| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 30 August 1892 |
ENGELS TO VICTOR ADLER
IN LUNZ
Ryde, 30 August 1892
Dear Victor,
I was unable to reply yesterday to all the points in your letter, part- ly because there was no room on the page, partly because I had no time — our mid-day meal is at 2 and the post goes at 3. But now that sweet, impatient Oberdöbling[1] has sent me a postcard pestering me for a letter, I can write to you today about the rest.
What you say about tactics is only too true. 559 But there are all too many who, for convenience sake and to save themselves the trouble of racking their brains, would like to carry on indefinitely employing tactics that are appropriate only to the moment. We don't fashion our tactics out of nothing, but out of changing circumstances. In our present situation we must all too often allow our opponents to dictate them to us.
You are also right about the Independents. 560 I still recall the years — at the time I was still corresponding officially with Liebk- necht— when I had to engage in a ceaseless struggle against the all- pervading, typically German petty bourgeois mentality. By and large we are safely over that in Imperial Germany, but as for the petty bourgeois in the parliamentary group, what a crew! — and more and more keep on arriving. In circumstances such as these a workers' party has no choice other than between the working man who is promptly made to suffer for it, in which case he readily deteriorates into a party pensioner, and the petty bourgeois who, though self- supporting, brings discredit on the party. And by comparison with them your Independent is a pearl beyond price.
What you say about the rapid industrial advance of Austria and Hungary has pleased me immensely. That is the only solid basis for the advancement of our movement. And it is also the only good as- pect of protectionism — at any rate in the case of most of the conti- nental countries and of America. Large-scale industry, big capitalists and large masses of the proletarians are being artificially nurtured, the centralisation of capital is being speeded up and the middle classes destroyed. In Germany protective tariffs were, in fact, unne- cessary, having been introduced at the precise moment when Ger- many was establishing herself in the world market and it is that pro- cess which they have disrupted, though to make up for it they have filled a number of gaps in German industry which would otherwise have long remained unfilled and, were Germany to be compelled to sacrifice her protective tariffs to her position in the world market, she would be far better able to compete than hitherto. Both in Germany and in America protective tariffs are now simply a hindrance because they hinder those countries from taking their proper place in the world market. In America, therefore, they are bound to be aban- doned before long and Germany is bound to follow suit.
By promoting your industry, however, you will be doing England a service; the more quickly her domination of the world market is ut- terly destroyed, the sooner will the workers over here come to power. Continental and American competition (and likewise Indian) has fi- nally precipitated a crisis in Lancashire, the first of its consequences being the prompt conversion of the workers to the eight-hour day.[2]
Cooperation with the Czechs is necessary also from the political viewpoint. These people live in the middle of Germany, we are linked to them as they are to us, and it is in the interests of us all not to let them turn into a young Czech-cum-Russian-cum-pan-Slav preserve. True, there are means of coping even with that in the long run, but it is better to be safe than sorry. And since these people can get any- thing out of us they may need or want quoad[3] national autonomy on Czech territory, there is in fact no danger. (As you see, in none of this do I take any account of their temporary political separation from Germany.)
I return to London next week; although I'm better today, it is nevertheless unlikely that anything will come of my trip to Berlin.
Many regards to everyone on the editorial staff.[4]
Your
F.E.