KARL MARX

KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
was suppressed and the King nominated General Pfuel to form an administration
that could no longer be called liberal.
The second Congress of the Rhineland Democrats had been called for
25 September. But early in the morning of the same day, the authorities
struck: Becker and Schapper were arrested and only the gathering of a
hostile crowd gave Moll time to escape. Warrants were also issued for
the arrest of Engels, Dronke, Wolff and Burgers, the charge in every case
being conspiracy to overthrow the regime. Marx himself could not be
prosecuted as he had taken no active part in the recent public meetings.
A meeting of the Democratic Society that afternoon - which Marx
attended - decided to do everything to avoid a confrontation with the
soldiers. Marx wrote two weeks later:
The democrats told . .. the workers that under no circumstances did
they want a putsch. At this moment, there was no burning question to
bring the people as a whole into the struggle and every revolt must
therefore fail; it was even more senseless since in a few days violent
events could occur and we would have made ourselves incapable of
fighting even before the day of decision. 47
A few barricades were raised and although these were dismantled without
violence (the authorities being thereby deprived of the clash that they
had hoped to provoke) martial law was declared that evening. The Civil
Guard was disbanded, all political organisations were forbidden, and the
Neue Rheinische Zeitung (together with three smaller newspapers) was
suppressed.
Martial law lasted for a week: it was lifted on 3 October on orders
from Berlin following pressure from the Cologne City Council and the
Prussian Assembly. The Neue Rheinische Zeitung had been hard hit: Marx
had planned to bring out the newspaper in Diisseldorf had martial law
continued, but even so it was impossible to put an issue together before
13 October. Engels and Dronke had gone to Belgium, Wolff to Pfalz,
and Marx and Weerth were the only editors left. The one fresh recruit
was the poet Ferdinand Freiligrath. Marx had to contribute yet more of
his own and Jenny's money to get the paper restarted and it became
legally his own property.
When it did reappear, the paper was full of reports on Vienna: the
city had fallen under the control of the Democrats on 6 October, and
the Emperor had been forced to flee for a second time; he was reinstated
at the end of the month by loyalist troops under Prince Windischgratz
who had struck the first blow for the counter-revolution as early as June
when he suppressed the rising of the Czechs in Prague. Austria set the
example for Prussia: on 2 November General Pfuel was replaced by