| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 12 November 1892 |
ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE
AT LE PERREUX
London, 12 November 1892
My dear Lafargue,
You do not tell me where I should address my reply, and so I am sending it to Le Perreux.
Herewith I append a cheque for £20 which you have asked, but I must warn you that in the future it will be absolutely impossible for me to make good the shortages of funds, let alone the peculations that might occur within the French party. Each national party ought to see to its own expenses, and one should not hear—in France, above all—this constant complaint that 'the fees are not remitted'. Such kind of things would never take place if there is just a bit of order; a cashier ought to be subject to some kind of control, and when he falls ill, he is to be replaced, and he is accountable for receipts and expenditures. If some inevitable misfortune assailed you—all right, let it be; but paying for such negligence of responsible agents of the party, that's tough indeed!
But, after all, the fat is in the fire—so much for that! I have explained to Bebel the entire affair of Millevoye's[1] ; it seems as if they are calming down on this account; your success at Carmaux and elsewhere must have contributed to that. The fruits of your peregrinations through France begin to ripen, and all of us are pleased to see the progress made in France. Do you realise now what a splendid weapon you in France have had in your hands for forty years in universal suffrage; if only people had known how to use it! It's slower and more boring than the call to revolution, but it's ten times more sure, and what is even better, it indicates with the most perfect accuracy the day when a call to armed revolution has to be made; it's even ten to one that universal suffrage, intelligently used by the workers, will drive the rulers to overthrow legality, that is, to put us in the most favourable position to make the revolution. We should reach a new stage in the 1893 elections, and then there will be that union between Socialists of different shades of opinions of which Liebknecht never stops talking. That union will come about as soon as there is a score of Socialists in the Chamber; if our people have—as I hope—a majority, they will be able to dictate terms. In the meantime, go on with your 'victories and conquests', and you will find that it is the Germans who will applaud you the most warmly.
Have you received the report of the German Executive Committee to the Berlin Congress[2] ? It's magnificent—and it's war. 47
The paper—oh the paper! 48 If the French bourgeoisie makes the same amount of difficulty before it lends money to the Russian tsar, that would, at least to some extent, make up for the cheated hopes this journal has aroused in us.
Kiss Laura, Kind regards from Mrs Kautsky.
Ever yours,
F. Engels