Letter to Johann Philipp Becker, December 5, 1885

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To Johann Philipp Becker in Geneva

London, December 5, 1885

Dear Old Man,

As it’s so long since I heard from you, I am reminding you of my existence by advising you of the despatch of a £5 money order which

I hope will arrive at the same time as this letter and perhaps help to lighten the transition from the old year to the new. I trust you are still in the best of health and that you will send me a line or two before long acknowledging receipt.

I have been slogging away hard of late, as no doubt you will learn from the Zurich booksellers’ publishing side, and in particular have seized the opportunity of reviving various pieces from the golden days of our youth in 1848-49. This is damned important, for the younger generation, which has forgotten all about it, if indeed it ever knew, is beginning to want to find out what went on at that time and, in view of the many inaccurate sources and accounts, it’s important to provide them with as much accurate information as possible. What is absolutely vital is that you should finish your memoirs; years ago the Neue Welt published some really charming pieces. You’re a wonderfully skilful narrator and on top of that your memory goes back at least 10 or 15 years further than mine and embraces the period 1830-40, which is also very important where later developments are concerned. Some money might also be made out of it, and that’s not to be sneezed at.

I still have to revise the Peasant War which is badly in need of it and shall then go on to Volume III of Capital, this having now been dictated in the rough from the original draft and set down in a legible hand. It will be the devil of a task, but a splendid one. Unfortunately a mass of translations into French, English, Italian and Danish keep intervening, which I have to go over—all too necessary in most cases. Fortunately my knowledge of Russian, let alone Polish, doesn’t extend to this sort of job, otherwise it would never end. But from that you will see how extensive is the international field our communism has now conquered and it is always a pleasure when one can do one’s bit towards extending that field still further.

I hope the wretched business in the Balkans will pass off peacefully. We are making such splendid progress everywhere that a world war would be inopportune just now—too late or too early. But ultimately it would also work in our favour by putting an end to militarism once and for all — at the cost of the massacre of 1 ⅕ million men and the squandering of 1,000 billion francs. After that there could be no more war.

The elections in France placed the Radicals next in the running for control, thereby improving our prospects a good deal, too. The elections here have temporarily made the Irish masters of England and Scotland, for not one of the two parties can rule without them. Though the results in nearly 100 seats are not yet known they will change little. Thus the Irish problem will at last be settled, if not immediately then in the near future, and then the way will have been cleared there, too. At the same time some eight to ten workers have been elected — some are bought by the bourgeoisie, others are strict trade-unionists. They will probably make fools of themselves and hence greatly advance the formation of an independent labour party by destroying the traditional self-deception of the workers. Here history moves slowly, but it moves.

Warm regards.

Your old friend

F. Engels