Letter to August Bebel, September 26, 1892

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 26 September 1892


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO AUGUST BEBEL

IN BERLIN

London, 26 September 1892

Dear August,

Louise will already have told you something about Kugelmann. At first, during the 60s, he was on very friendly terms with Marx and did a great deal towards breaking the newspapers' conspiracy of silence over Capital, Volume I. It was also he who persuaded Marx to go to Karlsbad,[1] which did him a lot of good, but after they had been there for a while there was a final parting of the ways. Since Marx's death he has written to me several times, but I have tried to keep my distance, not being convinced of his reliability. At all events he has more than one foot in more than one camp.

As regards the copies of Herr Vogt, I have written and told him that he must first let me know how many he has got. There are all sorts of people wanting it. I believe that not even Tussy or Laura have got a copy. You, too, will be given preference if at all possible.

Arndt is a student who used to be in Geneva, and then went to Spain where he frequented our people in Madrid before coming to this country. While here he was taken under Julius'[2] wing and he would occasionaly come and see us. Then he suddenly went to Paris. He never said a word to us about his intention to write for the Vorwärts— presumably this was arranged by Julius. I gave him a card for Laura but have never heard whether he presented himself; I shall ask her. Laura would have referred him to Vaillant and, since the latter was in Paris and Lafargue was nearly always away, this would account for the consideration currently being shown to the Blanquists and their allies, the Allemanists.[3] Can you get hold of Arndt's address for me? After the Congress,[4] and particularly when the daily comes out, Lafargue will be spending more time in Paris and the man will have to be referred to him and Guesde direct.

I rather think I remember seeing Meyer[5] in St Louis, but there are so many people of that name. I trust that Kugelmann, who is forever bragging about his connections, will be able to find something out.

Pieper was at one time tutor to the Rothschilds in this country and is now a grammar school teacher in Hanover. Marx once — in 1867, I think — ran into him in the street, by which time he had become a bloated philistine.

I completely agree that you should go on with the annual party conference. If only for constitutional reasons you, as an Executive, should adhere to it, otherwise what a fine pretext it would provide for malcontents. And it's also important that once a year the party itself should be able to express itself as a body; this is generally applicable but doubly so just now — vis-à-vis both the 'Independents'[6] and Vollmar.

It is a great pity that you people should have been in such a hurry to put what I told you about Hyndman[7] into the paper.[8] Let me therefore expressly point out once and for all that in future anything I pass on to you in private letters is intended solely for your information and, where necessary — subject to the usual reservations — for the correction and prevention of inaccuracies or misconceptions in the Vorwärts; not for immediate publication, however, except when this is expressly stated. Otherwise I should have to keep my mouth shut about everything I could not actually substantiate, or else, in most cases, run the risk of having to betray my sources, thus causing these to dry up for the future.

Basically the information as such is quite definitely correct, as every number of Justice goes to show; gone are the attacks on individuals in this country or on the Continent, nor is anything left of the Hyndmanian spirit. But it's very possible that my information may have contained formal errors and that the mere threat of a resolution was enough to make Hyndman resign, etc. The only cause for regret is first, that this business will mean this and other sources on the doings of the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION will be closed to us, secondly, that Hyndman's position has been improved thereby and, thirdly, that any further attempt to put a stop to this can only improve it still more.

In Justice there's a piece by Hyndman expressing the expectation that you people would not print his letter, and to that extent he has made an ass of himself. I shall try and get hold of a copy for you.

I have written and told Kugelmann that, so far as I was competent to say, you were authorised to read the letters from Marx to him. Also that he would be getting The Knight of the Noble Consciousness.[9]

I have today received proofs of your article from K. Kautsky with queries about two passages.[10]

I. There was nothing in the Daily News about the adoption in Glasgow of a resolution that delegates should after all be sent to Zurich, nor had Aveling heard anything of the kind, otherwise he's have said so. He was intending to come here today but hasn't turned up. Louise say that on her way here she had seen something of that nature in the Daily Telegraph. In the circumstances I advised K. Kautsky to insert the words: if the relevant newspaper report is true. That covers you completely.

II. 'The Independent Labour Party now coming into being — whose supporters assembled for the first time after the end of the Glasgow Congress to constitute themselves—', etc., etc.

I advised K. Kautsky at all costs to delete the words between dashes: '—whose... constitute themselves—'. The Independent Labour Party now coming into being over here is still very far from constituting itself, nor is it desirable that it should yet attempt to do so. It is not yet mature enough. The INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY, whose adherents more or less constituted themselves a party in Glasgow under Keir Hardie's chairmanship, is the sect founded by Autolycus (Joseph Burgess) of the Workman's Times, a sect which so far boasts 2,000 members and competes with the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION in recruiting socialistically minded workers. At present it is no more the Independent Labour Party than is the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION, nor is it either better or worse than the latter. What will come of it remains to be seen, but on no account should we proclaim it as a matter of course to be the one and only genuine Independent Labour Party, otherwise we might burn our fingers badly.

Since his election Keir Hardie has been pushing himself to the fore and putting on airs in a way that is both ludicrous and discreditable. Success has gone to his head and he will have to sow his wild oats for a while. He is evidently intent on pushing Burns into the background; the latter is behaving with great fortitude and restraint (he asked leave to call on me in order to consult me about the attitude he should adopt). I think it will all even itself out in the end — Keir Hardie is better than he makes himself out to be, but you should by no means conclude as a matter of course that someting is commendable because he happens to be taking part in it.

Otherwise I find your article quite unexceptionable — composed, dignified and emphatic.

At Marseilles the TRADES UNIONS Congress {Congrès des syndicats)[11] passed a resolution which I had put to Lafargue,[12] namely that they should not take part in the international congress convoked by the TRADES UNIONS but should invite the latter to attend the Zurich Congress. This isn't the exact wording which I have yet to receive. Liebknecht will probably send it you as he had just turned up when Lafargue was in the act of writing. The Congress of the Workers' Party will adopt a similar resolution. I drew Lafargue's attention to the fact that the TRADES UNIONS do not recognise the validity of Labour Party congresses and resolutions while according respect of a very different order to those of the trades unions. If you in Germany could get the trades unions to adopt resolutions along the same lines, this could not fail to make an impact over here; it's something that should certainly not be neglected.

You might send about 12 copies of your article to us for distribution to the papers over here. For their people very seldom understand foreign languages, and whether they would so much as look at it is a complete toss-up. To get anything into the press over here one must employ different methods. If, for instance, Aveling were to take the finished article to the Pall Mall,[13] he would probably get it in that same evening we should send copies to the other papers so that they would all be served at the same time and there might still be a possibility of its getting a mention in one paper or another. But once one paper has discussed any such subject, none of the others will subsequently take it up — such is the rule over here. That is why we, who are here on the spot, must be able to determine the moment of distribution. On the other hand you could certainly send copies, specially designated as coming from you, to the French press; it might possibly have some pull over there, particularly since in France we haven't got a single daily in which we are able to publish anything. You could send it to L'Eclair (the paper most likely to take it), Le Figaro, Le Temps, Le Matin, La Justice, L'Intransigeant, Le Parti Ouvrier (Possibilist) and Le Parti Socialiste (49, rue de Rivoli, Blanquist — weekly).

Please let me know whether or not the Workman's Times is still being sent you by the editorial department. Here it is being said that all complimentary copies for countries abroad have been cancelled. If this is true, I shall send it to you instead of to Fischer who can read it at your house or after you have done with it.

Well, I should have liked to write a word or two to your wife,[14] but it is already past 9 p. m. and, contrary to doctor's orders, I have already spent over-long writing by lamplight. I have also had to write to Victor[15] and to Karl Kautsky which has taken me all day, so please ask her to excuse me. But she will be getting a letter all to herself from me. Till then, please give her my warm regards.

Your

General

I have just heard from Louise that you have not been getting an official copy of the Workman's Times for some while past. So that is one thing settled.

  1. ↑ Marx went for treatment to the Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) spa in August-September 1874, August-September 1875 and August-September 1876.
  2. ↑ See this volume, pp. 539-41 and 542-43.
  3. ↑ Engels means the signs of a forthcoming dissociation within the Possibilist Workers' Party (see Note 3). At their congress in Châtellerault, 9 to 15 October 1890, the Possibilists split into two groups — the Broussists and the Allemanists. The latter formed an organisation of their own, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party. The Allemanists retained the Possibilists' ideological and tactical principles but, in contrast to them, attached great importance to propaganda within the trades unions, which they regarded as the workers' principal form of organisation. The Allemanists' ultimate weapon was the call for a general strike. Like the Possibilists, they denied the need for a united, centralised party and advocated autonomy and the struggle to win seats on the municipal councils.
  4. ↑ The tenth congress of the French Workers' Party was held in Marseilles from 24 to 28 September 1892. It discussed the party's position and activities, in particular its work in the countryside, the celebration of May Day, the party's participation in the International Socialist Workers' Congress in Zurich in 1893 (see Note 541) and in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, and other matters. The congress adopted an agrarian programme which contained a number of specific demands reflecting the interests of the farm labourers and small peasants. The congress decided against the party's participation in the international congress called by the British trades unions to discuss the eight-hour working day (see Note 540) and for inviting British trade unionists to the Zurich Congress.
  5. ↑ Hermann Meyer
  6. ↑ On 20 October 1891 Karl Wilderberger and Wilhelm Werner—leaders of the Jungen expelled from the party at the Erfurt Congress (see Note 301) — called a meeting in Berlin. Since the Berlin party leaders refusing to co-operate with this opposition group were at the congress, the two considered this an opportune moment for an attempt to win the support of the Berlin party organisation and have it condemn the decision of the congress. When news of their activities reached Erfurt (a telegram had been sent from Berlin and read out at the congress), the Berlin delegates sent a letter to Berlin protesting against the decisions of the congress being discussed before its conclusion. The letter, signed by Theodor Metzner, was published under the heading 'An die Parteigenossen Berlins!' in Vorwärts, No. 246, 21 October 1891.
    On 8 November the Berlin opposition called another meeting at which it constituted itself the Union of Independent Socialists (1891-94). Its organ was Der Sozialist, which appeared from 1891 to 1899. In the summer of 1893 the newspaper was taken over by the anarchists.
  7. ↑ See this volume, pp. 524, 529, 532 and 540.
  8. ↑ An article headlined 'Aus England' in Vorwärts, No. 216, 15 September 1892, cited a report to the effect that the twelfth conference of the Social Democratic Federation (see Note 565) had resolved to remove Henry Mayers Hyndman from the Federation's leadership. See also this volume, pp. 524, 529, 532.
  9. ↑ K. Marx, The Knight of the Noble Consciousness.
  10. ↑ In his letter of 24 September 1892 Kautsky asked Engels to elucidate several passages in an article on the Glasgow Trades Union Congress (see Note 540), written by Bebel for Neue Zeit. The article was published under the headline 'Ein internationaler Kongreß für den Achtstundentag' in Die Neue Zeit, 11. Jg., 1892/93, 1. Bd., Nr. 2. Engels' remarks had been taken into account.
  11. ↑ See this volume, pp. 533-35.
  12. ↑ See this volume, pp. 533-35.
  13. ↑ The Pall Mall Gazette
  14. ↑ Julie Bebel
  15. ↑ Victor Adler