Letter to Ludwig Kugelmann, April 18, 1895

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 18 April 1895


Dear Kugelmann,

I apologise for having overlooked your request that I should at once write to you about Livingston, though his letter as such hardly seemed to call for any special reply.[1] I don't imagine that Jacobi or M. Becker will have anything useful. If Livingston writes to them, we shall find that out. We have been regularly corresponding with Sorge for many many years.

Apart from that I am most grateful to you for your information. I, too, am at a loss to know how to trace anything that may have appeared anonymously in the Westphälisches Dampfboot.[2] It is possible that when I get down to work one thing or another will refresh my memory. Besides, should there be anything in it, it would be of little consequence and serve at most as proof of our lack of agreement with the Bielefeld sentimental socialism of the day.[3]

Lastly, I shall doubtless have to do as you say.[4] I, too, having long been of the opinion that this was how we should proceed if the worst came to the worst. Meanwhile one thing and another continues to turn up as, recently, the old Rheinische Zeitung in the Berlin Library. What might badly upset our calculations, however, is the Subversion Bill.[5] Until that has been decided there can be no thought of devising a plan of action. Many regards from the Freybergers and myself to you and yours.

Yours
F.E.

You will be getting one by post.[6]

  1. ↑ On December 2, 1851 a counter-revolutionary coup d'état in France was carried out by Louis Bonaparte and his adherents. — 95, 99, 120, 254, 264, 287, 393, 653
  2. ↑ The Westphälisches Dampfboot was a satirical newspaper published in Bielefeld in the 1840s, known for its critical stance toward political and social developments.
  3. ↑ Refers to the sentimental brand of socialism prevalent in Bielefeld during the mid-19th century, which Marx and Engels criticized for lacking revolutionary substance.
  4. ↑ Indicates agreement with Kugelmann's suggestion on strategy in case of political crisis.
  5. ↑ The Subversion Bill was a proposed law aimed at suppressing radical political activities, particularly those associated with socialist and communist movements in Germany.
  6. ↑ This refers to a separate letter being sent by postal mail, likely containing additional material not included in this correspondence.