Could I get some of your opinions on this quote from a letter sent from Engels to Wishnewetsky, in the context of the 1886 election of Henry George? It's footnoted/referenced in The American Socialist Movement 1897-1912, which you can find the context from on google books.

What the Germans [in America] ought to do is to act up to their own theory-if they understand it, as we did in 1845 and 1848-to go in for any real general working-class movement, accept its faktische starting points and such and work it gradually up to the theoretical level by pointing out how every mistake made, every reverse suffered, was a necessary consequences of the original programme; they ought, in the words of The Communist Manifesto, to represent the movement of the future in the movement of the present. But above all give the movement time to consolidate, do not make the inevitable confusion of the first start worse by forcing down people's throats things which at present they cannot properly understand, but which they will soon learn. A million or two of workingmen's votes next November for a bona fide workingmen's party is worth infinitely more at present than a hundred thousand votes for a doctrinally perfect platform. The very first attempt-soon to be made if the movement progresses-to consolidate the moving masses on a national basis will bring them all face to face, Georgites, G. of L., Trade Unionists and all; and if our German friends by that time have learnt enough of the language of the country to go in for a discussion, then will be the time for them to criticise the views of the others and thus, by showing up the inconsistencies of the various standpoints, to bring them gradually to understand their own actual position, the position made for them by the correlation of capital and wage labor. But anything that might delay or prevent that national consolidation of the workingmen's party-no matter what platform-I should consider a great mistake, and therefore I do not think the time has arrived to speak out fully and exhaustively either with regard to H.G. or the K. of L.
Any kind of response/reaction is welcome, whether it's providing more context (f.e., I haven't done a whole lot of research into H.G., what he advocated/ran for, etc), detailing changing historical/political conditions, making connections to the present, whatever. I just think it's an interesting letter from Engels, and one that I don't think I'd read or heard of before.