| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 4 February 1885 |
ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT
IN BORSDORF NEAR LEIPZIG
London, 4 February 1885
Dear Liebknecht,
So you have sent me that literatus after all; I trust it is the last of its kind. Surely you can see for yourself how these impudent rascals are misusing you. The man is quite incorrigible, just like his friend Quarck — they're both Quark[1] —, and if they fall into line with you people and you accept them, I shall fall somewhat out of line. Won't you ever get it into your head that this semi-educated pack of literati can only spoil and adulterate the party? From what you say, Viereck ought never to get into the Reichstag either! The petty-bourgeois element in the party is increasingly gaining the upper hand. They want to suppress Marx's name as much as possible. If things go on like this, there will be a split in the party, on that you may depend. You blame it all on their worships the philistines having been affronted. But there are moments when that must be done or else they get above themselves. Is then the subsection on German, or true, socialism[2] to become applicable again 40 years later?
For the rest I am keeping well, though I have a hellish lot to do and cannot write long letters.
Your
F.E.