Letter to Filippo Turati, August 16, 1894

ENGELS TO FILIPPO TURATI

IN MILAN

Eastbourne, 16 August 1894

4 Royal Parade

My dear citizen Turati,

I am infinitely grateful for the trouble you have taken concerning Pasquali.^[1] Fortunately, the seccatore diprima sfera 398 ha cessato di seccare la nostra sfera.^[2] In my day they said in Milan 398 of those banished financiers who took the road to Switzerland L'è ànd à Varés^[3] : Pasquali has gone to Edinburgh, where he is probably going to try his fortune. He announced his visit colla mia moglie e col mio piccolo Marx Guglielmo,^[4] but he never came, and when one of our friends went to his lodgings, he was told that Mr Pasquali had left, with his family, for Edinburgh. Probably some 'Christian socialists', of whom there are a large number here, and someone else from a religious sect, will become interested in this interesting character. Let us wish him bon voyage!

Your bust of Marx does not have many admirers here. 400 There is too little of Marx and too much of Garibaldi in the head. Moreover, even if the bust bore a resemblance, it would be difficult to sell it outside Italy. In Paris they have just struck a rather big medallion which they are trying to sell, and in Germany, Austria and Switzerland these Marxes in plaster have multiplied to the point of being unsaleable.

Your law on suspects 401 goes further than ours of 1878, 15 and the one passed in France in 1894. 383 It entails administrative exile as in Russia. I hope, however, that this is one of those instances which will illustrate the German proverb es wird nichts so heiss gegessen wie es gekocht wird.^[5] What is certain is that, of all the countries of Europe, Italy is the one where all political ailments suffer acute inflammation: rebellion with the outright use of force on the one hand, and excessively violent reaction on the other. However, where Bismarck failed, Crispi will certainly not succeed: in the end persecution will strengthen socialism in Italy, and all that I desire is that this squall will pass without forcing you temporarily into either the hell of Eritrea or the purgatory of London.

Speaking of London, the Social Democratic Federation, 44 one of the five or six socialist sects here—it has a Marxist programme, but the tactics of an exclusive sect—has just held a congress at which two quite important resolutions were adopted. The first is characteristic of this Federation: it was proposed that the Federation should support the candidates of the Independent Labour Party 114 in the coming parliamentary elections if these candidates proclaim themselves openly to be socialist—rejected by a large majority. The Independent Party of Workers is a rival group which has also included 'the socialisation of the means of production' in its programme, and which consequently is socialist, although it does not publicise this fact, and has as its aim to secure the election of worker candidates independent from the Conservative and Liberal parties. Everyone had hoped that these two groups would join together for the elections, but no, says the Federation: either you are socialists, in which case you should join our ranks, or else you refuse to join us, and constitute a separate group, and then you are not socialists. So create a movement with such elements!

However, now for that which concerns us more nearly. After a debate in which it emphasised the fact that the congresses held in Paris, 227 Brussels 228 and Zurich 229 were not truly socialist congresses, and that it is time for the socialists to free themselves from the trade-union (corporative) element which is not socialist, the Federation has officially resolved to convene in London, in 1896, a purely socialist congress which will begin three days before the general congress in London. 392

Note that the group which is calling on the socialist world to attend a special congress which has no mandate whatever, declared at the congress I have just referred to that it had 4,500 members; but according to the secretary,^[6] last year they had 7,000 names on the membership list, so that they have lost almost as many as they have retained, and another member boasted that during the fourteen years that this organisation has existed, no less than a million members have joined and left (except for the 4,500 mentioned above).

An organisation possessing such an ability to attract (and repel), which rejects all socialist candidates save its own (note that the Independent Labour Party, in the provinces, exists in perfect harmony with the SDF!), and which also wishes to exclude the trade unions at a time when they (our largest and most promising terrain for propaganda) are probably going to declare themselves at Norwich 396 for the second time in favour of the socialisation of the means of production (adopted at Belfast in 1893) 402 and adopted again by the council of workers of London 197 in 1894—such an organisation is indeed well positioned to take the initiative on such a question.

The continental socialists, now united in all the countries, will have to judge whether or not they should agree to the convocation of a congress at which they will have to pass resolutions which will bind them in advance as regards their actions at the general congress. This could not but annoy—and quite rightly—the delegates to the main congress sent by groups which are not quite socialist. And as we know by experience that these groups, by the very fact of attending our congresses, are unconsciously drawn into the socialist lap—the English trade unions are the best proof of this—are we going to be sufficiently narrow to close this door?

You have no idea of the intrigues afoot here as regards this congress. The parliamentary committee of the Trade Union Congress 28 wishes, so it is said, to take control of our congress in order to transform it into a trade union congress pure and simple, like the one held here in 1888, 403 and about which C. Lazzari could tell you certain things. Naturally, on the continent the response to this attempt will be bursts of laughter. However, the Social Democratic Federation would seem to have taken these rumours seriously, and wishes to take advantage of them so that it can take control of the congress and turn it into a separate event. As the resolution adopted by the SDF is official and has been published, one can discuss it in the press. However, it would be better not to lend it too much importance, as it is clearly an attempt to see which way the wind is blowing, and will become important only if there then come steps to carry it through, a circular letter of invitation, etc., etc.

Greetings to you and Mme Anna from Mme Freyberger and myself,

Yours,

F.E.

Please consider this letter as private and confidential.