| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 7 March 1890 |
ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE
AT LE PERREUX
London, 7 March, 1890
My dear Lafargue,
Election time[1] is over at last. Impossible to do anything amidst such a commotion, such comings and goings and perpetual running of errands. But never mind, for once it's all been worth while. Our working men have made the German Emperor[2] travailler pour le roi de Prusse[3] and have sent the Gaulois reporter out to Le Perreux.[4]
The worthy William is first and foremost an emperor. One cannot, as you seem to suppose, send a Bismarck packing as simply as all that. Only give the quarrel time to come to a head. William can no more part company so abruptly from the man who compelled the younger man's grandfather[5] to turn himself into a panjandrum, than can Bismarck from the same William whom he, Bismarck, has accustomed to seeing himself as a Frederick II. But there is one thing, and one thing only, upon which both will be agreed, and that is to open fire on the Socialists at the earliest opportunity. On all other matters, divergence, and later on, an open breach.
The 20th February marks the beginning of the revolution in Germany,[6] and that is why it is our duty not to let ourselves be prematurely crushed. As yet only one soldier out of four or five is ours—on a war footing, maybe one in three. We are making headway in rural areas, witness the elections in Schleswig-Holstein and, more especially, in Mecklenburg, not to mention the eastern provinces of Prussia.[7] In three or four years' time we shall have won over the farm labourers and hired hands, in other words the staunchest supporters of the status quo, and then Prussia will cease to exist. That is why we must, for the time being, advocate lawful action, and not respond to the provocations they will lavish upon us. For short of a blood-letting, and a pretty rigorous one at that, there will be no saving either for William or Bismarck.
These two stalwarts, it is said, are in a blue funk and have no settled plan, while Bismarck is kept pretty busy combatting the innumerable court intrigues of which he is the object.
The petit bourgeois parties will muster on common ground, namely fear of Socialists. But they are no longer the parties they were. The ice is cracking and will soon begin to break up.
As for Russia, she will yet need many millions from France before she is fit to go to war. Her army is equipped with weapons that are completely out of date, and there is still some doubt as to whether Russian soldiers should or should not be issued with repeating rifles; the Russians are extremely steady when fighting in massed formations— which, however, is no longer done; as sharp-shooters they are useless and totally lacking in personal initiative. Besides, where find the officers for all these men in a country without a bourgeoisie?
The April and May numbers of Die Neue Zeit and Time will carry articles of mine on Russian foreign policy.[8] We over here are trying to wean the English Liberals from Gladstone's Russophilia; the time is ripe, for the unheard-of cruelties perpetrated on political prisoners in Siberia[9] have made it almost impossible for the Liberals to continue in this strain. Aren't they talking of it in France? But your bourgeoisie has grown almost as stupid and rotten as in Germany.
As for Time, it is not a Socialist review, quite the contrary; Bax quails at the very thought of the word 'socialism' appearing in its pages. By not replying to his 'reply paid' telegram you have drawn down upon youself his sovereign displeasure. But it would be a mistake for you to take offence as he has done. Time could not carry an article signed Lafargue too often. Nor could it possibly take one that had appeared in the Nouvelle Revue} just as Mme Adam would not take it if it had already appeared in Time. And as for an arrangement that would ensure simultaneous publication, would Mme Adam really lend herself to that? Do try and be reasonable. The article has been placed with her and in her company it will make a world tour.
Aveling and Tussy intend to publish one article a month by a foreigner. The English public would stomach no more and, since you had had an article in the February number,[10] this gave Bax an excuse to reject a second one, the more so since, a few months from now, nobody will be talking about Huxley's attack on Rousseau. And all this, just because you failed to send the 'reply paid'! It's piffling, but that's Bax all over!
Poor Laura! Let's hope she has no further dealings with Castelar. He's a man I find as repellent as I did the handsome Simon von Trier in 1848 whose conversation was wholly made up of SCRAPS taken from Schiller and of whom the Frankfurt Jewesses, young and old, were all enamoured. Thank you for Iglesias's letter which I shall return in my next. The man Back is a German Russian from the Baltic provinces who, some ten years ago in Geneva, used to bring out a Baltic review[11] (in German) and whom old Becker, for want of anyone better, attempted to convert to Socialism. He has also sent an article to Kautsky on the Spanish party he himself invented, but Kautsky gave me the MS without having printed it. What cheek—a Balto-pseudo-Russian, putting himself at the head of a Spanish party consisting of three officers and no men!
I had wanted to add something about Laura's dogs, but it's already five o'clock and the new G O N G (a present from Aveling) is summoning us to dinner. Between Laura and Nim, duty pulls in two directions, but my stomach joins in the fray and settles the matter. Nim might scold me, and Laura is far away.
Good wishes to you both,
F. E.