| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 4 April 1881 |
ENGELS TO JOHANN PHILIPP BECKER
IN GENEVA
London, 4 April 1881
Dear Old Man,
I am writing to you just before the post goes, having only this moment got the money order, four pounds sterling = 100 frs 80 cts, which I trust will be paid over to you without delay. Your address was indispensable,[1] as the post office here insists on it, otherwise no money order. I shall press Liebknecht about his false promises; those fellows must do something for you. I'm glad, by the way, that our people have plucked up courage again; for a time most of them were suffering from a bad attack of cold feet; the paper,[2] too, is giving a good account of itself. That philistine Most is definitely in luck; his Freiheit was on its last legs, whereupon the British government felt impelled to give it a helping hand, and did so in the most brilliant manner.[3] Such colossal stupidity passes all belief, but it so happens that we have the liberals at the helm and they are capable of any stupidity, any dirty trick. They went ahead in such a hurry that so far they don't even know under which Act they will charge Most! But Bismarck needed this coup for his socialist debate in the Reichstag and, since Gladstone, our premier, is an enthusiastic admirer of the bumped-off Alexander,[4] there was no difficulty about the thing. It will be all the more difficult for them to draw up an indictment, let alone produce a jury that will find Most guilty. So Most will become famous on the cheap, even if only for a brief spell, while Bismarck, even though he, too, may be gently rubbing his hands just now, will ultimately find himself discredited yet again.
Kindest regards from Marx and your
F. Engels