Letter to Friedrich Adolph Sorge, October 24, 1891

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 24 October 1891


First published abridged in Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von Joh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906 and in full in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVIII, Moscow, 1940
Printed according to the original
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO FRIEDRICH ADOLPH SORGE

IN HOBOKEN

London, 24 October 1891

Dear Sorge,

I have in front of me your letters of 15 September and 2 and 9 October.

As regards Barondess' decamping (presumably with the funds?), perhaps you could send me some further details just in case the little man turns up here.

For heaven's sake do me a kindness and stop supplying me regularly with any American monthlies. I am dying to be able to read a book again; despite the fact that I can only take a proper look at 1/3 of the newspapers that arrive here, they swallow up all my time — but the movement is now so huge and one must, after all, remain au courant. On the other hand, please send me...[1]

That the movement is again in the doldrums over there I can readily believe. With you people it's one long succession of great UPS AND DOWNS. But with each UP you ultimately gain ground so that in the end it represents an advance. Thus the tremendous onward surge achieved by the KNIGHTS OF LABOR and by the wave of STRIKES between 1886 and 1888 did on the whole, and despite all setbacks, spell advancement for us. For, after all, the masses are stirring in a way they have never done before. Next time even more ground will be gained. But none the less the standard of living of the NATIVE AMERICAN WORKING-MAN is notably higher even than that of his English counterpart and this alone is enough to put him out of the running for some time to come. Again, there is the competition from immigrants and other factors besides. When the time comes over there, things will move with tremendous speed and dynamism, but that may not be for some while yet. Miracles never happen. And, in addition, there's the unfortunate business of your supercilious Germans who, wishing to double the role of schoolmaster with that of commanding officer, discourage the natives from learning even the best they have to offer.

I shall send the money to the Socialiste as soon as I know who it's for; Lafargue is in jug, as you know; I have not yet had an answer.

The Entwicklung des Sozialismus[2] translated by Aveling and edited by me, is to appear over here in English (in Sonnenschein's Social Series); this authorised translation will pretty well neutralise the pirated American edition which has been done into quite execrable English. And the thing isn't even complete — what they found too difficult they simply left out.

Needless to say, Mother Wischnewetzky gladly consented to Sonnenschein's publishing the Condition, etc.[3] in her translation. The fee, however, is to go to Mrs Foster-Amery. Cela m'est bien égal.[4] For the rest, she seems really pleased to have been able to establish contact again and tells me what a rotten time they are having, etc., etc.

I should like to have Bakunin's biography; from it one could get some idea of how present-day anarchist tradition depicts that Messiah.

Letter of the 12th of this month now also received. Thanks. In Erfurt everything went off very well.[5] I shall send you the official record as soon as it comes out; Bebel says that the reports of the speeches are very garbled. The insolent Berliners of the opposition, instead of acting as prosecutors, immediately became the accused, behaved with abysmal cowardice and will now have to get along outside the party if they propose to do anything. There are quite undeniably police elements in their midst, while some are also covert anarchists who are out to surreptitiously convert our chaps; along with these are the jackasses, swollen-headed students and failed candidates, would-be bigwigs of all descriptions. Barely 200 of them all told.— Mr Vollmar likewise had to eat humble pie; the latter is far more dangerous than the former, being more cunning and tenacious as well as vain to the point of folly, and intent at all costs on playing a role. Bebel put up an excellent performance, as did Singer, Auer and Fischer (used to be on the Sozialdemokrat here, a really sterling chap, aside from being the bluntest of blunt Bavarians). To Liebknecht fell the bitter task of having to recommend Kautsky's draft programme which, with Bebel's and my support,[6] was accepted as the basis of the new programme's theoretical section. We have had the satisfaction of seeing Marx's critique[7] win all along the line. Even the last traces of Lassalleanism have been eliminated. With the exception of a few poorly written bits (though it's only the way they're put that is feeble and commonplace), there is nothing to complain of in the programme or not, at any rate, after a first reading.

You will have seen that Lafargue is standing in Lille, and will hear the result of tomorrow's election[8] long before you get this letter. If he isn't elected, he will be sure of a seat in the Departement du Nord at the coming general election.[9]

The threat of war looms larger despite the famine in Russia. The Russians want to make prompt and thorough use of the diplomatic possibilities presented by the new French alliance[10] and, although I am convinced that the Russian diplomats do not want war and that the famine would make it seem an absurdity, the military and pan-Slav currents of opinion (the latter being now supported by the very powerful industrial bourgeoisie with an eye to expanding markets) may nevertheless prevail, while in Vienna, Berlin or Paris there might also be blunders which would lead to a war. Bebel and I have been corresponding about this and are of the opinion that if the Russians start a war against us, German socialists should lash out à outrance[11] at the Russians and their allies, whoever they may be.[12] If Germany is crushed, so shall we be, while at best the struggle will be so intense that only revolutionary means will enable Germany to hold its own, and hence there is every likelihood that we may be forced to take the helm and play at 1793. Bebel made a speech to that effect in Berlin which attracted a great deal of attention in the French press.[13]

I shall try and make all this clear to the French in their own language, which won't be easy. But though I should regard it as a great misfortune if there were to be a war and it were to bring us to power prematurely, we have got to be prepared for that eventuality and I am glad that in this I have Bebel on my side, for he is by far the most efficient of our chaps.

Next week I start on Volume III.[14] Warm regards to your wife[15] and to you yourself.

Your

F.E.

  1. ↑ Engels did not finish this sentence. See this volume, p. 277.
  2. ↑ F. Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
  3. ↑ F. Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844. Translated by Florence Kelley-Wischnewetzky. London: Swan Sonnenschein and C°, 1892.
  4. ↑ It's all the same to me.
  5. ↑ In his letter to Engels of 8 September 1890 Karl Kautsky said he intended, after the Halle party congress (see Note 12), to publish in Neue Zeit a series of articles criticising the party programme adopted at the Gotha congress in 1875. The prospective authors included Engels, Bebel, Auer, Bernstein and others.
  6. ↑ See this volume, pp. 239 and 246-47.
  7. ↑ K. Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme.
  8. ↑ See this volume, p. 269.
  9. ↑ In the second round of the elections to the Chamber of Deputies in Lille, on 8 November 1891, Paul Lafargue defeated the government-backed candidate, Lucien-Hector Depassi, by 6,470 votes against 5,175. In view of Lafargue's election to the Chamber, the government was forced to release him from prison on 9 November.
  10. ↑ A French naval squadron visiting Kronstadt in July and early August 1891 was accorded an elaborately solemn welcome — a demonstration of a rapprochement between Tsarist Russia and France. At the same time, diplomatic negotiations were in progress which culminated in the signing, in August 1892, of a treaty under which France and Russia undertook to consult each other on international matters and co-operate in the event of a threat of an attack on either of them. This agreement was a landmark on the way to the final formalisation, in 1893, of the Franco-Russian alliance, set up in opposition to the Triple Alliance (see Note 303).
  11. ↑ with all their strength
  12. ↑ See this volume, pp. 242-47 and 256-59.
  13. ↑ Engels means the speech 'Die europäische Lage und der Sozialismus', which Bebel made at a meeting in Berlin's Constituency No. 4 on 5 October 1891. A report on the speech appeared in Vorwärts, No. 235, 8 October. Surveying the foreign policy of European states from the Franco-Prussian war onwards Bebel noted that his views on the matter, in particular on the policy of Russia, coincided with those of Marx and Engels. This remark was omitted in the newspaper report. In his letter to Engels of 9 October Bebel deplored the omission.
  14. ↑ of Capital
  15. ↑ Katharina Sorge