Appeal of the Democratic District Committee of the Rhine Province

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The Central Commission of representatives of the three democratic organisations of Cologne — the Democratic Society, the Workers’ Association and the Association for Workers and Employers — was set up at the end of June 1848 by decision of the First Democratic Congress in Frankfurt am Main; Marx was a member of the Corn mission. Until the convocation of the Rhenish Congress of Democrats, — this Commission functioned temporarily as the District Committee. The First Rhenish Congress of Democrats, which was held in Cologne on August 13 and 14, 1848, with the participation of Marx and Engels, confirmed the composition of the Central Commission of these three Cologne democratic associations as Rhenish District Committee of Democrats. Besides the President, lawyer Schneider If, it included Marx, Schapper and Moll. The activities of the Committee covered not only the Rhine Province but also Westphalia. The Congress adopted a decision on the necessity to carry on work among factory workers and peasants.

On November 14, 1848, at the beginning of the counter-revolutionary coup d'état in Prussia, the Rhenish District Committee of Democrats called on the population to refuse to pay taxes, even before the Prussian National Assembly had adopted a decision to this effect. Until the Assembly recognised this slogan and the campaign for the refusal to pay taxes developed in other provinces, Marx judged it necessary to temporarily restrain. the people from forcible resistance to the collection of taxes. However, he put the slogan of armed resistance on the agenda when, on November 15, the Assembly at last adopted a decision on the refusal to pay taxes as of November 17. From November 19 to December 17 the Neue Rheinische Zeitung carried the slogan “No More Taxes!!!” on its front page.

There was a wide response to the appeal in the Rhine Province (see this volume, pp. 39-40).

In English the text of the appeal was first published in the collection: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Articles from the “Neue Rheinische Zeitung”. 1848-49, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972.

Cologne, November 14. The Rhenish District Committee of Democrats calls upon all democratic associations in the Rhine Province immediately to convene their associations and organize everywhere popular meetings in order to encourage the entire population of the Rhine Province to refuse to pay taxes, since this is the most effective measure of protest against the arbitrary acts committed by the government against the assembly of Prussian elected representatives.

It is necessary to advise against any violent resistance in the case of taxes collected under a writ of execution, but it can be recommended that at public sales people should refrain from bidding.

In order to agree on further measures, the District Committee is of the opinion that a congress of deputies from all associations should be held, and herewith invites them to meet on Thursday, November 23, at 9 a.m. (in Eiser's Hall, Komodienstrasse, Cologne).

For the District Committee

Karl Marx
Schneider II