London, 2 April 1885 

Dear Old Man, 

So that you shouldn’t think you had been forgotten, I have taken 
out a money order for five pounds for you and trust you will get the 
money at once. So far I am pretty well, though not, it is true, as yet fit 
for active service, nor am I likely ever to be able to mount a horse 
again, but I am still perky enough for peacetime work. */, of the sec- 
ond volume of Capital have been printed and the book will be ap- 
pearing in some 2 months’ time, while work on the third volume is 
well advanced. This last, which contains the final conclusions and, 
indeed, some quite brilliant stuff, will revolutionise economics once 
and for all and create a tremendous sensation. 

In the meantime things are beginning to liven up again. Ferry’s 
fall’? opened the proceedings, now it’s Gladstone’s turn, and Bis- 
marck’s will follow as soon as that jackass William” kicks the bucket. 

@ See [A. Schafile,] Die Quintessenz des Socialismus, Gotha, 1875, p. 5; see also Engels’ 
letter to Eduard Bernstein of 12 March 1881 (present edition, Vol. 46, p. 74). - 
> William I 

For us, the most favourable situation will arise when, at the moment 
of revolution, the most radical elements of the bourgeoisie are every- 
where at the helm — Clemenceau in France, Dilke and Chamberlain 
in this country and Richter in Germany—so that when they have 
ruined themselves, the revolution will be carried out against them 
and not for their benefit. It looks as though this might come about, 
provided no premature action is taken in Paris. 

As was inevitable in the circumstances of the Anti-Socialist Law, 37 
a number of thoroughgoing philistines have been returned to the 
Reichstag by our people and are beginning to give themselves airs 
because they constitute a majority in the parliamentary group. *’° 
We shall now have to wait and see how far they go; they can be toler- 
ated for a time if in tow, but not when in the lead. They know that 
they haven’t got the masses behind them, but they also know that, at 
the moment, the hands of the masses are very much tied. Of one thing 
we may be certain. If they gain the upper hand, I shall continue to 
cooperate up to a certain point, but beyond that it will be bon jour, mes- 
steurs. * Being overwhelmed with work, I cannot unfortunately go into 
the attack as I should like to do, but perhaps it is a good thing to al- 
low these gentlemen a little latitude. The matter of the Steamship 
Subsidies **? went off pretty smoothly on the whole, after several of 
them had made real fools of themselves. Now they are out for the 
blood of the Zurich Sozialdemokrat,?7* which is rather more serious. 
For it’s bad enough to be made to look a fool in the eyes of the gen- 
tlemen in the Reichstag, but in the eyes of the whole of Europe — 
that really is a bit thick! If Bebel were in good health, none of this 
would matter a great deal, but he is nervy and debilitated, on top 
of which he has to work himself to the bone on his family’s ac- 
count. 

But everything will come right when old William pegs out. The 
Crown Prince? is a weak, irresolute fellow, as if destined for decapita- 
tion, his wife‘ ambitious, with a clique of her own— in short, there 
will be all manner of changes that will play havoc with the existing 
order of things and bemuse and unsettle the civil service, while the 
bourgeoisie will at last be compelled to clear away some of the old 
lumber and play a political role— as it damned well ought. Only let 
the political scene at home come to life again and we shall need noth- 
ing more. But the rotten bourgeoisie has so greatly deteriorated that 

* good day, gentlemen-” Frederick William -‘ Victoria 

what it should do voluntarily and in its own interests as a class, it will 
do only under compulsion — the compulsion of the historical circum- 
stances imposed upon it. And so long as the old jackass lives, it will be 
under no compulsion to get moving, which is why I hope that he will 
kick the bucket and do so in the way of nature, thus leaving his suc- 
cessor free to choose what stupidity to indulge in first. And with this 
pious wish, it being almost time for the post, I shall now conclude. 
Borkheim was rather less well during the winter, but has now im- 
proved again, i.e. he’s much as before. 
Fraternal greetings, 

From your old friend 
F.E.