AT LE PERREUX 

[London], 21 March 1889 

My dear Lafargue, 

You and Bebel are both right and the thing is quite simple. 

It was resolved at The Hague that, should the Possibilists not 
accept the conditions laid down, the Belgians and Swiss would together 
take steps to convene a congress in Paris, and that a joint declaration 
would be made against the Possibilists; the congress would be held by 
the end of September. 

This was resolved—if you were absent—in the presence of Bonnier, 
who was your interpreter from the German and who should know. The 
Belgians gave their express consent. 

Now, if the Belgians and Swiss take the initiative, it will be your 
organisation to which the organisation and all the preparations will be 
entrusted, which means that you will be getting everything you have 
asked for, so do be a little patient. 

If your groups prove to be as unreasonable as the Possibilists, it will 
be their own fault if the whole thing ends up in victory for the latter. 

It’s a matter of making the Possibilist congress a failure, of which 
there are good prospects, provided you don’t spoil everything by your 
impatience. 

The Possibilists have put themselves in the wrong in the eyes of all 
the world. Now, mind you don’t go and do the same yourselves by 
appearing to want to lay down the law for the Socialists of other 
nations. 

Either the Belgians must comply or they too will put themselves in 
the wrong—I would beg you not to provide them with a plausible 
excuse for extricating themselves from their quandary. Even if the 
Belgians cannot comply, all will not yet be lost, not in my opinion, at 
any rate. Always providing you don’t spike your own guns by undue 
precipitation. 

That you will not be able to hold your congress on 14 July is beyond 
doubt, unless you choose to hold it in isolation. I am not arguing about 

which date is or is not suitable but, since the matter appears to have been 
decided at The Hague, there’s no changing it, do what you will. 

In negotiations one cannot always get one’s own way. The Germans 
for their part have had to concede quite a number of points in order to 
ensure common action. So accept what is offered you which, in fact, is 
all you are entitled to ask and which, provided you don’t put a foot 
wrong, will result in international exclusion of the Possibilists and 
recognition of yourselves as the only French Socialists with whom 
contact should be maintained. 

It was a mistake that you should not have been officially presented with 
a copy of the relevant resolution taken at The Hague. But, as you are 
aware, it is not the first case of carelessness at an international conference. 

Yours ever, 
F.E. 

Herewith a copy of Justice. 

We are preparing a reply in which Possibilists’ intrigues? will be 
unmasked to the English. So, as you can see, we are doing everything we 
possibly can but, if you are as obstinate as the Possibilists, it will be all 
to no avail.