| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 3 January 1895 |
ENGELS TO LUDWIG SCHORLEMMER
IN DARMSTADT
London, 3 January 1895
41 Regent's Park Road, N. W.
Dear Schorlemmer,
I have not yet thanked you for your kind good wishes on my birthday and for your New Year's card, my response in each case being a resounding Happy New Year.
Here, too, all manner of changes have since taken place. At the beginning of last year Mrs Kautsky married Dr Freyberger, a young Viennese physician resident in this country, and we decided that, as we all wanted to remain together, we should take a larger house, one such being available close by. Hardly had we moved in and got things in order than Mrs Freyberger was delivered of a baby girl; mother and child are fit and well. Last summer Pumps and family also returned to London. Her husband's[1] business in the Isle of Wight was not doing particularly well and he therefore wants to try his luck again here.
Carl's book Rise and Progress 313 was also sent to me not long ago. Volume I (re-edited by two young chemists[2] ) of the big text-book published in collaboration with Roscoe has come out. 311 In view of the usual terms governing payment for such works, it is unlikely that Carl's heirs will receive much, if anything at all.
Even though the Party Conference in Frankfurt 418 proved a somewhat feeble affair by comparison with its predecessors, mainly because Vollmar and the Bavarians literally caught the other deputies napping with their Bavarian ultimatum,[3] while the latter, fearing the possibility of a split, failed to reach a decision on the most important issues, the stupidity of our opponents will nevertheless help us overcome all these little tribulations. Not content with the Subversion Bill, 428 those men of genius must needs institute proceedings against Liebknecht on account of a spot of bother in the Reichstag, 436 i.e. actually make us the champions of the constitutional rights of the Reichstag! And it was precisely this new conflict that provided us with the opportunity of bringing the Berlin beer boycott to a victorious conclusion, 458 a victory which has made a great impression abroad and especially here in England, For despite their seventy years of publicly organised trade clubs and considerable freedom of association, the workers over here are very far from securing the kind of court of arbitration that was successfully fought for in Berlin. In the words of one paper:
'Kaiser William would do well to reflect on the fact that the men who have got the better of a beer barrel will also get the better of a sceptre.'
And that was our doing. In Germany there are now only two people whose speeches command general attention—the Kaiser William and August Bebel. His last speech was brilliant, but it must be read in the original transcript. 461
Though I am again in good health, I realise, of course, that 74 isn't 47 and that I can no longer make so free with food, drink, etc. Nor am I as hardy as in the past. But I am nevertheless still perfectly robust for my age and trust I shall live to see this and that, especially if, as seems distinctly probable, the gentlemen in Berlin decide to engage in a slight tussle with the Constitution. 462 The Prussian Junkers are quite capable of bringing about a situation in which the Social Democrats will be compelled to act as the defenders of the Imperial Constitution against a body of Junkers who not only infringe that Constitution but are intent on staging a coup d'état. That will suit us admirably. Let's have at 'em. Many regards from
Yours
F. Engels