London, 13 September 1886 

My dear Laura, 

Here we are again in London *9° — it’s the same thing over and 
over again, jobs of all sorts. The last week I had to revise a German 
extract of the Kapital by Kautsky,'?’ and it wanted revising very 
much. Two other mss. are in my desk and have been there for more 
than six months. Hope to clear them off this week. Fortunately for me, 
proof-sheets* have been few and far between, else it would have been 
but a poor holiday for me. Anyhow I shall now cut this sort of work 
completely, else I should never get to my chief work. 

Tussy and Edward’s ship the City of Chicago arrived in New York on 
the 10th, and Liebknecht’s, the Servia, must be there by this time too, 
as she sailed 4th September. They will have a severe job to go 

of the English translation of the first volume of Capital (see Note 56) 

through with travelling and speechifying. Liebknecht was four 
days with us at Eastbourne, he is quite fat and carries a deal of weight 
in front of himself, no doubt the Yankees will take some of that out of 
him. Otherwise he was very jolly and confident as usual: ‘alles geht 
Samos.” 

I wrote to you that I had a postcard from Schorlemmer about 18th 
August from the Lake of Como,” since then I have not heard from 
him. Anyhow he is now soon due in Paris whence he has sworn to 
bring you, and if possible Paul too, over to London. I sincerely trust 
that he will succeed, Nim is already busying her mind with the few 
necessary arrangements which indeed will not require great exer- 
tions. Paul’s trial will not I hope prevent him from coming over,?* 
the old shop where he likes to buy drawers at 1/6d. a pair is still there 
if that is an inducement. And if he cannot get off, surely you are 
bound to take a holiday too and see your old friends in London once 
more. You know what Meyer said: ‘wenn sie im Zimmer kommt, ist es als 
wenn die Sonne aufginge’“—so do let the sun rise once more over 
London! 

Nim has had her photograph taken in Eastbourne, it was very 
good and is paid for, this is perhaps the reason why the copies are not 
yet sent. 

Please thank Paul for his letter on the wine manufacture — it 
not only confirmed, but also completed what I had heard from other 
sources. It is very satisfactory to know that in these latter days of ca- 
pitalist production the phylloxera has smashed up the Chateau La- 
ffite, Lagrange and other grands crus,* as we that know how to appre- 
ciate them, do not get them, and the Jews and parvenus that get 
them, do not know [how] to appreciate them. Having thus no lon- 
ger a mission to fulfil, they may as well go to smash, our successors 
will soon restore them when they are wanted for grand popular 
holidays. 

What Mohr said in the Circular to the International in 1870,° that 
the annexation of Alsace, etc., had made Russia V’arbitre de [’ Europe, 
is now at last becoming evident. Bismarck has had to cave in comple- 
tely, and the will of Russia has to be done.?° The dream of the Ger- 

@ ‘everything is going swimmingly’- ° See this volume, p. 478. -° ‘when 
she comes into the room, it is as if the sun rises’-4 famous vineyards - 
* K. Marx, ‘Second Address of the General Council of the International 
Working Men’s Association on the Franco-Prussian War’. 

man Empire, the guardian of European peace, without whose leave 
not a cannon-shot can be fired, is dispelled, and the German philis- 
tine finds he is as much the slave of the Czar* as when Prussia was “der 
fünfte Rad am europdischen Wagen’. And now he falls foul of Bismarck 
who after all does only what he is compelled to do. The rage is great 
in Germany, not only among the philistines, but also in the army. 
Liebknecht says since 1866 there has not been such an outcry against 
an act of the government. But there it will not stop. If the Balkan 
drama enters its second act, a war between Russia and Austria will 
break out and then vogue la galére*— all Europe may burst out in 
flames. I should be rather sorry — no doubt it would be the dast war, 
and no doubt this as anything else must turn out ultimately to our ad- 
vantage. But it may after all delay our victory and the other road is 

. safer. For that however there is scarcely another road than a revolu- 
tion in Russia, and as long as Alexander * follows the lead of the Pan- 
Slavists, that is a very unlikely event. In fact, the decisive argument of 
Giers with Bismarck was this: we are between Pan-slavists and Nihil- 
ists,9°° if we keep the peace they will unite and the palace revolution 
will be a fatt accompli —so we must go on towards Constantinople, 
and this will be less harmful to you, Bismarck and William,’ than 
a Russian revolution. This winter will decide matters, so I am bound 
to get the 3rd volume* ready by next spring. 

Had several visits from Bax and one from Morris lately — Bax sees 
the impasse he has got himself into, and would get out if he could do 
so without a direct recantation, and no doubt will find some way or 
other. Morris is a settled sentimental socialist, he would be easily 
managed if one saw him regularly a couple of times a week, but who 
has the time to do it, and if you drop him for a month, he is sure to 
lose himself again. And is he worth all that trouble even if one had the 
time? In the meantime Hyndman fortifies his position more and 
more, because he has a definite programme and a definite line of po- 
litical action, to both of which Morris seems to object, his ideal is 
a debating club uniting all shades. In all this confusion I expect the 
principal help from the English Kapital.‘ 23 sheets are printed and 
revised, but there is something wrong with the printer, I do not re- 
ceive any fresh proofs and cannot get any information as Sonnen- 
schein is away for his holiday and nobody can or will tell where the 
hitch lies. 

@ Alexander III-° ‘the fifth wheel in the European waggon’-° come what may - 
4 William I -° of Capital-' the first volume 

Splendid weather to-day — hope it will last while you come. 

Yours affectionately, 
F. Engels