ENGELS TO THOMAS ALLSOP” 

London, 14 December 1879 
122 Regent’s Park Road, N. W. 

My dear Friend, 

I am very sorry indeed to learn that you have been ill and are 
not yet completely restored to health. I hope your legs will soon be 
all right again so as to allow you to stir about—I know how you 
will miss your usual exercise. 

We are all pretty well here so far, our patients and half-patients 
seem to come round gradually. 

The man in The P.M.G’ does indeed to some extent divine that 
there are breakers ahead, but as a true Philistine, he seems unable 
to distinguish appearances from reality. No doubt the crash in 
Russia is impending and may break out any time. And no doubt, 
the collapse of Russian despotism must re-act with immense force 
upon Germany and Austria. But whether an immediate outbreak 
there be probable or whether it even have chances of success, is 
more than I pretend to know. The man is quite right, too, in 
saying that the system of drilling the whole male population, as is 
now the rule all over the continent, will end in revolutionising 
these monster armies from within. But this is a process requiring 
some little time, and as far as Germany goes, it is only lately 
showing itself. This constant penetration of fresh revolutionary 
elements into the army, noticed with every new yearly batch of 
recruits, has been the principal motive for introducing the 
[ Anti-] Socialist law“°* And how little this Socialist Law, with all its 
terrorism, has effected, has again been shown last Thursday. At 
the last election in 1878, at Magdeburg, our candidate” only got '/s 
of the votes given; now there was a fresh election there, and he‘ 
very near got the full half of the votes, and stands a chance of 
passing at the second ballot.*’* The joke of the thing is, that this 
candidate of ours is a natural son of old William, the emperor, by 
an actress, Miss Viereck, whilom the old fellow’s mistress. 

Anyhow, the outbreak in Russia must hasten the movement in 
Central and Western Europe. The governments of Vienna and 
Berlin will lose heart when they have no longer that unfailing 

a The Pall Mall Gazette - > Wilhelm Bracke - © Louis Viereck 

mainstay of all reaction—the absolute Russian government. And 
the moral effect of a revolutionary successful movement in Russia 
upon the masses in Central Europe must be immense. 

The worst would be, to us, if Russia, to avoid revolution, 
launched into foreign war. But so long as they have not the 
French Alliance, they scarcely venture. 

Anyhow, by next spring this Russian crisis, which we think here 
is the most important one since 1848, must come to a head either 
one way or another, and I hope you will recover your full strength 
so as to enjoy the stirring times which are, it appears, still in store 

f ; 
sai Very faithfully yours 

F. Engels