London, 9 February 1893 
Dear August, 

First of all my congratulations on your magnificent speech of 3 February 
which had already given us enormous pleasure in the Vorwdrts“ excerpt but 
came out even better in the stenographic report. It is a masterpiece, in no way 
impaired by one or two minor theoretical inaccuracies, these being inevitable 
in verbal delivery. You are quite right to arrange for copies of the speech to 
be distributed in their hundreds of thousands,” notwithstanding and in 
addition to the distribution of the whole debate in pamphlet form.‘ 

This debate, in which the worthy bourgeois sought to dispel the tedium of 
sittings that had grown arid—thanks to their intrigues behind the scenes— 
and also, whenever chance offered, to lead us nicely up the garden path, has 
turned out to be a truly colossal victory for us. And that they themselves 
sense this is borne out by the fact that after Liebknecht ‘s speech they had 
had enough and indicated as much—through Stoecker! '*’ So now at last the 
gentlemen have realised that if a parliament devotes it- 

“No. 30 of 4 February 1893 —° A. Bebel, Zukunfisstaat und Sozialdemokratie. Eine Rede des 
Reichstagsabgeordneten August Bebel in der Sitzung des deutschen Reichstags vom 3. Februar 
1893. —° ‘Der sozialdemokratische ‘Zukunftsstaat’. Verhandlungen des deutschen Reichstags 
am 31. Januar, 3., 4. 6. und 7. Februar 1893, verdffentlicht nach dem offiziellen 
stenographischen Bericht. 

self for five days on end to social reorganisation in our own sense of the term 
and if, on top of that, the said parliament is the German Reichstag, this is a 
milestone symbolising yet another victory for the workers’ party. This latter 
circumstance has given proof to the whole world, friend and foe alike, of the 
triumphant position won by the German party. If things go on like this, we 
shall soon be able to exist at no cost of effort to ourselves, on the stupidity of 
our opponents alone. 

It was obvious that you would have to bear the brunt of the debate. So far 
as I can judge, Frohme’s speech did indeed provide some pretext for the 
victorious hullabaloo from Richter and Bachern and Hitze, and the business 
of Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle ought to be carefully investigated. If what 
Hitze asserted is correct, Frohme lacked the competence to quote from them, 
but if not, he ought to have made a personal statement in self-vindication. '“* 
Otherwise everything went off beautifully and Liebknecht ‘s concluding 
speech, though indifferent in content, was nevertheless ‘trenchant’ and good 
polemically. In short, it has been a triumph. The Witch* was so overjoyed 
that yesterday she called me Agnes Pinchpenny, whereupon I drew her 
attention to the fact that she was a proper Fidgety Ann, as anyone who knows 
her will confirm. She is even worse than the latter, for its not so much her 
legs that are fidgety but her brain. '*° 

There is much to be said for your suggestions as to what the best plan for 
the Russians would be in case of war. '° But don’t forget that if the 
overthrow of France would be intolerable to Russia, the suppression of 
Germany would be no less so to Italy and England. Every localised war is 
more or less subject to control by the neutrals. The next war, if it comes at 
all, will not permit of being localised in any way. They—the Continentals at 
any rate—would all be drawn in during the first months, it would au- 
tomatically begin in the Balkans and England at most might be able to 
remain neutral for a time. Your Russian plan, however, presupposes a 
localised war and that, given the enormous armies of today and the appalling 
consequences for the vanquished, I no longer regard as possible. 

In Egypt it is simply a case of the Russians (the French are mere puppets 
on strings) making things difficult for the English, and thereby tying up their 
troops and fleet as much as possible. If war broke out, Russia would then 
have something to offer the English in return for an alliance 

“jocular name for Louise Kautsky 

or at least their neutrality and at such a juncture the French would be 
delighted to exchange Egypt for Alsace. Meanwhile the Russians are up to 
the same game in Central Asia on the Indian border where it will be years 
before they are strong enough to mount serious attacks and where the ground 
is very far from being prepared for this purpose. Incidentally, in connection 
with Egypt, Turkey should also fall to Russia. 

(Have just had another Russian visitor who has held me up for over an 
hour, the result being that it is now 4 o’clock and in consequence this will 
have to be a shorter letter.) 

I see that on your Military Committee you also have a Major Wachs. If he 
is the same man as a cousin of Dr Gumpert’s of Manchester, I met him there 
some 25 years ago, At that time he had joined the Prussians as a former 
lieutenant in the service of Hesse-Cassel and was much disappointed to find 
amongst his victors of 1866 the same preoccupation with spit and polish as 
had, or so he thought, been the cause of Hesse-Cassel’s defeat. mT gave him 
some encouragement, saying that if he would only go ahead and stick it out 
with the Prussians, he would probably discover that the army also had its 
good sides. Later on, at Spichern, '“* when in command of a company, he 
greatly distinguished himself by occupying on his own initiative a railway 
tunnel in defiance of his major. In the General Staff’s history* he is mentioned 
in most glowing terms—one of the very few lieutenants of whom it makes 
any mention at all. Since then I have read various strategic-political essays of 
his—most of them on the East—in which there are some very good things 
along with others (political) with which I don’t agree. At all events he is an 
efficient officer—if it’s the same man. 

By the way, a compromise seems more probable than ever. Even the Free 
Thinkers '“? and the Centre "' are prepared to supply 28,000 men, while 
Bennigsen is offering 40,000. No doubt so many will fall by the wayside that 
the government will get 50,000 rather than the 60,000 it wanted (perhaps also 
just a few more, provided it doesn’t waver) " and the bourgeois fatherland 
will once again be saved from dissolution and conflict. 

The ‘ball’ was thought up by our charming Witch’s fidgety brain. The 
‘Society’ ©’ gave a concert which was followed by a ball. At 11 0’clock the 
first part of the concert ended, whereupon I obediently took my leave, 

* Der deutsch-französische Krieg 1870-71. Redigirt von der Kriegsgeschichtlichen Abteilung 
des Groen Generalstabes. Part 1, Vol. 1, p. 341, Berlin, 1874. 

so the dancing cannot have started before 1 o’clock. She herself always 
speaks of dancing with a condescension more appropriate to someone many 
years her senior, and if she is to dance a waltz you yourself will doubtless 
have to lead her onto the floor. In which case I’m by no means so certain that 
her Viennese blood might not reassert its rights. 

In the next (February) No., now at the printers, the Polish Przedswit, 
which comes out here, will contain the following item: '°° At Grajewo, on the 
East Prussian border, there is a junior Russian official by the name of 
Spatzek, a Bohemian by birth, who is employed on translating way-bills. 
Despite his wretched wage he makes long journeys, some of them as far as 
Constantinople, leads a fast life, frequently enters Prussian territory on the 
pretext of hunting and is very friendly with Landrat von der Gröbben of Lyck 
who provides him with a vast quantity of hunting and other travel permits. 
When the frontier was closed on account of cholera, nobody was allowed 
across, but Mr Spatzek along with his wife and H-n, another Russian official 
suspected of spying, were able to travel to K6nigsberg without hindrance. In 
the opinion of people on the far side of the border this gadding about on 
German territory is purely and simply for the purpose of spying out the outer 
forts sited between the East Prussian lakes, on which occasions our overwise 
Prussian Landrat is only too pleased to be made use of by his Russo- 
Bohemian friend. The arrogant Prussian bureaucrats are everywhere easily 
taken in. 

Moreover the Russian troops on the border were not long ago the recip- 
ients of a whole load of literature, to wit numerous copies of a pamphlet by 
Alexandrov, a lieutenant in the artillery in Tashkent, On the causes and 
necessity of the impending war.“ One copy has been issued to each company 
in order that the officers may duly enlighten their men. 

Perhaps you might be able to make use of this information in your private 
conversations with the people on the Military Committee. 

Over here Keir Hardie has moved an amendment on the subject of 
unemployment '*! to the Address (Reply to the Speech from the Throne’) in 
Parliament. In itself this was quite a good thing. But Keir Hardie committed 
two colossal blunders. 1. The amendment was formulated quite unnecessarily 
as a direct vote of censure on the government, so that its acceptance would 
have forced the government to resign and thus the whole thing was 
tantamount to a Tory manoeuvre, 2. he chose to be seconded by 

* A. H. Aleksandrov, [original text in Russian]. - ° by Queen Victoria 

the Tory Howard Vincent, a Protectionist, rather than by a Labour member, 
thereby completing the picture of a Tory manoeuvre and of himself as a Tory 
puppet. Moreover 102 Tories voted in his favour and only 2 Liberal-Radicals, 
' not one Labour member. Burns was agitating in Yorkshire. As I have 
already written you,” his manoeuvrings and pronouncements since Bradford 
' have more than once been suggestive of Champion’s influence; this has 
now become more than a suspicion. The source of his means of subsistence is 
unknown, and over the past two years he has spent a great deal of money on 
travelling. Where does it come from? The English working man demands of 
his parliamentary representatives and other leaders that they devote all their 
time to the movement. But if he won’t pay them, he himself is to blame if 
they accept money from other parties as a means of support and for electoral 
purposes. So long as this goes on, there will always be Panamites '** amongst 
the labour leaders over here. 

Incidentally, if Mr Keir Hardie continues to be allowed to behave in this 
way, he will soon be laid low. The working men of Lancashire and Yorkshire 
are not the sort of people to attach themselves to conservative leading-strings 
or to pluck the Tories’ chestnuts out of the fire for them. Just give K. Hardie 
enough time and the consequences of his policy will rebound on him 
personally and become evident to all. 

Burns has gone to Halifax to agitate in connection with the elections and 
consequently did not vote on Keir Hardie’s motion. 

For it is by-election time in Huddersfield and Halifax, two manufacturing 
towns in Yorkshire, each of more than 100,000 inhabitants. The Independent 
Labour Party has put up a candidate” in Halifax, as have the other two 
parties. Then it made the following offer to the Liberals: If you withdraw 
your candidate in Halifax so that we only have the Tory‘ to contend with, 
we'll vote for you in Huddersfield. The Liberals refused. Whereupon the 
LIBERAL WAS DEFEATED LAST TUESDAY IN HUDDERSFIELD* by the Tory'—as 
a result of the Independent Labour Party’s abstention, Again, at another by- 
election in Burnley, Lancashire, not far from Halifax, the Liberals polled 750 
fewer votes than in the previous election—also as a result of our abstention. 
The poll in Halifax is being held today and the Tory will probably be elected. 
That would bring Gladstone’s majority, now 36, down to 34. Events such as 
these are 

-* See this volume, p. 87 - ° John Lister -° William Rawson Shaw - * Alfred Arnold - ‘Joseph 
Woodhead — ‘ Joseph Crosland 

making things hotter each day for the Liberals. Up till now progress has been 
splendid and Gladstone will have to capitulate to the workers. Most 
important of all are the political measures, namely the extension of the 
franchise for working men by implementing what is presently on paper and 
which would increase the Labour vote by 50 per cent, the curtailment of the 
duration of Parliament (now seven years!) and the payment of electoral 
expenses and M.P.’s salaries out of public funds. 

Meanwhile these fresh successes scored by an independent policy are 
bound to increase the working man’s self-esteem and tell him that virtually 
everywhere the fate of the elections, and hence of each government, lies in 
his hands. That is the most important part: self-confidence and self-reliance 
on the part of the class. It will also tide them over all the miserable little 
intrigues which are simply the result of the masses’ lack of confidence in 
themselves. Once we have a body of working men that really moves en 
masse, the crafty manoeuvrings of those worthies the leaders will cease, for 
they will do them more harm than good. 

Louise’s letter went off at 5.30 p.m. by the night boat. This is going off at 
9 p.m., i.e. by the first day boat. Perhaps you would tell us at what time each 
of them arrives so that we know which post is the best. 

Once again warm regards to your wife and yourself from Louise and 

Your F.E.