Letter to August Bebel, May 9, 1890

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 9 May 1890


Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48


ENGELS TO AUGUST BEBEL

IN PLAUEN NEAR DRESDEN

London, 9 May 1890

Dear Bebel,

Thank you for your news from Zurich—I am glad that we should have arrived at the same opinion in regard to this point too.[1] Your corroboration was of particular importance to me, the likes of us being so dependent in matters of this sort upon conclusions that are inade- quately founded as to feel reluctant to use those unreliable conclusions as a basis for further inferences, let alone actions, without corroboration from an authoritative quarter.

My hearty congratulations to you and your wife on your daughter's engagement.[2] The fact that it will eventually mean her emigrating to America is certainly most unpleasant for you, though for me it might have the agreeable consequence of our some day making a trip together across the Atlantic. What do you feel about it? I am firmly convinced that you would get over your sea-sickness within 2 or 3 days and quite possibly for good and all. And a sea voyage of that kind is an invaluable antidote to wear and tear—even now, almost two years later, I can still feel the beneficial effects of my jaunt. Moreover, Zadek claims to have discovered a sure remedy for sea-sickness (anti-pyrin is said to be excel- lent) and, according to medical opinion, only 2 or 3 per cent of all human beings are unable to get used to the motion within 2 or 3 days. So consider the matter.

If you find my article[3] wanting in logic, the fault lies probably more with me than with Bios. To compress such a lengthy and complex matter into less than 2 printed sheets is a difficult feat and I am aware that there are all too many passages in which the thread gets lost and the reasoning is inadequate. In the event of my going into the subject—which is of the greatest importance to us—in rather more detail, some critical notes from you would be very welcome indeed just brief indications as to where you lost the thread and bow you think it got snarled up.

Well, no doubt the bourgeoisie will everywhere have had time enough to sweat out the fear inspired in them by the First of May and to wash the linen they dirtied in consequence. The Daily News correspondent in Berlin, one of the most vociferous Jeremiahs, complained on the First of May that the workers had made April fools of all and sundry, nor, until 4 days later, did the truth dawn on him that, despite the workers having insistently declared beforehand that all they wanted was a peaceable demonstration, no one had believed them.

You did perfectly right in so arranging things as to preclude the possi- bility of clashes. After 20 February[4] there is no longer any need for the German workers merely to kick up a row. Under the circumstances Germany was bound to make a more modest showing on the First of May than the others did, and no one thought the worse of you for that, either here or in France. But there is, I think, one lesson to be drawn from the Schippel business,[5] namely the need to ensure that, next time there's an interregnum between the general elections and the convoca- tion of the Reichstag, the leadership of the parliamentary group is either empowered to continue functioning as before, or is expressly reinstated in office by the newly elected representatives for the period of the inter- regnum. It could then confidently intervene and also act, if necessary, while the gentlemen in Berlin, who would like to behave Paris-fashion, as though they were natural party leaders, would not be given the opportunity of throwing their weight about prematurely. Always providing that, after 1 October,[6] the organisation stays as it is.

Over here the demonstration on 4 May[7] was quite overwhelming, as the entire bourgeois press actually had to admit. I was on platform 4 (a heavy goods waggon) and could only see part—a fifth, say, or an eighth—of the crowd, but it was one vast sea of faces, as far as the eye could reach. Between 250,000 and 300,000 people, about 3/4 of them demonstrating workers. Aveling, Lafargue and Stepniak spoke from my platform—I was just an onlooker. Lafargue, with his mixture of south- ern vivacity and excellent English—if spoken with a strong French accent—elicited a storm of applause. So did Stepniak, while Ede, who was on the same platform as Tussy, was accorded a stunning reception. Each of the 7 platforms was 150 metres away from the next, the last ones being 150 metres from the edge of the park,[8] so that our meeting (the one in favour of international legal enforcement of an 8 hours working day)

  1. ↑ Replying to Engels on 9 April 1890 Bebel said he subscribed to Engels' opinion about the psychological condition of Emperor William II.
  2. ↑ Frieda Bebel
  3. ↑ F. Engels, The Foreign Policy of Russian Tsardom
  4. ↑ Another regular election to the German Reichstag was scheduled for 20 February 1890 (see note 612). Eventually the Social Democratic candidates polled 1,427,298 votes or nearly 20 per cent of the total ballots cast. The Social Democrats could thus claim 35 seats in the Reichstag, which meant an astounding victory for the party.
  5. ↑ Late in March 1890 a group of Berlin Social Democrats, Max Schippel among them, promulgated an appeal under the heading 'Was soil am 1 Mai geschehen?' in which it urged workmen to stage a general strike on that day. This appeal epitomised the position of the 'Young' - petty bourgeois, semianarchist oppositional group within German Social Democracy that took shape in 1890. This group was led by college students and raw litterati (hence the name of the opposition, the 'Young') who would arrogate to themselves the role of the party's theoreticians and leaders - such men as Paul Ernst, Paul Kampfmeyer, Hans Muller, Prune Wille among others. Ignoring the changed situation for the party's activity after the repeal of thnti-Socialist Law (see note 52), the 'Young' denied the legal forms of struggle and opposed Social Democrats taking part in the Reichstag elections and making use of the Reichstag as a political tribune; they would demagogically accuse the party and its Executive of promoting the interests of the petty bourgeoisie and of opportunism, of violating democracy within the party ranks. In October 1891 the Erfurt Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany expelled some of the opposition leaders from the party.
  6. ↑ The Anti-Socialist law (Gesetz gegen die gemeingefahrlichen Bestrebungen der Sozialdemokratie) was introduced by the Bismarck government, with the support of the majority of the Reichstag, on 21 October 1878, as a means of combating the socialist and working-class movement. It imposed a ban on all Social Democratic and working-class organisations and on the socialist and workers' press; socialist literature was subject to confiscation, and Social Democrats to reprisals. However, under the Constitution, the Social Democratic Party retained its group in parliament. By combining underground activities with the use of legal possibilities, in particular by working to overcome reformist and anarchist tendencies in its own ranks, the party was able to consolidate and expand its influence among the masses. Marx and Engels gave the party leaders considerable help. Under the pressure of the mass working-class movement the Anti-Socialist Law was repealed (1 October 1890). For Engels' characterisation of the law see his article 'Bismarck and the German Workers Party' (present edition, Vol. 24, pp407-09).
  7. ↑ A reference to the first May Day demonstration of London workers held on Sunday, 4 May 1890. Despite the attempts of reformist trade union leaders and Henry Hyndman, a Socialist with opportunist leanings, to foist class collaborationist slogans on the demonstration, it showed the readiness of the broadest masses of London workers to wage a struggle for socialist demands. The bulk of the demonstrators - about 200,000 strong -supported the slogans of the British supporters of Marx. Playing the chief role in the demonstration were Gas Workers and the London Dockers, who were the first to launch a struggle in the 1880s for 'new' mass trade unions to be set up (see note 489) and for legal eight hours. The demonstration culminated in a huge rally in London's Hyde Park. For more detail about the first May Day celebration and the demonstration of May 4 in London, see Engels' article 'May 4 in London' (present edition, Vol. 27).
  8. ↑ Hyde Park