goals; but my practical sense told me that, above all, I should not neglect my own economic situation if I wished to be of use to the party. I did not get through to my husband when I put forward such views. – In the most abject poverty, I had once again found employment as a leather stitcher in a sizeable shoe factory and was trying to make ends meet as best I could. However, according to my calculations and considering our means, my husband spent too much money in pubs – in my opinion he did nothing, or at least not enough, to improve our sad state. In short, I felt that he became slovenly and indifferent with respect to domestic matters. So when the time came for him to serve his first sentence, my familiarity with the principles of Socialism and my personal estrangement from him made me pity him more as a party comrade than a spouse.
Source: "Lebensbilder XIX: Von einem Ehepaar sozialdemokratischer Gesinnung" ["Life Pictures XIX: A Married Couple with Social Democratic Attitudes"] in Ethische Kultur [Ethical Culture] 2 (1894): p. 398.
Original German text also reprinted in Klaus Saul, Jens Flemming, Dirk Stegmann and Peter-Christian Witt, eds., Arbeiterfamilien im Kaiserreich. Materialien zur Sozialgeschichte in Deutschland 1871-1914 [Workers' Families in the Kaiserreich. Materials on Social History in Germany 1871-1914]. Düsseldorf: Droste, 1982, pp. 40-41.
Translation: Erwin Fink
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