Letter to Wilhelm Bracke, October 11, 1875

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 11 October 1875


Published in MECW vol 45

Dear Bracke,

I have put off answering your last letters, the most recent dated 28 June, firstly because Marx and I have been apart for six weeks—he at Karlsbad[1] and I at the seaside,[2] where I didn't see the Volksstaat—and next, because I wanted to wait and see how the new coalition and the combined committee[3] got on in practice.

We entirely share your view that Liebknecht, in his anxiety to achieve unity and pay any price for it, has made a complete mess of everything. Even if they deemed this necessary, there was no need to say or indicate as much to the other contracting party. Thereafter the vindication of one mistake has inevitably entailed another. The Unity Congress,[4] once established on an unsound basis and blazoned abroad, could on no account be allowed to fail, and thus they again had to give way on essential issues. You are perfectly right: this unification bears within it the seeds of dissension, and I shall be happy if, when the split does come, the only ones to go are the incurable fanatics, and not, with them, the whole of the otherwise sound rank and file who could, if given a good training, be licked into shape. That will depend on the time when, and the circumstances under which, the inevitable happens.

The programme in its final version[5] consists of 3 parts:

  1. Lassalean dicta and slogans which ought in no circumstances to be adopted. When two factions are agreed, they should include in the programme what is agreed, not what is contested. By permitting this regardless, our people voluntarily passed under the Caudine yoke;[6]
  2. a series of vulgar democratic demands, drawn up in the spirit and style of the People's Party;[7]
  3. a number of would-be communist propositions, for the most part borrowed from the Manifesto,[8] but so reworded that, looked at in the light of day, every one without exception contains hair-raising balderdash. If they don't understand these things, they should either leave them alone or else copy them word for word from those who are generally admitted to know what they are talking about.

Luckily the programme fared better than it deserved. Working men, bourgeois and petty bourgeois alike read into it what it ought, in fact, to contain but doesn't contain, and it occurred to no one, of whatever complexion, to submit one of these wondrous propositions to public scrutiny in order to discover its real import. That's what has made it possible for us to say nothing about this programme. A further consideration is that one cannot translate these propositions into any foreign language without being forced either to write down stuff that is palpably idiotic or else place a communist construction on them, the latter having already been done by friend and foe alike. I myself have had to do so when making a translation for our Spanish friends.[9]

What I have seen of the committee's activities has not so far been gratifying. Firstly, their proceedings against your book and that of B. Becker; it wasn't the committee's fault if they didn't succeed.[10] Secondly, Sonnemann, whom Marx saw when in transit, said that he had offered Vahlteich the post of correspondent to the Frankfurter Zeitung but that the committee had forbidden Vahlteich to accept![11] That's worse than censorship, and how Vahlteich could possibly submit to anything of the kind is beyond my comprehension. And then, what ineptitude! Rather they should have ensured that, everywhere in Germany, it was our people who worked for the Frankfurter! Finally, the methods adopted by the Lassalean members at the founding of the Berlin co-operative printing office would seem to me not altogether above-board; after our people had confidingly appointed the committee as supervisory board of the Leipzig printing office, those in Berlin had first to be coerced into doing so.[12] But I am not very well acquainted with the details in this instance.

However, it's a good thing that the committee is comparatively inactive and, as C. Hirsch says, who was over here recently, confines itself to the humdrum existence of a news and information agency. Any vigorous intervention on its part would only precipitate the crisis, something its members would appear to sense.

And what weakness, assenting to a committee of three Lassalleans and two of our chaps![13]

All in all, it looks as though they'll get away with a black eye, if a mighty one. Let us hope that that will be all and that meanwhile propaganda will have its effect upon the Lassalleans. If things hold out until the next Reichstag elections,[14] all may be well. But then Stieber and Tessendorf will do their damnedest and then, too, the time will come when our folk will see for the first time what exactly they have taken on in the persons of Hasselmann and Hasenclever.

Marx has returned from Karlsbad a completely different man, strong, invigorated, cheerful and healthy, and will soon be able to get down seriously to work again. He and I send our cordial regards. Write again every now and then and let us know how things are going. The Leipzigers[15] have all of them too deep interests of their own to be frank and open with us, and at this particular juncture the party would not dream of washing its dirty linen in public.

Most sincerely yours,

F. E.

This line is written by an unknown person.

  1. ↑ Karlsbad — a spa town in Bohemia (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic), often used as a retreat for European intellectuals and political figures.
  2. ↑ The seaside — refers to Engels' stay at a coastal resort, likely in England.
  3. ↑ Combined committee — referring to the joint leadership body formed after the unification of the Lassallean and Marxist factions in Germany.
  4. ↑ Unity Congress — the 1875 Gotha Congress, where the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany was formed through the merger of Marxist and Lassallean groups.
  5. ↑ Final version of the programme — the official platform adopted at the Gotha Congress.
  6. ↑ Caudine yoke — a metaphor derived from Roman history, symbolizing surrender and humiliation.
  7. ↑ People's Party — refers to the German People's Party (Volkspartei), a liberal bourgeois party of the period.
  8. ↑ Manifesto — the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels.
  9. ↑ Spanish friends — refers to socialist activists in Spain, possibly including workers' organizations or translators.
  10. ↑ Proceedings against your book and that of B. Becker — refers to attempts by the committee to suppress or censor writings critical of their policies.
  11. ↑ Vahlteich — a German socialist journalist and activist; his exclusion from the Frankfurter Zeitung role is criticized here.
  12. ↑ Coerced — indicates that the Lassalleans were pressured into accepting the committee's oversight.
  13. ↑ Our chaps — refers to Marxists like Bebel and Liebknecht, who were outnumbered on the committee.
  14. ↑ Next Reichstag elections — the upcoming parliamentary elections in the German Empire.
  15. ↑ Leipzigers — refers to members of the Leipzig branch of the socialist movement, particularly Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel.