Letter to Karl Kautsky, September 26, 1892

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 26 September 1892


First published in Aus der Frühzeit des Marxismus. Engels Briefwechsel mil Kautsky, Prag 1935
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO KARL KAUTSKY

IN STUTTGART

London, 26 September 1892

Dear Baron,

Herewith what I consider to be indispensable amendments[1] to the two passages.[2]

I. As regards the adoption on the last day of a resolution to attend the Zurich Congress[3] ' after all, I have neither read anything to that effect, nor have I heard anything from Aveling who was present. Something of the kind is said to have appeared in the Daily Telegraph but this cannot be ascertained today. Aveling, who was intending to come here, has not so far, 4.40, turned up, so I am unable to ask him. The report in the Daily News says nothing of the kind. Nor does that in the Workman's Times. Bebel may have seen something of the sort in the Frankfurter.b Consequently, I think it might be safest to qualify the passage as you have done.

II. It is true that a meeting of people describing themselves as the INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY took place in Glasgow under the chairmanship of Keir Hardie. It is, however, the INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY which Burgess (Autolycus) of the Workman's Times is attempting to constitute off his own bat, and in no sense a genuine, recognised party like, say, our own in Germany or Austria; rather it is a sect like the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION 29 with which it is in competition. Bebel was probably misled by Keir Hardie's name into taking the thing more seriously than it deserved. But Keir Hardie is a Scot and his diplomacy is too canny by half; moreover he has an urge to make the most of his new position as M. P. (thereby occasionally making a fool of himself) but will probably turn out well once he's had a chance to sow his wild oats. To my mind he is better than he seems to be just now.

I shall write to Bebel[4] about this, in fact shall do so now. More anon. Ede should be back tomorrow or on Wednesday. Your commissions shall be carried out.

Your

F.E.

  1. ↑ See this volume, pp. 545 46. Frankfurter Leitung und Handelsblatt
  2. ↑ In his letter of 24 September 1892 Kautsky asked Engels to elucidate several passages in an article on the Glasgow Trades Union Congress (see Note 540), written by Bebel for Neue Zeit. The article was published under the headline 'Ein internationaler Kongreß für den Achtstundentag' in Die Neue Zeit, 11. Jg., 1892/93, 1. Bd., Nr. 2. Engels' remarks had been taken into account.
  3. ↑ This probably refers to Edward Aveling's article 'The New Era in German Socialism' in The Daily Chronicle and Clerkenwell News, No. 8903, 25 September 1890, which contained excerpts from Engels' article 'What Now?', published in the last issue of the Sozialdemokrat (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 7-10). Aveling's interview with Eduard Bernstein was published in The Star, No. 832, 29 September 1890, under the heading 'Germany Flooded with Papers from Kentish Town.— A Talk with the Editor'.
  4. ↑ See this volume, pp. 543 47. b Karlovy Vary ' Julius Motteler