ENGELS TO PAUL LAFARGUE”” 

AT LE PERREUX 

London, 14 January 1889 

My dear Lafargue, 

Reply from Liebknecht and Bebel after mutual consultation.**! It 
would appear that they never had any intention of going to the 
Possibilist congress direct and without reference to you. But 

1) Since the London congress*”° resolved to convene a congress in Paris 
and entrusted its organisation to the Possibilists, the latter do have certain 
rights, notably in regard to the nationalities represented in London who 
concurred with that resolution. (Why, by the bye, have you abdicated so 
completely and abandoned the field to the Possibilists?) 

2) The Dutch have expressly asked that the Possibilists be invited to 
the congress, making this a condition for their (the Dutchmen’s) atten- 
dance. 

3) And Liebknecht is right when he says that the Germans cannot 
expose themselves to attack by French workers in Paris—a hazard, he 
avers, against which you have been unable to give them any sort of guar- 
antee. 

Apparently, then, it has been resolved to convene a preliminary 
conference at Nancy,*>? one delegate per foreign nationality, and one 
delegate from each of the three French parties—yourselves, Blanquists, 
Possibilists; also to move that, at the congress, the right to speak be with- 
drawn from any speaker alluding to the internal affairs of those three 
parties and to the differences between them. In this way there would be 
only one congress, at which everyone would be represented. 

I don’t see how you can turn this down. If it then be seen that you are 
prepared to act along with everyone else, and that the Possibilists are 
trying to exclude you, it would be enough to put the Possibilists in the 
wrong, even in the eyes of the Dutch and Belgians (the Flemings are all 
right but, where their foreign policy is concerned, they are under the 
thumb of those false brethren in Brussels of whom you know); if, on the 
other hand, they accept, you will only have yourselves to blame should 
you fail to prove to one and all that it is you, and not they, who repre- 
sent French Socialism. 

Here is the text of what Liebknecht says: 

‘Ich richtete also am Dienstag 8. Januar nach Besprechung mit Bebel 
eine formelle Einladung an das Blatt* (der Possibilisten).» Kommt kein 
Delegierter derselben (zur Konferenz) so haben wir freie Hand. Kommt 
einer oder kommen mehrere, so werden wir schon mit ihnen fertig 
werden. Fiigen sie sich, dann gut. Figen sie sich nicht, dann sind sie 
isoliert und werden von uns tot gemacht’... ‘In jedem Fall sichert die 
Konferenz das Gelingen des Kongresses und die Lahmlegung der 
Broussisten.”° 

If all this is correct, I cannot see that you have cause for complaint; on 
the contrary, it would provide an excellent opportunity to force the hand 
of the Possibilists. Before answering, however, I am anxious to ascertain 
the facts and to hear what you have to say. After consulting your friends, 
therefore, and after seeking the advice of the Blanquists, do write and tell 
me what you think about all this; and do it soon, it’s urgent. 

Give Laura a kiss from Nim and from myself. 

Yours ever, 
F, Engels