| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 16 November 1887 |
ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE
IN PARIS
London, 16 November 1887
My dear Lafargue
Dense fog—can't possibly write more than a line or two. Didn't either of you see Tussy's letter in Monday[1] evening's Pall Mall} It ought to have reached you by Tuesday evening. She arrived here about seven o'clock, her coat in tatters, her hat crushed and torn by a blow from a staff, having been arrested by bobbies but released on the orders of an inspector; practically no one was held and Edward got through unscathed, the contingent he was with having done a bunk at the very outset.[2]
The case is to be heard in the courts and it remains to be seen whether the jury endorses Matthews' famous doctrine which holds that any person walking in Trafalgar Square without the Crown's permission is a trespasser. The Liberals, from Gladstone to Labouchere and Bradlaugh, are begging the people to leave the question in abeyance since it is to be settled in court. But so exasperated have the working men been by police brutality that there may well be another clash next Sunday. Then— provided, that is, that nothing unforseen happens—there'll be another rout, Trafalgar Square being the place most favourable to the govern- ment. It is easily defended, can be approached from the east only by narrow streets, is far removed from the abode of the working class and is situated at the heart of the shopping centre, with barracks close by and with St James's Park—in which to muster reserves of troops—a stone's throw away from the field of battle. Since your philistine, both of the bourgeois and the working-class variety, is in favour of constitutional action, it is to be expected that the next demonstration will be too half- hearted to attempt anything serious. In which case it would be a shame to see the best elements sacrifice themselves to preserve the honour of the chicken-hearted who are now pulling out.
And in France? If you get Ferry in place of Grévy, not only will you get a thief of a son-in-law in place of a father-in-law who is at worst a fence; you'll get a son-in-law who's a thief of the first water.[3] For what Wilson has stolen throughout a whole lifetime does not amount to anything like the sum stolen by Ferry during the Tunis affair alone. To admit the possibility—even pro tern—of such a dénouement seems to me too incompatible with the dramatic genius of French history. Rather than a solution, it would be intrigue at its most extreme and tending towards a crisis. And, from that point of view, Ferry's accession is almost to be wished for—the accession of the head of the firm of Roublard & Co. in place of humble clerk. Grévy, for having merely turned a blind eye to corruption, toppled by Ferry who indulges in it openly and boasts of so doing—that would be fine! But Ferry as President—that would be a call to revolution: the bourgeoisie's I don't give a fig for you! flung in the face of the people.
As for peace, no one but a fool would try to end it just now. The Crown Prince's[4] cancer would be enough to restrain any warlike impulses Bismarck might feel; the Central Alliance, with England in reserve, is strong enough to ward off, almost effortlessly, any Franco- Russian attack. On the other hand, an offensive war against France with her newly entrenched positions, and against vast and impoverished Russia, would present more problems than pleasures. The impossibility of a true alliance between the Tsar[5] and the Republic, both of whose governments are manifestly labile, becomes increasingly evident. In Russia, even the Slavophiles[6] are turning against the internal system of government. One of their leading men, Lamansky, openly says that the obstacle to the march on Constantinople does not lie in Vienna or in Berlin but in a system of government which prevents the Russians from attaining the same intellectual level as the West and thus becoming worthy of the rôle of leading Slav nation. All things considered, coups de tête[7] on the part of both Petersburg and Paris are to be anticipated. It remains to be seen what the Tsar will do at Berliin after the public slap in the face he has just received from Bismarck via the Imperial Bank of Germany.[8]
As for your army, the soldiers with 2 or 3 years' service have not yet been used against the people, hence it is impossible to say how they might conduct themselves. But they are no longer the undisciplined troops of the Empire. One would have to know how the regiments are constituted, from what regions they are recruited, and whether there are many Parisians in their ranks.
By the way, has the Socialiste again succumbed? My last number is dated 29 October.
Yours ever,
RE.
Keep an eye on the XIXe Siècle and send me a copy if it contains documents and fresh news.