| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 5 July 1892 |
ENGELS TO KARL KAUTSKY
IN STUTTGART
London, 5 July 1892
Dear Baron,
I got back from Manchester on Saturday,[1] Schorlemmer hav- ing been buried on Friday. Should you want an obituary for the Neue Zeit, the man to look out for would be a chemist who would be able to give a comprehensible account of his discoveries and his importance to science. This would certainly be excellent, but in addition the man would have to be familiar with the history of organic chemisry in the fifties and sixties.
I agree that I owe you an explanation as to how Louise found out about your intended proposal.[2] After getting your letter of 13 May, and although from the first I had taken the view that there was no reason why Louise should fall in with your idea, I nevertheless thought fit to sound her out. I asked her, as though, mind you, it was my idea, whether it mightn't be a good thing, so as to avoid confusion, to add her maiden name to her married one, as is often done in West- ern Germany and Switzerland, even by married persons of both sexes. She looked at me inquiringly before replying: 'You needn't
bother; I know who's behind this — it's Karl and he's been egged on by his mother.' Nor could I persuade her otherwise. On the contrary, a little while later she told this to Gine[4] as an established fact, where- upon Gine told her quite innocently and naturally, as almost any- one would have done under the circumstances, that you had likewise written to Ede[5] about it, whereupon the two of them discussed the matter.
When Louise later remonstrated with me about this, I had really no alternative but to read out to her the relevant passage in your letter of 13 May which did at least put an end to any further conjectures and speculations and to that extent could only have a soothing effect. Be- sides, that particular passage looked to me as though it had been ex- pressly written in such a way that it could, if necessary, be shown to Louise.
Such was the course of events. Not that I am in any way dissatisfied with it. For once you had suggested I consult Tussy and had at the same time written to Ede on the subject, one thing was plain, namely that if four people who, as it were, consorted daily with Louise were in the know, not many months would elapse before one of them let the cat out of the bag in her presence and that would have made mat- ters ten times worse, for then she would have said: 'So that's how you people settle my affairs behind my back— affairs which concern only myself, etc'
To be sure, Louise read me the letter she wrote you, or rather the draft thereof after it had gone off. It has shown me yet again that a third party should never intervene in the private affairs of married or erstwhile married couples since he can never know enough about the antecedents. For instance, it was only from this I learnt that, when your divorce was first mooted, you two had already discussed and decided upon the name to be used by Louise. If this is true, and I have no reason to suppose anything else, then I am sorry not to have known about it before. For in that case I should have immedi- ately, and without reference to anyone else, have urged you at all costs to let sleeping dogs lie.
So as you see, Louise alone was responsible for her letter, as your familiarity with her independence of mind would be enough to tell you without specific assurances on my part. As for giving you my opin- ion of that letter, I do not regard myself as either called upon or competent to do so, this being a private matter between two divorced people. All I can say is that what has happened affects neither my re- lations with Louise nor those with you.
I am today sending you the introduction in German by REGISTE- RED book post. Sonnenschein doesn't want the book to come out be- fore September, so please don't put the thing in the Neue Zeit before 1 September, after that date it will be all one to me— the fool has kept me waiting long enough. Unfortunately the German is a pale reflec- tion; the English is far livelier and you will like it better.
Many thanks for the information re Sorge.[6] I shall attend to this as soon as I have a moment to spare.
So far the elections over here have gone off capitally.[7] The Libe- rals are winning, but if things go on as they are today, they'll get only a slender majority, i. e. they will remain dependent on the Irish, which is a good thing, otherwise Gladstone would do the dirty on them again and the Irish question be perpetuated. While yesterday's polls showed a swing in favour of the Liberals, there was no trace of the powerful, all-engulfing Liberal wave that the Gladstonians were counting on. Indeed, the incipient LABOUR PARTY is already proving a thorn in the flesh of the Liberals. The only candidate to have achieved a striking swing in the latter's favour is Keir Hardie in South West Ham, one of the few Labour candidates not to have taken any money from the Liberals or to have submitted to Liberal discipline. On the other hand Labour candidates in other places, in so far as they were competing with Liberals, deprived the latter of a great many votes and likewise gave them a portent of things to come. This will, I hope, be the last election contested by the two official parties only; next time the workers will play a very different sort of role.
Your
General