Letter to Karl Kautsky, August 20, 1886

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 20 August 1886


First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Vol. I (VI), Moscow, 1932
Printed according to the original
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 47


ENGELS TO KARL KAUTSKY

IN LONDON

Eastbourne, 20 August 1886 4 Cavendish Place

Dear Baron,

I return Dietz's letter herewith. Provided you are given an assurance that Bios will not be allowed to put in anything whatever unless previously sanctioned by you, the mechanics could be left to him. If the worst came to the worst you might slip over to Stuttgart for a day or two and settle the matter. Anyhow that would be preferable to an attempt to spend 6 months there which would end in your being expelled after only 3 weeks, whereupon Mr Bios would have a completely free hand. But one thing you yourself should do is to exercise somewhat stricter censorship throughout that period, so that Bios should have no pretext for introducing anything slipshod.

It goes without saying that you may mention me in the prospectus as a contributor. Similarly, I will gladly let you have the introduction to the English translation of The Condition of the Working-Class[1] as soon as I myself have got it. It is not long. I am not at present in a position to promise you anything definite, particularly since the enterprising Schlüter wishes to republish The Housing Question which will require revision and an introduction[2] ; also Borkheim's Mordpatrioten, for which I shall have to write a biographical note on Borkheim.[3] So you see, I need not bother about finding work; others do the bothering for me.

Your plan to settle into a house is a very sensible one, but in the long run you would find that the evening trains to Harrow leave too early and I would advise you to look round somewhere else. But it is more or less the same everywhere.

The sudden spate of prosecutions is clearly due to the impending demise of old William.[4] For the gang now in power it will usher in a period of uncertainty, and hence they are anxious in so far as possible to consolidate their position, partly by faits accomplis in domestic policy, partly, if they can, by provoking disturbances and thus yet greater alarm amongst the philistines.[5] What wouldn't the gang give for a bit of eel-snatching in Berlin, as in Amsterdam.[6] In addition there is the personal ire of Puttkamer who, like the true Prussian he is, regards every setback to one of his follies as an insult to his own august person.

On Tuesday,[7] Percy, Pumps and Lily went to pay a visit to the old Roshers at Walmer near Deal. They are supposed to return today, but I haven't heard anything. Yesterday was terribly close and humid, but marvellous weather today. Nim is well and sends her kindest regards, as I do mine. I trust your wife is well.

Your

F.E.

Thanks for Sonnenschein; the parcel had been addressed to Regent's Park Road by mistake; it contained something I needed and for which I had already dunned them.

  1. ↑ See present edition, Vol. 26, pp. 399-405.
  2. ↑ F. Engels, 'Preface to the Second Edition of The Housing Question.
  3. ↑ F. Engels, 'Introduction to Sigismund Borkheim's Pamphlet In Memory of the German Blood and Thunder Patriots. 1806-1807.'
  4. ↑ William I
  5. ↑ In his letter of 17 March 1883, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, on behalf of the Dutch Socialist Workers' Party, asked Engels to 'pass on our homage and grateful acknowledgement, to the Marx family and to all those who join us in mourning at the grave of the master'. Nieuwenhuis also informed Engels that he planned to translate his work Socialism: Utopian and Scientific into Dutch, which he actually did in 1886. Nieuwenhuis further enquired about Engels' plan with regard to Volume II of Marx's Capital, further study of the English labour movement after 1845 and the reissue of Engels' The Condition of the Working-Class in England.
  6. ↑ Engels is referring to the following event: On 25 July 1886 the police in Amsterdam had tried to break up a traditional fete on the grounds that its participants were playing a forbidden game known as 'eel-snatching'. The police action met with considerable resistance, and clashes continued until the following day. Several dozen people were killed and an even greater number injured. Government bodies and the press used these events to launch a provocative campaign against the Socialist Party. Persecution began on a massive scale, a number of socialists were arrested and brought before the court.
  7. ↑ 17 August