Letter to Hermann Schluter, March 17, 1888

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 17 March 1888


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48


ENGELS TO HERMANN SCHLÜTER[1]

IN HOTTINGEN-ZURICH

London, 17 March 1888

Dear Mr Schlüter,

Once again it's no go with the pamphlet[2] so far as the date you give is concerned. I am very sorry to have played fast and loose with you like this, but it's not my fault. I have to do exactly what my eye specialist tells me if I want to get back into proper shape again; I am not allowed to write for more than 2 hours, i.e. am forced to break off when I'm just getting into my stride, and frequently cannot even make a start because of the pressure of correspondence. So it would be better if I were to take my time over the thing and do it properly. Also, there's a mass of essen- tial material which has only just turned up and requires perusal. In short, it would be best if you were to look to your own convenience and, when I have made enough progress, I shall write and tell you.

Lehmann the Younger[3] writes a hideously affected German. He has every reason to warn people against the dangers of an inadequate educa- tion, of which he himself, in his muddled, liberal-conservative Manchesterist proclamation,[4] presents such a terrifying example. However, it's hard to have to play the Emperor when you have one foot in the grave. Anyhow, if he holds out for another 6 months he will intro- duce a measure of instability and uncertainty into the economic system, and that's all we need. As soon as your philistine has any inkling that the system will not go on as it is for ever but is, on the contrary, tottering, it will be the beginning of the end. The building has lost its keystone, Lehmann I,[5] and it will soon become evident how rickety the whole contraption is. That may mean things will be momentarily better for us but also—in certain circumstances—momentarily worse; alternatively it may mean war. At all events, we are once more in for a lively time.

Kindest regards to Ede and Liebknecht if, as I suppose, he is there.

Yours,

F. E.

  1. ↑ A passage from this letter was first published in English in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels Letters to Americans. 1848-1895.A selection, New York, International Publishers, 1953.
  2. ↑ Engels replies to F. Schluter's suggestion to revise three chapters from the second part of Anti-Duhring and have them published as a separate pamphlet. These chapters, under the single title The Theory of Force contained an explanation of materialist views on economics and politics. Engels subsequently changed his plan and decided also to add a fourth chapter on Germany history from 1848 to 1888 and a critique of Bismarck. The proposed title of the pamphlet was The Role of Force in History. Engels wrote this (fourth) chapter somewhat later, at the close of 1887 and in thirst three months of 1888. Having interrupted his work in March 1888, Engels must have never resumed it. This unfinished work of his, an outline of the preface to the pamphlet, the plan of the fourth chapter, as well as the plan of the concluding part of this chapter (this plan delineated the contents of the unfinished part of the work) are published in the present edition, Vol. 26.
  3. ↑ Frederick III
  4. ↑ The reference is to the manifesto of Frederick III on the occasion of his ascension to the throne on 12 March 1888. This proclamation - An mein Volk (To my people) - was marked by the same date as his message to Chancellor Bismarck.
  5. ↑ William I