1893
Dear citizen Turati,
I was very pleased to see the translation of the Manifesto in the Lotta di classe but I am so overloaded with work that I have not been able to compare it with the original. In a few days I will send you a copy of the most recent German edition (London), with the complete prefaces, for your pamphlet edition.
As for my writing a preface, here is my position. Another Italian friend, whom you no doubt know, is preparing a translation, and perhaps a lengthier work on this writing.a As he told me of his intention before the publication of the first issue of Lotta di classe I feel I must consult him before giving you a definitive answer. [108] Moreover, I am beginning to find these prefaces an embarrassment. Only recently I had to write one for a Polish translation. I really have nothing new left to say.
Best wishes to yourself and Mme Kulisbov from Mme Kautsky, from Bebel, who is with us at the moment, [109] and from myself, insieme coi nostri auguri il nuovo anno.b
Sempre vostroc F.
Engels
a A. Labriola, In memoria del Manifesto dei comunisti - b accept also our Happy New Year greetings and best wishes - c Ever yours 1893
43. Engels to Maria Mendelson 10 January
Thank you for your letter. I immediately wrote a short article on the arrests in Paris which left for Berlin that same evening — you will probably see it in Vorwärts in a few days. [111]
Ever yours, F. E. Bebel has left this afternoon. Greetings from Mme Kautsky.
44. Engels to Philipp Pauli 11 January
I entirely agree that we should each of us send a contribution to Perkin for the Schorlemmer LABORATORY
[112] as you suggest; but not by any 1893
means that I should decide upon the sum without any prior agreement or knowledge of the actual circumstances. What we should offer depends on altogether too many circumstances of which I am completely ignorant. The comité in Manchester will surely be sending, or have sent out, some sort of appeal indicating roughly the amount to be raised, and an initial list of the first subscriptions, etc., etc. After all, one has got to know all this if one is to have any idea how high or low one should, or alternately should not, go.
Would you therefore be so good as to inquire from Perkin what has been done in this respect and, if you think fit, ask him to inform me of it so that we have some kind of yardstick to go by.
It’s a disgrace that these university chaps should be such jackasses! I even had to put pressure on Roscoe to get him to write the article for Nature.a And the Germans — how proud they could be of Schorlemmer! But he didn’t belong to the you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours clique and that’s why, now he’s dead, he has to suffer for the fact that he was no Panamite of academic learning. Panama left, right and centre, nothing but Panama, [60] even in academic chemistry!
Cordial regards to your wife and children, and likewise to yourself, from
Your old friend, F.
Engels
Pumps and her family came to stay over Christmas and the New Year; the new baby is a very delicate little thing yet, despite the cold, they all got back safe and sound to Ryde.
H. E. Roscoe, ‘Carl Schorlemmer’, Nature, Vol. XLVI, 25 August 1892.
1893
45. Engels to Maria Mendelson 16 January
The article in Vorwärts of which you speak was written in Paris.a It seems that the author was told that the 5 arrested Poles belonged to the same socialist school as, among the Russians, Plekhanov and his friends; and the correspondent has thus committed the quid pro quo that we have all sadly read.
The article which I sent to Vorwärts is in the following issue (No. II , 13th January). [111]
Let us congratulate ourselves nonetheless that this latest base action by the French government has only led to an expulsion.
Mme Kautsky joins her greetings to those of your devoted
F. Engels
46. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 18 January
Today I am sending you two old numbers of the defunct Berliner Volks-Tribüne, the others having got mislaid in the turmoil of Christmas; if I
a ‘Russische Polizei-Allmacht in Frankreich’, Vorwärts, No. 10, 12 January 1893 (in the running headline ‘Politische Uebersicht’).
1893
find them I shall send them on to you. The reason for my failure to put them in the post was the Bakunin article which in the end I felt bound to answer, and that meant keeping the numbers here in case of possible controversy. In the last (13th)a article, which has unfortunately been mislaid — we have just realised that it has meanwhile been sent to you by Mrs Kautskyb—there is yet another batch of rubbishy anarchist lies. The author, who gives his name — one Héritier (a young Genevese, nurtured in the bosom of old J. Ph. Becker) tries to justify himself even after my answer — mendaciously. Since he has written to me, I shall reply,c notifying him that, if be does the same sort of thing in his proposed opus, I shall rap him severely over the knuckles for it. [49]
Over here the Independent Labour Party, [114] about which you will have read in the Workman’s Times, has held a conference in Bradford. Owing to their sectarian attitude the Social Democratic Federation, [44] on the one hand, and the Fabians, [43] on the other, have been unable to absorb the socialist accretions in the provinces, so that the setting up of a third party was no bad thing. But now, such is the extent of those accretions — especially in the industrial districts of the North — that even at this, the first congress, the new party was more strongly represented than either the Social Democratic Federation or the Fabians, if not more strongly than both put together. And since the bulk of its members are undoubtedly first class, since its centre of gravity lies in the provinces rather than in that hive of intrigue, London, and its programme is substantially the same as our own, Aveling did right in joining it and in accepting a position on the Executive. If the petty private ambitions and intrigues of the London panjandrums can be kept under some control, and its tactics are not too misguided, the Independent Labour Party may succeed in enticing away the masses, not only from the Social Democratic Federation but, in the provinces, also from the Fabians, and thus enforcing unity.
The Social Democratic Federation has pushed Hyndman completely into the background. It did so badly as a result of his policy of intrigue that— thanks to the provincial delegates — Hyndman has been utterly discredited in the eyes of his own people. An attempt to regain his popularity on the Unemployed Committee — on which other people sat too — by means of revolutionary ranting (his personal cowardice being
a 12th in the Ms. — b Engels inserted this afterwards, in the margin. — c See this volume, pp. 85-86 1893
a byword among his best friends), merely resulted in an increase of the influence wielded by Tussy and Aveling on that Committee. The only thing the Social Democratic Federation insists upon is its seniority as the oldest socialist organisation over here but in other respects it has grown far more tolerant of others, has ceased to inveigh against them and is on the whole appreciably more aware of being what it is, namely far smaller than it made itself out to be.
Here in London the Fabians are a bunch of careerists who have sense enough to recognise the inevitability of a social upheaval but are quite incapable of entrusting this gigantic task solely to the untutored proletariat and are therefore accustomed to take the lead; fear of revolution is their guiding principle. They are the ‘heddicated’ par excellence. Their socialism is municipal socialism; it is the commune not the nation, which, at any rate to start off with, is to be the owner of the means of production. They then proceed to propound this, their socialism, as the extreme but inevitable consequence of bourgeois liberalism — hence their tactics of not directly confronting the Liberals as opponents but of inducing them to draw socialist conclusions, ergo they cheat them in order to PERMEATE LIBERALISM WITH
SOCIALISM and do not put up socialist candidates against the Liberals, but rather foist the former on them by force if not by false pretences. That in so doing they are either betraying and hoodwinking themselves, or else are hoodwinking socialism, they do not, of course, realise.
With great assiduity they have produced, along with all manner of trash, a number of good propaganda pieces — the best of this kind, in fact, the English have produced. But the moment they come to their own brand of tactics and gloss over the class struggle, the rot sets in. Hence, too, their fanatical hatred of Marx and all the rest of us — because of the class struggle.
Needless to say, the chaps have a big middle-class following and therefore funds and, in the provinces, they have many dependable working men who refuse to have anything to do with the Social Democratic Federation. But 5/6 of their provincial members see more or less eye to eye with us and, when it comes to the point, they will definitely desert. In Bradford — where they are represented — they have several times voiced unqualified opposition to the Fabians’ London Executive.
As you see, it is a critical juncture so far as the movement over here is concerned, and something may come of the new organisation. For a short while it looked as though it might come under the wing of 1893
Champion who, whether consciously or unconsciously, is working for the Tories just as are the Fabians for the Liberals — under the wing of Champion, then, and of his ally Maltman Barry, whom you will remember from The Hague [115] (Barry is now by his own admission an agent in the regular pay of the Tories and MANAGER OF THE SOCIALISTIC WING OF THE CONSERVATIVES!)
[116]—see Workman’s Times of November and December — but in the end Champion thought it best to resume his editorship of the Labour Elector and has thus taken up the cudgels against the Workman’s Times and the new party.
It was a shrewd stroke on Keir Hardie’s part to place himself at the head of this new party and yet another blunder on the part of John Burns to remain aloof on this occasion as well, having already done himself a great deal of harm by his total inertia outside of his own constituency. I am afraid be may land himself in an impossible situation.
It goes without saying that, in this instance too, personal ambition is causing men like Keir Hardie, Shaw Maxwell and others to pursue sundry ulterior aims. But the danger inherent in this diminishes in proportion as the party itself grows in strength and numbers, and has, indeed, already receded because of the necessity of not leaving any loopholes for competing sects. In recent years socialism has made enormous headway among the masses in the industrial districts, and I look to those masses to keep the leaders properly in order. Of course there will be blunders and to spare, and also jiggery-pokery of every description; let us only hope we are able to keep them within proper bounds!
At worst the setting up of a new organisation may be regarded as an advantage in that it is easier to achieve unity when there are three competing sects than when there are two which are diametrically opposed to one another.
As regards what you wrote about Poland on 23 December, since the time of Kronstadt the Prussians have been prepared to go to war with Russia and are therefore pro -Polish (indeed have provided proof of this). [117] The said Poles will have sought to exploit this to provoke a war whereby they hope to be liberated with Germany’s help. But that is not at all what Berlin wants and, should they pull off their coup, Caprivi will undoubtedly leave them in the lurch. At the moment a war would be utterly useless to us; we have a sure means of making progress which a war could only disrupt.
Warm regards to your wife and yourself. Mrs Kautsky, who wrote to 1893
you on Saturday, though unfortunately too late to catch the post, also sends her regards.
Your F.E.
von joh. Phil. Becker Jos. Dietzgen, Published in English Friedriech Engels Karl Marx u. A. in full for the first time an F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart,
1906 and in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
47. Engels to Louis Héritier 20 January
It is with sincere satisfaction that I see from your letter of 25 December that the passage taken from your article on Beckera was distorted in translation. [49] Indeed, I was amazed when I saw your name at the end of the article. I had heard you spoken of with truly paternal affection, and the expressions used in your article on Becker constituted a far too painful contrast. Unfortunately, you still let the public believe them to be yours, as the rest of the article also.
As for what you have to say in the Volks-Tribüne concerning my observations, this in no way changes my opinion. You must know that MM. the anarchists invented the slander about the conference held in Marx’s house [118] with the sole purpose of proving that Marx wished to secure his own preponderance by any means, fair or foul. You say that this is his domination over the delegates. For you this alleged fact is worth being
a Johann Philipp Becker 1893
told. However, when I prove that it is false, you say that is a mere detail of no importance whatsoever.
I have proved the falsehood of your assertion. You said that the London conference placed the Jurassians under the command of the Geneva Federal Council. I find that to be the opposite of the truth. You reply: ‘What I said seems to me today to be the absolute truth. ‘You remind me of good man-ners, though I do not know in what respect: do you wish me to remind you of sincerity?
Your No. XII a proves once again that you know almost nothing about what happened outside the anarchist milieu. Judging by your observations concerning the Geneva internationals, it would seem to me impossible that you have seen a complete collection of the Egalité de Genève. If the Geneva internationals were to some extent infected by petty-bourgeois ideas, they shared this defect with their adversaries, the anarchists, whom you prefer, yet who offer only the reverse of the petty-bourgeois coin, and with almost all the French and Belgian internationals — Proudhonists with few exceptions. Of all the groups of the Romance languages, only those among the Spanish supporters of the General Council were Social-Democrats in the present sense of that term. As for the rest, have those of Geneva proved today that they are worth more than their predecessors?
In the same No. XII ,a you reproduce a large number of anarchist errors and lies, and you accord them a faith which, after my warning, should have lost some of its original naivety. You promise a second work on this same topic. I hope that, before engaging upon the matter, you will obtain some documents which shed light on the assertions and machinations of the anarchists, and which will certainly enable you to judge impartially. Otherwise you will oblige me to reply again. It is of little importance what the bourgeois newspapers have to say about the old International, but when its history is distorted even in party organs this is quite a different matter. All that I ask of you is that you should not write about a subject without having studied both sides, the documents on this side and on that. Our worker public has to snatch from its meals and its sleep the few hours that it can devote to reading: it therefore has the right to ask that everything we present should be the result of conscientious work, and not lead to futile controversies that it is impossible to follow.
a A mistake in the original. Should read ‘XII I’. The reference is to article XII I.
1893
48. Engels to August Bebel 24 January
Dear August,
I continue. Aveling’s verbal accounts have reinforced a suspicion previously entertained by me, namely that Keir Hardie nurtures the secret wish to lead the new party [114] in the same dictatorial fashion as Parnell led the Irish, and that his sympathies incline more towards the Conservative than towards the Liberal opposition party. He has said openly that, come the next elections, there should be a repetition of Parnell’s experiment whereby he forced Gladstone to toe the line and that where no Labour candidate can be put up, people should vote Conservative by way of giving the Liberals a taste of their power. [120] Now this is a policy which, in certain circumstances, I myself have demanded of the English, but to proclaim something of this sort in advance, not as a possible tactical measure, but as tactics to be pursued no matter what the circumstances smacks strongly of Champion. Especially when, at the same time, Keir Hardie refers disparagingly to the extension of the suffrage and other reforms, which alone might be expected to give reality to working-class suffrage over here, as purely political matters which must take second place after social demands — eight hours, industrial safety, etc. Though, renouncing as he does their enforcementhy Labour M.P.s, he fails to explain how these social demands are to be implemented unless by grace of the middle classes, or else by means of indirect pressure exerted by Labour’s casting vote in the elections. I draw your attention to this knotty point in order that you may be informed should occasion arise. For the time being I do not attach any particular importance to the matter since at the very 1893
worst Keir Hardie is likely to err gravely in his estimate of the workers in the industrial districts of the North of England, who are not a flock of sheep, and since he will, in any case, encounter opposition enough in the Executive. But a tendency of this kind ought not to be completely ignored.
I look forward very much to seeing the stenographic report of Singer’s speech about the Stock Exchange; in the Vorwärts it read quite excellently.a But in dealing with this subject there is one point which all our chaps tend to overlook. The Stock Exchange is an institution in which the bourgeois exploit, not the workers, but one another; the surplus value that changes hands on the Stock Exchange is already extant surplus value, the product of past exploitation of labour. Only when that process is complete can it serve the hanky-panky on the Stock Exchange. To begin with, the Stock Exchange is merely of indirect interest to us, in the same way as its influence and its repercussions on the capitalist exploitation of labour are merely indirect and exerted in a devious way. To suggest that the workers should take a direct interest in, and wax indignant over, the fleecing on the ‘Change of the Junkers, manufacturers and petty bourgeois is to suggest that the workers should resort to arms to protect the possession by their own immediate exploiters of the surplus value they have filched from those self-same workers. What an idea! But as the finest fruit of bourgeois society, as the breeding ground of extreme corruption, as the forcing house of the Panama [60] and other scandals — and hence, too, as a first-class means for the concentration of capitals, for the disintegration and dissolution of the last remnants of natural cohesion in bourgeois society and, at the same time, for the destruction of all obligatory moral concepts and their inversion into their opposite — as an incomparable element of destruction, as the most powerful accelerator of impending revolution — in this historical sense the Stock Exchange is indeed of immediate interest to us.
I see the Centre [71] has moved that there be a stay of prescription for the period in which the Reichstag suspends prosecutions. Since the Centre is the dominant party the motion seems likely to be carried. [121] Should this happen, it would seem to me inappropriate to make the government a gratuitous present of the above limitation of parliamentary rights without any quid pro quo. The quid pro quo should consist in the express acknowl-
a Vorwärts, No. 17, 20 January 1893 1893
edgement that the Reichstag’s right of suspension is also applicable to penal detention. Otherwise the Reichstag would again be beating a retreat— whatever legal plausibility the measure might seem to possess.
The bogey of war has again raised its head. Herewith Dalziel’s despatch from today’s Daily Chronicle—as a youthful competitor of Reuter, Wolff and Havas, Dalziel is more readily open to such reptilian manoeuvres. [122] The affair as such is absurd. The Russians are simply not prepared for war and would have to be quite off their heads to embark on one now. There is, of course, a possibility that, after the failure of the last Parisian loan, [123] they would only be able to obtain money in Paris if war were really imminent or had already broken out — but that would be a counsel of despair. What cannot be completely ruled out is the possibility that the Opportunists [87] and Radicals
[86] in France will seek to save themselves from Panama by means of a war or at any rate have this at the back of their minds as a last recourse. But where could they find the pretext that would justify them in the eyes of the world? As I have said before, in the next war England will play a dominant role on account of its naval supremacy. [124] And as it happens, England has just played a nasty trick on the French in Egypt. [125] To gain England’s support, in the present state of tension between the two governments, there would have to be a casus belli which, even to your philistine, would seem a gross provocation, and this Caprivi will not provide.
The more information I gather on this point, the more I am struck by the fact that Bismarck formed the Austrian resp. Triple Alliance. [126] simply in order that he might, on the eve of the now inevitable war, give Austria to Russia in exchange for France: Leave me France and I’ll leave you Austria and Turkey and, what’s more, unleash Italy against Austria via Trieste and Trient.a And he clearly imagined he would pull it off. Reflect for a while on the course of history since 1878 [127] and you will, I believe, come round to my view.
To me Tutzauer’s hire-purchase speech in the Reichstag Report (Vorwärts) of the 21st is quite incomprehensible. He wasn’t speaking as a Social Democrat but as a furniture salesman. [128] How could this have happened? The Young [129] will be overjoyed.
Last night there was a concert and ball for the benefit of the Society. [62] I stayed until 11 o’clock and shall now presumably be exempted for a while
a Modern name: Trento.
1893
from such obligations; Louisea had to stay at home because of neuralgia in her side. She is a bit better, but still suffers a lot of pain which, Freyberger says, will persist for another day or two. Otherwise her cold is on the mend and her voice and general condition have also improved. She sends you and your wife her warmest regards, as does
Your
F.E.
49. Engels to Maria Mendelson 24 January
Is there a printing error on page 1, line 4? Is Dragomanov recommending the Polonisation of Lithuania, or its colonisation (by Russian colonists)?
Friendly greetings from myself and Mme Kautsky. Sincerely yours, F. Engels Mme Kautsky is suffering from a cold and an attack of neuralgia, oth-
a Kautsky
First published abridged in: F. Engels, Politisches Vermächtni. Aus unveröffentlichen Briefen, Berlin, 1920 and in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946 1893
erwise she would already have called to see you.
50. Engels to Karl Kautsky 26 January
Dear Baron,
Gine has just told me that you are awaiting an answer from me about Marx’s biography. [130] It had in fact escaped my mind that this was urgent. Please accept my apologies.
I wouldn’t know what to add to the material you mentioned — unless perhaps one or two bits from the sketcha in the Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften that was sent to you. Elster — a cousin of Conrad Schmidt’s who referred him to me — asked me to write something for him, which I did, wholly from our own standpoint, all unsuspecting that be would print it — after he had deleted a few excessively unbourgeois passages. Well, it’s all one to me.
The matter of the Neue Zeit has, of course, been shelved for the time being on account of Dietz’s treatment, apart from the fact of your having spoken to August.b He says it is impossible to revert to a monthly. In which case the external arrangements will doubtless remain pretty well unaltered — and it is up to the editors to make the paper more meaty and more amusing for its readers. At all events it seems to me that any drastic change will have to be put off until Dietz is fit for work again. And you yourself will in any case be swamped with a superfluity of good and well-
a F. Engels, Marx, Heinrich Karl. - b See this volume, pp 49-50, 53-54 1893
meaning advice regarding your own department, so I shall spare you that.
Tussy is tremendously busy agitating; she has been in the Midlands, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and is supposed to be coming here today. When I see her, I shall ask her for some personal reminiscences about Moor. [131]
I gave Ede the Brazilian paper, [132] though I told him that the importance of these South American parties is always in inverse proportion to the grandiosity of their programmes.
Ede is gradually recovering from his neurasthenia; he has likewise re-gained his old sprightliness, as is evident from his personal behaviour and also from his article on Wolf to whom he does too much honour.a I believe that what he now needs most of all is something to liven and cheer him up in order that his soundness of judgement may once more gain complete control over his still somewhat excessive aspirations after justice.
Nothing fresh to report otherwise.—Also and, belatedly, a Happy New Year to you.
Your F.E.
51. Engels to Hermann Engels 26 January
What the deuce is going on? Yesterday there was first of all a telegram from Vienna, then one from Dresden, then, at five o’clock this morning, one from New York and, at 11 this morning, your own — all inquiring
-a E. Bernstein, ‘Der neueste Vernichter des Sozialismus’, Die Neue Zeit, Vol. I, Nos. 16, 17, Stuttgart, 1892/93.
after my health. Well, I haven’t felt better for a long time, I can again walk an English mile, I over- rather than under-indulged in good things at Christmastime, am game for anything and perfectly fit for work and now all of a sudden I’m supposed to be seriously ill!
I telegraphed back to you immediately. [133] saying I was perfectly hale and hearty, and this I hereby confirm. Next summer I hope I shall be able to give all of you visual proof of the fact.
My love to all the relatives, also to Emmaa and your children and grandchildren and, finally, to you yourself from
Your old
Friedrich
52. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 29 January
Herewith a small token of my ‘serious loss of strength’ on the evidence of which you will, I trust, ‘hourly await my demise’.b Where did this nonsense originate? I should like to discover who the scoundrel is!
I have so arranged the articlec as to enable you to publish it either in three numbersd or in a supplement; the latter might perhaps be best. I haven’t signed it, for otherwise I should inevitably put the chaps in Rome onto the track of my Italian source. [6] The man has been insufficiently cautious in his conduct of the correspondence which has evidently been
a Emma Engels - b See this volume, p. 107 -c F. Engels, ‘Vom italienischen Panama - d of the Vorwärts — e Antonio Labriola 1893
subject to rigorous surveillance. Moreover I still don’t know whether the relevant documents are in a safe place abroad and so it is essential to avoid doing anything that might deliver them up into the hands of the Italian government.
I have mentioned names only where the facts relating to them have already appeared in the Italian press and could therefore be produced as supporting evidence. The only exceptions are the two names Arbib and Martini on p. 3; I could provide no supporting evidence for these, so if you have misgivings delete them.
The bearer of the revered name is Menotti Garibaldi, a lad who has already been hard at work for years past founding all sorts of things. [134]
Not long ago the Vorwärts alluded to Bonghi the Republicana—the man is an arch-reactionary and an ex-minister of the Right. All in all, the Vorwärts has been notable for such mistakes regarding foreign countries, not least England!
Give my regards to your wife and children.
Your F.E. First published in: Printed according to the original “Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Published in English for the first time Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
53. Engels to Filippo Turati 30 January
You will have a few words of introduction tomorrow, if possible.b
However, I would ask you not to attach to the 1848 Manifesto the 1884
a ‘Das italienische Panama’, Vorwärts, No. 22, 25 January 1893. - b F. Engels, ‘To the Italian Reader’.
1893
programme of the English Socialist League. [136] The Manifesto is a historic document, sui generis.a and if you attach to it a document dated forty years later, you will give the latter a special character. [108] Moreover, I cannot at the moment find the English original for comparison, because I have not seen it since it first appeared, and I know nothing about the programmes and other publications of the Socialist League, a society which has rapidly become anarchist, so that all those members who did not want to take part in this change of front (the Avelings, Bax, etc.) have withdrawn. As a result the League that has been dead for some time is now only referred to here as an anarchist society. You can imagine, therefore, to what quid pro quo a reprint of the original programme together with the 1848 Manifesto might lead.
Greetings to Mme Kulishov and yourself from Mme Kautsky and yours truly,
F. Engels
54. Engels to Filippo Turati 1 February
Here is the preface.b You are going too quickly for me in Italy. Your Panamino, [106] which threatens to become a Panamone, is undergoing evolutions and vicissitudes at such a rate that we here in London cannot keep up with events in Rome. Therefore I have refrained from speaking about them, for fear
a unique of its kind - b F. Engels, ‘To the Italian Reader’, see also Note 108.
1893
of being outdated the very next day. This should explain why what I have written is not particularly topical.
But where on earth were the socialist, deputies during these decisive days? Ours in Germany would never be forgiven if they had not been present at the Colajanni meeting — it would have cost them their mandates!
Yours,
F.E.
55. Engels to Maria Mendelson 7 February
Dear Madame Mendelson,
A thousand thanks for the trouble you have taken to translate the two articles for me. [137] As for the warning—ostrzezenie—I had already deci-phered it with the help of a Polish dictionary that I inherited from Marx. And the Gazeta Robotnicza has really been of unexpected assistance in my Polish studies — you say that the Polish in this newssheet is too German. Then it is like the Russian of Lavrov, and that explains why the Russian of the one and the Polish of the other present me with so few difficulties. I am indeed making progress, and if I had time to apply myself seriously to it for three months, I would venture to garble in Polish.
I will try to make use of your manuscripts — in the meantime I would ask you to let me know if I may publish the facts contained in your letter on the Moscow students and Russian officers — without, of course, revealing the source of my information. [138] 1893
Kind regards from Mme Kautsky.
Yours,
F. Engels
56. Engels to Vladimir Shmuilov 7 February
As to your requests regarding Marx’s biography, [140] I am afraid that there is little I can do to meet them. Moreover I lack the time, being engaged on the 3rd volume of Capital and unable to take time off from it.
Ada I. There is nothing I can recommend over and above the biographical material already in your possession. Nothing reliable, at any rate.
Ad II . Marx’s practical activities between 1844 and 1849 were in part devoted to the working men’s associations, especially the Brussels association between 1846 and 1848, and to the League. [141] It is only on these last that you will find anything in print, namely in our prefaces to the Manifesto (LATEST Berlin edition, 1892) and in the Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial along with my introductiona thereto, Zurich edition,
a as to 1893
1885.—As regards the International, Eichhoff ALONE is reliable,b for he worked from Marx’s notes; all the rest from Fribourg,c to Laveleyed and Zacher,e are a source of nothing but LIES AND MYTHS. Here it would be more a case of writing a fat book to set matters right than of sending material for a third party to work on. I can, however, send you two publications issued by the General Council (Prétendues Scissions and L’Alliance de la Démocratie Socialiste)f for the decisive struggle with Bakunin.—Héritier’s offering in the Berliner Volks- Tribüne on the subject of the Jura Federation and M. Bakunin [49] betrays unexampled naïveté in its blind faith in the anarchists’ inventions and, from what Héritier writes and tells me, his translator has vitiated it still further in the anarchist sense. (In which case, by the way, the Russian censor will, with his excisions, guard you against a good many mistakes.)
Ad II I. You will have to get hold of The Holy Family by fair means or foul. In no circumstances will I let my own copy out of my hands and to supply particulars of the contents is an impossible task. Nor would it do any good to write out for you the main passages. You must be familiar with the whole. It surely ought to be possible to pick one up in Berlin.
As to the genesis of historical materialism, you will, in my opinion, find everything you want in my Feuerbach (Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy)—the appendix by Marx is, of course, itself the genesis! Also in the prefaces to the Manifesto (new Berlin edition, 1892) and to the Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial.
Marx quietly elaborated the theory of surplus value in the fifties, all on his own, and resolutely refused to publish anything on the subject until he was in absolutely no doubt about each of his conclusions. Hence the non-appearance of the 2nd and subsequent instalments of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. [142]
I am sending you the Splits and Alliance by post and hope these will suffice. Unfortunately that is all I can do for you.
Kindest regards to Gnardnauer and all the comrades over there.
a F. Engels, On the History of the Communist League. — b W. Eichhoff, Die Internationale Arbeiterassociation. Ihre Gründung, Organization, politisch-sociale Thätigkeit und Aus breitung. —c E. E. Fribourg, LAssociation internationale des travailleurs. — d E. de Laveleye, Le Socialisme contemporain. - e [J.] Zacher, Die Rothe Internationale. - f K. Marx and F. Engels, Fictitious Splits in the International’and The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men’s Association.
1893
Ever yours,
F. Engels
57. Engels to August Bebel 9 February
First of all my congratulations on your magnificent speech of 3 February which had already given us enormous pleasure in the Vorwärtsa excerpt but came out even better in the stenographic report. It is a masterpiece, in no way impaired by one or two minor theoretical inaccuracies, these being inevitable in verbal delivery. You are quite right to arrange for copies of the speech to be distributed in their hundreds of thousands,b notwithstanding and in addition to the distribution of the whole debate in pamphlet form.c
This debate, in which the worthy bourgeois sought to dispel the tedium of sittings that had grown arid — thanks to their intrigues behind the scenes— and also, whenever chance offered, to lead us nicely up the garden path, has turned out to be a truly colossal victory for us. And that they themselves sense this is borne out by the fact that after Liebknecht ‘s speech they had had enough and indicated as much — through Stoecker! [143] So now at last the gentlemen have realised that if a parliament devotes it-
a No. 30 of 4 February 1893 — b A. Bebel, Zukunftsstaat und Sozialdemokratie. Eine Rede des Reichstagsabgeordneten August Bebel in der Sitzung des deutschen Reichstags vom 3. Februar 1893. — c ‘Der sozialdemokratische ‘Zukunftsstaat’. Verhandlungen des deutschen Reichstags am 31. Januar, 3., 4., 6. und 7. Februar 1893, veröffentlicht nach dem offiziellen stenographischen Bericht.
First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946 1893
self for five days on end to social reorganisation in our own sense of the term and if, on top of that, the said parliament is the German Reichstag, this is a milestone symbolising yet another victory for the workers’ party. This latter circumstance has given proof to the whole world, friend and foe alike, of the triumphant position won by the German party. If things go on like this, we shall soon be able to exist at no cost of effort to ourselves, on the stupidity of our opponents alone.
It was obvious that you would have to bear the brunt of the debate. So far as I can judge, Frohme’s speech did indeed provide some pretext for the victorious hullabaloo from Richter and Bachern and Hitze, and the business of Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle ought to be carefully investigated. If what Hitze asserted is correct, Frohme lacked the competence to quote from them, but if not, he ought to have made a personal statement in self-vindication. [144] Otherwise everything went off beautifully and Liebknecht ‘s concluding speech, though indifferent in content, was nevertheless ‘trenchant’ and good polemically. In short, it has been a triumph. The Witcha was so overjoyed that yesterday she called me Agnes Pinchpenny, whereupon I drew her attention to the fact that she was a proper Fidgety Ann, as anyone who knows her will confirm. She is even worse than the latter, for its not so much her legs that are fidgety but her brain. [145]
There is much to be said for your suggestions as to what the best plan for the Russians would be in case of war. [146] But don’t forget that if the overthrow of France would be intolerable to Russia, the suppression of Germany would be no less so to Italy and England. Every localised war is more or less subject to control by the neutrals. The next war, if it comes at all, will not permit of being localised in any way. They — the Continentals at any rate — would all be drawn in during the first months, it would automatically begin in the Balkans and England at most might be able to remain neutral for a time. Your Russian plan, however, presupposes a localised war and that, given the enormous armies of today and the appalling consequences for the vanquished, I no longer regard as possible.
In Egypt it is simply a case of the Russians (the French are mere puppets on strings) making things difficult for the English, and thereby tying up their troops and fleet as much as possible. If war broke out, Russia would then have something to offer the English in return for an alliance
a jocular name for Louise Kautsky 1893
or at least their neutrality and at such a juncture the French would be delighted to exchange Egypt for Alsace. Meanwhile the Russians are up to the same game in Central Asia on the Indian border where it will be years before they are strong enough to mount serious attacks and where the ground is very far from being prepared for this purpose. Incidentally, in connection with Egypt, Turkey should also fall to Russia.
(Have just had another Russian visitor who has held me up for over an hour, the result being that it is now 4 o’clock and in consequence this will have to be a shorter letter.)
I see that on your Military Committee you also have a Major Wachs. If he is the same man as a cousin of Dr Gumpert’s of Manchester, I met him there some 25 years ago, At that time he had joined the Prussians as a former lieutenant in the service of Hesse-Cassel and was much disappointed to find amongst his victors of 1866 the same preoccupation with spit and polish as had, or so he thought, been the cause of Hesse-Cassel’s defeat. [147] I gave him some encouragement, saying that if he would only go ahead and stick it out with the Prussians, he would probably discover that the army also had its good sides. Later on, at Spichern, [148] when in command of a company, he greatly distinguished himself by occupying on his own initiative a railway tunnel in defiance of his major. In the General Staff’s historya he is mentioned in most glowing terms — one of the very few lieutenants of whom it makes any mention at all. Since then I have read various strategic-political essays of his — most of them on the East — in which there are some very good things along with others (political) with which I don’t agree. At all events he is an efficient officer — if it’s the same man.
By the way, a compromise seems more probable than ever. Even the Free Thinkers [149] and the Centre [71] are prepared to supply 28,000 men, while Bennigsen is offering 40,000. No doubt so many will fall by the wayside that the government will get 50,000 rather than the 60,000 it wanted (perhaps also just a few more, provided it doesn’t waver) [76] and the bourgeois fatherland will once again be saved from dissolution and conflict.
The ‘ball’ was thought up by our charming Witch’s fidgety brain. The ‘Society’ [62] gave a concert which was followed by a ball. At 11 o’clock the first part of the concert ended, whereupon I obediently took my leave,
a Der deutsch-französische Krieg 1870-71. Redigirt von der Kriegsgeschichtlichen Abteilung des Großen Generalstabes. Part 1, Vol. 1, p. 341, Berlin, 1874.
1893
so the dancing cannot have started before 1 o’clock. She herself always speaks of dancing with a condescension more appropriate to someone many years her senior, and if she is to dance a waltz you yourself will doubtless have to lead her onto the floor. In which case I’m by no means so certain that her Viennese blood might not reassert its rights.
In the next (February) No., now at the printers, the Polish Przedswit, which comes out here, will contain the following item: [150] At Grajewo, on the East Prussian border, there is a junior Russian official by the name of Spatzek, a Bohemian by birth, who is employed on translating way-bills. Despite his wretched wage he makes long journeys, some of them as far as Constantinople, leads a fast life, frequently enters Prussian territory on the pretext of hunting and is very friendly with Landrat von der Gröbben of Lyck who provides him with a vast quantity of hunting and other travel permits. When the frontier was closed on account of cholera, nobody was allowed across, but Mr Spatzek along with his wife and H-n, another Russian official suspected of spying, were able to travel to Königsberg without hindrance. In the opinion of people on the far side of the border this gadding about on German territory is purely and simply for the purpose of spying out the outer forts sited between the East Prussian lakes, on which occasions our overwise Prussian Landrat is only too pleased to be made use of by his Russo-Bohemian friend. The arrogant Prussian bureaucrats are everywhere easily taken in.
Moreover the Russian troops on the border were not long ago the recip-ients of a whole load of literature, to wit numerous copies of a pamphlet by Alexandrov, a lieutenant in the artillery in Tashkent, On the causes and necessity of the impending war.a One copy has been issued to each company in order that the officers may duly enlighten their men.
Perhaps you might be able to make use of this information in your private conversations with the people on the Military Committee.
Over here Keir Hardie has moved an amendment on the subject of unemployment [151] to the Address (Reply to the Speech from the Throneb) in Parliament. In itself this was quite a good thing. But Keir Hardie committed two colossal blunders. 1. The amendment was formulated quite unnecessarily as a direct vote of censure on the government, so that its acceptance would have forced the government to resign and thus the whole thing was tantamount to a Tory manoeuvre, 2. he chose to be seconded by
a A. H. Aleksandrov, [original text in Russian]. - b by Queen Victoria 1893
the Tory Howard Vincent, a Protectionist, rather than by a Labour member, thereby completing the picture of a Tory manoeuvre and of himself as a Tory puppet. Moreover 102 Tories voted in his favour and only 2 Liberal-Radicals,
[152] not one Labour member. Burns was agitating in Yorkshire. As I have already written you,a his manoeuvrings and pronouncements since Bradford
[153] have more than once been suggestive of Champion’s influence; this has now become more than a suspicion. The source of his means of subsistence is unknown, and over the past two years he has spent a great deal of money on travelling. Where does it come from? The English working man demands of his parliamentary representatives and other leaders that they devote all their time to the movement. But if he won’t pay them, he himself is to blame if they accept money from other parties as a means of support and for electoral purposes. So long as this goes on, there will always be Panamites [154] amongst the labour leaders over here.
Incidentally, if Mr Keir Hardie continues to be allowed to behave in this way, he will soon be laid low. The working men of Lancashire and Yorkshire are not the sort of people to attach themselves to conservative leading-strings or to pluck the Tories’ chestnuts out of the fire for them. Just give K. Hardie enough time and the consequences of his policy will rebound on him personally and become evident to all.
Burns has gone to Halifax to agitate in connection with the elections and consequently did not vote on Keir Hardie’s motion.
For it is by-election time in Huddersfield and Halifax, two manufacturing towns in Yorkshire, each of more than 100,000 inhabitants. The Independent Labour Party has put up a candidateb in Halifax, as have the other two parties. Then it made the following offer to the Liberals: If you withdraw your candidate in Halifaxc so that we only have the Toryd to contend with, we’ll vote for you in Huddersfield. The Liberals refused. Whereupon the LIBERAL WAS DEFEATED LAST TUESDAY IN HUDDERSFIELDe by the Toryf—as a result of the Independent Labour Party’s abstention, Again, at another by-election in Burnley, Lancashire, not far from Halifax, the Liberals polled 750 fewer votes than in the previous election — also as a result of our abstention. The poll in Halifax is being held today and the Tory will probably be elected. That would bring Gladstone’s majority, now 36, down to 34. Events such as these are
- a See this volume, p. 87 - b John Lister -c William Rawson Shaw - d Alfred Arnold - e Joseph Woodhead — f Joseph Crosland 1893
making things hotter each day for the Liberals. Up till now progress has been splendid and Gladstone will have to capitulate to the workers. Most important of all are the political measures, namely the extension of the franchise for working men by implementing what is presently on paper and which would increase the Labour vote by 50 per cent, the curtailment of the duration of Parliament (now seven years!) and the payment of electoral expenses and M.P.’s salaries out of public funds.
Meanwhile these fresh successes scored by an independent policy are bound to increase the working man’s self-esteem and tell him that virtually everywhere the fate of the elections, and hence of each government, lies in his hands. That is the most important part: self-confidence and self-reliance on the part of the class. It will also tide them over all the miserable little intrigues which are simply the result of the masses’ lack of confidence in themselves. Once we have a body of working men that really moves en masse, the crafty manoeuvrings of those worthies the leaders will cease, for they will do them more harm than good.
Louise’s letter went off at 5.30 p.m. by the night boat. This is going off at 9 p.m., i.e. by the first day boat. Perhaps you would tell us at what time each of them arrives so that we know which post is the best.
Once again warm regards to your wife and yourself from Louise and
Your F.E.
Published in English for the first time 1893
58. Engels to Laura Lafargue 12 February
Glad indeed I was to see your handwriting otherwise than outside an Intransigeant ox a Figaro, and I reply at once, as today Sunday I have a few minutes free and tomorrow I shall have to rush off again into the jungle of Banks, Credit, moneyed capital, rate of interest, in order to finish off Das Kapital, book II I, chapters 30-36. It is — this section V — as good as finished as far as real difficulties are concerned, but it wants a good deal of ‘finishing’ in the literary sense: arranging, weeding out repetitions etc. [33] This I hope to settle in 8-10 days, then come Sections VI and VII , and then — the end. My correspondence in the meantime is suspended and my rack is full, cram-full of unanswered letters from all quarters, reaching from Rome to New York and from Petersburg to Texas; so if I snatch a moment to write to you, it’s only because it’s you and no one else.
Louisea sent you a letter of seven pages rather more than a week ago — have you really never received that? Please inquire, we will do the same here.
Yes, the Arbeiterinnen-Zeitungyou will like. It has a healthy proletarian character in it — including the literary imperfections — which contrasts very agreeably with all the rest of the women’s papers. And you may well be proud of it, for you too are one of its Mamas!
I am sorry to hear about Paul’s continued unsatisfactory health — has he not yet got rid ofthat infernal taenia? Surely there is plenty of Filix Mas or Koussoh to be had in Paris to drive it out, even without a regular siege. Of course as long as he nurses it, he will not get well, the beast will eat him up. And why in the name of goodness does he travel thus? Nobody out of France can make it out that he and others allow this splendid opportunity to slip out of their hands. [155] I can very well understand that the harum-scarum lot of so-called Socialist deputies does not want him to speak, they all pull in different directions and play each his own game, and they know that Paul, once in the tribune, would be unaccountable and incon-
a Kautsky - b medicinal herbs 1893
trollable by them, but from our point of view that is the very reason why he should speak. Are the Socialists, just before the elections. [156] by their silence to create the suspicion that they are no better than the Panamitards and have reasons of their own to screen them and to hush the whole thing up? In Italy that is the case, the couple of men elected in the Romagna (as Socialists) are in the hands of the government through the subventions paid by the latter to the so-called cooperative societies directed by the former, and which subventions as likely as not come out of the coffers of the Banca Romana. That accounts for their silence. [106] But in France!?! I can assure you, this unaccountable silence has not raised the respect in which the French Socialists are held abroad. Of course, Brousse and Co. have had their share out of the secret funds furnished by Panama — but is not that a reason more for our people to speak out? Formerly à la guerre comme à la guerre was a French proverb, is it still so?
According to Mother Crawford, the severe sentences on the Lesseps and Co. are mere dust thrown into the eyes of the gogosa—the Court of Cassation will quench them, [157] on the ground that the Prinet instruction did not interrupt prescription, and that therefore the délits en question sont prescrits.b If that turns out to be the case, then it means that the ‘knowing ones’, ceux qui ont touchéc are bold enough to tell all France that she is a gogo all over. That would be se moquer du mondé with a vengeance.
Well, I hope the popular wrath will be roused at last, and vengeance taken. It’s getting time.
Bebel shall send you his speech of the 3rd February in the Stenogramm. It is really splendid, and you may find it very useful for the Socialiste. [158] Our people have had the Reichstag all to themselves for a fortnight. First the Notstandsdebatte,e 3 days, and all parties, from the government downwards, imploring our men to use their power to smooth matters down with the striking colliers, etc. [159] Then the colossal blunder of the bourgeois to provoke our people to a debate on the future organisation of society — this lasted five days! [143] —the first time the subject as been discussed in any parliament. And only three speakers on our side at all — Bebel spoke twice, Frohme and Liebknecht — and the bourgeois had to leave us the last word and give it up in despair (for we could stop the clôturef by a simple count out, there never being the quorum of 201 present).
a simpletons -b misdemeanours in question are prescribed -c those who made something out of it - d to cock a snock at public opinion - c emergency debate - f closure 1893
While you were flooded I was ‘dying’—according to the papers. Last Tuesday weeka a telegram from Vienna: was I actually off? Then one from Dresden; at 5 in the morning, knock up, one from New York. This went on for a couple of days more until we found out that almost all Berlin papers had a paragraph, I was in einem so hochgradigen Kräfteverlust, dass mein Ableben stündlich erwartet wurde.b Who invented this rubbish I can’t make out. Anyhow, he be damned.
Love from Louise, and from
Ever yours,
F. Engels
To Paul: Exeat taeniac!
Sam Moore left again for the Niger 28th January.
59. Engels to August Bebel 24 February
You will have received the document I sent off by registered mail yesterday. A word or two more on the subject.
I had envisaged its being published in 8 articles in 8 successive numbers of the Vorwärts. But some other method may seem better to you, in which case feel free.
I do not much like the title Can Europe Disarm? And yet I cannot think
a See this volume, pp. 92-93 - b in such an extreme state of failing strength that my demise was hourly awaited — c Out taenia go!
1893
of anything better. [160] You couldn’t very well call it a Social-Democratic Military Bill, though this might do at a pinch if you were to adopt the proposal en bloc.
I sent the thing to you rather than to Liebknecht because you are a member of the Military Committee and asked me for a ‘lecture’. That will exonerate me so far as he is concerned. Also because I would sooner entrust you than him with such alterations as may be demanded by the Press Laws, and, in general, because the article is the concern not merely of the Vorwärts, but of you all, and you might have your own individual opinions as to the best method and time of publication — at any rate before the matter is again debated in plenary session.
As you will have seen from the Workman’s Times, the English working man is, thanks to the Avelings, now kept better informed about party affairs on the Continent, [158] especially those in Germany. [161]
After what happened in the last elections, the Liberal government has had to stir its stumps a bit. True, the measures are ‘Liberal’ but at any rate better than might have been expected. The new Bill re electoral registers, [162] if it should go through, will 1. strengthen the Labour vote by at least 20 to 30 per cent and give the workers an absolute majority in another 40 or 50 constituencies, and 2. save the candidates a considerable outlay every year; the latter have themselves been responsible for getting their voters placed on the register, and that’s a very expensive business over here. This can pass muster.—Salaries for M.P.s are very much on the cards and should materialise, if not in this session, then almost certainly in the next one. Gladstone has accepted them in principle. Again, it’s a great advantage that there should be only one electoral register, i.e. only one suffrage, for all public elections, and the importance of this is enhanced by the fact that there is another Bill in sight for the setting up of Parish (over here rural parishes) Councils [163] which will eliminate the last traces of what has hitherto been a semi-feudal system in country districts. If all this goes through and becomes law during this session, the political position of the working class will be materially improved, which is in itself an added incentive for the chaps to make the most of that new position. However many intrigues and blunders there may be over here, and these will be legion, there can be no doubt that tremendous progress is being made, and in a few years’ time you may already find cause for surprise in the English.
I don’t see why you shouldn’t give a straight account of the Spatzek 1893
business. Come to that, it has been published in Polish in the February issue of Przedswit.a
If Wachs is tall, he’s not the right chap. He was, so far as I can remember, about the same size as yourself, with brown hair. But where all these waxen majors come from, I cannot conceive.b
The Witchc has just finished, so I must fall in and await orders — warm regards to your wife and yourself,
Your F. E.
60. Engels to Nikolai Danielson 24 February
Pardon my long silence. It was not voluntary, I have to make an effort — a supreme effort — to finish Vol. II Id this winter and spring. In order to attain that, I have to forbid myself all extra-work and even all correspondence that is not absolutely necessary. Otherwise nothing would have detained me from continuing with you the discussion of our highly interesting and important problem. [165]
I have now finished — all but a few formal matters — the rédactione of Section V (Banks and Credit), the most difficult of all, both from the state of the subject and from the state of the manuscript. Now remain but two sections — 1/3 of the whole — of these the one — rent of land — is
a See this volume, p. 102 - b A play of words in the original: the name Wachs is derived from the word ‘wächsern’ meaning ‘waxen’. See this volume, p. 101 - c jocular name for Louise Kautsky - a of Marx’s Capital -c editing 1893
upon a very difficult subject too, but as far as I recollect the Ms.a is far more finished than that of Section V. So that I still hope to be able to complete my task in the allotted time. The great difficulty was, to get 3-5 months absolute freedom from all interruption, so as to devote the whole time to Section V, and that is now fortunately done. In working, I have often thought of the immense pleasure this volume will give to you when it appears. I shall send you advance-sheets as I did for Vol. II .
Maintenant revenons à nos moutons.b We seem to be agreed upon all points except one, which you tackle in both your letters of 3d October and 27 January, though in each from a different point of view.
In the first you ask: was the economic change, which after 1854 had become unavoidable, [166] of such a nature that it must, instead of developing the historical institutions of Russia, on the contrary attack them in their root? In other words, could not the rural commune be taken for the basis of the new economic development?
And, January 27th, you express the same idea in this form: the grande industriec had become a necessity for Russia, but was it unavoidable that it was developed in a capitalistic form?
Well, in, or about, 1854 Russia started with the commune on the one hand, and the necessity of the grande industrie on the other. Now, if you take the whole state of your country into account, as it was at that date, do you see any possibility of the grande industrie being grafted on the peasants’ commune in a form which would, on the one hand, make the development ofthat grande industrie possible, and on the other hand raise the primitive commune to the rank of a social institution superior to anything the world has yet seen? And that while the whole Occidentd was still living under the capitalist régime?. It strikes me that such an evolution, which would have surpassed anything known in history, required other economical, political and intellectual conditions than were present at that time in Russia.
No doubt the commune and to a certain extent the artel, contained germs which under certain conditions might have developed and saved Russia the necessity of passing through the torments of the capitalistic ré-
a of Section VI (see present edition, Vol. 37) - b Literally: let’s return to our muttons; an expression from the French medieval farce, meaning: let’s return to the subject of our conversation. - c large-scale industry - d West 1893
gime. I fully subscribe to our author’s letter about Zhukovsky.a But in his, as well as in my opinion, the first condition required to bring this about, was the impulse from without, the change of economic system in the Occident of Europe, the destruction of the capitalist system in the countries where it had originated. Our author said in a certain preface to a certain old manifesto, in January 1882, replying to the question whether the Russian commune might not be the starting-point of a higher social developmentb: if the change of economic system in Russia coincides with a change of economic system in the West — so that the two complement each other, the present Russian common ownership of land may serve as the starting-point for communist development.c
If we in the West had been quicker in our own economic development, if we had been able to upset the capitalistic regime some ten or twenty years ago, there might have been time yet for Russia to cut short the tendency of her own evolution towards capitalism. Unfortunately we are too slow, and those economic consequences of the capitalistic system which must bring it up to the critical point, are only just now developing in the various countries about us: while England is fast losing her industrial monopoly, France and Germany are approaching the industrial level of England, and America bids fair to drive them all out of the world’s market both for industrial and for agricultural produce. The introduction of an, at least relative, free trade policy in America is sure to complete the ruin of England’s industrial monopoly, and to destroy, at the same time, the industrial export trade of Germany and France; then the crisis must come, tout ce qu’il y a de plus fin de siècle.d But in the meantime, with you, the commune fades away, and we can only hope that the change to a better system, with us, may come soon enough to save, at least in some of the remoter portions of your country, institutions which may, under these circumstances, be called upon to fulfil a great future, But facts are facts, and we must not forget that these chances are getting less and less every year.
For the rest I grant you that the circumstance of Russia being the last country seized upon by the grande capitalist grande industrie, and at the
a The reference is to the letter Marx wrote to the editors of the Otechestvenniye Zapiski (see present edition, Vol. 24, pp. 196-201). - b K. Marx and F. Engels, ‘Preface to the Second Russian Edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party (see present edition, Vol. 24, p. 426). - c Phrase in Russian in the original. - a which signifies better than anything else the end of the world 1893
same time the country with by far the largest peasant population, are such as must render the bouleversement [3] caused by this economic change, more acute than it has been anywhere else. The process of replacing some 500,000 landowners,b and some 80 million peasants by a new class of bourgeois landed proprietors cannot be carried out but under fearful sufferings and convulsions. But history is about the most cruel of all goddesses,b and she leads her triumphal car over heaps of corpses, not only in war, but also in ‘peaceful’ economic development. And we men and women are unfortunately so stupid that we never can pluck up courage to a real progress unless urged to it by sufferings that seem almost out of proportion.
Always yours
P. W. R. [167]
Address Mrs Kautsky, please, not Mrs Roscher.
61. Engels to Paul Lafargue 25 February
How time passes! Old Harney reminds me this morning that yesterday was the anniversary of the February revolution. ‘Long Live the Republic!’ Lord, we have so many other anniversaries to celebrate now that one forgets these semi-bourgeois occasions. And to think that in five years it will be a half century since that one took place. At the time we were all en-
a overthrow - b word in Russian in original 1893
thusiasm for the republic — with a small r; since it has been written with a capital R, it seems worthless, save as an almost obsolete historical stage.
Your speech was very good and I regret only one thing: that it was not delivered two months ago. [168] But better late than never.a It doesn’t surprise me that the Chamber and the press found it ill-timed; if we were to wait upon their placetb we should never open our mouths. As for the Millerand & Co. Radical Socialists, it is absolutely essential that the alliance with them should be based on the fact that our Party is a separate Party, and that they recognise that. [169] Which in no way rules out joint action in the forthcoming elections, provided that the distribution of seats to be jointly contested is made in accordance with the actual state of the respective forces; those gentlemen are in the habit of claiming the lion’s share.
Do not let the fact that your speeches in the Chamber do not create as much stir as formerly discourage you. Look at our people in Germany: they were booed for years on end, and now the 36 dominate the Reichstag. Bebel writes saying: if we were eighty or a hundred (out of 400 members), the Reichstag would become an impossibility. There is not a debate, no matter what the subject, in which we do not intervene and we are listened to by all the parties. The debate on the socialist organisation of the future lasted five days, [143] and Bebel’s speechc was wanted in three and a half million copies. Now they are having the whole debate published in pamphlets’ [1] at five sous, and the effect, already tremendous, will be doubled!
You are absolutely right to prepare for the elections. We ought to conquer at least 20 seats. You have the immense advantage of knowing, from the municipal elections, the minimum extent of your strength in each locality; for I am sure that, since last May, you have appreciably increased it. [170] That will help you greatly in distributing candidatures between yourselves and the Radical Socialists. But possibly you would prefer to put up your candidates wherever you stand a chance, with the proviso to withdraw them, if necessary, in favour of the Radicals, for the second ballot, in the event of the latter having polled more votes.
The most important thing in the elections is to establish once and for
a See this volume, pp.105-06 - b invitation - c A. Bebel, Zukunftsstaad und Sozialdemokratie. Eine Rede des Reichstagsabgeordneten August Bebel in der Sitzung des deutschen Reichstags vom 3. Februar, 1893. - d Der sozialdemokratische ‘Zukunftsstaat’ Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags am 31. Januar, 3., 4., 6. und 7. Februar 1893 Veröffentlicht nach dem offiziellen stenographischen bericht.
1893
all that it is our Party which represents socialism in France, and that all the other more or less socialist fractions — Broussists, [30] Allemanists, [21] and pure or impure Blanquists [20]—have been able to play a part beside us only by virtue of the dissensions incidental to the more or less infantile phase of the proletarian movement; but that now the stage of infantile disorders is over, and the French proletariat has reached full consciousness of its historic position. Should we win 20 seats, all the others combined will not have as many, since they are more likely to lose some than to gain any. In which case things will go forward. In the meantime, nurse your re-election: I have a feeling that your absences from the Chamber have not contributed any too much to ensure it.
Panama [60] is not finished, not by a long chalk. And it is a disgrace that the trouble and honour of making disclosures should be left to the Royalists and their dubious allies. They could not have a better battle cry than: Down with the robbers, and if the great mass of the stupid countryside takes their part against the Republicans, it is to the cowardice of the Radical Republicans [86] that they will owe this triumph. You say that the republic is not in danger, that the deputies have returned from the recess with this certainty; well, then, they should strike for all they are worth and not let themselves be confused with the robbers by their silence. You are quite right: the political ineptitude of the whole bourgeoisie defies the imagination.
The only country where the bourgeoisie still has a little common sense is England. Here the formation of the Independent Labour Party [114](though still in embryo) and its conduct in the Lancashire and Yorkshire electionsa have put a match to the government’s backside; it is stirring itself, doing things unheard-of for a Liberal Government. The Registration Bill [162] unifies the suffrage for all parliamentary, municipal, etc., elections, 2) adds at least 20 to 30 per cent to the working-class vote, 3) removes the cost of election expenses from the candidates’ shoulders and places it on those of the government. The payment of an honorarium to M.P.s is promised for the next session; and there are also a whole number of juridical and economic measures for the benefit of workers. In short, the Liberals recognise that, to make sure of governing at the present time, they can do nothing but increase the political power of the working class who will naturally kick them out afterwards.
a See this volume, pp.82-3, 87 1893
The Tories, on the other hand, are behaving at the moment with un-bounded stupidity. But once Home Rule [171] is on the Statute Book, they will realise that there is nothing for it but to enter the lists to gain power, and to that end there remains but one means: to win the working-class vote by political or economic concessions; thus Liberals and Conservatives cannot help extending the power of the working class, and hastening the time which will eliminate both the one and the other.
Amongst the workers here, things are going well. They begin to realise their strength more and more, and that there is only one way of using it, namely, by forming an independent party.
At the same time international feeling gains ground. In short, things are going well everywhere.
In Germany the dissolution of the Reichstag is always a possibility [76] ; however, it lacks probability; everyone, apart from us, is afraid of it. We should win 50 to 60 seats.
On March 26th there will be an international conference at Brussels for the Zurich Congress. [172] Shall you go to it?
GOOD RIDDANCE TO YOUR TAENIA, and look after your bowels; I was going to make AN IRISH BULL by saying: they are the sinews of war!
Ever Yours,
F. Engels
62. Engels to Laura Lafargue 25 February
You know the saying that the most important part of a woman’s letter always is the postscript. But it’s an infernal calumny, and I am going to 1893
prove it. In my last letter I not only did not put the principal subject in the body of the letter, but not even in the postscript, and have now to send it in a separate note.
And this is, about your silver wedding here on the 2nd of April. You know you have promised, and I keep you to your word. Now as it is as likely as not, or rather more likely, that Paul will have to go to the Brussels Conference, March 26th, [172] would it not be the best if you came direct from Paris about the same time he goes to Brussels and left him to come over from thence? Unless you prefer going with him and having a look at your native place which I am told has much improved in order to show itself worthy of the honour you conferred on it.
Anyhow it seems to me that it is getting time to make some preparations for the happy event, and so, not being able, or rather having forgotten to add this postscript to my last letter to you, I now tack it to the letter for Paul and hope you will take it into your most serious consideration and let us know your pleasure as soon as may be convenient.
Love from Louise and
Your ancient admirer F.
Engels
63. Engels to Thomas Cook and Son 3 March
Your letter of the 3rd has been forwarded to me here. [175] The gentleman in questiona is a young physician and member of the University of Vienna, Austria, where he graduated and practised with distinction.
a Ludwig Freyberger 1893
He has been highly recommended to me by a prominent member of the Austrian Parliamenta and I have no doubt that you will find him a very desirable customer.
in English for the first time
64. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 7 March
28 Marine Parade
Would you send 6 or, if possible, 12 copies of the article [15] to me in London. I have been in Eastbourne for the past few days so as to get a breath of fresh air; [175] peculiar climate — sometimes you can sit out very comfortably in the open and then it turns cold and windy again; so far, luckily, it hasn’t rained much. Kind regards to your family,
Your F.E.
a Engelbert Pernerstorfer - b F. Engels, ‘Can Europe Disarm?
1893
65. Engels to Filippo Turati 12 March
I am sending you the proofs, though I have not been able to examine them in depth in the little time you gave me. [178] I am staying at the sea coast for a few days, [175] and the packet was sent to me here, which was a further loss of time.
You are free to add the programme of the International — that is, the Statutes and Preamble,a or the Inaugural Address of 1864,b as I do not have here a copy of the Russian edition of the Manifesto. I do not know exactly what it is you are talking of.
Thank you for the two brochures, which I shall read with great interest. Mme Kulishov has probably received a letter from Mme Kautsky by now. Greetings to Mme Kulishov and to yourself from Mme Kautsky and yours truly,
F.E.
a K. Marx, ‘General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men’s Association’. - b K. Marx, ‘Inaugural Address of the Working Men’s International Association’.
1893
66. Engels to F. Wiesen 14 March[180]
I don’t see why it should necessarily represent an infringement of the Social-Democratic principle if a man puts up candidates for some political office for which election is required and if he votes for those candidates, even if he is engaged in an attempt to abolish that office.
One might consider that the best way to abolish the Presidency and the Senate in America would be to elect to those posts men who had pledged themselves to bring about their abolition; it would then be logical for one to act accordingly. Others might consider this method to be inexpedient; it’s a debatable point. There could be circumstances in which such a mode of action might also involve a denial of the revolutionary principle; why it should always and invariably be so, I entirely fail to see.
For the first objective of the labour movement is the conquest of political power for and by the working class. Once we are agreed on that, differences of opinion between upright men, in full command of their wits, as to the ways and means of struggle are unlikely to give rise to a dispute over principles.
In my view the best tactics in any given country are those which lead most quickly and surely to the goal. But in America in particular that goal is still a very long way off, and I believe I would not be wrong in attributing to this very circumstance the importance which is still sometimes attached to such academic issues over there.
I authorise you to publish these lines — unabridged. Very sincerely yours,
F. Engels
First published, slightly abridged, F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906 in: Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen and in full (in English) in Science and von ]oh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, New York, 1938 Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an Printed according to the original 1893
67. Engels to Laura Lafargue 14 March[175]
28 Marine Parade
My dear Laura,
Well, that was a pleasant letter of yours. So we expect you as early as possiblea in the course of next week, and once here, we shall not let you cross the Channel again under, at least, a fortnight or three weeks; even if the ‘honourable member’b could not be spared from his agitating tour for so long.
We shall return on Fridayc to London. On Saturday Louise and I have both promised to speak at the joint Commune Celebration of the Verein [62] and Bloomsbury Society [181]—a joint festival, though I’d rather have a good butcher’s joint. The Sunday following is the Brussels Conference [172]—that is to say the second Sunday following, viz. the 26th; you do not say whether Paul will be there though it would be very important, on account of certain intrigues carried on by the old clique Hyndman-Brousse-Allemane, supported, for the time being, by Seidel, the secretary of the Zurich Committee [182] ; evidently a last attempt is going to be made by this bro-kendown lot to prepare for themselves a more favourable position at the Congress. From Brussels, Bebel [183] is almost certain to come to London for a few days and maybe Liebknecht too.
Now I should be uncommonly glad to have Paul and Bebel here together for a few days in order to do away once for all with certain French prejudices against Bebel who is by far the best man we have in Germany, in spite of what the French may consider his Teutonic rudeness. So you see I have a special interest of a political character, besides the personal one, in your showing up here early in the week.
I do not at all object to a tour de France made by Paul in an organised electoral campaign; on the contrary I consider it a capital move. But a
a See this volume, p. 116 - b Paul Lafargue - c 17 March - d journey in France -
1893
deputy after all has certain duties in the Chamber, especially in this Panama [60] time, and as every election depends, after all, on the votes of a goodly number of plus ou moins indifferent philistines, it struck me that his re-election might be put in jeopardy by his neglect of his parliamentary functions. Indeed I have heard something to that effect hinted at. And when I saw his continued absence during some very important moments of the Panama crisis, I could not help thinking that he was losing some very important chances, and that all this could be brought up against him. Apres tout,b it would be too much generosity on his part to prepare seats for others and lose his own. If you were as strong in France as our people in Germany, where above twenty seats belong to us almost et par droit de conquête et par droit de naissance,c then it would be different, but then such violent campaigns would not be required either.
To-day is Mohr’s dying day, and just the tenth anniversary. Well, in strict confidence I can tell you, that the 3rd volumed is as good as ready. The most difficult section, Banks and Credit, [33] is finished; only two more sections remain, of which only one (Rent of Land)e may offer some formal difficulties. But all that remains to be done is mere child’s play to what I had to do. Now I need no longer fear interruptions. What I had not been able to get before this last winter, was 4-5 months clear of such interruptions; now I’ve had them and the thing is as good as done. Only don’t tell anyone, as I cannot yet fix the time, within a couple of months, when the Manuscript can go to the printer’s.
As to what you say of Jaurès, that fills me with terror. Normalien et ami, sinon protégé, de Malonf—which of the two is worse? And yet, neither of them is a qualification equal to the superiority of a man who can write in Latin on the origin of German Socialism.g
Now then I must close. The sooner we hear from you in London about the day of your arrival and the earlier you fix that date, the better. Ainsi donc, au revoir,h from Louise and
your old
F. Engels
a more or less apathetic - b after all - c both by right of conquest and by birthright - d of Capital-e Section VI (see present edition, Vol. 37) -f Malon’s fellow-student and friend, if not protégé - g J. Jaurès, De primis socialismi germanici lineamentis apud Lutherum, Kant, Fichte et Hegel. —h Thus, till we meet.
1893
Of course I shall send you a bit of a compromising document — a trifle of a ... chèque, saving your presence! I have not got any here with me, else it would follow herewith.
68. Engels to Maria Mendelson 15 March[175]
28 Marine Parade
My dear Mme Mendelson,
I could not describe the joy with which Mme Kautsky and I received this morning the news that St.a is once more out of danger — we talked of him yesterday evening with some anxiety. All’s well that ends well, and I cannot wait to see him again on Saturdayb evening — in any case, we hope to have the pleasure of seeing both of you on Sunday at our place.
We have been here for a fortnight, and we are returning to London the day after tomorrow. The weather is wonderful, and the sea breezes have done us a great deal of good.
Au revoir.’Very best wishes from Mme Kautsky.
Your devoted friend,
F. Engels
We are expecting Bebel on Monday or Tuesday, [183] and M. and Mme Lafargue a few days later.
a Stanislaw Mendelson - b 18 March 1893
69. Engels to Henry Demarest Lloyd [ mid] March
Dear Sir,
I have duly received your two favors of 3/2 and 9/3 with enclosures. I very much regret that I shall not be able either to assist personally at your Congresses [185] or to supply the papers you ask me for. I should send them to you with the greatest pleasure, were it not that all my time is at present taken up with the manuscript of the third book of my late friend Karl Marx’s great work on Capital, which I am preparing for publication. This third book ought to have been out years ago; but never until now could I secure that continued freedom from interruption which alone will enable me to finish my task. I have been compelled to decline all outside work, though ever so tempting, unless absolutely necessary. By the time your congress meets, the MS ought to go to press, but this could not be, were I to accede to your request. For the work you ask me to do ought not to be journalistic commonplace; it ought to be the very best I can furnish, it would require mature study and thought; and that means a considerable amount of time, which for the reasons given, I am not in a position to sacrifice.
I have, however, forwarded you per bookpost a copy of the English edition of the Communist Manifesto of 1848 (by K. Marx and myself) and another of my Socialism: Utopian and Scientifica published a few months ago, as a small tribute which I hope may prove of interest to some members of your Labor Congress.
a translated by E. Aveling and published in London in 1892 1893
70. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 18 March
We have just spent a fortnight by the sea at Eastbourne [175] where we had magnificent weather and whence we have returned greatly refreshed. Now we can get down to work again. But in fact the visiting season is once more upon us — next Sunday (tomorrow week) there’s the Brussels Conference on the Zurich Congress, [172] when Bebel will nip over here for a few days [183] the Lafargues will be coming at the same time and I am glad to have again inveigled the young man over here so that he and I can discuss French affairs at some length. All the same I ought still to have enough time left to finish off Volume II P since I am now over the worst.
The matter of the Socialiste has now been settled. It would seem that a crash is the only solution to the silver business in America. [187] For Cleveland does not, it seems, have either the strength or the courage to smash this vicious circle of corruption. And it really would be a good thing if there were to be a crisis. A nation — a young nation — so proud of its ‘practice’ and at the same time so frightfully bone-headed in the matter of theory as America can only eradicate so ingrained an idée fixe at the cost of damage to itself. The plausible idea that, if one has no money when one needs it, this is because there is not enough money in the world at large, is a childish notion common both to the PAPER CURRENCY nonsense à la Kellogg and to the silver nonsense, and the surest cure for it is experimentation and bankruptcy which last might also prove quite beneficial to ourselves in other respects. Provided only some sort of tariff reform is achieved this autumn, there will be no need for you to repine, for the rest will surely follow. The main thing is that American industry is becoming capable of competing on the world market.
Over here things are going very well. The masses are undoubtedly on the move, and of this you will find details in Aveling’s admittedly somewhat long-winded reports in the Volkszeitung. The best evidence of this
a of Capital 1893
is the fact that the old sects are losing ground and having to fall into line, The Social Democratic Federation [44] has actually deposed Mr Hyndman; every so often he is allowed to do a little grumbling and grousing about international politics in Justice, but he is finished, HIS OWN PEOPLE HAVE FOUND HIM OUT. For the space of ten years the man lost no opportunity of provoking me personally and politically, and I never did him the honour of replying, in the conviction that he himself was man enough to effect his own ruin; eventually I was proved right. After a whole decade of carping they recently invited Tussy to write reports on the international movement for Justice, an invitation she naturally declined pending the public retraction of the infamous calumnies of herself and Aveling which Justice has for years been the vehicle.
The same thing is happening where the Fabians [43] are concerned. As in the case of the Social Democratic Federation, their own branches in the provinces have outgrown them; in this, as in the Chartist movement, Lancashire and Yorkshire are again taking the lead. Men like Sidney Webb, Bernard Shaw, etc., who WANTED TO PERMEATE THE LIBERALS WITH
SOCIALISM, must now submit to being permeated BY THE SPIRIT OF THE
WORKINGMEN MEMBERS OF THEIR OWN SOCIETY. They fret and fume but IT’S
NO USE — either they remain on their own, officers without soldiers, or they conform. The first seems more likely and is also more desirable.
The Independent Labour Party [114]—as the latest arrival — has brought with it fewer ingrained prejudices, contains good elements, the working men of the North being the arbiters, and to that extent is the most genuine expression of the present movement, True, there are amongst the leaders all kinds of odd individuals and even many of the best, as in America where you are, have acquired the parliamentary system’s deplorable habit of cliquism, but they have the support of the masses who will either teach them how to behave or throw them overboard. They still make blunders and plenty of them, but the worst perils are over and I now look for rapid progress which will not be without its repercussions in America.
In Germany the situation has almost reached crisis point. According to the last reports on the sessions of the Military Committee a compromise would hardly seem possible. [76] The government is making it impossible for the gentlemen of the Centre [71] and the Free Thinkers [149] to change sides,a and a majority cannot be obtained without 40 or 50 of their number. So
a See this volume, p. 101 1893
there’ll be a dissolution and new elections. If all goes well, I reckon that we shall get 2 1/2 million votes, for our numbers have grown like mad. Bebel’s estimate is 50 or 60 seats, for the geography of the constituencies is not in our favour and all the others band together against us so that, in the second ballot, we cannot convert even substantial minorities into majorities. I would rather that things carried on as they are until 1895 when we should be able to make an impact of a very different order, but no matter what happens everything, from Richter to Little Willy,a must needs help us on our way.
A young man from Texas, F. Wiesen of Baird, wanted me to make a statement deploring the nomination of candidates ‘for President’ as a denial of the revolutionary principle, since the intention was to abolish the Presidency, I sent him the enclosed answer.b Should a garbled Version be made public, be so good as to get the Volkszeitung to print this.
I trust you and your wife are now enjoying better health. Warm regards to you both from Mrs Kautsky and
Your
F. Engels
We have sent you the debate on the future organization of society. [143]
Newspapers may have been somewhat irregular while we were away, but should be complete.
a William II - b See this volume, p. 119 1893
71. Engels to Karl Kautsky 20 March
Lessner’s articlea reads very well though it certainly cost Ede a vast amount of work to lick it into some sort of literary shape. As to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung’s review, I once remarked — the notion suddenly came into my head — that it would be by no means a bad idea if the whole thing were to be reprinted en bloc and that this might be suggested to Dietz. On further consideration I realised, of course, that there were sundry snags and that it would saddle me with more work than I could properly take on until Volume II P was finished, so I thought no more about it. But Lessner seems to throw himself into literature with the same impetuosity as once he did into painting.
As a matter of principle I have ceased to read anything further on the rate of profit, not having read either little Schmidt’s second articlec or that by Lande.d These must wait until I get to the preface to Vol. II I. In the meantime your irrepressible private adversary, Stiebeling, has again sent me his latest opus,e hoping — though probably in vain — that I shall accord it a kindly notice.
As to the source of the nonsensical report about my illness, I am completely in the dark, but there was not the least occasion for it. Nor can I discover where it first appeared or in what paper, so I have no clue whatever to go by. Still, we have cracked divers bottles in honour of my serious loss of strength and my hourly awaited demise.f
Five of the seven sections of Vol. II I have been finished but for the— formal — final editing; the main difficulty, the section on credit, [33] has
a F. Leßner, ‘Erinnerungen eines Arbeiters an Karl Marx. Zu dessen zehnjährigem Todestage, 14. März 1893’, Die Neue Zeit, No, 24, Stuttgart, 1892/93. - b of Capital - c C. Schmidt, ‘Die Durchschnittsprofitrate und das Marx’sche Werthgesetz’, Die Neue Zeit, Nos. 3, 4, Stuttgart, 1892/93. - d H. Lande, ‘Mehrwerth und Profit. Ein ökonomischer Versuch’, Die Neue Zeit, Nos. 19, 20, Stuttgart, 1892/93. -e G. Stiebeling, Das Problem der Durchschnitts=Profitrate. Kritik einer Kritik mit einem Nachtrag. — f See this volume, pp. 92-93, 107 1893
been overcome. I am now on renta which may take up yet more time, so I still can’t say when. This is between ourselves.
Had I known that you were still prepared to continue working on the Theories of Surplus Valued, [102] I should have let you keep it, but having heard nothing for years and as I need the Ms. occasionally for purposes of comparison in connection with Vol. II I, I wrote asking you for it. In view of your other activities there would, after all, have probably been considerable uncertainty about when you might be done with this and subsequent instalments.b We shall settle this account shortly.
The manifold plans regarding the Neue Zeit would seem to have been consigned to oblivion — let us hope it will carry on, even without such violent revolutions, But it still seems to me that the fundamental shortcoming lies in the fact that the contents are aimed at one kind of reader, while the price is based on another.c
Over here the movement is making excellent progress. The danger of sectarianism — presented both by the Social Democratic Federation [44] and by the Fabians [43]—has been largely averted; the Independent Labour Party [114] will either absorb them or spur them on and get rid of their useless leaders. The masses, especially in the North, in the industrial areas, are finally and indubitably on the move. Blunders and dirty tricks there will still be in plenty, but that can be dealt with. The day before yesterday Aveling was in Manchester where the Executive of the Independent Labour Party were holding their first meeting. The resolutions were quite satisfactory. Aveling was chosen to represent it in Brussels [172] and later also in Zurich, [56] along with Keir Hardie and Shaw Maxwell. No doubt you will be hearing more from Ede. (This is in confidence, of course; I don’t know what the chaps intend to publish.)
Kindest regards.
Your F.E.
Engels Briefwechsel mit Kautskys, Published in English for the first time Prag, 1935
a Section VI, Capital, Vol. II I (see present edition, Vol. 37) - b See Engels, letter to K. Kautsky of 24 December 1892 (present edition, Vol. 49) and this volume, p. 71 - c See this volume, p. 50 1893
72. Engels to Laura Lafargue 21 March
I hope you had my letter from Eastbourne. [175] We returned here on Friday all the better for our holiday.a
Today I have a letter from that eternal bore Argyriades {zu deutsch Silbermannssohn,b and quite as depreciated as the metal he takes his name from) asking me for an ‘article’ {rien que ça!)c for his numéro uniqued of his May Journal; and that in the name of the Commission d’organisation de la Manifestation du 1-r mai—cet Argyriades argenté n’est pas l’homme aux trois cheveux comme Cadet Rousselle, mais bien l’homme aux trois ad-ressesee: 1) Question Sociale, 5 Boulevard S. Michel, in a red flag over the left; 2) Commission d’organisation, 108 rue du Temple, in a timber over the right, and 3) P. Argyriades himself, 49 rue de Rivoli over the leaf at the bottom.
Well, as I am quite in the dark about the ins and outs, the amitiés, inimitiés et neutralitésf the various sets in Paris, I don’t know what to reply and should be glad if you would kindly tell me how our friends are placed with regard to the Commission d’organisation in general and the silvery Grec and his Blanquist friends in particular and what I had better do? As to an article, that is out of the question, at the very outside I should send him what the Yankees call a ‘sentiment’.
And perhaps you can tell us at the same time when we may expect you here? which question reminds me of something else, namely of the necessity of not forgetting to enclose the cheque for ten pounds with which I remain, with love from Louise
Yours affectionately,
F. Engels
a See this volume, pp. 117-123 - b in German Silbermannssohn (Silvermanson) - c nothing less — d unique number - e Organising Commission of the May Day Demonstration — this silvery Argyriades is not like Cadet Rousselle, a man with three hairs, but a man with three addresses. - f friendships, enmities and neutralities 1893
73. Engels to August Radimsky 21 March
In reply to your esteemed note of the 18th inst., I can only tell you how glad I am that the Communist Manifesto will be appearing in Czech translation as well. [188] It goes without saying that, so far as I am concerned, there is absolutely no objection at all; on the contrary, it will give not only me but also Marx’s daughters the utmost pleasure.
But if Adler told you that I have a ‘command’ of the Czech language, he was, so far as I am concerned, pitching it a bit high. I am happy if, with much toil and the help of a dictionary, I can understand one column in a newspaper. Nevertheless I much look forward to the numbers of the Délnické Listy you have been so kind as to promise me. They’ll help me to keep my hand in rather better.
With cordial regards to the Czech comrades and to you yourself.
Yours truly, F.
Engels
Friedrich Engels, Wien, 1922 Printed
according to the text of the book
74. Engels to Julie Bebel 31 March
August’s presence [183] has made me conscious of the shameful fact that I have long owed you an answer to your kind letter, so I have at once taken up my pen lest you should continue to have cause to resent my tardiness. August, I can assure you, is exceptionally well and takes his raw eggs in brandy with admirable punctuality. The fact that his stomach is in excellent fettle was proved conclusively last evening at the Mendelsons and still more so later on at home, for after that good but truly enormous supper he slept more soundly than any of us.
We are expecting Burns here today and thus, for the first time in history, three Socialist members of parliament from Germany, Francea and England will come together. That such a meeting should be possible, a meeting of the three deputies of the three leading parliaments of Europe — three Socialist Party leaders representing the three dominant nations of Europe — is in itself proof of what enormous advances we have made. I only wish that Marx were alive to witness it.
Well, now it is also time to remind you of your promise to visit us here in the summer and take me back with you to Germany. [189] True, August is afraid that a possible dissolution of the Reichstag might upset everything, but that is something I cannot see, for if there is in fact a dissolution, it will happen this month, i.e. in April (which will be upon us tomorrow), while the elections will be held in June at the latest, [76] in which case a holiday will be more necessary than ever — for August as well as for yourself — and if you were to see the fine weather we have here and all the greenness of spring which also brings with it a mass of flowers that lasts until the end of June, you would assuredly come, dissolutions and fresh elections or not. So, as always, I shall count on your keeping your word and shall also accompany you to Berlin, for since last autumn our respective trips have been indissolubly linked.
a Paul Lafargue 1893
And now for yet another matter. August had taken it into his head to return on Monday.a But over the past ten years or so Easter Monday has become a proper holiday over here — one of the four so-called Bank Holidays. [190] It is a real popular festival. That being the case, all the railways are busy with extra trains and excursion parties, all the stations are filled to overflowing and all the regular trains are neglected by the management, since what matters is the extra profit. These Bank Holidays are the only days in the year when it is somewhat dangerous to travel on English trains, and consequently no one travels on those days unless he has to. We therefore implored August to abandon his plan and not leave until Tuesday, which he has promised to do. I am positive you will agree that he shouldn’t travel on a day when arrivals and departures are never punctual and when all the accidents that didn’t occur during the previous three months have a habit of occurring all on one day.
And now I shall take a hearty swig in honour of your coming visit — for we are at this moment enjoying our morning glass of ale.
With warm regards,
Yours,
F. Engels
75. Engels to M. R. Cotar 8 April
Dear Comrade,
I have kept your letter of 21/3 on one side for some time. Lafargue and Mrs Lafargue were on the point of coming over here and I therefore
a 3 April - b 1892 in the Ms.
1893
wished to take the opportunity of consulting both Marx’s daughters personally about your inquiry.
You are totally unknown not only to me but also to the Lafargues, and you will understand that it wouldn’t do to entrust a total stranger with a matter as important and as difficult as the French translation of Volume II of Capital.
Apart from a thorough knowledge of the German language, it also calls for an equally thorough grounding in economics, and this, unfortunately, is to be found only very rarely amongst young socialists. That is something that would also have to be discussed beforehand.
Next, you seek my collaboration — and on this score all I can say to you is that for years to come my time will be fully occupied with projects that are of at least equal importance.
Most important of all, however, and this alone might give actuality to your inquiry, is that there should be a publisher for the translation. If you have one, that and nothing else would repay the trouble involved in taking the other questions into consideration.
Yours very truly
First published in: Printed according to the original Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Published in English for the first time Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946 1893
76. Engels to George William Lamplugh 11 April
I am glad your life as a surveyor suits you so very well. It must be a great relief to you after the boring work in the office and in the corn exchange of East Riding. I would like it for a short time too, but only for a short time. In the long run, I couldn’t live without the hum of a big town. I have always lived in big cities. Nature is wonderful. I have always liked going back to her as a change from the movement of history, but History, after all, seems even more wonderful than Nature to me. It took Nature millions of years to produce conscious beings and now it takes these conscious beings thousands of years to act together consciously; conscious not only of their actions as individuals, but also of their actions as a mass; acting together, and effecting in common a common purpose, willed by them in advance. That end we are now on the point of attaining. And to watch this process, this approaching accomplishment of a thing never before attained in the history of our earth, seems to me a spectacle worth looking at, and for the whole of my past life I have been unable to turn my eyes away from it. However, it is tiring, especially if you believe you are called upon to co-operate in the process; and then the study of Nature comes in as a grand relief and remedy. For after all, Nature and History are the two components in which we live, move and have our being.
Kind remembrance from all friends here.
Ever yours F.
Engels
77. Engels to Franz Mehring 11 April
Naturally I have not the slightest objection to your printing the passage from my letter of 28 September you copied out and sent me. All I would ask is that you make one change in the final sentence:
1893
‘while the Lavergne-Peguilhenian generalisation would be reduced to its true content, namely that feudal society engenders a feudal world order’. [194]
The original wording is really too slipshod. I look forward to seeing the Lessing-Legende published on its own. That kind of thing is greatly impaired if brought out piecemeal. It was very meritorious of you to work your way through the tangled mass of Prussian history and to establish the correct correlations therein. The Prussia of today makes this absolutely essential, however disagreeable the work as such may be. There are various points, especially in this or that passage where you retrace the links with the preceding period, on which I do not entirely see eye to eye with you, but that does not prevent me from saying that yours is by far the best work that exists on this period of German history.
Yours very truly, F.
Engels
78. Engels to Jules Guesde 14 April
We indeed have need of you as our Roubaix deputy. This time we must
a F. Engels - b Le Socialiste 1893
succeed in getting a small, compact column [156] into the Palais Bourbon which will establish once and for all, and without any possibility of misunderstanding, the nature of French socialism, so that all the disparate elements are obliged to rally around it.
Only then will the French socialists be able to recover throughout the world the standing that is theirs by right, and the important position that they must occupy in the general interest.
Yours sincerely,
F. Engels
du marxisme en France, Translated from the French Paris, 1947
79. Engels to Laura Lafargue 25 April
As for the last few days we have neither heard from you nor seen any papers with your handwriting on them, we are beginning to be anxious about your health, and the enclosed letter from Rave with the influenza atmosphere it breathes, is not encouraging either. It is this letter which puts the pen into my hands to-day. I don’t know anything about any of the points he mentions.
[195] At all events, I do not want to write to him anything which may interfere with what you have been good enough to do in the matter. Therefore
1. Herewith a portrait — but could they not secure the clichéa of the one which appeared in the Illustration [196] (believe) about last May? that would be cheaper.
a negative 1893
2. The title I have no objection to, not knowing what you may have proposed or might prefer. I leave that, like the rest, entirely in your hands.
3. The proof-sheets are no use to me. I write to him [25] that I sent his letter to you, to settle all points, and that I shall be quite satisfied if he sends the proofs to you.
I returned last night from Manchester, where I assisted at the funeral of poor Gumpert (he was cremated). He fell ill, as you heard while here, last December of angina pectoris, which, brought on embolism of the brain with partial paralysis, and succumbed last Thursdaya to a fresh attack, after fearful sufferings.
May Day here is as confused as in Paris. The Eight Hours Committee and the Trades Council [197] are sure to have a separate demonstration each. And in this critical period Aveling falls ill, the Hull Dock Strike [198] intervenes and may lead to a general Dock and Shipping Strike all over the kingdom, giving Tussy more to do than she can manage — so that nobody knows how matters will go.
I hope you received Louise’sb letter sent on Saturday,c and I hope moreover soon to learn that you have got over your fit of influenza.
Salut au citoyen Représentant,d if he is about. Love from Louise and from
Yours affectionately F.
Engels
a 20 April - b Kautsky - c 22 April - d Greetings to the citizen deputy (Paul Lafargue)
1893
80. Engels to Ludwig Schorlemmer 29 April
I got your letter of 22 March and then the notification of your daughter’s death. Please accept my heartfelt condolences. Your earlier letters had already prepared me for it and from what you had said it was hardly to be expected that she would survive the spring. And if, as in your case, one is constantly a witness to the suffering caused by illness, while knowing that no remedy exists, one is bound in the end to resign oneself more readily to the final deliverance. Mrs Kautsky also asks me to convey to you her sincere condolences.
Death has also claimed its victims over here. Last December Dr Gumpert suddenly went down with an incurable heart complaint and on the 20th of this month he died of it. Last Mondaya I attended the burial, or rather cremation, in Manchester. Unfortunately I had to get back the same day and thus missed the chance of looking up Siebold or Klepsch and could not therefore glean any further information on the subject of the estate. This is another matter that will be adversely affected by Gumpert’s death. He was an energetic man who, especially in the case of the ailing Siebold, managed successfully to hurry things on, and, in view of the friendly relations we had enjoyed for many years, was glad to be of help. I have heard absolutely nothing more about the manuscripts and publisher’s contracts. If you are unable to tell me anything about this, I shall write to Siebold again shortly. [199]
I recall having seen Dr Spiegel on one occasion over here years ago. I think he will make a thoroughly good job of Carl’s career and attainments as a chemist. [200] Unfortunately it wouldn’t do to publish anything more than that in a scientific journal.
Your hopes for a dissolution of the Reichstag [76] will in all likelihood be fulfilled within the next week or fortnight. Caprivi has got himself into such a fix that he probably cannot concede as much as the gentle-
a 24 April 1893
men of the Centre [71] and the Free Thinkers [149]—who are bent on compromise — could consent to without imperilling the existence of their parties. I would rather that the dissolution were postponed until 1895; by that time we shall occupy a very different position and may become the crucial party in the Reichstag. One way or the other, we’re bound to benefit by it.
At Easter, or rather on Good Friday,a a German member of the Reichstag — Bebel — a French deputy — Lafargue — and an English member of parliament — Burns — Socialists all three — met for the first time at my house. A historical milestone too.
With sincere regards from Mrs Kautsky and myself
Yours,
F. Engels
81. Engels to Pablo Iglesias April
I cannot answer your letter without first complaining of your addressing me formally with usted. I don’t think I have deserved this. We are old members of the International and have been fighting side by side, for over twenty years in the same battles. When I was your Secretary for Spain, your people did me the honour of addressing me informally with tu,b and so I ask you to go on in the same way.
Enclosed herewith are a few linesc for your May issue,d I have written
a 31 March -b an equivalent of French vous and tu -c F. Engels, ‘To the Spanish Workers —on the First of May 1893’. -d El Socialism 1893
to Eleanor Marx-Aveling and to Bebel, asking them to contribute their share.
Regards and revolution,
Yours
82. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 17 May
Dear Sorge,
The Lincoln affair happened while I was still in Manchester — at the end of 1864 — but I have no more than a hazy recollection of it, nor, amongst Marx’s and my papers, have I ever set eyes on Lincoln’s reply. [201] Maybe I shall come upon it tucked away somewhere, if ever I get round to sorting out and classifying the chaotic mass of stuff, but of that there can be no question unless I have three or four weeks to devote to it. All I can find is in Eichhoff’s pamphlet on the International, Berlin, 1868 (based on notes and material of Marx’s); p. 53 reads:
‘Lincoln’s re-election on 8 November 1864 was an occasion for the General Council to send him an address with its best wishes. At the same time, it called mass meetings in support of the Union’s cause. That was why Lincoln, in his message of reply, expressly acknowledged the services of the International Working Men’s Association for the good cause.’a
In short, all I can say is that such material as I have on the International
a W. Eichhoff, Die Internationale Arbeiterassociation... (see present edition, Vol. 21, pp. 361-62).
1893
Working Men’s Association before 1870 is very incomplete — some of the General Council’s minutes, Marx’s and Lessner’s, and also partly Becker’sa
collections of newspaper cuttings and, finally, Marx’s letters to myself. I haven’t even got a complete set of the General Council’s official documents, proclamations, etc., let alone the correspondence of the secretaries who retained virtually all of it. There are no official Congress minutes at all. Nevertheless, it’s far better than anything anyone else has got, and I shall classify it as soon as I can. But when?
Volume II Ib is progressing steadily. I have reached the two final sec-tionsc and here too, I think, the worst is now behind me. But there’s still several weeks’ work to be done on them, after which I shall proceed to the final editing. I should like to send part of it to press before the summer holidays but don’t know whether I shall manage this. The final editing can be done while printing is actually in progress. And the matter is becoming urgent, for it looks as though we in Germany are about to enter a period of great turmoil and struggle which means that the thing has got to be finished before then.
What my views are concerning German affairs you can see from the interview in Le Figarod which I am sending you by the same post as this. As in all interviews, the text has in parts become somewhat insipid and the thread sometimes gets lost, but otherwise it has been correctly reported. The morale of our people in Germany is altogether excellent; so far as they are concerned, the election campaign is a real boon and they revel in it, despite all the trouble and effort it costs them. Bebel, who spent a week here at Eastertime [183]—after the Brussels Conference [172]—is a new man and writes to say that; in addition to Hamburg, he has been asked to stand for Strasbourg in Alsace where in 1890 we had 4,800 votes as against 8,200, and where a lot of the Francophils will vote for him. There are between a hundred and a hundred and ten constituencies in which we shall be kicking off with more than one third of the total poll (to go by the 1890 results) and in some eighty of the constituencies we shall, I think, either get in straight away or else in the second ballot. How many will fall by the wayside in the latter depends on the opposition candidate. Against Conservatives [202] or National Liberals [203] our chances are very good, less so against Freisinnige [149] and still less so against the Centre
a Johann Philipp Becker - b of Capital- c Sections VI and VII (see present edition, Vol. 37) - d Interview of Frederick Engels to the correspondent of Le Figaro on 11 May 1893 1893
supposing our opponents’ candidate sticks to his guns over the military question. [76] Bebel hopes for 50 or 60 seats in all. [204]
The atmosphere in Germany has changed a lot and, though the bourgeois press may still vociferate as loudly as ever, the respect our people now command in the Reichstag has gained for them a position very different from before. Nor is it possible for anyone to turn a blind eye to the ever-growing might of the party. If, at the next elections, we again show a marked increase, respect may grow on the one hand but so, on the other, will fear. And the latter will drive the worthy philistines of one accord into the government camp.
The May Day celebrations over here were very nice, but although they only happen once a year, they are already becoming almost a routine affair; they have lost their first bloom. Once again the narrow outlook of the Trades Council [197] and of the socialist sects — Fabians [43] and Social Democratic Federation [44]—has led to our having two demonstrations. But everything went according to plan and we — the Eight Hour Day Committee — drew a far bigger crowd than the combined opposition. Our international platform, [205] in particular, was very well attended. I would estimate that there were in all 240,000 people in the park, of whom we had 140,000 and the opposition 100,000 at the outside.
Champion, with his TORY and LIBERAL UNIONIST funds [206] (allegedly £100 for each of the 100 working-class candidates agreeing to stand in hopeless constituencies merely in order to deprive the Liberals of votes), has been made a thorough fool of by our old friend Maltman Barry. This blockhead, if Scottish speculator, has joined the Tories of whom, by his own admission,a he is the paid agent, and would seem to have been planted alongside Champion, whom the fund-dispensing Tories do not altogether trust, as a sleeping partner and watchdog — what the Jesuits call a socius. Thus, during Champion’s illness, he was sole editor of the Labour Elector, and told such improbable tales out of school that he quite spoiled his own little game, thus temporarily saving the Independent Labour Party [114] from becoming the pawn of the aforesaid gentry. Unfortunately Aveling has been seriously ill for a month now; in view of the constant caballing that goes on here, he cannot well be spared. He has gone to Hastings [207] to recuperate for a while.
If we should poll a considerably larger number of votes in Germany, this
a See this Volume, p. 84 1893
will have a favourable effect on the elections this autumn in France. [208] If our people there get a dozen men into the Chamber (they are counting on getting four seats in the Département du Nord alone), it will mean they’ll have a nucleus there that will be strong enough to compel the Blanquists [20] and Allemanists [21] to join forces with them.
I am glad that your wife and you are better again. Warm regards to her and to yourself from L. Kautsky and
Your
F. Engels
Karl Marx u. A, an F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906
83. Engels to Pyotr Lavrov 21 May
The day before yesterday I sent you by post a book by N. F. Danielsont: Ocherki Nashego Poreformennogo Khozyaistva.a
He also informed me that the parents of our friend H. Lopatin have had news of him, and that he is well. [209]
You promised to send me a copy of the brochure in which you were going to publish a letter of Lopatin in which I am mentioned — I still have not received it. [97] As I have been told that it has appeared, the packet must have gone astray in the post. Could you send me another copy?
a The title of the book, Outlines of Our Post-Reform Economy, is written by Engels in Russian.
1893
I hope you are keeping well — just as I am, with no reason to complain.
Yours truly, F.
Engels
84. Engels to Isaac A. Hourwich 27 May
Dr. Isaac A. Hourwich Dear Sir,
Many thanks for your interesting study on the Economics of the Russian Village,a which I read, I hope, not without profit.
As to the burning questions of the Russian revolutionary movement, the part which the peasantry may be effected to take in it, these are subjects on which I could not conscientiously state an opinion for publication without previously studying over again the whole subject and completing my very imperfect knowledge of the facts of the case by bringing it up to date. [210] But for that I am sorry to say I have not at present the time. And then, I have every reason to doubt whether such a public statement by me would have the effect you expect of it. I know from my own experience of 1849-52 how unavoidably a political emigration splits itself up into a number of divergent factions, so long as the mother-country remains quiet. The burning desire to act, face to face with the impossibility of
a I. A. Hourwich, The Economics of the Russian Village.
1893
doing anything effective, causes in many intelligent and energetic heads an over-active mental speculation, an attempt at discovering or inventing new and almost miraculous means of action. The word of an outsider would have but a trifling, and at best a passing effect. If you have followed the Russian emigration literature of the last decade, you will yourself know how, for instance, passages from Marx’s writings and correspondence have been interpreted in the most contradictory ways, exactly as if they had been texts from the Classics or from the New Testament, by various sections of Russian emigrants. Whatever I might say on the subject you mention, would probably share the same fate, if any attention was paid to it. And so from all these various reasons, I think it best for all whom it may concern, including myself, to abstain.
Yours very truly F.
Engels
85. Engels to Henry Demarest Lloyd 27 May
IN CHICAGO
London, 27 May 1893 122 Regent’s Park Road, N. W. Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your book A Strike of Millionaires against Miners, 2nd ed., for which please accept my best thanks. [211] I shall read it with great interest. Here in England modern capitalism, during the century and a half of its full development, has lost much of its 1893
original brutal energy and moves onwards with a moderated step; even in France and Germany, this is to a certain degree the case also; it is only in industrially young countries like America and Russia, that capital gives full fling to the recklessness of its greed. The consolation, however, lies in this: that by this very recklessness it hurries on the development of the immense resources of these young countries, and thereby prepares the period when a better system of production will be able to take the place of the old.
In America, at least, I am strongly inclined to believe that the fatal hour of capitalism will have struck as soon as a native American working class will have replaced a working class composed in its majority by foreign immigrants.
Yours very faithfully
Fred. Engels
86. Engels to Karl Kautsky 1 June
Many thanks for drawing my attention to Brentano. [212] The man has evidently not forgiven me for having once again nailed him down with regard to the old Concordia business, No doubt he wishes to participate in A. Mulberger’s life-long hostility to me. [213] Not that I greatly care. But all the same, I should like to make the gentleman’s acquaintance in this new sphere. He seems to me very much the sort of person who would make a splendid ass of himself in prehistory. However, I’m not quite sure whether you mean Vol. 1 or Vol. 3 of the journal; please let me know by 1893
postcard and also whether it is to be had separately, in which case I should order it. The very fact of his defending Westermarcka is enough; the latter is a duffer par excellence, exceedingly diligent but no less superficial and muddle-headed for all that.
I have just read Elie Reclus’ PRIMITIVE FOLK — what it is called in French I don’t know.b Here again, unparalleled muddleheadedness and pragmatism; moreover, his material is appallingly jumbled up so that one is often at a loss to know what tribes and peoples he is talking about; such material as might be of value is absolutely useless in the absence of an accurate comparison with sources. Add to that the anti-theological prejudice of an anarchist who, on top of that, is a son of a Protestant clergyman. There is an occasional good, cynical observation. Valuable to Englishmen in so far as it flies in the face of their respectable preconceived ideas.
The elections brought joy only to ourselves and to Caprivi. It’s too funny for words to see how the Centre [71] and the Free Thinkers, [149] the two parties most anxious to avoid a dissolution [76] because they were most afraid of the electorate, should now, after dissolution, be on the whole more afraid of the government and the possibility of conflict than they are of the electorate — so afraid, in fact, that, even before the elections, they have split into two sides of which one has come out squarely in favour of the government while the other still continues to vacillate. I must say, I had never imagined that progress towards the ‘one reactionary mass’ [214] would be so rapid. The resistance put up by the Richters and Liebers is, in fact, a very half-hearted and ineffectual affair and, should we gain the victories — in numbers of votes polled, seats being of lesser importance — which this disarray seems to promise, that resistance might collapse altogether. In which case we shall be the only opposition party, and then the fun can begin.
It is strange how circumscribed all these ‘heddicated classes’ are by their social milieu. Such gasbags of the Centre and the Free Thinker Party as still remain in opposition represent farmers and lower middle-class, if not actually working-class people of whose fury at the ever-increasing burden of taxation and the impressment of recruits there can be little doubt. Yet that popular fury is transmitted to their honourable deputies through heddicated organs, lawyers, merchants, parsons, schoolmasters, doctors, etc., men who, because of their more general education, see a little bit further than the party masses and who have learnt enough to know that,
a E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage. — b É. Reclus, Les primitifs....
1893
in a major conflict, they would be crushed between the government and ourselves. Hence they seek to avoid such a conflict and transmit the fury of the populace in muted form to the men in the Reichstag — let there only be compromise! Needless to say, they fail to see that this method of postponing the conflict propels the masses on to our side, i.e. gives us the strength, when the conflict comes, to fight it out to the finish. I expect to see a significant advance on the occasion of these elections — 24 million votes, maybe more[204]—but many more still the next time!
Caprivi’s joy, by the way, will be short-lived. If, as seems probable, his demand goes through, the masses will be driven over to us from the other side. And for a couple of years Germany will doubtless be able to stand the strain of additional taxation, but this demand will not be the last. In a couple of years Russia may give the appearance of having recovered a little, whereupon the more will have to be demanded again and in that case even the one reactionary mass may be driven to seek another dissolution. All over Europe we are again coming into the revolutionary mainstream—vive la fin de sièclea!
Bax’s sketches [215] are certain to cause you trouble. Though they have their moments, these are becoming increasingly rare and the style as a whole is tailored to a local and, what’s more, pretty narrow readership consisting of Fabian [43] and other intellectuals.
Your Berlin correspondentb has a pronounced subjective streak, but he can write, and has a good command of the materialist view of historical — though not, perhaps, always of current-events. His Lessing-Legende was quite excellent, although there are one or two points on which I would place a different interpretation.
You can manage the Zurich Congress on your own. [56] My plans are not yet settled, but I shall most certainly go to Zurich in the middle of August and hope to meet you there. [189] For the rest, I hope you will keep fit and well.
Your F. E.
First at published in: Printed according to the original Aus der Frühzeit des Marxismus. Engels-Briefwechsel mit Kautsky, Prague, 1935
a Long live the end of the century! -b Franz Mehring 1893
87. Engels to Hermann Bahr [ early] June
I regret that I am unable to comply with your request. [216] In the first place, it so happens that my party comrades in Germany are conducting an election campaign against, among others, anti-Semitic candidates, [217] which means that at this juncture party interests preclude my expressing an impartial opinion about anti-Semitism.
In the second place, I believe that my party comrades in Vienna and in Austria generally would never forgive me were I to allow myself to be interviewed for the Deutsche Zeitung.
I remain, Sir, etc.
88. Engels to Filippo Turati 6 June
Thank you very much for the information you were good enough to send me on the subject of the Domanico project. [218] I would very much like to reply to him as a young girl in Bellagio [219] replied to me more than fifty years ago when I said to her: ‘Bella tosa, damm un 1893
basi’—’domani!’a Unfortunately that is impossible. He knows perfectly well that I am legally impotent in his case; he is not asking me for any authorisation, but simply suggesting that I associate myself in some way with his quite disinterested undertaking. As it is quite impossible for me to take on the revision of the translation (even if Domanico was willing to do it), I have no means of exerting pressure on him; I thought it was better for the moment to gain time and ask him for information; you will find at the end of this letter a copy of my reply to him.b
Is the edition of Capital in the Economist’s Library in Turin to which you refer an Italian edition? I would be very interested in it, since that is something of which I have been unaware up till now; would you be so kind as to let me have the full title? and the name of the translator and the editor? so that I can get hold of a copy of this translation in order to say a few words about it in a new German edition or in the preface to the 3rd volume.
As for Deville’s resume, I have reviewed the first part, but not the second half, the editor was too rushed. That is why Deville has sometimes presented as absolute theses of Marx which he had posited only as relative, as valid on certain conditions or with certain restrictions. However, that is the only fault I can find. [220]
The second edition of the 2nd volume of Capital will soon appear. I am reading the proofs of the last part, and it will not be long before it is published. There are only the printing errors to be corrected, but in a book of this kind that is always important.
Thank you for the translation of the Manifesto. [108]
Best regards to Mme Kulishov and to yourself from Mme Kautsky and yours truly,
F. Engels
a ‘Kiss me, my sweetheart’—’tomorrow’. A play on words: ‘domani’ means ‘tomorrow’ and Domanico is a surname. - b See next letter.
1893
89. Engels to Giovanni Domanico 7 June
In reply to your kind letter of the 2nd of this month, I wish to thank you for letting me know of your intention to publish an Italian edition of Marx’s Capital. [218]
But before answering your various questions, I have to know who is going to make translation and how, as this work is very difficult and demands of the translator both a profound knowledge of the German and of political economy.
The translation from the French edition alone wouldn’t be perfect as the Italian suits more the philosophic style of the author.
I believe that the necessary means will be found to complete the work of such great importance and to publish a new edition that would be up to the contents of the book.
Sincerely
Yours,
F. E.
Copy to Turati 6/6/93
English for the first time
a In Engels’ draft this phrase is missing. He inserted it in the copy of this letter intended for Turati (see previous letter).
90. Engels to Stojan Nokoff 9 June
Dear citizen Nokoff,
A thousand thanks for the trouble you have taken in being the intermediary between the editorial board and myself, and dispatching No. 2 of the Bulgarian Social-Demokrat. I, for my part, dare to count on your good will in asking you to forward the lines enclosed to his address.a If it is not too much to ask, I would be grateful if you would let me know, merely by postcard, whether I am mistaken in identifying Sevlievob as the town otherwise known as Philippopolis? I do not have a Bulgarian dictionary, my Serbian dictionary offers no clarification, but I have the vague impression of having read somewhere that this was the Bulgarian name of this town. [222] If I am correct, you need not reply.
Yours sincerely,
F. Engels
a F. Engels, ‘To the Editorial Board of the Bulgarian Social-Demokrat’. - b Sevlievo is written by Engels in Bulgarian.
1893
91. Engels to Pyotr Lavrov 13 June
Tomorrow will be your seventieth birthday. I hope you will permit us to tender you our most sincere congratulations on this occasion. May you live to see the day when the Russian social-revolutionary movement, to which you have selflessly dedicated the whole of your life, will triumphantly plant its flag on the ruins of Tsarism.
Your sincere friends
Friedrich Engels
Louise Kautsky Eleanor Marx-Aveling Edward Aveling
92. Engels to Laura Lafargue 20 June
I was glad to conclude from your letter that there was still time to insert, in your Rave amendé et corrigé,a such of my suggested alterations
a amended and corrected 1893
as you approve of. [195] That was one of the reasons why I did not lay great weight on having the proofs here: once the matter mise en page,a it is difficult to insert alterations which necessitate either the cutting out, or the putting in, of a line or a few lines; at least in Germany I have had many a hard fight about the extra expence arising therefrom, and Mister Sonnenschein is careful to insert, in the agreement, a precise limit of what such alterations may cost extra. As to your two objects: to have a faithful translation, and one that should read as an original work, you have certainly attained them both and I am longing to read myself — without keeping one eye constantly on misprints and formal matters — again in your French: when I read it I said to Louise there is only one man in and about Paris that knows French, and that one is neither French nor a man but Laura.
As to the Alsatian Rave I’ll forgive him his Alsatianism in consideration of his working-class countrymen; the 12,000 Muhausenb votes for Bueb, the 6,200 Strasburg ones for Bebel (who is almost sure to get in there) and the 3,200 Metz ones for Liebknecht, besides odds and ends all over the country. Bebel who has been there several times lately is quite in love with the Alsatian working men and with the country altogether, although at Strasburg last Sunday fortnight they nearly smothered him bodily with their enthusiasm in Hammerle’s beer-garden.
Our elections went off glorious. [204] In 1890 — 20 seats, now 24 carried at the first assault; in 1890 — about 60 ballottages, this time 85. Of seats we lost two and gained six new ones; of the 85 ballots, there are 38 in which, in 1890, we did not get into the ballot (only the two candidates with the highest number of votes are admitted to ballot); and of the 85, there are also 38 in which we have chances (in the remaining 47 we are in a hopeless minority, unless miracles happen) and out of these 38 we may reasonably expect 25 successful elections. But the gap caused by the complete break-up of the Radical (Freisinnige) Partei [223] has created such a state of confusion that we must be prepared for a series of surprises; amongst the Radicals, party discipline has ceased to exist and the people in each locality will just act as they think fit. By bringing up our full strength at second ballot by the assistance of the bourgeois democrats in South Germany and of the mutual jealousies and bickerings of the other parties, we shall be able to come up again to the old complement of 36,
a is set up - b French name: Mulhouse 1893
so that only for an increase above that number we shall be dependent on the active assistance of Radicals, Anti-Semites [217] and Catholics, [71] that is to say upon the strong anti-military current which pervades the peasantry and petty-bourgeois class.
But the number of seats is a very secondary consideration. The principal one is the increase of votes, and that is sure to be considerable. Only we shall not know it until the full official returns are placed before the Reichstag; the most important part of that increase will consist in the— relatively small— number of votes cast in entirely new, remote country places, showing the hold we are beginning to take of those rural districts which were hitherto inaccessible to us and without which we cannot expect to be victorious. When they are all counted up, I still believe we shall have something like 2 1/4 million votes, more than has ever been cast for any other party in Germany.
Altogether, the effect has been stunning upon the whole of the German and English bourgeois press. And well it may be. Such a steady, unbroken, resistless progress of a party has never been seen in any country. And the best of it is that our increase of 1893 involves — by the extent and variety of the newly broken ground it shows — the certain promise of a far greater increase at the next general election.
The new departure of the parti ouvriera with regard to ‘patriotism’ is very rational in itself [1]’; international union can exist only between nations, whose existence, autonomy and independence as to internal matters is therefore included in the very term of internationality. And the pressure of the pseudo-patriots, sooner or later, was certain to provoke an utterance of this kind, even without the alliance with Millerand and Jaurès [169] who no doubt have also urged the necessity of such an act. Guesde’s interview in the Figaro [224] is excellent, not a word to be said against it. The address of the Conseil— here I am interrupted. I shall have to go to the railway station. Mrs. Gumpert (you know Dr. Gumpert died a short time ago) is going to Germany and on the way going to stay a few days with us, and I must fetch her from the train. So I must say good-bye for a day or two, my observations on the address being of no great importance and no hurry whatever about them. Good luck to the everlasting traveller.c What a change has come over poor Clemenceau that even a Déroulède
a workers’ party; reference to the French Workers’ Party - b See next letter — c Paul Lafargue 1893
can bull-bait him! [225] Sic transit gloria mundi.a The anti-Semite patriotic bullies seem to have it all their own way both in France and Germany as far as the bourgeois are concerned! Love from Louise and your old
Generalb
93. Engels to Paul Lafargue 27 June
You were absolutely right to protest against the imbecilities of the anarchists and Boulangeo-Jingoes; [226] even though Millerand and Jaurès (who certainly preceded you in this matter) contributed to this that does not matter. Particularly on the eve of a general election [156] it is impossible to leave the field wide open to slander. So we are agreed on this point; the Germans have done as much on more than one occasion, to the great distress of Bonnier who moves in an idealistic anti-patriotic sphere (though mainly anti-patriotic for others, since no one wishes more than he that ‘France should take the lead in the movement’). And here is the National Council uncompromisingly declaring itself patriotic — and at the very moment when the elections in Germany [204] quite as uncompromisingly prove that it is not France which is taking the lead at present — poor Bonnier, he was here on Sunday, and looked quite abashed.
Your declaration will have its effect in France, I hope, and I hope with
a A phrase from the ceremonial speech during the election of the Pope - b jocular name for Engels 1893
equal fervour that it will go unnoticed in Germany. This is why: they are not grave matters, but I believe I should draw your attention to them to make sure you avoid them next time.
I don’t want to speak of your use of the word patriot, of what you define as the only ‘true’ patriots.
That word has a limited meaning-or else such a vague one, depending on circumstances-that for my part I should never dare to apply that title to myself. I have spoken to non-Germans as a German, in the same way as I speak to Germans as a pure Internationalist; I think you could have achieved a greater effect if you had simply called yourself French — which is a statement of fact, a fact including the logical consequences which flow from it. But no matter, it’s a question of style.
You are again perfectly right in extolling France’s revolutionary past, and to believe that its revolutionary past will find response in its socialist future. But it seems to me that, having reached that point, you incline a little too far towards Blanquism, i.e., towards the theory that France is destined to play the same role in the proletarian revolution (not merely that of initiator but also that of leader) as it played in the bourgeois revolution of 1789-98. This is contrary to the economic and political facts of today. The industrial development of France has lagged behind that of England; at this juncture it is behind that of Germany which has made giant strides since 1860; the working-class movement in France today cannot be compared to that of Germany. But it is not the French, nor the Germans, nor the British who, by themselves, will win the glory of having crushed capitalism; if France—
PERHAPS—gives the signal, it will be in Germany, the country most profoundly influenced by socialism and where the theory has the most deeply penetrated the masses — where the fight will be settled, and even then neither France nor Germany will ensure final victory so long as England remains in the hands of the bourgeoisie. Proletarian emancipation can be only an international deed; if you try to turn it into a purely French deed you are making it impossible. The exclusively French leadership of the bourgeois revolution — albeit inevitable, thanks to the stupidity and cowardice of the other nations — led to — do you know what?—to Napoleon, to conquest, to the invasion of the Holy Alliance. To try and assign the same role to France in the future is to distort the international proletarian movement, as, indeed, the Blanquists do, and make France look ridiculous, for beyond your frontiers such pretensions are made fun of.
1893
And look where this leads you. You speak of
France, at ITS immortal Paris Congress in 1889, 227 raised the banner, etc., etc.
How you in Paris would laugh if the Belgians spoke of Belgium at ITS immortal Brussels Congress of 1891, [228] or Switzerland at ITS immortal Zurich Congress! [229] Furthermore, the actions of these congresses are actions neither French, Belgian nor yet Swiss, but international.
Then you say:
the French Workers’ Party 11 is at one with German Social-Democracy against the German Empire, with the Belgian Workers’ Party 230 against the Cobourg monarchy, with the Italians against the Savoy monarchy, etc., etc.
There would be nothing against all that if you had added: and all these parties are at one with us against the bourgeois Republic which oppresses us, Panamises us and ties us to the Russian tsar. After all, your Republic was made by old Williama and Bismarck; it is quite as bourgeois as any of our monarchist governments, and you mustn’t suppose that with the cry of ‘Long live the Republic’ on the day after Panama, [60] you will find a single supporter in the whole of Europe. The republican form is no more than the simple negation of monarchy — and the overthrow of the monarchy will be accomplished simply as a corollary to revolution; in Germany the bourgeois parties are so bankrupt that we shall pass at once from monarchy to the social republic. Hence you cannot go on opposing your bourgeois republic to the monarchies as something to which other nations should aspire. Your republic and our monarchies are all one in relation to the proletariatb; if you help us against our monarchist bourgeois, we shall help you against your republican bourgeois. It’s a case of reciprocity and by no means the deliverance of the downtrodden Monarchists by the great-hearted French Republicans; this doesn’t tally with the international outlook and even less with the historical situation which has brought your republic to the feet of the tsar. Don’t forget that, if France makes war on Germany in the interests and with the help of the tsar, it is Germany which will be the revolutionary centre.
But there is another very regrettable affair. You are
‘at one with German Social-Democracy against the German Empire’.
a William I — b The following phrase is crossed out in the manuscript: ‘and if one is to speak about alliance and international unity, it is necessary for this...’ 1893
This has been translated in the bourgeois press as gegen das deutsche Reich’.a And that is what everybody will see in it. For Empire means ‘Reich’ as well as ‘Kaisertum’ (imperial regime); but in ‘Reich’ the emphasis is laid on the central power as representing national unity, and for this, the political condition of their existence, the German Socialists would fight to the end. Never would we wish to reduce Germany to the pre-1866 state of division and impotence. Had you said against the emperor, or against the imperial regime, no one could have said much, although poor Williamb is hardly of a stature to deserve being honoured in this way; it is the owning class, landlords and capitalists, which is the enemy; and that is so clearly understood in Germany that our workmen will not understand the meaning of your offer to help them to defeat the crackpot of Berlin.
So I have asked Liebknecht not to mention your declaration insofar as the bourgeois papers do not do so; but if, based upon this unfortunate expression, there were attacks on our people as traitors, it would give rise to a rather painful argument.
To sum up: a little more reciprocity could do no harm — equality between nations is as necessary as that between individuals.
On the other hand, your manner of speaking of the republic as a desirable thing in itself for the proletariat, and of France as the chosen people, prevents you mentioning the — unpleasant but undeniable — fact of the Russian alliance, or rather the Russian vassalage.
Well, that’s enough, I think. I hope I have convinced you that in the first flush of your renascent patriotism you have overshot the mark a little. Not that it is very important and I hope the thing will go by without raising a dust, but should it recur it might lead to unpleasant controversies. Your published documents, though intended for France, must also PASS MUSTER abroad. If it comes to that, our worthy Germans have not always been correct either, in all their expressions.
As for the German elections, I am prouder of the defeats than of the successes. We have lost Stuttgart by a minority of 128 votes out of 31,000 electors, Lübeck by 154 out of 20,000, and so on. On this occasion all the parties formed a coalition against us; even the democrats of the South, who left us in the lurch at Stuttgart, at Mannheim, at Pforzheim, at Speyer and voted for us only in Frankfurt. What we won we owe — for the first time— entirely to our own strength. Consequently the 44 seats are worth ten times
a against the German Reich - b William II 1893
more than 100 won with the help of the liberals and democrats.
Liberalism has completely abdicated in Germany. There is no real opposition outside our Party. William will have his soldiers, his taxes and— his Socialists in the army and outside the army, in ever-growing numbers. The final figure of the socialist votes will not be known for 10-15 days; Bebel thinks it will not be above 2 million; the season was against us, many workers are scattered in the countryside during the summer and omitted from the register, he estimates the resulting deficit for us at more than 100,000 votes.
The Amiens, amende honorable is splendid! There’s no one like the French for these strokes of genius against obsolete laws. [231]
Love to Laura and to you from Louise. Kiss Laura for me.
Ever yours,
F. E.
94. Engels to Paul Lafargue 29 June
I am writing to Bebel and explaining the situation to him; [25] there are certainly many reasons in favour of a postponement of the Congress to a later date. [232] But
1. November is out of the question, nobody goes to Zurich in winter when it is raining and cold. Further, your Chamber, the Reichstag and the British Parliament will be in session then. So give up that date. Another can be settled later.
2. It would be regrettable if the French Marxists and the Germans, and they alone, proposed an adjournment. But it would be quite another matter if all the French socialist fractions unanimously made this request. See what can be done in this regard, but do it quickly, for
3. The Swiss will have to submit your request to the others and take their advice — at any rate they will plead that necessity, seeing that Seidel, the secretary of the committee, [27] is a fanatical anti-Marxist and intrigues with all our opponents here and in France.
You will have some difficulty in persuading the Blanquists [20] and the two kinds of Possibilists [30] to support your motion, but it is very important. If the others are satisfied with the dates 6-12 August, you are hardly likely to succeed on your own.
Ever yours, in haste,
F. Engels
Correspondance, t. II I, 1891-1895, Translated from the French Paris, 1959
95. Engels to Filippo Turati 12 July
On Saturdaya sent back to you, by registered mail, the Italian Capital.b
Thank you. I have compared some passages, particularly in the 1st and penultimate chapters (general tendency of capitalist accumulation). As you say, it is translated entirely from the French text, which continues to be more popular than the German. The passages I compared were translated fairly accurately, which is not very difficult given that the two languages are so closely related, and the greater freedom of movement offered by Italian in comparison to French.
a 8 July -b See this volume, pp. 149-151 1893
I noticed that the reverse of the title page carries the legend: proprietà letteraria,a which will prevent Domanico from using this translation as it stands. [218] I still have not received any reply from him, perhaps he is beginning to realise the difficulties involved in his undertaking.
The ‘last part’ of which I spoke in my letterb is, of course, from the 2nd volume, 2nd edition, which will appear closer to September. The 3rd volume is still giving me trouble, but happily the end is in sight. However, I have not achieved my goal of finishing this work before my summer holidays. And that may cause a further delay of several months.
As for the French edition of the 2nd and 3rd volumes, it would be rather difficult to find the translator they require. It’s a job which a few people would be willing and capable and persevering to bring to completion. The 2nd has 500 pages, and the 3rd will have 1,100-1,200.
Poor Martignetti! Is there no way of rescuing him from this benedettoc
hole of Benevento, and finding him some occupation in a place where he could also learn the literary language of his country? He displays extraordinary assiduity and willingness. He translates for me with a fanaticism worthy of a better cause; but it seems he has little success in business affairs, and an unlucky star has followed him everywhere.
Will we see each other in Zurich? [189] Good Lord, if all goes well I might be able to be in Zurich at least for the last day of the Congress; that is my plan; however, as it does not entirely depend on me but on a combination of more or less fortuitous circumstances, it is very uncertain, and we would both probably do well not to speak of it. If there is something which frightens me, it is your threat to speak to me en Meneghino.d In 1841 I spoke it passably well, and understood it perfectly. [219] However, when, about thirty years later, I found myself at Como [233] for a day or two, I did not understand a single word; my ear had completely lost the habit. Thus I can say in all truth that I still speak a few words of your so very expressive dialect, but I understand nothing at all. As for your French, it is still better than mine, and in any case nothing prevents you from writing to me in Italian.
Do you read English? If you do, I could send you a newspaper from time to time.
Salut cordiale
Yours,
F. Engels
a copyright -b See this volume, p. 151 -c damn -d Milan dialect -e Heartfelt greetings 1893
Greetings to Mme Kulishov from Mme Kautsky and myself.
English for the first time
96. Engels to Franz Mehring 14 July
It has taken me until today to get round to thank you for the Lessing-Legende you were so kind as to send me. I did not wish merely to send you a formal note acknowledging receipt of the book, but also and at the same time to say something about it — its contents. Hence the delay.
Let me begin at the end — with the appendix, ‘II ber den historischen Materialismus’a in which you have brilliantly collated the essentials in a manner that must convince any impartial reader. If I have any criticism to make, it is that you accord me more merit than I deserve, even if one takes account of what I may, perhaps, have found out for myself — in course of time — but which Marx, with his swifter coup d’oeilb and greater discernment, discovered much more quickly. If one has been fortunate enough to spend forty years collaborating with a man like Marx, one tends, during one’s lifetime, to receive less recognition than one feels is due to one; when the greater man dies, however, the lesser may easily come to be overrated — and that is exactly what seems to have happened in my case; all this will eventually be put right by history, and by then one will be safely out of the way and know nothing at all about it.
a ‘On Historical Materialism’ - b insight 1893
Otherwise only one point has been omitted, a point which, however, was never given sufficient weight by Marx and myself in our work, and in regard to which we are all equally at fault. For we all of us began, as we were bound to do, by placing the main emphasis on the derivation of political, legal and other ideological conceptions, as of the actions induced by those conceptions, from economic fundamentals. In so doing we neglected the formal in favour of the substantial aspect, i.e. the manner in which the said conceptions, etc., arise. This provided our opponents with a welcome pretext for misinterpretation, not to say distortion, Paul Barth being a notable case in point.a
Ideology is a process which is, it is true, carried out consciously by what we call a thinker, but with a consciousness that is spurious. The actual motives by which he is impelled remain hidden from him, for otherwise it would not be an ideological process. Hence the motives he supposes himself to have are either spurious or illusory. Because it is a mental process, he sees both its substance and its form as deriving solely from thought — either his own or that of his predecessors. He works solely with conceptual material which he automatically assumes to have been engendered by thought without inquiring whether it might not have some more remote origin unconnected therewith; indeed, he takes this for granted since, to him, all action is induced by thought, and therefore appears in the final analysis, to be motivated, by thought.
The historical ideologist (here historical is used as an omnibus term for political, legal, philosophical, theological, in short, for all spheres appertaining to society and not merely to nature)—the historical ideologist, then, possesses in every sphere of science a material which has originated independently in the thought of previous generations and has undergone an independent course of development of its own in the brains of these successive generations. True, external facts appertaining to one sphere or another may also have helped to determine that development but according to what has been tacitly assumed, those facts, themselves are merely the fruits of a mental process, and thus we still find ourselves in the realm of pure thought which would appear to have succeeded in assimilating even the most recalcitrant facts.
What has above all deluded the majority of people is this semblance of
a P. Barth, Die Geschichtsphilosphie Hegel’s und der Hegelianer bis auf Marx und Hartmann. Ein Kritischer Versuch.
1893
an independent history of political constitutions, legal systems and ideological conceptions in each individual sphere. When Luther and Calvin ‘overcome’ the official Catholic faith, when Hegel ‘overcomes’ Fichte and Kant, or when, with his republican Contrat social, Rousseau indirectly ‘overcomes’ the constitutionalist Montesquieu, the process is one which remains within the confines of theology, philosophy and political science, which represents a stage in the history of these spheres of thought and never emerges from the sphere of thought. And since the advent of the bourgeois illusion of the eternity and ultimacy of capitalist production, even the overcoming of the Mercantilists by the Physiocrats and Adam Smith has come to be regarded merely as a victory of the concept, not as the conceptual reflection of changed economic facts, but as the correct perception, now at last achieved, of actual conditions as they have always and everywhere existed. If Richard Coeur-de-Lion and Philip Augustus had introduced free trade instead of becoming involved in the Crusades, we should have been spared five hundred years of misery and folly.
We have all, I believe, neglected this aspect of the matter, which I can only touch on here, to a greater extent than it deserves. It’s the same old story — initially, form is always neglected in favour of substance. As I have said, I, too, have done this, never realising my mistake until after the event. Far be it from me, therefore, to reproach you on that score — as the senior culprit I am in no way entitled to do so, quite the contrary — but rather I would draw your attention to this point with a view to future occasions.
Hand in hand with this goes the ideologists’ fatuous conception that, because we deny independent historical development to the various ideological spheres which play a role in history, we also deny them any historical efßcacy. Underlying this is the ordinary, undialectical conception of cause and effect as rigidly opposite poles, quite regardless of any interaction. The gentlemen forget, often almost deliberately, that an historical element, once it is ushered into the world by other, ultimately economic, causes, will react in its turn, and may exert a reciprocal influence on its environment and even upon its own causes. Cf. Barth, for example, on the priestly caste and religion, your p. 475. 1 was delighted by the way you dismissed this quite incredibly superficial Johnnie. And they go and make the chap professor of history at Leipzig! Old Wachsmuth used also to be there; he too was not a little shallow-pated but he had a tremendous feeling for facts — a very different sort of chap.
1893
For the rest I can only remark of this book what I said more than once about the articles when they appeared in the Neue Zeit, namely that it is by far the best account of the genesis of the Prussian state that exists, indeed I might even say the only good one, being in most cases an accurate and minutely detailed exposition of correlations. One can only regret that, while you were about it, you did not feel able to include the whole course of events up till Bismarck; nor can one help hoping that you may some day do so and present the whole picture, from the Elector Frederick William to old William,a in context. You have, after all, already done the preliminary studies which you have all but completed at any rate so far as the essentials are concerned. And, after all, it has got to be done some time, before the rickety contraption collapses. The exploding of the monarchist-patriotic myths, if not exactly a necessary prerequisite for the elimination of that bulwark of class rule, the monarchy (a purely bourgeois republic in Germany having already become an anachronism before it has ever existed) is nevertheless one of the most effective means to that end.
You would then also be better off as regards space and opportunity when you come to depict local Prussian history as part of the whole German misère. This is a matter upon which my views differ here and there from your own, notably as regards the conditions responsible for the dismemberment of Germany and the failure of the German bourgeois revolution in the 16th century. If I get round to revising the introduction to my Peasant War, as I hope to do next winter, I shall be able to enlarge on the points in question. [235] Not that I consider those you adduce to be incorrect, but I should include some others and marshal them rather differently.
I have always found, when studying German history — which is one long, continuous misère—that a true perspective can only be obtained by comparing it with the same periods in France, because what happens there is the exact opposite of what happens in Germany. There we have the establishment of the national state from the disjecta of the feudal state at the very time of our worst decline. There, a rare kind of objective logic permeates the whole course of events; in our case, a barren and ever more barren haphazardness. There, the English conqueror of the Middle Ages, who intervenes in favour of the Provençal nationality as opposed to North French nationality, represents foreign intervention; the English wars are, as it were, the equivalent of the Thirty Years’ War
a William I - b scattered members 1893
which, however, ended with the ejection of foreign intervention and the subjection of the South by the North. Next comes the struggle between the central power and its Burgundian vassal,a supported by his foreign possessions and playing the part of Brandenburg-Prussia, a struggle which, however, ends in victory for the central power and puts the seal on the establishment of the national state. [236] And at the selfsame time in Germany, the national state (in so far as the ‘German Kingdom’ within the Holy Roman Empire can be called a national state) collapses completely, and the wholesale plundering of German territory begins. It is a comparison that is exceedingly humiliating to Germans, but all the more instructive for that, and now that our working men have again placed Germany in the van of the historical movement, it may be somewhat easier for us to swallow the ignominy of the past.
But what is of particular significance so far as developments in Germany are concerned is the fact that the two member states, which eventually partitioned the whole of the country between them, were neither of them purely German but were colonies on captured Slav territory — Austria a Bavarian, and Brandenburg a Saxon, colony; also the fact that they acquired power in Germany only with the support of foreign, non-German possessions — Austria with that of Hungary (not to mention Bohemia), Brandenburg with that of Prussia. Nothing of the kind happened on the western frontier, more at risk than anywhere else; on the northern frontier it was left to the Danes to protect Germany against the Danes, while in the South there was so little to protect that the frontier guards, the Swiss, were actually able to detach themselves from Germany!
But I am divagating — my loquacity can, at any rate, serve you as proof of the extent to which your book has stimulated me.
Once again, many thanks and warm regards from
Yours,
F. Engels
First Russian Edition Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
Charles the Bold
First published abridged in: F. Mehring, Geschichte der Deutschen Sozialdemokratie, Bd. II I, Th. II , Stuttgart, 1898 and in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, 1893
97. Engels to Rudolph Meyer 19 July[139]
Dear Mr Meyer,
It is, I agree, quite interesting that those worthies the Conservatives should believe (desire) that Caprivi might destroy Social-Democracy. [238] Just let him try. A new Anti-Socialist Law [15] can only strengthen the party in proportion to the individual existences it destroys. Anyone who has got the better of Bismarck need have no fear of his successor. Any attempt to abolish or tamper with universal suffrage will revive the old oracle: ‘If you cross the Halys, Croesus, you will destroy a great empire.’ If Caprivi does away with universal suffrage he will destroy a great empire, namely that of the Hohenzollerns.
So you have found violations of the theory and practice of agriculture in Bebel’s Fraua? Well, it is scarcely possible to provide a critique of today’s wasteful and generally uneconomic management of agriculture and industry, along with tips as to how, given the social order that automatically arises out of economic conditions, this could be done differently and better, and at the same time as to how, given shorter working-hours for each individual, production could be significantly increased — all this, I say, is scarcely possible without exposing oneself to attack by people with a practical knowledge of one branch or another. Hence Bebel is obviously either expressing himself badly or has failed to understand his authority when he says that the yield of a cornfield can be increased threefold or more by fully exploiting the protein content of gluten. There can be no question of that. I could point to a dozen or more minor inaccuracies of a like nature, but they don’t affect the main issue.
Similarly in the case of the transport of meat from regions overseas. Hitherto enough has been available for shipment in one form or another to Europe. But with growing demand and a growing tendency to change over from pasture-land to arable — in those regions too — this is bound to
a A . Bebel, Die Frau und der Sozialismus, Chapter 22.
1893
reach a peak before long and then decline. Whether it comes about a few decades sooner or later is largely immaterial.
However, the main objection you raise is that work on the land cannot be done by industrial labour and that in agriculture the reduction of the working-day to a uniform period throughout the year is impossible. Here you have misunderstood Bebel the turner.
So far as hours of work are concerned, there is nothing to prevent us from taking on at seed or harvest time, or whenever a quick supply of extra labour is needed, as many workers as may be required. Assuming an eight-hour day, we can put on two, even three, shifts a day, Even if each man were to work only two hours a day — in this special employment — eight, nine or ten shifts could be put on in succession, once we had a sufficiency of people trained in the work. And that and nothing else is what Bebel is saying. Similarly, in industry one wouldn’t be so thick-headed, assuming a two-hour shift engaged, say, in spinning, as to keep increasing the number of spindles until each spindle produced what was required of it when run for two hours. Rather, one would keep the spindles running for between ten and twelve hours, while the operatives would only work for two, a new shift being put on every two hours.
Now as to your objection about the poor town dwellers who are spoiled for agricultural work for life, you may very well be right. I readily admit my inability to plough, sow, reap, or even lift potatoes, but luckily we have in Germany so huge a rural population that by intelligent management we could without more ado drastically reduce each man’s working hours and still retain supernumeraries. Supposing we turned the whole of Germany over to farms of between 2,000 and 3,000 morgensa—more or less, depending upon natural conditions — and introduced machinery and every modern improvement, would we not then have more than enough skilled labour amongst the agricultural population? But obviously there is not enough work on the land to keep that population busy throughout the year. Large numbers would idle away much of their time if we didn’t employ them in industry, just as Our industrial workers would waste away physically if they were denied the opportunity of working in the open air and particularly on the land. I agree that the present grown-up generation may not be up to it. But we can train young people to that end. If, for several successive years, the lads and lasses were to go into the
a 0,25 ha 1893
country in summer when there is something for them to do, how many terms would they have to spend cramming before being awarded their doctorates in ploughing, harvesting, etc.? You are surely not suggesting that a man should spend his whole life doing nothing else, that, like our peasants, he should work himself silly before he acquires some useful knowledge of agriculture? And that and that alone is what I infer from Bebel’s book when he says
that production itself, as also a person’s training, both physical and mental, can be brought to its highest level only when the old division of labour between town and country, between agriculture and industry, has been done away with.
Now as to the question of the profitability of the large estate as against that of the small farm, this can, in my view, be simply explained by the fact that in the long run the large estate engenders the small farm just as much and just as inevitably as the latter, in its turn, engenders the former. In precisely the same way as cut-throat competition gives rise to a monopoly and vice versa. This cycle is, however, inextricably bound up with crises, with acute as well as chronic distress, with the periodically recurring ruin of whole sections of the population, and likewise with the vast dissipation both of the means of production and of what is produced. And since we have now fortunately reached a stage at which we can dispense with these worthies the big landowners no less than with the landed peasants, and agriculture, no less than industry, has likewise now reached a stage of development which, in our view, not only admits of, but demands, its appropriation en bloc by society, it is up to us to break the circulus vitiosus.a To that end the big farms and large manorial estates provide us with a much better opportunity than the small farms, just as in industry large factories are more readily suited to that purpose than small workshops. And this is reflected in the political sphere in that the rural proletarians on the big estates become Social-Democrats, just like the urban proletarians, once the latter are able to exert pressure on them, whereas the unsuccessful farmer and urban artisan arrive at Social-Democracy only by the devious route of anti-Semitism. [217]
To say that the owner of a manorial estate — LORD or SQUIRE — who has emerged from feudalism, will ever learn to run his affairs as would a bourgeois and, like the latter, be capable of regarding it as his first duty, come what may, to capitalise each year a proportion of the surplus value
a vicious circle 1893
secured — such a statement runs counter to all experience in all previously feudal countries. When you say that these gentlemen are compelled by necessity to stint themselves of much that goes with the way of life appropriate to their station, I quite believe you. But that they can ever learn TO
LIVE WITHIN THEIR INCOMES AND LAY BEYOND SOMETHING FOR A RAINY DAY is quite outside my experience. It has never yet happened, or at most by way of an exception, and certainly not in the case of the class as such. After all, these people have existed for the past two hundred years thanks solely to the assistance of the state which has seen them through every crisis...
Yours,
Friedrich Engels
98. Engels to Laura Lafargue 20 July
D’aborda thanks for translation of the Chronicle Interview — though it was hardly worth while. [239] And then an inquiry.
Some time ago Bonnier sent me a letter from a Diamandy (Roumanian) asking me to write for a new Reviewb of his and announcing me that they had anticipated my permission and translated for the 1st No., which they would send, the chapter on Barbarism and Civilisation. [240] I waited but received nothing. Then, a few days ago, I wrote, saying that I had not had the review [25] but anyhow had no time to write for him.
a First of all - b L’Ere nouvelle 1893
After that they send to me a Separatabdrucka of that chapter stating on the cover that they intended publishing the whole first in the review and then in book-shape. But the review they did not send to me, but to Tussy. From her I got it this afternoon and see that I am quoted as a regular contributor along with Kautsky, Paul, and others who perhaps were not asked any more than myself — that however articles by Guesde and Paul are promised and Paul’s essay on Mohr’s Materialismb is reprinted in part.—The translation of my chapter seems to be Roy’s. Now, all that, along with Léo Frankel as administrateur, opens out before my bewildered eyes such a vista of possibilities and impossibilities that before taking another step in the matter I must seek information and advice at your door. Paris is unberechenbar,c but Paris doublé de Bucarest becomes a mystery in the third power, and I give it up.
What funny people the French government and Parliament are! Panama [60]
passes off with a fizz instead of an explosion, the coup d’état against the bourse du travaild leaves the workpeople blasés and passes off quietly, but the Siamese humbug sends the very same parliamentary patriots off in a blaze of enthusiasm for Colonial Conquest — the same men who a few years ago almost killed Ferry ‘the Tonkinois’ because he tried to engage them on the same line! [241] Verily the bourgeoisie has outlived itself everywhere.
To-morrow Louise and I are going, for a week, to Eastbourne (address as before, 28 Marine Parade), as I feel the want of a little recruiting of strength before undertaking my trip to Germany. [189] Last year’s disappointment has made me careful; I don’t want to be laid up again lame in an armchair for six weeks. We leave Eastbourne Friday 28th July and London for Continent 1st August — meet Bebel and wife in Cologne and go via Strasburg to Switzerland where I shall meet my brothere and expect to be in Zürich for close of Congress 12th or 13th August. Thence with Bebel to Vienna and Berlin.
Will Paul and you be in Zürich? The Swiss got letters from other Parisian organisations, that the elections very likely would not be in August, in spite of all newspaper reports, but only in September; [156] that and the English objections decided against the application for adjournment. [232]
Post-time — 9 o’clock, though perhaps this will not reach you till Saturday morning!
a off-print - b Lafargue, Le matérialisme économique de Karl Marx. - c unpredictable - d Labour Exchange 29 - e Hermann Engels 1893
Love from Louise and your
ever thankful ‘Translated-one’.
F. Engels
99. Engels to Filippo Turati 20 July
I hasten to reply to your letter of 17th, which I received yesterday evening. Mme Marx-Aveling is executor under Marx’s will; as for the literary part of the inheritance, I am responsible. Neither of us has ever heard talk of any Unione tipografica-editrice of Turin, and even less have we ever sold to this society ‘property rights for the works of Marx’ which (fortunately) belong to us entirely to this day. Not a single soldo of money from this Union has ever touched our hands. [243]
As regards the 1st volume of Capital, these property rights include the German and French editions. In accord with the relevant international trea-ties, everyone is now free to do any translations; we cannot oppose this. If anyone asks for our authorisation, this is a purely voluntary act on their part.
It is not altogether impossible that the Union has entered into some kind of contract with the editor of the French edition, M. Lachâtre, but it is highly unlikely. I know nothing of it. However, even if this is the case, M. Lachâtre could only. sell that which is his property, and at the very most that was the French edition. Thus the Union could do no more than oppose an Italian translation from the French.
However, now the book by Deville has been published and is freely circulating in France. If in France no one has attempted to bring a charge 1893
of infringement of copyright against this book, then there is even less chance of anyone trying something of the kind.
Thus it is ridiculous, unless the legislation in Italy is wholly out of line. However, as the Code Napoléon has served as the basis for civil legislation in almost the whole of Western Europe, I do not think I am mistaken to see the case from this point of view.
What is amusing is the affrontery of these gentlemen: ‘we purchased from the heirs to this property, etc’ Clearly they have succeeded in this on other occasions.
As for Zurich, the situation is still as it was when I last wrote to youa; let us all hope for the best!
Greetings to Mme Anna and yourself from Mme Kautsky and from yours truly,
F. Engels
100. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 27 July
The day after tomorrow, i.e. the 30th of this month, is your and your wife’s Silver Wedding and so I am writing to send you my very best wishes on this joyous occasion. May it find you both in excellent shape and be a day of unalloyed pleasure and may you be granted a life of health and happiness for the 25 years that remain until your Golden Wedding.
Whenever a festive occasion of this kind comes the way of one of us old
a See this volume, p. 162 1893
comrades in arms, it takes our thoughts back to the old days, to the old battles and assaults, to the defeats at the beginning and the eventual victories we have experienced together, and we rejoice that in our advancing years we have not been destined to remain in the self-same breach — after all, we have long since gone over from the defence to a general attack— but rather to advance together in the same line of battle. Yes, old man, many are the assaults we have been in together and I hope we’ll be in more of them to come including, if all goes well, the one which, if it does not bring the final victory, will nevertheless make that victory a foregone conclusion. Fortunately both of us can keep our spirit up and both of us are spry for our age, so why shouldn’t we manage to do so?
Bebel will be giving you and your wife on our behalf — Louise Kautsky’s and mine — a small memento of your celebration, which I trust you will kindly accept and remember us by.
With cordial regards and good wishes from
Your
F. Engels
101. Engels to Natalie Liebknecht 27 July
I was delighted to receive the picture of the house in Bruch where I was born and spent my childhood. [244] The photograph is a very good one and shows every detail with which so many of my memories are associated. It was very nice of Liebknecht to have it taken, and I would ask you to thank him most kindly on my behalf.
1893
Provided there are no upsets I shall be visiting Berlin in September for a couple of days when I shall have the pleasure of greeting all of you again. In order to fortify myself somewhat for the long journey, [189] have been spending a few days here by the sea, [245] greatly to the benefit of Mrs Kautsky and myself. We return tomorrow.
It is typical of the Prussians to persecute your Karl in this way; the bureaucrats are incapable of forgiving him his father. [246]
And now once again my hearty congratulations on your Silver Wedding and warm regards to you and your sons.a
Yours ever, F.
Engels
[Postscript from Louise Kautsky]
In company with the Avelings and other friends we shall drink a toast to you both with a ‘68 port next Sunday.b Your very good health!!
From your
Louise Kautsky
a Karl and Theodor -b 23 July 1893
102. Engels to Nicolas Petersen 31 July[189]
Your
F. Engels
for the first time
103. Engels to Ludwig Schorlemmer 31 July
I do not wish to set off on my trip to the Continent, [189] which begins tomorrow, without replying to your letter of the 27th.
Unfortunately there will not be time to see you in Darmstadt, as I shall be traveling straight through to Switzerland and Austria.
Nothing definite from Siebold. He too has been sent to Switzerland for the Alpine climate and won’t be back for some time. Nothing can be done about the matter until I return. [199]
First published, in the language of the original (German), in: Meddelelser om Forskning i Arbejderbevaegelsens Historie, No. 11, Copenhagen, October 1973 1893
That is all. I must close, for there were visitors between 10 and 4 and I didn’t have a minute to myself.
Many regards to you and your family.
Yours,
F. Engels
104. Engels to Hermann Engels 16 August
I have been staying with Anna Beust since yesterday and am at last sufficiently far removed from the turmoil to be able to write to you. [189] I had quite a nice journey. There were some highly diverting dust storms to begin with, followed by just enough rain to make the dust stick to one’s clothing. In Zürich they took me to the Hotel Baur en ville where I was very well accommodated but never felt at home. Then, finally on Saturday evening, with the most difficult part accomplished, a moderate carousal gradually got under way (I say moderate advisedly; only half litres were served) combined with excursions on the lake. Tell Elsbetha that people here have already discovered how talented I am at growling. The other day Bebel remarked in a postcard that I had done nothing the whole evening but growl with contentment.
Zurich has come on a great deal and outdoes even Barmen. There ev-
a Elsbeth Engels ery third house used to be an ‘inn’; here, however, there are three inns to every two houses. The Beusts live in very pleasing style with a wonderful view from a gigantic balcony big enough to hold a ball on. Anna Beust is very well preserved and one of the most beautiful old women in existence, besides being witty and vivacious, clever, energetic and resolute; it is a pleasure to be with her. Her son Fritz is in charge of the school, while the other, Adolf, has a very good medical practice; both have nice wives and two noisy, lively boys apiece. Adolf lives at home and Fritz close by in a house he has built.
Next week I shall probably go into the mountains for a while with Bebel. However I shall be back in about a week or so, and round about the 3rd, 4th or 5th of September we are leaving for Munich and Vienna.
At the Congress [56] there were three or four Russian women with really lovely eyes, somewhat reminiscent of your sister-in-law Berta’sa when I saw her in Altenahr years ago. But my real sweetheart was a truly delightful Viennese factory girl,b charming of countenance and engaging of manner, such as one rarely comes across. I shall never forgive Bismarck for having excluded Austria from Germany, if only because of the Viennese women.
From what they tell me here, the Hotel Bellevue is not one of the best. I hope it nevertheless suited you all right. Let me know sometime how you got on. With much love to Emma,c Elsbeth, Walterd and you yourself from your old ‘weed that never dies’.
Friedrich
By the way, you might also pay a call on Anna Beust. She has not set eyes on or heard from you for ages.
a Berta Croon - b Adelheid Dworak -c Emma Engels - d Walter Engels 1893
105. Engels to Laura Lafargue 21 August
My dear Löhr,
I have been in Switzerland for some weeks. [189] Louise, Dr. Freyberger and I left August 1st via Hook of Holland, met Bebel and his wife at Cologne, passed one night at Mainz, the next at Strasburg, the third at Zürich. Thence I went to Thusis in Graubünden where I met my brother [11]and family and stayed a week, returned to Zürich just in time for the closing of the congress and am now staying with my cousin Mrs. Beust.
As to the elections of yesterday, [208] we are in complete uncertainty and shall be so until this afternoon — no papers being published in Zürich on Monday mornings. So anything to be said on that subject must be delayed until end of this letter.
I found Germany completely metamorphosed. Steam chimneys all over the country, but where I passed, not numerous enough over a small district, to create a nuisance by their smoke. Cologne and Mainz are transformed. The old town is there still where it was, but around or aside of it has arisen a larger and newer town with splendid buildings disposed according to a well-arranged plan, and with large industrial establishments occupying distinct quarters so as not to interfere with the aspect or the comfort of the rest. Cologne has made most progress, having nearly trebled its inhabitants — the Ring is a splendid street, there is nothing equal to it in all England. Mainz is growing, but at a slower rate. In Strasburg you see too distinctly the separation between the old town and the new district formed by university and government buildings, an external addition, not a natural growth.
Paul naturally will be most curious to hear about Alsace. Well, the French may rest satisfied. In Strasburg, to my astonishment, I heard nothing but German spoken. Only once, two girls, Jewesses, who passed me,
a Hermann Engels spoke French. But this is very deceptive. A very intelligent young Socialist, who lives there, told me that as soon as you go outside the city gates, the people speak, and purposely, nothing but French. In Mülhausen [3] too, he said, 4/5ths of the population, working men and all, speak French. Now this was not the case before the annexation. [247] Since the railways were opened, the French language began to spread in the country districts, but even now the French they speak is to a great extent of their own manufacture. But anyhow it is French, and shows what the people want. When the annexation took place, I once said to Mohr: the consequence of all these attempts at regermanisation will be that more French will be spoken in Alsace than ever before. And so it has turned out. The peasant and workman stuck to their German dialect as long as they were Frenchmen; now they do their utmost to shake it off and speak French instead.
Such arrant fools as these Prussians you never saw. They flattered the nobility and bourgeois who, they ought to have known, were hopelessly frenchified, and bullied the peasants and workmen, who, at least in language, had retained some remnant of German nationality. The country is under the thumb of maires,** gendarmes, tax-gatherers, appointed by the central government and mostly imported from abroad, who do as they like and live among themselves, separated from and detested by the people.
All the old oppressive laws of the French Second Empire [248] are scrupu-lously maintained and enforced, and sometimes even improved upon by old ordinances dating from the ancien régime and unearthed by learned functionaries who have discovered that the revolution has forgotten to state expressly that they are repealed! Moreover, all the chicanery innate to Prussian officials, is imported and improved upon. The consequences are natural. When I asked my friend: then, evidently, if the French by some chance or other were to return, nine-tenths of the people would receive them with open arms, he said that was so.
In Strasburg the old bourgeoisie keep quite to themselves and do not mix in any way with the intruders. With the rest of the people, Bebel is very popular, wherever he was recognised, they came to the shop doors and saluted him. You may be sure he will bring the state of things in Alsace before the Reichstag in a fashion different from that of those asses of protestataires who seem to rejoice in every fresh measure of oppression,
a Modern name: Mulhouse. ** Chief executives, Mayors 1893
for fear the people might get reconciled with the new régime, and who consequently have lost the best part of their hold on the population. In this case as in every other, it will turn out that our party is the only one that can and will do what is really wanted.
(This moment a telegram from Roubaix to Greulich’s house that Guesde is elected. Hurrah! Hope to hear this afternoon about Paul’s victory. [249]
As to the Congress [229] it was a pity that our people had not at least 5-6 men here. [250] The one effect has been obtained: Blanquists [20] and Allemanists [21] have made themselves eternally ridiculous and contemptible devant le monde socialiste.a But now this falls on French socialism generally; now the others speak simply of ‘the French’, and that is very unlucky indeed. Had there been even a small minority of Marxists, that would not be the case. But if you find in English and continental socialist papers the French Socialists treated as a set of chaps who do not know their own minds for two minutes together, and who will vote by acclamation the greatest piece of nonsense if thereby they think they can aggravate ‘les allemands’,b You need not be astonished. I have heard Swiss Socialists (and the German Swiss have very strong French sympathies) declare that now it was evident that chauvinism was ineradicable in the French mind, and I had to tell them what things — gall and wormwood to every chauvinc- had been able to say in French in your Almanac,d without any bad results anywhere. So you see the fiasco of these spouters falls upon all France, our people included. And Jaclard with his peevish articles in Justice makes it worse still. Well, I hope the elections will put us in a position to show to all Europe that Jaclard and Allemane ne sont pas la France.e And yet I believe Jaclard voted in very many cases with Bonnier and the small vanishing minority.
The women were splendidly represented. Besides Louise, Austria sent little Dworzak, a charming little girl in every respect; I fell quite in love with her and whenever Labriolaf gave me a chance, eloped with her from the entanglements of his ponderous conversation. These Viennoises sont des Parisiennesnées, mais des Parisiennes d’il y a cinquante ans.g Regular grisettes. Then the Russian women, there were four or five with wonderfully beautiful leuchtende Augend and there were besides Vera Zasulich and Anna Kulischoff. Then Clara Zetkin with her enormous capacity for
a in the eyes of the socialist world - b the Germans -c chauvinist - d F. Engels, ‘Socialism in Germany’. - e are not France - f Antonio Labriola — g Viennese women are born Parisians, but the Parisians of 50 years ago - h shining eyes 1893
work and her slightly hysterical enthusiasm, but I like her very much. She has ascended the Glärnisch, a mountain full of glaciers, a very severe effort for a woman of her constitution. Altogether I had the happy lot to fall from the arms of one into those of the next and so on; Bebel got quite jealous— he, the man of the ‘Frau’,a thought he alone was entitled to their kisses!
Now I leave a bit of room for this afternoon’s news. The Beust boys wish to be remembered. Louise is in Austria, Bebel and Bernstein are still here. By 4th September Bebel and I are off to Vienna, up to then the above address holds good.
Good luck to Paul!
Ever your old
Generalb
4 p.m. News that Paul is en ballottagec—please say how the chances stand— and that Ferroul is beaten, and Jourde in ballot. A few lines on the results generally will be gladly received as bourgeois papers are not to be trusted.
106. Engels to Emma Engels 23 August
I am here today and will be in the Bernese Alps tomorrow. A week from now I will be back in Zurich. [189] hope the Engadin is doing all of you
a ‘Woman’; an allusion to A. Bebel’s work Die Frau und der Sozialismus —b jocular name for Engels - c is to stand second ballot 1893
good. Greetings to everybody from
Your
Friedrich
107. Engels to Laura Lafargue 31 August
Thanks for your letter and the papers which came to hand yesterday. I had been for 6 days in the Berner Oberland with August and St. Mendelson— fine weather and splendid scenery. [189] The Jungfrau had put on an extra clean white night-dress for us. Jungfrau, Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa are the three finest massifs of the whole Alps.
Yesterday we were on the Uetliberg, a hill close to Zurich, with a fine though rather distant view of the snowy chain. When, after 1870, old Thiers was here with his lot, he at once explained the whole to them; pointing at the Glärnisch (due South-East of the Uetli) he said that was the Mont Blanc. The landlord of the hôtel at the top, a perfect connoisseur of the whole range, ventured to suggest that this was the Glärnisch, and that the Mont Blanc was in a nearly opposite direction, and invisible from that point — but the little man replied: Monsieur, je suis Adolphe Thiers, et je dois savoir cela! C’est bien là le Mont Blanc!a
I am glad you consider the result of the elections of the 20th a victory. Let us hope this will be confirmed next Sunday by the return of Paul and Delcluze besides some others. Otherwise I am afraid our party will not be able to play the part in the Palais Bourbon [156] which I and many others wish it to play. If
a Sir, I am Adolphe Thiers and I should know this! I can assure you that is Mont Blanc!
1893
we have 8-10 men there, they will form a nucleus strong enough to force the Blanquists, [20] Possibilists [30] and Independent Socialists to group themselves around it and thus to prepare a united party. But if we are only 3 or 4, the other fractions will each be about as strong, and unification will not only be more difficult, but also have more of the character of a compromise. Therefore I hope we may enter the Palais Bourbon in full force.
I hope the Socialiste will not bring Guesde’s letter to his electors.a
Whatever may be thought of it in France, outside the border it would sound simply grotesque. To declare his election a revolution, by which socialism fait son entrée au Palais Bourbon,b and from which a new era dates for the world in general, is coming it rather too strong for ordinary mortals.
I enclose a German five mark note, to enable you to telegraph to us the result of the poll next Sunday. [208] August and I are leaving here on Monday morningc for Munich and shall stay there over Tuesday. Now by Monday evening or Tuesday morning at latest we suppose you will have all the results as far as they interest us. As soon as you can, but not later than Tuesday afternoon, please telegraph the names of our men and the places for which they have been returned, and if the money goes so far, any further information of interest. The telegram to be addressed in German:
Bebel, Hotel Deutscher Kaisert Munich: but the rest had perhaps better be in French, so as to secure correct sending off.
On Tuesday evening or Wednesday we shall go on to Salzburg, thence to Vienna where we stay for a few days, and then to Berlin. If you will be good enough to send some further information by letter to Vienna (where it can be used for the Arbeiterzeitung) please address to Frau L. Kautsky, Hirschengasse 46, Oberöbling, Vienna, Austria. (An inner cover is unnecessary as she will know it is for me.)
And now good luck to all our candidates and to Paul especially! I put little trust in the promises of opportunists, [87] but I hope that in his case they may turn out true for once . [252]
What benefit has the Millerand-Jaurès alliance [169] brought to us in this campaign? I am utterly unable here to form a judgment.
Love from yours ever,
F.E.
a J. Guesde, Letter to the Electors of the 7th Electoral District, Le Socialiste, 26 August 1893. -b makes its entry into the Palais Bourbon -c 4 September 1893
Correspondance, t. II I, 1891-1895, Paris, 1959
108. Engels to Laura Lafargue 18 September
Grossgörschen- Strasse 22 a.
My dear Lohr,
Enfin!a Arrived here Saturday night, after 6 days in Vienna and 1 in Prague [189] (where we met your old adorer Rudolf Meyer). Vienna is an extremely beautiful town, with glorious boulevards (Ringstrasse), and the immense square between Rathhaus and — vis-à-vis — new Burgtheater, with Parliament to the right and University to the left, is unequalled in the world. But Vienna is too big for its people, they are only beginning to learn the use of these boulevards; in about 10 years everything will be ten times finer, because 10 times more alive with people.
Altogether the Continent has undergone a complete revolution since I last saw it. [254] Everywhere life, activity, development, compared to which England appears stationary. Of Berlin I have not seen much (not a square foot as yet of the Berlin I left in 1842, [255] as what I have seen so far, is all new addition) but it is indeed externally splendid, though, I fear, internally full of discomfort. Bebel (where Louise and I are staying) has a very pretty and comfortable floor, but Libraryb where we spent last evening lives in a set of apartments so awfully arranged by the builder that it horrified me. Here in Berlin they have invented the ‘Berliner Zimmer’, a room with hardly a trace of a window, and that is where the Berliners
a At last! - b jocular name for W. Liebknecht given to him by Marx’s daughters 1893
spend almost all their time, To the front is the dining-room (best, reserved for swell occasions) and the salon (even more select and reserved), then the ‘Berliner’ Spelunkea; next a dark corridor, a few bedrooms donnant sur la cour,b and a kitchen. A sprawling unhomely arrangement, specifically Berlinerisch (that is bourgeois-berlinerisch): show and even splendour in front, darkness, discomfort and bad arrangement behind, the front for show only, the discomfort to be lived in. At all events that is my impression at present; let us hope it may get mended.
Yesterday we were in the Freie Volksbühne [256]—the Lessing Theater, one of the nicest and best of Berlin had been hired for the occasion. The seats are drawn for as in a lottery by the subscribers and you see working men and girls in the stalls and boxes, while bourgeois may be relegated to the gods. The public is of an attention, a devotion, I might say, an enthusiasm sans égale.c Not a sign of applause until the curtain falls — then a veritable storm. But in pathetic scenes — torrents of tears. No wonder the actors prefer this public to any other. The piece was rather good and the acting far superior to what I had expected. The Kleinburgereid of old has disappeared from the German stage, both in the acting and in the character of the pieces. I will send you a short review of the latter.
In Vienna I had to appear twice before the ‘party’. [257] I am quite enchanted with them. As lively and as sanguine as the French, but slightly more solid. The women especially are charming and enthusiastic; they work very hard, thanks, to a very great extent, to Louise. Adler has done wonders; the tact, the constant vigilance and activity, with which he holds the party together (not an easy thing with such lively people as the Viennese), are beyond praise, and if you consider moreover the difficulties of his private position— a wife ill with nervous ailments, three children and interminable pecuniary difficulties arising therefrom — it is almost inconceivable how he can keep his head above water. And these Austrians — a mixture of all races, Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic — are far less manageable than our North Germans.
Library looks very well, collecting the elements of a paunch; his wife made a Bowie for us with wine and fruit; there was a rather numerous company. He lives au quatrième and outside Berlin proper, in Charlottenburg, but his apartment costs him some 1,800 Marks = 2,250 fr.
a squalid hole - b overlooking the courtyard - c without its equal - d provincialism - e on the fourth floor 1893
As to your elections I hope Paul’s hopes may be verified. [252] As most of the men elected are utterly unknown to me, I have no means to form a judgment. Vaillant ‘s letter in the Petite République Françaisea looks promising, let us hope that circumstances may tend to keep him in the right direction. If our 12 men are really ours and not like Thivrier and Lachizeq then a good nucleus may be formed.
When we came to Prague, there was the little état de siege0 in force there. Nobody in our hotel ever thought of asking for our names! Voilà ce que c’est que l’Autriche: Despotismus gemildert durch Schlamperei.c
Amitiés àd Paul. Ever yours,
F. Engels
Louise, Bebel und Frau grüssen euch beide herzlichst.e Your copy of Paul’s article and Paul’s letter we gave to Adler who used them for his very good article in the Arbeiter Zeitung. [259]
109. Engels to Karl Kautsky 25 September
I cannot possibly allow the letter in question to be launched upon the world without an introduction. [260] Our opponents would at once gleefully
a E. Vaillant, Unité socialiste’ in La Petite République Française, 10 September 1893. - b state of siege — c That’s Austria all over: despotism mitigated by slovenliness. — d Regards to - e and his wife send you both warmest greetings 1893
set about both writera and recipientb and it’s going to cause enough of a scandal as it is. But not having the letter here, I cannot write an introduction. You people ought to have seen to this beforehand; I shall not be able to do anything about it before the 30th or the 1st of October. Regards,
Your F.E.
110. Engels to Laura Lafargue 30 September
We arrived here all right yesterday morning [189] and my first and agreeable duty is to remit to you one third of Meissner’s remittance for 1892/93 of £60. = 20.—and one fifth of Sonnenschein’ s ditto of £5.10.5. ( [2]/[5] go to the translator and [3]/[5] to the heirs [261]) —
thus..................................................................................... £1.2.1
£21.2.1 for which the cheque is enclosed. Please inform me of its safe receipt.
You may have seen in the papers how I was drawn out of my reserve— first at Zurich, then at Vienna [257] and finally at Berlin. [262] I fought as hard as I could but it was no use, they must have me out. Well it will be the last time, I have informed them I will not go there again except under a written engagement that I shall be allowed to travel as a private individual. Anyhow they everywhere received me more than splendidly, far more so than I did, or had a right to, expect.
a Heinrich Heine - b Karl Marx 1893
As to the movement in Austria and Germany, it has exceeded my most extravagant expectations. Our French friends will have to bestir themselves if they will not be left behind. There is a power there, and both our men and their opponents know it.
At Vienna I was at a meeting of some 6,000, and at the Konimers in Berlin they honoured me with, there were 4,000 present — only the representative men and women of the party — and I can assure you it was a pleasure to see and hear this people. When you come from England with this distracted and disunited working class we have here, when you have heard for years nothing but bickering and squabbles from France, from Italy, from America, and then go amongst these people — the German-speaking ones — and see the unity of purpose, the splendid organisation, the enthusiasm, the unverwüstliche Humor, der aus der Siegesgewissheit quillt,’ayou cannot help being carried away and saying: this is the centre of gravity of the working class movement. And if our French friends do not care, the Austrians may take the wind out of their sails. They are a mixed race — Germans grafted upon a Celtic (Noric) [263] stock and getting strongly mixed with a Slavonic element — thus combining the three chief European races in their blood. Their temper is very much like the French — more lively and sanguine than the less mixed Germans, and more capable of initiative by impulse. Unless Paris minds its p s and q’s, Vienna may give the signal of the next revolution. I like the people very much, and the Viennese women remind me very much of the French working women of 40 years ago; of course they are oversanguine of success just like the French, but I think they are a deal clearer headed than those Parisians who fell in love with Boulanger — must close — company arriving.
Kind regards to Paul
Ever yours
Generalb
Louise grüsst herzlich.c
a inexhaustible humour arising from the confidence in victory - b jocular name for Engels - c cordial regards from Louise 1893
111. Engels to Engels to Julie Bebel 3 Oct
You and August will have got our postcard of Friday’s date. [264] I found a colossal pile of work waiting for me and, with the help of Louise who is still up to her eyes in printed matter, have now toiled and moiled my way through what was the most urgent, and am thus able to drop you a couple of lines.
Well, after our departure on Thursday. [189] we saw Adolf Braun for a moment at the Zoologischer Garten Station and then continued on our way. In our compartment there were two shabby looking johnnies who turned out to be something of a nuisance; luckily one of them, an Englishman, was completely drunk by ten o’clock, after which they spent the rest of the day in the corridor.
In Hanover we had a meal consisting of soup and meat during the course of which we were joined by good old Kugelmann and his daughter [1], who is far nicer than he is. He again treated me to a whole catalogue of medical precepts for the governance of my life, but also to a little basket containing meat sandwiches, apples and half a bottle of wine. The sight of it sent us into transports — red wine! But alas, it was so-called ‘red port’, a sweetish concoction which we bestowed upon the ticket collector in return for his kindness.
Soon after this there arose a lively debate between the ticket collector and some of the passengers on the question of whether those bound for the Hook of Holland ought not to change at Löhne and travel via Rheine-Salzbergen. We stuck firmly to Oberhausen, since Louise’s ticket did not leave us any other alternative. At Minden, however, the train was already half an hour late and, since we had only 17 minutes at Oberhausen in which to make the connection, there was every prospect that we should miss it. It was here that the time-table August had given me in the morning really came in handy. We took the old Cologne-Minden railway
a Franziska Kugelmann 1893
which I knew to be one of the most soundly built in Germany. As we passed these stretches, we could see that we were making up for quite a bit of lost time, and in this way we arrived punctually at Oberhausen.
The mining district between Hamm and Oberhausen is just like a piece of the English black country. The atmosphere and the towns just as smoky and black as in England, and the houses, because mostly painted in light colour, even more unpleasantly blackened than the bare English brick.
In Holland we again heard passengers and ticket collectors drop all kinds of dark hints about missed connections, but nevertheless we arrived at Rotterdam at 8.42 Dutch, i.e. 9.42 German time. That hour’s difference had made everything all right (it hadn’t been quite clear to us from August’s time-table exactly where the change of time became operative and hence we had been in a state of uncertainty).
And though in Rotterdam we had to walk from one station to the other— about 10 minutes away — we still had some time in hand and arrived there before those who had travelled via Löhne-Rheine-Salzbergen.
Aside from a little of Kugelmann’s fare, Louise had taken only one bowl of soup at Arnheim and another at Rotterdam, whereas I had subsisted on Kugelmann’s fare and beer. It was blowing quite nicely when we left. I soon turned in and was quite pleasantly rocked to sleep, but didn’t suspect there was anything amiss until I woke up in broad daylight after 8 hours, when we should long since have been in Harwich! I got up — I had the cabin all to myself — no one on board was stirring. I went up on deck to find it completely empty — everywhere wet decks and signs of its having been a rough night. At last a young German came along and confided to me that we had been through a frightful storm. Soon after, a few damsels appeared, and then Louise; the poor thing had been closeted in a small cabin with five others and had heroically survived the worst, despite her hysterical and sea-sick entourage. Eventually, however, when the big rollers were succeeded by a choppy sea, she too momentarily succumbed to the importunities of old Neptune.
We arrived two hours late in London — the Avelings were at the station— found everything in excellent order and attacked our work with the recklessness customary in those who have heroically weathered a slight storm. Nothing much would seem to have happened here, and it is only by degrees that we shall be able to find out about the little comings and goings of the local movement.
Apropos, Ede Bernstein maintains that Paul Singer has totally mis-
1893
understood his article.a He never said that one should compromise, according to circumstances, with Conservatives, [202] National Liberals, [203]
Ultramontanes, [68] etc.; all he had in mind was the Freethinking People’s Party. [223] I told him that I for one could not have deduced that from his article; at all events, the latter possibility is one he has also left open.
But now, dear Julie, I must thank you and August once again for all the kindness and friendship you showed me, not only in Berlin but also in Zurich — and which August showed me throughout our trip; I can but remind you of your promise to pay us a visit here in the spring so that we for our part can show you London. Cordial regards to you both and to all our friends,
Your
F. Engels
[Postscript from Louise Kautsky]
Dearest Julie,
I really am more than up to my eyes in work and as yet can see no way out of it, not even for writing letters. The Generalb who is settling down to his writing, has told you how we fared on the journey, but forgotten to say that he monopolised the sandwiches you gave us. All went very well with him on the trip, he was always cheerful and in good spirits, always worried about missing our connections, and full of beans. On Sunday I myself at once fell back into my former, housekeeping role. But our guests treated me indulgently. Please tell August that I have not yet been able to find out anything definite about the second English edition; 265 I wish to see the book myself and shall get someone to buy it for me, but Reeves certainly wouldn’t sell it to me direct.
I add my warmest thanks to those of the General. I have not had time to reflect upon all that I have experienced, and am living as if in a dream, a dream interspersed with work. And you, poor tormented souls, how are you? Love and kisses to you and August from
Your
Louise
a E. Bernstein, ‘Die preussischen Landtagswahlen und die Sozial-demokratie. Ein Vorschlag zur Diskussion’. In: Die Neue Zeit. No. 52, 1892-93, Vol. IL - b jocular name for Engels 1893
112. Engels to Hermann Blocher 3 October
Dear Sir, Not until today, immediately after my return to this country, [189] have I been able to reply to your letter of 11 August. [266]
There are several copies of The Holy Family [1] in Berlin, while in Switzerland Dr Conrad Schmidt, lecturer at Zurich University, Klus-Hegibachstrasse, Hirslanden, might be able to help you get hold of one.
As regards Bruno Bauer’s career up till 1843, his fortunes and opinions, you might find some information in Ruge’s Hallische, subsequently Deutsche Jahrbücher; likewise in Bruno’s own writings. Also, in regard to the years 1844-46, in his works and his Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung. After 1843 both Marx and I completely lost touch with the Bauers who didn’t come to London until some time towards the end of the 50s— Edgar for a prolonged stay, Bruno for a visit, at which time Marx saw them again. However, so far as I know, Bruno never had anything to do with either the materialist view of history or scientific socialism, but if he ever had, this could only be discovered from Bruno’s later writings, those of the ‘50s and ‘60s. It could hardly be denied that Marx’s views exerted a certain amount of influence upon Bruno’s subsequent works on early Christianity, but on the whole Bruno’s conception of historical causation remained primarily idealistic.
It is my opinion that no one could successfully write a book about Bruno without spending a long time in Berlin where all the material has accumulated.
Very sincerely yours,
F. Engels
a K. Marx and F. Engels, The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Company.
1893
113. Engels to John B. Shipley 3 October
On my return from abroad [189] I find your letter of Aug. 10th. I am afraid I cannot be of any use to you in your dispute with your family. Even were your legal right to the money a good deal clearer to me than it is, I could only say that you, as a poor man, would hardly have the ghost of a chance, in English law courts, against wealthy people who moreover could fight you with your own money. But supposing you had the money to fight, my advice would still be: keep it rather than waste it on law.
As to a lawyer such as you describe and who would be willing to undertake your lawsuit, you will not be astonished if I tell you I do not know such a one.
Regretting I cannot give you a more comforting reply
I remain etc.
Published in English for the first time 1893
114. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 7 October
We returned here on Friday 29 September and soon afterwards received your letter of the 22nd. I have been away for two months. [189] Louise Kautsky and I travelled to Cologne where we met Bebel and his wife and from there we all went on together via Mainz and Strasburg to Zurich, whence I slipped off for a week to Graubünden where I met one of my brothers.a But I had had to promise to be back for the end of the Congress on which occasion they induced me, malgré moi,b to join in the finale about which you will have read. [267] But that set the tone for the entire trip and completely put the lid on my intention of travelling purely as a private individual. I stayed another fortnight in Switzerland, after which Bebel and I travelled via Munich and Salzburg to Vienna. There the whole business of placing myself on display began all over again. First I had to attend a beano at which, however, there was room for only about 600, and the others also wanted to see me; so on the last evening there was another mass meeting at which I had to say a word or two. [257] Thence via Prague to Berlin where, having protested vehemently against a mass meeting they had planned, I got away with a beano at which 3,000 or 4,000 people gathered. [262] The chaps meant all this very kindly, but it isn’t my cup of tea and I’m glad that it is over; next time I shall demand a written agreement to the effect that I shall not have to display myself before the public but shall be travelling as a private individual on private business. I was, and still am, astounded at the magnificence of the reception I was given, but I would sooner leave such things to members of parliament and public speakers; for them it’s all part of the job, but has little to do with my kind of work.
But in other respects, after 17 years of absence, [254] I found Germany completely revolutionised — industry enormously advanced as compared with before, agriculture — large- and small-scale—very much improved,
a Hermann Engels senior — b willy-nilly 1893
and hence our movement making capital progress. Such little freedom as our people possess, they have had to win for themselves — wresting it more especially from the police and the Landräte after the relevant laws had already been promulgated in writing. And hence you find an assured, confident demeanour such as has never been evinced by the German bourgeoisie. Needless to say, they are also open to criticism on a number of individual counts — for instance, the party press, notably in Berlin, is not abreast of the party — but the masses are first-rate and better as a rule than the leaders, or at any rate than many who have come to occupy leading roles. With such chaps, nothing is impossible — they are really happy only in the midst of the struggle, they live for the struggle alone and are bored if their opponents do not provide them with work to do. It is an actual fact that another Anti-Socialist Law [15] would be greeted by most of them with sardonic laughter if not with positive glee — it would, after all, again give them something new to do each day!
But alongside the Germans of Germany we should not forget the Austrians. By and large, they are not as advanced as these Germans, but they are more vivacious, more French, more easily carried away into performing great deeds, but also into perpetrating blunders. Seen individually, I prefer the average Austrian to the average German, the average Viennese working man to his fellow in Berlin and, so far as the women are concerned, I infinitely prefer the Viennese working woman; she possesses a naïve spontaneity beside which the studied precocity of her Berlin counterpart appears insufferable. If messieurs les Français don’t look out and make haste to resume their erstwhile tradition of revolutionary initiative, then it might happen that the Austrians will take the wind out of their sails and seize on the first opportunity to get things going.
Incidentally, Berlin and Vienna, together with Paris, are now the most beautiful cities in the world, London and New York being filthy holes by comparison, especially London which has seemed quite strange to us since our return.
In November messieurs les Français will have to show what they are capable of. [268] Twelve Marxists and four Blanquists, [20] five Allemanists [21] and two Broussists, [30] along with a few Independents and some twenty-four socialistes radicaux86 à la Millerand in the Chamber constitute a goodish lump of leaven and should produce a nice state of fermentation provided they stick together. But will they? The 12 Marxists are, by and large, completely unknown quantities; Lafargue is missing, while Guesde, who 1893
is a member, is an infinitely more capable speaker but also an infinitely more gullible optimist. I am racked with curiosity. Even before the election our Marxists had already concluded a sort of pact with Millerand & Co. [169] which the Blanquists, and in particular Vaillant, would appear to have associated themselves with by contributing to Millerand’s Petite République française. Again, the Blanquists are taking a very firm stand against the Russian alliance just now. But I have received no direct news about the present state of the various parties, probably because they are not yet clear about it themselves.
I trust you and your wife are in good health. Cordial regards to you both from
Your
F. Engels
I met De Leon and Sanial in Zurich. Was not impressed.
[Postscript from Louise Kautsky]
Dear Mr Sorge,
May I pester you again by asking whether it would be possible for you to send me two copies of the Woman’s Journal, or do you think I should do better to order it direct on behalf of a woman friend of mine in Vienna? If so, what is the best way of paying the Americans and to whom do I address myself? But that’s not all. Please could I have a three cent Columbus stamp, if this isn’t asking too much of you. I am besieged by so many stamp collectors who want it. Many thanks in advance and my most cordial regards to you and your wife,
Yours,
L. Kautsky
First published, abridged, u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere, in the book: Briefe und Auszttge Stuttgart, 1906 aus Briefen von J oh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Eggels, Karl Marx Printed according to the original 1893
115. Engels to Victor Adler 11 October
Dear Victor,
We arrived back here on 29 September [189] with mounting recklessness, attacked the pile of work we found waiting for us.
Though I was unable to discover Comrade Höger’s ‘whole series of boulevards’ in Berlin, there can be no doubt that, so far as appearances go, it is a very fine city; even in working-class districts all one sees are palatial façades. But what lies behind those façades is better passed over in silence. The poverty of working-class districts is, of course, universal, but what I found particularly overwhelming was the ‘Berlin living-room’,a a place unimaginable anywhere else in the world, a refuge of darkness and stale air as also of your Berlin philistine who feels perfectly at home there. Golly! There was nothing of the kind in August’s apartment, which was the only one I liked, but in any of the others I’d go off my head.
However in writing this letter it was not my object to send you the above cri de cœur, but rather to congratulate you and the Viennese.
First, your Schwender speech [269] which shows once again how sure is your grasp of the difficult and complex conditions in Austria, and how firm a hold you keep on the clue in the labyrinth. And at this particular juncture that is of the utmost importance.
In the second place I must especially congratulate you and the Austrians generally on the resounding victory won as a result of your agitation for suffrage, namely Taaffe’s Electoral Reform Bill. [270] And here I must enlarge somewhat.
Having taken a look at your country, people and government I have come to realise ever more clearly that really outstanding victories are within our grasp there. An industry that is growing rapidly but which, because of years of high protective tariffs, still largely continues to operate
a See this volume, p. 187 1893
with outmoded productive forces (the equipment I saw in the Bohemian factories proved as much); the industrialists themselves. I mean the bigger ones — the majority of whom are as closely involved in the Stock Exchange as in industry proper; in the towns, philistines who are more or less indifferent to politics, have abandoned themselves to sybaritism, [271] and desire above all to be left to pursue their pleasures in peace; in the country, either a rapid slide into debt or the swallowing up of small properties; the real ruling classes are the big landowners who, however, are quite content with their political position whereby they are assured of a rather indirect domination; also the upper middle class and a scattering of haute financea closely linked with the big industrialists whose political power is much less immediately in evidence but who are also quite content with this state of affairs; among the propertied classes, i.e. the grandees, there is no desire to turn indirect into direct, constitutional rule, while among the small fry no serious effort is made toward true participation in political power; the result is indifference and stagnation, punctuated only by the feuding over nationalities between various members of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, and by the events arising out of the union with Hungary.
Above all this there hovers a government whose absolutist proclivities are subject to few formal, and these for the most part only fictive, restraints; nor, in practice, does it encounter many obstacles. For it is by its nature conservative and so, too, is your aristocrat, your bourgeois and your philistine bon vivant. The peasant, however, in his rural isolation, cannot achieve any organised opposition. What is wanted of the government is that it should live and let live, and this is something at which the Austrian government has always been adept. Hence the fabrication — explicable also on other grounds — of laws and regulations that exist only on paper, hence, too, the extremes to which that process is taken, its elevation into a principle and the astonishing administrative slippiness which, I must say, exceeded anything I could have imagined.
Well then, in a stagnant political situation such as this, one in which the government, despite its extraordinarily advantageous position vis-à-vis the individual classes, is nevertheless perpetually getting into hot water: 1. because those classes are split up into umpteen nationalities and hence, contrary to all the rules of strategy, march united (against the workers) but fight divided (i.e., against one another), 2. because of
a high financiers 1893
perpetual money troubles, 3. because of Hungary, 4. because of involvements abroad — in short in a situation like this, I told myself, a worker’s party with its own programme and tactics, which knows what it wants and how to get it, has sufficient will-power to do so, and is, moreover, thanks to a happy miscegenation of Celts, Slavs and Germans, in which the latter element predominates, possessed of a gay, mercurial temperament — that party need only develop its capabilities enough to score quite outstanding successes. With none of the other parties knowing what they want and a government which likewise does not know what it wants, but lives from hand to mouth, a party which knows what it wants and wants it with tenacity and singleness of purpose, is bound to win in the end. And all the more so in that everything the Austrian Workers’ Party [272] wants and could want is no more than is also demanded by the country’s progressive economic development.
Here, therefore, we have a situation more propitious to rapid success than in any other country, even in Germany where, though development has been more rapid and the party is stronger, yet resistance is far more determined. Add to that the fact that Austria, a great power in decline, still feels ill at ease in Europe, a feeling that has always been foreign to Prussia, a small power in the ascendant. And, having joined the ranks of the ‘modern’ states in 1866, Austria also feels ashamed of internal weaknesses—which it need not have done when still an avowedly reactionary state. Indeed, the less a country wants to be a genuinely modern state, the greater will be its desire to be regarded as such, and the more strongly reaction rears its head in Prussia— where it is under far greater restraint than in Austria — the more liberal will be the attitude adopted by Austria out of malicious glee.
Now, the situation in Europe — I mean the internal situation of the individual states — is approximating ever more closely to that of 1845. The proletariat is increasingly coming to hold the same position as the bourgeoisie did then. At that time it was Switzerland and Italy who set things off; Switzerland with her internal strife between democratic and Catholic cantons which came to a head in the Sonderbund War; [273] Italy with Pio Nono’s [274] liberal endeavours and the liberal-nationalist changes in Tuscany, the small duchies, Piedmont, Naples and Sicily. The Sonderbund War and the bombardment of Palermo [275] were, as everyone knows, the immediate precursors of the February revolution of 1848 in Paris.
Today, when the crisis might come to a head only five or six years hence, Belgium would seem to be taking over the role of Switzerland, 1893
Austria that of Italy, and Germany that of France. The struggle for suffrage began in Belgium [276] and is being taken up on an impressive scale in Austria. And there can be no question of a settlement being reached on the basis of some sort of half-baked electoral reform. Once the ball is rolling, the impulsion will communicate itself to all around it, and thus one country will immediately affect its neighbour, So besides the possibility of your scoring great victories there is the opportunity, i.e. hence also the likelihood, of your doing so.
Such, more or less, is the tenor of what I expounded to Louise yesterday afternoon as my view of Austria’s immediate mission. And at 8 p.m. the Evening Standard brought the news — still in rather indefinite terms — of Taaffe’s capitulation,a while today we are given the Bill, at any rate in very general outline. Well, now the ball really has got rolling, and you people will see to it that it doesn’t stop. I don’t want to say anything about the Bill until I am rather better informed, but of one thing I feel sure, namely that Taaffe would like, à la Bismarck, to split the now undivided urban Liberal vote and play off the workers against the bourgeoisie. Not that we have any objection; the Liberal and other bourgeois parties will try and restrict enfranchisement still further, and you might thus find yourselves in the pleasant position of supporting the worthy Taaffe against his parliament. At all events, it’s a bonus that is not to be sneezed at and, before I come back, you will doubtless be duly installed as a deputy in the Diet. The Daily Chronicle’is already talking of 20 safe seats for Labour. With 20, or even less than 20, the Diet will be a very different kind of body from what it has been hitherto, and the gentlemen will be amazed at the life that this will inject into the ramshackle old place. And if a few Czechs should happen to get in alongside our German chaps, it will put something of a damper on the squabbling over nationalities, and enable Young Czechs and Old Czechs [277] and German Nationals to see each other in an altogether new light. And here one might say that the entry of the first social-Democrats into the Diet, will mark the beginning of a new era in Austria.
And it is you people who have brought this about and, because of the dawning of this new era, we all of us rejoice that we shall have in the Diet a man with so incisive an intellect as yourself.
Warm regards from Louise and
Your
a 10 October 1893 1893
F. Engels Regards from Louise to yourself and also from me to Popp, Reumann, Adelheid, Ulbing and tutti quanti.
116. Engels to August Bebel 12 October
We are sending you Reeves’s edition of Woman. [265] In my view the legal position (upon which the whole thing turns when you’re dealing with a chap like Reeves) is as follows:
1. So far as the translator is concerned, international copyright provides protection for three years from the publication of the original, but only if during the first year the first part of a translation authorised by the author has actually appeared in print. Accordingly you would have absolutely no claim unless Walther’sa translation had appeared within one year of the publication of a new German edition containing substantial alterations and additions not contained in the earlier one; this was hardly the case.
2. There remains Mrs Adams Walther’s claim. Whether she has any depends on whether, upon the publication of the first English edition, she reserved the Copyright or whether she expressly or tacitly assigned it to the publishers, the Modern Press. This should be ascertained. If she did not expressly reserve it then, legislation over here being what it is, it is ten a Adams Walther 1893
to one that it was tacitly assigned to the publisher and that consequently she too no longer has any claim.
3. So far as I know, the latter, one Foulger, had long since had to wind up his business and was no doubt glad to come to any sort of agreement with Reeves.
Accordingly it is almost certain that you cannot do anything in the legal line, nor is it at all likely that Mrs Adams Walther can do anything either, but this should be ascertained. If you could procure me a copy of the agreement between Mrs Walther and the Modern Press I could, if necessary, consult a lawyer. But unless everything is absolutely cut-and-dried there’s nothing to be done with a laddie like Reeves; in his speculative enterprises he is as unscrupulous as they come, and getting money out of him is a virtual impossibility; I, too, have unfortunately had dealings with him, and not even the threat of a lawsuit is of any real avail. In cases such as these, laddies of his stamp generally make over everything to their wives or concoct a BILL OF
SALE (assigning their stock, etc., to a fictitious or genuine creditor).
Yesterday we got two splendid bits of news. First, the beginning of the end of the pit strike. After the lock-out of the workers, engineered by the big colliery owners on 28 July: 1. in order to raise prices and curtail production, 2. so that ruinous contracts, carelessly entered into, for a year’s supply of coal to gasworks and other municipal undertakings could be broken with impunity because, in all such contracts, strikes provide indemnity against breach of contract, 3. to depress wages and 4. to ruin the small mining companies and buy them up at knock-down prices — this is coming increasingly to be the permanent motive behind all big
LOCK-OUTS — well then, after the said lock-out had been going on for over two months and public opinion among the middle classes, who had been hit by the coal shortage, had also begun to turn — against the mine owners, things came to a head. During the first week of October the agreement expired whereby the mine owners had undertaken, on pain of a £1,000 fine, to re-open their pits, but only if wages were reduced by a full 25 per cent (of the former wage plus the 40 per cent increase gained after 1889, i.e. at the 1889 wage plus 15 per cent), and on condition of the strike’s being called off by the miners’ committee. A number of the smaller collieries immediately defected and resumed work at the pre-]uly wage (i.e. at the 1889 wage, plus the 40 per cent increase). The mayors of the larger towns in the Yorkshire and Midlands mining districts then 1893
foregathered and proposed a settlement which, in fact, boiled down to a 10 per cent reduction in wages. Had the masters accepted, this could have been dangerous as it might have placed the workers on the horns of a dilemma— either they, too, accepted or they risked turning against themselves a public opinion that is always fickle and ready to applaud any kind of compromise. But luckily the MASTERS — the big ones in the lead — were deluded enough to refuse forthwith, and within twenty-four hours the collapse of their ring was manifest to all. As from yesterday some thirty or forty thousand miners have returned to work at the pre-July wage, which means that the masters have totally renounced their demands and the hash of the colliery-owners’ ring has been well and truly settled. This is the first instance in which a big strike, set on foot by the masters themselves at a time of their own choosing, has gone so completely awry, and therein lies its significance. It will be some time before they try the same thing again, but the workers have themselves suffered so much and endured such poverty that they, too, are unlikely to have much stomach left for a ‘general strike’.
(Have just got yours and Julie’s letter.) The second piece of news was about the new Austrian Electoral Reform Bill. [270] It is a resounding victory for our people and I hastened to congratulate Victor upon it.a The Daily News thinks that the number of voters in Vienna will rise from 80,000 to 350,000, while the Chronicle estimates the number for Austria as a whole at three million — these estimates come, of course, from Viennese sources. At all events it’s a bonus that is not to be sneezed at. The bourgeois in Vienna are already thinking in terms of twenty Social Democrat deputies.
It’s more than probable that Taaffe is counting on his Bill being changed for the worse by Parliament, but it’s a long shot and our chaps will see that he doesn’t get away with it. What a delicious quirk of history if it should so turn out that our chaps have to protect the Prime Minister against his Parliament and against his own secret self! The main thing is that the ball has at last started rolling and in Austria our movement is powerful enough to prevent its being brought to a halt. And Taaffe cannot very well suppress demonstrations in support of his Bill.
From my general impression of Austria, I should say that that country will give us much cause for rejoicing in the immediate future. What with
a See previous letter.
1893
the general prostration of all the parties, the general perplexity, the feuding over nationalities, what with a government that never knows what it wants and lives only from hand to mouth, what with laws that exist for the most part only on paper and the general sloppiness of the administration — of which I have, from my own observation, only recently got any real idea— what with all these things, a party which knows what it wants and how to get it, which genuinely wants it and is possessed of the required tenacity, is bound in the long run to prove invincible especially when, as in this instance, all its demands follow the same trend as the economic development of the country as such and are no more than the political expression of that development. Our party in Austria [272] is the only living force in the field of politics; otherwise there is nothing but passive resistance or new ventures that never come to anything, and this places us in an exceptionally favourable position in Austria. Furthermore, the changes that occur in the grouping of the bourgeois parties sometimes make it impossible for the government to be Conservative and, when it ceases to be Conservative, it simply becomes unpredictable, if only by reason of the fact that the party groupings of which it has to take account are likewise unpredictable. And again, the Austrian government is that of a great power which, though in decline, is nevertheless still a great power and, as compared with Prussia, a small power in the ascendant, is still capable of remarkable initiatives at such times as conservatism, sheer clinging to the status quo, ceases to be possible. That is my explanation for Mr Taaffe’s ‘leap in the dark’.
Another fact to be considered is that the growth of the proletarian movement in all countries is about to precipitate a crisis and that in consequence any successes one country may achieve will react powerfully upon all the others. The suffrage movement won its first victory in Belgium [276] and now Austria is about to follow suit. At the outset this will ensure the survival of universal suffrage, but also encourage us to make further demands — in Germany no less than in France and Italy. The way was paved for the February Revolutiona by Switzerland’s internal struggles and the constitutional upheavals in Italy. Again, the Sonderbund War [273] and the bombardment of Messinab by the Neapolitans [275] (Feb. 1848) were the immediate signal for the outbreak of revolution in Paris. Maybe the crisis will not be upon us for some five or six years yet, but I should say that the
a of 1848 in France - b a slip of the pen in the original; it should read Palermo 1893
preparatory role will this time fall to Belgium and, in particular, Austria, while the dénouement will take place in Germany.
There is no fear that the cause will ever again be dropped in Austria; our people in that country will see to that. The Austrian Diet is an infinitely more stagnant froggery than the German Reichstag or even the Saxon or the Bavarian Chamber. The presence of a dozen Socialist deputies will have a far more galvanic effect there than it would in our case, and we are exceptionally lucky in having in Victor a chap who has so clear a conception of the complexities of conditions in Austria and is able to subject them to so incisive an analysis. His speech in the last Arbeiter-Zeitung is a real tour de force.a
Ede and Gina were here this morning. He isn’t yet at all as he should be, has a mania for splitting hairs and increasingly recalls the sagacity of his Volks-Zeitung uncle; I often get the impression that old Aaronb in person is standing before me. It was he who spoilt things for himself in Switzerland. Having been told in Berne that one of them but not both at once would be admitted, he should have realised that the best policy would be to give precedence to Julius, as an invalid and, banking on this, to return six months later, when they could hardly refuse him admittance, at least for any length of time. But this his impatience would not brook. The best of it is that he now sometimes avers he would prefer to stay here and that it’s Gina who wants to go to Switzerland. His dream is, as it always will be, to go back to Berlin. He really imagines this to be possible and is always consulting lawyers about it. Remains to be seen!
If Schlüter has any sense he will do himself and his wife the kindness of starting divorce proceedings. A suit of this kind against an absent wife for deliberate desertion has few disadvantages for either party, and after all he too must wish for complete freedom. This is not, of course, to say that he hasn’t in any case been accustomed to enjoying that freedom whenever opportunity arose. It is always satisfactory, by the way, to hear that a woman one knows is plucking up the courage to make herself independent. The decision to part from her Hermann for good may have cost her many a mental struggle and she may thus at one time have given the impression of being by nature irresolute. What an expenditure of energy bourgeois marriage demands — first until one has got to that stage, then for so long as the nonsense lasts and then until one is finally done with it.
a fine specimen - b Aaron Bernstein 1893
We have just come back from a walk in the park — glorious autumn weather, a pretty sunset in a cloudless sky and beautifully coloured foliage. Downstairs the table is being laid; we are having Welsh mutton dressed as venison, accompanied by good old noodles. So I must hurry up and finish this. Louise and I thank Julie for her kind letters and are saving up our answers for next time. Warm regards from us both to both of you, likewise to Singer and his sister, to the Liebknechts and all our dear friends whose names I cannot list if the joint is not to grow cold.
Yours,
F. Engels
117
117 Engels to Paul Lafargue 13 October
Is the Paris letter in today’s Vorwärts from you? This is why I am asking. When I was in Berlin, [189] Liebknecht said he was arranging to take you on as correspondent for Vorwärts, but that the money had still to be voted by the Party Committee; in the meantime he asked me to tell you that it was a matter of regular work, of letters to be sent at stated intervals, once a week or a fortnight, for example, something which so far he had not been able to get from his French correspondents. I promised I would write to you about it as soon as he let me know that the matter had been clinched between you two.
I used the opportunity to reproach him for setting such store by any 1893
anti-Russian article of Vaillant’s,a which he always faithfully reprints, whereas far more robust anti-Russian articles, published by Le Socialiste over a long period, have been passed over almost unnoticed by him. He apologised and promised to do better.
But he has not written a word about the matter of your correspondence, and he goes on translating and making much of Blanquist statements, even translating the Chauviere.b
He has, moreover, reprinted an article by young Arndt,c although this chap voted all the time with Argyriadès & Co. against the Germans at Zurich. [250] And Arndt is on the Blanquist revolutionary Central Committee.
So as you see Liebknecht leans very strongly towards the Blanquists. I’m not looking for reasons, I simply state the fact. Hence it is important that you should do everything, in despite of him, to maintain the position you have always held in relation to the German party: that of its main allies in France, who have first claim to be taken into consideration in relations between the German party and the French Socialists in general. And, to this end, you must be represented on Vorwärts, so that the Paris correspondence should be, at least to some extent, in your hands.
Of course the decision does not rest solely with the editorial board. The Executive Committee has something to say. And I am convinced that you will find support there, if it is needed. It goes without saying that I shall do my utmost to ensure the continuation of a close alliance between the German party and your party in France (which will not commit you to taking their money, that can always go to the Blanquists, if you don’t want any more of it, [278] as you say; they will be delighted to take it). So let me know how far you have got with Liebknecht concerning your appointment as regular Vorwärts correspondent; and without delay, for, if there are difficulties, I must be able to take steps before the Cologne Congress on the 22nd of the month. [279]
Going by Le Socialiste, I counted on our having twelve deputies. It is true that, knowing no more than half of them even by name, I had my doubts about their reliability. But, according to your letter, you do not seem to know so far as half of them are concerned whether they are our people or not. Very unfortunate. With 12 sound chaps, led by Guesde, we
a Vaillant, “Zarismus und Republikanismus”, Vorwärts, No. 222, 21 September 1893 — b E. Chauvière, Die französische Russenseuche”, Vorwärts, No. 238, 10 October 1893. - c P. Arndt [Letter], Vorwärts, No. 221, 20 September 1893.
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should soon have been able to compel the Blanquists, [20] Allemanists, [21] etc. to fall in with us. But if we can look to only half-a-dozen reliable people, we shall have to treat with these gentlemen on a more or less equal footing, in which case the old divisions may continue, or else, if there is unity, it will be achieved at the price of sacrifices in matters of principle.
Certainly Vaillant seems very much more sensible since his election than he was six months ago, but will he always be sure of a majority on his Central Committee? Or else, to make sure of it, may he not have to sacrifice his personal opinion on matters of substance to the prejudices of those silly conspirators?
It is sad that you were beaten at Lille. [252] You sacrificed yourself for the party: instead of nursing your constituents by assiduous parliamentary activity, you travelled about and collected votes for others. But the fact remains we need you in the Chamber too; and I hope you will get the first vacant seat.
The new paper will not — like the last one — be advertised ‘to appear in October’, I hope? [280] Will not La Petite République Française bar the way? This is another outcome of the Millerand-Goblet alliance; [169] you gave them far more help than they gave you in return. It’s one thing for Millerand, but Goblet! an ex-Minister and candidate for the premiership!
Tomorrow I shall write a few words to Laura on business—I cannot manage it today, I have been interrupted all the afternoon and it is now past 5 o’clock. In the meantime, kiss her for me.
Greetings from Louise.
Ever yours,
F.E.
Correspondance, t. II I, Paris, 1959
118. Engels to Laura Lafargue 14 October
My dear Löhr, I have received 3 copies of the French Origine de la famille etc. To my surprise the words ‘entièrement revue par M-me Laura Lafargue’’a which were on the proof of the title, do not appear there now. Is this, as I suppose, a little treachery of Rave? If so I shall protest.
Voilà Fortin of Beauvais who informs me that he intends translating.
1. The Kritik der Hegclsehen Rechtsphilosophie in the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (by Mohr, 1844) and
2. the 3 Chapters Gewaltstheorièb of my Anti-Dühring. I have absolutely no time to revise his work — and No. 1 is immensely difficult. And rather than revise Fortin’s work (which you know from experience) maybe you’d rather do the whole thing yourself. The first— Mohrs epigrammatic style — I consider him uncommonly unfit to render. Nobody but you could do that.
He intends publishing them in the Ere Nouvelle. What do you think I had better say to him? Glorious victory in Austria. Taaffe proposes an electoral law [270] which is tantamount to universal suffrage at least in towns and industrial districts — so says Adler. Taaffe’s policy is to break the power of the German Liberal Party (representing the German and Jewish bourgeoisie) and probably, too, to let as many Socialists replace Liberal Bourgeois as may be necessary to drive the other parties to a closer union and thus to give to him a working majority. The Lower House in Austria is composed of 85 representatives of the large landed proprietors, 21 of the Chamber of Commerce (these 106 are not affected by the new bill), 97 of the towns and 150 of the country districts (both of these will be elected according to the new bill).
For the present the country districts will send about the same Catholic
a ‘completely revised by Mme Laura Lafargue’ - b Theory of Force.
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and Conservative members as hitherto, and the exclusion of analphabètes will here considerably restrict the suffrage; but in the industrial centres of the West and North (Vorarlberg, Austria proper, Bohemia, Moravia, perhaps Steiermark) the new bill will practically establish a very near approach to universal suffrage. It is calculated by bourgeois papers that the number of voters will be 5,200,000 instead of 1,770,000, and the number of socialist seats are estimated at from 20 to 60! Give us 20 to 24 (this is the number of signatures required for a motion to be discussed) and we shall upset the whole of this old-fashioned assembly. It is a complete revolution, our people in Vienna are jubilant, although’, of course they insist upon full universal suffrage, direct elections, and abolition of the 106 privileged members.
Kind regards from Louise.
Ever yours RE.
119. Engels to Nikolai Danielson 17 October
When I received your letter of July 26th announcing your return home, I was on the point myself of going abroad for two months and am only just returned. [189] This is the reason of my long silence.
Many thanks for the copies of the Outlinef three of which I have for-
a Outlines of Our Post-Reform Economy (1893). [Written in Russian in original.] 1893
warded to appreciative friends. The book, I am glad to see, has caused considerable stir and indeed sensation, as it well merited. Among the Russians I have met, it was the chief subject of conversation. Only yesterday one of thema writes:
‘we in Russia are arguing over the ‘fate of capitalism here’.b
In the Berlin Sozialpolitische Centralblatt [1] a Mr. P. v. Struve has a long article on your book.c I must agree with him in this one point, that for me, too, the present capitalistic phase of development in Russia appears an unavoidable consequence of the historical conditions as created by the Crimean War, the way in which the change of 1861 in agrarian conditions was accomplished, and the political stagnation in Europe generally. Where he is decidedly wrong, is in comparing the present state of Russia with that of the United States, in order to refute what he calls your pessimistic views of the future. He says, the evil consequences of modern capitalism in Russia will be as easily overcome as they are in the United States. There he quite forgets that the United States are modern, bourgeois, from the very origin; that they were founded by petits bourgeois and peasants who ran away from European feudalism in order to establish a purely bourgeois society. Whereas in Russia, we have a groundwork of a primitive communistic character, a pre-civilisation Gentilgesellsehaft,d crumbling to ruins, it is true, but still serving as the groundwork, the material upon which the capitalistic revolution (for it is a real social revolution) acts and operates. In America, Geldwirthschaff has been fully established for more than a century, in Russia, Naturalwirtschaft was all but exclusively the rule. Therefore it stands to reason that the change, in Russia, must be far more violent, far more incisive, and accompanied by immensely greater sufferings than it can be in America.
But for all that it still seems to me that you take a gloomier view of the case than the facts justify. No doubt, the passage from primitive agrarian communism to capitalistic industrialism cannot take place without terrible dislocation of society, without the disappearance of whole classes and their transformation into other classes; and what enormous suffering, and waste of human lives and productive forces that necessarily implies,
a Josif Goldenberg - b [phrase in Russian], II I. Jobrgang, No. 1, Oct. 2, 1893. [Note by Engels, in the original, Oct. 1, which is a misprint.] - c P. Struve, ‘Zur Beurtheilung der Kapitalistischen Entwickelung Russlands’, Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, No. 1, 2 October, 1893. - d gentile society - c money economy - f natural economy 1893
we have seen — on a smaller scale — in Western Europe. But from that to the complete ruin of a great and highly I gifted nation there is still a long way. The rapid increase of population to which you have been accustomed, may be checked; the reckless deforestation combined with the expropriation of the old landlordsa as well as the peasants, may cause a colossal waste of productive forces; but after all, a population of more than a hundred million will finally furnish a very considerable home market for a very respectable grande industrie, and with you, as elsewhere, things will end by finding their own level — if capitalism lasts long enough in Western Europe.
You yourself admit that
‘the social conditions in Russia after the Crimean War were not favorable to the development of the form of production inherited by us from our past history’.
I would go further, and say, that no more in Russia than anywhere else would it have been possible to develop a higher social form out of primitive agrarian communism unless that higher form was already in existence in another country, so as to serve as a model. That higher form being, wherever it is historically possible, the necessary consequence of the capitalistic form of production and of the social dualistic antagonism created by it, it could not be developed directly out of the agrarian commune, unless in imitation of an example already in existence somewhere else. Had the West of Europe been ripe, 1860-70, for such a transformation, had that transformation then been taken in hand in England, France etc., then the Russians would have been called upon to show what could have been made out of their Commune, which was then more or less intact. But the West remained stagnant, no such transformation was attempted, and capitalism was more and more rapidly developed. And as Russia had no choice but this: either to develop the Commune into a form of Production, from which it was separated by a number of historical stages, and for which not even in the West the conditions were then ripe — evidently an impossible task — or else to develop into Capitalism, what remained to her but the latter chance?
As to the Commune, it is only possible so long as the differences of wealth among its members are but trifling. As soon as these differences become great, as soon as some of its members become the debt-slaves of the richer members, it can no longer live. The big peasants and village exploiters’ [3]
a [In Russian] — b [In Russian] 1893
of Athens, before Solon, have destroyed the Athenian gens with the same implacability with which those of your country destroy the Commune. I am afraid that institution is doomed. But on the other hand, Capitalism opens out new views and new hopes. Look at what it has done and is doing in the West. A great nation like yours outlives every crisis. There is no great historical evil without a compensating historical progress. Only the modus operandi is changed. Que les destinées s’accomplissent!a
Yours ever
When Vol. II Ib in the press, will take care to send you advance sheets.
120. Engels to Laura Lafargue 18 Ocober
AT LE PERREUX
London, 18 October 1893 My dear Löhr,
Liebknecht informs me that the honorarium for Paul’s letters having to be voted by the Parteivorstand,c he is as yet not in a position to reply. This is excusable. When we left Berlin, the Parteivorstandc was overwhelmed with very important business; then Liebknecht and Bebel had to leave for agitating tournées in Saxony where to-morrow the elections for the Saxon Landtag take place. Immediately upon that follows the Cologne Parteitag, [279] again taking the members of the Vorstand away from their regular activity.
a May destiny take its course! - b of Capital -c Party Executive Committee 1893
Talking of the Parteitag,a at Cologne, Bonnier writes to say il est possible que nous n’irons pas à Cologne, n’ayant pas reçu d’adresse du parti allemand}’ The address is everyday in the Vorwärts: ‘Das Zentral-Empfangsbureau befindet sich: Hotel Durst (nomen est omen!), früher Gasthof zur Post. Marzellenstr. 5, in der Nähe des Zentralbahnhofs und des Dornst’.c The address of the paper Rheinische Zeitung is Grosser Griechenmarkt 115.
To Fortin I write[25] saying that he has to keep his hands off Dühring, and that the article of Mohr’s is almost impossible to be translated, and moreover that I cannot undertake to revise his work.d I told him you were ‘in possession’ of Dühring and that you had revised Rave! I further told him you did not know the article of Mohr, perhaps he might let you have his copy to look it over; but nothing more; no hopes that you would or might do the work of revision for him.
I am very sorry you deleted your name from that title-page.f It would be a capital handle to work in connection with getting publishers, and paying ones, for your other translations. You have no business to be ashamed of your own good work, or to allow Rave to adorn himself with other bird’s feathers. There is no reason whatever for you to ‘keep in the background’. And this kind of work nowadays ought to bring in money to you — surely Rave is paid, and paid handsomely for his bad work which has to be licked into decent shape by you— and I do not see why you should not reap where you have sown.
Love from Louise Ever
yours
F. Engels
a Party Congress — b we may not go to Cologne, not having received the address of the German Party -c The Central Reception Office is at: Hotel Durst (thirst — the name is an omen!)—formerly Gasthof zur Post, Marzellenstrasse 5, near the central railway station and the Cathedral. - d See this volume, p. 221 -e F. Engels, Anti-Dühring-fSee this volume, p. 211 1893
121. Engels to August Bebel 18 October
Dear August,
I have just received notification from the publishers of the Vorwärts, etc., that they ‘plan’ to re-issue the Anti-Dühring and that all they require of me is to append a few brief remarks to the new edition. What I myself might perhaps ‘plan’ no one bothered to ask.
Now you will recall that during our trip [189] we agreed to give the Anti-Dühring to Dietz and, in lieu thereof, the shorter, more popular stuff to the Vorwärts. I shall therefore provisionally acquaint the gentlemen in Berlin of that fact, lest they should delude themselves further. I am sending this straight to Cologne, as I understand from Louise that you will be going from there to Stuttgart and will thus be able to discuss the matter with Dietz. The following are my terms for an edition of a size he can determine himself but of which he must also notify me:
1. A fee of 15% of the retail price, i.e. 15 Pfg. per mark. That is what we get here in England for translations of my stuff. Since the book does not, after all, lend itself to bulk sales except in a limited degree, he can fix the price accordingly.
2. The fee to be paid to Dr Victor Adler of Vienna. [282] 3. Dietz to undertake not to reduce the price either of the whole or of part without my written consent. This is to prevent the book from being used, as has happened before, to help shift certain slow-moving stock.
That is all. As you know, Liebknecht (on that Sunday in Grunewald) tackled me with a view to my reminding Lafargue about regular work as a correspondent. This I promised to do as soon as he let me know that the Executive had approved Lafargue’s fee. A report of the Paris Marxist Congress [283] from a Paris correspondent then appeared in the Vorwärts. I inquired of Lafarguea (having heard nothing from Liebknecht) whether it was by
a See this volume, pp. 208-09 1893
him, to which he replied in the negative. Whereupon I asked Liebknecht [25] how the matter stood and have now received the following answer:
‘Before leaving for Saxony, whence I have just returned, I wrote to August asking him to settle the matter with Lafargue. I am dependent on the Executive in all questions involving extraordinary expenditure.’
So it seems that you are once again to be held responsible for the omissions of others. Now admittedly the Executive has of late been absolutely overwhelmed with work, but I would venture to point out that the engagement of a newspaper correspondent could be attended to in a matter of minutes. It almost seems to me as though Liebknecht, with his growing predilection for Vaillant, had no particular desire to fix things up with Lafargue, otherwise he would no doubt have settled the matter before the Paris Congress and in that case would also have received the authentic report of it (the French did not admit reporters or members of the public).
Over here all is bustle. The day before yesterday we had Lehmann and Mrs Adams Walther and today we have Shmuilov, who proposes to marry here. I asked Mrs. Adams Walther about her arrangements with Foulger. She knew nothing definite, but will make inquiries from the friend who saw to the matter and will let me know the result. From what she was able to say, it seems highly probable that the copyright has been tacitly assigned to Foulger, and in that case absolutely no action whatever can be taken against Reeves other than by inserting an announcement in the papers to the effect that the said text has long been out of date. [265]
I intended to send you the 20 marks I borrowed on the last day but have not got round to going into town and collecting German notes. You shall have it next time. Should there be a further amount owing to you, as is quite possible, perhaps you would remind me in your next.
Tussy has got Lassalle’s letters and will copy them out on her typewriter.
[284] She will charge you the usual rate and I shall pay her. But what are you giving the heirs in the way of a fee? The handwriting is such that I still can’t tell how much it will be.
21 Oct. Yesterday this letter was laid aside yet again, as I had to take Shmuilov to the registry office and help him deal with the preliminary formalities, he being unfamiliar with English and I being unable to find anyone else. It will be a month before the actual joining together in mat-rimony can take place.
In Austria the cause is doing splendidly. The general disorientation of 1893
the parties, the Emperor’sa vacillation and the virtual certainty of a dissolution and new elections will provide occasion for the most splendid agitation on the part of our chaps and for creating a thorough commotion in the old morass. The various aristocratic and bourgeois parties are scuttling about in all directions like ants in the ruins of an antheap. The old order, shaky as it was, has now gone for good and all we have to do is see to it that things don’t calm down again. And that won’t be difficult.
Obviously there will be repercussions in Germany. Just as in 1848 when Vienna kicked off on 13 March, thereby compelling Berlin to follow suit on the 18th. Brussels [276] Vienna [270]—Berlin — is now the natural ‘alphabetical order’. Prussian and other forms of local suffrage, the Constitution of Hamburg, etc., will doubtless each in turn have to swallow it. The period of stagnation and reaction in the legislative field that began in 1870 is over. Governments are again coming under the control of a living political movement among the people and it is we who are at the back of that movement, it is we who determine it, now negatively, now positively. We are now what the Liberals were before 1848, and our victories in the Belgian and Austrian elections have shown that the ferment we provide is strong enough to complete the process of fermentation now begun. But the process will be neither smooth nor rapid until we have also won direct or indirect victories in Germany — conquests in the libertarian sense, greater political power for the working man, the extension of his freedom of movement. And that too will come.
If you make use of the passages from Miquel’s letters, don’t expend all your powder at one go. Remember that hardly have the things come out than the effect is lost and cannot be repeated — unless, that is, we still have some ammunition in reserve.
There was a very real risk of a general strike in Austria and one cannot yet rule out the possibility of its being set in train for the benefit of Taaffe’s ministry and his electoral reforms, [270] which would certainly be the height of historical irony. When the English miners were locked out,b it was clear how bemusing such a muddle-headed notion could be. The basic idea is to force the hand of the bourgeoisie by means of a general shortage of coal. This has its points if the workers take the offensive, i.e. do so when business is good. When business is depressed, on the other hand, industrialists find themselves with excessive stocks and collieries
Francis Joseph I — b See this volume, p. 204 1893
with more coal than they can sell. It is then that the capitalists seize the initiative, the aim being to cut down production by means of lock-outs, and to depress wages at the same time — in such a case a general strike is grist to the capitalists’ mill, since it is in their interest that the production of coal be curtailed. What the English ought to have done was to advise the Continental miners not to strike on any account, so that if possible coal might be brought from the Continent to England. But everywhere people’s heads were turned by the catchword ‘general strike’, the lockout in England was followed by the Belgian and French strikes [285] and such effect as these had in England could only have been of benefit to the capitalists.
Whereas the big colliery owners are still putting up a fight, more and more of the smaller ones are knuckling under. Some 80,000 men are back at work but about 200,000 are still out. The big ones are threatening the workers with the ultimate sanction, namely eviction from colliery-owned dwellings. If there were strike breakers ready and willing to move into these houses, the collieries would unquestionably see to it that this was done and would receive military aid to that end. Such, however, is not the case, and for the sake of a purely arbitrary act, the sole purpose of which would be to deposit the workers without shelter outside houses that would remain empty, the government will be unlikely to expose itself once again to the unpopularity it would attract as a result of a fusillade, as recently at Featherstone. [286] If it happens nevertheless, much blood will be spilt. This is an ultimate sanction the workers won’t submit to.
The Avelings will be coming shortly, having just announced themselves for a meal. This house is like a dovecote. So good-bye and my regards to everyone, including Dietz and K. Kautsky and wifea when you get to Stuttgart.
Yours,
F.E.
a Luise Kautsky 1893
122. Engels to Laura Lafargue 27 October
My dear Löhr, Though Fortin is a business-man, yet with the help of a Roumanian (with business habits partly of a Polish Jew, partly of a spendthrift boyar) he succeeds in creating a very fair muddle.
I wrote to Fortin [25] that you did not know the Kritik der Rechtsphilosophiea
but if he thought proper, he might send you his copy of the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher so that you might read it and form an idea as to the advisability — both an to contents and to form — of its being submitted to the French working people. Diamandy, in his eagerness to get stuff for his review,b rushes at you and transforms, moreover, the one article into plusieursc (business principles of the Polish Jew, to ask much so as to be able to rebate) as for instance:
— Was kostet die Elle von dem Stoff? — Fünfzehn Groschen. — Fünfzehn sagt er, zwölfeinenhalben meint er, zehn wird er nehmen, sieben und einen halben ist die Sache werth, fünf macht ich ihm geben, werd’ ich ihm bieten zwei und einen halben Groschen!d
Voilà ce que c’est.e Let Fortin first send you his copy and then you will see what you will see.
As to the Gewalttheorief not a line in Fortin’s letter led me to conclude that the thing had been already done and I don’t believe it either. To make you believe that you are en face d’un fait accompli, is another of these Oriental tricks which they consider perfectly justifiable in the service of the
a See this volume, p. 211 — b L’Ere nouvelle— c several - d ‘How much is a yard of that stuff?’
‘Fifteen pence.’ ‘He says fifteen, he means twelve-and-a-half, he would take ten, the thing’s worth
seven-and-a-half, I’d be prepared to give him five, so I’ll offer him tuppence ha’ penny!’ - e This is the thing. - f ‘Theory of Force’ (see F. Engels, Anti-Dühring, present edition, Vol. 25, pp. 146-71).
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cause. You will never arrive at the facts, much less at any practical conclusion, until you have eliminated Diamandy and deal direct with Fortin.
Diamandy served me exactly the same with regard to the translation of the Ursprung for the Ère Nouvelle.
I had a few lines from Bebel to-day about Paul’s affair.b The delay was caused by 1. the Saxon elections; 2. the Cologne Congress [279] which prevented full meetings of the Executives, and overwhelmed them with business. As soon as both Bebel and Liebknecht shall have returned to Berlins, the matter will be settled. But Bebel says at the same time, there is a great distrust of Paris correspondents of French nationality, as hitherto everyone of them has ceased to write reports at the very moment when French affairs became highly interesting — they then looked after their own business and left the Vorwärts to shift for themselves. I shall do my best to persuade them that now Paul has no longer a free pass an the railways, this will cease as far as he is concerned, but I do hope that our Paris friends will at last learn to treat business as business and engagements as things to be fulfilled — at least as a rule.
Kind regards from Louise.
Ever yours,
F. Engels
123. Engels to Ferdinand Wolff [ end] October
You write to say that ‘I have disclosed...’. I do not know what hoary piece of gossip you are referring to and indeed this is a matter of the
a Origin, see this volume, pp. 211 - b See this volume, pp. 208-9, 215 1893
utmost indifference to me. But when you start talking pompously about your ‘silence’, it evidently implies the threat that you might now break that silence. In which case you have met your match. If it really is your intention to threaten me, I have only one answer and that is: ‘do your worst’. I don’t care two hoots whether you speak or hold your tongue.
But what I cannot understand at all in how you came to write me such an inane letter.
I can find me explanation for it other than the state of nervous tension you are in. Otherwise you would realise that such conduct would debar me absolutely from having any further contact with you until you have rehabilitated yourself in my eyes.a
124. Engels to Karl Kautsky 3 November
Dear Baron,
1. Howell. His book Conflicts, etc., is a fat compendium of 536 pages and would in my opinion find few buyers in Germany, especially since all the earlier history and some of the later stuff is cribbed from Brentano.b Howell’s Trades Unionism New and Old, 235 pp., is a shorter excerpt which appeared it 1891 and is also a year more up to date in regard to facts. If it was checked, provided with notes and translated in abbreviated form, it might possibly find buyers.
But Dietz must not allow himself to be cheated again as he was by
a See this volume, p. 243 — b L. Brentano, Die Arbeitergilden den Gegenwart. Bd. 1-2, Leipzig, 1871-72.
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Sonnenschein through Stepniak [288] over the £25, which was just money thrown down the drain and which, besides, gives English publishers a false impression of their German colleagues business acumen. One ought not to make oneself an object of derision to such people. The only way to impress Englishmen is to insist on one’s rights.
Well then, if one is to protect one’s translation rights, the first part of the translation must, in accordance with international law, be published one year after the appearance of the original. In that case one is protected for three years in the country and language concerned, Otherwise not. According to this, neither Howell nor his publishera have a claim to anything, legally speaking. Only considerations of decency could come into it. If Dietz is willing to conduct negotiations with Howell via Aveling (who is well acquainted with such matters) on a verbal basis and authorise him to offer, say, £2.10 = 50 marks, if pushed. Howell would probably consent to the translation absolutely gratis. I don’t see why one should needlessly stuff money down the throats of the supercilious English so that they can brag to us Continentals about the commercial value of their books not only here but over there, while we poor devils are expected to be grateful when they do us the honour of translating us, even though we haven’t been asked. And that blackguard Howell, to boot!
2. I can understand that you should wish to go to Vienna. [289] Austria is now the most important country in Europe, at any rate for the moment. It is here that the initiative lies, which in a year or two will have its repercussions in Germany and other countries. The good Taafe has set the ball rolling and it won’t come to a halt so very soon. [270] Such being the case, it is only natural that every Austrian should wish to co-operate, for there’s going to be enough to do. I was delighted with the Viennese; they are splendid fellows if sanguine, sanguine to a degree, no Frenchman could do better, and that means that they should not be spurred on but rather reined in, lest the fruits of long years of work be dissipated in a single day. Last night Ede read out to me what you had written to him about an article on the strike as a political weapon. I firmly advised him against writing the article. [290] To my mind the affair of the three-class electorate [291] has already earned him quite enough of a reputation as a man who has lost touch with the masses and who, from without, from his writing-desk, discourses in doctrinaire fashion on questions of immediate practical a Frederick Orridge Macmillan 1893
moment.a But I am also generally of the opinion that the effect of such an article could not be other than extremely harmful at this particular juncture. However cautious it might be, and however impartial and considered the language in which it was couched, the Vienna Volkstribüne would pick out the passages that suited its own book, reprint them in bold type and use them to scare off those who have enough trouble as it is in restraining the Viennese from embarking on hare-brained escapades. You say yourself that barricades are out of date (though they might come in handy again as soon as a third or two-fifths of the army had turned socialist and it was imperative that they be given an opportunity of changing sides), but a political strike must either score an immediate victory — simply by means of a threat (as in Belgium [276] where the army was very shaky)—or else end in a colossal fiasco or, finally, lead direct to barricades. And this in Vienna where you could be shot down without more ado by Czechs, Croats, Ruthenians, [292] etc. Once this business in Vienna has been settled one way or the other, either with or without a political general strike, the question will still be topical enough for the Neue Zeit. But just now a public discussion of the general theoretical pros and cons of this weapon could only be grist to the mill of the FIREBRANDS in Vienna. I know how difficult it is for Victor to counteract the magic power exerted on the Viennese masses by the catchword ‘general strike’ and how happy he will be if only he can put off the day of reckoning. That being so we ought, in my opinion, to take the utmost care not to do or say anything that might encourage the impetuous elements.
The Viennese working men should wait until the suffrage has given them the means to take stock of themselves and of their friends in the provinces; they will then be appraised of their strength and of how it compares with that of their opponents.
Incidentally, things might get to the stage when a general strike would be carried out under the aegis and more or less for the benefit of Electoral Reform Minister Taaffe. That would be the height of irony.
3. Once again my thanks for the Parlamentärismusb which you presented to me personally in Zurich.
4. As regards Heine’s letter, [260] Tussy tells me she will give you her per-a E. Bernstein, ‘Die preussischen Landtagswahlen und die Sozial-demokratie. Ein Vorschlag zur Diskussion’, Die Neue Zeit, No. 52, 1892-93. - b K. Kautsky, Der Parlamentarismus, die Volksgesetzgebung und die Sozialdemokratie, Stuttgart, 1893.
1893
mission provided that Laura also agrees. I have hardly seen anything of Tussy lately — since I got back [189]—and then only for an odd moment or so. Both of them are tremendously busy and, because of meetings, they hardly ever put in an appearance on Sundays. However I should like to take another look at the letter before I say anything definite. The matter is open to considerable misinterpretation and must be given much thought.
5. Volume II I.a Fair sheets. When the time comes I shall see to it that these sheets are placed at your or Ede’s disposal section by section, pro vided, that is, I can get them out of Meissner. For I already need another copy for the Russian translation and Meissner is growing old and is no longer so accommodating as in the past. However I shall do my best. There are six sections in all, each of which I shall send you separately after it has come off the press.
Since returning I haven’t done a stroke of work on the above but next week I hope finally to buckle to again.
6. The thing by Guillaumin and V. Pareto has just been sent to me by Lafargue — extracts were made by Lafargue; the introduction was evi dently written by a bogus vulgar economist. [293]
To come back to the general strike, you ought not to forget that nobody was more delighted than the Belgian leaders that the affair should have turned out so well. They have had an anxious enough time and might have been forced to implement their threat; they themselves knew only too well how little they could accomplish. And this in a primarily industrial country with a thoroughly shaky and ill-disciplined militia-style army. But if, in such a country, there was nevertheless a chance of achieving something with this weapon, [276] what hope could there be in Austria where the peasant predominates, industry is sparse and relatively weak, the big towns are few and far between, the nationalities have been set at odds with one another and the socialists make up less than ten per cent of the total population (of adult males, naturally)! So for heaven’s sake let us avoid taking any step that might tempt the working men, who are in any case impatient and thirsting for action, to stake their all on one card — and, what’s more, at a time when the government wants this and could use provocation to bring it about.
The Vorwärts will always remain the same old Vorwärts. Of that I was left in no doubt while in Berlin. So I’m glad that the weeklyb is to come
a of Capital- b Der Sozialdemokrat 1893
out, for it will give the party an opportunity of appearing, at least in foreign eyes, in a form it need not be ashamed of. The Vorwärts comes out in Berlin, is read almost exclusively in Berlin (nine-tenths of sales) and, as a product of Berlin, is always viewed with indulgence. The weekly will also act as a counterweight to the Vorwärts influence on the rest of the party press. How things will work out as regards the mutual relationship of the two organs remains to be seen. I don’t imagine that they will come to blows. The Vorwärts’ subsidiary title of ‘Central Organ’ is of no importance whatever. They are welcome to the catchword.
At any rate, all kinds of changes are taking place in our party press, I am curious to know what will become of the Neue Zeit; [85] its reversion to a monthly was at all events a bold move. I don’t believe that in the long run the weekly will prove a serious competitor.
So the best of luck when you visit Vienna. When you get there you might pay my respects to the Lowenbräu next to the Burgtheater; it used to be our midday headquarters.
With regards from household to household.
Your, F.E.
Engels Briefwechsel mit Kautsky, Published in English for the first time Prague, 1935
125. Engels to Victor Adler 10 November
Dear Victor,
I am sending you herewith part of a letter from August. I do not share his misgivings, for it seems to me that such possibilities are too remote 1893
and by now may to some extent be excluded. Make sure that the letter is destroyed as requested.
My letter of 11 Octobera crossed with yours of the same date. You will have seen that we are fully in agreement as regards our general view of the situation in Austria, a situation that seems to me rather more favourable now than it was then. Electoral reform, taking Taaffe’s Bill as the minimum, will no longer be relegated to the background in Vienna. The Emperorb has approved it and the Emperor cannot back down. He, however, is far more representative of Austria than the Diet. It would seem that the new-born coalition goverment is already expiring, but even if this is not the case, it will come to grief at the first sign of positive action. Even if, as August supposes, it were to marshall the forces of Baernreitherism, [294] that would be no more than a very temporary expedient and would not prevent a collapse, should the question of action arise in some other quarter. This much is certain; Austria is now in the van of the European political movement, while we others limp along behind — even those countries that already have universal suffrage will not be able to elude the impulse provided by Austria. At Ronacher they wanteds set-to. [295] If you succeed it keeping the chaps on a tight rein, you can’t go wrong. The one thing that might bring Windischgrätz, Plener and Jaworski together would be a set-to in Vienna and a victory combined with a fusillade.
Over here we’re doing very nicely, In matters of serious reform the Liberal government is proving an abject failure. Even the Fabian society [43] has foresworn its allegiance and disavowed its whole policy of permeation. See the article by Autolycus (Burgess) on page one of the Workman’s Timesc on the Fabian manifesto which appeared in the Fortnightly Review.d If the Liberals can’t do any better, there’ll be a mass of Labour candidates come the next elections, and between thirty and forty will probably get in. In the municipal elections on 1 November the working men of the North began to take stock of themselves and scored a good many successes.
Regards from Louise and yours,
F. E.
a 10 Oct. in the original, which is a misprint, see this volume, p. 199 - b Francis Joseph I -c [J. Burgess] Autolycus, ‘In a White Sheet’, Workman’s Times, 11 November 1893. - d ‘To Your Tents, oh Israel!’, The Fortnightly Review, No. 323, New Series, 1 November 1893.
1893
126. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 11 November
Dear Sorge,
Herewith a letter to Mrs Kelley (ex-Wischnewetzky) which I would ask you kindly to forward to her.a As soon as you know her present correct address, perhaps you would also be so good as to forward her the enclosed cheque for £l.12.11 of the Union Bank of London.
You should read the article by Autolycusb (Burgess) [43] on page 1 of today’s Workman’s Times on the Fabians’ manifesto.c These gentlemen, who for years have declared that the emancipation of the working class can only be accomplished through the Great Liberal Party, who have loudly proclaimed that during elections any independent action by the workers vis-à-vis other candidates, Liberals included, is covert Toryism, who have let it be known that the permeation of the liberal party by socialist principles is the sole object in life for a Socialist, [59] now declare that the Liberals are traitors, that it is impossible to deal with them and that in the next elections the workers should, without regard for Liberals or Tories, put up their own candidates with the help of £30,000 which are meanwhile to be found by the Trades Unions — assuming that the latter do the Fabians this favour, which they assuredly won’t. It is an outright paterpeccatid by these supercilious bourgeois who would graciously condescend to liberate the proletariat from above, provided only that the latter were sensible enough to realise that such a raw, uneducated mass could
a See this volume, p. 230 - b [J. Burgess] Autolycus, ‘In a White Sheet’, Workman’s Times, 11 November 1893. -c ‘To Your Tents, oh Israel!’, The Fortnightly Review, No. 323, New Series, 1 November 1893. - d confession of guilt 1893
not liberate itself and would come to nothing save by the grace of these canny advocates, literati and sentimental old women. And now the first attempt by these gentlemen, an attempt heralded by drums and trumpets as a worldshaking event, has gone so splendidly awry that they themselves must admit as much. That is what’s so funny about the affair.
Warm regards to you and your wife. I hope you will both get through this winter better than the last. Over here it is already starting to turn wintry.
Yours,
F.E.
First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
127
127 Engels to Florence Kelley-Wischnewetsky 11 November
Dear Mrs Kelley,
I have received from Swan Sonnenschein a/c Salesa for July 92 — June 93 as follows:
Regular Sales 50 (plus 4 — 13 Copies) 3/6. — £8.15. Special Sales 51 (one copy to America!) 4.8.9
£13.3.93 121/2% of which = £1.12.11 As I am not certain whether your last address (Hull House, 335 s. Halsted St. Chicago) still holds good, I think it safer to send the cheque
a of the 2nd English edition of Engels’ The Condition of the Working Class in England 1893
to our friend Mr Sorge of Hoboken who will forward it to you as soon as you let him know that you have received this note.
We now and then see short reports of your activity in the papers, among others your speech in the Labor Congress, and are glad to find that you have found congenial work. With kind regards from Mrs Kautsky and myself
I remain Yours very truly
F. Engels
128. Engels to Paul Lafargue 19 November
My dear Lafargue,
Liebknecht will have written telling you that they want to take you on as correspondent for Vorwärts and the Hamburg Echo, one letter a week, identical and sent simultaneously to the two journals, but they want it in German and suggest that Laura should translate it.
Herein the reason why they want it in German, and it is a very important one. The two papers could publish the identical report on the same day, so that it would be an original article in each of them. If publication is not simultaneous, if one of the two papers prints it a day later, it will be suspected of having taken the article from the previous day’s issue of the other, like so many other news items taken from that issue.
Now there might be someone in Hamburg who would translate you— don’t ask me how!—but in Berlin! There Liebknecht has established the custom of all translations being done by Mme Liebknecht or by one of his sons. The manuscript goes to Charlottenburg and into Liebknecht ‘s house and God alone knows when the translation reaches the newspaper 1893
office. So there would be perpetual delays and, what is worse, delays of unpredictable length.
Therefore, the possibility of using your letters for the two papers and paying you a correspondent’ salary depends entirely on your letters being sent in German. Furthermore this would safeguard you against editorial criticism; Bonnier tells me that Liebknecht rather overdid it with Guesde, which is what finally sickened him. The Hamburg editorial board, being entirely independent and, what is more, not knowing what goes on in Berlin and vice versa, your articles would be printed without being cut either in the one or the other paper, or, which is most likely, in both.
The question now is, will Laura be willing to do the translation? I hope so; that would enable you to clinch the matter at once. I am sure that with a little practice she would write as well in German as in English and French.
But, if this fails, would there be no way of having the translation done? Is there nobody who, in consideration of a small share of your fees, would do this job for you? Let us say 10 francs a letter for the translation and two copies, which would leave you 40 francs a letter, and would still provide an incentive to the translator. What about Frankel? But perhaps he himself is a Vorwärts correspondent (I have no idea at all who provides the Paris letters which I see in it from time to time). Anyway, think about it and try to arrange something. You realise that our Berlin people are doing their utmost, try to facilitate the business for them. And don’t forget that this will enable you to speak to 60,000-70,000 subscribers, i.e., at least 250,000 readers without counting the readers of other papers who borrow their articles from these two organs, the most important ones that our Party in Germany has.
In any case, make a start with Vorwärts and leave the arrangements for the Echo and the translation for later. But it would be wise not to lose time over it. And further: Bebel as well as Liebknecht insist upon a regular contribution which will give them the outstanding events and your reflections and reports on the general situation. One letter a week, and on a fixed day, determined by yourself (I do not think they will lay down the day for you).
My love to Laura from whom I am still awaiting adamanta and other news.
a A play on words: adamantin—adamant, diamanti—a diamond, Diamandy — a surname (see this volume, pp. 221-22)
1893
Greetings from Louise.
Ever yours,
F.E.
Correspondance, t. II I, Paris, 1959 Translated from the French
129. Engels to Natalie Liebknecht 1 December
Dear Mrs Liebknecht,
Thank you very much for your letter and kind good wishes for my 73rd
birthday which I passed in the best of health and spirits. The Avelings and Bernsteins spent the evening with us, and empty bottles bore testimony to our good humour and general sense of well-being. If things go on like this there will, so far as I am concerned, be no reason why I should not repeat my visit to Berlin, [189] in which case we could again take coffee in the Zoological Gardens and comment upon the four-legged and two-legged, winged and wingless, roaring and talking zoological specimens on display, whether in captivity or at large.
Poor Gizycki! He’s unable to walk as it is, and now they are also trying to prevent him from talking, and this, because he illicitly consorts with Social Democrats. Prussia is indeed not only a civilised state, but also a state of illuminati!
I am very sorry that your Karl should have acquired fibrositis while on His Majesty’s service but let us hope he will soon get over it. At all events the best thing to do, once one finds oneself in those circumstances, is to carry out one’s duties properly. I can readily imagine that messieurs les officiers will take care not to compromise themselves in the eyes of your sons,a those two sappers being uncomfortably close to the portals of the
a Karl and Theodor Liebknecht 1893
Reichstag, for they are reluctant to figure personally in the debates there, no matter what the Minister of Wara may say. And if in addition your sons, as used to be demanded of us volunteers [255] by my erstwhile captain, set ‘an example to the company’ then, their father notwithstanding, they cannot fail to gain promotion to non-commissioned rank. And that would be only right and proper. If Bebel is the son of an N.C.O., why should not Liebknecht be the father of one or more N.C.O.s? You’ve no idea how much nicer a uniform looks, with lace on, and, it would seem, that in Berlin the fair sex is far more susceptible to Moloch thus adorned. Nor is that by any means all, for as Heine says:
But still more charming than all else Are Caesar’s golden epaulettesb
However, we are unlikely to rise to such heights as that. Well, the year of mourning in uniform will soon be over and then Karl will go to Hamm [298] which is also a very nice spot — or used to be; it was my mother’s birthplace and I often used to go there as a child, but now everything has changed and it’s a smoky, industrial sort of hole, though quite tolerable to live in.
Well, goodbye now, and please give my warm regards to Liebknecht and your children. We shall hold Liebknecht to his promise of coming here after the New Year. Mrs Kautsky also sends you all her warmest regards.
Ever yours,
F. Engels
a Walter Bronsart von Schellendorff - b Heinrich Heine, Himmelsbräute (from ‘Romanzero’)
1893
130. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 2 December
Dear Sorge, Many thanks to you and your wife for your good wishes and for your letter of 19 November.
I am very sorry to hear that you are suffering from gout and hope that it will recede as time goes on; it’s an insidious complaint.
The repeal of the silver purchase law [187] has saved America from a serious financial crisis and will help to promote an industrial recovery. But I am not sure whether it might not have been better had there really been a crash. The phrase ‘cheap money’ seems to be deeply engraved in the minds of your Western farmers. In the first place, when they suppose that, if there be ample means of circulation in a country, the rate of interest must fall, they are confusing means of circulation with disposable money capital, a matter upon which considerable light will be shed in Volume II I.a And, secondly, all debtors find it convenient to incur debts in good currency and subsequently pay them off in depreciated currency. Hence every indebted Prussian Junker clamours for bimetallism [299] that would rid him of his debts in disguised, Solonic fashion. [300] Had it been possible to postpone silver reform in the United States until there had been time for the consequences of this foolishness to redound on the farmers also, it would have dinned some sense into many a thick skull.
Tariff reform, [301] however slowly it may be put into operation, would already seem to have given rise to a kind of panic among the manufacturers of New England. I have learnt — both from private sources and the newspapers — that large numbers of workers are being laid off. But all this will die down the moment the Bill goes through and puts an end to the uncertainty. I am convinced that, in all the larger branches of industry, America can boldly go into competition with England.
As regards the German Socialists in America, things are pretty dire.
a K. Marx, Capital, Vol. II I, Chapters XXIX-XXXIV.
1893
The chaps you get from Germany are not as a rule the best — these stay over here — and are not in any case a fair sample of the German party. And, like everywhere else, every new arrival at once feels impelled to destroy and refashion everything that already exists so that a new era may be seen as having started with him. Moreover, the majority of these greenhorns remain stuck in New York for a long time if not for life, they are constantly being reinforced by new importations and are thus relieved of the necessity of learning the language of the country or acquiring a proper knowledge of American conditions. All this does a great deal of harm no doubt, but on the other hand there is no denying that conditions in America present considerable and peculiar difficulties to the steady growth of a labour party.
In the first place the constitution, based as in England on party government, whereby any vote not given to a candidate put up by one of the two government parties is regarded as lost. And neither an American nor an Englishman, since he wishes to influence the body politic, will throw away his vote.
Then, and more especially, immigration, which splits the workers into two groups, native-born and foreign, and the latter again into 1. Irish, 2. Germans, 3. a number of smaller groups, each speaking only its own language — Czechs, Poles, Italians, Scandinavians, etc. And, in addition, the negroes. To form a party of one’s own out of all these calls for exceptionally strong incentives. Every now and again a powerful élan may suddenly make itself felt, but all the bourgeoisie has to do is to stick it out passively, whereupon the dissimilar working-class elements will disintegrate again.
3. Finally, the protective tariff system and the steady growth of the domestic market must have exposed the workers to a prosperity unlike anything that has been experienced for many years in Europe, (with the exception of Russia where, however, it is not the workers who reap the benefit but the middle classes).
A country like America, when really ripe for a socialist labour party, is certainly not going to be deterred by a handful of German socialist doctrinaires.
Part I of Vol. II I (246 ms. pages out of approx. 1855) is ready for press.a
This is between ourselves. Progress will, I hope, now be rapid.
a K. Marx, Capital, Vol. II I, Book II I, Chapters I-VII .
1893
Cordial regards to you and your wife, and best wishes for your recovery from L. Kautsky and
Yours,
F. Engels
L. Kautsky, who will reply shortly, thanks you for your kindness, and has already written re the Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna); the Pionierkalender has not arrived.
Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
131. Engels to Hermann Schlüter 2 December
IN HOBOKEN No. 1
[London], 2 December 1893 Dear Schlüter, Many thanks for your good wishes and for Census Compendium I which was most welcome and of which No. II will be more welcome still.a So the Americans are no longer as liberal as they used to be, and even a big journal does not get such things merely for the asking! All is well over here; I am once more at work on Vol. II Ib and it is with pleasure that I look back on the trip I made this summer. [189] You people are now at last about to rid yourselves of bimetallism [299] and the McKinley tariff and this should give a considerable boost to progress over there. Although a thorough-going collapse of silver [187] might have gone a long way towards
a Department of the Interior, Census Office. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Parts I-II , Washington, 1892-1894. - b of Capital 1893
enlightening your remarkably stupid American farmer in regard to his cheap money. Regards from Mrs Kautsky.
Yours,
F.E.
Census book — see second postcard.
von Job. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Published in English in full Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an for the first time F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906 and in full, in Russian, in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
132. Engels to Hermann Schlüter 2 December
As regards Census I,a I first got a letter from the General Post Office, Washington, saying that, because of the way it was packed, the book must be paid for as a letter. I must either send $10.36c. for this purpose or let them have the sender’s address (I didn’t know either what was in it or who had sent it), or else say whether I wanted it sent per express. I asked for further details, at the same time saying they were at liberty to send it per express, which they did, and I got it ON PAYMENT OF 6/-. When sending me things in future, would you be so good as to put your address
a Department of the Interior, Census Office. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Parts III , Washington, 1892-1894 1893
on the outside in order that delays of this kind may be avoided or dealt with direct over there. I could not quite gather from the Washington General Post Office’s letter why they didn’t send the thing — whether because of the way it was packed or perhaps because it was inadequately stamped for book-post. Thanks again.
Yours,
F. E.
133. Engels to Karl Kautsky 4 December
Dear Baron,
First of all my warmest thanks for your good wishes on my 73rd birthday which has left me fit and well.
Either you misinterpreted my remarks about the ‘publisher’ or I expressed myself badly.a It never occurred to me to lay the blame on Dietz or, indeed, any one individual, in as much as I was not sufficiently au fait with what had happened over there in regard to the Stepniak business [288] before this had come to my notice. I merely adduced it as an awful example that ought not to be followed. And in view of the position occupied by publishers in this country, there could be no doubt that the German publisher had gratuitously presented Sonnenschein (or so it must seem to him) with £25, which could not but give him, Sonnenschein, a somewhat indifferent idea of the business efficiency of German publishers. Nor can
a See this volume, pp. 223-24 1893
you Stuttgarters contest this. And as the surest way of obviating anything of that kind, I drew your attention to the fact that, in this country, the consent of the author is not in itself, a safeguard since, in nine cases out of ten, the English publisher has the final say, for as a rule he has been assigned the copyright, including right of translation (this is actually stated in print in, for instance, every one of Sonnenschein’s contract forms, or else he stipulates that he should have some say in the matter. So please tell Dietz that it never even crossed my mind to cast any aspersion whatsoever on his efficiency as a business man.
As regards international contracts, Sam Moore [originally] looked this up in PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS from which he made extracts, and the information about one year and three years was certainly correct at that time. I know nothing about the Berne Convention [303] and its ten-year term of copyright for translations and I should be grateful if you would let me know the date of the said Convention, in which case I could procure the copy made for Parliament.
Victor writes to say that the general strike in Austria is dead as a door nail; so a discussion of it would not be likely to do any harm.a But at the same time we have had inquiries from the Austrian provinces as to what we in this country think of a general strike.
I still believe that electoral reform, at least in the form hatched up by Taaffe and Franz Joseph, is a foregone conclusion in Austria. [270] Even if the coalition ministry succeeds in tabling and gaining acceptance for a Bill for the extension of the parliamentary franchise without, as it must, foundering in consequence, or in consequence of something else in the meantime, the matter will by no means be settled. In a country as artificially equilibrated as Austria, a stable balance, once destroyed, can be restored only with difficulty, maybe by force alone, and the government is only too well aware that even this will be effective only for a while and will leave the state weaker than it was before. And the fact that Franz Joseph has given his blessing to this particular piece of electoral reform which he has, indeed, declared to be his very own work, rules out once and for all the possibility of Austria continuing as before. Now it’s
Humptius in muro sedebat, Dumptius alto, Humptius de muro Dumptius, heul cecidit
a See this volume, p. 257 1893
Nec equites regis, nee agmina cuncta tyranni Humpti te Dumpti restituere queunt.
Or:
HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL, HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL, ALL THE KING’S HORSES AND ALL THE KING’S MEN,
CANNOT PUT HUMPTY DUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN. [304]
In all probability Taaffe will return to office after a certain interval; he would seem to have taken the Disraeli of 1867 for his model. [305] At the moment this caricature of an artful dodger, along with the irresolute Franz Joseph, is involuntarily engaged in making Austria the spearhead of the political movement in Europe, as Pius IX made Italy in 1846. [274]
You are right in leaving the Neue Zeit as it is for the time being. [85] In such a case one shouldn’t mess about with something like this unless absolutely necessary. Since it is a weekly, then let it so remain unless really compelled to make a change.
Don’t worry about Volume II I.a Come what may, we shall see that you are in a position to do a review of it to coincide with the book’s appearance.
Love from one household to the other.
Yours,
F. E.
Engels Briefwechsel mit Kautsky, Published in English for the first time Prag, 1935
a of Capital 1893
134. Engels to Paul Arndt 5 December
I, too, can understand that you should have preferred not to call on me on a Sunday since, in view of various things that have happened in the meantime, I cannot possibly consort with you on the same easy footing as hitherto.
However, if you wish to speak to me, I shall be at home the day after tomorrow, Thursday, from 8 pm. onwards.
Yours faithfully,
F.E.
135. Engels to Laura Lafargue 19 December
My dear Löhr, If I have not before replied to your letter of just a month ago, there were 2 causes for it:
1) because I was bound to finish, before Christmas, the final redactiona
a editing 1893
of Section I-IV of Vol. II I,a so as to be able to go to press at once after the new year. That is now done. By Easter I hope to have the whole of the Manuscript (2/3rds are still to be finally looked over) in the printer’s hands, to be published in September.
2) because I had submitted to Bebel another plan [25] for the German translation, etc. of Paul’s articles, [13] and was waiting for a reply. Nothing however has come of it and so, vogue la galèrec on the present tack, which, as far as I can hear, has taken something like a final shape, and so it may be as well to leave things alone. Liebknecht is rather a queer customer to deal with in these matters of his redaction. We expect him here after the new year.
Now then, ein anderes Bild.d Yesterday we forwarded to you a box with the pudding, Paul’s cake etc., grande vitessee to be there about Wednesday or Thursday — Continental Daily Parcels Express, carriage paid, which, we hope, will arrive safely and suit your tastes. Bonnier ought to have a slice of the pudding for he came in for the stirring and he did stir it with might and main. He is improving vastly, shaking off his Germanisms and becoming actually French. Some time ago I went over to Oxford for a day, to look at the place and also at poor old Rotef Wolffg—your earliest admirer, for he admired you before you were 2 years old in Brussels. Poor devil, he is quite cracked again. He had written something about Bucher in the Neue Zeit,h and since then whenever a Wolf or Wolff (and you know they are as plentiful as the Smiths and Jones’s) is alluded to, he imagines that this is meant for him, and so he makes it out that there is a complete conspiracy to pretend that he does not know Latin — and you know, not to know Latin is the awfullest crime a man can be guilty of in Oxford. But is it not a melancholy irony of fate, that one of the most spirituel [1] of men should end his career in the belief that he is the Massmann, not of a Heine, but of an imaginary conspiracy of second and third rate German literati! Then he is 81 years old — so, apart from other considerations, hardly any hope of recovery from this fixed idea which nobody can root out of his mind.
Your description of Guesde’s elated status amused me very much. [307] I had seen something of it from the pompous proclamations he had issued from his new Jerusalem of the North, and was only glad they were not
a of Capital- b See this volume, pp. 231-32 -c let’s chance it- d a different story -e express -f Red -g See this volume, pp. 222-23 - h F. Wolff, ‘Bucher, Bismarck und v. Poschinger’, Die Neue Zeit, Nos. 42 and 43, Vol. II - i witty 1893
noticed by the bourgeois press abroad; contrasted with the part played by the French delegation at Zürich, [250] they might have served as groundwork for a lot of bad jokes. But le bon sens français quel quefois n’a pas le sens commun,a and that is just the beauty of it. Look at the parti socialiste in the Chamber. How long ago is it that Clara Zetkin in the Neue Zeith made out 24 élusc ± socialistes, and that of the 12 elected on the Marxist program Paul did not know how many would turn up all right; and now, lo and behold, a parliamentary party of 54 socialist deputies which dashes into the majority like a brigade of cavalry, upsets one ministry and nearly dislocates another,
[308] until this victorious career is all of a sudden, by Vaillant’s bomb, [309] changed into a concentration to the rear, and the new members of the majority deprived of all the idealistic delusions they had brought with them from the provinces and turned into docile panamitard opportunists. [60]
Upon the whole I think it is rather useful to us. I cannot help imagining that amongst these 54 who have been many of them suddenly converted to what they call socialism, there cannot be that cohesion which is wanted for a serious fight. Let alone the old dissensions between the real old socialists ‘de la veille’ d within the group, dissensions which it will take some time to overcome once for all. If this heterogeneous lot of 54 had been kept in the front rank of the chambre for any length of time, it must, either have split up, or else the old Radical wing — Millerand and Co.—must have become the determining element. As it is, time will be given to the various components of the group to make closer acquaintance with each other, to consolidate the group, and to eliminate, if necessary, one after another those elements which really have joined the group only by mistake. At all events, in the Dupuy— Casimir Périer campaign Millerand and Jaurès took the lead entirely, and that will never do in the long run, though I fully approve of Guesde and Vaillant having, so far, and under the present circumstances, kept in the background.
Paul’s letters to the Vorwärts so far are very good, we look for them every week. And they are not quite so badly germanised as I have seen others done.
That Feuerbach must have given you a deal of trouble. [310] But from what I have seen of your work, I feel certain you have ‘taken’ all obstacles ‘fly-
a sometimes French good sense has no common sense - b C. Zetkin , ‘Die Wahlen in Frankreich’, Die Neue Zeit, No. 52, 1892-93, Vol. II - c elected - d of yesterday 1893
ing’, to use a bit of hunting language. Have you got a publisher for it?
Will you accept the enclosed cheque £5.- for a Christmas box? Louise is out shopping in a steady rain — that Christmas will cost her dear in colds and toothache.
Love from her and yours ever
F.E.
Kind regards to Paul who I suppose is happy to be out of parliament again.
136. Engels to Ludwig Schorlemmer 19 December
My dear Schorlemmer, If I have not written before now to thank you for your good wishes on my seventy-third birthday, you can blame it on Volume II I of Capital. This must now be finished once and for all and consequently I have had to put the whole of my correspondence on one side without compunction or remorse. I have now one section left to be done and shall be able to use the few days remaining before the festive season to catch up.
I only passed through Darmstadt [189]—Mrs Kautsky, Bebel and wife, a Viennese doctor [1] resident over here and I were unable to ascertain the train in advance, which in any case only stopped for ten minutes or so, otherwise I should have telegraphed you. Otherwise the trip was very pleasant — apart from the tub-thumping I had to do, having once let my-
a Ludwig Freyberger 1893
self in for it in Zurich. I travelled with Bebel to Salzburg, Vienna, Prague and Berlin and was away from home for a full two months, which did me a power of good. To observe the progress made in Germany both by industry and by the labour movement was in itself worthwhile, and to see our Viennese at work was also a pleasure.
As regards Carl’s estate, [199] I have heard very little from Siebold and absolutely nothing about what has happened to the manuscripts and what contracts have been concluded with the publishers. Three matters are involved here:
1. The big work by Roscoe and Schorlemmer in an English and a German edition. [311]
2. Carl’s own Manual of the Chemistry of the Carbon Compoundsa new edition of which was in course of preparation.
3. His manuscripts on the early history of chemistry [312] (according to what Spiegel says in the obituary, Siebold intends to publish this himself).
The English edition of Carl’s Ursprung und Entwicklung der organischen Chemieb [313] will be handled in London by one of his pupils, now a professor there.c
But with regard to the above three points Siebold says little or nothing, Before I write to him again, I should like to ask you whether he has told you anything about the matter and if so what, and whether it is agreeable to you if I ask him for further information. For I have no right whatever, legally speaking, to intervene and would not like Siebold to refer to or even so much as hint at this. If, however, I go and ask him for information for which you have appealed to me, that is rather a different matter and puts me in an altogether different position.
Siebold is an absolutely sterling chap but by nature not over-energetic and in recent years he has been weakened by illness. In which case a little bit of extra help can do no harm.
I hope you are safely rid of your influenza and your wife of the after-effects of pneumonia and are in a condition to face up to the coming festive season with strength, fortitude and cheerfulness.
With kindest regards.
Yours,
F. Engels
a Lehrbuch der Kohlenst of fverbindungen oder der organischen Chemie — b Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry - c Arthur Smithells 1893
137
137 Engels to Adelheid Dworak 21 December
Dear Adelheid,
I still owe you my thanks for your kind congratulations on my 73rd
birthday [314] and am sending them today in order to use the occasion for wishing you a very nice holiday. I hope that the vacation from oratory arranged for you during our stay in Vienna [257] has done you good and you are again as fit and full of fighting spirit as we all wish you to be. Unless I misread all the signs, you are in for eventful times and lengthy battles in Austria. May the workers there prove that, along with the necessary audacity, they possess the patience, calm, judgement and discipline which alone can lead to victory.
Cordial greetings to you and all comrades, Your old
F. Engels
Take it from me, I will still claim that ‘kiss some day.
First published in: Friedrich Engels Printed according to the original 1820-1970. Referate. Diskussionen. Dokumente, Hanover, 1971 Published in English for the first time 1893
138. Engels to Wilhelm Liebknecht 21 December
Dear Liebknecht,
Yesterday evening I sent you an article on Italy. I would ask you NOT to print it until further notice. I fear I have misinterpreted the permission given me to publish it, which, apparently, does NOT extend to the stuff about the privy purse. Since the matters in question could land my sourcea in a most serious predicament and might deprive me of the source itself, I am also sending you a telegram. If you receive no further word from me, you can bring the ms. back with you in January and we shall then re-edit it.
Once again my kindest regards to you all.
Yours,
F.E.
139. Engels to Friedrich Adolph Sorge 30 December
Dear Sorge, Your postcards of 29 November and 17 December received with
a Antonio Labriola 1893
thanks. First of all a Happy New Year to you and your wife from Louise Kautsky and myself.
You will have noticed, not without some surprise, that a Socialist group of between fifty-four and sixty men (they themselves don’t seem to know exactly how many) has established itself in the French Chamber. Immediately after the elections [208] they numbered, at a generous count, twenty-four, twelve of whom had been elected on the strength of the Marxist platform. However, of these only six presented themselves at the Paris Party Congress and hitherto only four have agreed, in accordance with the congress resolution, to pay a part of their parliamentary salary into the party treasury. [283] (Which is not yet the same thing as actually paying it in — in France it was being said as early as 1870 that les cotisations ne rentrent pas!a) Well, thanks to the adhesion of the radicaux socialistesb of the Millerand-Jaurès group, there are now all of a sudden nearly sixty who have resolved to include the socialisation of the means of production as one of the aims — more immediate for some, for others, however, very remote — of their programme. Concentration is now the battle-cry in France. If in the past this meant a concentration républicaine (i.e. the subordination of all Republicans to the right wing, the Opportunists [87]), it now means a concentration socialiste and I only hope this does not mean the subordination of all Socialists to the Millerandists whose practical programme is assuredly more radical than socialist.
The first result of this alliance is that our people have as good as lost the chance of acquiring a daily of their own. Millerand’s Petite République Française already occupies that position, so it will be difficult to produce an organ to compete with it — finance is more difficult to obtain and the others would complain that it would mean splitting the party! The more so as the Petite République Française is crafty enough to open its columns to any socialist group.
The second is that in the group’s meetings the Millerandists command an absolute majority (ca. 30 against 24 at the most — Marxists (12), Allemanists
[21] (3-5), Broussists [30] (2) and Blanquists [20] (4-6)).
Nevertheless messieurs les Français, intoxicated once again by victory, are crowing away for the benefit of all and sundry and would like to resume their place at the forefront of the movement. They have tabled a motion demanding that the standing army be changed into an army of
a contributions are not paid - b Radical Socialists 1893
militia (Vaillant), while Guesde intends to table one on a European disarmament congress.a The plan is that the Germans and Italians shall table similar motions in their own parliaments, thereby naturally giving the impression that they are following in the footsteps of their French ‘leaders’. What the handful of Italians — and an exceptionally muddle-headed handful at that — may do is of no consequence, but whether our Germans will consent without more ado to be taken in tow by the French seems doubtful to me. If, after twenty-five years of hard struggle, you have won for yourself a position of power and have two million voters behind you, you are entitled to take a closer look at the scratch lot who propose all of a sudden to assume command. The more so as messieurs les Français get exceedingly touchy the moment anyone commits the slightest breach of etiquette in respect of themselves.
Well, we shall have to wait and see. With these unpredictable Frenchmen it is always possible that lasting progress will result from this sudden and momentary success. But it would really be better for us to wait and see.
Next, I have to tell you—but this is strictly between ourselves—that yesterday the first third of the ms. of Volume II P was packed in strong oil-cloth (as was in its day that notorious forgery, the Cologne minute-book [315]) and will shortly be sent to the printers. The last two-thirds are still in need of the final — mostly technical — editing. If all goes well the book will come out in September.
Now for something else. Prof. Labriolac of Rome, with whom I have corresponded for several years and whom I met in Zurich, [189] is giving a course of lectures at the university there on the genesis of Marxist theory. He is a strict Marxist. To this end he has procured all the necessary literature but has never managed to set eyes on the Holy Family, although he has advertised in the Leipzig Buchändlerblatd and elsewhere to the effect that he will pay ‘any price’ for it. There was some prospect of his getting a copy on loan from Switzerland, but its ownere has suddenly vanished and is said to be travelling in Hungary. He is now urging me to do whatever I can to procure him a copy for three or four weeks. But I myself have only one and if that is lost it will be absolutely impossible for me to arrange for the inclusion of the new, later edition in the projected Collected Works. [316]
a See next letter. b of Capital- c Antonio Labriola - d Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel und die mit ihm verwandten Geschäftszweige —c Paul Ernst Hence I cannot, on any account, let this one and only copy out of my hands. Now, a few years back, I sent you my spare copy. Would you be so good as to lend it to me for the above purpose for five or six weeks? You could send it to me as a BOOK-PACKET by registered post or, if you prefer, through an express agency insured for any sum you choose, and I should return it by whichever medium you may direct. I would, if that could somehow be arranged, send it to Rome through an agency, heavily insured (for 410 say) or, if that is not possible, by registered post. It should be stipulated that Labriola might have the use of it for a maximum of four weeks. I need hardly tell you that without a knowledge of this book he will be unable to hold the proposed course of lectures, still less realise his intention of publishing them at a later date. There are fewer than six copies in the whole of the German party and who has them I don’t know. So please think the matter over.
My Feuerbach is being translated into French by Laura Lafargue and will shortly be coming out in Paris. [310]
Warm regards to your wife and you from Louise Kautsky and yours,
F.E.
I hope your health has improved. Louise Kautsky asks me to say that the papera you send to Vienna arrives regularly. Thank you for the greetings card.
a Woman’s Journal 1894
140
Endnotes
[109] August Bebel was visiting Engels in London as guest on 3-10 January 1893.
[112] After Carl Schorlemmer’s death on 27 June 1892 his friends and associates intended to set up a Schorlemmer laboratory at Victoria University in Manchester. Their plans were realised.
[115] The Hague (Fifth) Congress of the First International held on 2-7 September 1872. It was in fact the last congress of the First International. Its work was directed by Marx and Engels.
[116] Engels means the Left Wing of the British Conservative Party in which the industrial bourgeoisie and intellectuals (men-of-letters, lawyers, etc.) were represented. The Conservative Left-Wingers came forward with a demagogic programme of social reforms in a bid to win working men’s votes during election campaigns.
[117] In this letter Sorge wrote to Engels that a few days before, the editor of Die New Yorker Volkszeitung, Friedrich Schlüter, had been visited by a group of Polish emigres who wished to learn about the newspaper’s stand on an uprising which allegedly was to take place in Poland. There was a welcome ceremony at Kronstadt in July 1891 for a French naval squadron to demonstrate a rapprochement between tsarist Russia and France. The two countries, meanwhile, were holding diplomatic negotiations which, in August 1891, terminated in the signing of an agreement whereby France and Russia undertook the commitment to consult each other on foreign policy issues and to come to terms on steps which both governments were to take in case of the threat of an attack on either. Further talks led to the signing of a Franco-Russian military convention in August 1892 which envisaged joint military oper-ations if either side was attacked. This convention was an important landmark toward a Franco-Riussian alliance which was sealed with the ratification of the convention by both governments on 27 December 1893 — 4 January 1894. Seeking to enlist Poland’s support in the event of a war with Russia, the German ruling quarters took steps in the early 1890s to soften the German policies in the western Polish lands under German jurisdiction, specifically by relaxing the police surveillance over Polish national societies, by making concessions in teaching the Polish language at school, and so on.
[118] A reference to the London Conference of the First International on 17-23 September 1871. Convened under the conditions of vicious reprisals on the International and its members after the defeat of the Paris Commune of 1871, this forum had a relatively narrow representation; taking part were 22 delegates with casting votes and 10 with consultative voices. Countries that were unable to send their delegates were represented by correspondent sec-retaries. Marx represented Germany, and Engels Italy. Nine closed sessions were held all in all. No communiqués were released on the proceedings. The resolutions of the Conference were published only in November and December 1871. One of the resolutions, ‘On the Political Action of the Working Class’, outlined the fundamental principle of the international working-class movement — the need for setting up an independent proletarian party. The keynote of the Conference was the struggle of Marx, Engels and their followers against the Bakunin trend as epitomised by the Jura Federation (see present edition, Vol. 22, pp. 423-31).
[120] In the 1885 parliamentary debates on the budget, the Irish MPs headed by Ch. S. Parnell, who were dissatisfied with the policy of the Gladstone cabinet toward Ireland, joined hands with the Conservatives and forced the Gladstone government to resign. The Salisbury Conservative Cabinet that came to power lasted only six months. The parliamentary election of December 1885 gave no decisive margin to any of the contesting parties. With the Liberals gaining a few more seats in Parliament, Gladstone was able to form a new cabinet, this time with the backing of the Irish deputies. As the new cabinet head, Gladstone tabled two bills in 1886 — on the Irish agrarian legislation and on Home Rule (see Note 171), both favourable to Ireland. In the 1892 election Gladstone formed an alliance with the Irish MPs again and, in 1893, tabled a second draft of the Home Rule; but neither the first nor the second bill succeeded.
[121] This addendum to Article 69 of the Criminal Code was suggested by Victor Rintelen, a centrist deputy, in Reichstag debates (15 December 1892) on its amendment.
[122] Reptiles, the reptilian press — an expression that gained wide currency after Bismarck’s speech in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies on 30 January 1869, when he used the word ‘reptiles’ to denigrate opponents of the government. The Left-Wing press, taking up this epithet, applied it to the semi-official press bribed by the Bismarck government and to journalists working for it.
[123] Engels alludes to a three percent interest loan which France agreed to grant Russia in September 1891 to a sum of 125 million gold roubles (or 500 million francs). The loan was a great success initially, with the sum of 125 million being surpassed seven-and-a-half-fold during the subscription. But then, because of the dramatic fall in the rate of Russian secu-rities at European exchanges as a result of the 1891 famine in Russia and the country’s wors-ening economic situation, subscribers refused to accept the bonds. In a bid to prevent a total crash, the Russian government was compelled to buy up a portion of the bonds. As a consequence, bonds worth only 96 million roubles were sold.
[124] Engels uttered this idea in his article ‘The Foreign Policy of Russian Tsardom’ (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 11-49).
[125] After the death in January 1892 of the Turkish Viceroy (Khedive) of Egypt, Tewfik, his successor Khedive Abbas Hilmi II made an attempt to steer a policy independent of Great Britain. However, in January 1893 the British Consul General in Egypt, Lord Cromer, intervened after Abbas Hilmi II had replaced his prime-minister and, though the French government demanded the Khedive’s independence, forced the viceroy to discard the first candidate and appoint another person in his stead. This move strengthened British dominion over Egypt.
[126] The Triple Alliance—a military and political bloc of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy against France and Russia. This alliance took its final shape in 1882 after Italy had acceded to the Austro-German military alliance concluded in 1879. The Triple Alliance Treaty was signed for a term of five years; it was prolonged in 1887 and 1891 and then automatically extended (in 1902 and in 1912). The Triple Alliance set the stage for division of Europe into two major groups of states hostile to one another and ultimately led to the World War of 1914-18.
[127] Engels refers to the outcome of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 sealed by the decisions of the Berlin International Congress (13 June - 13 July 1878) which involved representatives of Russia, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Germany as well as France and Italy. The Congress made significant changes in the terms of the preliminary San Stefano Peace Treaty (of 3 March 1878) between Russia and Turkey which fortified Russia’s positions in the Balkans.
[128] Engels means the speech of Franz Tutzauer, a Social-Democrat, in the Reichstag on 21 January 1893 during the first reading of the draft law on enterprises selling their merchan-dise on an instalment plan (the text of the speech was published by the newspaper Vorwärts on 22 January 1893). The speaker, who owned a small furniture-dealing shop, defended the rights of shop owners; in particular, their right to recover debts from defaulters, the working people as a rule.
[129] Die Jungen (The Young Ones)—a semi-anarchist opposition group in German Social-Democracy formed in the spring and summer of 1890. It was led by former university students: young literati and editors of party newspapers (hence the name), as well as trade-union and party leaders from local organisations. The opposition drew support from Social-Democratic Party members among industrial workers and craftsmen. The leaders of the Young Ones were Paul Ernst, Paul Kampffmeyer, Hans Müller, Bruno Wille, Wilhelm Werner, Carl Wildberger and others. Ignoring the new realities obtained for the Party’s activity with the abrogation of the Anti-Socialist Law (see Note 15), the Young Ones opposed the Party’s parliamentary activities as not radical enough and were making demagogic attacks on the Party and its Executive Board {der Vorstand); thus, they accused it of political corruption, opportunism and violation of the Party democracy. In October 1891 the leaders of the Young Ones were expelled from the Party.
[130] In his letter to Engels on 5 January 1893 K. Kautsky said he was going to write a detailed biography of Karl Marx for the forthcoming tenth anniversary of Marx’s death. He was to proceed from the materials at his disposal — the article of Engels ‘Karl Marx’ (see present edition, Vol. 24, pp. 183-95; pp. 463-81), W Liebknechts article about Karl Marx and G. Gross’ book Karl Marx (Liepzig, 1885); Kautsky asked Engels for advice about additonal materials for the biography. Evidently Kautsky was unable to carry out the work.
[131] In this letter, dated 5 January 1893, Kautsky approached Eleanor Marx-Aveling through Engels with a request to write reminiscences about Marx for the journal Die Neue Zeit. This request was apparently not granted.
[132] In his letter to Engels on 5 January 1893 K. Kautsky enclosed a Rio de Janeiro-published newspaper with an article on the Brazilian Workers’ Party and its programme; the name of this newspaper has not been determined.
[133] The whereabouts of the cable is unkown.
[6] Boulangism—a movement that emerged in France in the mid-1880s; named so after its leader, General Georges Boulanger, the War Minister in 1886-87. This movement expressed the views of reactionary chauvinism. Appealing to the injured national pride of the French in connection with the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the Boulangists succeeded for some time in enlisting significant popular support in their cause and in influencing the army rank and file. Capitalising on popular discontent with the domestic policies of the bourgeois Republicans, the Boulangists were preparing a coup d’etat to restore the monarchy in France. Yet the Boulangist movement suffered a fiasco due to steps taken by the Republican government with the backing of progressive forces, and its leaders fled from France.
[134] Applying the German word ‘Gründungen to Menotti Garibaldi, Engels hints at his entre-preneurial activities in the early 1870s. Grundertum, a period of ‘prosperity’ in Germany in 1871-73. It was made possible to a large extent by the war reparations of five thousand million francs and the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine under the terms of the Frankfurt Peace Treaty (1871) which concluded the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
[136] Engels means The Socialist League’s programme document—The Manifesto of the Socialist League (see The Commonweal No. 1, February 1885). This organisation was founded in Britain in December 1885 by a group of Socialists who had left the Social Democratic Federation (see Note 44). The Manifesto proclaimed in part that its members ‘... seek a change in the basis of Society... which would destroy the distinction of classes and nationalities’. The Socialist League pursued the following objectives: setting up a national and international socialist party; gaining political power by electing Socialists to local government bodies; assisting the trade-union and cooperative movements. In the inital years of its existence the League was actively involved in the working-class movement, However, after 1887 its leadership split into several factions, and there surfaced strong sectarian tendencies, with many members leaving the ranks. In 1895 the Socialist League actually ceased to exist.
[137] The Gazeta Robotnicza, which Maria Mendelson sent to Engels, carried a statement of Polish Social-Democrats about Marcin Kasprzak’s expulsion from the Party for the embez-zlement of Party funds, abuse of trust and suspicious links with the police. Besides, the newspaper published a statement of Berlin Socialists who urged breaking off ties with Kasprzak. Subsequently Marcin Kasprzak proved the slanderous nature of such accusations and took an active part in the revolutionary movement. In 1905 the Central Committee of the Polish Social-Democratic Party adopted an official decision clearing him from imputation.
[138] In her letter to Engels on 5 February 1893 Maria Mendelson spoke about the anti-Semitic and anti-Polish sentiments among Russian university students and army officers in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
[140] Vladimir Shmuilov, a Russian émigré and Socialist, told Engels in his letter of 4 February 1893 that acting on the request of Pavlenkov, the St. Petersburg publisher of the series Biographies of Illustrious Men, he intended to write a detailed biography of K. Marx, from 6 to 8 signatures large. Shmuilov asked Engels for assitance in collecting materials on three subjects: 1) biography proper, 2) the practical activities of Marx, specifically, in 1847-49 and in the period of the First International, and 3) the genesis of Marxism. Shmuilov asked Engels to send him a copy of The Holy Family, written jointly by Marx and Engels, or reca-pitulate its substance and send excerpts from its most essential parts. Shmuilov said that if he did not succeed in having this book published in Russia, he would have it printed abroad. However, Shmuilov apparently did not succeed in his undertaking.
[141] Beginning with 1845 Marx and Engels propagated their views among German workmen resident in Brussels. For this purpose they set up a German Workers’ Society in August 1847, where Marx read his lecture on political economy (Wage Labour and Capital, see present edition, Vol. 9, pp. 197-228). The Society remained active until the Revolution of 1848. The Communist League—the first German and international communist organisation of the proletariat formed under the leadership of Marx and Engels in London early in June 1847. Concerning the history of this organisation, see Engels’ article ‘On the History of the Communist League’ (present edition, Vol. 26, pp. 312-330).
[142] Marx undertook his first systematic study into the surplus value problem in his MS of 1857-58: Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (Rohentwurf) which consituted the basis of the 1859-published A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (first instalment). His further studies in this field are contained in the 1861-63 MS conceived as a second instalment of the Outlines (see present edition, vols. 28-29 and 30-34).
[144] Speaking in the Reichstag on 4 February 1893, with a critique of the Centrist Catholic Party, K. Frohme, a Social-Democratic deputy, cited the medieval scholastic philosopher Thomas Aquinas so as to prove that the Church had always encouraged serfdom. In his reply speech F. Hitze, a deputy representing the Centre Party, said the quoted passage did not belong to Thomas Aquinas but was taken from Aristotle’s treatise Politics to which Thomas Aquinas had written a commentary.
[145] The personages from the pamphlet of E. Richter, the leader of the German Party of’Free-Thinkers’: Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilder. Frei nach Bebel, Berlin 1891. This lampoon was directed against German Social-Democracy.
[146] Writing to Engels on 31 January 1893, A. Bebel suggested that tsarist Russia, by entering into an alliance with France, pursued the aim of a joint war against Germany without, however, involving other European states and Turkey into it. In the case of Germany’s defeat, he said, France would obtain the left bank of the Rhine, while Russia would be able to consolidate its influence in the Balkans.
[147] The reference is to the annexation by Prussia after its victory in the war against Austria (1866), of the Hesse-Cassel (Kurhesse) Kurfürstentum which had sided with Austria. In that war, Prussia annexed other lands as well.
[148] In the Battle of Spichern (Lorraine), one of the first major engagements in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, Prussian troops defeated French forces. This battle was fought on 6 August 1870.
[150] Below Engels cites the (German) translation of the article ‘Lomza janvier 1893’ (from the French) which appeared in the February issue of the newspaper Przedswit of the Polish Socialist Party, in its feature Z Kraju i o Kraju; the original heading of the article was ‘Z Lomzynskiego w Styczniu 1893, Russo-Boruska przujazn’.
[151] The amendment that censured the government for taking no steps to alleviate the plight of the jobless was rejected by 276 votes against 109. A detailed analysis of the programme of the Gladstone cabinet in the context of this amendment was published by Eduard Bernstein in the newspaper Vorwärts, No. 35, on 10 February 1893.
[152] In a reference to Liberal Radicals, Engels meant the Radicals within the Left Wing of the Liberal Party who represented broad strata of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, bourgeois intellectuals and the trades-union leadership. In Britain the Radicals did not make up an organisation in its own right.
[153] The constituent conference of the Independent Labour Party held in Bradford on 13-14 January 1893. Keir Hardie, who chaired at this conference, played the chief role in founding the Party and in its leadership (see note 114).
[154] About the origin of the sobriquet Panamites, see Note 60.
[155] Engels intimates that since the beginning of the debates in the French Chamber of Deputies on the Panama scandal (see Note 60) the Socialists have not spoken on the issue.
[157] On 11 February 1893 the British newspaper The Daily News published the article of its Paris correspondent Emily Crawford: ‘The Sentence on the Panama Directors. Sympathy for Mr. de Lesseps’. The French government had to bring to trial some of the men implicated in the Panama scandal (see Note 60). On 9 February 1893, the court found Ferdinand-Marie Lesseps, the 88-year-old head of the company, guilty, and his son Charles Lesseps, together with the other defendants, Fontacem Cottu and Fiffel. F. Lesseps and Ch. Lesseps were sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of 3,000 francs each, while the other defendants received 2 years in jail and fines. However, on 15 June 1893 the Court of Cassation reversed the sentence and acquitted the defendants of all the charges. Yet Ch. Lesseps had to remain in custody pending the payment of the fine imposed on him.
[159] A reference to deliberations in the German Reichstag in mid-January 1893 in connection with inquiry of the Social-Democratic parliamentary group on 31 December 1892 concerning the dire economic situation in the country, a sequel to the world economic crisis of the early 1890s. This crisis caused a fresh upsurge in strike action in 1892 and 1893.
[160] The work Can Europe Disarm? was inspired by A. Bebel’s letter to Engels of 11 February 1893 with a request to air his views as to what stand the Social-Democratic group in the Reichstag was to take on the draft military law tabled by the government (see Note 76). Having done so, Engels sent the MS to Berlin on 23 February 1893; in keeping with his wishes, the work was published in the newspaper Vorwärts in eight instalments (on 1-5, 7,9 and 10 March 1893). Late in March 1893 it came out in a separate edition to which Engels wrote a preface.
[161] On 18 February 1893 the newspaper Workman’s Times (No. 144), in its section International Working-Class Movement, published a review of the debates in the German Reichstag on a state of the future (see this volume, pp. 99-100).
[163] The Parish Councils Bill was tabled in Parliament by the Gladstone cabinet in 1893 and approved on 1 March 1894. The entire system of local self-government was reorganised with this Bill. The Parish councils, which had been performing the functions of church and secular government in rural districts, now retained their prerogatives only in ecclesiastical affairs, while secular government was turned over to Parish Assemblies elected by local tax-payers. In larger rural communities such assemblies elected Parish Councils from their midst.
[165] See the letters which Engels wrote to Danielson on 29-31 October 1891, and on 15 March, 18 June and 22 September 1892 (present edition, Vol. 49, pp. 278, 382, 440, 535).
[166] Engels alludes to Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War of 1853-56.
[167] Engels alludes to a pseudonym used during his correspondence with N. Danielson in the 1880s and in 1891-92; Engels used the surname of the husband of his wife’s niece — Percy White Rocher.
[168] On 16 February 1893, in the Panama case debates (see Note 60), P. Lafargue spoke in the Chamber of Deputies; his speech was published by the newspaper Le Socialiste (No. 126) on 19 February 1893. In his letter to Engels on 23 February, Lafargue said that all the bourgeois newspapers had ignored that speech.
[170] At the municipal elections of 1 and 8 May 1892 the French Workers’ Party polled over 100,000 votes, with 635 Socialists being elected to municipal bodies. They gained a majority in the local councils of 26 cities.
[171] Home Rule—the demand for Irish self-government within the British Empire, as put forward by the Irish liberal bourgeoisie in the 1870s. Home Rule provided for an independent Irish parliament and national bodies of government. However, the British government was to retain the key positions in Ireland.
[178] On 7 March 1893 F. Turati sent the proofs of the Italian translation of The Manifesto of the Communist Party (see Note 108) and asked Engels to return them as soon as possible, for it was to be published the following week. Turati did not succeed in his plans to include the programme documents of the International in the supplement, as had been done in the 1882 Russian edition of the Manifesto. Of the two brochures mentioned in the text, the name of only one has been determined: Pasquale di Fratta, La socializzazione della terra, Milano, 1893.
[180] The rough notes of this letter jotted down by Engels are extant, together with the copy he made for F. Sorge; Engels sent it to Sorge with his letter of 18 March 1893 (see this volume, pp. 124-126). The different reading of the copy compared with the original is marked in the footnotes. As is clear from these three documents, the letter is indicated to have been written in London, though at that time Engels was recuperating in Eastbourne (see Note 175). Engels wrote the following address on the envelope: Mr. F. Wiesen, Baird, Texas, U.S. America.
[181] The Bloomsbury Socialist Society, which sprung from the Bloomsbury Branch of the Socialist League (see Notes 44, 136), became an independent organisation in August 1888, soon after the Bloomsbury branch had left the League. In its activities the Society was guided by E. Marx-Aveling, E. Aveling, John L. Mahon, James Macdonald, among others.Taking an active part in its work were such veterans of the working-class movement as F. Lessner and A. Weiler. The Society received significant support from F. Engels. The Bloomsbury Socialist society proclaimed as its aim the propaganda of socialist ideas amongst the working class and the struggle for a worker political organisation. In subsequent years it often organised meetings to commemorate the epic days of the Paris Commune of 1871; it also arranged lectures on various topics related to acute social and political issues. Its members were doing active propaganda work in other Socialist and Radical clubs and societies, as well as in ‘new trades unions’.
[182] The International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress, in session in Brussels in August 1891 (see Note 228), entrusted the convocation of the next congress to Swiss Social-Democrats who set up an Organising Committee in Zurich (see Note 27), with Robert Seidel as secretary.
[185] In his letters to Engels on 3 February and 9 March 1893 H.D. Lloyd, an American journalist and the author of books on social issues, asked him to take part in worker congresses scheduled for late August-early September 1893 in Chicago during an international exhibition that was to be held to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of America’s discovery. Lloyd requested that Engels read lectures on the following two subjects: ‘The Working-Class Movement in Britain from a Socialist Standpoint’ and ‘International Labour Congresses’, and also speak on other related topics at his discretion.
[102] Engels refers to The Theories of Surplus Value which were a component part of the 1861-63 manuscript of the second preliminary variant of Das Kapital (see present edition, Vols. 30-34). In 1889-90 Engels gave a part of The Theories of Surplus Value to Kautsky for deci-phering. He thus hoped to get assistance in preparing the MS for the press and in coaching expert editors and publishers of the Marxian manuscripts. Engels did not live to see the publication of The Theories of Surplus Value as Volume IV of Das Kapital. It was K. Kautsky who published them in 1905-10. The Theories of Surplus Value were also published in The Complete Works of Marx and Engels in the languages of the original (MEGA, Abteilung II , Bd. 3, Teile 2-4, Berlin).
[188] In a letter sent to Engels on 18 March 1893 August Radimsky said that the editor of the Delnické Listy, the organ of the Czech Workers’ Party, which appeared in Austria, intended to publish The Manifesto of the Communist Party, translated into Czech, in a separate edition. Yet fearing a possible confiscation of the booklet by the authorities, the editor published the Manifesto (in instalments), as a series of articles in the above newspaper. Radimsky had sent the initial numbers of the newspaper and asked if Engels wanted the rest.
[190] Bank holiday—in Great Britain, any of six legal holidays on which banks are closed. Introduced in 1871, bank holiday is celebrated on Monday as a rule: after Easter Sunday, after Whitsunday, and on the first Monday in August; also all banks are closed on 26 December.
[194] This part of Engels’ letter of 28 September 1892 to Franz Mehring (see present edition, Vol. 49) was published in Mehring’s article ‘II ber den historischen Materialismus’ appended to the first separate edition of his work: Die Lessing-Legende. Eine Rettung von Franz Mehring, Stuttgart, 1893. Engels also mentions the book by Lavergne-Peguilhen: Grundzüge der Gesellschaftswissenschaft. Erster Theil. Die Bewegungs-und Productionsgesetze, First Part. Königsberg, 1838.
[196] On 30 April 1892, L’Illustration published two pages of the portraits of personalities prominent in the international socialist movement.
[198] The Hull dockers went on strike on 8 April 1893. This strike, which continued until 19 May, was caused by the decision of the Shipowners’ Federation to give employment preferences to non-unionised job-seekers. Thousands of strikebreakers were brought to Hull under armed force protection. Two gunboats entered the port. Hull became an arena of fierce confrontation and looked like a military camp all through the strike action. Even though the strike drew support from miners, railwaymen and other trades-unions, the dockers did not succeed in winning a victory. The conflict ended in an agreement which both sides reached in keeping with the reciprocal freedom principle.
[200] Adolf Spiegel, manager of a paraffin-making factory, wrote a brief biography of Carl Schorlemmer and had it published in the journal Berichten der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, Jg. 25, Bd. II I, 1892.
[201] In his letter of 28 April 1893 E Sorge asked Engels if Abraham Lincoln had replied to a message of greetings sent to him in 1864 by the General Council of the International Working-Men’s Association on the occasion of his election for a second term as President of the United States (see present edition, Vol. 20, pp. 19-21). This message, which Marx had written late in November 1864, was sent to Lincoln through the American Ambassador in London, Charles Francis Adams. On 28 January 1865 the General Council received a reply sent on Lincoln’s behalf which was read out at the Council’s meeting of January 31 and then published by The Times (No. 25101) on 6 February 1865, under the heading: ‘Mr. Lincoln and the International Working-Men’s Association’.
[205] During the May Day demonstration held in London’s Hyde Park on 7 May 1893, the Legal Eight Hours and International Labour League (see Note 197) organised an international rostrum from which socialists of many countries spoke, among them, Alfred Delcluze, Louise Kautsky, Friedrich Lessner, Eleanor Marx-Aveling, S.M. Kravchinsky (Stepniak).
[206] Liberal Unionists—a group led by Joseph Chamberlain which, in 1886, broke away from the Liberal Party because of the differences over Home Rule for Ireland (see Note 171). The Liberal Unionists were advocating continued Union with Ireland (1801). They leagued themselves with the Conservative Party and, a few years later, joined its ranks.
[207] Hastings — a resort on the English Channel.
[209] Hermann Lopatin was imprisoned in the Schlüsselburg fortress at the time.
[97] In his letter of 12 December 1892 P. Lavrov asked for permission to publish H. Lopatin’s letter of 20 September 1883 to M. Oshanina, member of the Executive of the illegal Russian Revolutionary organisation (‘People’s Freedom’). In it Lopatin gave the gist of his talk with Engels in London on 19 September 1883 concerning the prospects of a revolution in Russia. An excerpt from this letter was published in Geneva in March 1893 in the book Foundations of Theoretical Socialism as Applied to Russia; see also present edition, Vol. 26, pp. 591-93.
[210] Together with this book Isaak Hourwich had sent a number of articles on the revolutionary movement in Russia and asked Engels what he thought of them. Hourwich intended to have these articles published in The Progress along with Engels’ commentary.
[211] The second edition of Henry Lloyd’s book A Strike of Millionaires against Miners saw print in Chicago in 1891 (the first edition being published there in 1890). This book looks into the history of a major lockout staged by the owners of Illinois coal mines. At the end of 1888 and in early 1889 the company fired a third of its coal miners and declared a general lockout; it closed stores selling foodstuffs on credit. For nearly six months about five thousand miners were involved in a struggle to defend their rights. Yet this standoff ended in a victory of the entrepreneurs who succeeded in imposing the lowest pay rates for miners in the United States by slashing the old ones 1/3. The author had twice visited the scene and published a number of articles in the press, urging assistance to the jobless coal miners and their families. H. Lloyd’s book became very popular in the United States.
[212] K. Kautsky wrote to Engels in his letter of 19 May 1893 that the journal Die Zeitschrift fur Social- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Bd.L, Ausgabe I, Freiburg in Breisgau Leipzig, 1893) had published the article by Lujo Brentano, a Katheder Socialist: ‘Die Volksvirtschaft und ihre konkreten Grundbedingungen’ which permitted attacks on Engels’ work The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (see present edition, Vol. 26).
[213] By the old Concordia business Engels means L. Brentanos articles published anonymously by the journal Concordia in 1872 in which he attempted to discredit Marx as a scientist. Thus, Brentano accused Marx of incompetence and falsifications; Marx responded by two articles in the newspaper Volksstaat. ‘A Reply to the Brentano Article’ and A Reply to the Second Brentano Article’ (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 164-67, 190-97). In 1890, continuing his campaign of slander against Marx, L. Brentano published the pamphlet Meine Polemik mit Karl Marx which elicited a response from Engels, the pamphlet Marx contra Brentano (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 97-154). Engels criticised the views of A. Mülberger, a German Proudhonist, in his work The Housing Question which he wrote in 1872-73, in Parts I and II I (see present edition, Vol. 23, p. 317-391).
[214] Engels hints at the thesis of ‘one reactionary mass’ which entered into the Programme of the German Social-Democratic Party adopted at its Gotha Congress in 1875. Thus, the Programme said this in part: ‘Emancipation of labour ought to be the cause of the working class in relation to which all the other classes consititute but one reactionary mass’. Marx censured this tenet in his Critique of the Gotha Programme (see present edition, Vol. 24, pp.75-99).
[215] An allusion to E.B. Bax’s articles ‘Der Fluch der Zivilisation’ and ‘Menschenthum und Klasseninstinkt’ published by the journal Die Neue Zeit, 11 Jg. 1892/93, Bd. 2, Nos. 45 & 47; this worked was translated from English by V Adler.
[216] In his letter of 31 May 1899 Hermann Bahr, an Austrian journalist, asked Engels to explain his stand on anti-Semitism and the Jewish problem; he intended to have this material, along with the pronouncements of other persons on this subject, published in the Vienna newspaper Die Deutsche Zeitung.
[220] As F. Turati wrote to Engels, the Italian Socialist E. Guindani was undertaking the Italian edition of G. Déville’s book Le Capital de Karl Marx. Résumé et accompagné d’un aperçu sur le socialisme scientifique. The book was published in Cremona in 1893. Engels commented on G. Déville’s work in his letters to K. Kautsky of 9 January and to P. Lavrov of 5 February 1884 (see present edition, Vol. 47).
[222] Engels made a mistake by identifying two different towns. Philippopolis was the Greek name of the present Bulgarian city Plovdiv.
[224] In his Interview]. Guesde elucidated the principle of internationalism in the working-class and socialist movement. It was published by the newspaper Le Figaro on 17 June 1893 under the heading ‘Les Socialistes et la Patrie’, and also by Le Socialiste (No. 144) on 17 June 1894.
[225] The reactionary French politicians P. Déroulède and L. Millevoye mounted a campaign against G. Clemenceau, the leader of the Radical Party (see Note 86) in June 1893; they accused him of links with one of those implicated in the Panama affair (see Note 60) and of his being in the pay of the British government. The monarchist press started printing documents stolen from the British embassy which indicated breach of allegiance on Clemenceau’s part. Yet these documents proved false upon their promulgation in the Chamber of Deputies.
[226] In the spring of 1893 the monarchist quarters of France, backed by the anarchists, launched a slanderous campaign against the Socialists; they branded as anti-patriotic the Socialist principle of internationalism. In this connection J. Geusde and P. Lafargue organised meetings in towns of northern France on June 17 and 18 at which they read out an appeal to the working people of France (‘Le Conseil national du Parti ouvrier aux travailleurs de France’). The appeal was published inthe newspaper Le Socialiste (No. 144) on 17 June 1893 on behalf of the National Council of the French Workers’ Party. Its full text reads as follows: TO THE WORKING PEOPLE OF FRANCE Comrades! In their impotent fury over the onward march of the Workers’ Party our class enemies have resorted to the only weapon left in their arsenal, slander. They are distorting our internationalism the way they have tried to distort our socialism. And albeit those who seek to present us as having no Motherland are the selfsame people who, all through this century, have been but abetting incursions into Motherland’s territory and dismemberment, a Motherland whom their class gave up to sack and plunder by the banditry of cosmopolitan financiers and whom it had been exploiting without stopping at bloodshed at Ricamari and Fourmi, we, far from permitting them to confuse a collectivist solution to the question with anarchy, this mockery of bourgeois individualism, shall never allow them to translate our glorious motto ‘Long Live the International!’ as the preposterous ventriloquy ‘Down with France!’ No, internationalism means no humiliation of our Motherland, nor does it mean its immolation. When patries came into being, they were the first and essential stage toward the unity of humankind, a goal that we are pursuing; and internationalism, begotten by the entire course of the new civilisation, is likewise an essential stage along this path. Just as the French Patrie was taking form not in opposition to various provinces which she wrested from the state of defunct antagonism with the aim of bringing them together, but in the interests of their freedom and prosperity, so the Patrie of humankind — which requires social organisation of production, exchanges and science — is not and cannot be formed to the detriment of the now extant nations, it is formed for their good and consummate progress. He who embarks upon the path of internationalism leading to an absolute flourishing of humanity does not cease to be a patriot just as we, becoming French at the end of the last century, continued to remain Provençals, Flemish or Bretons. Contrariwise, internationalists may well call themselves the only patriots because they are only ones to be aware to what extent conditions must improve under which the future and the grandeur of their Patrie can and should be secure — in fact, of all the patries who will have turned from antagonistic to solid ones. By proclaiming ‘Long Live the International!’ they proclaim: ‘Long live the France of labour! Long live the historic mission of the French proletariat that will be able to liberate itself only by assisting in the liberation of the proletariat of all countries!’ French Socialists are patriots also from another standpoint and from other considerations: because France was in the past, and she is destined already now to evolve into one of the most significant factors of social advancement, as we understand it. So, we want — and we cannot but want — to have a great and strong France capable of defending the republic against united monarchies, and also of protecting her new year of 1789 which is to come against the coalition, at least against a possible coalition, of the capitalist states of Europe. It is France who by the works of Babeuf, Fourier and Saint-Simon has made a beginning in the development of the socialist ideas to which Marx and Engels have imparted scientific consummation. It is France, the country of the first bourgeois revolution, which is the inevitable precursor of a proletarian revolution, who became an epic battlefield of the classes and who sacrificed to the cause of emancipated labour a countless number of her heroic rebels in Lyon in 1832 and Paris in 1848 and 1871. It is France who, in spite of her sons having been butchered in the Versailles massacre, raised in 1889, at her immortal Congress in Paris, the banner of the International — a banner crimson with her own blood — and made a beginning in the celebration of May Day; she is the first to have hoisted the red banner of the proletariat, marching on toward winning political power, on the town halls seized by means of ballots. And since her revolutionary past is the earnest of her socialist future, 23 years ago, as she faced danger, the internationalists of Italy, Spain and other countries rushed under the tricolor to her rescue, while the nascent German Social-Democracy, risking its freedom, did everything to prevent her dismemberment, just as absurd as criminal. But this is why we, patriots, do not want a war which, be it victorious or not, would equally result in unspeakable calamities, leaving in the battlefield millions of people and the engines of death they will have been armed with. We do not want a war which, whatever its outcome, would be but a game of Asiatic cruelty in the person of the Russian czar for the exhausted West. We want peace, a lasting peace, because it is to our benefit but, is against the domination of the capitalists and governments, a domination we are out to destroy — for they can prolong their despicable and pernicious existence only by dividing and exterminating the nations. We want peace because the bourgeois order is foredoomed. And now that we know that patriotism and internationalism, far from excluding one another, are the two mutually complimentary forms of human amity, we repeat it loud and clear to the face of our calumniators: Yes, the French Workers’ Party constitutes one whole with the German Social-Democracy against the German Empire. Yes, the French Workers’ Party constitutes one whole with the Belgian Workers’ Party against the bourgeois Koburg monarchy. Yes, the French Workers’ Party constitutes one whole with the toilers and Socialists of Italy against the Savoy monarchy. Yes, the French Workers’ Party constitutes one whole with the young but already so strong Labour Party on the other side of the Channel against the oligarchic and capitalist constitutionalism of Britain. Yes, we do and shall constitute one whole with the proletariat of both hemispheres against the ruling and propertied classes everywhere. And we hope that our French comrades, the people of the workshops and fields, will join their voices to the Party National Council in a double call which, in substance, constitutes but one whole: Long Live the International! Long Live France! National Council: Joseph Crepin, Simon Dereure, Ferroul, deputy; Jules Geusde, Paul Lafargue, deputy; Prévost, Kennel.
[228] The International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress in Brussels was held on 16-22 August 1891. It was attended by 370 delegates from 16 European countries and the United States who represented, by and large, the Marxist trend in the working-class movement. Most of the delegates voted against anarchists participating in the Congress (who had sent their delegates). Attending the Congress were also representatives of the British trades unions, a rather positive factor according to Engels. Such issues were on its agenda as the labour code, work stoppage and boycott, and militarism. In its resolution on labour legislation the Congress called on workers of the world to join forces in the struggle against the capitalist rule; it urged workers, wherever they had political rights, to use these rights for their emancipation from wage servitude. The resolution on work stoppage and boycott recommended that workmen use both forms of the struggle. It emphasised the absolute need of trade unions for the workers. The attitude of the working class to militarism was the central issue on the agenda. The reports delivered by W. Liebknecht and E. Vaillant, as well as the resolution proposed by Liebknecht characterized militarism as an inevitable follow-up of the capitalist system; they stressed that a socialist system alone would be able to put an end to militarism and establish peace among the nations; that Socialists were a genuine party of peace. Yet these documents did not define specific tasks and ways of the struggle against the war threat. The resolution proposed by Liebknecht was attacked by the leader of the Dutch Socialists D. Nieuwenhuis, a man of anarchist leanings. He tabled a resolution urging the Socialists of all countries to appeal in the event of a war to their peoples to stage a general strike, but it failed to win support among the delegates. The overwhelming majority of votes was cast for the W. Liebknecht resolution (see also F. Engels ‘The Brussels Congress. The Situation in Europe’; present edition, vol. 27).
[231] Charles Verecque, a French Socialist, was sentenced to a term in prison and public penance according to Article 226 of the French Criminal Code which had been in abeyance for about 100 years. With the consent of a group of Socialists of the town of Amiens, Verecque (accused of saying to the prosecuting attorney, ‘One ought to stick Mr. Viviani s plea onto the prosecutor’s back’) wrote a letter to the prosecuting attorney which concluded by saying: ‘I plead guilty and declare it in a written deposition, as it ensues from Article 226, that I am guilty of momentarily mistaking the back of a magistrate for one of the machines on which, in a few weeks’ time, we shall have the honour of sticking the programme — a victorious programme — of Socialism’; Verecque’s statement contained a pun: magistrate (‘magistrat’) as a justice and as a municipal officer.
[27] In keeping with the decision of the Second International Socialist Working Men’s Congress held in Brussels on 16-22 August 1891 (see Note 228), the worker and socialist organisations of Switzerland, beginning January 1892, launched preparations for the next congress due in Zurich in the summer of 1893. They set up an Organising Committee which included representatives of the Social-Democratic Party, of the Grütli Union (founded in 1838 as an enlightenment alliance of artisans and workmen, it adhered to reformist positions) and of the trade-union amalgamation. In February 1892, the Organising Committee issued an appeal to the working men of all lands saying that it began its activities and urging them to send in suggestions concerning the congress agenda.
[233] Engels visited Como during his tour of Germany, Switzerland and Italy in August-September 1865.
[235] Engels never realised this intention. For the available fragments and outlines, see present edition, Vol. 26, pp. 554-56.
[236] The Duchy of Burgundy, formed in eastern France in the 9th century, became an independent feudal state in the 14th and 15th centuries; it attained maximum might under Duke Charles the Bold in the latter half of the 15th century. In a bid to expand its dominions the Duchy of Burgundy worked against the centralist policy of the French King Louis XI and waged a war of conquest against the Swiss and Lorraine. Finally Louis XI succeeded in having the Swiss and Lorrainians form a coalition against Burgundy. In a war against this coalition (1474-77) the troops of Charles the Bold were defeated, and the Duke was killed in the Battle of Nancy (1477). His dominion was divided between Louis XI and Maximilian Habsburg, the German Emperor’s son.
[139] An abridged version of this letter was first published in English in the book: Marx, K., Engels, F., Letters on ‘Capital’. London: New Park Publications, 1983.
[238] In his letter of F. Engels of 22 June 1893 R. Meyer recapitulated a conversation he had with a lawyer who, in his political views, was close to the Conservatives (see Note 202). The lawyer had told Meyer about the opinion current among the Conservatives to the effect that Reichskanzler Caprivi ‘would use all his powers as Chancellor for suppressing Social-Democracy which had won “too great a victory” in the last election’.
[239] The reference is to Engels’ interview to a correspondent of the British newspaper Daily Chronicle, published on 1 July 1893. The interview was granted on the occasion of the June-held elections to the German Reichstag and the good returns for German Social-Democrats (see Note 204). The text of this interview was carried in an abridged form by Le Socialiste (No. 148), 15 July 1893, in P. Lafargue’s translation and under the heading ‘F. Engels et las élections allemandes’ (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 549-53).
[240] The first issue of L’Ere nouvelle on 1 July 1893 carried the final chapter of Engels’ book The Origin of Family, Private Property and the State. In light of the Researches by Lewis H. Morgan (see present edition, Vol. 26), ‘Barbarism and Civilisation’. The second issue of the journal, which came out on 2 August, had chapter V of the above work—’The Emergence of the Athenian State’.
[241] In 1882-83 France, pushing ahead with the colonialist thrust in Southeast Asia, ran into stiff resistance in the Kingdom of Siam. Several military clashes occurred as a result. In July 1883 French naval ships invested Siam’s capital city, Bangkok. The Siamese government had to yield and it signed a treaty with France, ceding the vassal Siamese territories on the left bank of the Mekong to France. In 1882 the French government began a colonial war in North Vietnam (Tongking) which developed into a war with China. Although France established its protectorate over Vietnam, the hostilities continued with French troops suffering setbacks in 1885; this caused the fall of the Ferry government.
[243] The Printing-and-Publishing Union (la Unione tipografica-editrice) of Turin filed a declaration of protest against the intention of E. Guindani, an Italian Socialist from Cremona, to publish the Italian edition of G. DéVille’s work Le Capital de Karl Marx, Résumé et accom-pagné d’un aperçu sur le socialisme scientifique (see note 220); the Union claimed it allegedly purchased the copyright on all the works of Marx from his heirs.
[244] On 24 July 1893 Natalie Liebknecht sent Engels a photograph of the house where he was born, in Bruch, a suburb of Barmen. The photograph had been ordered by W. Liebknecht during one of his propaganda tours of Germany.
[245] On 21-28 July 1893 Engels was on holiday in Eastbourne.
[246] In her letter of 24 July 1893 Natalie Liebknecht told Engels that her son Karl had not been accepted into military service in Berlin because of his being a Saxon subject.
[11] Marseille was the venue of the 10th Congress of the French Workers’ Party which contin ued in session from 24 to 28 September 1892. The Congress considered the party’s situa tion and its activities, its work in country districts, the celebration of May Day, its partici pation in the International Socialist Congress of 1893 at Zurich, its participation in the forthcoming parliamentary election, among other issues. The Congress worked out an agrarian programme — its critical analysis is contained in Engels’ work The Peasant Question in France and Germany (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 481-502). The Congress also passed a decision not to participate in the International Congress on an Eight-Hour Working Day convened by the British Trades-Unions but to invite their representatives to the International Socialist Working Men’s Congress at Zurich. The French Workers’ Party {Le Parti ouvrier français) was set up by Marx’s followers— Jules Guesde and his supporters — by the decision of the Workers’ Congress held in Marseille in 1879; this Congress endorsed the Party Rules. In 1880 Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue drew up the Workers’ Party Programme, with Karl Marx taking part in framing its theoretical chapter. In November 1880 a Workers’ Congress in Le Havre adopted the Party Programme by a majority vote whereby the French Workers’ Party took shape.
[247] A reference to the annexation of the larger part of Alsace and East Lorraine by Germany in 1871 as a result of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. France regained this territory in 1919.
[248] Engels means the rule of the French Emperor Napoleon II I (2 December 1852— 4 September 1870). The Second Empire collapsed in the wake of the September Revolution of 1870.
[249] In the first round J. Guesde won a victory by polling 6,887 votes: Deschamps, a moderate Republican, got 2,138 votes and Vienne, a Roman Catholic Worker — 4,403. Paul Lafargue, who had been running in Lisle’s second electoral district, polled 4,745 votes.
[256] Die Freie Volksbühne (‘Free Popular Stage’)—a theatrical society founded in Berlin in 1890. It staged theater shows for the populace and championed classical authors like Goethe, Schiller, Hauptmann, Ibsen as well as Gogol and Tolstoy. It was not a commercial enterprise; it put on performances in circumvention of official censorship.
[259] P. Lafargue’s article ‘Die politischen Parteien in Frankreich und die letzten Wahlen’ published by Die Neue Zeit (12. Jg., 1893/1894, Nos. 3, 4 and 5), and also his letter to Engels on 5 September 1893 about the results of the election to the French Chamber of Deputies. V Adler’s article ‘Die Wahlen in Frankreich’, published in Die Arbeiter-Zeitung (No. 37) on 15 September 1893, was based on this information.
[2] In his letter of 28 September 1892 Ludwig Kugelmann informed Engels he had three copies of Herr Vogt which had been sent to him for custody on a commission from Karl Marx. Kugelmann expressed the desire to have them sent to Engels so that the latter could dispose of them at his discretion.
[261] A reference to the royalties paid by the publishers of Das Kapital to Marx’s heirs.
[263] Norici—a group of Illyrian-Celtic tribes that used to live in the ancient Roman Province of Noricum situated south of the Danube in what is now Austria.
[264] The whereabouts of this postcard is unknown.
[68] Ultramontanes—the Italian party of the Roman Catholic Church favouring the doctrine of papal supremacy and the Pope’s right to interfere in the secular affairs of any state.
[266] Hermann Blocher, a Swiss Social-Democrat, approached Engels with a request to help him in selecting the literature in connection with a work on Bruno Bauer he was going to write.
[267] An allusion to the warm reception given to Engels at the concluding session of the International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress in Zurich (see Note 229).
[268] The French Chamber of Deputies, elected in August-September 1893 (see Note 208) was to open its sessions in November 1893.
[269] Victor Adler made his speech at a rally in one of Vienna’s largest halls, the Schwender Colisuem, on 2 October 1893; more than 4,000 were in attendance. He spoke against the state of emergency declared in the Prague district on 12 September (see Note 258). Adler’s speech was published by Die Arbeiter-Zeitung (No. 40) on 6 October 1893.
[271] Phoenicians—a tribe of seafarers described by Homer in The Odyssey. According to Homer, they inhabited the island of Scheria north of Ithaca, the island of Odysseus.
[277] The Young Czechs—a bourgeois-liberal party which championed the interests of the Czech bourgeoisie. The Old Czechs—the Right Wing of the national movement in Bohemia, Moravia And Silesia; they expressed the interests of the nobility.
[278] In view of the Socialists’ success at the elections to the French Chamber of Deputies in August-September 1893 (see Note 208), the reactionary press mounted a campaign of slander accusing them of being German agents on the pretext that German Social-Democrats had donated 2,500 francs to the election fund. In this connection P. Lafargue wrote to Engels on 5 September 1893 that French Socialists had better not receive money from Germany in the future.
[280] On 10 October 1893 P. Lafargue wrote to Engels about the plan to start a newspaper that could enable the Workers’ Party to rise to a leading position in the French Socialist press. Here Engels recalls that in 1892 Le Socialiste had announced that it would be a daily newspaper as of October 1892; the announcement began with the words ‘pour paraître en Octobre’ (‘to appear in October’). In actual fact, Le Socialiste continued as a weekly.
[282] Engels had the fee for his works printed by the Dietz Publishers in Stuttgart sent to V. Adler for the needs of Austrian Social-Democracy.
[284] The letter of Ferdinand Lassalle to Marx and Engels which Engels wanted published with his notes and a preface; this was done by Franz Mehring in 1902.
[285] In the latter half of September 1893 French miners in the departments of Nord and Pas de Calais went on strike; the strikers demanded higher wages and a ban on dismissing workers older than forty. The stoppage lasted some two months and ended in a defeat. At about the same time there was a strike of Belgian miners who demanded a 10 per cent wage rise. This strike, which ended in mid-October, also fell short of its objectives.
[286] In the summer of 1893, after the announcement of a lockout in the British mining industry (see this volume, pp. 204-05), the employers tried to use strikebreakers. On 7 September 1893, as there was unrest among the miners of Featherstone (Yorkshire), the mine owners called in troops who opened fire, wounding several people. Thereupon nearly all the coal districts were overrun by government troops, a move that caused outrage countrywide. As a result, the employers had to refrain from introducing lower pay rates for the time being.
[289] Karl Kautsky, then in Stuttgart, told Engels in his letter of 1 November 1893 about his plans to move to Austria. In his letter of 25 November 1893, Kautsky explained that, while living in Stuttgart, he felt isolated from the Austrian working-class movement.
[290] Karl Kautsky asked Eduard Bernstein to write an article on the general strike for publication in Die Neue Zeit, he hoped this would start a discussion on the subject. Engels’ advice to Bernstein was apparently not taken into account, for in February 1894 Die Neue Zeit published Bernstein’s article ‘Der Streik als politische Kampfmittel’.
[291] The three-class electoral system {Dreiklassenwahl) was introduced in Prussia in keeping with the electoral law of 30 May 1849, after the defeat of the 1848-49 Revolution. This system provided for high property qualifications and, consequently, contributed to unequal representation.
[292] The reference is to the Croatian border regiments stationed in the Military Border Area, a special military region of the Austrian Empire along the frontier with Turkey. Ruthenes (Ruthenians)—the name given in the nineteenth-century West-European ethnographical and historical works to the Ukrainian population of Galicia, Bukovina and the Eastern Carpathians, who were separated at the time from the rest of the Ukrainian people.
[293] A reference to Karl Marx. ‘Le Capital’. Extraits faits par M. Paul Laforgue, Vilfredo Pareto wrote the introduction. This book was published by Guillaumin in Paris in 1893.
[294] Joseph Baernreither, a Liberal deputy, tabled a draft electoral reform on 13 October 1893; it granred voting rights in parliamenrary elections only to workers eligible for health insurance. They were to form a special curia. The draft law restricted to twenty the number of worker deputies elected in this way.
[295] On 3 November 1893 opponents of the electoral reform assembled in Vienna’s Ronacher Hall. This meering sparked a protest among Social-Democrat workers who responded by a demonstration which resulted in clashes with the police.
[59] An allusion to George Bernard Shaw’s letter to A. Bebel of 29 May 1892 which Engels had copied. This letter was published in a supplement to Volume 49 of the present edition, p. 563; in it Shaw pointed to the need of an alliance between the Socialists and the Liberals in the election campaign. The only chance for the Socialists to win the election, he wrote to Bebel, was ‘to force the Liberals to accept our men as their party candidates’. According to Shaw, the Fabians were ‘compelled’ to force their candidates on the Liberals, or otherwise ‘at every election’ they would ‘suffer defeat and disgrace’. In his letter to Kautsky on 4 September 1892, Engels analysed the Fabian electoral tactics and the causes of the defeat of the Fabian candidates on the Liberal list during the 1892 elections, (see present edition, Vol. 49, p. 514).
[298] Karl Liebknecht, who together with his brother Theodor was doing his tour of duty in the Guards Corps of Engineers (Gardenpionieren) sought a court referendar’s job (Gerichtsreferendar) at Hamm. Eventually he was offered to choose between Arnsberg and Paderborn (Westphalia).
[300] In 594-593 B.C., Solon, an Athenian statesman and lawgiver, brought in a number of reforms so as to remodel the state and economic system of Athens. The situation was characterised by an acute struggle between the aristocracy and the people. The most important of Solon’s reforms was one that abolished the land tenure debts of the Athenian peasants and prohibited bondage for defaulters, etc. Solon and his laws solidified Athens as a slave-owning city-state and laid the keystones of Athenian democracy.
[301] A reference to the controversy over the McKinley protectionist tariff adopted in November 1890 (William McKinley was one of the leaders of the Republican Party [and President of the United States in 1897-1901]). The new tariff provided for a dramatic rise in duties on merchandise imported to the United States and, as a consequence, sent consumer prices up. The situation of the worrking class deteriorated as a result. The tariff bill invested the President with the right to increase import duties in the future as well. Engels commented on this legislation in his arricle ‘The American Presidential Election’ (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 329-31).
[303] The Berne Copyright Convention was signed on 9 September 1886 by Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and other countries.
[304] Humpty Dumpty—egg-shaped figure of a well-known nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses And all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
[305] In 1867 Benjamin Disraeli, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, played a crucial role in carrying out the Second Reform Act of 1867.
[13] Late in 1884 Bismarck, in a bid to intensify Germany’s colonial policies, urged the Reichstag to approve annual subsidies for steamship companies with the aim of organising regular voyages to East Asia, Australia and Africa. This demand caused a split within the Social-Democratic faction in the Reichstag. The Left wing with August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht at the head spoke out against support for the government’s demand. The Right-wing majority in the faction (J.H.W Dietz, P. Frohme, G. Grillenberger) intended to vote for the subsidies on the pretext of furthering international ties. The Right-wing stand was condemned by the party’s rank and file and its central organ, the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat. As a result, the majority of the faction was compelled to modify their attitude to the government motion during Reichstag debates in March 1885 by making its ‘yes’ votes conditional on passage by the Reichstag of some of the proposals of the faction (in particular, the demand that ships for these lines be built only at German yards). Only after these demands had been turned down by the Reichstag did all the members of the Social-Democratic faction vote against.
[307] On 20 August 1893 Jules Guesde was elected to the French Chamber of Deputies from the town of Roubaix (see this volume, p. 182).
[308] The Dupuy cabinet fell on 25 November 1893 after three-day debates on the government declaration in which Charles Dupuy leveled sharp attacks at socialism. The united socialist group in the Chamber took a firm stand against the course of the government majority and championed social reforms. The new cabinet, headed by Jean Casimir-Périer, ran into major difficulties at the very outset as Jean Juarès, speaking in a debate on the tax reform, tabled a motion whereby small farms were to be tax exempt. This proposal, made on behalf of the socialist parliamentary group, was carried by a majority of votes; however, Casimir-Périer annulled the results of voting to prevent a fall of the new cabinet.
[309] In 1893 the anarchists committed a number of terrorist acts in Paris. Thus, on 9 December 1893 Auguste Vaillant threw a bomb into the hall where the French Chamber of Deputies was in session. The government retaliated by the laws against the anarchists (see Note 383) and by increasing the police budget.
[311] Sir Henry Roscoe’s and Carl Schorlemmer’s work appeared in English under the title A Treatise on Chemistry. Volumes I-II I. London-New York, 1877-92; the whole edition comprised 9 books. The German name of the work was Ausführliches Lehrbuch der Chemie. Bände I-IV. Braunschweig, 1877-89. Julius Wilhelm Brühl continued the series beginning with Volume V; after C. Schorlemmer’s death the nine-volume edition was completed in 1901.
[312] Carl Schorlemmer’s manuscript on the early history of chemistry, as mentioned by Adolf Spiegel in the obituary Carl Schorlemmer, was never published. This MS, written in German and 650 pages long, is in Manchester University library.
[313] A reference to the English edition of Carl Schorlemmer’s The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry which came out in Manchester and London in 1879. The German text was published in 1889 as Der Ursprung und die Entwicklung der organischen Chemie in Brunswick. Arthur Smithells prepared a new English edition which was published in London and New York in 1894 under the same title as the 1879 edition.
[314] A. Dworzak wrote a letter to Engels on 24-28 November 1893 in which she congratulated him on his 73d birthday.
[315] A reference to the so-called ‘original minute-book’ fabricated by Prussian police spies and presented at the Cologne trial of Communists in 1852 as the chief evidence for the prosecution against members of the Communist League. See present edition, Vol. 11, pp. 420-43.
[316] Engels never realised this intention.
[108] A. Labriola’s translation of The Manifesto of the Communist Party into Italian was not published at that time; the Italian edition of this work in Pompeo Bettini’s translation was released in Milan in 1893 by the journal Critica Sociale Publishers. Engels wrote a special preface to that edition—’To the Italian Reader’, translated by Turati (see present edition, Vol. 27). The booklet also included the prefaces published in the fourth German edition of The Manifesto that came out in London in 1890 — the publication that Engels mentions in his letter. AtTurati’s request, Engels sent it to him in January 1893.
[111] Maria Mendelson, a Polish socialist, told Engels about the arrest in France on 7 January 1893 of Polish emigres accused of plotting to assassinate the Russian Czar Alexander II I. Engels’ article exposing the collaboration of the French and Russian police ‘On the Latest Caper of the Paris Police’ (see present edition, Vol. 27), was published anonymously by the newspaper Vorwärts (No. 11) on 13 January 1893 in the section Politische II bersicht. The following editorial note was attached to the article: ‘We are getting word from most com-petent quarters about the escapade of the Paris police that we reported yesterday’.
[60] The Panama affair — a shady transaction connected with the bribery of French statesmen, government officials and the press by the Panama Canal joint-stock company set up in France in 1880 at the at the initiative of Ferdinand de Lesseps for building a canal across of the isthmus of Panama. In December 1888 the company declared its insolvency which caused the ruin of small-time shareholders and numerous bankruptcies. This scandal compelled the French authorities to start an investigation. On 19 November 1892 the Monarchists tabled three questions on the Panama crash in the Chamber of Deputies which on 21 November elected a Commission of Inquiry of 33 with M. Henri Brisson, a Radical, as chairman. The Commission obtained irrefutable evidence implicating a number of high-ranking officials, e.g., the former French premier CL. de Freycinet and others who had been bribed by the Lesseps company which wanted to conceal its true financial situation and embezzlements. French justice hushed up the affair by going no further than condemning F. Lesseps and a number of his cat’s-paws (see Note 157). ‘Panama’ became a byword for major dealings in which government officials were implicated.
[49] From 6 August to 24 December 1892 the German Social-Democratic newspaper Die Berliner Volks- Tribüne was publishing (in its supplement) a series of articles by the Swiss Socialist Louis Héritier under the general title ‘Die Juraföderation und Michael Bakunin; the author’s name was indicated only in the final article. Proceeding from Bakuninist principles, the author gave a slanted picture of the history of the First International in Switzerland and vindicated the divisive activities of the Bakuninists in particular, of the anarchist Jura Federation which, at its congress in La Chaux-de-Fonds held between 4 and 6 April 1870, had broken away from the International sections in Roman Switzerland. In addition, the articles contained numerous innuendoes about the activity of the General Council, Marx and his associates, specifically, about Johann Philipp Becker. Thus, it was claimed without any ground whatever that the London Conference of the First International (1871) had been held in Marx’s house. The tenth article, published on 12 November 1892, contained particularly numerous distortions. Engels therefore decided to speak out and refute the insinuations without waiting for the end of the series. He sent his statement, together with the present letter, to August Bebel for delivery to the editorial board of Die Berliner Volks-Tribüne. The newspaper published Engels’ statement on 19 November 1892 (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 344-46). On 24 December 1892 L. Héritier offered his reply, which was published together with his final article. As in his letter to Engels of 15 December 1892, Héritier tried to rebut the accusations. See also Engels’ letters: to Héritier of 20 January 1893 and to Kautsky of 25 March 1895 (see this volume, pp. 85-6, 481).
[114] The Independent Labour Party was founded by leaders of the new trades unions at the Bradford Conference on 13-14 January 1893 in a situation characterised by the mounting strike action and the movement for a greater say of the British working class in politics. This party was headed by Keir Hardie. In its programme the Independent Labour Party championed collective ownership of the means of production, an eight-hour day, prohibition of child labour, social insurance, unemployment allowances, among other demands. The party leadership focused on parliamentary forms of struggle in its practical activities. In 1900 the Independent Labour Party joined the Labour Party.
[44] Social Democratic Federation—a British socialist organisation set up in August 1884 on the basis of the bourgeois-radical Democratic Federation; it united heterogeneous socialist elements, predominantly intellectuals and a section of politically active workers. The Federation stated in its programme that the entire wealth of the nation should belong to Labour, its only source. It also set as its aim a socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and came out for a society of ‘emancipated labour’. That was Britain’s first socialist programme based mainly on Marxist ideas. The leadership of the Federation was in the hands of Henry Hyndman, prone to authoritarian methods of guidance, and his supporters who did not deem it necessary to conduct work in the trades unions, a stance that inevitably led to isolation of the organisation from the working-class masses. A group of Socialists within the Federation (Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Edward Aveling, William Morris, Tom Mann and others) opposed Hyndman and championed closer ties with the working-class movement. The differences on tactical issues and international cooperation resulted in a split and the formation of an independent organisation— The Socialist League (see Note 136).
[43] Fabians—members of the Fabian Society founded in 1884 by democratic-minded intellectuals. It was named after the Roman general of 3d century B.C., Quintus Fabias Maximus, surnamed Cunctator (‘the delayer’) because of his cautious tactics in the war against Hannibal. The Fabian Society included such prominent members as Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Bernard Shaw, H. Bland, among others. Its local organisations drew support from industrial workers who were attracted by a sharp critique of the capitalist order contained in Fabian publications. However, except in 1892, when it attracted a number of otherwise ‘homeless’ working-class socialists, the number of actual ‘practising’ workers (i.e., non-official trade-union members) never exceeded 10 per cent of the identifiable membership, and perhaps even less if the total numbers were counted. Rejecting the possibility of a revolutionary transformation of bourgeois society, the Fabians thought it was possible to shift from capitalism to socialism by implementing reforms within the framework of so-called municipal socialism. In 1900 the Fabian Society joined the Labour Party.
[71] Centre—a political party of German Roman Catholics formed in 1870-71 as a result of unification between the Catholic factions in the Prussian Landtag and the German Reichstag (the seats of their deputies used to be in the centre of the assembly hall). The Centre Party would take an intermediate stand, as a rule, by manoeuvering between the parties that backed the government and the Left-wing opposition groups of the Reichstag. It rallied under the banner of Catholicism the socially heterogenous strata of the clergy, the landed aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, that part of the peasantry predominantly in small and medium-sized states, as well as Roman Catholic working men in Western and South-Western Germany. The Centrists, while being in opposition to the Bismarck government, voted nonetheless for its anti-labour and anti-Socialist enactments. Engels gave a detailed analysis of the Centre in his work The Role of Force in History (see present edition, Vol. 26, pp. 453-511) and in the article What’s Next? (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 7-11). Since in 1893 the Centre Party had 196 seats in the Reichstag out of 397, it could play a decisive role in the event of differences among other parties.
[87] Opportunists—a party of moderate bourgeois Republicans which emerged after the 1881 split in the Republican Party and the formation of the left-wing Radical Party with Georges Clemenceau as its head (see Note 86). This name was introduced in 1877 by the journalist Henri Rochefort who coined it from the words of L. Gambetta, the leader of the ‘Moderates’, that reforms should be implemented ‘at an opportune time’ (‘en temps opportun).
[86] Radicals—in the 1880s-1890s, a parliamentary group in France that used to belong to the party of moderate Republicans (the ‘Opportunists’). The Radicals relied chiefly on the petty bourgeoisie and, to some extent, on the middle bourgeoisie; they supported certain bourgeois-democratic demands like a unicameral parliament, separation of the Church from the state, a progressive income tax, limitation of the working day and other social issues. The Radicals were led by G. Clemenceau. Officially the group became known as the Republican Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (Parti républicain radical et radical-socialiste), formed in 1901.
[62] This refers to the London German Workers’ Educational Society. Founded in 1840 by Karl Schapper, Joseph Moll, Heinrich Bauer and other activists of the League of the Just. In 1847 and 1849-50 Marx and Engels took part in the work of the Society. With the foundation of the First International it joined the International Working-Men’s Association. The London Educational Society continued in existence under different names until 1918 when it was closed by the British government.
[106] Engels means flagrant abuses in the activity of the Banca Romana which came to light during debates held in the Italian Parliament in December 1892-January 1893. Implicated in these shady dealings were statesmen, MPs, lawyers, journalists and private individuals. The scandalous affair came to be known as Panamino, a hint at the Panama Company fraud. The debates were sparked off by a statement of one of the deputies, Napoleone Colajanni. Engels responded by the article ‘The Italian Panama’ (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 356-60) published in the newspaper Vorwärts in February 1893. For more detail about the Panama sobriquet, see Note 60.
[143] In the course of the Reichstag deliberations in late January 1893 on the state budget for 1893-94, the bourgeois deputies hurled accusation at the Social-Democrats to the effect that they allegedly wanted no more than foment popular discontent but were unable to say how they envisioned a socialist state of the future. Responding in his two parliamentary speeches on 3 and 6 February 1893, August Bebel laid down the fundamental socialist principles. He sought to capitalise on the widespread discontent and the inability of the imperial government to combat the gathering economic depression. For several days this issue was the subject of debates in the Reichstag, an occasion which the Social-Democratic deputies used to articulate their ideas. Speaking on 7 February, A. Stoecker, representing the Right Wing, said that after W. Liebknechts speech he would make no statement as he had originally intended and suggested that the debates be terminated. The discussion ended therewith.
[149] The German Party of Free Thinkers (Die Deutsche Freisinnige Partei) was formed in 1884 with the merger of the progressist Fortschrittspartei and the National-Liberal Left Wing. One of the Freisinniges leaders was Eugen Richter, a Reichstag deputy. Expressing the interests of the petty and middle bourgeoisie, the Party was in opposition to the Bismarck government. In 1893 the Party split into two factions (see Note 223).
[76] An allusion to the draft law tabled in the Reichstag on 23 November 1892 by the War Minister Werd and the General Staff Chief Waldersee providing for an increase in the numerical strength of the German armed forces within the next seven years. The mean annual strength of this army was fixed at 492,068; it was proposed to introduce a two-year term of service in the Infantry, which could increase the war machine’s throughput by 30 per cent. The planned increase in the strength of the land forces exceeded all the previous increments, as of 1874, combined. It was planned to compensate the significant growth in the war expenditures by raising taxes on consumer goods. This elicited widespread discontent among the popular masses and with some bourgeois political parties as well. On 6 May 1893 the Reichstag majority rejected the draft bill of the government. The same day the Kaiser dissolved the Reichstag two years ahead of time. After a new election, in June 1893, a similar draft law was endorsed by the Reichstag.
[33] In his preface to Volume II I of Das Kapital (written in October 1894), Engels noted that Part V presented ‘the chief obstacle in preparing it for the press’ (Division of profit into interest and entrepreneural income. Capital yielding interest). Engels completed the bulk of this work in the spring of 1893 (see present edition, Vol. 37. pp. 8-9).
[156] The forthcoming elections in August and September 1893 to the French Chamber of Deputies (see Note 208) housed in the Bourbon Palace in Quai d’Orsay in Paris.
[158] A. Bebel’s speech in the Reichstag on 3 February 1893 (abridged) as well as excerpts from W. Liebknechts speech on 7 February 1893 (see Note 143) were published by the newspa per Le Socialiste (No. 126) on 19 February 1893.
[162] In the parliamentary elections in the summer of 1892 the Socialist organisations nominated a considerable number of independent candidates; of these, three — Keir Hardie, John Burns and John Havelock Wilson — were elected as MPs. At the House of Commons on 20 February 1893, a First Reading was given to two Bills dealing with modifications of the electoral law. Amongst other things they contemplated the abolition of all property qualifications; the introduction of returning officers, nominated and paid by municipal councils, to be responsible for drawing up the electoral register; and the establishment of a single register of voters for all elections (parliamentary, municipal, etc.). This draft legislation was turned down by the House of Lords.
[3] The rough copy of this letter written in Engels’ own hand is still available. Louise Kautsky copied the rough notes of the letter. Engels wrote in the word ‘hochachtungsvoll’ (with kind respects) and added his signature. The texts of the original letter and of the rough notes are identical.
[169] In his letter to Engels on 23 February 1893 Lafargue wrote in part that the French Workers’ Party (see Note 11) and the Radical Socialists (the Radical Left Wing, see Note 86), who were led by Etienne Millerand and Jean Jaurés, had agreed on cooperation in the August-September 1893 elections to the Chamber of Deputies and that they planned to launch an agitation campaign in Northern France on 5 March.
[1] Probably another part of a Gobelin tapestry from the study of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. Ludwig Kugelmann had sent two parts of this tapestry to Karl Marx on his birthday, 8 May 1870.
[30] Possibilists, or Broussists — a reformist trend in the French Socialist movement which, in the 1880s through the early 20th century, was headed by P. Brousse and B. Malon who caused a split in the French Workers’ Party (1882) and formed an independent party, The Workers’ Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (Le Parti ouvrier socialiste-révolutionnaire). It abided by the theory of municipal socialism as the mainstream idea. The Possibilists proclaimed a ‘policy of possibilities’ (la politique des possibilitées) as their principle. At the turn of the 20th century they joined the French Socialist Party.
[21] Allemanists {les allemanistes)—supporters of the French socialist Jean Allemane. After a split in the Possibilist Party (see Note 30), the Allemanists formed a Revolutionary-Socialist Workers’ Party {Le Parti ouvrier socialiste-révolutionnaire) in October 1890; this party existed up to 1905. Considering economic struggle above the political one and opposing excessive parliamentarism, the Allemanists concentrated their efforts on propaganda work in labour unions {les syndicats) and assigned the political party of the proletariat but a secondary role. A significant part of their activity was devoted to campaigns to win seats at municipal councils.
[20] Blanquists (les blanquistes)—supporters of Louis A. Blanqui who, after leaving the Workers’ Party {Le Parti français ouvrier, see Note 11), set up an organisation of their own, the Central Revolutionary Committee (Comité Révolutionnaire Central) in 1880. After Blanqui’s death in 1881, E. Vaillant, E. Eudes and E. Granger came into the Committee’s leadership. The Blanquists upheld the slogan of a general strike and advocated the independence of labour unions from the party. They opted for political struggle at the expense of economic struggle. During Boulangism (see Note 6) the Blanquists broke into two factions; one with Edouard Vaillant at the head came out against General Boulanger and thus made common cause with the Workers’ Party, while the other (E. Granger, E. Roche), having cooperated with the Boulangists, walked out of the Central Revolutionary Committee and fell apart soon after.
[172] The conference held by representatives of European socialist parties in preparation for the forthcoming Third International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress in Zurich (see Note 229). At the initiative of the Organizing Committee (see Note 27) this conference met in Brussels on 26 March 1893; it involved representatives of 6 European countries. Its decisions urged the delegates of the forthcoming Congress to recognise the need of the political struggle of the working class. One of the aims of this demand was to keep the Anarchists from taking part in the Congress.
[175] Engels was taking a rest at Eastbourne from March 1 to March 17 1893 or thereabouts.
[15-] The Anti-Socialist Law (The Exceptional Law Against the Socialists) was introduced by the Bismarck government on a majority vote cast in the Reichstag, on 21 October 1878 to combat the socialist and workers’ movement. It banned all party and mass workers’ organisations, and the socialist and workers’ press, and sanctioned confiscation of socialist literature and persecution of Social-Democrats. Nevertheless, the Social-Democratic Party, in accordance with Constitution preserved its group in the Reichstag. Assisted by Marx and Engels, the Party was able to overcome both the reformist and anarchist tendencies within its ranks and expand its base among the popular masses by a skilful combination of legal and illegal methods of work. Under pressure from the mass workers’ movement, the Anti-Socialist Law was abrogated on 1 October 1890. For Engels’ assessment of the Law, see his article ‘Bismarck and the German Working Men’s Party’ (Vol. 24, pp. 407-09).
[183] Bebel was visiting Engels in London from 28 March to 4 April 1893 or thereabouts.
[187] A reference to the tug of war in the United States between the advocates of bimetallism and those of a single gold standard. In 1890, under the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, the West’s demands for more and more coinage of the metal were heeded. But as predicted, gold was hoarded and driven out of circulation, and the silver-to-gold ration became 26.5 : 1 in 1893. In the summer of that year, under President Cleveland’s Administration, Congress had to repeal the Sherman Act to keep gold from vanishing altogether. By the end of the 19th century gold was fully restored as a single currency standard in the United States. Engels gave his assessment of these developments in his letter to Sorge of 2 December 1893 (see this volume, pp. 235-36).
[56] Engels means the Third International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress due at Zurich in 1893 (see Note 229).
[189] From 1 August to 29 September 1893 Engels made a tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary; he visited Cologne and then, together with A. Bebel, went to Zurich via Mainz and Strassburg; thence he went to the Canton of Graubünden for several days to meet his brother Hermann. Upon his return to Zurich on 12 August, Engels attended the final session of the International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress in Zurich (see Note 229), where he made a short speech in English, French and German (see present edi-tion,Vol. 27, pp. 404-05) and, on behalf of the Bureau, closed the session. After a fortnight’s sojourn in Switzerland, Engels left for Vienna through Munich and Salzburg; in Vienna, on 14 September, he addressed a meeting of Social-Democrats (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp.406-07). Then, via Prague and Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary), he went to Berlin and stayed there from 16 September to 28 September; on 22 September he spoke at a Social-Democratic meeting (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 409-10). Thereupon Engels returned to London by way of Rotterdam.
[195] A reference to the publication of Engels’ work The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State translated into French by Henri Ravé; this translation was edited by Laura Lafargue who did a stupendous amount of work to correct the numerous deficiencies contained in it. Having read the thus revised translation, Engels had a high opinion of the work done. The book was published in October 1893 under the title L’Origine de la famille, de la propriété privée et de l’état.
[25] This letter has never been found.
[197] Engels means The Legal Eight Hours and International Labour League founded in 1890 by a group of English Socialists with Engels’ participation on the basis of a Committee which had organised Britain’s first ever May Day demonstration in London in 1890. The League set as its aim the struggle for the liberation of the working class and action on the decisions of the Paris Congress of the Second International (see Note 227). In 1893 League representatives took part in setting up The Independent Labour Party (see Note 114). London Trades Council was established at a conference of delegates representing London’s trades-unions (May 1860). Among its members were the leaders of major trades-unions and men from the so-called worker aristocracy. In the early 1860s the Council led the action of the British workers against intervention in the American Civil War, in defence of Poland and Italy, and later, for legalisation of trades-unions. Early in the 1890s the Council, which embraced predominantly the old trades-unions, took a negative stand on the movement for new trades-unions and for the legal eight hours. Yet the mass character of this movement compelled the Council to join in the May demonstrations of the 1890s.
[199] Concerning the publication of Carl Schorlemmer’s literary heritage; he died on 27 June 1892. Ludwig Siebold and Philipp Klepsch took charge of this job as the executors of Carl Schorlemmer’s will.
[202] Conservatives—a political party expressing the interests of the Prussian Junkers, army circles, top bureaucracy and Lutheran clergy. With the formation of the North German Union and in the initial years of the German Empire, the Conservatives made a strong right-wing opposition to the Bismarck government; they came out against bourgeois reforms and broader powers conceded to the Reich authorities. In 1866 there was a split in their ranks which gave rise to the Free Conservative Party {Die Freikonservative Partei, or Reichspartei) representing the interests of big landed proprietors and of a segment of the industrial magnates. The Free Conservatives took a stand of unequivocal support for the Bismarck government. In 1876 the Conservatives made common cause with other right-wing groups and formed a German Conservative Party {Die Deutschkonservative Partei) which continued up to the year 1918.
[203] National Liberals—a Prussian (and from 1871, an all-German) bourgeois political party active between 1867 and 1918 as a bulwark of the Junkers and industrial magnates. This party expressed the interests of a larger part of the big industrial and commercial bour geoisie, and also of the financiers — the strata that supported the domestic and foreign policy steered by Bismarck and by subsequent reactionary governments of the German Empire. In the early 1890s the National Liberals came forward with the idea of ‘suspending’ any kind of social legislation and mounted a crusade for unrestricted entrepreneurial powers.
[204] At the Reichstag election of 15 June 1893 the German Social-Democrats gained a major victory: they polled 1,787,000 votes. All in all, 44 Social-Democratic deputies were elected to the Reichstag, among them, W. Liebknecht, A. Bebel and P. Singer. Of the six deputies elected in Berlin, five were Social-Democrats. Engels commented on these election returns in his interview for a correspondent of Daily Chronicle (see present edition, Vol. 27, p. 549).
[208] At the elections to the French Chamber of Deputies on 20 August and 3 September 1893 the Socialists of various trends gained 700,000 votes and 30 seats (among the elected deputies 12 were from the Workers’ Party — J. Guesde, J. Juarés, E. Vaillant and others). The deputies representing the Workers’ Party agreed to form a united socialist group in the new Chamber; this group comprised 20 deputies who belonged to the bourgeois Left Wing, Radicals for the most part (also known as ‘independent socialists’) and other socialists. All in all the Socialist group in the Chamber of Deputies numbered 50 deputies. Engels more than once criticised the leadership of the Workers’ Party for concessions it had made to the Radicals in the matter of Programme and organisational principles for the sake of forming a joint Socialist parliamentary group. See, e.g., Engels’ letters to V. Adler of 17 July 1894 and to F. Sorge of 30 December 1893 (see this volume, pp. 249, 324-25).
[217] By anti-Semitic candidates, Engels means representatives of Die Christlich-soziale Arbeiterpartei (The Christian Social Worker Party) founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker, a reactionary German political figure and advocate of anti-Semitism. This party saw its aim in combatting the socialist movement; subsequently it used the slogan of anti-Semitism to mount a demagogic campaign against financial capital. Its members succeeded in winning support among the backward strata of the peasantry and artisans in some districts of Germany; this success had a part to play in the setup of the poll. In 1895 A. Stoecker transformed his organisation into Die Christlich-soziale Partei. About the election to the German Reichstag, see Note 204.
[218] In his letter of June 1893 F. Turati told Engels about the plans of G. Domanico, an Italian anarchist, to publish the Italian translation of Das Kapital, beginning with Vol. 1, in 50 installments at low price; writing to Engels on 2 June 1893, G. Domanico expressed his confidence that Engels would approve of this initiative and asked for a letter that might be used as a preface. G. Domanico also asked Engels to him know about corrections in the text, remarks and amendments. This undertaking never came off.
[219] About the middle of May 1841 Engels, in his father’s company, made a tour of southern Germany, Switzerland and Northern Italy (Lombardy). See also his travel notes in Wanderings in Lombardy (present edition, Vol. 2, p. 170).
[223] On 6 May 1893 there was a split within Die Deutsche Freisinnige Partei (see Note 149) due to the differences over the draft military legislation tabled by the Bismarck government (see Note 76). The pro-government faction of this party in the Reichstag formed an Alliance of Free-Thinkers (Die Freisinnige Vereinigung) led by Ludwig Bamberger; the other faction, opposing the higher war budget, starting calling itself a Free-Thinking People’s Party {Die Freisinnige Volkspartei), with Eugen Richter as its leader.
[229] The Third International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress was held in Zurich on 6-12 August 1893. Attending were over 400 delegates from 18 countries. The British delegation had a much broader representation than at the previous two congresses. The following issues were on the agenda: the legal eight hours, May Day celebration, the political tactics of Social-Democrats and the position of Social-Democracy in the event of a war. Since participation in the Congress was conditional on one’s recognition of political activity (something that the anarchists denied), the Congress began its work by considering the legitimacy of the mandates of the anarchist delegates. Following a heated debate a resolution was carried by a majority of votes. It interpreted the notion of political activity as the use of political rights and law-making institutions by working-class parties in the interests of the proletariat and for gaining political power. Upon the adoption of this amendment the anarchists, includ ing the representatives of The Young (see Note 129), had to leave the Congress. On the issue of May Day festivities the Congress rejected by a majority of votes the proposal of the German Social-Democrats to have the celebrations as late as the first Sunday of the month; it stressed the major political significance of a demonstration on May 1 as the day of proletarian solidarity. On the third issue of the agenda (the political tactics of Social-Democrats) the Congress adopted a resolution which recognised the need of combining the parliamentary and non-parliamentary forms of struggle depending on specific conditions in this or that country. Concerning the attitude of Social-Democrats to war, the Congress turned down the Nieuwenhuis proposal for a general strike to be declared in case of a war and reaffirmed the basic provisions of the Brussels Congress resolution on this issue (see Note 228); it added a clause urging workers to wage a disarmament struggle and obliging the Socialist MPs to vote against war credits.
[232] in his letter of 28 June 1893 P. Lafargue told Engels that the National Council of the French Workers’ Party had appealed to the Organising Committee of the Zurich International Congress (see Note 182) with a request to adjourn the convocation of the Congress from August to November in view of the election to the Chamber of Deputies due on 20 August 1893. Lafargue asked Engels to write to Bebel to get the Germans to second this request.
[250] Since the International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress in Zurich was being held on the eve of the election to the French Chamber of Deputies, the leaders of the French Workers’ Party were unable to attend. The French delegation comprised 41 men of whom only two (Bonnet and Bonnier) represented the Party. The other delegates were from non-Marxist parties and political groups: the Possibilists (see Note 30), the Independent Socialists (Jaclard), the Blanquists (see Note 20) [Degay and Rémy], etc. The French delegation distinguished itself by its inconsistent voting and its opposition to Bebel’s theses and to the majority at the Congress.
[252] The hope that Paul Lafargue would be elected to the French Chamber of Deputies did not materialise. In order to defeat his opponent, Lafargue (as well as Gustave Dron, an opportunist candidate) had to receive 3,000 votes in his constituency. During the election campaign Lafargue and Dron reached an agreement whereby Socialists in Dron’s constituency were to cast their votes for him, Gustave Dron, while pro-opportunist candidates in Lafargue’s constituency were to vote for his candidacy. While the Socialists secured a victory for Dron, the opportunist electorate cast their votes for Lafargue’s opponent.
[254] Prior to his trip to Europe in 1893 (see Note 189) Engels had last visited Germany in the latter half of June 1876 as he went to Heidelberg for domestic reasons.
[255] Engels was in Berlin from September 1841 to October 1842 after he had joined as a volunteer to do his tour of military duty.
[257] Returning together with A. Bebel from the Zurich Working-Men’s Congress (see Note 229), Engels stayed for a few days in Vienna. On 11 September 1893 Austrian Social-Democrats organised a reception which, according to the Vienna newspaper Die Arbeiter-Zeitung of 15 September 1893, was attended by about 600 people. There was another rally on 14 September, at which about 2,000 took part, on the results of the Zurich Congress. The speakers included V Adler, A. Bebel and other delegates to the Congress. Engels spoke at the end of the meeting (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 406-07).
[260] Engels is answering Karl Kautsky’s letter of 20 September 1893 asking permission to publish Heinrich Heine’s letter to Marx of 21 September 1844 in Die Neue Zeit. This letter was in the possession of Eleanor Marx-Aveling. Kautsky asked Engels to write an introduction to the intended publication, but Engels did not do so. The Heine letter was published in Die Neue Zeit (No. 1, 1895-96, Vol. 1) only after Engels’ death; Kautsky supplied a commentary and a facsimile of Engels’ letter.
[5] Addressing the 10th Congress of the French Workers’ Party on 25 September 1892 in Marseille (see Note 11) as a representative of German Social-Democracy, Wilhelm Liebknecht said the following, partly on the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and partly on the seizure of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany: ‘... the matter would be settled without any trouble once the social and democratic Republic was established on both sides of the Rhine.’ This statement triggered rabid attacks in the French bourgeois press against the Socialists. Thus, in its editorial note of September 28 titled ‘Herr Liebknecht’, the newspaper La France urged his immediate expulsion from France. Meanwhile, Lucien Millevoye, deputy for the Nord in the Chamber of Deputies, asked the Minister of the Interior: ‘Following the example of Mr. Liebknecht, does the government of the Republic intend to tolerate that foreigners should come to France in order to arouse hatred and con-tempt for the French nation?’
[262] On his way back from the International Socialist Working-Men’s Congress in Zurich (he was accompanied by A. Bebel, see Note 229), Engels stopped in Berlin, staying from 16 to 28 September 1893, where he received a warm reception. A rally was held in the Concordia Hall on 22 September in which about 4,000 took part. Wilhelm Liebknecht made a speech on the role of Engels in the German working-class movement. Engels spoke in reply (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 409-10).
[270] A reference to the draft electoral reform tabled in the Austrian Reichskrat on 10 October 1893 by Ministerpräsident (Premier) Eduard Taaffe whose government represented the conservative bloc of the big landed proprietors and top bureaucracy. He was supported by the Polish, Czech and Slovenian feudal-clerical interests, A broad campaign for a reform of the country’s electoral system began in the early 1890s. On 9 July 1893 Social-Democrats organised a mammoth demonstration of Vienna’s workers for universal suffrage. Similar demonstrations and rallies were held countrywide. Under the circumstances the Taaffe government proposed a draft electoral reform which provided for a considerably wider range of prospective voters, but preserved the old curial system and the privileges for the landlords and the bourgeoisie. The reactionary political parties, however, opposed the draft law, and the Taaffe cabinet had to resign in October 1893. The country’s electoral system was reformed as late as 1896.
[272] The Social-Democratic Workers’ Party of Austria was founded at a unification congress that was in session at Heinfeld (Low Austria) on 30 December 1888 — 1 January 1889. This congress adopted a programme (‘Declaration of Principles’) which was based on the fundamental tenets of Marxism. In its Declaration the Party defined as its objective a political organisation of the proletariat; it pledged to promote the class-consciousness of the proletariat. Its other targets included socialisation of the means of production, emancipation of Labour, political rights for working people and their education.
[273] Der Sonderbund-—a separatist union of the seven economicallly backward Catholic cantons formed in 1843 to resist progressive bourgeois reforms and to defend the privileges of the Church and the Jesuits. The decree of the Swiss Diet of 1847 dissolving the Sonderbund served as a pretext for the latter to start hostilities against other cantons early in November. On 23 November 1847, the Sonderbund forces, consisting largely of milita detachments, were defeated by the federalist army.
[274] Pius IX, who succeeded to the Holy See in 1846 under the conditions of an imminent revolution in Italy, announced a restricted political amnesty and embarked on moderate reforms, thus gaining popularity as a ‘liberal Pope’. The demonstrations of 1846, 1847 and early 1848 held under the motto ‘Long Live Pius IX’, turned into a powerful revolutionary catalyst. But with the outbreak of the 1848 Revolution, the Pope appealed to the Catholic powers to intervene against the Italian Republic and, after the defeat of the Revolution, followed overtly reactionary policies.
[275] In January 1848, the Neapolitan troops of King Ferdinand II , subsequently named King Bomba for his savage bombardment of Messina in the autumn of that year, ordered a shelling of Palermo in an effort to suppress a popular uprising, a move that sparked off the bourgeois revolution of 1848-49 in the Italian states.
[276] The years 1890-93 saw a mass campaign for universal suffrage in Belgium. In April 1893 the General Council of the Belgian Workers’ Party (see Note 230) declared a general political strike for a revision of the acting electoral law. Under the pressure of mass actions and work stoppages the Chamber of Deputies was compelled, on 18 April 1893, to adopt a law on universal suffrage (with certain reservations, however); the franchise was granted to men over 25 on the condition they had been resident in the country for no less than a year (res-idential qualification). On the other hand, this law introduced a system of multiple voting whereby some categories of voters were eligible for an additional 1-2 ballots depending on their property status, education and government service record.
[265] In 1893 William Reeves, a London publisher, printed the English translation of A. Bebel’s book Die Frau und der Sozialismus (‘Woman and Socialism), without any prior consultations either with the author or with the translator, Mrs. Adams Walter, who had prepared the first English edition, published in London in 1885 by The Modern Press. The book’s title (Die Frau in der Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft) was Bebel’s own and was retained in the German editions, from the Second to the Eighth (1883-90). The same name—Women in the Past, Present and Future—was used in all the English translations.
[279] Engels means a congress held by the Social-Democratic Party of Germany in Cologne on 22-28 October 1893. The congress heard the reports of the Party Executive of the Social-Democratic group in the Reichstag, and discussed the Party press, the labour union movement and its support by the Social-Democrats, May Day celebrations in 1894, as well as August Bebel’s report Antisemitismus und Sozialdemokratie’. The delegates came out against Social-Democrats taking part in the election to the Prussian Landtag and against any compromises with the bourgeois parties.
[283] The Second Congress of the French Workers’ Party that took place in Paris on 7-9 October 1893. The Congress was attended by 92 delegates representing 499 trade-union and Party organisations. Already at its first meeting the Congress adopted a Declaration urging inter nationalist actions of the proletariat; the Party voiced solidarity with the striking miners of France, Britain and Belgium and with militant Socialists in other countries. On the domes tic scene, the Declaration warned against the mounting wave of chauvinism. The Congress also considered the returns of the elections to the French Chamber of Deputies (see Note 208), the tasks of Socialist deputies, Socialist propaganda, etc. The Party Congress stressed the need of unity among all Socialists and spoke out for the Socialist deputies forming a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies; it also recommended that, whenever it was possible, they donate their deputy’s fees for propaganda. A report on the Congress was published by the newspaper Vorwärts (no. 240) on 12 October 1893 under the headline ‘Der Kongress der Französischen Arbeiterpartei’.
[288] Victor Adler made a German translation of the first volume of Stepniak-Kravchinsky’s book The Russian Peasantry. Their Agrarian Condition, Social Life, and Religion; it was published in English by Sonnenschein in 1888. In his letter of 22 September 1892 Adler asked Engels to secure, through Stepniak’s mediation, W Sonnenscheins formal permission for the publication of the German translation and for paying the royalties due to the author and the publisher. Stepniak read Adler’s translation and wrote a brief preface to it. The book was published by J.H.W Dietz in Stuttgart in 1893 under the title Der russische Bauer.
[85] Because of the drop in circulation of the journal Die Neue Zeit, J.H.W. Dietz suggested certain changes in its content and periodicity. Thus, the arts and current politics sections were to be expanded at the expense of the theoretical part.
[299] Bimetallism (double currency)—a monetary system based on two metals (chiefly, gold and silver) with a fixed ratio to each other as legal tender.
[310] Laura Lafargue was at the time translating into French Engels’ Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (see present edition, Vol. 26); the translation was published in the journal L’Ere nouvelle (No.4 and No. 5, 1894); Engels had read the MS of the translation.