| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 17 November 1885 |
ENGELS TO AUGUST BEBEL
IN BERLIN
London, 17 November 1885
Dear Bebel,
Just another word or two before you take your seat in the Reichstag.[1]
In answer to Schumacher's long letter defending his attitude to the Steamship Subsidies,[2] I have written to him at equal length to say that I adhere to my old standpoint, namely, that if in order to respect the alleged prejudices of certain voters, you do not want to vote unconditionally against state aid paid to the bourgeoisie out of the workers' and peasants' pockets, you may, in my view, vote in favour only if a like amount of state aid is directly allocated for the benefit of the workers, both urban and rural — primarily for agricultural workers' cooperatives on state-owned land.
To avoid misunderstandings I have asked him, in the event of his discussing this letter with other comrades, always to show them the whole letter.
Liebknecht has certainly come most bravely to the fore all of a sudden. His 'collection' written in jail,[3] his study of the all but forgotten Capital, and the prospect, suggested to him by the Right, of falling between two stools, seem to have proved extremely beneficial. I shall be very happy if only it lasts. He will certainly be in the right place when the crucial moment comes, but until then he will cause the rest of us an appalling amount of trouble with that habit he has of hushing things up, which he regards as diplomacy and at which he is, it is true, far more adept than the rest of us.
War in Europe is beginning to pose a serious threat to us. So those miserable remnants of what once were nations, the Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks and other rapacious riff-raff on whose behalf your liberal philistine enthuses in the interests of Russia, are begrudging one another the very air they breathe and must inevitably slit each other's greedy throats. That would be marvellous and would serve the philistine nationality-mongers right, were it not for the fact that each of these pigmy tribes holds the key to peace or war in Europe. The first shot has been fired at Dragoman,[4] but when and where the last will be fired, no one can say.
Our movement is getting on so splendidly, everywhere and without exception circumstances are turning out so much in our favour and our need for another few years of undisturbed development and consolidation is so great, that the last thing we want is a big political row. It would consign our movement to the background for years on end, after which we should doubtless have to start belatedly all over again, as after 1850.
On the other hand, a war might bring about a revolution in Paris which in turn would indirectly provide fuel for the movement in the rest of Europe, and in that case the French — no doubt violently chauvinist in the circumstances — would assume the leadership, a role for which their level of theoretical development qualifies them least of all. A few peaceful years of Radical rule would be the very thing for the French who, since 1871, have made very good progress politically thanks to the instinctive, logical consistency that is peculiar to them. For these Radicals have adopted in its entirety the current middle-of-the-road, jumbled-up socialism deriving from Louis Blanc, Proudhon, etc., and it would be of inestimable value to us were they to be given the opportunity to demolish such empty verbiage in practice.
On the other hand, should a major war break out, it will place six million men in the field and cost an unprecedented amount of money. There will be bloodshed, devastation and, finally, a state of prostration such as has never been known before. That's why all these gentlemen are so afraid of it. One may further predict that if this war comes, it will be the last one; it will mark the end of the class state politically, militarily, economically (as also financially) and morally. It could lead to a situation in which the war machine turns rebellious and refuses to engage in prolonged mutual slaughter for the sake of the lousy Balkan nations. The watchword of the class state is après nous le déluge[5] ; but after the deluge it's we who shall come and only we.
So everything remains as it was: whatever happens, it will ultimately provide a means for bringing our party to power and putting paid to all the old nonsense. But I must say I hope it will happen without this massacre; there's no need for it. If it's got to be, however, I only hope that when the moment arrives my old disability won't prevent me mounting a horse.
Your old friend
F.E.