AT LE PERREUX 

London, 3 April 1891 

My dear Lafargue, 

Thank you for your letter, which is of great interest, ?!° firstly be- 
cause we must be au courant with things of this kind if we are to be ade- 
quately armed vis-a-vis Hyndman; next because the tactics you have 
adopted are precisely those recommended by Marx to the Germans 
in 1875 vis-a-vis the Lassalleans ©? and I shall be able to make good 
use of this, should need arise, to show that in 1875 the Germans could 
have pursued a line of conduct different from the one they then fol- 
lowed; and thirdly for the reason given to Laura. ° But this last you have 
misunderstood. If you care to re-read my letter, you will see that 
I only discuss the prospects for an acceptable future after the Brussels 
Congress. '*° Never mind the letters Liebknecht is writing to you just 
now; you ought to know him well enough to realise that he can face 

* The beginning of the sentence is in German.-° F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, 
Private Property and the State.-° See this volume, pp. 155-56. 

one way and then another in the twinkling of an eye. For the past 
twenty years his policy abroad has been to maintain connections in- 
dependent of those that Marx and I were able to secure for him. Ab- 
road, as at home, he likes to form his own personal party of people 
whom he has placed under an obligation. Nor is he overparticular. 
Cast your mind back to the Buffenoir affair. ?!! He will behave no dif- 
ferently the moment new connections become available to him. And 
since, at Brussels, his last remaining reasons for keeping aloof from the 
Possibilists ? and Hyndman will doubtless disappear, it should come 
as no surprise to you if he approaches those gentlemen in order to use 
one lot as a counterweight to yourselves and the other to hold the 
scales against us over here. Were that to happen, it could well be of vital 
importance that I should intervene at an appropriate moment and 
for that I should have to be prepared in advance. If it doesn’t hap- 
pen, so much the better. 

The £50 from the Calais net-makers have made a deep impression 
but, as you know, the English are a warrer or ract people and if inter- 
national cordiality is to be maintained, it would be better not to re- 
strict the generosity of the French working man to the foregoing. 
What would create an excellent impression over here would be if 
a sum of money were to be sent by a French trades union which has yet 
to receive a contribution from England. That would be an example of 
French initiative which would be much appreciated here. 

Sam Moore has arrived in good health; he has had himself exam- 
ined by Gumpert who declared him perrectiy sounp apart from a slight 
swelling of the spleen, which he hopes to cure before long. Unfortu- 
nately Sam arrived at his parents’ place in the Derbyshire Peak District 
just in time for the snow, which is none too good for a man arriving 
from the tropics. He will be here next week. 

The assassination in Sofia ?!? was undoubtedly a Russian exploit, 
but, since they missed Stambulov, who was the real target, it prob- 
ably won’t lead to anything much. Otherwise we might have seen 
a bit of excrrement and Pm very glad that that hasn’t happened. For 
I have grave doubts about the Paris public’s powers of resistance to 
a chauvinist outcry at a time of crisis, just as I have doubts about my 
Berliners in similar circumstances. Neither Bismarck nor Boulanger 
are so dead as to be incapable of resuscitation by the virtual inevita- 
bility of war. 

Your tactics towards the two Possibilist sections are the best you 
can adopt in the circumstances. Since you are in a minority in Paris, 

Engels to Kautsky. 7 April 189] 163 

you must set one lot off against the other and gradually attract the 
masses. Besides, there are divergencies of principle which entitle you 
to refuse a merger pure and simple. 

Where on earth in the Soczaliste is the letter from Rouen of which 
you speak? I have searched through every number from 11 February 
to 1 April and found nothing. ?'° 

Louise and Schorlemmer send their best wishes to you and Laura, 
as does 

Yours, 
F.E. 

Schorlemmer has nearly recovered from his cold, though he looks 
somewhat tired. 

We expect you next week so that Sam can retail to yoy all manner 
of things about your Negro relations.