London, 20 March 1886 

My dear Lafargue, 

Herewith the cheque for £12. Yesterday I was again disturbed. It 
always happens when there is an urgent task to be done. 

Monday’s* vote in the Chamber was a great victory.” For the first 
time a French Chamber has sided with labour against capital—— 
greatly against its will! But Basly & Co. have been valiantly support- 
ed by the monarchist gents who, after their relative victory at the 
polls,**’ are in a state of high excitement and evidently believe— 
notably in their capacity as capitalists, shareholders, etc.—that they 
can do anything they please. Placed as they are between an ultra- 
monarchist group and the revolutionary workers, they had to plump 
for the latter. At least they are Republicans and, after all, low fi- 
nance, as represented by the Opportunists and Radicals,*? has no 
desire to restore the régime of high finance that was toppled with 
MacMahon and Thiers. 

It was what I suspected—this reappearance of Malon’s behind the 
scenes. A parliamentary party embracing every shade of possibil- 
ism with Malon for secret leader—what a beautiful dream! The same 
old Bakuninist tactics which, so far as these intriguers are concerned, 
are now much more deeply ingrained than the bombastic language of 
anarchism! A firm stand must be made against these endeavours. If 
you can ensure that Basly and Camélinat—even on their own—carry 
on as they have begun and refuse to let themselves be persuaded to 
join a party where they would form an impotent minority, then the game is 
won. Any negotiations on their part would be the ruin of them and 
could only further the Radical cause. So long as they go forward with 
a firm tread and pay no heed to the honeyed words of the moderators 

@ of 15 March-” See previous letter. 

and mediators, all this confusion will be swept away, like it or not. It 
is not good will that activates these gentry; rather it is fear and fear 
alone that has created such little good will as they have and this, 
when all is said and done, is the good will to spoil what Basly has 
begun and nothing else. Moreover such a party is out of the question. 
Either Basly or Camélinat will turn traitor, which I don’t believe, or 
they will be forced to part company with these gentry as soon as the 
first important problem arises. It would therefore be better not to en- 
ter into an alliance with them. 

Your article in the Revue nouvelle* gave me much pleasure. 
Obviously one makes some ‘allowance’ for what you are permitted to 
say in a periodical of that kind. Even so, I was surprised at the num- 
ber of risqué allusions you were allowed to get away with—but she” is 
a woman, she has a definite standpoint. Had the editor-in-chief been 
a man, you would have found yourself up against a much more fero- 
cious brand of morality.5** What with the Journal des Economistes, 
the Revue philosophique and Juliette, you are now well launched in lit- 
erature of a primarily official nature.5*’ And since you write better 
French (because more 16th-century and less Parisian) than others, 
you ought to succeed. 

Juliette amused me much with her high foreign policy.°** This is 
Blowitz to the life, though less grotesque in form. 

Fortunately the Socialist League 34° is dormant for the time being. 
Our good Bax and Morris, craving to do something (if only they 
knew what?), are restrained only by the fact that there is absolutely 
nothing to do. Moreover they have far more truck with the anarchists 
than is desirable. Their celebrations on the 18th were held in concert 
with the latter and Kropotkin spoke there—twaddle, or so they 
tell me. All this will pass, if only because there is absolutely nothing to 
be done over here just now. But with Hyndman, who is well versed 
in political imposture and capable of all sorts of folly when his 
self-advancement is at stake—with the said Hyndman on the one 
hand and our two political babes in arms on the other, prospects 
are by no means bright. Yet now we have socialist papers abroad 
proclaiming at the top of their voices that socialism in England is 

4 P, Lafargue, ‘Le Matriarcat. Etude sur les origines de la famille’, La Nouvelle Revue, 
Vol. 39, March-April 1886, pp. 301-36. -° Juliette Adam 

marching forward with gigantic strides! I am very glad to say that 
what passes for socialism here in England is not on the march— 
far from it. 

Yours ever, 
F.E. 

By the way, Bax has published a short history of philosophy that 
has some very good stuff in it.*