A Letter of Frederick Engels (September 12, 1882).
[“It is a quarter of a century now (1907—1882=25) that the movement for colonies began in Germany. Being occupied in studying it, on one occasion I asked Frederick Engels about the attitude of the English workers to their colonies”][2]
“To this Engels replied to me on September 12, 1882, as follows:
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“‘You ask me what the English workers think about colonial policy. Well, exactly the same as they think about politics in general. There is no workers’ party here, there are only Conservatives and Liberal-Radicals, and the WORKERS GAILY SHARE THE FEAST OF ENGLAND’S MONOPOLY OF THE WORLD MARKET AND THE COLONIES.[3] In my opi- nion the colonies proper, i.e., the countries occupied by a European population—Canada, the Cape, Australia—will all become independent; on the other hand, the countries inhabited by a native population, which are simply subju- gated—India, Algeria, the Dutch, Portuguese and, Spanish possessions—must be taken over for the time being by the proletariat and led as rapidly as possible towards independence. How this process will develop is difficult to say. India will perhaps, indeed very probably, make a revo- lution, and as a proletariat in process of self- emancipation cannot conduct any colonial wars, it would have to be allowed to run its course; it would not pass off without all sorts of destruction, of course, but that sort of thing is inseparable from all revolutions. The same might also take place elsewhere, e.g., in Algeria and Egypt, and would certainly be the best thing for us.[4] We shall have enough to do at home. Once Europe is reorganised, and North America, that will furnish such colossal power and such an example that the semi- civilised countries will of themselves follow in their wake; economic needs, if anything, will see to that. But as to what social and political phases these countries will then have to pass through before they likewise arrive at socialist organisation, I think we today can advance only rather idle hypotheses. One thing alone is certain: the victorious proletariat can force no blessings of any kind upon any foreign nation without under- mining its own victory by so doing,[4] which of course by no means excludes defensive wars of various kinds.[5] [8] |
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“‘The developments in Egypt have been contrived by Russian diplomacy. It is intended that Gladstone should take Egypt (which he is still far from having, and if he did have it, he would still be a long way from keeping it), so that Russia could take Armenia; according to Gladstone, this would once again be the liberation of a Christian country from the Mohammedan yoke. Everything else in this affair is mere appearance, humbug, pretext.[6] Whether this intrigue will succeed will soon become clear.’
“The end of the letter relates to the British occupation of Egypt following the rising led by Arabi Pasha. On this subject there was recently published a letter by Engels dated August 9, 1882, in which he warned against a purely sentimental approach to the Egyptian national movement. And from that the conclusion was drawn that the British annexation of Egypt met with special sympathy from Engels. We see now how far this was from being the case”[7] (pp. 79-80).
[1] The letter by Engels (with a preface and postscript by Kautsky) was printed at the end of Kautsky’s pamphlet (see above) as a supplement.—Ed.
[2] This paragraph, which is Kautsky’s preface to Engels’s letter, was crossed out by Lenin.—Ed.
[3] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 284.—Ed.
[4] Italics in Kautsky’s pamphlet.—Ed.
[5] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 352.—Ed.
[6] Italics in Kautsky’s pamphlet.—Ed.
[7] This paragraph is Kautsky’s postscript to Engels’s letter.—Ed.
[8] Marx, Engels, Selected Correspondence, Moscow, 1965, p. 351.—Ed.
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