London, 30 March 1892 

Dear Friend, 

I can no longer lay my hands on the issue of Lotta* you mentioned 
in your postcard of the 26th, but in any case it would in my view be 
a mistake and an offence against the best interests of the party were 
a socialist to give the first subaltern who came along the opportunity 
of killing him. By employing what for them would be the perfectly 
safe method of duelling with a socialist, it would be an easy matter for 
young officers to gain not only a great reputation for dash, but also 
rapid promotion, and, what’s more, make away with our best people. 
We ought not to let ourselves in for that kind of thing. 

Circumstances might arise in which even our own people might 
find that a duel was unavoidable; a French or Italian deputy might 
be forced to engage in a political duel should the refusal ofa challenge 
be more injurious to the party than its acceptance, especially if it was 
our own deputy who was responsible for the affront. But to agree to 
a duel or even provoke one except in cases of dire necessity is, to my 
mind, absurd. 

I am sending you the English translation of my Die Lage der arbeiten- 
den Klasse in England which has just come out. I trust it will be of use 
to you in your English studies. 

Yours ever, 

F. Engels