London, 26 January 1892 

Dear Baron, 

Proofs of the article“ promptly returned yesterday. I cannot attend 
to those of the Anti-Proudhon* as I have got to tackle Volume III‘ 
without delay and look over the English translation of the Entwick- 
lung, which I cannot refuse to do since it is I, after all, who will be 
held responsible for anything of that kind that appears in London; so 
I can take on absolutely nothing else whatever. 

If the Berliners should object to anything in my article, I would ask 
you to substitute dots. There can be no question of toning things down 

° Die Gleichheit-” these charming French ladies-* Lizzy Burns-“ F. Engels, ‘Der So- 
zialismus in Deutschland’.-* K. Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy. Answer to the ‘Philo- 
sophy of Poverty’ by M. Proudhon.-' of Capital- F. Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scien- 
tific. 

because the French original is generally accessible and I might be ac- 
cused of falsifying the text. 

I should be grateful if you would send me the proofs of the Poverty — 
for I’ve got to take another look at the preface* in any case. 

I have written and told Dietz,'!°* by whom I’ve been saddled with 
a draft for an address to Bebel on the 25th anniversary of his entry 
into Parliament,'>? that in future al/ my fees are to be sent to Ad- 
ler. As it is, the Berliners get the lion’s share, since I can’t deprive 
them of those accruing from what is published by the Vorwdarts pub- 
lishers. So it’s only fair. 

Well, the happy result of Julius’ underground activities was to get 
Gilles evicted from the Society °° by 48 votes to 21, at 3 o’clock on 
Sunday morning.© He (Julius) conducted the campaign most ably 
and called in here on Sunday evening; he was full of beans and gave 
us a delightfully humorous account of his negotiations with the So- 
ciety members whom he conjured up to the life. It was the same old 
story. At first the dullards thought they were only 7 strong, a figure 
which, on further investigation, turned out to be more like 50 — good 
men, if sluggardly—but once they’d been got together and galvanised 
into action, Gilles was done for. It’s a matter of some significance be- 
cause, in the eyes of the English, it has knocked the ground from 
under his feet; Hyndman is the only one who now has him hanging at 
his coat-tails, nor will he be able to shake him off. 

Hyndman has also suffered some severe defeats. See the account in 
last week’s Workman’s Times of the delegates’ negotiations at the So- 
ciaL Democratic Feperation 2° Hatt, Strand, concerning the FREE SPEECH 
MEETING at the World’s End, Chelsea. On that occasion he was hard 
pressed by Shaw, Burns and Tussy. Burns said that, if it came to the 
point, he hoped it would not be necessary to go and look for speakers 
in the Lavarories (as for Hyndman in Trafalgar Square 39’), etc. 
Hyndman, he went on, could have saved the day if, instead of the un- 
tenable World’s End (300 men constitute an obstruction OF TRAFFIC, 
whereupon the police have got to intervene), he had stuck to Sloane 
Square which he had relinquished on being fined one suittinc. The 
Gasworkers Said they would attend if there was any prospect of a fight, 
and would provide speakers if Hyndman would preside. In short, 
his cowardice was at long last brought home to him. On Sunday he 

@ F. Engels, ‘Marx and Rodbertus. Preface to the First German Edition of The Poverty 
of Philosophy by Karl Marx’.-° Julius Motteler-° 24 January 

fared even worse at the delegates’ meeting about the same subject. 
A Sociat Democratic Feperation man said that the Socia, Democratic 
FEDERATION was too weak to carry the thing off on its own and since it 
apparently was on its own, ought to drop it; someone else said that it 
wouldn’t do for Hyndman to be arrested since the Socia, Democratic 
Federation was solely dependent on subsidies from middle—CLAss PEOPLE, 
ESPECIALLY Hyndman and Hunter Watts. The jackass has got so in- 
volved in his own intrigues that things may go badly for him. The 
real nub of the matter, as he himself had privately said, was this: 
if the squabbling over the World’s End ricut or meetinc could be kept 
going until the dissolution of Parliament, i would ensure his being retur- 
ned in Chelsea (for which he is standing). 

Many regards and my congratulations on the birth of your second 
son.* But surely it is now time you slowed down the tempo a bit? We 
are glad to hear that mother” and child are doing well. Over here in- 
fluenza is still on the rampage; Percy had it, and pneumonia imme- 
diately afterwards; I anxiously await news of Pumps. Louise also had 
a touch of it, likewise Aveling. 

Well, once again warm regards from Louise and 

Your 
General