Letter to Paul Lafargue, February 16, 1887

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 16 February 1887


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, Second Russian Edition, Vol. 36, Moscow, 1964
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48


ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE

IN PARIS

London, 16 February 1887

My dear Lafargue,

My congratulations to our friends on the occasion of the Vote's resus- citation[1] ; let us hope that this time its way[2] will be a triumphal one. Such of the Cri as Laura has sent me to look at is deadly dull; not even Bismarck's German reptiles[3] are as capable of sending us to sleep on our feet. Let us hope that the Parisians will refuse to stomach such LEADERS, even when spiced with gossip column and feuilletonist sauce.

I have read Laura's letter about Lavrov to Tussy; she will attend to the matter, although her hands are very full just now.[4] To begin with Aveling has been suffering from QUINSY (which he himself instantly diagnosed as diphtheria) and, as a patient, he is as intractable as Pumps. Furthermore, she has had no sleep for three or four nights and has had to concern herself with the affairs of him, Edward (a Roumanian construction into which my pen has lapsed thanks to my present preoc- cupation with that language), so that she has not had time to run errands in connexion with Lavrov's books. And, on top of that, something else has happened. First, I got a long letter from la Wischnewetzky,[5] from which I gather that the idiots on the Executive Committee of the Socialist Labor Party intend to bring an action of some sort against Aveling, whom they accuse of having tried to defraud the Party over his travelling expenses, that they intend to get the sections to pass resolutions against him and, afterwards, to denounce him as a swindler in a circular addressed to the working men's parties of Europe. She even had the cheek to suggest I tell Kautsky that he would be well-advised not to print anything further of Aveling's. And, withal, never the slightest suggestion that the accused might at least have a right to be heard! You can imagine what my reply was![6] Well, what should arrive the day before yesterday but the Executive's first circular, full of ridiculous accusations against Aveling[7]

and not very difficult to demolish. But there is no time to be lost; the American sections have got to send their votes to New York on 15 March; and the Executive has delayed sending the circular to this country so long that putting up a defence is virtually impossible. Aveling is in Hastings, whither he was sent by the doctor, and will be home on Friday. In the meantime we are sending out a circular announcing his intention of defending himself and asking that the vote be suspended until then. As soon as he returns we shall set to work on the defence. I enclose Aveling's first circular on this affair which is conclusive enough so far as fundamen- tals are concerned. It would be useful to know whether the Executive has sent its circular to the Parti ouvrier or to the Germans in Paris; in Zurich Kautsky has already taken what steps are necessary. But, with all this going on you will realise how exceedingly busy Tussy is.

I no longer remember whether I wrote and told you that Fortin is satis- fied with the arrangement with Laura in regard to his manuscript,[8] so all that remains to be done is to let Lavigne know that his manuscript is with you, and this I would ask you to do since I do not know whether his old address is still the right one and am therefore unable to write to him.

I do not know whether you have seen Materialismul economical lui Karl Marx de Lafargue![9] I have seen a notice of it in the Jassy Revista Sociala, of December, in which there is a translation of my Socialiste article[10] —pretty crude as it happens. Roumanian is a funny sort of language. Their term for 'to work' is lucrare—in Latin to appropriate surplus value; the working man, on the other hand is muncitorul, a word of Slav origin of which the literal and etymological equivalent is the Russian moutchitel, meaning martyr. For rebellion they use the Slav word rascaole, that is to say, ecclesiastical schism (Russian raskolnik, schis- matic, heretic). In fact, for a Latin language it is fairly difficult, since they maltreat Latin and Slav (from which many of their words and sounds are derived) with disarmingly impartial nonchalance. Bulgarian (a Bulgarian Journal has been sent to Kautsky) is much easier for anyone familiar with Russian or Serbian.

Laura will have seen our reply to Professor Menger[11] , in the February number of the Neue Zeit.

From all that I have seen the French press is adopting an excellent attitude towards Bismarck's foolish provocations.[12] The man's tempera- ment is such that it's impossible to say whether he does or does not want war. But anything that forces upon him the necessity either of staying pacifically at home or of becoming an overt aggressor can only benefit ourselves. He has today reached the same stage with France as he had reached with William[13] in May 1866, after paving the way for the Austrian war[14] which the latter abhorred: 'I have succeeded in leading the old horse to water, but I cannot make him drink.' And if the French stand their ground Bismarck will be in the devil of a mess. He already hopes to attain a majority with the help of the people. The Pope[15] will have ensured his septennium (having voted him the new regiments for three years, they will let him have them for seven)[16] but, if the majority in the Reichstag remains in opposition on all other issues, Bismarck will not get a farthing. In the meantime everyone is agreed that all parties in Germany have reason to fear electoral defeat save for the Socialists, who are certain to have a resounding victory.

Zetkin has asked me to let him have a letter for the meeting of the 19th. I shall send it you tomorrow. I don't know yet what to say.[17]

Give Laura a kiss from me,

Yours ever

F. E.

  1. ↑ On 1 February 1887 Laura Lafargue informed Engels of the conflict that had arisen between Caroline-Remy Severine-Guebhard, publisher of the newspaper Le Cri du Peuple, on the one hand, and the associate editors of this paper - Jules Guesde, Gabriel Deville, Albert Goulle - on the other. The latter emphatically objected to Severine's public pronouncements in defence of the anarchist Duval, convicted on charges of burglary, and to the publication in the paper, as a leader, of an anti-German article by one Bienvenu. They also demanded the dismissal of the journalist Georges de Labruyere, notorious for his Boulangist views (see note 137). As a result of the conflict, almost all leading members of the editorial board withdrew from the Cri du Peuple. They started a new paper, the Voie du peuple, the first issue of which appeared on 2 February 1887. The paper lasted only a few weeks, the last issue appearing on 17 March.
  2. ↑ Voie du peuple, the full name of the paper, means 'the way of the people'
  3. ↑ 'Reptiles' and 'the reptile press' were designations used by left-wing writers for the venal reactionary pro-government press. The 'reptile fund' referred to Bismarck's special fund for bribing periodicals and individual journalists.
  4. ↑ In her letter of 7 February 1887 Laura Lafargue asked Engels to remind Eleanor of Pyotr Lavrov's copy of the Historical Review and to send her (Laura) the January issue.
  5. ↑ This refers to her letter to Engels of 28 January 1887
  6. ↑ See this volume, pp. 15-20.
  7. ↑ This refers to the Circular containing accusations against Aveling (see note 3) which was directed by the Executive of the Socialist Labor Party to the party's branches on 7 January 1887. It was signed by Wilhelm Ludwig Rosenberg, Hermann Walther and others.
  8. ↑ Two French translations of Marx's The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte were made, almost simultaneously, by the French socialists Paul Lavigne and Edouard Fortin. Fortin's translation, sent to Engels somewhat earlier (see Engels' letter to Paul Lavigne of 1 December 1885 in Vol. 47 of the present edition) and edited by Engels at Fortin's request, was published first in Le Socialiste, the newspaper of the French Workers' Party, in January-November 1891 and appeared in book form in Lille the same year.
  9. ↑ The Roumanian translation of Paul Lafargue's book Le Matérialisme économique de Karl Marx, Cours d'Économie sociale
  10. ↑ F. Engels, 'The Political Situation in Europe'
  11. ↑ On 30 October 1886 Laura Lafargue informed Engels of the publication of the book Das Recht auf den vollen Arbeitsertrag in geschichtlicher Darstellung by the Austrian sociologist and lawyer Anton Menger. Thuthor alleged that Marx's economic theory was 'not original'. Some of Marx's conclusions, he maintained, were borrowings from William Thompson and other English Ricardian Utopian Socialists. Engels believed that by attacking Menger directly he would provide him a welcome opportunity for self-advertising. He therefore decided to answer him either in an editorial in Die Neue Zeit or in a review signed by the journal's editor, Karl Kautsky. Poor health prevented Engels from writing the bulk of the text as intended. The article was completed, with his help, by Kautsky. It appeared unsigned, under the title 'Juristen-Sozialismus', in Die Neue Zeit, Vol. 2, 1887 (see present edition, Vol. 2).
  12. ↑ Russo-German rapprochement appeared to be on the cards in early 1887. In the course of negotiations between the two countries, the Russian ambassador, P. Shuvalov, proposed to Bismarck that the 'alliance of three emperors', which was expiring in the summer of 1887, should be resumed, but without Austrian participation. Shuvalov's proposal also envisaged Russia's neutrality in the event of another Franco-German war and a free hand for Russia in the Balkans. Addressing the Reichstag on 11 January 1887, Bismarck urged the need for friendly relations with Russia. An anti-French press campaign, the mobilisation of reservists and other steps on the part of the German government gave rise to fears of an imminent military clash with France (the 'war alarm' in January 1887). However, the Russian government refused to back up Shuvalov's proposals and Bismarck's actions.
  13. ↑ William I
  14. ↑ Engels means diplomatic preparations for the 1866 Austro-Prussian war. Early in March of that year he had secured, through Robert Goltz, the Russian Ambassador to Paris, an undertaking by Napoleon III that France would maintain positive neutrality towards Russia in the event of an Austro-Prussian war. At about the same time, Bismarck conducted talks with the Italian general Giuseppe Govone in Berlin on forming a Prusso-Italian coalition against Austria. On 8 April 1866 Prussia and Italy signed a treaty establishing a defensive and offensive alliance. It provided for the transfer of Veneto to Italy in the event of victory over Austria.
  15. ↑ Leo XIII
  16. ↑ On 14 January 1887 the German Reichstag, by 186 votes to 154, adopted a bill limiting the army contingent to 441,000 persons, with a three-year term of service (the government had insisted on 468,000 for seven years). As a result, the Reichstag was disbanded and new elections held (see note 15). On 11 March 1887 the new Reichstag passed the bill on the septennate despite opposition from the Social Democratic group.
  17. ↑ This refers to the festival of international brotherhood which was to be held in Paris on 19 February 1887 on the initiative of a number of socialist emigre organisations. German, Scandinavian, Polish and Russian socialists took part. The festival was to protest against the arms drive and war preparations in Europe. At the request of one of the organisers, the Russian socialist emigre Ossip Zetkin, Engels addressed a message to the Organising committee of the festival (see present edition, Vol. 26). It was read out at the festive meeting and published in Le Socialiste on 26 February and, in German translation, in the Sozialdemocrat on 11 March and the New York Sozialist on 19 March.