Letter to Paul Lafargue, May 25, 1889

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	25 May 1889

First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
Translated from the French
First published in English in Frederick Engels, Paul and Laura Lafargue. Correspondence. 1887-1890, Vol. 2, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1960
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48

ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE^[1]

AT LE PERREUX

London, 25 May 1889

My dear Lafargue,

From a letter written by Guesde to Bonnier I learn that the Convocation with the foreign signatures^[2] has gone to the printers. You may add:

K. Cunninghame-Graham, English Member of Parliament, and, unless you hear to the contrary by telegram on Monday, also

W. Parnell

Tom Mann.

delegates to the 1888 London congress. 320

The latter have not given their official assent. Bernstein saw them this morning, as also Graham and Burns, when the latter declared his inten- tion of disassociating himself entirely from the Social Democratic Federation,^[3] saying that he is sick and tired of the underhand methods of Hyndman, who has ruined the Federation, that the circulation of Justice has dropped from 4,000 to 1,400 etc. Although elected to the Possibilist congress by his branch, he is going to support our line. How he can best set about doing so is still under discussion.

Send a copy of the Convocation as soon as possible.

Yours ever, RE.

↑ 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.
↑ The circular about the convocation of an International Working Men's Congress, written by P. Lafargue and J. Guesde, was sent by the authors to Engels on 14 May, 1889. In June 1889 it was printed in the form of a leaflet in French in Paris and in English in London, and also published in German by the newspapers Der Sozialdemokrat on 1 June and Berliner Volksblatt on 2 June. The newspaper The Star had also printed it on 14 May 1889 in the Feature The People's Post Box (in English); the circular likewise appeared in the weekly Commonweal on 8 June and also as an appendix to the pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889, II, A Reply to the 'Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation' (see note 444).
↑ 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.

[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 circular about the convocation of an International Working Men's Congress, written by P. Lafargue and J. Guesde, was sent by the authors to Engels on 14 May, 1889. In June 1889 it was printed in the form of a leaflet in French in Paris and in English in London, and also published in German by the newspapers Der Sozialdemokrat on 1 June and Berliner Volksblatt on 2 June. The newspaper The Star had also printed it on 14 May 1889 in the Feature The People's Post Box (in English); the circular likewise appeared in the weekly Commonweal on 8 June and also as an appendix to the pamphlet The International Working Men's Congress of 1889, II, A Reply to the 'Manifesto of the Social Democratic Federation' (see note 444).

[3] 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.

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