Letter to John Lincoln Mahon, July 26, 1887

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 26 July 1887


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1935
Reproduced from the original
Published in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48


ENGELS TO JOHN LINCOLN MAHON[1]

IN LONDON

Eastbourne, 26 July 1887
4 Cavendish Place

Dear Mr Mahon,

Your postcard with address was forwarded to me here, hence the delay.

If your letter means anything, it means that you intend, as far as you can, to shove Aveling entirely out of the movement.[2] If you decline to work along with Aveling on public grounds, you are bound to come out with them, so as either to enable Aveling to clear himself or to free the movement from a dangerous and false co-operator. If not, then you are bound, in my opinion, to set aside your personal feelings in the interest of the movement.

Of all the various Socialist groups in England, what is now the 'oppo- sition' in the League,[3] was the only one with which so far I could thor- oughly sympathise. But if that group is allowed to fall to pieces from mere personal whims and squabbles, or from mutual suspicions and insinuations which are carefully kept away from the light of day, it can only dissolve into a number of small cliques held together by personal motives, and utterly unfit to take any sort of lead in a really national movement. And I do not see on what grounds I should sympathise with

any of these cliques more than with another, or with the Social Democratic Federation[4] or any other body.

I have no right to ask you why you refuse to co-operate with Aveling. But as you have worked with him for years,[5] he has, and therefore I consider myself bound to communicate your letter to him.

Yours sincerely

F. Engels

  1. ↑ This letter was first published, in the language of the original (English), in Edward Thompson's book, William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1955.
  2. ↑ On 21 July 1887 Mahon wrote to tell Engels that he no longer trusted Aveling and considered it impossible further to co-operate with him. He did not give any reasons.
  3. ↑ The Socialist League was founded in December 1884 by a group of English socialists who had withdrawn from the Social Democratic Federation (see note 62). The League's organisers included Eleanor Marx Aveling, Ernest Belfort Bax and William Morris. 'The Manifesto of the Socialist League' (see The Commonweal No.1, February 1885) stated that its members advocated 'the principles of Revolutionary International Socialism' and sought 'a change in the basis of Society ... which would destroy the distinctions of classes and nationalities'. The tasks of the League included the formation of a national socialist party, the conquest of political power through the election of socialists to local government bodies, and the promotion of the trade union and co-operative movement. In the League's early years its leaderook an active part in the working-class movement. However, in 1887 the League split into three factions (Anarchist elements, 'parliamentarists and 'anti-parliamentarists'). With sectarian tendencies growing stronger, the League gradually distanced itself from the day-to-day struggle of the British workers and finally disintegrated in 1889-90.
  4. ↑ The Social Democratic Federation was a British socialist organisation, the successor of the Democratic Federation, reformed in August 1884. It consisted of heterogeneous socialist elements, mostly intellectuals, but also politically active workers. The programme of the Federation provided for the collectivisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange. Its leader, Henry Hyndman, was dictatorial and arbitrary, and his supporters among the Federation's leaders denied the need to work among the trade unions. In contrast to Hyndman, the Federation members grouped round Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Edward Aveling, William Morris and Tom Mann sought close ties with the mass working-class movement. In December 1884, differences on questions of tactics and international co-operation led to a split in the Federation and the establishment of the independent socialist league (see note 21). In 1885-86 the Federation's branches were active in the movement of the unemployed, in strike struggles and in the campaign for the eight-hour day.
  5. ↑ Aveling and Mahon, along with some other members of the Socialist League, opposed the anarchist policies of its leaders (see note 95).