Letter to Laura Lafargue, December 22, 1885

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 22 December 1885


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, Second Russian Edition, Vol. 36, Moscow, 1964. Reproduced from the original. Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO LAURA LAFARGUE

IN PARIS

London, 22 December 1885

My dear Laura,

Herewith I hand you the cheque Paul wrote about 5 0 7 to which I have added a trifling étrenne[1] for yourself. The box with the plum- pudding and cake was forwarded last Saturday[2] but would not leave here before Monday so that you will at best have received it today.

When Jollymeier came from Paris he told me you were sorely in want of dictionaries for your translating work. Among Mohr's books the only one that could have suited you was Mozin's French and Ger- man, but it was so dilapidated that it will be no use to any one for reg- ular work; Tussy took it at the time. English and German there were none. So I tried to find out what were the best and ordered Williams and Norgate to have them delivered to you, bound. They are

Flügel's English-German and German-English Mozin-Peschier French-German and German-French. They will be delivered I expect before Christmas. Now as I had no opportunity to look at them, I want you to examine and report upon them. Flügel is the best to be had, though it might be better; so if it is both English-German and German-English, it will be all right. But about the Mozin-Peschier I am not so sure that it is not an abbrevia- tion of what I intended to send you, namely: Dictionnaire complet des langues française et allemande, 2 volumes French-German and 2 volumes German-French. If it should not be the latter work, please let me know and I will have it exchanged, as not being sent to order.

On Saturday night Jollymeier arrived here, his holidays last till 12th January; and this morning who should jump in but the inevi- table Meyer, fresh from Winnipeg where his first crop of wheat was frozen to death last August. He left again and will be in Paris to- morrow morning — but, he says, ich sehe die Lafargue's nicht—warum nicht?—Weil Lafargue einen nie besucht[3] — which he seems to have taken very much to heart, and which I told him was rather foolish for him to do. I merely state this to you as it was said, so that you may console you in case the illustrious stranger does not call upon you.

I will try and get a copy of Justice for Paul, 5 0 8 it is not so easy just now, as Tussy and Edward are at Kingston on Thames for a few days and will not be back before Friday. Johnny[4] is with us in the mean- time, he has picked up his English again rather quickly, especially since he goes to school. He is a very good boy and reads an awful deal of, to him, unintelligible books.

I hope Paul is all right again, sound at the core and solid at the base, plus solide que le Pont Neuf[5] which seems also subject to pim- ples and boils.[6] By the bye, his last letter does not say a word about the final solution of the Labruyère-Séverine-Lissagaray affair, the last was the assertion of Labruyère that Lissagaray a mentis Has it all ended in smoke, as most scandals are apt to do now-a-days?

There is no doubt Hyndman has done for himself this time. If he manages to keep together a show of the Social Democratic Federa- tion, 300 it will be only a shadow. The provincial branches are sure to fall off and here in London his own people have remembered how at the time of the Morris-Aveling separation,[7] he packed the general meeting by showing in a lot of new members, created for the occasion. They have therefore resolved that only those are to vote who were members at the time of the general election and of his exploits.[8]

Nim, Pumps and Jollymeier are gone to the West End, Christmas shopping as they pretend, but in reality for a dinner at the Vienna Beer Hall. As I am still a little under restraint, I have stopped at home and use the time to write to you. But now the dinner bell rings — for me and Johnny — and so good-bye. Health and spirits and a sound foundation for Paul!

Yours affectionately,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ Christmas gift
  2. ↑ 19 December
  3. ↑ I don't see the Lafargues.— Why not? — Because Lafargue never comes to see anyone.
  4. ↑ Jean Longuet
  5. ↑ stronger than the Pont Neuf
  6. ↑ Engels is playing on the fact — of which Paul Lafargue informed him — that the oldest of all bridges in Paris, the Pont Neuf, which became proverbial for its strength, was partly destroyed when the Seine burst its banks. It is an allusion to Lafargue's illnesses.
  7. ↑ See this volume, pp. 236 38 and 245.
  8. ↑ Henry Mayers Hyndman and Henry Hyde Champion, the leaders of the Social Democratic Federation (see Note 300) received money from the Conservative Party to put up their candidates at the 1885 general election (see Note 487). The Federation fielded candidates in London constituencies — Hampstead and Ken sington— where they had no prospects of winning but could capture a proportion of the Liberal vote to the benefit of the Conservatives. The Federation's leadership attempted to justify their agreement to these conditions by claiming that the elec tion campaign merely served as propaganda for the future revolution. This created displeasure among many of the Federation's members, as a result of which a num ber of them resigned and several local organisations split from the Federation. The Echo, Nos. 5285 and 5287, 5 and 7 December 1885 carried a statement from John Edward Williams, one of the Federation's candidates, claiming he was not aware of the receipt of any money from the Tories, an editorial giving details of how the money had been received and a note by Federation member Charles L. Fitzgerald criticising the leadership. Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 51, 17 December 1885, pub lished an editorial based on this letter by Engels, material from The Echo and a let ter by Hubert Bland, one of the Federation officials, dealing with the meetings of the Executive Committee on 9 and 12 November at which Hyndman and Cham pion had been censured for their actions.