Letter to Paul Lafargue, May 2, 1889

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 2 May 1889


First published in La Nouvelle Revue Socialiste, No. 21, 1928
Translated from the French
Printed according to the original
Published in English in: Frederick Engels, Paul and Laura Lafargue. Correspondence. 1887-1890, Vol. 2, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1960
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48


ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE[1]

AT LE PERREUX

London, 2 May 1889

My dear Lafargue,

Now things are beginning to move. This is what Bebel writes:

'Liebknecht and I have agreed that Lafargue and his friends should be urged to convene a congress immediately for 14 July. This we are doing in the conviction that, once the two congresses have met on the same day, it will prove impossible for them to hold separate sessions, and that they will join forces, whether the Possibilists like it or not.

I think you people should now be satisfied. As soon as the convocation circular is published by the French, we shall issue an open appeal to the Germans, asking them to elect delegates to the congress and indicating the procedure by which this may be done' (under German law). 'I have written in the same vein to the Austrians, and the Danes and Swiss will likewise be notified. In this way we shall, I hope, manage to expropriate the Possibilists—or at any rate well and truly thwart their plan.'[2]

4.30 p.m. I am just back from Bernstein's who, however, was not at home. He has had a postcard from Liebknecht in which the latter says that you are at liberty to make use of 'their names' as having assented to your congress. 'Their names' presumably means Bebel and Liebknecht, for they are not as yet officially entitled to commit the German Party. I didn't see the card but Bonnier, who dropped in while I was out, told Nim about it.

I hope to get a few lines from you tomorrow morning which would enable me to rekindle Bebel's ardour by telling him that you are now taking action.

Don't forget, by the bye, to return to me, deciphered, the letter from Lyons.[3] I must not keep the workmen there waiting for an answer.

Now that you've got several provincial papers, choose one to be your Monitor for the duration of your congress and arrange for it to be sent to the various Parties, along with all your publications.[4] Below you will find some of the addresses. The rest will follow.

Give Laura a kiss from me. I shall write to her as soon as this bally congress ceases to monopolise my right hand.

Yours ever,

F. E.

A. Bebel, Hohestrasse 22, Dresden-Plauen, Germany W. Liebknecht, Borsdorf-Leipzig, Germany The Editor, Socialdemokraten, Römersgade 22, Copenhagen, Denmark F. Domela Nieuwenhuis, 96 Malakkastraat, The Hague, Holland The Editor, Recht voor Allen, Roggeveenstraat 54, The Hague The Editor, Arbejderen, Nansensgade 28A, Copenhagen, Denmark The Editor, Gleichheit, Gumpendorferstrasse 79, Vienna VI, Austria The Editor, Muncitoriul, 38 Strada Sarariei, Jassy, Romania The Editor, Justice, 181 Queen Victoria Street, London, E. C. The Editor, Labour Elector, 13 Paternoster Row, London, E. C. The Editor, Commonweal, 13 Farringdon Road, London, E. C.

A. Reichel, Barrister-at-law, Berne, Switzerland } Hague Henri Scherrer, Barrister-at-law, St Gall, Switzerland } delegates[5]

The Editor, Sozialdemokrat, 114 Kentish Town Road, London, N. W. The Editor, Volkszeitung, Box 3560, New York City, U.S.A. The Editor, Sozialist, 25 East 4th St., New York City, U.S.A.

(to be continued).

The (German)3 Americans although pressed by the Possibilists and Hyndman have said that it is you they still favour, and not the Possibilists. If they get your circular in time, I have no doubt they will give their assent, but they will go to some congress or other. Arbejderen is the radical opposition paper run by Petersen (who was acquainted with Rouannet and Malon in Paris, but has changed greatly since then) and by Trier, translator of my Origin of the Family. For tactical reasons you would be well-advised not to send them anything that is not simultaneously dispatched to the Socialdemokraten, organ of the moderate majority.[6]

The address of P. Christensen, delegate to London (a good one)[7] is 9 Römersgade, Copenhagen.

Belgians: Vooruit (The Editor), Marché au fil, Ghent. Same address for Anseele (E.). At the Jolimont congress[8] the Ghent people declared that they would not attend the congress of the Possibilists so long as the latter persisted in their claims. The report in the Prolétariat is riddled with Possibilist lies.[9]

  1. ↑ This letter was first published in English in Frederick Engels, Paul and Laura Lafargue. Correspondence. 1887-1890, Vol. 2, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1960.
  2. ↑ The reference is to the decision taken at the International Socialist Conference in The Hague (February 1889) to hold an International Working Men's Congress in Paris on 14 July 1889.
  3. ↑ Engels had received a letter from the workmen of Lyon, but, since the signatures and the address were illegible, he asked Lafargue to transcribe them.
  4. ↑ The International Working Men's Congress must have used the weekly Socialiste as its official organ. This newspaper came out from 20 April to 14 July 1889 as an organ of the Workers' Party. It carried reports relating to the preparation of the Congress.
  5. ↑ The International Socialist Conference was held in the Hague on 28 February 1889. It was attended by representatives of the socialist movement of Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. The conference was convened at the suggestion of the Social Democratic faction in the German Reichstag with the aim of framing the conditions for the calling of an International Socialist Working Men's Congress in Paris. The Possibilists refused to attend the conference despite the invitation and did not recognise its decisions. The conference defined the powers of the forthcoming congress, its date and agenda. The International Working Men's Congress took place on 14 July 1889.
  6. ↑ Engels is referring to the expulsion of two Leftwing members (one of whom was Trier) of the Executive Committee of the Danish Socialist Party, because they were opposed to the Socialist Party forming a bloc with Venstre, the Danish liberals, who expressed the interests of major landed proprietors and factory owners.
  7. ↑ The reference is to the International Trade Union Congress in London.
  8. ↑ This refers to a congress of the Workers' Party of Belgium on 22 April 1889 at Jolimont, which decided to send delegates both to the International Working Men's Congress convened by Marxists in Paris and to the congress convened by the Possibilists, contrary to the opinion of the Ghent delegation that opposed the convocation.
  9. ↑ On 27 April 1889 the newspaper Le Proletariat published an article entitled 'Au congres beige' which subscribed to the Possibilist point of view concerning the preparation of the International socialist Workingmen's Congress.