Letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht, December 29, 1884

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	29 December 1884

First published in Der Sozialdemokrat, Nr. 2, Zurich, 8 January 1885
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47

ENGELS TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT

[IN BERLIN]

[Excerpt]

[London, 29 December 1884]

Should the parliamentary group not wish to adopt a merely negative attitude, they can, or so it seems to me, only give their consent to state aid for the bourgeoisie,^[1] from which the workers might conceivably derive some indirect advantage (something that still remains to be proved, however) if the workers are assured of similar state aid. 'If you give us 4 to 5 millions a year for workers' cooperatives (not a loan but a gift, as for the shipowners), then we're prepared to discuss the matter. If you give us guarantees to the effect that in Prussia state-owned land will be leased, not to big farmers or to peasants who cannot exist without hiring day labourers, but to workers cooperatives, and that public works will be put out to workers cooperatives instead of to capitalists, very well, we'll see what we can do. But not otherwise.'

Provided the parliamentary group makes proposals of this sort for which, of course, the right wording must first be found, no one will be able to reproach the Social Democratic deputies with neglecting the present needs of the workers for the sake of the future.

↑ In late 1884, Bismarck, seeking to step up German colonial policy (see Note 292) demanded that the Reichstag approve annual subsidies for steamship companies to organise regular services to Eastern Asia, Australia and Africa. This demand led to disagreements within the Social-Democratic group in the Reichstag. The Left wing headed by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht came out against supporting the government's policy. The Right-wing majority in the group (Dietz, Frohme, Grillenberger, etc.) intended to vote for the subsidies under the pretext that they promoted international links. Under pressure from the majority, the parliamentary group decided to declare the subsidies issue to be of no major importance and give each member the right to vote as they thought fit (see Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 50, 11 December 1884). The sharp criticism expressed in Der Sozialdemokrat and the resolutions adopted by the party leadership led the majority of the parliamentary group to somewhat modify their attitude to the government's project when it was discussed in the Reichstag in March 1885 and to make their support conditional on the Reichstag accepting a number of the group's proposals. It was not until after the Reichstag declined to endorse the proposals made by the Social-Democratic group that they voted against the subsidies.

[1] In late 1884, Bismarck, seeking to step up German colonial policy (see Note 292) demanded that the Reichstag approve annual subsidies for steamship companies to organise regular services to Eastern Asia, Australia and Africa. This demand led to disagreements within the Social-Democratic group in the Reichstag. The Left wing headed by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht came out against supporting the government's policy. The Right-wing majority in the group (Dietz, Frohme, Grillenberger, etc.) intended to vote for the subsidies under the pretext that they promoted international links. Under pressure from the majority, the parliamentary group decided to declare the subsidies issue to be of no major importance and give each member the right to vote as they thought fit (see Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 50, 11 December 1884). The sharp criticism expressed in Der Sozialdemokrat and the resolutions adopted by the party leadership led the majority of the parliamentary group to somewhat modify their attitude to the government's project when it was discussed in the Reichstag in March 1885 and to make their support conditional on the Reichstag accepting a number of the group's proposals. It was not until after the Reichstag declined to endorse the proposals made by the Social-Democratic group that they voted against the subsidies.

[1]