we'll make merry, even if we're sorry for it on Boxing Day.
Ever since the dock strike,[489] when she worked day and night on the committee — the real executive work was done by 3 women — Tussy has been deeply involved in the strike movement. While the dock strike was on, a small strike broke out in Silvertown[549] on the furthest outskirts of the East End, some 3,000 people. She was in the thick of it, organised a branch of the union for the girls and had to make her way there every morning — after 12 weeks, however, the strike ended in defeat. She is presently taking part in the gas strike in South London[577] and on Sunday morning spoke in Hyde Park, but it isn't so exhausting, of course, and gives her more free time. She and Aveling will be taking on the assistant editorship of a monthly[3] which has been acquired by E. B. Bax with effect from 1 January and that will be work enough in itself. Besides this she is secretary to two women's trade societies.
I also got a letter from Liebknecht yesterday[578] and would ask you to be good enough to thank him for it on my behalf. He will doubtless be with you tomorrow. We over here are anxiously awaiting the verdict at the Elberfeld trial.[569] I have long since lost all faith in the Prussian judi-ciary and only trust that Bebel won't be convicted along with others.
The people in Paris are, it seems, to have a daily paper again — but my hopes on this score have so often been dashed that I won't really believe it until I see it. Our French parliamentary group of eight men has not done at all badly up till now and has shown remarkable discipline when one considers that they have come together from all parts of France and are, to a great extent, strangers to one another.
And now, dear Mrs Liebknecht, I should like to send my best wishes for a merry Christmas and a thoroughly enjoyable New Year to you, Liebknecht, Theodor and all the other children, not forgetting Mrs Geiser. I heard from the Schlüters yesterday; they seem to be getting on pretty well.
With warm regards from Nimmi, the Roshers and myself
Yours very sincerely
F. Engels
242. Engels to Ludwig Kugelmann 30 December
Dear Kugelmann,
A Happy New Year to you. Thank you for the prescription for my eyes, which, however, is not nearly concentrated enough for me. Last year and up till August I used cocaine and, as this grew less effective (on account of habituation), went on to ZnCl[2], which works very well. If I weather the present short days successfully — the last daylight we saw was on 28 December — since yesterday morning it has been perpetual night — I shall have put the worst behind me.
Kindest regards.
Your
F. E.
Endnotes
[328] (see note 277) so as to have Jules Guesde, Paul Lafargue and Gabriel Deville
[269] ment, Kartell won the election of February 1887 by obtaining the largest number of seats in the Reichstag (220). Assisted by the coalition, Bismarck was able to secure the passage of reactionary laws in the interests of the Junkers and the big bourgeoisie (imposition of protectionist tariffs, higher taxes, etc.) (see note 152). However, he could not get the Reichstag to prolong the Anti-Socialist Law. The exacerbation of differences among the parties affiliated with the Kartell and the electoral defeat of 1890, with only 135 seats secured in the Reichstag, resulted in the disintegration of the coalition. 266. A reference to the intended marriage of Victoria, the daughter of Frederick III, to Prince Alexander Battenberg of Bulgaria, who occupied the Bulgarian throne in 1879-86 and steered a policy hostile to Russia. Fearing a worsening of Russo-German relations, Bismarck opposed the marriage. 267. Believing that the Bismarck regime was in for a political crisis, Engels considers, by way of comparison, the landmark stages of the political crisis of the Second Empire in France: The Mexican period of Bonapartism - the abortive armed intervention of France in Mexico (1862-67) with the aim of suppressing the Mexican revolution. The military expedition incurred huge expenses and caused grave damage to the empire of Napoleon III. 1866 - the defeat of Austria in her war against Prussia deprived Napoleon III of an essential ally in the confrontation with Prussia. 1870 - the routing, on 1-2 September, of French troops at Sedan during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The Sedan debacle speeded up the collapse of the Second Empire and led to the proclamation of a republic in France on 4 September 1870. 268. Engels means Die Erklärung der Sozialdemokratischen Föderation Englands in Sachen des nach London einberufenen internationalen Gewerkschaftskongresses which was published by the newspaper Sozialdemokrat on 14 April 1888. The Declaration came in view of the intended convocation by the British trade unions of an international congress of labour unions in November 1888 (see note 165). The Declaration was a response to the protest of the German Social Democrats against the decision of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Unions Congress of Great Britain (see note 269) on conditions for representation at the Congress: only delegates officially elected by trade unions were to attend. Thereby the German Social Democrats were unable to take part on account of the enforcement of the Anti-Socialist law in Germany. In its Declaration the Social Democratic Federation voiced its discontent at the protest of the German Social Democrats. 269. The reference is to the rapprochement of the leadership of the Social Democratic Federation (see note 62) and the Possibilists (see note 19). Starting in 1884, the Federation, acting through its organ Justice, conducted
[332] They used to good advantage the pronouncements of the Guesdists in support of the international and, specifically, the German working-class movement and, as a result, the latter lost its popularity in Paris. For the Guesdists' attitude to Boulangism see note 277. 327. Cadettists was the name by which members of the Société des Droits de L'Homme et du Citoyen were known. The Society was set up on 25 May 1888 by bourgeois radicals and moderate republicans for combating Boulangism. The Possibilists became affiliated with this organisation. Its name came from Rue Cadet, where it was located. 328. In view of the death, on 23 December 1888, of the deputy to the Chamber from Seine-Department, Antoine Auguste Hude, the Prime Minister Floquet fixed a by-election on 27 January 1889. 329. The convention of the French Workers' Party held in Troyes in December 1888 (see note 322) passed a decision on nominating a socialist as an independent candidacy for the by-election of 27 January 1889. The candidature of Boulé, a labourer and stonemason, was nominated accordingly. This convention also decided to hold an International Socialist Working Men's Congress in Paris in 1889, thus confirming the decision of the National Congress of the French trade unions (see note 331). 330. On 29 December 1888 Wilhelm Liebknecht told Engels he intended to visit Paris and London to hold preliminary negotiations with local socialists about the forthcoming International Socialist Congress in Paris. 331. The National Congress of the French Trade Unions took place on 23 October-4 November 1888. It represented 272 labour unions - the workers' syndical chambers and industrial groups. Most of the delegates belonged to the revolutionary wing of the French workers' movement. The congress had been opened in Bordeaux, but its sessions had to be transferred to Le Bouscat after the police declared the congress disbanded because of a red banner over its rostrum. The congress passed a decision to convene an International Socialist Working Men's Congress in Paris in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution Also discussed was a general strike, considered to be the only revolutionary way. 332. The funeral of the Paris Commune general Emiles Eudes on 8 August 1888, developed into a mammoth demonstration of the Paris proletariat; its participants carried red flags and posters urging a new commune. This demonstration was dispersed by the police. 333. Engels refers to the Paris International Conference convened by the French
[333] Possibilists in 1886 (see note 319). The conference discussed issues related
[334] to international labour legislation. Its resolutions denied the need for work-
[317] should be no propaganda by word, no secret propaganda. The very word
[335] ing-class political struggle. 334. Engels alludes to the Ninth Congress of the Party of the Possibilists at
[336] Charleville on 2-8 October 1887. The main issue on the agenda was partici-
[338] in May 1814 and then in July 1815. After the defeat of Napoleonic France
[339] in the war against the sixth coalition, Napoleon had to abdicate in April
[295] No. 553, Washington Street, Boston. 287. The reference is to the dissent in the Socialist Labour Party of North America (see note 3). Speaking of the resignation of the Executive Secretary Wilhelm Rosenberg, Engels proceeded from a report made by Friedrich Sorge in his letter of 30 August 1888. The official decision on Rosenberg's resignation was adopted in September 1889 (see note 501). 288. The letter was written on hotel notepaper with the address: Adams House, No.553. Washington Street, Boston. 289. The letter was written on hotel notepaper with a picture of the Niagara Falls and the address: Spencer House, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 290. Engels stayed in London in July-August 1838 when he accompanied his father on a business trip to Britain. That was the first trip of the young Frederick Engels abroad (see present edition, Vol. 2, pp99-100) 291. This letter was written on hotel notepaper with the address: Richelieu Hotel, Montreal. For the first English publication, see note 286. 292. This letter was written on a hotel notepaper with the address: Paul Smith's Fouquet House, Phelps Smith, Manager, Plattsburgh, N.Y. About the first English publication of the letter, see note 29. 293. This letter was written on hotel notepaper with the address: Broadway, opposite Bond Street, Julius A. Robinson Prop'r, New York. For the first English publication of the letter, see note 29. 294. The available rough copy of this and the next letter was written on a single sheet. 295. In the autumn of 1841 Bruno Bauer, one of the leaders of the Young Hegelians, was suspended from teaching at Bonn University by Eichhorn, the Prussian Minister of Religious Worship, Education and Medicine. In March 1842, he was dismissed from his post as lecturer in theology on account of his atheistic views and opposition speeches. Bauer's dismissal evoked sharp protests from radical and liberal intellectuals. 296. Telling Engels about his intention to obtain the post of senior lecturer at
[340] 1814, and the Bourbons were restored to power. Louis XVIII became King
[341] of France. In March 1815, Napoleon regained power, but his rule did not
[342] last long ('The Hundred Days'). Following his defeat at Waterloo by British and Prussian troops, he again abdicated on 22 June 1815 and Louis XVIII was again restored to the throne (8 July) with the help of the foreign armies. 337. The reference is to the sum assigned by the King in 1825 as compensation for aristocrats whose property had been confiscated during the French Revolution. 338. 'Tranquillity is the first duty of the citizen' is a dictum coined by the Prussian minister Schulenburg-Kehnert in his address to the population of Berlin on 17 October 1806 following the defeat at Jena {Le Moniteur universel, No. 304, 31 October, 1806, 'Prusse', Berlin, du 18 octobre). 339. In these letters Conrad Schmidt told Engels that his own attempts to obtain a position of senior lecturer at Leipzig University failed because of his socialist views. 340. As assistant professor at Berlin University, Eugen Dühring, beginning in 1872, criticised the university professors, Hermann Helmholtz in particular, and the University customs in general. Such criticism riled the reactionary faculty which started hounding Dühring. In July 1877 he was deprived of the right to teach at the University. His dismissal sparked vigorous protests from his supporters and was condemned by the public. 341. The reference is to the monographs on the history of Germany's national economy under the heading Staats- und socialwissenschaftliche Forschungen edited by Gustav Schmoller in 1878-1916, and in co-operation with Max Sering as of 1903. Containing a wealth of factual and historical evidence, these publications offered no theoretical analysis at all. This series mirrored the views of the 'young historical school' in Germany's political economy, a trend led by Schmoller. Its followers thought the chief task of political economy was to collect factual material on the history of the national economy, with theoretical analysis being left to the generations to come. 342. 'Demagogues' was the name given to participants in the students' opposition movement in Germany after the country's liberation from Napoleonic
[322] Boulanger. 319. The reference is to the proposed calling of an International Working Men's
[345] the persecution of the Demagogues. 343. This letter was first published, abridged in English by the journal Labour
[347] 329), the following candidacies were nominated: Georges Boulanger - from the Right-wing groups, Edouard Jacques - from the Republican Party (this candidature received support from the Possibilists as well), and the labourer Boulé - from the Workers Party (see note 33) and the Blanquists. In a bitter electoral struggle, General Boulanger received about 250,000 votes, Boulé 7,000 votes. 345. This refers to the Baden-Palatinate uprising of 1849 in Germany. For greater detail, see Engels' The Campaign for the German Imperial Constitution, present edition, Vol. 10, ppl47-239. 346. The French Section of 1871 (branche française) was formed in London in September of that year by French refugees. The leaders of the Section established close contacts with Bakunin's followers in Switzerland. The Rules of the French Section of 1871, published in Qui Vive.1, its official organ, were submitted to the General Council at its extraordinary meeting on 16 October 1871 and referred to a special committee. At the General Council meeting of 17 October, Marx tabled a resolution on behalf of the committee (present edition, Vol. 23, pp24-27), recommending the Section to bring several paragraphs of its Rules into line with the Rules of the International. In its letter of 31 October, signed by A. Avrial, the Section rejected the General Council resolution. This reply was discussed in the commission and at the General Council sitting of 7 November 1871. Auguste Serraillier, Corresponding Secretary for France, submitted a resolution written by Marx, which was unanimously adopted by the Council (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp37-42). In December 1871, the French Section split up into several groups. The 'pseudo-General Council' applies to a group within the British Federal Council; this group, led by John Hales, Hermann Jung and others, refused to act on the decisions of the Hague Congress and was expelled from the International on 30 May 1873. 347. In September 1888 the German Professor Friedrich Heinrich Geffcken had the journal Deutsche Rundschau publish excerpts from the diary of the German Emperor Frederick III, a close friend of his. These excerpts, dating back to the time of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, showed Bismarck's role in the building or the German Empire in an unfavourable light. Bismarck had criminal proceedings initiated against the professor who was charged with high treason. The Reichsgericht acquitted Professor Geffcken on 4 January 1889; on the following day he was released from custody. At about the same time Herbert von Bismarck, the Reichskanzler's older son,
[349] the crown prince, and France. Morier countered by publishing his corre-
[281] movement and Boulanger's personality. The Workers' Party majority with
[350] spondence with Marshal Bazaine of France, through whom he had ostensi-
[351] bly been passing information on the German army. These materials showed
[352] up the slanderous nature of the charges. The progressive press viewed the
[355] Bismarck initiated negotiations on a defensive alliance with Great Britain in January 1889; these negotiations involved colonial issues as well. Britain and Germany were supporting each other in East Africa in putting down popular uprisings in Uganda and Zanzibar. The British and German navies, acting together, imposed a blockade on the eastern coast of Africa. At a later date, on 1 July 1890, Britain and Germany concluded a treaty which defined a boundary between their possessions in East Africa. In addition, Britain agreed to cede to Germany the strategic island of Heligoland in the North Sea. However this rapprochement did not result in a solid alliance and imperialist rivalry subsequently led to a sharp deterioration in Anglo-German relations. 350. Lewis Morgan's book Ancient Society, or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery, through Barbarism to Civilization appeared in London in 1877. Marx and Engels thought highly of this work; in 1884 Engels wrote his The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, In the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan (see present edition, Vol. 26). Meanwhile, Morgan's works did not win due recognition among British scholars and were ignored for a long time. 351. At Paul Lafargue's request Engels approached the leaders of the German Social Democratic Party to learn their opinion concerning the forthcoming International Socialist Working Men's Congress. In this letter he informed Lafargue about the replies of August Bebel of 8 January 1889 and Wilhelm Liebknecht of 11 January 1889. 352. A preliminary conference, scheduled for 18 January 1889 at Nancy and suggested by representatives of German Social Democracy, did not take place. 353. Engels refers to the manuscript of Theories of Surplus Value, written by Marx in 1862-63 and being the only outline of the concluding, historical-critical part of Capital. Engels could not prepare book IV of Capital in his lifetime: Marx's MS of Theories of Surplus Values was first published by Karl Kautsky in 1905-10, i.e., after Engels' death (see present edition, Vol. 38 for a revised version). 354. Louise Kautsky was attending obstetrics classes. 355. Laura Lafargue informed Engels about the termination of the publication of
[356] the Blanquist newspaper Le Cri du Peuple and about the foundation of a
[358] sentatives of the revolutionary wing (the Guesdists) - Jules Guesde, Paul
[359] Lafargue, Gabriel Deville; the Blanquists were represented by Edouard
[361] the Independent Radicals - by the municipal councillors Alexandre Abel
[131] Progress and Poverty, published in New York in 1880. However, at the
[363] first Egalité carried articles by Jules Guesde, Paul Lafargue and other Marxists. But as early as 3 March of the same year the Guesdists and the Blanquists, collaborating on the editorial staff, broke with Jules Roques, an entrepreneur financing the paper (see note 380). From that time on Egalité ceased to be an organ of the Socialists. 356. Engels means the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) when Napoleon Bonaparte imposed a military dictatorship; also, the election, on 10 December 1848, of Louis Bonaparte to the presidency in France. On 12-13 Vendémiaire (4-5 October) 1795, the government troops under General Bonaparte crushed a royalist uprising in Paris. 357. August Bebel's report, carried in the feature 'Deutschland' and marked 'Aus Norddeutschland, 29, Jänner', was published anonymously by the newspaper Gleichheit No. 5, on 1 February 1889. 358. The reference is to the editorial article 'Boulanger en Bourgeois Republiek', carried by the Hague-based newspaper Recht voor Allen and to the report filed by Souvarines in Parijsche Brieven, XV and published on 1 February 1889. 359. An allusion to the article 'Que faire?' ('What is to be done?') written by Charles Longuet and published by the newspaper Egalité on 10 February 1889. In it he attacked the Radicals (see note 200) for their alliance with the Opportunists (see note 199). 360. A reference to the International Socialist Conference in the Hague convened on 28 February 1889 (see note 385). 361. Atherley Jones was the son of Ernest Jones, one of the leaders of the Chartist revolutionary wing, approached Engels through John Lincoln Mahon and asked for help in publishing his father's works. 362. The abridged text of this letter was first published in English in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Correspondence, London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1956. 363. 14 July 1789 - the day of the storming of the Bastille by the popular masses of Paris and the beginning of the French Revolution. On 5-6 October 1789, the popular masses, who had come to Versailles from Paris made King Louis XVI return to the capital from which he had fled. The monarchy in France was toppled on 10 August 1792 as a result of a popular uprising. There was mass unrest in Paris on 2-5 September 1792, caused by an onslaught of foreign interventionist troops. Parisians seized prisons and staged impromptu trials of the inmates: many were executed. 364. A reference to the Commune of Paris in 1789-94. Formally being no more
[366] Commune played an active part in the overthrow of the monarchy, in the
[367] imposition of a Jacobin dictatorship, in the introduction of a price maxi-
[368] mum, in the adoption of a 'law against suspects' (i.e. against the counter
[369] revolutionaries), etc. Following the overthrow of 9 Thermidor (27 July
[370] 1794) most of the Commune members, supporters of Robespierre and his
[372] army under the Duke of Coburg. This victory enabled the French revolu-
[373] tionary army to enter and occupy Belgium. 366. Francois Noel (Gracchus) Babeuf was a French revolutionary and advocate of Utopian egalitarian communism based on the ideas of natural law. 367. Preparing his notes on Kautsky's article, Engels translated excerpts from Nikolai Kareyev's article., 'Peasants and the Peasant Problem in France', expressly for the author; Engels gave the full names of the sources which Kareyev had indicated in an abbreviated form. 368. By the Second Partition of Poland (12 /23/ January 1793) Russia gained eastern Byelorussia and the Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper; Prussia acquired Gdansk, Torûn, part of Great Poland, Mazovia and of the Krakow province. 369. This refers to the mandates and complaints (cahiers de doléances) sent to deputies of the General States at the time of the French Revolution by representatives of the French 'third estate' who were reduced to penury. The General States (États généraux) were the highest body of estate representation in France in a period from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. 370. Constituante - the Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante) of France which was in session from 9 July 1789 to 30 September 1791. 371. A fragment of this letter was first published in English by Labour Monthly, London, 1934, No. 3, and in full in Marx K., Engels F., Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, A Selection, International Publishers, New York 1953, I.E. Mins (trans). 372. Engels might have made a mistake by indicating the date, 19 January. He meant the post card of 29 January and the letter of 10 February, sent by Friedrich Sorge, who called Engels' attention to F. Kelley-Wischnewetzky's article on child labour, carried by the newspaper The Labour Standard on 19 and 26 January 1889. 373. On 29 January 1889, F. Sorge sent a cutting from the New York newspaper Standard to Engels with an advertisement announcing a sale of the English edition of Volume I of Capital by the American book dealers Appleton and Co. 374. In his letter of 10 February 1889, F. Sorge called Engels' attention to a report
[374] carried by the newspaper Der arme Teufel, Nos. 9 and 10, 26 January and 2
[375] February 1889, entitled 'Korrespondenz des A.T. aus London, England',
[376] containing disparaging comments about Edward Aveling. 375. A reference to Philipp Rappaport's article 'Über die Arbeiterbewegung in
[377] Amerika' published in the journal Die Neue Zeit, No. 2, 1889. In his letter
[378] of 10 February 1889 F. Sorge pointed to the poor quality of the article and
[379] said it would be better to publish excerpts from Edward Aveling and
[380] Eleanor Marx-Aveling, The Labour Movement in America (see note 89). 376. The reference is to a series of lectures by Paul Lafargue and Gabriel Deville
[381] (Cours d'Economie Sociale) on Marx; these lectures were arranged by a
[382] circle at the Socialist Library of the French Workers' Party on Sundays as
[383] of 23 January 1884. Lafargue's series of lectures was called Le Matérialisme économique de Karl Marx. To his second lecture Paul Lafargue gave the following title: Le Milieu naturel. Théorie darwinienne. Gabriel Deville entitled his course of lectures L'Evolution du capital. There were five lectures in all: Genèse du capital, Formation du proletariat, Coopération et manufacture, Machinisme et grande industrie and Fin du capital. The lectures were published in the press and in separate editions in 1884. 377. Engels refers to the defeat of the Prussians and Saxons at the hands of Napoleon at Jena (14 October 1806). 378. Engels refers to the refusal of the Possibilists to take part in the International Hague Conference (see note 360). 379. An allusion to the request of a group of Possibilists to the Municipal Council of Paris to grant them 50,000 francs for the organisation of an International Working Men's Congress. 380. Jules Roques, the publisher of the newspaper Egalité, fired a group of printing-shop workers who had been paid at rates fixed by the printers' union and had then replaced by non-unionised workmen. The indignant members of the editorial board, the Guesdists and the Blanquists, declared on 3 March 1889 they would leave the editorial board (see also note 355). 381. The materials of P. Lafargue's letter of 5 March 1889 were indeed used in the report Aus Frankreich, Paris, 9 March, 1889 in the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 12, 23 March, 1889, S.2-3. 382. On 5 March 1889, Conrad Schmidt asked Engels to help him come to terms with Otto Meissner with the publication of his monograph Die Durch Schnittsprofitrate auf Grundlage des Marx'schen Wertgesetzes; this work appeared somewhat later at Stuttgart published by Dietz. Schmidt also wrote about his failure to obtain the position of senior lecturer at Leipzig University because of his socialist views. 383. This refers to the setbacks of Marx and Engels in connection with the publication of their works in those years, specifically, The German Ideology (present edition, Vol. 5). 384. C. Schmidt's article 'Das Wertgesetz und Profitrate' was published in the
[6] prison and a fine of 50 guldens on charges of 'lese majesté' and 'denigration
[388] German Reichstag with the aim of framing the conditions for the calling of
[260] workmen raised barricades and fought back with great courage and tenac-
[91] Gladstone), the Social Democratic Federation (George Bateman, John
[389] an International Socialist Working Men's Congress in Paris. The Possibilists
[390] refused to attend the conference despite the invitation and did not recognise
[392] congress, its date and agenda. The International Working Men's Congress
[30] and George Engel - to be hanged. In the spring of 1886 a mass working-
[393] took place on 14 July 1889. 386. A reference to the pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889. A Reply to 'Justice', London 1889. Its original version was written by Eduard Bernstein at Engels' suggestion in reply to the editorial comment entitled The German 'Official' Social Democrats and the International Congress in Paris and carried by the newspaper Justice on 16 March 1889, No. 270. Having been edited by Engels, the pamphlet appeared in English in London, and then it was published by the German newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat and signed: E. Bernstein. 387. An excerpt from this letter was first published in the journal La Pensée, No. 61, 1955. About the first English publication of the letter, see note 77. 388. In the latter half of the 1860s the government of the Second Empire exiled Henri Rochefort to New Caledonia for his virulent attacks against Napoleon III. In the 1880s, being an active supporter of General Boulanger and one of the editors of the newspaper L'Intransigeant, he placed it at the disposal of the Boulangists. 389. April 1 - Bismarck's birthday. Engels refers to April's Fool Day (1 April). 390. A hint at the ties with the Prussian police and the Bismarck government, incriminating for Johann Baptist von Schweitzer, President of the General Association of German Workers. 391. The French government, alarmed at General Boulanger's popularity, decided to put him on trial on the pretext of his conspiring in a plot threatening the security of the republic. On 1 April 1889, Boulanger and some of his supporters fled abroad. On 8 April Boulanger was deprived of his parliamentary immunity; and on 14 August 1889, the Supreme Court sentenced him, together with Dillon and Rochefort, who had fled in company with Boulanger, in absentia, to banishment. 392. The reference is to Wilhelm Liebknecht's letter to Charles Bonnier of 26 March 1889, about the need to change the date of an International Socialist Congress or, as an alternative, reaching agreement with the Possibilists. Wilhelm Liebknecht's letter to Eduard Bernstein has not been found. 393. A reference to Wilhelm Liebknecht's letters to F. Engels of 20 and 28 March
[396] pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889. A Reply to
[397] 'Justice', (see note 386). 395. Engels means the Trade Union Committee of Protest Against the
[398] Parliamentary Committee's Actions With Regard To the Paris International
[401] ing day and higher wages than the workers of other European countries and
[297] getting a position in Leipzig is doubtful to me in view of the personal atti-
[402] thus not needing any protection of their interests. The newly established
[403] Protest Committee of representatives of many trade unions organised protest meetings and entered into correspondence with socialist parties abroad concerning the preparation of the Congress. 396. Wilhelm Liebknecht's letters of this period are not available. However, Engels' letter to P. Lafargue of 10 April 1889 suggests that Liebknecht must have written to Bernstein. 397. The whereabouts of this letter of Engels is not known but it is apparent from A. Bebel's letter to Engels of 14 April 1889 that he had received the Engels letter. 398. The Workers' Party of Belgium had its congress at Jolimont on 22 April 1889 (see note 405). 399. The newspaper Der Sozialist, the organ of the Socialist Labor Party of North America, carried the article 'Zum Internationalen Kongres in Paris' in its issue of 16 March 1889. 400. In the book series Volks-Bibliothek, with Wilhelm Liebknecht as one of the editors, his son-in-law, Bruno Geiser, published Maximilian Schlesinger^ pamphlet Die soziale Frage, Breslau 1889. In it Schlesinger attempted to 'make a critical revision' of Marxian ideas. Liebknecht did not come forward with an open protest against this work. Subsequently Liebknecht dissociated himself from the book, a fact that made Engels indignant. 401. Living in London, E. Bernstein made regular visits to the Fabian Society meetings at which problems of socialism were being discussed - The Fabian Society, see note 176. 402. The academic socialists (die Kathedersozialisten - literally 'lectern socialists') were representatives of a trend in German political economy in the latter third of the 19th century, a response to the growing working-class movement and the propagation of the ideas of socialism. They used university lecterns {Katheder) to preach bourgeois reformism under the flag of socialism and claimed that the state, the German Reich in particular, was above class, and that with its help the working class would be able to improve its position through social reforms. 403. Le Père Duchesne was a newspaper published at the time of the French
[407] and destitute. The same name was given to newspapers during the revolu-
[410] speak out on behalf of all the French Socialists. 404. Engels refers to Guesdists' blunders that led to the closure of the newspapers Egalité and Socialiste. By 'three Egalités', Engels means a socialist weekly founded by Jules Guesde in 1877 and published on and off in five series until 1883. In 1886 an attempt was made to resume its publication; but only one issue came out, and the publication of the second Egalité was discontinued. By a 'third Egalité', Engels refers to a newspaper appearing in 1889 (see note 355). About Socialiste, see note 234. 405. This refers to a congress of the Workers' Party of Belgium on 22 April 1889 at Jolimont, which decided to send delegates both to the International Working Men's Congress convened by Marxists in Paris and to the congress convened by the Possibilists, contrary to the opinion of the Ghent delegation that opposed the convocation. 406. The whereabouts of this letter is unknown. 407. Apparently Engels means August Bebel's letter of 28 April 1889, about the preparation of the International Socialist Working Men's Congress in Paris and the stand of the German and Dutch Social Democrats with respect to the congress contemplated by the Possibilists. 408. The reference is to the appeal of the German Social Democrats Ignaz Auer and Max Schippel in the German Party press for participation in the Possibilist-sponsored congress. The newspaper Berliner Volks-Tribüne, where Schippel was one of the editors, carried the article 'Zum Pariser Arbeiterkongres' in its issue of 27 April 1889. The Berliner Volksblatt came forward with the article 'Der internationale Arbeiter-kongres', No. 94, 21 April 1889, ppl-2. Speaking of Charles Bonnier's reply to these articles, Engels has in mind his article 'In Sachen des internationalen Arbeiterkongresses' published by the newspaper Berliner Volksblatt, No. 97, 26 April 1889 in its feature Politische Übersicht. 409. Under the conditions of the Anti-Socialist Law (see note 52), the Social Democratic faction in the Reichstag exercised the functions of the party's Executive Board. On 18 May 1889, it issued an appeal to Germany's workmen and urged them to elect their representatives to the International Socialist Workingmen's Congress in Paris, convened by the Marxists. This appeal was published in the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 21, 25 May 1889, p2, {Die sozialdemokratische Fraktion des deutschen Reichstages). 410. The court prosecution of most of the defendants was discontinued due to numerous protests from the workers, and the court proceedings adjourned.
[411] The Elberfeld trial took place in November-December 1889 (see note 569). 411.Wyden (Switzerland) was the venue of the first illegal congress of the
[412] German Social Democrats after the introduction of the Anti-Socialist Law
[415] struggle and staked all on individual terror. The anarchists embarked on an
[417] chist leaders Johann Most and Wilhelm Hasselmann from the party ranks. The congress decided in a unanimous voice to amend the second clause of the party's Programme adopted at Gotha in 1875 - a clause stipulating that the party was to prosecute its aims 'by all legal means' - and strike out the word 'legal'. The newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat was endorsed as the party's official organ. About the St Gallen Congress, see note 174. 412. At the Hague Conference (see note 385) some of the delegates, Ferdinand Nieuwenhuis among them, displayed a conciliatory attitude towards the Possibilists. 413. A reference to the Organising Committee for the Convocation of an International Working Men's Congress. Set up in Paris on the eve of 1889, it included representatives of the Syndicates Federation (Boulé, Besset, Féline, Monceau, Roussel), of a group of socialists - members of the Paris Municipal Council (Longuet, Vaillant, etc.) and of a socialist group from the Chamber of Deputies (Ferroul, Planteau). Paul Lafargue and Besset became its secretaries. 414. The circular was written with P. Lafargue's active participation so as to inform the working-class and socialist organisations of all countries about the decision of the Hague Socialist Conference (February 1889) (see note 385) and about the International Working Men's Congress due on 6 May 1889. Lafargue sent the text of the circular to Engels who approved it and translated it into German. Engels also saw about it being published in English. In German the circular was published, in the Engels translation, by the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat on 11 May and, in Wilhelm Liebknecht's translation, by the newspaper Berliner Volksblatt on 10 May; in English, the text of the circular came cut in the form of a leaflet, published by the newspapers Labour Elector on 18 May and by Reynold's Newspaper on 19 May under the heading 'International Workmen's Congress', as well as by The Commonweal on 25 May. 415. Engels cites an excerpt from August Bebel's letter of 30 April 1889. 416. Engels had received a letter from the workmen of Lyon, but, since the signatures and the address were illegible, he asked Lafargue to transcribe them. 417. The International Working Men's Congress must have used the weekly Socialiste as its official organ. This newspaper came out from 20 April to 14 July 1889 as an organ of the Workers' Party. It carried reports relating to the preparation of the Congress. 418. Engels is referring to the expulsion of two Leftwing members (one of whom
[419] because they were opposed to the Socialist Party forming a bloc with
[420] Venstre, the Danish liberals, who expressed the interests of major landed
[425] Congress. 421. 'A Letter to the Editors' of the newspaper Labour Elector, Vol. I, No. 18,
[426] published on 4 May 1689 and signed by Bonnier, was written by Engels and
[428] the pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889, II, A
[198] abetting the theft of a casket with documents with intent to present them to the court. Lassalle was held in custody till 11 August 1848, when acquitted by the jury. 194. On 22 November 1887, Conrad Schmidt wrote to Engels that he had read with much interest Volume II of Das Kapital; he said if some economic newspaper could accept his article on the Marxian system, he would like to send it to Engels. It must have been Schmidt's work Die Durchschnittsprofitrate auf Grundlage des Marx'schen Werthgesetzes, Stuttgart, 1889. 195. On 3 December 1887, The Commonweal (No. 99) carried an article by Henry Ambrose Barker, 'The Condition of the Working Classes. I', which was a précis of the first chapters of Engels' book The Condition of the Working Class in England; this abstract contained extensive quotations from those chapters. There was no continuation of the article. 196. Engels means Kelley-Wischnewetzky's translation into English of Marx's speech on free trade (see note 162). Asking Engels to write a preface to the American edition of the Marxian speech, Kelley-Wischnewetzky, in her letter of 24 October 1887, wished the preface to contain a critical evaluation of pronouncements made by the American protectionists. 197. The reference is to the resolution of a presidential crisis in France over the exposure of speculatory machinations committed by Daniel Wilson, son-in-law of President Jules Grévy (see note 168). Under public pressure J. P. Grévy had to tender his resignation on 1 December 1887. Nominated as candidates for the presidency were the moderate republicans M. F. Sadi Carnot, Jules EC. Ferry, Charles Louis de Freycinet, among others; the ultra Right nominated Félix Gustave Saussier. Ferry's candidacy elicited sharp protests from left-wing organisations and Paris workers. The Blanquists, headed by Emile Eudes, a former general of the Paris Commune, and Edouard Vaillant, a member of the municipal council, joined hands with the Guesdists (see note 33) and organised several meetings and demonstrations against Ferry's candidature. After the first round of the election Ferry and Freycinet withdrew their candidacies in Marie François Carnot's favour, who was then elected president. 198. Pertaining to the coup attempt of 1877 by Marshall Macmahon, President of the Republic, with the aim of restoring a monarchy in France. Yet
[429] Reply to the 'Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation' (see note 444). 428. After General Boulanger's flight abroad (see note 391J, which actually
[430] amounted to his departure from the political arena of France, Jules Ferry,
[431] one of the leaders of the moderate bourgeois republicans, developed vigor-
[433] here uses an expression from one of P. Lafargue's letters unknown to us. 429. The text of this letter was written on the last page of Laura Lafargue's letter
[434] to Engels of 12 May 1889. L. Lafargue said in her letter she had been unable
[436] coal miners' delegates on 24 May decided to continue the strike action. The
[437] threat of reprisals and the new promises made by mine-owners resulted in
[438] the termination of the strike in the beginning of June. 436. Engels refers to the piece Her Father with the subtitle Time of Trial, writ-
[440] 1,19 May 1889 in the feature Political Men and Matters. Both dealt with the
[174] attended by 79 delegates. The congress discussed the following questions: a
[441] convocation of an International Working Men's Congress in Paris. 438. The reference is to Henry Hyndman's note 'Much Ado About Nothing'
[443] May 1889, in the feature Critical Chronicle. While paying tribute to Paul
[445] Farjat's statement to the effect that, far from voting for the resolution
[8] the Netherlands Supreme Court. The charges were based on two articles by
[446] entrusting the convocation of an International Congress to the Possibilists,
[447] he could not do it for the simple reason that the resolution was never put to
[371] adherents, were executed. The Commune was thereafter abolished. 365. At Fleurus (Belgium) on 26 June 1794, French troops defeated the Austrian
[451] Conference (see note 385) but had announced in advance that they agreed with all of its decisions, unexpectedly refused to send delegates to both congresses. Concerning the two trends in the Danish socialist movement, see note 418. 446. P. Lafargue asked Engels to write to Nikolai Danielson (see Lafargue P., F. Engels, 14 May 1889, Correspondence, Vol. 2, Moscow 1960) and request him to get in touch with the publishers of the Northern Review. In 1889, in its issue No. 4, this journal published the Russian translation of Lafargue's article 'The Machine as a Factor of Progress' (see note 468), the final chapter of his major work Das Proletariat der Handarbeit und Kopfarbeit published by Die Neue Zeit, No. 3, 1888. 447. The reference is to the difficulties in getting the signatures of Russian Socialists to the circular about the convocation of the Paris Congress (see note 432). Lafargue had approached Pyotr Lavrov, with whom he was acquainted, on the matter. Lavrov declined at first by saying that, not being a representative of any particular revolutionary organisation in Russia, he was not entitled to sign. Subsequently he was authorised to do this. However, by that time Sergei Stepniak-Kravchinsky, Vera Zasulich, Pavel Axelrod and Georgy Plekhanov had given their consent. 448. The National Labour Electoral Association - a trade union organisation that succeeded, in 1887, to the Labour Electoral Committee; its aim was to have workmen being elected to Parliament and municipal councils. 449. The expression 'music of the future' gained popularity with the publication, in 1861, of Richard Wagner's letter to Frédéric Villot, the custodian of French museums, under the title: 'Zukunftsmusik. An einen französischen Freund' ('Music of the Future. To a French Friend'). 450. A reference to the pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889, II, A Reply to the 'Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation', London 1889. Its original version was written by Eduard Bernstein on Engels' initiative in connection with the campaign waged by the leadership of the Social Democratic Federation (see note 62) in support of a Congress convened by the Possibilists in Paris, with the aim of preventing the success of an International Socialist Workingmen's Congress which the Marxists were to hold. This work was edited by Engels and published as a pamphlet in English. 451. The reference is to the elected council of the London County in charge of taxes, local budget, etc. All persons entitled to take part in parliamentary
[452] elections were eligible to elect county councillors as well as women 30 years
[454] August 1888. 452. The section of the Social Democratic Federation in Battersea; affiliated with
[178] by the government in the social sphere, the party's policy at the last election and at the election to come, the convocation of an international socialist congress, and the attitude to the anarchists. It was stressed in the congress resolutions that in its parliamentary activities, the party was to concentrate on the critique of the government and on the agitation for the principles of Social Democracy; Bismarck's social policies, it was said, had nothing in common with the genuine concern for working people's needs. It was also pointed out that anarchist views were incompatible with the socialist programme. The congress passed a decision to convene an international labour congress in 1888 to consider labour legislation. Most of the delegates upheld the party's revolutionary wing, led by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht. The leaders of the opportunist wing found themselves in relative isolation. 175. Home Rule - this refers to the struggle for Irish self government from the 1870s to the beginning of the 20th century. Although Home Rule provided for an Irish parliament and national bodies of administration, it envisaged supreme power being vested with the British cabinet which retained the administration of foreign, military and customs affairs. 176. The British Fabian Society was founded by democratic minded intellectuals in 1884. This society was named after the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus (3rd century B.C.), who was named Cunctator ('the delayer') from his cautious tactics in the war against Hannibal. Playing the leading part in it were Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Bernard Shaw and others. Local organisations of the Fabian society sometimes included working-class members. Rejecting notions of militant class struggle and the revolution, the Fabians believed it was possible to move from capitalism to socialism by means of reforms implemented within the framework of a municipal socialism. 177. Engels wrote this letter on a post card. He indicated the address on the back - F. A. Sorge Esq., Rochester N.Y., U.S. America. 178. The German Social Democrat Congress held at St. Gallen adopted a decision (along with other resolutions (see note 174)) on convening an international labour congress to consider the issue of labour legislation. Almost simultaneously, a similar decision was passed by the British Trades Unions Congress (see note 165). The trade unions convened their congress in London in November 1888; the German Social Democrats abandoned their
[456] most representative forum of the International Working Men's Association; taking part were 65 delegates from 15 countries. The Congress reviewed the results of the struggle against the Bakunin anarchists within the International and outlined a programme of action under new conditions obtaining after the Paris Commune. The main decision of the Congress was the endorsement of Resolution IX of the London Conference of 1871 on the political action of the working class, summed up as Article 7a of the General Rules of the International. The Congress also adopted a number of resolutions designed to strengthen the organisational structure of the Workingmen's Association. The anarchist leaders, Mikhail Bakunin and James Guillaume, were expelled from the International Working Men's Association. After the Congress, Bakunin and his supporters openly opposed its resolutions, a move that resulted in an actual split of the International. 454. A reference to the congress of the Bakuninist Jura Federation in Sonvillier on 12 November 1871, which adopted the Circulaire à toutes les fédérations de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs. The Sonvillier circular countered the decisions of the London Conference of the International with anarchist dogmas on political indifferentism and complete autonomy of sections; it also calumniated the General Council of the International. The Bakuninists suggested that all federations should demand an immediate congress to revise the General Rules of the International and to condemn the General Council's actions. About the Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation, see note 444. 455. Engels alludes to the split within the International Working Men's Association following the Hague Congress of the First International (see note 453). In 1873 the anarchists convened their congress in Geneva which set the stage for an international association of anarchists - an organisation which they would describe as a genuine International Working Men's Association. 456. Pertaining to C. Schmidt's letter to F. Engels of 15 April 1889. Seeking a publisher for his work Die Durchschnittsprofitrate auf Grundlage des Marx'sehen Werthgesetzes; C. Schmidt asked to send him F. Lassalle's book Der Criminal-Prozeß wider mich wegen Verleitung zum Cassetten-Diebstahl oder: Die Anklage der moralischen Mitschuld, Köln, 1848. Schmidt thanked Engels who had offered him to give letters of recommen-dation to A. Bebel and W. Liebknecht. 457. Engels must have meant representatives of the bourgeois opposition of the
[193] request to clarify some 'mysterious innuendoes' made in Heine's letter to
[457] latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, particularly, the
[458] Russian liberal gentry who were playing a significant part in the zemstvos.
[459] These liberals exhibited much moderation, lack of will and loyalty toward
[460] the tsarist autocracy, and sought to come to terms with tsarism through
[448] the vote. 445. Pertaining to the collection of signatures to the circular for the convocation
[461] petty reforms. Zemstvos were bodies of restricted local self-government
[462] introduced in Russia in 1864. 458. On 16 June 1889, August Bebel notified Engels about the receipt of his
[463] letter. The whereabouts of the Engels letter is unknown. 459. In his article 'The International Workers' Congress and the Marxist Clique',
[464] Henry Hyndman claimed that the signatures of W. Parnell and S.M.
[467] Times and Tribune on the occasion of the International Socialist Congress
[468] (see P. Lafargue's letter to F. Engels of 2 June 1889). 462. Apparently, pertaining to P. Lafargue's letter to F. Engels of 18 June, 1889,
[469] in a reply to F. Engels' letter of 15 June. 463. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a federation of labour unions of the United States and Canada, founded in December 1886. The AFL comprised skilled workers by and large, unionised in keeping with the shop principle. In the initial stage of its activity, the AFL had a positive role to play in rallying American workingmen and in the struggle for a law on an eight-hour workday. 464. P. Lafargue asked Engels how true it was that Jean Lavy, a Possibilist delegate elected by school teachers to the London Congress of Trade Unions in November 1888, had not been admitted on account of his being a manual worker. 465. In September 1889 an election to the chamber of Deputies was to be held in France. P. Lafargue suggested nominating his candidacy in the 5th arrondissement of Paris and at Avignon; however, a tentative enquiry showed he would be blackballed. Therefore Lafargue tried to nominate his candidature in the provinces: in Marseilles, Cette and elsewhere, but he suffered a defeat by polling only 6.26 per cent of the votes. 466. W. Parnell's letter was published in the Labour Elector, Vol. 1, No. 25, on 22 June 1889 (about the National Labour Electoral Association, see note 448). 467. The whereabouts of these letters of Engels is not known. 468. Nikolai Danielson must have referred to articles by P. Lafargue and K. Kautsky published in 1889 in the Russian journal Northern Review. 469. On 27 March (8 April) 1889, Nikolai Danielson informed Engels that Hermann Lopatin, gravely ill a few months before, had made a recovery and was in good health at the moment. 470. The whereabouts of the letter is not known. 471. Writing to F. Engels on 2 July 1889, P. Laf argue told him he met at Epernay,
[470] in the champagne-producing district, a large number of revolutionary
[471] socialist winegrowers, small growers completely ruined by the big cham-
[472] pagne manufactures. 472 In these letters P. Martignetti told F. Engels about the outcome of the court
[474] translation and circulation of F. Engels' works in Italy. Martignetti said he
[475] would leave for Buenos Aires if the sentence was endorsed (see note 230). 473. The International (Socialist) Working Men's Congress was in session in Paris
[477] Nationalist, as well as about attempts of Mr and Mrs Wischnewetzky to
[479] ers from the Social Democratic Federation (see note 62), to discredit the
[480] International Working Men's Congress held by the Socialists (see note 473).
[481] Only a few foreign delegates attended the Possibilists Congress held in
[482] Paris at the same time as the International Working Men's Congress; the
[483] representation of most of its delegates was of a purely fictitious nature. 479. On 18 March 1876, Ferdinand Lingenau, a German socialist who had
[484] emigrated to the United States, bequeathed about $7,000 to the Socialist
[485] Workers' Party of Germany, naming August Bebel, Johann Philipp Becker, Wilhelm Bracke, August Geib, Wilhelm Liebknecht and Karl Marx as executors. Upon Lingenau's death in the United States on 4 August 1877, his executors tried to act on his will and have the above sum placed at the party's disposal. Bismarck succeeded in preventing this. 480. Gustave Brocher appealed to Engels and asked for material assistance for V. Smirnov. 481. The reference is to two letters from Sorge in which he confirmed the receipt of the newspapers sent to him by Engels. They reported on a denial, sent to Schlüter, of the assertion of the newspaper New-Yorker Volkszeitung about the alleged presence of Engels at the Paris Congress, as well as a denial of the report carried by The Evening News and Post on Lev Hartman's trip to Europe (see note 476). 482. The Liberal-Unionists were a J. Chamberlain-led group which in July 1886 broke away from the Liberal Party, because of differences over the draft of Home Rule legislation (April 1886) tabled by the Liberal government for Ireland which provided for a restoration of the autonomous bicameral parliament, with the British government continuing its control over the Irish economy. The Liberal-Unionists came out for the preservation of the Anglo-Irish union which had been in existence from 1801. They made common cause with the Conservative Party and officially joined it several years later. 483. By 'Tory-Socialists' Engels meant the left wing of the Conservative Party; this faction comprised mainly representatives of the big industrial bourgeoisie and intellectuals (men-of-letters, lawyers, etc). 484. In August 1889 the Labour Elector published material on the forthcoming Trades Union Congress at Dundee; its agenda included issues of labour legislation, specifically, a law on an 8-hour working day. 485. Engels referred to events of the 1880s, in particular the arbitrary actions of the Turkish authorities with regard to the Armenian population. A special government commission (Commission of Inquiry) which was dispatched there suggested that victims of the reprisals should go to Constantinople
[486] (Istanbul) to have the conflict settled. However, the Turkish courts failed to
[9] Nieuwenhuis published anonymously in the newspaper Recht voor Allen.
[490] the island. The Russian government sent a message to Turkey in which it demanded action on her commitments with respect to the ethnic groups and nationalities inhabiting that country To restore order, the Turkish government sent Shakir Pasha, a former Turkish ambassador to Russia, as a new ruler of Crete. The bloodshed between the Muslim and Christian communities on the island continued till December 1889. About the Anglo-Prussian union, see note 349. 486. An allusion to Wilhelm Liebknecht's trip to the United States for agitation purposes, which he undertook with Eleanor Marx-Aveling and Edward Aveling in September-December 1886 (see note 3). 487. A fragment of this letter was first published in English in the collection Marx K, Engels F. On Britain, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1953, pp520-21. An excerpt from this letter was first published by the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat on 31 August 1889, as a leading article entitled "Der Streik der 'Unqualifizierten'". 488. A reference to P. Fischer's letters to F. Engels of 21 and 31 August in which he asked Engels* permission to translate into German - for the weekly Berliner Volk-Tribune - the article 'Book of Revelation' (see present edition, Vol. 26) which Engels had written for the journal Progress; Fischer also asked to mention the collection in Mannheimer Abendzeitung which had published Marx's article 'Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction' (see present edition, Vol. 1). 489. The strike of the London dockers from 12 August to 14 September 1889 was a major event in the chronicle of the British labour movement of the late 19th century. It involved thirty thousand dockers and over thirty thousand - largely unskilled - workers of other trades not affiliated with the trade unions. Displaying tenacity and organisation, the strikers succeeded in their demands for higher wages and better working conditions. The strike contributed to stronger proletarian solidarity (with about £50,000 being donated to the strike fund) and promoted working-class solidarity. It gave rise to the dockers' union and other trade union organisations uniting a large number of general and unskilled workmen; the 'new trade unions' emerged as a result. The text of the excerpts from this letter coincides with some passages from a series of articles by E. Bernstein in the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat (No. 35, 31 August, No. 36, 7 September and No. 37, 14 September 1889) on the London dockers' strike; these articles were written on F. Engels' advice. 490. As a result of their strike action Quly 1889), the working women of London's match-making factories won their demands for higher wages. 491. On 8 February 1886, supporters of the protectionist tariffs held a rally in
[491] Trafalgar Square. Taking part were also trade union activists of pro-
[492] Conservative leanings (S. Peters, T.M. Kelley, W. Kenny and T. Lemon,
[95] quit-rent for the use of land. It was not until 28 December 1881 that a law
[496] Conservatives for protectionist tariffs. The demonstration was joined by
[211] Règlement as a symbol of feudal stagnation. Reimposed in 1849 during the
[498] ing shops. Subsequently the police arrested the federation leaders Henry
[499] Hyndman, John Burns, Henry Champion and John Williams on charges of inciting riot in their speeches. The court acquitted all the men on 10 April. 492. Engels cites words from the German folk song Prinz Eugen, der adle Ritter. 493. An excerpt from this letter was first published in French by the journal La Pensée, No. 61, 1955. In English the text of this letter was first published in full by Labour Monthly, London, 1955, No. 8. 494. Engels refers to the group of Blanquists led by E. Roche and E. Granget that gave open support to General Boulanger. 495. Engels cites the name of V. Hugo's novel Les misérables. 496. The Russian Empress Maria Fyodorovna (wife of emperor Alexander III and mother of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II) was a daughter of the Danish King Christian IX. Her brother Waldemar was married to Louis Philippe's granddaughter, Maria, the Princess of Orléans. 497. A reference to the fourth German-language edition of Volume I of Capital (Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Oekonomie. Von Karl Marx. Erster Band. Buch I: Der Produktionsprocess des Kapitals. Vierte durchgesehene Auflage. Herausgegeben von Friedrich Engels. Hamburg, Verlag von Otto Meissner. Druck von Hesse & Becker in Leipzig, 1890), prepared for the press by F. Engels. The book came out late in 1890. In a preface to this edition and also in his letter to Nikolai Danielson of 5 December 1889, Engels pointed to the amendments made in the text of the third edition (two or three new additions from the French edition, a few notes of his own -one on bimetallism in particular; the quotations were collated with the English edition). 498. Engels alludes to his vacation at Eastbourne from 8 August to 6 September 1889. 499. Another regular Trades Union Congress took place in Dundee (Scotland) at the beginning of September 1889. Both the preparatory stage and the very course of the Congress mirrored the struggle between the old Conservative leadership with Henry Broadhurst at the head (see note 269) and representatives of the new trade unions with broad masses of general and unskilled workers as members. One of the main issues discussed at the Congress related to a legislative enactment of an eight-hour working day. However, the absence of some of the leaders or the new trade unions, because of the
[500] dockers' strike in London (see note 489), had a negative effect on the over-
[502] down by 88 votes against 63. Broadhurst and the old leadership managed to
[504] of the protagonists of the law proved correct: at its next session in Liverpool in September 1890, the Trades Union Congress adopted a resolution in favour of an enactment of an eight-hour working day. 500. Pertaining to the electoral reforms of 1867 and 1884 in England. According to the reform of 1867, in towns the right to vote was granted to house owners and house leaseholders, as well as to tenants with a residence record of not less than a year and paying the rent of not less than £10. In counties the property qualification was reduced to £12 rent per annum, which enabled some of the industrial workers to obtain voting rights. The electoral reform of 1884 extended the provisions of the 1867 reform to rural districts. Consequently, part of the rural population became eligible. Both reforms notwithstanding, the number of voters was only 13 per cent of the entire population. Suffrage was denied to non property owners and women. 501. The reference is to the changes within the Executive of the Socialist Labor Party of North America (note 3) that had occurred as of September 1889; these changes reflected the factional struggle in the party ranks. National Secretary W. Rosenberg and several members of the Executive were removed from the leadership. A sequel to the ensuing split was the holding of two separate conventions in Chicago. The convention of 12 October 1889, held by a group of party members who had rallied around the newspaper New Yorker Volkszeitung, adopted a new party programme that reflected the views of its progressive wing. 502. George J. Harney's article 'The Revolt of the East End' was published by the newspaper Newcastle Weekly Chronicle on 26 September 1889. Excerpts from this article were published by the newspaper Labour Elector, Vol. II, No. 38, on 28 September 1889, p203, in an editorial note 'A Voice from the Past'. 503. Engels compares the Fabians (see note 176) to the 'Nationalists', representatives of a social movement that emerged in the United States late in the 1880s. 'Nationalist clubs' sprung up with the appearance of Edward Bellamy's Utopia Looking Backward. The first such club was set up in Boston in 1881; in 1891, the total number exceeded 160. Representatives of the urban middle class constituted the bulk of the membership in these propagandistic clubs. The 'Nationalists' set the aim of ridding society of the worst evils of capitalism through nationalisation of production and distribution; they advocated a peaceful development of capitalism into socialism. The nationalist movement had some impact on the further course of socialist thought in the United states. 504. An excerpt from this letter was first published in French by the journal La
[505] Pensée, No. 61,1955. About the full text of the English publication, see note 87. 505. During the International Socialist Working Men's Congress in Paris (see
[506] note 473) 206 French delegates held two separate conferences; this led to the
[507] formation of the National Council of the French Workers' Party (see note
[508] 33). Elected to the Council were Camescasse, Crépin, Dereure, Deville,
[509] Guesde, Lafargue and Laine for the practical guidance of the party. The next
[511] October 1890, finalised the set-up and the functions of the Council. The
[512] report on the setting up of the National Council, referred to by Engels, was published in the Labour Elector, No. 38, on 28 September 1889, under the headline 'Foreign Notes: France', pi98. 506. The whereabouts of this letter is unknown. It must have been written on 24 September 1889. On 27 September A. Bebel wrote the following in reply: 'At the moment the proposal is put to the vote whether we should give money for the French election or not. It is also my opinion that the 'money should certainly be assigned for Guesde's election if the proposal is endorsed. I have clearly stated that'. It was said in P. Lafargue's letter to F. Engels of 7 October 1889, that A. Bebel, on a commission from the party leadership, had sent 500 francs for Guesde, and 610 francs for Lafargue. 507. During the International Socialist Working Men's Congress in July 1889 the German delegates passed 1000 francs to the French delegates as relief for the families of disaster victims at one of the mines of Saint-Etienne. 508. This article by Charles Jaclard - which he wrote for his weekly feature in the newspaper La Voix and which he entitled 'Lundis socialistes' - was published on 30 September 1889. 509. A reference to the forthcoming second round of the general and parliamentary election of 1889. The candidates mentioned by Engels gained a majority of votes in the first round and thus were eligible to run in the second. 510. Refers to the unification at Gotha in 1875 of the Social Democratic Workers' Party set up in 1869 (the Eisenach party) and of the Lassallean General Association of German Workers founded in 1863. The party programme, adopted by the Gotha congress, incorporated as its essential part some of the ideas of the Lassallean agitation concept, a fact that elicited sharp criticism from Marx and Engels. 511. The battle of Austerlitz (Moravia) on 2 December 1805, between the Russo-Austrian and French armies, was won by Napoleon I. 512. W. Liebknecht, while in Paris in September 1889, asked Engels to write to A. Bebel and ask him about monetary aid to the French Workers' Party in connection with the forthcoming parliamentary elections. W. Liebknecht received the necessary information from P. Lafargue in his letter of 10 August 1889. On 28 September the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat (no. 39) in its editorial on the French elections carried reports from Paris calling on
[513] the German Socialists to display internationalist solidarity and help the
[514] French Socialists in securing Guesde's election to the Chamber of Deputies. 513. W. Liebknecht 's statement concerning the publication of M. Schlesinger's
[35] author alleged that Marx's economic theory was 'not original'. Some of
[516] prompted by the article 'Ein sozialdemokratischer Antimarxist' published by
[17] of French troops on the German border. On 25 January the semi-official
[518] statement of 27 September, Liebknecht wrote that the Volksbibliothek had no connection 'with the Social Democratic Party and its Reichstag faction' and that the printing of Schlesinger's book was undertaken without his consent. Liebknecht 's statement was published in the newspapers Berliner Volksblatt on 29 September and Der Sozialdemokrat on 5 October 1889. Carried simultaneously with this statement was one made by A. Bebel on 19 September 1889, refuting the assertion of Die Kreuz-Zeitung about the connections of the Volksbibliothek with the Social Democratic faction in the Reichstag and about Schlesinger's membership in the Social Democratic Party. 514. At the general election of 22 September 1889, Georges Boulanger was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Montmartre constituency of Paris. Yet his election, as well as that of his close associates, Victor Rochefort and Dillon, was overruled by the Minister of the Interior E. Constant on the grounds of all the men having been convicted, in absentia, by the Supreme Court and sentenced to banishment (see note 391). The Possibilist Jules Joffrin therefore became deputy in Boulanger's place -Joffrin polled the second largest number of votes, 5,500, in the Montmartre constituency (after Boulanger). 515. An allusion to P. Lafargue's pamphlet of the same name, published by Égalité in 1880 and appearing in a separate edition in 1833; Le droit a la paresse. Réfutation du Droit au Travail de 1848, Paris. 516. The bourgeois republican Jules Ferry, nominated from the department of Vosges, suffered an electoral defeat. Engels mentions an article in The Daily News of 8 October 1889, published under the title 'The French Elections. Composition of the New Chamber'. 517. 'The Satisfied' ('Les satisfaits') - the reactionary majority of the French Chamber of Deputies that backed the Guizot government on the eve of the 1848 Revolution. They were called this after saying they were 'satisfied' with the government explanations of corruption among the ruling quarters. This issue was discussed at the Chamber of Deputies in February 1848. 518. Engels referred to the Rue Poitiers Committee, the steering body of a 'Party of Order' which was formed in 1848 as a coalition of two monarchist groups: the Legitimists (adherents of the Bourbon dynasty) and the Orléanists (adherents of the Orléans dynasty). Representing the interests of the big conservative bourgeoisie, this party held a dominating position in the legislative assembly of the Second Republic from 1849 down to the coup d'état of 2 December 1851. 519. Engels wrote these lines on a post card. On the back was the address: F.A.
[520] note 343. 520. A reference to a polemic between Friedrich Sorge and Daniel de Leon who
[521] shared the views of the 'Nationalists' at the time (see note 503). 521. A reference to the unsigned article in the newspaper Justice, no. 300 of 12
[523] Elections', p3, col. III-IV. 522. A fragment from this letter was first published in English in the collection
[524] Marx K., Engels F., Lenin V. I., Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism, Int.
[525] Publ., New York, 1972, pi79. 523. On 19 October 1889, Max Hildebrand wrote to Engels that he had, for
[526] more than 15 years, been interested in Europe's democratic movement.
[527] Accordingly, he had studied a number of works, among which of particular
[528] interest to him was Max Stirner's book Der Einzige und Sein Eigenthum.
[529] Hildebrand asked Engels for some information on Stirner's life and suggested that he, Engels, write historical biographies of thinkers representing different ideological trends, provided no such biographies had been written before. 524. As a student of Berlin University, Marx lived in Berlin from the latter half of October 1836 to mid April 1841. 525. Engels refers to his stay in Manchester in 1842-44 where he was studying commercial business at the cotton mill belonging to the firm Ermen & Engels (see note 9). 526. Marx lived in Brussels from February 1845 to the beginning of March 1848 when he was expelled by the Belgian authorities. Engels lived in Brussels, on and off, from early April 1845 to the latter half of March 1848. 527. A critique of Stirner's views was made in Volume I of The German Ideology, in Chapter III entitled 'Saint Max' (see present edition, Vol. 5, ppl 17-451). 528. Engels replies to Hildebrand's suggestion to write the history of the period preceding the Revolution of 1848-49 in Germany. As Hildebrand observed in his letter, Engels was perhaps the only person capable of tackling such a work (see this volume, note 523). 529. O.A. Ellissen, who intended to write a book about Friedrich Lange, had found Engels' letters in his personal archives. He therefore asked Engels to give him Lange's letters (addressed to Engels) and allow him to use their correspondence in his book. Engels made the following marginal notes on Ellissen's letter, 'The letters are out of order and cannot be made available before the completion, next spring, of Vol. Ill; then they will be at your disposal. They may be reproduced in full or in part - in the latter case I beg you to give the respective excerpts in their total context'. Einbeck, Okt. 89. Dr O. A. Ellissen wegen Langes Briefe. 530. The reference is to the slogan 'Fatherland in Danger' ('La patrie en danger')
[53] No. 2, London, 1934 and, in full, in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Letters
[531] the French Revolution of the late 18th century. The Assembly issued an
[532] appeal to the army and the French people in which it called on everybody
[533] to rise in the struggle for liberty and Constitution. 531. The Communist League was the first German and international organisa-
[534] tion of the proletariat, and was formed under the leadership of Marx and Engels in London early in June 1847, as a result of the reorganisation of the League of the Just (a secret association of workers and artisans that appeared in the 1830s and had communities in Germany, France, Switzerland and England). The League's members took an active part in the bourgeois-democratic revolution in Germany in 1848-49. In 1849 and 1850, after the defeat or the revolution, the League was reorganised and thus continued its activities. In the summer of 1850 disagreements arose between the supporters of Marx and Engels and the sectarian Willich-Schapper group, which resulted in a split within the league. Owing to police persecu-tions and arrests of League members in May 1851, the Communist League as an organisation actually ceased its activities in Germany. On 17 November 1852, on a motion from Marx, the London District announced the dissolution of the League. 532. On 3 March 1848, a mass demonstration took place in Cologne, called by the local representatives of the Communist League. On behalf of all those taking part, Andreas Gottschalk handed a petition to the town magistrate with demands for democratic freedom and for protection of working men's rights. The police dispersed this demonstration; A. Gottschalk, Willich and F. Anneke were arrested and brought to trial. However, under a royal pardon, the three men were released from custody on 21 March 1848. 533. On 26 October 1889, W. Liebknecht wrote to Engels and asked if he knew when A. Gottschalk could have made the following statement: T am here on behalf of 20,000 proletarians who do not care at all whether we have a republic or a monarchy'. 534. The Cologne Workers' Association was a workers' organisation founded by Andreas Gottschalk on 13 April 1848. The Association was led by the President and the committee, which consisted of representatives of various trades. After Gottschalk's arrest Moll was elected President. He held this post till a state of siege was proclaimed in Cologne in September 1848, when he had to emigrate under threat of arrest. On 16 October Marx agreed to assume this post temporarily at the request of Association members. In November Röser became acting President and on 28 February 1849, Schapper was elected President and remained at this post until the end of May 1849. The majority of the leading members (Gottschalk, Anneke, Schapper, Moll, Lessner, Jansen, Röser, Nothjung, Bedorf) were members of the Communist League. During the initial period of its existence, the
[535] Workers' Association was influenced by Gottschalk who, sharing many of
[537] tariat in the democratic revolution, carried on the sectarian tactics of
[33] Boston, Baltimore and Milwaukee). In Chicago, up to 65,000 struck in the
[538] boycotting indirect elections to the Federal and Prussian National
[539] Assemblies, and came out against supporting democratic candidates in elec-
[540] tions. He combined ultra-left phrases with very legalistic methods of struggle (workers' petitions to the Government and the City Council, etc.) and supported the demands of the workers affected by craft prejudices, etc. From the very beginning, Gottschalk's tactics were resisted by the supporters of Marx and Engels. Under their influence, at the end of June a change occurred in the activities of the Workers' Association, which became a centre of revolutionary agitation from the autumn of 1848 onwards, also among the peasants. Members of the Association organised democratic and workers' associations near Cologne, disseminated revolutionary literature, including the 'Demands of the Communist Party in Germany', and studied Marx's writings. The Association maintained close contacts with other workers' and democratic organisations. When, in the spring of 1849, Marx and Engels took steps to organise the advanced workers on a national scale and actually started preparing for the creation of a proletarian party, they relied to a considerable extent on the Cologne Workers' Association. 535. On 26 October 1889, W. Liebknecht informed Engels that he had declined to take part in the publication of the Volksbibliothek (see note 400), a move that incurred significant material losses. 536. This is in reply to P. Martignetti's letter of 30 October 1889, in which he wrote about the sentence passed on him by the Naples court for alleged forgery and destruction of documents, as well as for alleged misappropria-tion of a sum which, at various stages of the court proceedings, ranged from 15 thousand to 500 liras. Martignetti, sentenced to a prison term of 3 years and 9 months, asked Engels for help in job finding and for advice on what to do under the circumstances - either emigrate and part with his family, or serve his prison term. 537. In his letter of 17 October 1889, A. Bebel criticised the French Socialists for their poor propaganda and organisational work. 538. A reference to the National Council in Bordeaux and the Executive Commission in Troyes, set up in 1888 at a labour unions congress in Bordeaux and at a Workers' Party Congress in Troyes, respectively (see notes 329; 331). 539. During the election campaign of September 1889 the French Workers' Party and the Central Revolutionary Committee of the Blanquists (see note 33) issued a joined manifesto, signed by Guesde, Lafargue and Vaillant and circulated in more than 100 towns. 540. On the eve of the parliamentary election of 1889, E. Protot mounted a campaign of slander against J. Guesde in Marseilles with the aim of prevent-
[541] ing him from being elected to the Chamber of Deputies. Protot accused
[542] Guesde of espionage for the German Government: he claimed that in 1879,
[543] as editor-in-chief of the newspaper Égalité, Guesde had received 4 thousand
[544] francs from Höhberg, allegedly the chief of the German police. Sued by
[545] Guesde for libel, Protot was sentenced to a fine. Under the court decision,
[546] Marseilles and Paris newspapers carried a report about the sentence. 541. P. Lafargue wrote to Engels in his letter of 4 November 1889, about the plan
[548] Council; this initiative came from J. Guesde, E. Vaillant, G. Deville and P. Lafargue. He said that if this plan came off, the parliamentary faction should issue a declaration, stating its independent and socialist stand and setting the objective of inducing the Chamber of Deputies to give a legal seal to the decisions of the International Working Men's Congress of 1889. The unification of the Guesdists and the Blanquists into the Socialist Party of France took body and form at the Rheims Congress of September 1903. 542. In his letter of 17 October 1889, A. Bebel told Engels about I. Auer's nervous disease and his stay at Zurich for treatment. The newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat (19 October, No. 42) reported Auer's plans to move south after treatment. In Switzerland Auer had been collecting documents on the subject 'The Law on the Socialists in Ten Years' Time'. 543. The reference is to the letter of J.H. Johnson and G.B. Ellis to F. Engels of 7 November 1889, in which they requested him for the opinions of the passengers aboard the steamship The City of New York about the perfor-mance of the ship's circulating pumps. 544. Mr Boulé, representing the French syndicats, was running as a Socialist candidate at the by election in Paris in January 1889; thereupon, at a municipal election in the department of Haute Marne, he nominated his candidacy as a Boulanger supporter. As a result, he forfeited his post of Secretary of the Federation of Syndical Chambers in Paris in the autumn of 1889. The newspaper Le Parti ouvrier exposed Boulé in J. Vidal's article 'Exécution d'un traître' published on 26 October. The newspaper Intransigeant on 29 October carried E. Roche's article in Boulé's defence and, on 2, 3 and 5 November it featured a series of Boulé's articles on the port workers' strike at Bourget. 545. Probably a reference to Le Cri du Travailleur (Lisle), Le Salariat (Rouen) and L'Action sociale (Lyon). 546. Engels had received from Lafargue an article by C. de Paepe; published by the Belgian press, it contained a report on Nikolai Chernyshevsky's death. 547. Laura Lafargue made a translation of Béranger's poem Le Sénateur. Laura added a postscript to Paul Lafargue's letter to Engels of 4 November 1889 in which she asked for his opinion about the quality of the translation. 548. In her letter of 14 November 1889, Laura Lafargue told Engels about the reaction of the French bourgeois press to Christophe Thivrier, a coal miner,
[550] Socialists. 549. In September-December 1889, there was a strike in Silvertown, a district in
[551] London's East End, by workers engaged in the production of underwater
[552] cables and rubber articles. The strikers, about three thousand strong,
[553] demanded higher pay rates (both hourly and piecework rates), higher pay
[555] dren. Eleanor Marx-Aveling was actively involved in the organisation of
[556] this strike, during which she helped form the Women's Branch of the Gas
[557] Union. The strike, which continued for nearly three months, ended in fail-
[558] ure: the Silvertown workers were supported by other unions, notably the Gas Workers and the Dockers unions. 550. A reference to the siege of Paris by the Prussian army during the Prusso-French War of 1870-71. The siege was on from 19 September 1870 to the signing of an armistice between France and Germany on 28 January 1871. 551. An allusion to the electoral campaign of September-October 1889 in France. Jules Guesde was running for the Chamber of Deputies as a candidate from one of the constituencies in Marseilles but failed to be elected (see also note 465). 552. Engels cites a call to the voters at the end of the Manifesto of the French Workers' Party (see note 33) and the Central Revolutionary Committee of the Blanquists (see note 539). 553. In his letter of 23 October 1889, P. Martignetti asked Engels to recommend him, through P. Lafargue's mediation, to Antonio Labriola. Engels' letter to P. Lafargue is not available now. 554. An abridged text of the letter was first published in English in Marx K. and Engels F., Correspondence, 1846-1895, Lawrence, London 1934, pp457-58. The English version of this letter was published in full in Marx K. and Engels F., Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow 1955, pp405-407. 555. 9th Thermidor (27-28 July 1794) was the date of a counterrevolutionary coup which brought the big bourgeoisie to power. About the events of 10 August 1792, see note 363. 556. Le Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety) was established by the Convention on 6 April 1793; during the Jacobin dictatorship (2 June 1793-27 July 1794) it was the leading body of the revolutionary government in France. 557. The Peace of Basle was concluded on 5 April 1795 between France and Prussia, the latter being a member of the first anti-French coalition. This treaty came as a consequence of the French victories as well as of the differences among the members of the coalition, in particular between Prussia and Austria. 558. The Directory was the regime established in France as a result of the over-
[560] introduction, on 4 November 1795, by the Thermidor Convention, of a
[561] new anti-democratic constitution. Supreme executive power was concen-
[562] trated in the hands of five Directors. The Directory, whose rule was marked
[563] by unrestrained profiteering and speculation, continued until the coup
[564] d'état of 9 November (18 Brumaire) 1799 leading to the personal rule of
[565] General Napoleon Bonaparte. 559. K.F. Keppen's article 'Leo's Geschichte der Revolution' was published in
[175] report of the Reichstag faction of the party, the activity of Social
[566] Die Rheinische Zeitung (Nos. 139, 141 and 142) on 21 and 22 May 1842. 560. The whereabouts of this letter is not known. 561. Engels received N. Danielson's letter of 26 November in which N.
[567] Danielson summed up the gist of the letter sent by the editors of the Russian
[568] journal Northern Review to P. Lafargue concerning the intended publication in it of P. Lafargue's article about the evolution of property. 562. Karl Marx Capital Part I, Ch. Ill, 'Money, Or the Circulation of commodi-ties', Section 3, Universal Money. 563. The English translation of a fragment of this letter was first published in Marx K. and Engels F., Correspondence 1846-1895, London, 1934, pp460-62. 564. In these letters F. Sorge aired his views about the split within the Socialist Labor Party of North America. 565. The Gas Workers' and General Labourers' Union was the first trade union of general and unskilled workers in the history of the British working-class movement; it was formed late in March - early in April 1889 against the background of the growing strike movement of the 1880s and 1890s. Eleanor Marx-Aveling and E. Aveling did much for the organisation of this union and for its guidance. The Union put forward a demand for a legislative enactment of an eight-hour working day. Within a brief space of time, it gained considerable influence - as many as 100,000 gas workers joined it within a year. It took an active part in organising the London dockers' strike of 1889 (see note 489). 566. A reference to P. Rappaport's article in the newspaper Indiana Tribune, sent to Engels by F. Sorge. 567. Hepner participated in the work of the conventions held by two conflicting groups within the Socialist Labor Party of North America in Chicago (see note 3). Sorge remarked in this connection in his letter to Engels of 18 October 1889, that 'Hepner wanted to play a non-partisan's part and went to Chicago to attend both conventions so-called'. 568. Writing to Engels on 29 October 1889, Sorge asked if he knew about the fate of a list of Marx's articles in the New York Daily Tribune which he, Sorge, had given to Marx in 1872, as well as of the clippings from the corresponding numbers of the paper. The list of Marx's articles for the Tribune had been compiled by Hermann Meier; Sorge had handed it to Marx during their meeting at the Hague Congress of the First International. 569. The Elberfeld trial of members of the German Social Democratic Party took
[81] the book in America. On 8 February 1886 the Executive of the Socialist
[571] Schumacher, K. Grillenberger and E. Röllinghoff. The aim of this put-up
[572] trial - which the Social Democratic press described as a Monster trial and
[573] compared to the Cologne trial of the Communist League of 1853, staged by
[45] any other candidate, at the 1885 parliamentary election and was called 'le
[574] the Prussian police - was to prove the existence of a 'secret alliance' led by the Social Democratic faction of the Reichstag with a far-flung network throughout Germany. About 500 witnesses were summoned to testify. However, the government failed in its attempt to have all the defendants convicted. Forty-three, A. Bebel among them, were acquitted, while the others received prison terms ranging from 14 days to 6 months. 570. The English translation of a fragment of this letter was first published in Marx K., Engels F., On Literature and Art, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1984. 571. A fragment of this letter in English was first published in the collection Marx, Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages, Publishing House, Moscow 1956, pp491-92. 572. Trier, writing to Engels on 8 December 1889, told him about the differences within the Danish Social Democratic Party over the issue of a possible bloc with the bourgeois Left-Radical parties at the forthcoming election to the Riksdag; he also wrote about a controversy between the party leadership and the opposition, involving party members who did not agree with the leaders' policies. 573. The primogeniture principle was the right of the eldest son in the family or kin to inherit his father's estate. This was instituted by the feudal law of England, France, Germany and other West European countries in the 11th-13th centuries with the aim of keeping landed estates intact and preventing their fragmentation among many heirs. Only the eldest son was eligible to inherit. 574. A reference to a constitutional conflict in Denmark which began in 1875 and which manifested itself in a struggle between the government and the liberal opposition in Parliament, pressing for constitutional limits to the King's powers. Financial issues sparked off an acute controversy between the government and the parliamentary majority. Proceeding from Article 49 of the Constitution, according to which no tax could be levied in the absence or a parliamentary decision, the Folketing (lower house) would every now and then, beginning with 1877, reject budget bills tabled by the government. The government responded by introducing a provisional budget - it gave a loose interpretation of Article 25 of the Constitution which empowered the King, if need be, to issue provisional legislative enact-ments. The conflict continued until 1894 when the government and the liberal opposition came to some sort of settlement. 575. 'Physical force' was the name given to one of the two trends in the Chartist
[575] movement. In contrast to the other trend, the 'moral force' Chartists, it
[576] opted for revolutionary methods, for the independence of the Chartist
[577] movement and against its subordination to the bourgeois radicals. 576. The General Association of German Workers was set up on 23 May 1863 at
[578] a meeting of worker societies in Leipzig. The founding of this political
[325] which they had sponsored and which involved representatives of the British trade unions, delegates from German Social Democracy, and the workers' parties of Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Sweden and Australia (about this conference, see note 333). 320. The reference is to the London International Congress of Trades Unions held on 6-10 November 1888 at the initiative of the British trade unions. The congress involved trade union representatives of Britain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Italy as well as French syndicates aligned with the Possibilists. Stipulating that delegates to this congress should be officially elected by respective trade unions, its organisers thereby deprived the German and Austrian. Social Democrats, as well as representatives of the French Workers' Party (the Guesdists), see note 33, of an opportunity to attend. Yet the leaders of the British trade unions failed in their attempts to foist reformist decisions on the congress and isolate it from the Socialists. The congress adopted a number of positive decisions. Thus, the workers were not to confine themselves to forming purely professional organisations - they were to unite into an independent political party as well. One of the resolutions stressed the need to press for legislative regulation of the working day and working conditions. In its most significant decision, the congress resolved to convene an International Working Men's Congress in Paris in 1889; organisation of this congress was entrusted to the Possibilists. 321. The National Congress of French Labour Unions (syndicates) held on 23 October - 4 November 1888 (see note 331) adopted a decision on convening an International Working Men's Congress in Paris in 1889. 322. Troyes was the proposed venue of a convention of the Workers' Party of French Socialist-Revolutionaries (the Possibilists) (see note 19). The organisers of the congress - local party functionaries - invited representatives of the Guesdists to attend as well. However the Paris Possibilists, fearing that the Guesdists might be in a majority, refused to take part (see also note 329). 323. The reference is to Chapters III and IV of Volume III of Capital, (see present edition, Vol. 37). 324. Excerpts from this letter were first published in French in the journal La Pensée, No. 61, 1955. Concerning the first publication of this letter in the language of the original (English), (see note 40). 325. The newspaper Parti Ouvrier, the mouthpiece of the Possibilists (see note
[326] 19), on 28 December 1888 carried an article 'L'Agglomération parisienne'
[327] that accused the Guesdists of lending support to the Boulangist movement
[329] in Parliament. The Paris Amalgamation {Agglomération) was the name of
[330] the Paris branch of the French Worker's Party. 326. In her letter to Engels of 27 December 1888 Laura Lafargue wrote that the
[331] anti-Boulangism of the Possibilists was similar to their other deception.
[199] Macmahon found no support among the broad popular masses or in the
[320] group led by Ernest Roche and Ernest Granger separated itself from the rest
[3] 1865; present edition, Vol. 42, pl72). The English journalist Peter Fox, a
[337] pation in electoral campaigns. 335. An allusion to the French Revolution of 1789-99. 336. The reference is to the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in France, first
[4] member of the General Council of the International, was to look for a
[52] International Publishers, 1953. 50. The second ballot, in eighteen constituencies, brought the Social Democrats another five seats in the Reichstag (Breslau-West, Elberfeld, Frankfurt am Main, Hanover and Solingen). 51. At the end of 1884, Bismarck, seeking to activate Germany's colonial policy, demanded that the Reichstag should vote an annual subsidy to shipping companies to enable them to operate regular lines to East Asia, Australia and Africa. The left wing of the Social Democratic parliamentary group, led by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht, came out against the government scheme. The right wing, which made up the majority (Dietz, Frohme, Grillenberger and others), intended to vote for the subsidy, on the pretext that it would help promote international communications. Under pressure from the majority the group decided that the issue was of a non-fundamental nature and every deputy should be free to vote as he chose (see Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 50, 11 December 1884). The sharp critique of the proposed subsidies in Der Sozialdemokrat and in resolutions of the party leadership forced the majority of the Social Democratic group to somewhat modify its stand during the discussion of the matter in the Reichstag in March 1855. The group made its support for the subsidies conditional on the adoption of a number of its own proposals. Since the Reichstag rejected these, all Social Democratic deputies voted against the subsidies. 52. The Anti-Socialist law {Gesetz gegen die gemeingefährlichen Bestrebungen der Sozialdemokratie) was introduced by the Bismarck government, with the support of the majority of the Reichstag, on 21 October 1878, as a means of combating the socialist and working-class movement. It imposed a ban on all Social Democratic and working-class organisations and on the socialist and workers' press; socialist literature was subject to confiscation, and Social Democrats to reprisals. However, under the Constitution, the Social Democratic Party retained its group in parliament. By combining underground activities with the use of legal possibilities, in particular by working to overcome reformist and anarchist tendencies in its own ranks, the party was able to consolidate and expand its influence among the masses. Marx and Engels gave the party leaders considerable help. Under the pressure of the mass working-class movement the Anti-Socialist Law was repealed (1 October 1890). For Engels' characterisation of the law see his article 'Bismarck and the German Workers Party' (present edition, Vol. 24, pp407-09). 53. This letter was first published in English, abridged, in The Labour Monthly,
[344] of the German States in August 1819, which adopted a special decision on
[62] workers, both white and black, in a number of American cities in the 1880s.
[1] back, reads: F. A. Sorge Esq., Hoboken N.J., U.S. America. 2. Marx first thought of the need for an English translation of Das Kapital
[348] accused the British diplomat Morier of mediation between Frederick, then
[354] in Paris to a sum of 125 million roubles, or about 20 million pound sterling. 349. In connection with an apparent rapprochement between France and Russia,
[137] reject the wretched slanders concerning the Avelings which the Executive of
[40] editorial in Die Neue Zeit or in a review signed by the journal's editor, Karl Kautsky. Poor health prevented Engels from writing the bulk of the text as intended. The article was completed, with his help, by Kautsky. It appeared unsigned, under the title 'Juristen-Sozialismus', in Die Neue Zeit, Vol. 2, 1887 (see present edition, Vol. 2). 35. Engels means diplomatic preparations for the 1866 Austro-Prussian war. Early in March of that year he had secured, through Robert Goltz, the Russian Ambassador to Paris, an undertaking by Napoleon III that France would maintain positive neutrality towards Russia in the event of an Austro-Prussian war. At about the same time, Bismarck conducted talks with the Italian general Giuseppe Govone in Berlin on forming a Prusso-Italian coalition against Austria. On 8 April 1866 Prussia and Italy signed a treaty establishing a defensive and offensive alliance. It provided for the transfer of Veneto to Italy in the event of victory over Austria. 36. On 14 January 1887 the German Reichstag, by 186 votes to 154, adopted a bill limiting the army contingent to 441,000 persons, with a three-year term of service (the government had insisted on 468,000 for seven years). As a result, the Reichstag was disbanded and new elections held (see note 15). On 11 March 1887 the new Reichstag passed the bill on the septennate despite opposition from the Social Democratic group. 37. This refers to the festival of international brotherhood which was to be held in Paris on 19 February 1887 on the initiative of a number of socialist émigré organisations. German, Scandinavian, Polish and Russian socialists took part. The festival was to protest against the arms drive and war preparations in Europe. At the request of one of the organisers, the Russian socialist émigré Ossip Zetkin, Engels addressed a message to the Organising committee of the festival (see present edition, Vol. 26). It was read out at the festive meeting and published in Le Socialiste on 26 February and, in German translation, in the Sozialdemocrat on 11 March and the New York Sozialist on 19 March. 38. Danielson's letter to Engels was dated 22 January (3 February new style) 1887. 39. This is the pseudonym Engels used in his correspondence with Nikolai Danielson. Percy White Rosher was the name of the husband of the niece of Engels's wife. 40. This letter was first published, in the language of the original (English), in F. Engels, P. et L. Lafargue, Correspondance, t. 2 (1887-1890), Paris, Ed. sociales, 1956. 41. On 24 February 1887 the Voie du peuple, under the general headline 'La
[360] Vaillant, Ernest Granger and Place; the Possibilists - by Benoît Malon; and
[364] than a body of municipal self-government, the Commune from 1792 actu-
[365] ally guided the struggle of the people of Paris in the revolution. The
[19] inal (English), in K. Marx and F. Engels, On Literature and Art, Progress
[227] on 13 November 1887 (see note 185). Among those arrested were the
[87] authorities and the like without a jury. On 11 April 1887 several mass meet-
[21] had arisen between Caroline-Rémy Séverine-Guebhard, publisher of the newspaper Le Cri du Peuple, on the one hand, and the associate editors of this paper - Jules Guesde, Gabriel Deville, Albert Goullé - on the other. The latter emphatically objected to Séverine's public pronouncements in defence of the anarchist Duval, convicted on charges of burglary, and to the publication in the paper, as a leader, of an anti-German article by one Bienvenu. They also demanded the dismissal of the journalist Georges de Labruyère, notorious for his Boulangist views (see note 137). As a result of the conflict, almost all leading members of the editorial board withdrew from the Cri du Peuple. They started a new paper, the Voie du peuple, the first issue of which appeared on 2 February 1887. The paper lasted only a few weeks, the last issue appearing on 17 March. 19. The Possibilists (Broussists) were a reformist trend in the French socialist movement between the 1880s and the early 20th century. Its leaders - Paul Brousse and Benoit Malon -caused a split in the French Workers' Party (see note 33) in 1882 and formed the Federation of Socialist Workers. Its ideological basis was the theory of municipal socialism. The Possibilists pursued a 'policy of the possible' ('la politique des possibilités'). At the beginning of the 20th century the Possibilists merged with the French Socialist Party. 20. Presumably Engels means the newspaper Le Citoyen, of which Jules Guesde was a co-founder. It appeared from 1 October 1881 to 8 March 1884. In October 1882 it merged with the newspaper La Bataille, edited by Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray. As a result, the French Workers' Party (see note 33) lost its influence on the paper. 21. The Socialist League was founded in December 1884 by a group of English socialists who had withdrawn from the Social Democratic Federation (see note 62). The League's organisers included Eleanor Marx Aveling, Ernest Belfort Bax and William Morris. 'The Manifesto of the Socialist League' (see The Commonweal No.l, February 1885) stated that its members advocated 'the principles of Revolutionary International Socialism' and sought 'a change in the basis of Society ... which would destroy the distinctions of classes and nationalities'. The tasks of the League included the formation of a national socialist party, the conquest of political power through the election of socialists to local government bodies, and the promotion of the trade union and co-operative movement. In the League's early years its leaders
[191] meetings'). The September 20 rally brought together several thousand who offered resistance to the police trying to arrest the speakers. Several people were detained nonetheless, but they were set free the next day. September 27 saw an even larger demonstration and a rally that adopted a resolution protesting the police actions. Thereupon the authorities ceased their attempts to silence Socialist speakers. 187. Slavophiles (e.g. A. Khomyakov, the brothers Aksakov, I. Kireevsky, Yu. Samarin and others) were a trend in nineteenth-century Russian social and philosophical thought. In the late 1830s-1850s they advanced a theory of Russia's unique path of historical development which, in their opinion, differed from that of Western Europe. Among the characteristic features of their theory were monarchism, a negative attitude to revolution and a lean-ing towards religious-philosophical conceptions. The Slavophiles met mostly in the literary salons of Moscow. 188. On 10 November 1887, die Deutsche Reichsbank announced, on Bismarck's orders, that it would no longer accept Russian securities as deposits. 189. It was common practice in the book trade for a publishing house to grant a discount to bookstores on wholesale purchases depending on the quantity ordered; for example it might offer about 12 copies, a thirteenth part of the total print, free of charge. Referring to '18 copies - a thirteenth part - free of charge', Engels meant 224 copies of the book sold in Britain. 190. As Conrad Schmidt told Engels in his letter of 22 November 1887, his rela-tives in Königsberg had been searched on having received a box with books which he, Schmidt, had sent them from Paris during his trip abroad. The police tried to prosecute Schmidt on the grounds that the parcel had contained several numbers of the newspaper Sozialdemokrat which was banned in Germany. He managed to avoid arrest. 191. From the latter half of September 1841, to about 10 October 1842, Engels stayed in Berlin for his tour of duty in an artillery brigade. In his spare time he attended lectures at Berlin University and forged close contacts with left-wing Hegelians, progressive writers and scholars. It was at that time that Engels maintained close ties with East Prussian liberals (Eduard Plottwell and Johann Jacoby). Through them he might have contacted the bourgeois newspaper Königl. Preuß. Staats-Kriegs-und-Friedenszeitung (a progressive paper in the 1840s); however, we have no evidence that Engels really co-operated with the newspaper. 'The restricted intelligence of loyal subjects' ('beschränkter Untertanenverstand') was a phrase coined by the Prussian Minister of the Interior von Rochow; it gained wide currency in Germany. 192. On behalf of Ernst Elsters, preparing a new edition of Heine's works for
[385] February 1889. It was attended by representatives of the socialist movement
[386] of Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. The conference
[391] its decisions. The conference defined the powers of the forthcoming
[394] dealing with the forthcoming International Congress, in particular, when it
[395] was called, and British representation in it. 394. The resolution of the Hague Conference (see note 385) was published in the
[400] refused to take part on the pretext of British workers having a shorter work-
[298] tude of Mr "Thucydides" Roscher to Marx'. Speaking ironically, Marx and
[405] popular interests. The paper got its name from the French folk hero, le père
[406] Duchêne, allegedly a real person, who had been defending the oppressed
[408] tions of 1848-49 and 1871. By calling Paul Lafargue 'le père Duchêne'
[409] ('Father Duchêne), Engels questioned Lafargue's confidence that he could
[413] (see note 52). This congress, held on 20-23 August 1880, denounced the
[414] activities of the anarchist group that denied any use of legal methods of
[416] open struggle against the party leadership. The congress expelled the anar-
[418] was Trier) of the Executive Committee of the Danish Socialist Party,
[422] note 320). 420. On 27 April 1889 the newspaper Le Proletariat published an article entitled
[424] concerning the preparation of the International socialist Workingmen's
[343] rule. The name gained currency after the Karlsbad Conference of Ministers
[427] sent in at his suggestion. Bonnier was staying in London at the time and taking an active part in the preparation for the International Working Men's Congress. 422. A reference to an appeal by the Paris Chamber of Labour, urging participation in the Possibilist Congress due in the latter half of July 1889. The authors of this appeal said they were speaking on behalf of 78 trade unions of France that had allegedly agreed to take part. Bonnier's letter of 4 May 1889 to the editorial board of the newspaper Labour Elector said the authors of the appeal had abrogated the right to speak on behalf of the entire working class of France. Engels, the real author of the letter, urged the French socialists not to confine themselves to declarative statements but prove their case by deed and convince the masses by irrefutable facts. 423. A paraphrase of 'Vous l'avez voulu, George Dandin, vous l'avez voulu' from Molière's George Dandin. 424. In March 1889 a new external Russian loan was issued to a sum of 175 million gold roubles for the conversion of the older 5 per cent bonds. 425. On 3 May 1889, the newspaper The Star, No. 400, published an article entitled The Paris International Congress. 426. The reference is to the issues of the newspaper The Star of 4 and 7 May 1889. On 7 May the newspaper carried the article 'The Workingmen's Party - A Chat with Some Practical Socialists at the Hôtel de Ville', which contained the attacks on Edouard Vaillant mentioned in the text of the letter. 427. Several Possibilist organisations, dissatisfied with the behaviour of their leaders during the election to the chamber of Deputies on 27 January 1889, and in the course of the preparation for the International Working Men's Congress, levelled strong criticism at them. In its turn, the leadership of the Possibilist Party on 16 April expelled the group of the 14th arrondissement of Paris from its ranks; late in April 1889 the key organisations of the 13th arrondissement left the Federation of the Possibilists. For more detail, see
[432] ous political activity with the aim of forming a government of his own. On 6 May 1889, he made a speech at Saint-Dié in defence of the republic. Engels
[22] took an active part in the working-class movement. However, in 1887 the
[435] yet to persuade Vaillant and others to send letters to the newspaper The Star; she expressed her doubts about the expedience of such a mode of procedure. Engels replied on 14 May (see the next letter). 430. On 14 May 1889, the newspaper The Star, in the section The People's Post Box carried An Invitation, signed by P. Lafargue, and containing a précis of the circular in connection with the convocation of an International Working Men's Congress in Paris (see note 414). 431. The whereabouts of this letter of Engels is not known. 432. The circular about the convocation of an International Working Men's Congress, written by P. Lafargue and J. Guesde, was sent by the authors to Engels on 14 May, 1889. In June 1889 it was printed in the form of a leaflet in French in Paris and in English in London, and also published in German by the newspapers Der Sozialdemokrat on 1 June and Berliner Volksblatt on 2 June. The newspaper The Star had also printed it on 14 May 1889 in the Feature The People's Post Box (in English); the circular likewise appeared in the weekly Commonweal on 8 June and also as an appendix to the pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889, II, A Reply to the 'Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation' (see note 444). 433. The reference is to Bonnier's letter published by The Star on 15 May 1889, under the heading The Paris Congress; it exposed the collusion of the Possibilists with the reactionary wing in the Paris Municipal Council. 434. Engels is referring to E. Aveling's play Dregs, staged by the Vaudeville Theatre on 16 May 1889. 435. The German coal miners' strike in the Ruhr was a major event in the German working-class movement of the late 19th century. It began on 3 May 1889 in the Essen and on 4 May in the Helsenkirch coal mining districts; then it spread to the entire Dortmund area. At its height the strike action involved as many as eighty thousand miners. The main demands were: higher wages, an eight-hour working day and recognition of the worker committees. Frightened by the scope of the strike action, government bodies had the entrepreneurs make a promise to fulfil some of the miners' demands. As a result, some of the miners resumed their work in mid May. However, the mine-owners broke their promises, and a meeting of
[439] ten by Edward Rose and I. Douglas. 437. An allusion to two notes by Alec Rubie, published by The Sun, No. 5, Vol.
[442] published anonymously by the newspaper Justice, No. 279, Vol. VI, on 18
[444] Lafargue's literary talent, eloquence and charisma, the author attacked the French and German socialists for their ostensibly deliberate action in not inviting the Possibilists to the Hague Conference. 439. In reference to a brief note, bearing no title, carried by the newspaper Prolétariat, No. 268,18 May 1889, pi, col. 5, which opened with the following words: 'Les irlando-guesdo-blanquistes assurent dans leur circulaire a l'étranger que le Danemark leur a donné son adhésion'. 440. In Regent Street on the evening of 18 May 1889 Rochefort met Pilotell, a well-known caricaturist of the Commune days, who boxed his ears. Rochefort drew his revolver, but was disarmed. The matter ended in the English Courts. 441. Henry Hyndman called the Hague Conference (see note 385) a 'caucus' in his editorial note 'Much Ado About Nothing' (see note 438). 442. In mid March 1889 Wilhelm Liebknecht spent about two weeks in Switzerland as a representative of German Social Democracy; on 17 March 1889, he attended the unveiling of a monument to Johann Becker at the St Georges cemetery near Geneva. 443. The appeal was published by Labour Elector on 18 May 1889; yet the paper had nothing to say about William Parnell and about copies of this appeal which he allegedly had. 444. According to The Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation, the International Congress of Trade Unions in London (see note 320) voted unanimously to authorise the Possibilists to convene an International Workingmen's Congress in Paris. The manifesto also claimed that Gabriel Farjat, described as a representative of the 'French soidisant Marxists, or Guesdists', voted for this resolution. E. Bernstein, in his pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889, II, A Reply to the Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation rebutted these fabrications by proving that as a representative of the French trade unions, not Socialists, Farjat could not vote for this resolution. Subsequently one of the publications released by the Organising Committee for the Convocation of an International Working Men's Congress in Paris had a special postscript with
[7] of officials' in the press. Early in January 1887 the conviction was upheld by
[449] of an International Working Men's Congress in Paris. Representatives of the
[450] Danish Social Democratic Party, who had not attended the Hague
[60] Volume I of Capital was not selling well in the USA, and suggested sending copies of the book to the editors of leading American journals for review-ing. 56. Part of the English edition of Volume I of Capital was bought by the American firm Scribner & Welford, which gave the book a new title page, reading Capital. A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production; from the German by S. Moore and E. Aveling, and edited by Frederick Engels, N.Y., Scribner & Welford, 1887, 2 v. 57. An unsigned review of the English edition of Volume I of Capital appeared in the London literary and critical journal Athenaeum, No. 3097, 5 March 1887. 58. The third, cheap English edition (10s 6d) of Volume I of Capital appeared in London in 1888. Copies of the first two editions (both 1887) were sold at 30s. 59. Engels means the following passage, referring to the socialist Labor Party of North America, in his work 'The labor movement in America'. 'This section is a party but in name, for nowhere in America has it up to now, been able actually to take its stand as a political party' (see present edition, Vol. 26). 60.Justice, No. 164, 5 March 1887, carried an item by Wilhelm Ludwig Rosenberg, secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of North America, headlined 'Letter from America - The Great Strike', which characterised the longshoremen's strike in New Jersey as an unmitigated defeat for the workers, incurred through the fault of the Knights of Labor leaders. The party, Rosenberg stressed, must not support this organisation. The Knights of Labor (The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor) was an American workers' organisation founded in Philadelphia in 1869. Originally a secret society (up to 1878), it included mostly unskilled workers, among them black workers. The Knights' aim was the promotion of co-operatives and mutual aid societies. They took part in a number of working-class actions, but the organisation's leadership opposed workers' participation in political struggle. It forbade members of the organisation to take part in the 1886 general strike; however the rank and file ignored the ban. After the strike the Knights' influence among the workers began to shrink. Towards the end of
[453] of age and older. This reform of local government was implemented in
[455] the Trade Union Protest Committee (see note 395). 453. The Hague Congress (2-7 September 1872) of the International was the
[465] Stepniak were appended without their consent. 460. The letter of Stepniak (S.M. Kravchinsky) was published in the newspaper
[39] tunity for self-advertising. He therefore decided to answer him either in an
[2] while working on the manuscript in 1865 (see his letter to Engels of 31 July
[473] trial and about the persecutions he had been subjected to from 1885 for the
[476] on 14-20 July 1889, on the centennial of the storming of the Bastille. In fact, it became a constituent Congress of the Second International. Taking part were 393 delegates, representing the worker and socialist parties of 20 countries of Europe and America. The Congress heard the reports of representatives of the socialist parties on the situation in the labour movement in their countries; it outlined the principles of international labour legislation in respective countries by supporting demands for a legislative enactment of an 8-hour working day, prohibition of child labour and steps toward the protection of the work of women and adolescents. The Congress stressed the need of political organisation of the proletariat and of a struggle for implementation of democratic demands of the working class; it spoke out for a disbandment of regular armies and their replacement by armed detachments of the people. It resolved to hold, on 1 May 1890, demonstrations and meetings in support of an 8-hour working day and labour legislation. 474. The International Conference of Miners was held on 18-19 July 1889; it was attended by delegates to both international working men's congresses which were in session at the time in Paris (see note 473). The Conference discussed reports on the situation of miners' trade unions and decided to set up an international association of miners' unions, which was formed in 1890. 475. Engels must have been referring to F. Schlüter 's letter of 1 July 1889 about the labour and trade union movement in North America and about his futile attempts to get a job in American labour newspapers. 476. At that time many German newspapers carried reports about a conversation allegedly held by a correspondent of the London newspaper Evening News and Post with Lev Hartman, who said he had been staying for six months in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland under an assumed name with the aim of organising there an 'overthrow party' and that this party was getting ready for big events. At Engels' request, Sorge turned to Hartman for explanations; the latter refuted such inventions - he said he had not left the United States at the time. Sorge informed Engels about this in his letter of 7 August. 477. In this letter Sorge notified Engels about the sending of the newspaper
[478] establish contacts with him. 478. A reference to a campaign by the Possibilists in France, and their support-
[489] lated into bloody clashes between the Muslim and Christian populations of
[200] army (among the soldiers and the greater part of commissioned officers),
[494] The Social Democratic Federation (see note 62) organised a protest meeting
[13] of date (see present edition, Vol. 26), and suggested that the new preface
[501] all results. The demand for a law on an 8-hour working day was turned
[510] party congress, convened by the National Council in Lille on 11-12
[549] appearing in the Chamber of Deputies in working clothes among the other
[569] place from 18 November to 30 December 1889. Brought to trial were 87