Eastbourne, 17 August 1889 
4, Cavendish Place 

Dear Sorge, 

Letters of 1 August received.**! So we are both taking a summer holi- 
day—a summer of which the main feature over here is plenty of nice 
fresh rain. 

I can’t send any papers, since these are forwarded to me only at very 
irregular intervals from London. Just the Labour Elector, a paper which 
is now assuming some importance. It was started by Champion in oppo- 
sition to Hyndman, but kept afloat with suspect funds (from a Liberal- 
Unionist quarter), and hence was egregiously pro-Tory and inanely 
anti-Irish, so that one had to be very wary of it; but because it was 
suspect and already so notoriously Tory-Socialist? people stopped 
buying the thing. This, however, brought about a revolution. The Tory 
funds would seem to have run out and thus Champion—aw fond? a no 
less unreliable bloke than Hyndman—found himself forced to do some- 
thing he had long resisted, namely accept the terms offered by a commit- 
tee—Burns, Bateman (typographer), Mann (engineer), Cunninghame- 
Graham—whereby the said committee became proprietor of the paper 
and Champion its temporary editor. The names of the committee 
members are a guarantee that all association with other parties and their 
funds has been broken off, and the paper, which is clearly on the up and 
up, is said to be almost paying its way. The Tory and anti-Irish nonsense 
has ceased, while the paper has done us yeoman service in the matter of 
the congress.‘ 

The plan of Hyndman and Co’s gang was to cast doubt on the creden- 
tials—which they alleged to be false—of the Marxist congress. Hence 
their unacceptable terms for fusion. The same old Bakuninist tactics as of 
yore, but specially adapted for English consumption. That it wouldn’t 

2 at bottom 

be much of a catch on the Continent was plain, but all one to them; 
provided it caught on here in England, their position would, for a time, 
be secure—and here all the odds were in their favour. But our vigorous 
offensive brought the business to an abrupt conclusion—Burns’ arti- 
cle* and mine (on the Austrian credentials) in the Labour Elector have, 
I think, robbed them of all desire to cast doubt on other people’s 
credentials, an activity in which the Possibilists themselves have 
recently indulged to such good purpose as to leave small scope for 
anyone else. 

There is now some prospect that a viable socialist organisation may 
be formed here which will gradually undermine the Social Democratic 
Federation™ or else absorb it. Nothing can be done with the League;?! 
they’re just a bunch of anarchists and Morris is their lay figure. The idea 
is to agitate for an eight hour day among the democratic and radical 
clubs??—our recruiting grounds here—and the Trades Unions, and to 
organise the May the First 1890 demonstration. Since the latter was 
decided upon at our congress, the Social Democratic Federation must 
either adhere to it—i.e. submit to our resolutions—or oppose it and thus 
commit suicide. As you can see from the Labour Elector, the movement 
is at last taking hold amongst the Trades Unions***, and the star of 
Broadhurst, Shipton and Co. would seem to be rapidly on the wane. By 
next spring we shall, I believe, have made considerable progress. 

Russian jiggery-pokery continues amain. First the Armenian atroci- 
ties, followed by others on the Serbian border. Next, for the benefit of 
the Serbs, magic lantern slides of the Greater Serbian Empire, and hints 
about the necessity of a Serbian military convention with Russia. And 
now the Cretan fracas which began, strangely enough, with internecine 
carnage among the Cretan Christians, until the Russian consul contrived 
to get them to sink their differences and massacre the Turks. And the 
stupid Turkish government goes and sends Shakir Pasha to Crete, a man 
who spent 8 years as Turkish ambassador to Petersburg and, while there, 
was bought by the Russians! The whole of this Cretan affair was 
intended, amongst other things, to prevent the British concluding an 
alliance with the Prussians. That is why it was launched when William 
came over here‘—so that Gladstone could return to his hobby of phil- 

J. Burns, “The Paris International Congress’, The Labour Elector, 3 August 
1889 —> F. Engels, ‘Possibilist Credentials’ — * William II stayed in England from 
2 to 8 August 1889 

hellenism and the liberals wax enthusiastic about the Cretan sheep steal- 
ers. Little Willie wanted to be ‘one up’ on the Russians, wangle Crete for 
the Greeks as a dowry for his sister* and, by the magic of his presence, 
induce the Sultan? to abdicate. But once again the Russians have shown 
him that, by comparison with them, he is but a babe in arms. If Greece 
gets Crete, it will be by the grace of Russia. 

Thanks for the news about Hartmann. I'd very much like to have 
further details as I want to put paid to this Prussian pack of lies in the 
Evening News.*”° 

It’s very sensible of your son‘ to want to find a post. I only wish my 
Rosher nephew‘ could also be persuaded to do so. These young gentle- 
men imagine the whole world’s made of money and that we old folk are 
simply too stupid to pick the stuff up. By the time they have learnt how 
things really are it will have cost a fortune. 

Warm regards to you and your wife. Schorlemmer left here on 
Wednesday for Germany. 

Your 
FE.