Letter to Laura Lafargue, July 7, 1891

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 7 July 1891


First published, in the language of the original (English), in: F. Engels, P. et L. Lafargue, Correspondance, t. Ill, Paris, 1959
Reproduced from the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO LAURA LAFARGUE

AT LE PERREUX

[London,] 7 July 1891

My dear Laura,

That's bad for poor Paul, at least it looks bad at present.[1] Anyhow, he is not in prison yet. There is cassation, though that is one chance out of ten only in his favour. There must be some row in the Chambre about this infamous verdict, and I hope Millerand and Co. will not fail to make that row. I think it admirable policy of Paul to at once assume the offensive, revisit the battlefield of the North, and make himself as formidable to the government as he can. That is what the French always see better and clearer than our Germans, that, in order to make up for a reverse, you must attack at another point, but always attack, never show the white feather, never give way.

At all events his seat in the Chambre seems now pretty safe, and that would bring him out of prison if the election took place while he was in. Le Nord nous appartient maintenant[2] What fools these governments are! To think they can put such a movement as ours down by repression. But with all his insolence M. Constans shows vacillation; the 'bus strike 276 showed him in quite a different light; there is no telling what he may not do, if he finds the effect of the verdict to be contrary to his expectations.

Rave est à ravir[3] I pity anyone who has to correct that man. What a work of Sisyphus it must have been for you! Anyhow it may give you an opening for translations with his publisher, and then your labour may bear fruit.

By the bye, the correct French expression for Schutzergebung—the technical, juridical word, is commendation.

I am finishing the revision of the Ursprung for the 4th edition. There will be considerable and important additions; especially a new introduction[4] (proof sent to Rave, the text probably in the next Neue Zeit) and then in the chapter on the family. I think you will like them, my inspiring genius to a great extent has been Louise who is full of clear, transparent and original views on the subject. She wishes to be most kindly remembered to you and Paul.

Ever yours,

F. Engels

  1. ↑ Following the massacre of the May Day demonstration in Fourmies (see Note 243) the French government, anxious to absolve itself from the responsibility, clamped down on the socialists, accusing them of fomenting demonstrations and murder. Paul Lafargue was put on trial charged with having, in his speech in Wignehies on 14 April 1891, called on the workers to fight their masters arms in hand. Hippolyte Culine, the secretary of the Fourmies socialist organisation, was arrested too. On 4 July 1891 a jury in Douai (Département du Nord) pronounced Lafargue guilty. He was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 100 francs. Culine was condemned to six years' imprisonment. In July Lafargue and Guesde toured Northern France (Wignehies, Fourmies, Lille, Roubaix and other cities) and gave a series of talks on the subject 'Modern Socialism. Answer to the Indictment'. Resolutions condemning the sentences and demanding that they be quashed were adopted at various meetings.
  2. ↑ North belongs to us now.
  3. ↑ Rave is splendid.
  4. ↑ The reference is to the preface to the fourth German edition of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, published in Die Neue Zeit, 9. Jg. 1890/91, 2. Bd., Nr. 41 under the title 'Zur Urgeschichte der Familie (Bachofen, McLennan, Morgan)'. See also this volume, pp. 199, 201, 204, 232-33.