"In such a country repeated starts, followed by just as certain relapses, are unavoidable. The only difference is that the starts grow more and more vehement, and the relapses less and less paralyzing, and that on the whole things do go forward. But I consider one thing certain: the purely bourgeois foundation without any fraud behind it, the correspondingly gigantic energy of development which manifests itself even in the insane exaggeration of the present protective tariff system, will some day bring about a change, which will astonish the whole world. When the Americans once begin, they will do so with an energy and virulence, In comparison with which we in Europe will be children."
Therefore, Engels considers as of the greatest importance, not the formation of a purely immigrant party, but "of a real mass movement amongst the English speaking population:"
"For the first time there exists a real mass movement amongst the English-speaking (Engels refers to the preparation for strikes to obtain the eight-hour day and to the enormous growth of the Order of the Knights of Labor in spring, 1886—just before the bomb-throwing affair in Chicago. H. N.) It is unavoidable that this at the beginning moves hesitatingly, clumsily, unclearly and unknowingly. That will all be cleared up; the movement will and must develop through its own mistakes. Theoretical ignorance is the characteristic of all young peoples, but so is practical speed of development.
"Just as all preaching is of no avail in England, until the actual necessity is at hand, so too in Amer-21
