Revolution and Counter-Revolution; Or, Germany in 1848Marx, Karl
History
Revolution and Counter-Revolution; Or, Germany in 1848
Marx, Karl
Germany -- History -- Revolution, 1848-1849
[8] "Die Neue Rheinische Zeitung" (The New Rhenish Gazette). After the
March revolution, 1848, Marx returned from Paris to Germany, and
settling down--for the time being--at Cologne, founded this paper.
Although the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" never went in for propounding
"Communist schemes," as Mr. Dawson, e.g., says it did, it became a
very nightmare to the Government. Reactionaries and Liberals alike
denounced the "Gazette," especially after Marx's brilliant defence of
the Paris Insurrection of June. The state of siege being declared in
Cologne, the "Gazette" was suspended for six weeks--only to appear
with a bigger reputation and bigger circulation than before. After the
Prussian "coup d'état" in November, the "Gazette" published at the
head of every issue an appeal to the people to refuse to pay taxes,
and to meet force by force. For this and certain other articles the
paper was twice prosecuted. On the first occasion the accused were
Marx, Engels, and Korff; on the second and more important trial, they
were Marx, Schapper, and Schneider. The accused were charged with
"inciting the people to armed resistance against the Government and
its officials." Marx mainly conducted the defence, and delivered a
brilliant speech. "Marx refrains" (in this speech) "from all
oratorical flourish; he goes straight to the point, and without any
peroration ends with a summary of the political situation. Anyone
would think that Marx's own personality was to deliver a political
lecture to the jury. And, in fact, at the end of the trial, one of the
jurors went to Marx to thank him, in the name of his colleagues, for
the instructive lecture he had given them." (See Bernstein's work,
"Ferdinand Lassalle.") The accused were unanimously acquitted by the
jury. Among the better known of the contributors of the "New Rhenish
Gazette," edited by Marx, were Engels, W. Wolff, Werth, Lassalle;
while Freiligrath wrote for it his splendid revolutionary poems.
Perhaps one of the grandest of these is the celebrated "Farewell of
the 'Rhenish Gazette'," when on the 19th May, 1849, the final number
of the paper--suppressed by the Government--appeared, printed in red
type.
"When the last of crowns like glass shall break,
On the scene our sorrows have haunted,
And the people the last dread 'Guilty' shall speak,
By your side ye shall find me undaunted.
On Rhine or on Danube, in word and deed,
You shall witness, true to his vow,
On the wrecks of thrones, in the midst of the freed
The rebel who greets you now."
(Translated by Ernest Jones.)
XIII.
THE PRUSSIAN ASSEMBLY--THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
APRIL 17th, 1852.
On the 1st of November Vienna fell, and on the 9th of the same month
the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in Berlin showed how much
this event had at once raised the spirit and the strength of the
Counter-Revolutionary party all over Germany.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account