London, 26 November 1890 

Dear Sorge, 

Since the time I informed you of the death of my good Lenchen,* 
Louise Kautsky—the one who’s divorced, not No. I1—has come to 
live with me for a time and, with her, a little sunshine has returned. 
She is a quite marvellous woman and Kautsky must have been out of 
his senses when he divorced her. 

Good wishes for my 70th birthday the day after tomorrow are al- 
ready coming in and now Singer, Bebel and Liebknecht have an- 
nounced their intention of visiting me. I wish the business was all 
over; I’m far from being in a birthday mood, and on top of that 
there’s all the unnecessary russ which I cannot abide even at the best 
of times. And after all, I am, to a large extent, simply the chap who is 
reaping what Marx has sown in the way of fame. 

The Halle Congress'? went off brilliantly. Tussy was there and 
was quite delighted with the delegates but not so much with the par- 
liamentary group,” which includes a fair number of philistines. But 
steps have been taken to ensure that this shouldn’t happen again at 
the next elections. Meanwhile the chaps in the Reichstag are observ- 

2 See this volume, p. 67.-> the Social-Democratic group in the German Reichstag 

ing better discipline than might have been hoped, and are keeping 
their mouths shut, otherwise they’d have been bound to make fools of 
themselves. 

Our campaign for a joint congress in 1891 was wholly successful. 
You will have read about the resolutions passed at the international 
conference at Halle ?*—a congress to be held in Brussels, on the 
understanding that the congress has full sovereignty. That is all we 
wanted, and the Belgian Anseele himself proposed that the Swiss and 
the Belgians, the mandatories of both the 1889 congresses,? should 
jointly send out the convocation. Since, moreover, the Possibilists are 
hopelessly divided amongst themselves and openly engaged in inter- 
necine strife,°* and since the collapse of Parisian Boulangism will 
mean that the socialist elements by whom it was previously favoured 
will accrue to us and not to the Possibilists, we shall, so to speak, walk 
OVER THE course. Hyndman has had the abysmal stupidity to join 
forces with the noble Brousse against Allemane,* which again will do 
him an enormous amount of harm. 

The Germans would certainly be glad to get in touch with the Amer- 
IcAN Feperation OF Laspor **; I shall talk to the chaps over here and 
bring influence to bear on Fischer who’s a member of the Party Exec- 
utive. Fischer is one of our best men, highly intelligent, can read 
French and English, and is acquainted with the movement in both 
countries. He will counterbalance the one-sided influence exerted by 
Liebknecht in international affairs. 

You have made an excellent début in the Neue Zeit; just carry on 
as you are and you will soon get into the way of writing again. The fee 
is about twice what is paid to contributors over here (5 marks 
a page); once you’ve got back into your stride and are able to work 
faster, it won’t seem so small to you. I’d like to see further evidence in 
support of what Schliiter told you. That I and others are paid 5 marks 
a page by the Neue Zeit, and that this is the customary fee in Germany, 
is a fact. I have myself written and told Kautsky” that you must be 
offered more. Schliiter is apt to trot out remarks without really think- 
ing what he’s saying. By American standards, of course, $2 a page 
isn’t much and, if you think you ought to be paid American rates, you 
are quite right to ask for them. But Kautsky, who is certainly doing 
all he can for you, is also obliged to consider Dietz, who is paymaster, 

* Engels has in mind the editorial “The Split in France’ in Justice, No. 353, 18 October 
1890.-> See this volume, p. 5. 

and I wouldn’t like it if such considerations were to be responsible for 
one of the Volkszettung or Sozialist people gaining admission to the 
Neue Ket. Think the matter over again and, if you are intent on get- 
ting a rise, write and tell me and I’ll approach Kautsky about it; that 
would leave all doors open. 

Rosenberg & Co. had already pronounced a boycott against me 
and if the Nationalists now do the same, it only serves me right. 
Why can’t I give up the class struggle? In this country Marx and 
I are suffering just the same fate at the hands of the Fabians*’ who 
also wish to see the emancipation of the workers brought about by the 
‘heddicated’.* 

I shall save up the articles about George in the Labor Stendard and 
read them at my leisure, of which I have so far had none. You have 
no idea of the mass of papers, pamphlets, etc., that people send me. 

Volume One of Capital has been brought out in Polish by Kaspro- 
wicz of Leipzig and has been sent me from Warsaw.‘ 

Your 
F. Engels