Marx and Engels to August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Wilhelm Bracke and Others (“Circular Letter”)

An important document by Marx and Engels opposing opportunism and elaborating on the nature and role of the proletarian party. Written between September 16 and 18, 1879, published for the first time on June 15, 1931 in the journal The Communist International, XIIth Year, No. 23.

In October 1878, the Social Democratic Party of Germany became illegal after the implementation of the Anti-Socialist Laws in Germany. In the face of the great political pressure imposed by the German government, the right opportunist tendency in the Social-Democratic Party began to rise, but some leaders of the party did not know enough about it and adopted a conciliatory attitude towards this mistaken tendency. In order to criticize the right opportunism and help the Social Democratic Party of Germany to overcome the erroneous ideological tendency in the party, Engels began to work on the draft of this letter after September 11, 1879, and when Marx returned to London on September 17-18 after his convalescence, he immediately discussed and draft letter with Engels and the final plan was agreed. In the letter, Marx and Engels exposed the essence of right opportunism in the article The Socialist Movement in Germany in Retrospect authored by K. Höchberg, E. Bernstein and C.A. Schramm, which was published in the Zürich Yearbook for Socialist Science and Politics, they severely criticized their attempts to change the proletarian nature of the Social Democratic Party and degenerate it into a reformist party. They emphasized: “For almost forty years we have emphasized the class struggle as the immediate driving force of history, and in particular the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat as the great lever of the modern social revolution; it is therefore impossible for us to co-operate with people who wish to expunge this class struggle from the movement.” The proletarian party must have a clear understanding of its own goals and must not mistakenly postpone the realization of its own goals to the distant future in order to make patching-up reforms to capitalist society. They also reiterated that “the emancipation of the working class must be achieved by the working class itself”, and that if people of other class origins join the proletarian movement, “the first condition is that they should not bring any remnants of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, etc., prejudices with them but should whole-heartedly adopt the proletarian point of view.”

Marx and Engels to August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Wilhelm Bracke and Others is an important literature in the development of Marxism, and had an important guiding significance to help the Social Democratic Party of Germany to overcome the erroneous ideological tendency which deviated from the Party programme and which abandoned the revolutionary political tactics and the class struggle, as the immediate driving force of history.

After the implementation of the of the Anti-Socialist Laws in Germany in October 1878, the Social Democratic Party of Germany was in an illegal state. In the face of the immense political pressure exerted by the German government, the right opportunist tendency within the Social-Democratic Party rose, , while some leaders of the party did not recognize it enough and adopted a conciliatory attitude towards this erroneous tendency. In order to criticize the right opportunist views and help the Social Democratic Party of Germany to overcome the erroneous ideological tendency within the party, Engels drew up the scheme of the letter after September 11, 1879. Marx returned to London on September 17–18 after his convalescence, and immediately discussed the drafting of the letter with Engels and fixed the final scheme. In the letter, Marx and Engels exposed the essence of right opportunism in the article, The Socialist Movement in Germany in Retrospect, authored by K. Höchberg, E. Bernstein and C.A. Schramm, published in the Zürich Yearbook for Socialist Science and Politics, and severely criticized their attempt to change the proletarian nature of the party and turn it into a reformist party. They emphasized: “For almost 40 years we have emphasized that the class struggle is the immediate motive force of history and, in particular, that the class struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat is the great lever of modern social revolution; hence we cannot possibly co-operate with men who seek to eliminate that class struggle from the movement.” A proletarian party must have a clear understanding of its own goals and must not make the error of postponing the realization of its own goals to the distant future in order to make patching-up reforms to capitalist society. They also reiterated that “the emancipation of the working class must be achieved by the working class itself”, and that if people of other class origins join the proletarian movement, “the first condition is that they should not bring any remnants of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, etc., prejudices with them but should whole-heartedly adopt the proletarian point of view.”

Circular Letter to August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Wilhelm Bracke and Others is an important document in the history of development of Marxism. It had an important guiding significance in assisting the Social Democratic Party of Germany to overcome the erroneous ideological tendency of departing from the Party programme and abandoning political and class struggle.