| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 12 February 1893 |
ENGELS TO LAURA LAFARGUE
AT LE PERREUX
London, 12 February 1893
My dear Löhr,
Glad indeed I was to see your handwriting otherwise than outside an Intransigeant or a Figaro, and I reply at once, as today Sunday I have a few minutes free and tomorrow I shall have to rush off again into the jungle of Banks, Credit, moneyed capital, rate of interest, in order to finish off Das Kapital, book III, chapters 30-36. It is—this section V—as good as finished as far as real difficulties are concerned, but it wants a good deal of 'finishing' in the literary sense: arranging, weeding out repetitions etc. This I hope to settle in 8-10 days, then come Sections VI and VII, and then—the end. My correspondence in the meantime is suspended and my rack is full, cram-full of unanswered letters from all quarters, reaching from Rome to New York and from Petersburg to Texas; so if I snatch a moment to write to you, it's only because it's you and no one else.
Louise[1] sent you a letter of seven pages rather more than a week ago—have you really never received that? Please inquire, we will do the same here.
Yes, the Arbeiterinnen-Zeitung you will like. It has a healthy proletarian character in it—including the literary imperfections—which contrasts very agreeably with all the rest of the women's papers. And you may well be proud of it, for you too are one of its Mamas!
I am sorry to hear about Paul's continued unsatisfactory health—has he not yet got rid of that infernal taenia? Surely there is plenty of Filix Mas or Kousso[2] to be had in Paris to drive it out, even without a regular siege. Of course as long as he nurses it, he will not get well, the beast will eat him up. And why in the name of goodness does he not speak? Nobody out of France can make it out that he and others allow this splendid opportunity to slip out of their hands. I can very well understand that the harum-scarum lot of so-called Socialist deputies does not want him to speak, they all pull in different directions and play each his own game, and they know that Paul, once in the tribune, would be unaccountable and uncontrollable by them, but from our point of view that is the very reason why he should speak. Are the Socialists, just before the elections, by their silence to create the suspicion that they are no better than the Panamitards and have reasons of their own to screen them and to hush the whole thing up? In Italy that is the case, the couple of men elected in the Romagna (as Socialists) are in the hands of the government through the subventions paid by the latter to the so-called cooperative societies directed by the former, and which subventions as likely as not come out of the coffers of the Banca Romana. That accounts for their silence. But in France!?! I can assure you, this unaccountable silence has not raised the respect in which the French Socialists are held abroad. Of course, Brousse and Co. have had their share out of the secret funds furnished by Panama—but is not that a reason more for our people to speak out? Formerly à la guerre comme à la guerre was a French proverb, is it still so?
According to Mother Crawford, the severe sentences on the Lesseps and Co. are mere dust thrown into the eyes of the gogos[3] —the Court of Cassation will quench them, on the ground that the Prinet instruction did not interrupt prescription, and that therefore the délits en question sont prescrits.[4] If that turns out to be the case, then it means that the 'knowing ones', ceux qui ont touché[5] are bold enough to tell all France that she is a gogo all over. That would be se moquer du monde[6] with a vengeance.
Well, I hope the popular wrath will be roused at last, and vengeance taken. It's getting time.
Bebel shall send you his speech of the 3rd February in the Stenogramm. It is really splendid, and you may find it very useful for the Socialiste. Our people have had the Reichstag all to themselves for a fortnight. First the Notstandsdebatte,[7] 3 days, and all parties, from the government downwards, imploring our men to use their power to smooth matters down with the striking colliers, etc. Then the colossal blunder of the bourgeois to provoke our people to a debate on the future organisation of society—this lasted five days!—the first time the subject has been discussed in any parliament. And only three speakers on our side at all—Bebel spoke twice, Frohme and Liebknecht—and the bourgeois had to leave us the last word and give it up in despair (for we could stop the clôture[8] by a simple count out, there never being the quorum of 201 present).
While you were flooded I was 'dying'—according to the papers. Last Tuesday week[9] a telegram from Vienna: was I actually off? Then one from Dresden; at 5 in the morning, knock up, one from New York. This went on for a couple of days more until we found out that almost all Berlin papers had a paragraph, I was in einem so hochgradigen Kräfteverlust, dass mein Ableben stündlich erwartet wurde.[10] Who invented this rubbish I can't make out. Anyhow, he be damned.
Love from Louise, and from
Ever yours,
F. Engels
To Paul: Exeat taenia[11] !
Sam Moore left again for the Niger 28th January.