Letter to Paul Lafargue, March 12, 1889

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	12 March 1889

First published in the language of the original (French), in: F. Engels, P. et L. Lafargue, Correspondance, t. II, Paris, 1956
Printed according to the original
Translated from the French
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48

ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE

AT LE PERREUX

London, 12 March 1889

My dear Lafargue,

The Possibilists have behaved just as they should—both as regards themselves and as regards us.^[1] I was afraid they would accept—with reservations which, though apparently insignificant, would have been enough to bedevil the whole issue. Fortunately they appear to be too much committed to the course already embarked upon—the financial exploitation of their position on the Municipal Council. This time they have dealt themselves the coup de grâce.

As for the Municipal Council's 50,000 frs, they will probably get them, you cannot prevent it. Let them use the money for their congress—what does it matter? Not all the money in the coffers of the Municipal Council of Paris would suffice to manufacture a socialist congress, except as a joke.^[2]

The Germans have made concessions enough and are unlikely to make any more. The Dutch have been subjected to direct attack by the Possibilists, the Swiss and the Danes are following the German lead and the Belgians are divided, for while the Brussels people are, as you say, Possibilists at heart, the Flemings are very much better, and all that is wanted is to extricate them from the Brussels sphere of influence. Up till now they have left their foreign policy entirely in the hands of the Brussels people, but this time we may well see a change.

It is a great misfortune that you should be without a paper at this vital juncture. M. Roques is an idiot and is simply throwing his money down the drain. The present editors will cost him ten times the 35 frs a day on account of which he has let go the only editors who might have made a success of his paper.^[3] But that does not alter the fact that this business has happened at the most inopportune moment.

If you have invited the League^[4] to the conference without also inviting the Federation,^[5] as I can only conclude from your letter,^[6] it was a mistake on your part. Either both should have been invited, or both should have been left out. In the first place, the Federation is indubitably more important than the League and, in the second, it gives them an excuse to say that the whole conference has been arranged without their knowledge. Hyndman, face to face with all of you, couldn't have done the least harm—quite the contrary and, although he claims to represent the Possibilists over here in matters connected with the congress, he has not dared of late to stand up for them in his paper,^[7] but rather has rapped them over the knuckles, if very gently. And Bernstein, who is aware of all this, would have kept him within decent limits. However, it was the Germans who were to convene the conference and, as always, Liebknecht acted—or refrained from action—in response to some passing whim.

I am forwarding your letter to Bernstein so that he can use it for the issue of the paper^[8] due to appear on Thursday.^[9] I must also send a letter to Liebknecht by this post and so will break off. I enclose herewith a cheque for £20, which I hope will relieve you of your difficulties for the time being.

Give Laura a kiss from me. I hope she has got rid of her cold.

Yours ever,
F.E.

↑ Engels refers to the refusal of the Possibilists to take part in the International Hague Conference (see note 360).
↑ An allusion to the request of a group of Possibilists to the Municipal Council of Paris to grant them 50,000 francs for the organisation of an International Working Men's Congress.
↑ Jules Roques, the publisher of the newspaper Egalite, fired a group of printing-shop workers who had been paid at rates fixed by the printers' union and had then replaced by non-unionised workmen. The indignant members of the editorial board, the Guesdists and the Blanquists, declared on 3 March 1889 they would leave the editorial board (see also note 355).
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
↑ Lafargue's letter to Engels of 5 March 1889
↑ This refers to the items 'A Plea for Harmony* injustice, Vol. VI, No. 268, 2 March 1889, and 'The Old Ruinous Game' injustice, Vol. VI, No. 269, 9 March 1889
↑ Sozialdemokrat
↑ The materials of P. Lafargue's letter of 5 March 1889 were indeed used in the report Aus Frankreich, Paris, 9 March, 1889 in the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 12, 23 March, 1889, S.2-3.

[1] Engels refers to the refusal of the Possibilists to take part in the International Hague Conference (see note 360).

[2] An allusion to the request of a group of Possibilists to the Municipal Council of Paris to grant them 50,000 francs for the organisation of an International Working Men's Congress.

[3] Jules Roques, the publisher of the newspaper Egalite, fired a group of printing-shop workers who had been paid at rates fixed by the printers' union and had then replaced by non-unionised workmen. The indignant members of the editorial board, the Guesdists and the Blanquists, declared on 3 March 1889 they would leave the editorial board (see also note 355).

[4] 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.

[5] 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.

[6] Lafargue's letter to Engels of 5 March 1889

[7] This refers to the items 'A Plea for Harmony* injustice, Vol. VI, No. 268, 2 March 1889, and 'The Old Ruinous Game' injustice, Vol. VI, No. 269, 9 March 1889

[8] Sozialdemokrat

[9] The materials of P. Lafargue's letter of 5 March 1889 were indeed used in the report Aus Frankreich, Paris, 9 March, 1889 in the newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 12, 23 March, 1889, S.2-3.

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