Letter to John Lincoln Mahon, June 23, 1887

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 23 June 1887


First published in: Marx and Engels, Reproduced from the original Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1935
Extract published in Marx Engels on Britain, Progress Publishers 1953;
First published in the language of the original (English), in Edward Thompson's book, William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1955
Published in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48
Collection(s): Marx Engels on Britain

To John Lincoln Mahon in London

London, June 23, 1887

Dear Mahon,

I returned you yesterday the programme with some notes which may perhaps be of use at some future time.[1]

What you say about the leaders of the Trades Unions is quite trite. We have had to fight them from the beginning of the International. From them have sprung the MacDonalds, Burts, Cremers and Howells, and their success in the parliamentary line encourages the minor leaders to imitate their conduct. If you can get the Trades Unionists of the North to consider their Unions as a valuable means of organisation and of obtaining minor results, but no longer to regard "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work" as the ultimate end, then the occupation of the leaders will be gone.

I think your plan of organisation rather premature; the provinces ought first to be aroused thoroughly, and that is as yet far from being the case. And unless there is an overwhelming force from the provinces brought to bear on London, the London squabblers will not be silenced—except by a real movement of the London masses. There has been in my opinion already too much impatience shown in what is called by courtesy the socialist movement in England; experimentalising with fresh attempts at organisation will be worse than useless until there is really something to organise. And when the masses once begin to move they will soon organise themselves.

As to the League, if it upholds the resolution[2] of the last Conference[3] , I do not see how anyone can remain a member who intends using the present political machinery as a means of propaganda and action.

In the meantime it is necessary, of course, that the propaganda be kept up and I am quite willing to contribute my share. But the means for this must be got together and distributed by some English Committee, and as far as they are to come from London, by a London Committee. I shall speak to the Avelings about this and give them my contribution.

I do not know any books where you could get information about the Luddite movement[4] ; it will be a laborious task to trace out reliable sources from the references in history books and pamphlets of the time.

Yours faithfully

F. Engels

  1. ↑ This letter, like the previous one, is Engels' reply to Mahon. In his covering letter to the programme of the North of England Socialist Federation (see note 131) Mahon set forth a plan for creating a socialist organisation for England and Scotland. This was to be achieved by uniting the various extant socialist societies. The constituent congress which was to discuss the programme, was to be preceded by broad socialist propaganda within the trade unions. Mahon intended to start a special fund for preparing the congress and asked Engels for material assistance.
  2. ↑ See 'The Socialist League', The Commonweal, No. 73, 4 June 1887
  3. ↑ On 29 May 1887 the third annual conference of the Socialist league (see note 21) was held in London. Delegates from 24 sections attended. The anarchists gained the upper hand; a resolution was adopted saying: 'This conference endorses the policy of abstention from parliamentary action, hitherto pursued by the League, and sees no sufficient reason for altering it.
  4. ↑ Mahon, who intended to write an essay on the Luddite movement, had asked Engels to recommend him relevant material. The Luddites came out against the introduction of machinery as ruinous to craftsmen. The Luddites were active in the late 18th and early 19th century. They owed their name to Ned Ludd, the legendary journeyman supposed to have been the first to wreck his knitting machine in protest against his master's arbitrariness.