எட்வர்ட் பெர்ன்ஸ்டைன்(1850-1932) எங்கெல்ஸ் இருக்கும்போதே அவருடன் இருந்த சோசலிச சிந்தனையாளரில் ஒருவர். அவரின் ரிவிசனிசம் மார்க்சியர்களால் கடுமையாக விமர்சிக்கப்பட்டது. அவர் Evolutionary Socialism என்கிற புத்தகத்தை எழுதினார். அவரின் மற்றொரு ஆக்கமான My Years of Exile 1915 காலத்தில் எழுதப்பட்ட நினைவு குறிப்புகள். அவ்வாக்கத்தில் 9 ஆம் அத்தியாயம் எங்கெல்ஸ் லண்டன் வீட்டின் மாலைசந்திப்புக்களை குறித்த குறிப்புகள். பலதரப்பு சோசலிச சிந்தனையாளர்கள் கூடிடும் இல்லமாக எங்கெல்ஸ் இல்லம் இருந்தது. அங்கு வருபவர்கள், நடக்கும் விவாதம் பற்றிய சிறு குறிப்பது. கிறிஸ்துமஸ் கொண்டாட்டம் அவ்வீட்டில் எப்படி இருந்தது என்பதும் அதில் காணக்கிடைக்கும் சுவாரஸ்யமான தகவல்.
அவ்வத்தியாயம் இப்படித்தான் ஆரம்பிக்கிறது
ENGELS was not only democratic in his opinions; he was thoroughly democratic in feeling as well. His manner of living showed in many characteristic ways that he came from a good middle-class home, but he had chosen a girl of the lower middle classes as his life’s companion; and in the choice of his associates he recognised no class distinctions. At the same time he did draw distinctions. Those who wished to be invited to his social evenings must either have done good service in the Socialist cause, or must be of some consequence intellectually. On the other hand, if Socialists they need not necessarily be Marxists. In this respect there was little of the pedant about the co-founder of the Marxist school. Even Socialists who were not Social Democrats were tolerated.
இனி கிறிஸ்துமஸ் கொண்டாட்டம் பற்றிய பாரா
I cannot help thinking of an evening at Engels’ which preceded the Christmas celebrations. It was on the day when the dough, or rather paste, for the Christmas puddings was prepared. An enormous quantity was made, for there was not a single friend of the house who did not receive a Christmas pudding from 122 Regent’s Park Road. Professor Karl Schorlemmer, Engels’ medical adviser, Dr. Gumpert of Manchester, friend Sam Moore in Yorkshire, the old Chartist, Julian Harney in Jersey, Peter Layoff, the honoured leader of the Russian Socialists, as well as Marx’s sons-in-law, Paul Lafargue and Charles Longuet in Paris, various intimate friends in London, and, if I am not mistaken, some friends in Germany as well, were always remembered. Hence, on a given day, about a fortnight before Christmas, the lady friends of the house turned up early in the morning, and worked on until the evening, chopping great heaps of apples, nuts, almonds, candied peel, etc., into little bits, and stoning and chopping pounds upon pounds of raisins; and as may be supposed it was a thoroughly cheerful party: As the ingredients were prepared they were put into a huge tub. Later in the evening the male friends of the house arrived, and each of them was required to lay hold of a ladle that stood upright in the tub, and stir the paste three times round; a by no means easy task, which needed a good deal of muscular strength. But it had rather a symbolical meaning, and those whose strength was inadequate were mercifully exempted. The concluding touch was given by Engels himself, who descended into the wine-cellar and brought up champagne, in which we drank to a merry Christmas and many other things as well. All this, of course, took place downstairs in the great kitchen, which enhanced the charm of the whole proceeding, for to linger in a spacious kitchen always puts one somehow in mind of one’s home. At one time even well-to-do people used to eat in the kitchen: and this would have answered capitally in Engels’ house, for the kitchen was a roomy one, with the range built into the fireplace after the English fashion, so that it did not take up any room to speak of. Like so many things in England, it combined the old with the new. The construction of the range was at that time regarded as modern, but the old-fashioned turn-spit or meat-jack was not lacking, on which a hanging joint of beef could be roasted, while underneath was a dish to catch the dripping fat. In Germany, in a small house or tenement, the kitchen has often enough to serve as a sitting-room; but hardly so often as in England, where in the advertisements of dwelling-houses the kitchen, in the smaller houses, is briefly described as a “living-room,” to distinguish it from the best room, or sitting-room, as it is called.
