[London,] 24 February 1893 
Dear August, 

You will have received the document I sent off by registered mail yes- 
terday. A word or two more on the subject. 

I had envisaged its being published in 8 articles in 8 successive numbers 
of the Vorwdrts. But some other method may seem better to you, in which 
case feel free. 

I do not much like the title Can Europe Disarm? And yet I cannot think 

* See this volume, pp. 92-93 - ° in such an extreme state of failing strength that my demise was 
hourly awaited — ° Out taenia go! 

of anything better. '°’ You couldn’t very well call it a Social-Democratic 
Military Bill, though this might do at a pinch if you were to adopt the 
proposal en bloc. 

I sent the thing to you rather than to Liebknecht because you are a member 
of the Military Committee and asked me for a ‘lecture’. That will exonerate 
me so far as he is concerned. Also because I would sooner entrust you than 
him with such alterations as may be demanded by the Press Laws, and, in 
general, because the article is the concern not merely of the Vorwdrts, but of 
you all, and you might have your own individual opinions as to the best 
method and time of publication—at any rate before the matter is again 
debated in plenary session. 

As you will have seen from the Workman’s Times, the English working 
man is, thanks to the Avelings, now kept better informed about party affairs 
on the Continent, '** especially those in Germany. '°' 

After what happened in the last elections, the Liberal government has had 
to stir its stumps a bit. True, the measures are ‘Liberal’ but at any rate better 
than might have been expected. The new Bill re electoral registers, | if it 
should go through, will 1. strengthen the Labour vote by at least 20 to 30 per 
cent and give the workers an absolute majority in another 40 or 50 
constituencies, and 2. save the candidates a considerable outlay every year; 
the latter have themselves been responsible for getting their voters placed on 
the register, and that’s a very expensive business over here. This can pass 
muster.—Salaries for M.P.s are very much on the cards and should 
materialise, if not in this session, then almost certainly in the next one. 
Gladstone has accepted them in principle. Again, it’s a great advantage that 
there should be only one electoral register, i.e. only one suffrage, for all 
public elections, and the importance of this is enhanced by the fact that there 
is another Bill in sight for the setting up of Parish (over here rural parishes) 
Councils '* which will eliminate the last traces of what has hitherto been a 
semi-feudal system in country districts. If all this goes through and becomes 
law during this session, the political position of the working class will be 
materially improved, which is in itself an added incentive for the chaps to 
make the most of that new position. However many intrigues and blunders 
there may be over here, and these will be legion, there can be no doubt that 
tremendous progress is being made, and in a few years’ time you may 
already find cause for surprise in the English. 

I don’t see why you shouldn’t give a straight account of the Spatzek 

business. Come to that, it has been published in Polish in the February issue 
of Przedswit.“ 

If Wachs is ¢a/l, he’s not the right chap. He was, so far as I can remember, 
about the same size as yourself, with brown hair. But where all these waxen 
majors come from, I cannot conceive.” 

The Witch has just finished, so I must fall in and await orders—warm 
regards to your wife and yourself, 

Your F. E.