Engels to Eduard Bernstein in Zurich

London, 5 May 87

Dear Ede,

You are the most incorrigible Hamlet that exists. You know that K[autsky] and I stand quite aloof from the local German machinery here and must do so, unless we want to fritter away our whole time in this wretched gossip. You know that we have not a single confidential man in the club here, because the people all stagnate in the pettiest cliques. If we therefore take the slightest step in the matter, it attracts attention, and the folk want to know where and how, and tomorrow it is chattered about in all the anarchist clubs. Had you come, you could, by means of a visit and a jaw in the club, have immediately placed yourself in a position to find out everything in 2–3 days and without any sensation. Hence not only have you deprived us of a pleasure by staying away, but you have also only half fulfilled the purpose of your journey. We can now only set old L[eßner] in motion, and he is so rusted up that he will cut a poor diplomat.

Regarding the Babeuf business, there is not a word in Avenel’s “Lundis” and “Anacharsis Cloots.” – But see pp. 42 and 94. – I am therefore sending you the “Lundis” by registered mail. Please return it soon, i.e. in about a fortnight, as I cannot well do without the book for looking things up. The main book, namely Buonarroti’s “Conspiration de Babeuf,” I also had in an English translation published by the Chartists, but it has been shot from me, like so much else; I have again made a thorough search for it, but in vain.

In relation to the Russians, a point now has to be emphasised which I miss everywhere. The entire European reaction is indignant about nihilist regicide and especially about the use of dynamite, and in particular against the Russian revolutionaries, and demands their extradition to Russia, and with a certain success even in America. What, however, does the miserable Russian government do? It has Alex. Battenberg kidnapped in Sofia, and if he was not shot on that occasion, he owes it solely to his own flabbiness. It has attempts at murder made on Bulgarian prefects in Bucharest. And finally, about 4 weeks ago, it had a dynamite bomb thrown at the house of Major Popoff, the commandant or whatever else he is. Thus everything which the Russian government reproaches the nihilists with, and on the basis of which it demands their extradition as common criminals, it does itself through its notorious agents in Bulgaria. We must demand that, with regard to these specifically Russian methods, revolutionaries and government be measured by the same standard. This is already felt quite generally, but it is important that it be said, and fairly loudly at that.

The Schnäbele affair was obviously arranged in advance in order to ride Boulanger into trouble. The only person who saw this correctly a fortnight ago was Mother Crawford, Paris correspondent of the “Daily News” and the “Weekly Dispatch.” Bismarck’s despatch confirms it.

Whether you are being harassed in Switzerland or not depends solely on the war scare. If it dies down, the Federal Council takes courage; if it intensifies, then woe betide its breeches.

Between ourselves. When Schack comes back to Switzerland, it will be well not to confide too much to her. She has a superabundance of energy, which does not always move in the right direction. On the one hand, she goes after the liberals of her former acquaintance; on the other, among the English workers here she picks out the anarchists by preference. I have personally nothing at all against her moving in all circles that are sympathetic to her, and she is personally very nice, bright and amusing; but the mere fact that precisely now, when a crisis with the anarchists is about to break in the League (at Whitsun, at the delegates’ conference), she prefers their company – so that the others already call her the Anarchist Countess – is something we must take into account. But strictly between ourselves, I otherwise consider her a quite harmless person.

Aveling and Tussy are carrying on a splendid agitation in the East End in the radical clubs, which have been startled by the American example and are now seriously thinking of founding an independent workers’ party. The people came to A[veling] of their own accord; that is the best sign. If we succeed in gaining a firm foothold there, then both the Social Democratic Federation and the Socialist League will be pushed into the background, and the beginning of the conquest of London will have been made. The immediate object is a dozen parliamentary seats – these clubs have hitherto been the strength of the Liberals here. And Hyndman has also recognised the danger that threatens him, which is why he is now bringing the slanders of the New York Executive against A[veling] in “Justice.” It is precisely this that we shall exploit to further the agitation. But you see how the wretched New York Executive makes our work more difficult here with its knotted slanders.

Greetings from Mumma#, who is just here.
Yours,
F.E.