Letter to Karl Kautsky, September 16, 1892

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 16 September 1892


First published in Aus der Frühzeit des Marxismus. Engels Briefwechsel mit Kautsky, Prague, 1955
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO KARL KAUTSKY

IN STUTTGART

London, 16 September 1892

Dear Baron,

Ede has asked me to send you a copy of a passage from the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher.[1] He gives only the opening words, but doesn't say how much is wanted, so you will find herewith a copy of the thing up to the end of the letter and you'll have to see how much of it is usable.

Kovalevsky, who is over here, says he would probably be prepared to let you have an article for the Neue Zeit on Lavrov's great Russian work Zadaci istoriji mysli, The Functions of the History of Thought; but he would have to write it in French. If you would like to have the article, please let me know.[2]

There was high old confusion at the TRADES UNION Congress[3] in Glasgow. The 'old' unions did everything in their power to achieve victory and, being organised and known to one another and of old repute, they were largely successful vis-à-vis the 'new' ones,[4] which didn't yet know the ropes, fell foul of the rules of procedure, were known neither to one another nor to many of the more honest elements amongst the 'old' unions, and hence possessed few personalities who, aside from their particular standing in the party, were personally respected by all concerned.* So it came about that the majority of those elected to the PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE consisted of 'old' unionists, while Fenwick was re-elected secretary. The fact that the old unionists had given up as hopeless their opposition to the 8 hour day and continued to oppose the legal 8 hour day only pro forma, for the sake of appearances, quite delighted the majority of new unionists who, in their glee over the victory of the LEGAL 8 HOURS, were prepared to surrender everything else. So it came about that they not only demanded steps be taken to combat the immigration of 'PAUPERS', but turned down with contumely, and in a manner directly insulting to us, the invitation to the Zurich Congress (amongst other things, because that Congress had not been convoked by the English TRADES UNION Congress!!); and at the same time resolved that an international eight hours congress be convoked immediately. What happened during this debate you will see from the Scottish paper Tussy has sent you.

It is now evident that our Continentals must take up the cudgels against this. It's a good opportunity for them to show the snooty TRADES UNIONS what their standpoint is. A start will doubtless be made by the French at Marseilles.

Unfortunately I shall not be able to send you the Workman's Times for some little while, at any rate. For a time Burgess sent copies to Bebel and sundry other Continentals, but has suddenly ceased to do so — since the jackass doesn't want to have any truck with Continentals who 'do not even possess a TRADES ORGANISATION'. NOW I shall have to send Bebel the copy which in the past has been available for you, since the Executive has got to have one and I can't very well alter before November the number of copies on order; I have trouble enough as it is in getting the right number of copies ordered. In November I shall be renewing my subscription, on which occasion I shall be able to make other arrangements.

At the last conference of the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION Hyndman was requested — unanimously, it is said — to resign from the leadership of the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION and to confine his activities to writing. We shall see whether it lasts. But it's hard on him.

  • Neither Hardie nor Tom Mann enjoy popularity in broader circles. Burns, who might have handled many things differently, wasn't there.

It's a pity that Ede should also have missed the TRADES UNION Congress, but it couldn't be helped. So far as he himself is concerned, it's all to the good that his holiday should have been prolonged.

Though still housebound, I am slowly improving.

Your

F.E.

  1. ↑ F. Engels, Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, Stuttgart, 1892.
  2. ↑ On 19 September 1892 Kautsky accepted Engels' proposal. However, Kovalevsky's article did not appear in Neue Zeit.
  3. ↑ See this volume, pp. 519-20 and 522-24.
  4. ↑ This refers to the New Trades Unions, which were called into being by the rise of the British working-class movement in the late 1880s and early 1890s. One of the biggest among them was the Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers, founded in 1889 (see Note 164). In contrast to the 'old' unions which, as a rule, consisted of workers of only one trade, the new ones were based on the production principle (workers of different trades in one industry could belong to the same union). The new unions opened their doors to unskilled workers, who hitherto had remained outside the union movement. An important part in the formation of the new unions was played by British socialists, who had the direct assistance of Engels. He characterised the New Trades Unions in his article 'May 4 in London' and in his 'Preface to the 1892 English Edition of The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 (see present edition, Vol. 27, pp. 257-69).