Letter to Enrico Bignami on the German Elections of 1877

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This letter opens a new period in Engels' work for the Italian newspaper La Plebe. He had contributed to it in 1871-72, when it was the organ of the International's sections and sided with the General Council in its struggle against the Bakuninists. At the request of its editor, Enrico Bignami, Engels resumed work for it in 1877, when La Plebe again began to appear regularly. Between late February 1877 and late March 1879 Engels wrote a number of articles on various subjects which appeared in the "Da Londra" section without a title.

My dear Bignami,

Your Berlin correspondent will have given you all the details of the German elections. Our triumph has been such as to strike terror into the hearts of the bourgeoisie both in Germany and abroad; here in London the shock wave has rippled throughout the press. The most significant thing is not the number of new electoral colleges we have won, although it is worth noting that the Emperor William, the King of Saxony and the most petty princeling in Germany (the prince of Reuss) all now reside in colleges represented by socialist workers and are, consequently, themselves represented by socialists. What is important, as well as these majorities, are the strong minorities obtained both in the cities and the countryside. In Berlin, 31,500; in Hamburg, Barmen-Elberfeld, Nuremberg and Dresden, 11,000 votes each city; not only in the countryside of Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony and Brunswick but even in the fortress of feudalism, in Mecklenburg, we had strong minorities of agricultural workers. On January 10, 1874 we had 350,000 votes; on January 10, 1877 we had at least 600,000. The vote enables us to reckon our forces; the battalions are now able to tell you what are the army corps of German socialism passing in review on election day. The moral effect—on the socialist party which registers its progress with delight, on the workers who are still indifferent, and on our enemies—is enormous; and it is a good thing that once every three years the mortal sin of going to the polls is committed. The abstentionists can say what they like; a single event like the elections of January 10 is worth more than all their “revolutionary” phrases. And when I say battalions and army corps I am not speaking metaphorically. At least half if not more of these men of 25 (the minimum age) who voted for us spent two to three years in uniform and they know perfectly well how to handle a needle gun and a rifled cannon, and they belong to the army reserve. A few years more of this sort of progress and we shall have the reserves and the Landwehr (three quarters of the war army) with us in such a way as tcr immobilise the armed forces as a whole and make any kind of offensive war impossible.

Some people will say: But why not have the revolution right away? Because, not having more than 600,000 votes out of 5 and a half million, and these votes being scattered in many areas, we would certainly be defeated, and we would see ruined by foolhardy uprisings and senselessness a movement which only requires a little time to lead us to certain victory. It is obvious that our adversaries will not let themselves be beaten easily, that the Prussians are not going to let their war army become infected with socialism without reacting against it. But the more reaction and repression there is, the higher the flood will mount, until it sweeps away the flood gates. Do you know what happened in Berlin? On the night of January 10, all the streets surrounding the socialist Committee rooms were packed with a crowd which even the police put at 22,000. Thanks to our party’s perfect organisation and discipline, this Committee was the first to have the definitive election result. When it was declared, the whole crowd shouted an enthusiastic hurrah—for whom?—those elected?—no: “for our most active agitator, the King’s prosecutor Tessendorff”. The latter was always renowned for his judicial proceedings against the socialists; through his violence he doubled our numbers.

This is how our people respond to the measures of violence: they are not worried by them, rather they provoke them as the best means of agitation.

A fraternal greeting from your