AT LE PERREUX 

London, 15 September 1890 

My dear Lafargue, 

In great haste. 

Bonnier has written to me about the 1891 congress and the convo- 
cation drawn up by the Belgians.? I have replied in a letter? which 
I asked him to send on to Guesde so that he can discuss it with you, 
Deville, etc., as well as with our Blanquist allies, and then inform me 
of everyone’s views. 

What has happened is that the Belgians have played a trick on us 
which places our entire congress in jeopardy. They have invited the 
Liverpool Traves Unions 2? and the latter have accepted with alacrity. 
Needless to say, we weren’t there to invite them ourselves! Why are 
we always conspicuous by our absence whenever there is something 
vital to be done! Why have we been so stupid as to leave the arrange- 
ments for the next congress to the Belgians and Swiss! 

Tussy and Aveling tell me that the English will undoubtedly at- 

" F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.-” F. Engels, The In- 
ternational Workers’ Congress of 1891. 

tend the Belgian, i.e. the Possibilist,* congress and that there isn’t the 
remotest chance of getting it into their heads that there will be 
another and much better congress! I myself obviously share that opin- 
ion. The English will proceed en masse, with the enthusiasm of 
neophytes, to the first international congress they have been invited to. 

There is only one way in which we can parry this, namely by propos- 
ing a merger. If it is to take place, the essential conditions must be: 
basis of complete equality, convocation by the mandatories of both 
1889 congresses, the 1891 congress to have complete sovereignty in re- 
gard to its actions; method of representation to be determined jointly 
in advance — assuming these are met, we shall easily gain the upper 
hand. If it does not take place, the Possibilists will be to blame. We 
shall have shown the working-class world that they alone are the cause 
of splits and then there might be a chance of our successfully reopen- 
ing the campaign here in England. 

If the French approve this in principle, I propose that we take ad- 
vantage of the Halle Congress of 12 October '? to settle the prelimi- 
naries. One or two Frenchmen will be going, D. Nieuwenhuis, Adler * 
from Vienna, probably a Swiss, perhaps a Belgian. Tussy would at- 
tend so as to explain how things stand in England. It would be quite 
a conference! ?* A plan of action could very well be roughed out and 
matters put in train. 

The point is that here we have an outstanding chance, probably 
the last for the next five to ten years, of forming an alliance of French- 
men, Germans and Englishmen. If we let it slip, don’t be surprised if 
the movement over here sinks completely into the rut now occupied 
by the soctaL peMocratic Federation ?° and the Possibilists. 

Our rivals are active and astute. They have always been our super- 
iors in this respect. We, in our international dealings, have abused the 
right to be lazy.» That must stop. Let’s get up and bestir ourselves! 

As soon as I hear that you all approve, I shall write to the Ger- 
mans. 

I believe I did a stupid thing in writing to Bonnier, who is at Tem- 
pleuve, instead of to you directly. But it was his letter which per- 

@ Victor Adler-” An allusion to Paul Lafargue’s pamphlet Le Droit @ la Paresse. Réfu- 
tation du ‘Droit au Travail’ de 1848. 

suaded me to attend to this matter and, as J sat pen in hand, the sub- 
ject simply expanded. , 
Give Laura a kiss. 

Yours ever, 

F.E.