| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 27 July 1893 |
ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT
IN BERLIN
Eastbourne, 27 July 1893
Dear Liebknecht,
The day after tomorrow, i.e. the 30th of this month, is your and your wife's Silver Wedding and so I am writing to send you my very best wishes on this joyous occasion. May it find you both in excellent shape and be a day of unalloyed pleasure and may you be granted a life of health and happiness for the 25 years that remain until your Golden Wedding.
Whenever a festive occasion of this kind comes the way of one of us old comrades in arms, it takes our thoughts back to the old days, to the old battles and assaults, to the defeats at the beginning and the eventual victories we have experienced together, and we rejoice that in our advancing years we have not been destined to remain in the self-same breach—after all, we have long since gone over from the defence to a general attack— but rather to advance together in the same line of battle. Yes, old man, many are the assaults we have been in together and I hope we'll be in more of them to come including, if all goes well, the one which, if it does not bring the final victory, will nevertheless make that victory a foregone conclusion. Fortunately both of us can keep our spirit up and both of us are spry for our age, so why shouldn't we manage to do so?
Bebel will be giving you and your wife on our behalf—Louise Kautsky's and mine—a small memento of your celebration, which I trust you will kindly accept and remember us by.
With cordial regards and good wishes from
Your
F. Engels