Letter to Johann Philipp Becker, June 14, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 14 June 1872


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVI, Moscow, 1935
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO JOHANN PHILIPP BECKER

IN GENEVA

London, 14 June 1872

Dear old Friend,

We are not entirely in agreement with your calculations about the Congress. The Jurassians with their well-known manoeuvres, for example, and the Italians would certainly send close to 30 delegates on their own, if not 50. But unfortunately that is the least of our worries at the moment. What makes it impossible to hold the Congress in Switzerland this year is the unfortunate and quite unnecessary division between the German- and French- speaking Swiss workers which occurred on the revision of the Constitution[1] —a rift that has given the Jurassians such a wonderful opportunity to rejoice and solemnly expatiate on the superiority of their policy of abstention.[2] We here cannot help thinking that the two sides are equally to blame. The revised Swiss Constitution was at most no more than an extremely moderate bourgeois step forward. While, on the one hand, it forced the barbarians of the original cantons to bestir themselves a little, on the other hand, it could act as a brake to the most progressive cantons and in particular Geneva, which—as an industrial city which is also an autonomous republic—is in an exceptionally well-favoured position, since it would place them under the control of the overall Swiss peasant majority. So depending on the locality there was something to be said both for and against the revision; my personal sympathies were, if anything, for rather than against. But it is certain that the whole business was not worth the trouble of creating a dispute within the International and of giving the Jurassians the opportunity to crow: Look we savages are the better human beings, nous nous abstenons,[3] while the others quarrel over trifles and so prove that all politics are of the devil.—We are very well aware how things work in a place like Geneva, which is, after all, still pretty small, and in Switzerland as a whole for that matter, where everyone knows everyone else personally and so every political movement assumes the form of gossip and intrigue.

So we do not take the whole thing too seriously and are convinced that proletarian sentiments will once more gain the upper hand in a short time and put everything back on an even keel. But as I said, it does unfortunately make it impossible to hold the Congress in Geneva, and so we are thinking now of Holland.[4]

Utin, who is a fine fellow for all this (even though a Russian is, of course, neither a Frenchman nor a German), will be better off for being away from the local Genevan cliques. Incidentally, I have written as much to him in a letter,[5] saying that we are by no means of his opinion on the subject of federalism as he has been preaching it in the Egalité.[6] But all these questions are secondary and our real battle-field lies quite elsewhere. I hope to hear soon that you two non-Swiss will have forgotten your local Swiss quarrels and have got together to drown your sorrows in Yvorne or Cortaillod. Think of the hue and cry there would have been throughout the Swiss Federal Assembly if you two had proposed to them the liberation of the workers by the workers themselves!

Vaillant is well enough up to now and so is Frankel—who is even better than well since he is of a very amorous nature. I saw Jung yesterday and he seems to have recovered from the rheumatism that plagued him 18 months ago. Marx is also significantly improved on last winter, but is very busy with the 2nd German edition[7] and the French translation of Capital.[8] which is coming out now. The Russian edition has appeared and is very good. As for the Russians in general, there is an enormous difference between those who came to Europe earlier on—noble, aristocratic Russians, among whom we must include Herzen and Bakunin and who are swindlers to the last man—and those who are coming now, all of whom are of the people. As far as talent and character are concerned, some of these are absolutely among the very best in our party. They have a stoicism, a strength of character and at the same time a grasp of theory which are truly admirable.

What is the title of your new, as yet embryonic, work?[9]

Fraternally yours,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ On 12 May 1872 a plebiscite rejected the government draft bill under which the Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, adopted on 12 September 1848, was to be revised. The draft bill, which provided for the introduction of a uniform army, school and legislation for the entire country, caused disagree ment within the International's sections in Switzerland, with the supporters of stronger central authority on one side, and those who advocated retention of the cantons' autonomous rights on the other.
  2. ↑ 'Le vote du 12 mai', Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne, No. 6, 10 May 1872.
  3. ↑ we abstain
  4. ↑ On 11 June 1872, on Marx's suggestion, the General Council resolved to convene a regular Congress in Holland on 2 September 1872 and decided on the principal item on the agenda, the consolidation of the International's organisation (revision of the General Rules and Administrative Regulations). At its next meeting on 18 June the Council decided on The Hague as the venue for the Congress and appointed a special commission (Engels, Edouard Vaillant, Joseph MacDonnel) to prepare an official announcement of the forthcoming Congress. The announcement was written by Engels and despatched to The International Herald, which published it on 29 June 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 170-73).—325, 366, 372, 374, 376, 392, 396, 398, 401, 404, 407, 409, 411-13, 415, 417, 418, 422, 425, 426
  5. ↑ This letter by Engels has not been found.
  6. ↑ Engels is referring to Nikolai Utin's article, 'Le fédéralisme ou la centralisation. Voulons-nous la souveraineté républicaine ou la dictature monarchique?', featured by L'Égalité, No. 9-10, 7 May 1872. Utin opposed the trends towards centralisation evident in the new draft Constitution of the Swiss Confedera tion.
  7. ↑ A reference to the 'Circulaire à toutes les fédérations de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs' adopted at Sonvillier on 12 November 1871 (see Note 374). It was printed in La Emancipation, the organ of the Spanish Federal Council, on 25 December 1871.
  8. ↑ The Garde mobile (Mobile National Guard)—special armed forces introduced in France in 1848. From 1868 onwards it was made up of men who had reached call-up age but were not enlisted for active service or in the reserve; it was assigned to frontier defence, and to rear and garrison service. In 1870 it was called up for active service for the first time and formed the core of the French armed forces after the fall of the Empire. The Garde mobile was abolished in 1872.
  9. ↑ Probably a reference to the work by Johann Philipp Becker, Neue Stunden der Andacht (Geneva, 1875) on which he worked intermittently from 1857 to 1875. The work was permeated with the spirit of militant materialism and atheism, and was a biting political pamphlet.