London, 11 January 1887 

My dear Friend, 

I see from the newspapers that the Court of Appeal has upheld your 
conviction. So no doubt you will shortly have to make your way to 
gaol.> I cannot let you go without taking my leave of you and assuring 
you that all my sympathy will go with you when you enter your cell, 
and that I hope you will return to us from your solitary confinement 
sound in body and unbroken in spirit to resume your activities. Please 
let me know whether it will be possible to communicate with you while 
you are in gaol, either by letter or by sending printed matter, and 
whether you are allowed books and to engage in literary work. 

The Lafargues from Paris have been over here since Christmas, and 
a week ago the Avelings returned from America, bringing back a great 
deal of encouraging news.’ The movement over there is forging ahead 
in fine style and nothing can stop it. From its inevitably muddled begin- 
nings it has evolved with amazing speed into a political labour party. 
True, the programme—or rather the various programmes in New York, 
Chicago, etc.—are still far from clear, as is only to be expected. But the 
action is all that it should be and that is the main thing. When I consider 
how long it took the workers in France, Belgium, Spain, etc., to under- 
stand that a political organisation of the working class, separate from. 
and opposed to all other parties, could alone lead them to victory, one 
must admire the action of the Americans who, six months after the birth 
of the movement, are operating an organised party, have received 68,000 
votes in New York and won important victories in the elections in the 
West.” But once the proletariat of a country has organised itself as a 
militant party, it will itself be driven onwards by the ups and downs of 
the battle, knowing as it does the conditions of its emancipation. And 
particularly for so eminently practical and anti-theoretical a people as 
the Americans, there is no other way to understanding than by trial and 
error, by acquiring wisdom from the consequences of their own 
mistakes. And that is something they will experience and master soon 
enough. 

In other respects, too, the movement is progressing splendidly every- 
where and I trust that when you get out of gaol you will find we have 
made a big step forward. All that can prevent us doing so is a European 
war, which would set us back enormously for a short while but which, 
like any other event, would turn out to our advantage in the end. 

The English translation of Das Kapital** has just come out, and at 
precisely the right moment for America. 

And now, once again good-bye. The best wishes of us all will accom- 
pany you into your solitude. I hope we shall see one another again in 
London in a year’s time. 

With kindest regards from the Lafargues, the Avelings and 

Your 
F. Engels