Letter to Karl Marx, September 9, 1879

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 9 September 1879


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO MARX

IN RAMSGATE

London, 9 September 1879

Dear Moor,

Herewith something from Liebknecht, together with enclosures, in which there would appear to be little that is new, which is why I have been in no hurry to send them. For obvious reasons I have[1] told Hirsch nothing about all this stuff, it being better to avoid unnecessary rows.

Höchberg has written to Hirsch from Scheveningen, virtually asking him to invite him over here and assure him of a good reception, to which Hirsch hasn't deigned to reply. On receiving a further postcard from Höchberg, Hirsch sent him a ditto, saying you weren't back yet and he himself, Hirsch, was likewise about to leave for the coast. So we probably shan't be bothered by the man.

Meanwhile it might be a good thing if you were to return the documents to me. I really ought to reply to Bebel at long last[2]

1. on account of Hirsch, who would like to see his personal business clarified vis-à-vis Bebel and is getting a bit impatient and

2. because by good fortune the Jahrbuch Kovalevsky brought you will enable us quite simply to give the chaps definite reasons why it's absolutely impossible for us to contribute to an organ in which Höchberg has any say at all. The articles concerned are:

1. 'Rückblicke auf die sozialistische Bewegung in Deutschland' by * » (Höchberg and, probably, Bernstein and Lübeck),[3]

2. Critiques by C. L. (Lübeck), notably of Cohn's 'Was ist Sozialismus'? concluding part,[4]

3. Report from Germany No. 1 by M. Sch. (Max Schlesinger in Breslau).[5]

Höchberg declares outright that the Germans made a mistake when they turned the socialist movement into a mere workers' movement and, by unnecessarily provoking the bourgeois, drew down upon themselves the Anti-Socialist Law[6] ! The movement ought, he says, to be placed under the direction of bourgeois and educated elements, its character to be wholly that of peaceable reform, etc. You can imagine with what GUSTO Most embraces these lamentable propositions, and once again makes himself out to be the genuine representative of the German movement.[7]

Enfin,[8] I believe—and no doubt you will share my opinion—that, after this business, we would be well-advised to establish our standpoint—vis-à-vis the Leipzigers, at least. If the new party organ plays the same tune as Höchberg, we might be compelled to do so publicly as well.[9]

If you will let me have the things (I've still got one copy of the Jahrbuch here), I will draft a letter to Bebel and send it to you; needless to say, there's no need for you to interrupt your holiday on account of this trifle. But something has got to be done soon, otherwise Hirsch will again start writing private letters to all and sundry, thus lending the affair much too exclusively a personal character.

Ever since Russian diplomacy has had to allow events inside Russia dictate its goals, everything's been going wrong for it. At the very time when nihilists and pan-Slavs are so thoroughly demolishing its German alliance[10] that any apparent patching-up can at most be short-lived, at this same time, its agents in Afghanistan are driving England—in the event of war with Germany—into the arms of Bismarck. Bismarck, I am sure, is doing everything he can to bring about war with Russia. In concert with Austria and England, he could risk it all right: England would ensure Denmark's neutrality, probably Italy's and maybe even that of France. But it would be better if things were to come rapidly to a head in Russia, and the prospect of war be eliminated by an internal upheaval. The position is beginning to favour Bismarck too much. A simultaneous war against Russia and France would become a struggle for national survival and the resulting outburst of chauvinism would put paid to our movement for years to come. And on top of that, the odds would be greatly in Bismarck's favour the moment England acceded: a long, hard fight, but at 3:2 the eventual outcome would be much as in the Seven Years' War.[11]

Sam Moore writes to say that the sale of the ESTATE has so far been going very well, most of it having been sold for 39-40 times the amount of the gross rent; nothing remains unsold but the moors and woods which they assess at £11,600, including stocks of timber, and think they can hang on to until business improves in Sheffield, when they might succeed in getting a better price.

What has become of the Lafargues? Since Pumps went to see them a week ago on Friday[12] we've neither heard nor seen anything of Paul.

Jollymeier is still tinkering away at his rheumatism which refuses to budge. Gumpert advised him to go to Buxton and yesterday he said that, unless it gets better soon, he would go there at the end of the week. He, Pumps and I send you all our cordial regards and trust that life at the seaside is doing you good. What are your plans about coming back[13] ? Put it off as long as you possibly can; what with the changeable weather, I know what will happen once you're back here—nowt as anyone could wish for.[14]

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ See this volume, pp. 392-93.
  2. ↑ Engels answered Karl Höchberg's letter of 24 August 1879 on 26 August (see this volume, pp. 379-80). A reply to Bebel's letter to Engels of 20 August 1879 was the Circular Letter to August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Wilhelm Bracke and Others (see this volume, pp. 394-408).
  3. ↑ A reference to the programmatic article 'Rückblicke auf die sozialistische Bewegung in Deutschland' which appeared anonymously in the Jahrbuch für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Jg. 1, 1. Hälfte, Zürich-Oberstrass, 1879, S. 75-96. Its authors were Karl Höchberg (pen-name Ludwig Richter), Eduard Bernstein and Carl August Schramm. Marx and Engels examined it in detail in the Circular Letter (this volume, pp. 401-08).
  4. ↑ See Lübeck's reviews of the following books: C. F. W. Walther, Kommunismus und Sozialismus, St. Louis, 1878; G. Cohn, Was ist Sozialismus?, Berlin, 1878; J. B. Meyer, Fichte, Lassalle und der Sozialismus, Berlin, 1878; C. Frantz, Der Föderalismus als leitendes Prinzip für die soziale, staatliche und internationale Organisation, Mainz, 1879. In: Jahrbuch für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Zürich-Oberstrass, 1879.
  5. ↑ M. Schlesinger, 'Bericht über den Fortgang der sozialistischen Bewegung: Deutsches Reich, I'. In: Jahrbuch für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Zürich-Oberstrass, 1879.
  6. ↑ The Anti-Socialist Law (The Exceptional Law Against the Socialists) was introduced by the Bismarck government on a majority vote in the Reichstag on 21 October 1878 to combat the socialist and working-class movement. It banned all party and mass workers' organisations and the socialist and workers' press, and sanctioned confiscation of socialist literature and persecution of Social-Democrats. But the Social-Democratic Party, in accordance with the Constitution, preserved its group in the Reichstag. By skilfully combining illegal and legal methods of work and suppressing reformist and anarchist tendencies within its ranks, the party managed substantially to strengthen and extend its influence among the masses. Marx and Engels actively assisted the party's leaders. Under pressure from the working-class movement, the law was repealed on 1 October 1890. Engels examined it in his essay 'Bismarck and the German Working Men's Party' (present edition, Vol. 24, pp. 407-09).
  7. ↑ The Freiheit of 30 August 1879, and its sample issue called 'Was nun?' of 6 September carried two articles criticising the first volume of the Jahrbuch für Sozialwissenschaft und Socialpolitik from an anarchist viewpoint. The first article, printed in the 'Socialpolitische Rundschau' column, reviewed the materials featured by the Jahrbuch and the second, 'Auch eine Denkschrift', analysed the article 'Rückblicke auf die sozialistische Bewegung in Deutschland'.
  8. ↑ In short
  9. ↑ See this volume, pp. 394-408.
  10. ↑ An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx, On History and People, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 1977. It appeared in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.
  11. ↑ A reference to Brogue's first term of office as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from May 1873 to May 1874. Broglie's reactionary ministry declared the establishment of 'moral order' as its goal.
  12. ↑ 5 September
  13. ↑ On 21 August 1879, Marx interrupted his stay in Jersey (see Note 494) and arrived in Ramsgate to join his daughter Jenny and her newborn son Edgar. He returned to London on 17 September.
  14. ↑ Engels used a dialectal expression here: es is nix zu wolle.