Letter from Friedrich Engels to Florence Kelley-Wischnewetzky in New York, London, 27 January 1887. Written in English. Text from: F. A. Sorge (ed.), Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von Joh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere (Stuttgart, 1906), pp. 248-249. Sorge prints the letter abridged. The rows of dashes are his; […] marks further paragraphs he leaves out. Spanish translation
London, January 27th 1887.
Dear Mrs. Wischnewetzky.
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The movement in America, just at this moment, is I believe best seen from across the Ocean. On the spot personal bickerings and local disputes must obscure much of the grandeur of it. And the only thing that could really delay its march, would be the consolidation of these differences into established sects. To some extent that will be unavoidable, but the less of it the better. And the Germans have most to guard against this. Our theory is a theory of evolution, not a dogma to be learnt by heart and to be repeated mechanically. Je weniger sie den Amerikanern von aussen eingepaukt wird und je mehr sie sie durch eigene Erfahrung — unter dem Beistand der Deutschen — erproben, desto tiefer geht sie ihnen in Fleisch und Blut über. When we returned to Germany, in spring 1848, we joined the Democratic party as the only possible means of gaining the ear of the working class; we were the most advanced wing of that party, but still a wing of it. When Marx founded the International, he drew up the General Rules in such a way that all working class socialists of that period could join it — Proudhonists, Pierre Lerouxists, and even the more advanced section of the English Trades Unions; and it was only through this latitude that the International became what it was, the means of gradually dissolving and absorbing all these minor sects, with the exception of the Anarchists, whose sudden appearance in various countries was but the effect of the violent bourgeois reaction after the Commune and could therefore safely be left by us to die out of itself, as it did. Had we from 1864 to 1873 insisted on working together only with those who openly adopted our platform — where should we be to-day? I think all our practice has shown that it is possible to work along with the general movement of the working class at every one of its stages without giving up or hiding our own distinct position and even organization, and I am afraid that if the German Americans chose a different line they will commit a great mistake.
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Very truly yours
F. Engels.