London, 11 February 1891 

Dear Sorge, 

Letter of 16 January received. 

I am delighted to hear that you propose to do away with the Nation- 
alist. Over here I can find no one, not a solitary soul, who is pre- 
pared to read it, and I myself have not got the time to scrutinise the 
sagacious lucubrations of all the various RespecrasLe panjandrums. 
I would have suggested such a course long since had I not thought 
that, if'a chap like you sent me the thing, there was bound to be some- 
thing in it some time. 

The photograph is in the offing. Heinrich Scheu wishes to do 
a wood-cut of me, for which reason I recently had to position myself 
before the lens again.” Of the seven pictures, one will presumably turn 
out well. 

I trust your wife will have completely recovered by the time you 
get this; also you yourself. 

I cannot tell you anything about the American eprrion or Capital, 
since I have never seen it and do not know what it contains. That the 
people over there can pirate our stuff, we are aware. That they do so 

* Helene Demuth’s, sce also this volume, pp. 219-20.-” See this volume, p. 112. - 
° Katharina Sorge 

proves that it’s a good speculation and is gratifying, although detri- 
mental to the heirs. But it was something we had to reckon with the 
moment sales assumed significant proportions over there. 

By now you will presumably have had the fourth ed.* 

You will have read Marx’s article” in the Neue Zeit. To begin with it 
aroused great wrath in the socialist powers-that-be in Germany but 
now they appear to be simmering down a bit. In the party itself, on 
the other hand, there was great rejoicing, except among the old Las- 
salleans. The Berlin correspondent of the Vienna Arberter-Zeztung, 
which you will get by the next post, actually thanks me for the service 
I have rendered the party '°! (I believe it’s Adolf Braun, Victor Ad- 
ler’s brother-in-law and Liebknecht’s deputy editor on the Vorwdérts). 
Liebknecht, of course, is furious, since all the criticism was aimed spe- 
cifically at him and he was the progenitor, together with that bugger 
Hasselmann, of the rotten programme. I can comprehend the ini- 
tial dismay felt by the chaps, who have hitherto insisted that ‘com- 
rades’ should approach them only with the utmost delicacy, on find- 
ing themselves being handled thus sans fagon,° and their programme 
unmasked as pure rubbish. According to what I hear from K. Kaut- 
sky who has behaved very courageously throughout this affair, the 
parliamentary group intends to issue an edict? to the effect that 
publication took place without their knowledge and is deplored by 
them. They’re welcome to that gratification. However, it may come 
to nothing if the party increasingly voices its assent and the fuss about 
‘placing a weapon against ourselves in the hands of our foes’ is found 
to be without substance. 

In the meantime I am being boycotted by the gentlemen, which 
suits me very well as it saves me quite a deal of time. Not that it’s li- 
kely to last for long. 

After Bradlaugh’s death, Aveling was invited to stand in North- 
ampton and by none other than the local prancu of THE Social Demo. 
cRaTIC Feperation,?° 1, e. nominally Hyndman’s people. Because of the 
leap forward made by the movement generally in the past 18 months, 
the Feperation has acquired a large following. These people are glad 
to leave foreign policy (plotting with the Possibilists,* etc.), which is 
quite outside their ken, to Hyndman & Co., but are completely un- 
aware of the said gentry’s previous plotting and intriguing at home, 
and would certainly deny all responsibility for the same; — rn Fact, it 

a 

of the first volume of Capital -° Critique of the Gotha Programme -° rudely | 

Engels to Sorge. 1] February 189] 127 

is only because Hyndman & Co. have, since that time, pretty well 
eluded attack at home that they have acquired the afore-mentioned 
following. Hence the move made by the Northampton people which 
seriously alarmed Hyndman, the more so since the srancu immedi- 
ately informed the Executive Council of what they had done. A certain 
amount of plotting ensued, but to no avail. Aveling went down and 
was given a brilliant reception, but it was only 4 days until nomi- 
nation day, and a £100 deposit had to be raised for election expenses. 
Twenty working men undertook to put up £5 each, and a man 
turned up who offered to provide the money against that undertaking. 
But upon closer investigation this man proved to be one of the Con- 
servatives’ principal agents, whereupon Aveling refused the money 
with a proper display of righteous indignation and withdrew. This 
must have been doubly vexatious for Hyndman in as much as, 5 years 
ago, he and Champion accepted £250 or £350 from the Tortes for 
electoral purposes. At all events, Aveling is now the workers’ nom- 
inee for Northampton and stands a good chance of obtaining an in- 
creasing number of votes. On this occasion he would have received 
between nine hundred and a thousand. 

The young man I recommended to you * will already have come to 
see you. The Romms, by the by, know him personally, something of 
which I was unaware at the time. 

The French are very angry because this year the Germans intend 
to celebrate May Day on the 3rd of May, and not the Ist. It’s all non- 
sense; by celebrating on 1 May last year, the Hamburg chaps in- 
volved themselves in a Lockout” (for which, having no contracts, the 
manufacturers yearn); it cost the workers there 100,000 marks — not 
counting outside contributions— broke the backs of their TRapes 
Unions, which were the best organised, and crippled them for a long time 
to come. In Germany today there is chronic overproduction in all 
branches of industry and, since a general celebration throughout 
Germany could not be held on 1 May without breach of contract and 
would thus bring about a general Lockout, use up all our funds, dis- 
rupt all our Trapes Unions and engender discouragement rather 
than enthusiasm, it would be madness. However, at the Paris Con- 
gress, our people evinced such enthusiasm for the Ist of May,°! that 
this now looks like a retreat. And again the parliamentary group’s 
proclamation is a deplorably feeble affair.'°? 

@ Stanislaw Padlewski-? See this volume, pp. 116 and 122-23. 

Here in England the day is to be decided next Sunday. Realising 
what a mistake they had made last year, Hyndman and Co. are in- 
tent on somehow pushing themselves to the fore on this occasion, and 
1 May will find many supporters. But since the capitalists in this 
country are ever eager to seize on any pretext for disrupting the two 
best hated Trapes Unions—the Dockers and more particularly that 
Bossep by Tussy, the Gasworkers AND GENERAL Lapourers,! Tussy is 
going to do all she can to avoid providing them with the pretext of 
breach of contract and will propose 3 May as being a Sunday. The 
Gasworkers are now the most powerful organisation in Ireland and, 
in the next elections, are going to put up their own candidates regard- 
less of Parnell or M’Carthy. Parnell’s demonstrative friendliness to- 
wards working men is the result of a meeting he had with these self- 
same Gasworkers who didn’t hesitate to give him a piece of their 
mind. Even Michael Davitt, who used to call for independent Irish 
Trapes Unions, now knows better: The constitution they have got al- 
lows them Home-RULE with no strings attached. It is to them that credit 
is due for having, for the first time, got the labour movement in Ire- 
land going. Many of their srancues consist of AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. 

Kindest regards to your wife, 

Your 
F.E.