| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 24 February 1893 |
ENGELS TO AUGUST BEBEL
IN BERLIN
[London,] 24 February 1893
Dear August,
You will have received the document I sent off by registered mail yesterday. A word or two more on the subject.
I had envisaged its being published in 8 articles in 8 successive numbers of the Vorwärts. But some other method may seem better to you, in which case feel free.
I do not much like the title Can Europe Disarm? And yet I cannot think of anything better. 160 You couldn't very well call it a Social-Democratic Military Bill, though this might do at a pinch if you were to adopt the proposal en bloc.
I sent the thing to you rather than to Liebknecht because you are a member of the Military Committee and asked me for a 'lecture'. That will exonerate me so far as he is concerned. Also because I would sooner entrust you than him with such alterations as may be demanded by the Press Laws, and, in general, because the article is the concern not merely of the Vorwärts, but of you all, and you might have your own individual opinions as to the best method and time of publication—at any rate before the matter is again debated in plenary session.
As you will have seen from the Workman's Times, the English working man is, thanks to the Avelings, now kept better informed about party affairs on the Continent, 158 especially those in Germany. 161
After what happened in the last elections, the Liberal government has had to stir its stumps a bit. True, the measures are 'Liberal' but at any rate better than might have been expected. The new Bill re electoral registers, 162 if it should go through, will 1. strengthen the Labour vote by at least 20 to 30 per cent and give the workers an absolute majority in another 40 or 50 constituencies, and 2. save the candidates a considerable outlay every year; the latter have themselves been responsible for getting their voters placed on the register, and that's a very expensive business over here. This can pass muster.—Salaries for M.P.s are very much on the cards and should materialise, if not in this session, then almost certainly in the next one. Gladstone has accepted them in principle. Again, it's a great advantage that there should be only one electoral register, i.e. only one suffrage, for all public elections, and the importance of this is enhanced by the fact that there is another Bill in sight for the setting up of Parish (over here rural parishes) Councils 163 which will eliminate the last traces of what has hitherto been a semi-feudal system in country districts. If all this goes through and becomes law during this session, the political position of the working class will be materially improved, which is in itself an added incentive for the chaps to make the most of that new position. However many intrigues and blunders there may be over here, and these will be legion, there can be no doubt that tremendous progress is being made, and in a few years' time you may already find cause for surprise in the English.
I don't see why you shouldn't give a straight account of the Spatzek business. Come to that, it has been published in Polish in the February issue of Przedswit.[1]
If Wachs is tall, he's not the right chap. He was, so far as I can remember, about the same size as yourself, with brown hair. But where all these waxen majors come from, I cannot conceive.[2]
The Witch[3] has just finished, so I must fall in and await orders—warm regards to your wife and yourself,
Your F. E.