Announcement (Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Politisch-Ökonomische Revue, December 1849)

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After the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which had been published by Marx and Engels in Cologne from June 1, 1848, till May 19, 1849, was banned Marx did not give up the idea of resuming, in one way or another, the publication of a paper that would continue the revolutionary traditions of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. He wrote about this to Engels in Switzerland on August 1, 1849, inviting him to London to help start one up. Marx succeeded in raising funds and finding a publisher, and in mid-December 1849 a contract to publish the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politischökonomische Revue was signed between the responsible publisher Konrad Schramm and Schuberth and Co., a Hamburg bookselling firm. The periodical’s aims were to assess the results of the 1848-49 revolution, to reveal the nature of the new historical situation, and to develop further the proletarian party’s tactics. Most of the articles and literary and international reviews were written by Marx and Engels, who also drew contributions to the Revue from their followers Wilhelm Wolff, Joseph Weydemeyer, and Johann Georg Eccarius. Issue No. 1 also carried an item by Karl Blind, “Oesterreichische und preussische Parteien in Baden”, and issue No. 4—verses by the French democrat Louis Ménard.

The cover named the places of publication as London, where Marx and Engels lived at the time, Hamburg, where the journal was printed, and New York since a great number of those who had participated in the 1848-49 revolution in Germany emigrated to America, and Marx and Engels hoped to find suitable ground there for distributing the journal. Presuming the possibility of a new revolutionary upsurge, they intended shortly to make their publication a weekly, and later a daily newspaper (see this volume, pp. 605-06). This plan was not, however, carried out. Altogether six issues were published; the last issue, a double one (5-6),came out at the end of November 1850. All further attempts to continue publication were blocked by police persecution in Germany and lack of funds.

Marx sent the text of the Announcement to Joseph Weydemeyer in Frankfurt am Main on December 19, 1849, with a request to publish it in the Neue Deutsche Zeitung. It was printed in Nos. 14, 23 and 31 of January 16 and 26, and February 5, 1850.

It was also printed in the Berner Zeitung No. 361 of December 27, 1849; in the Westdeutsche Zeitung (published by Hermann Becker in Cologne) on January 8, 9, 11 (supplement), 12 and 13 (supplement), 1850; in the Schweizerische NationalZeitung, Basle, No. 8, January 10, 1850; in the Düsseldorfer Zeitung No. 9, January 10, 1850; in the Norddeutsche Freie Presse, Hamburg-Altona, No. 254, January 18, 1850; in Der Volksfreund, Lemgo, No. 3, January 18, 1850.

The Neue Rheinische Zeitung

Politisch-Ökonomische Revue

edited by

Karl Marx

will appear in January 1850.

The periodical bears the title of the newspaper of which it is to be considered the continuation. One of its tasks will consist in returning in retrospect to the period which has elapsed since the suppression of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.

The greatest interest of a newspaper, its daily intervention in the movement and speaking directly from the heart of the movement, its reflecting day-to-day history in all its amplitude, the continuous and impassioned interaction between the people and its daily press, this interest is inevitably lacking in a review. On the other hand, a review provides the advantage of comprehending events in a broader perspective and having to dwell only upon the more important matters. It permits a comprehensive and scientific investigation of the economic conditions which form the foundation of the whole political movement.

A time of apparent calm such as the present must be employed precisely for the purpose of elucidating the period of revolution just experienced, the character of the conflicting parties, and the social conditions which determine the existence and the struggle of these parties.

The review will be published in monthly issues of at least five printers’ sheets at a subscription price of 24 silver groschen per quarter, payable upon delivery of the first issue. Single issues 10 sgr. Messrs. Schuberth and Co., in Hamburg, will attend to retail distribution through bookshops.

Friends of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung are requested to circulate subscription lists in their respective areas and to send them without delay to the undersigned. Literary contributions and likewise news items for discussion in the review will be accepted only post-paid.

London, Dec. 15, 1849

K. Schramm

Manager of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung
4 Anderson Street, King’s Road, Chelsea