ENGELS TO FRIEDRICH ADOLPH SORGE
IN HOBOKEN
London, 21 November 1891
Dear Sorge,
Have had your letter of 6 and postcard of 8 November. When Adler and Bebel came over here from Brussels, the former promised me that he would send you the Vienna Arbeiter-Zeitung regularly, and the Viennese stand by their word. Now that the Austrian movement is growing in importance, I am having to keep copies of the paper myself.
Der arme Teufel caused much merriment over here. Adler took the first Adolfinade with him and I sent the second to Bebel.
It goes without saying that you should publish Marx's letters to yourself if you want to, without asking me or anyone else. As soon as your articles on the American labour movement are complete, you ought to bring them out in booklet form[1] — in Dietz's Internationale Bibliothek, say — so that they can be kept permanently together.
If you like, I could do what is necessary to set the ball rolling with Dietz. He will, of course, have to pay for the things again.
Bakunin's biography[2] received with thanks — haven't looked at it yet.
In one of my letters[3] I asked you not to send me any middle-class American reviews — I can get all the good ones over here (from Mudie's) if there's anything in them — and Tussy keeps her eyes open. On the other hand I was about to add a request when I was interrupted and thus sent off the letter as it stood; namely, that you send me from time to time individual numbers of some women's rights organ — any old one. Louise looks at such stuff from time to time in order to keep herself — and hence also me — more or less informed about that racket.
In Berlin and other cities more victories in the municipal elections — in Berlin the number of votes has trebled.[4]
The Jungen[5] have formed an association[6] and are bringing out a rag, Der Sozialist — impertinent and silly. Nothing but tittle-tattle and lies. True, they would be easier to combat if Liebknecht didn't make so many blunders and edit the Vorwärts so deplorably.
So Mrs Schlüter intends to come back after all! Just as we thought. In this country, too, we have scored sundry little victories in the municipal elections; in West Ham (it's called WEST BECAUSE EAST OF THE EAST END), Will Thorne, secretary of the Gasworkers Union and a really splendid chap, was elected, etc., etc.
Warm regards to your wife[7] and yourself from
Your
F. Engels
- ↑ Between 1890 and 1895 Sorge published a series of articles on the US working-class movement over the period 1830-94 in Neue Zeit. They were to be put out in book form. This edition never materialised.
- ↑ This refers to the series of articles headlined 'Zur Biographie Bakunins' which appeared in the anarchist newspaper Freiheit, Nos 1-10 and 12-16; 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 January, 7, 14, 21 and 28 February, 7, 21 and 28 March and 4, 11 and 18 April 1891. Sorge advised Engels of the publication of the series in his letter of 9 October 1891 and later, at Engels' request, sent him all the relevant issues of Freiheit. The Bakunin biography was published under the signature **. In Sorge's opinion, the author was a Russian anarchist.
- ↑ See this volume, p. 264.
- ↑ On 7 November 1891 elections to the City Assembly were held in Berlin. In the first round the Social-Democrats retained their three seats and won another three. In the runoff, on 15 December, they gained a seventh seat.
- ↑ The Erfurt Congress of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany met from 14 to 21 October 1891. It was attended by 258 delegates. The congress was preceded by a sharp ideological struggle between the party's revolutionary hard core and the Right- and Left-wing opportunists, who had stepped up their activities and created the atmosphere of a party crisis in German Social-Democracy. There had been sharp debates at meetings and in the press on the party's programme and tactics, set off by the public pronouncements of Georg von Vollmar, leader of the Bavarian Social-Democrats, who sought to impose an opportunist reformist tactics and lead the party away from class proletarian positions (see Note 270). Vollmar's campaign provided a pretext for fresh attacks on the party (summer and autumn 1891) by the Jungen, a petty-bourgeois semi-anarchist opposition group within German Social-Democracy formed in 1890. Their stronghold being the Social-Democratic organisation of Berlin, they were also known as the Berlin opposition. The group's specific character was determined by students and young literati claiming the role of the party's theoreticians and leaders. Foremost among them were Paul Ernst, Hans Müller, Paul Kampffmeyer, Bruno Wille, Karl Wilderberger and Wilhelm Werner. The Jungen ignored the fact that the repeal of the Anti-Socialist Law had changed the conditions the party was operating in. They denied the need to employ legal forms of struggle, opposed Social-Democracy's participation in parliamentary elections and use of the parliamentary platform and demagogically accused the party and its Executive of protecting the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, of opportunism and of violating party democracy. The leaders of the Berlin opposition levelled especially fierce attacks at the party's leaders — Bebel and Liebknecht. The sectarian anarchist activities of the Jungen held a grave danger to the party's unity. The paramount task facing the Erfurt Congress was to overcome the crisis in the party and consolidate its ranks. The congress discussed the report of the party Executive, the activities of Social-Democratic deputies in the Reichstag, the party's tactics, the draft of its new programme, and various organisational questions. The ideological struggle continued at the congress too, especially over party tactics. A report on this issue was presented by Bebel. He — in his report and speeches — as well as other speakers (above all Singer, Liebknecht and Fischer) gave a resolute rebuff both to the Left and to the Right opportunist elements. By a majority vote the congress endorsed Bebel's draft resolution on tactics. It pointed out that the main objective of the working-class movement was the conquest of political power by the proletariat and that this end would be attained not through a chance concatenation of circumstances but through persevering work with the masses and skillful employment of every form and method of proletarian class struggle. The resolution emphasised that the German Social-Democratic Party was a fighting party employing the traditional revolutionary tactics. Vollmar and his supporters, finding themselves in isolation, were forced to retreat. The congress expelled two leaders of the Jungen — Werner and Wilderberger — from the party for their splitting activities and slander; a number of other Jungen leaders announced their resignation from the party and walked out of the congress. The main achievement of the congress was the adoption of a new programme for German Social-Democracy. A report on it was presented by Liebknecht. The Erfurt Programme being essentially Marxist, was an important step forward compared with the Gotha Programme. The Lassallean reformist dogmas had been dropped. The new programme scientifically substantiated the inevitability of the collapse of capitalism and its replacement with socialism, and pointed out that, in order to be able to restructure society along socialist lines, the proletariat must win political power. At the same time, the programme had serious shortcomings, the principal one being its failure to state that the dictatorship of the proletariat was the instrument of the socialist transformation of society. Also missing were propositions concerning the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a democratic republic, the remoulding of Germany's political system and other important matters. In this respect, the criticisms made by Engels in A Critique of the Draft Social-Democratic Programme of 1891 (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 217-34) also apply to the version of the programme adopted in Erfurt. The resolutions of the Erfurt congress showed that Marxism had firmly taken root in Germany's working-class movement.
- ↑ On 20 October 1891 Karl Wilderberger and Wilhelm Werner — leaders of the Jungen expelled from the party at the Erfurt Congress (see Note 301) — called a meeting in Berlin. Since the Berlin party leaders refusing to co-operate with this opposition group were at the congress, the two considered this an opportune moment for an attempt to win the support of the Berlin party organisation and have it condemn the decision of the congress. When news of their activities reached Erfurt (a telegram had been sent from Berlin and read out at the congress), the Berlin delegates sent a letter to Berlin protesting against the decisions of the congress being discussed before its conclusion. The letter, signed by Theodor Metzner, was published under the heading 'An die Parteigenossen Berlins!' in Vorwärts, No. 246, 21 October 1891. On 8 November the Berlin opposition called another meeting at which it constituted itself the Union of Independent Socialists (1891-94). Its organ was Der Sozialist, which appeared from 1891 to 1899. In the summer of 1893 the newspaper was taken over by the anarchists.
- ↑ Katharina Sorge