| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 22 November 1894 |
ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE
AT LE PERREUX
London, 22 November 1894
My dear Lafargue, I have found your report in the Sozialdemokrat.[1] That was lucky, for it has allowed me to put the responsibility for quite a few things on a somewhat careless editorship and to conclude that, although I did not agree with what the Nantes resolution[2] said, I think I agree with what it tried to say. At the same time I have tried to be as friendly as possible; but in view of the way this resolution is being abused in Germany, it is no good remaining silent about it.
The fact is you allowed yourself to lean a bit too much towards the opportunist tendency. At Nantes you came near to sacrificing the future of the Party to a momentary triumph. There is still time to call a halt: if my article[3] can contribute towards this, I shall be happy. In Germany—where Vollmar went so far as to suggest that the large peasants in Bavaria, each with the 10-30 hectares, should enjoy all the benefits that you had promised to the small French peasants[4] —in Germany Bebel took up the challenge, and the matter will be exhaustively discussed; it will not come off the agenda until it has been thrashed out. You will have seen in Vorwärts Bebel's speech in the 2nd electoral constituency of Berlin.[5] He complains with reason that the party is going bourgeois. That is the misfortune of all extreme parties when the time approaches for them to become 'possible'. But our Party cannot go beyond a certain limit in this respect without betraying itself, and it seems to me that in France as in Germany we have now reached that point. Fortunately there is still time to call a halt.
For some while I have not seen your letters in Vorwärts, and I thought there was some misunderstanding; last Wednesday I was happy to receive a number of 'Gallus'.[6] If there are difficulties with the editorial board, let me know, perhaps I could be of some use to you.
If the Russian Government is spending money to strengthen its currency, that is an infallible sign that a new loan is in the air; the French are the only ones who might be tempted; let's hope they aren't. But when Russia needs gold, she must naturally try to get it!
Loria will be even more pleased when he reads the preface,[7] he is treated there as he deserves and without the least regard for 'il primo economista dell' Italia'.[8]
Young William[9] is behaving admirably. He gets it into his head to combat 'subversive tendencies'[10] and starts by subverting his own government.[11] Ministers fall like lead soldiers. The poor young man had to keep quiet and lie low for over eight months; he can't stand it any longer, he blows up—and there you are! At a time when we are winning a quarter of Belgium,[12] when electoral reform in Austria is about to send our people into Parliament, when in Russia everything is in a state of uncertainty about the future—the young man gets it into his head to outdo Crispi and Casimir Périer! You can tell the effect this will have in Germany from the fact that at the Frankfurt Congress[13] the delegates, or at least many of them, called for a new repressive law as the best means for the Party to gain ground!
The situation in Austria is interesting. Since the death of his son,[14] the Emperor[15] has been afraid of the fall of his dynasty in the near future. His heir presumptive[16] is an arrogant imbecile of the utmost unpopularity. The Hungarians are not likely to tolerate him, they are demanding personal union pure and simple to start with, to be followed by total separation and complete independence. To tie his successor's hands in advance, Francis Joseph is trying to strengthen Parliament and make it more genuinely representative. That is why he has agreed with his friend Taaffe on a fairly extensive electoral reform.[17] But Parliament, an assembly of privileged persons, a real States General of 1789[18] (elected by categories: large landowners, commerce, towns, rural areas), turns it down, and Taaffe goes out. Thereupon the Emperor, like a true constitutional monarch, appoints a Minister from the majority,[19] a coalition of Liberals, Poles, etc., all arch-reactionaries. But he makes them promise that in return they will introduce an electoral reform of their own kind and that within a year. The year runs out with all kinds of abortive attempts. Thereupon the Emperor puts them in a position to keep their word—and that is why for the last 3 weeks Vienna has been talking of nothing but electoral reform. But the coalition is incapable of producing anything; at the first positive proposition they start fighting among themselves. So that probably Taaffe will shortly replace them and re-table his Bill, and if Parliament turns it down he will dissolve it and grant the reform, which the Constitution allows him to do. So here you have 'fellow traveller' Francis Joseph pushing from one side and Victor Adler from the other! But what an irony of history that this Emperor, created in December 1848 deliberately to crush the Revolution, should be called upon to inaugurate a fresh one 46 years later!
Kiss Laura for me.
Ever yours,
F. E
Louise and the child are well, she and Freyberger send their greetings.