London, 29 December 1884 

Dear Ede, 

From Kautsky I learn that you have lost not only your sister but 
also your father. Let me assure you of my warmest sympathy. It is one 
of the more sombre aspects of exile which I, too, have come to know. 
The fatherland as such is something one can easily dispense with, 
but — 

Now for events over here. On Saturday the Social Democratic Fep- 
ERATION 9°° happily disintegrated. The bubble burst somewhat sooner 
than I had expected, but it was bound to come. 

Hyndman, a political adventurer with aspirations to a carriére in 
Parliament, had long since gained control of the whole business. 
When, a year ago, Bax launched To-Day, there was not enough lit- 
erary talent to keep the little affair going, let alone a weekly, but 
a weekly Hyndman must needs have. Hence Justice was founded — 
with money given by two enthusiasts, Morris and Carpenter; it was 
edited by Hyndman with the aid of a few young literati who were on 
the look-out for some new movement capable of paying them (Fitzger- 
ald and Champion) and one Joynes, a teacher dismissed from Eton 

for agitation conducted in company with Henry George,* and hence 
a socialist, willy-nilly. These men were paid, directly or indirectly — 
Hyndman is rich but tight-fisted —, the rest had to contribute gratis. 
All the Feperation’s papers went to Hyndman, Fitzgerald and Cham- 
pion, who placed before the Council only what they thought fit, and 
corresponded off their own bat in the Feperation’s name; in short, 
Hyndman treated the Council as Bismarck treats the Reichstag. 
Loud complaints; they even reached me. I said: ‘Give the man 
his head. He’s a petty-minded chap and won’t last long, for he 
cannot wait. And he has come a cropper sooner than I thought he 
would. 

Morris, who was in Scotland a fortnight ago, uncovered there such 
intrigues on Hyndman’s part that he said he could no longer continue 
to work with the fellow. He had long had his suspicions. An interview 
with Andreas Scheu in Edinburgh brought matters to a head.33° 
Hyndman had defamed Scheu by calling him an anarchist and dyna- 
miter — Scheu was able to provide Morris not only with proof to the 
contrary, but also of the fact that Hyndman knew this. Similar mach- 
inations of Hyndman’s in Glasgow, where the branch had received 
letters from the secretary, Fitzgerald, bearing the Feperation’s stamp 
but which had not only not been written at the behest of the Council, 
but actually in defiance of its resolutions. Furthermore, Hyndman 
had told several people that a somewhat mysterious letter to the 
Council in Paris was a forgery concocted by Mme Lafargue and 
Tussy with a view to laying a trap for him. However, he had withheld 
the actual letter from the Council. Finally, in addition to having re- 
peatedly stirred up strife between members of the Council, he was 
shown to have fabricated a provincial branch which did not exist at 
all. 

In short, last Tuesday‘ things came to a head. Hyndman was at- 
tacked from every side, Scheu himself was there, documents in hand. 
Tussy had a letter from her sister about the alleged forgery. There 
was a row. Meeting adjourned till Saturday. Morris and Aveling 
came to see me beforehand, when I was able to give them some 
further advice. Big debate on the Saturday. None of the facts could be 
denied, either by Hyndman or by the supporters he had drummed 
up. Motion of censure on Hyndman adopted. Whereupon the ma- 
jority resigned from the Feperation. The grounds for this were, 1) that 

2 See this volume, pp. 74-75.-> Ibid., pp. 165-66.-° 23 December 

at a congress, Hyndman might fabricate a majority with the aid of 
his socus branch, while they would be unable to prove the non-existence 
of that branch, or at any rate not until it was too late, 2) —-and 
this was the main reason— because the entire Feneration was, after all, 
no better than a racket.**° 

Those who resigned were Aveling, Bax and Morris, the only honest 
ones amongst the literati, but also three as unpractical men — two 
poets and a philosopher— as it is possible to find. Also, the cream of 
the better-known working men. They intend to do the rounds of the 
London branches in the hope of winning over the majority, where- 
upon they will let Hyndman and his non-existent provincial branches 
go whistle. Their organ is to be a little monthly.* At last they are go- 
ing to operate modestly and in accordance with their powers, and not 
go on pretending that the English proletariat must instantly jump to 
it the moment the trumpet is sounded by a few literary converts to so- 
cialism. (In London, according to Morris’ admission, they were 400 
strong at the outside and barely 100 in the provinces.) The circula- 
tion of Justice is about 3,500. 

Hyndman is retaining Justice and To-Day, together with his specu- 
lative literati Fitzgerald, Champion, Burrows, Shaw and possibly also 
Sketchley who, as a former Chartist, presumably considers himself en- 
titled to a pension. Add to that what remains of the old democratic or 
socialist sects. Whose prize the other remnants of the Frperation will 
be, remains to be seen. But since Hyndman will no longer be getting 
any money either from Morris or from Carpenter for his unprofitable 
organs, he will either have to pay up himself, or sell himself, his organs 
and the remnants of his faction to the Curisrian Sociatisrs or — to 
Lord Randolph Churchill and Tory Democracy. He’ll have to look 
sharp if he wants to stand for Parliament in the elections next autumn. 

I have the satisfaction of having seen through the whole racket 
from the outset, correctly sized up all the people concerned and fore- 
told what the end would be, and similarly that the said racket would 
eventually do more harm than good. 

Your 
F.E.