Letter to the Editor of L'Alba, June 29, 1848

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Marx’s letter was published in L'Alba on June 29, 1848, with the following introductory note by the editors: “We publish the following letter received from Cologne to show what feelings the noble-minded Germans entertain towards Italy; they ardently wish to establish fraternal relations between the Italian and German peoples, whom European despots have tried to set against each other.”

The reply by the editors of L'Alba signed by L. Alinari, is quoted in Engels’ article “Germany’s Foreign Policy” (see this volume, p. 167).

An English translation of this letter was published in the magazine Labour Monthly No. 5, 1948, and in the collection: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Correspondence (Moscow, 1955, London, 1956). P. 11

Dear Sir,

A new daily newspaper will be published in Cologne from the first of June; it will be called Neue Rheinische Zeitung and will be edited by Herr Karl Marx. This paper will advocate in these latitudes the same democratic principles that L'Alba represents in Italy. There can therefore be no doubt about the line we shall take on the questions now pending between Italy and Austria. We shall defend the cause of Italian independence, we shall fight to the death Austrian despotism in Italy as in Germany and Poland. We extend a fraternal hand to the Italian people and want to prove to them that the German nation entirely repudiates the policy of oppression which in your country is carried through by the same men who in our country too have always combated freedom. We shall do our utmost to promote the union of, and good understanding between, two great and free nations which have, until now, been led to believe by a nefarious system of government that they were each other’s enemy. We shall therefore demand the immediate withdrawal from Italy of the brutal Austrian soldiery, and that the Italian people be placed in a position to express its sovereign will in the question of the form of government which it wants to choose.

In order to enable us to follow Italian affairs, and in order to give you the opportunity of judging the sincerity of our promises, we suggest an exchange of papers. Thus we propose to send you the Neue Rheinische Zeitung every day and to receive from you L'Alba regularly. We hope that you will accept this proposal and ask you to start sending us L'Alba as soon as possible so that already in our first issues we can make use of it.

If you wish to send us other information as well we should be pleased to receive it, and assure you that anything likely to serve the cause of democracy in any country will be given our most careful consideration.

Fraternal greetings.
For the editorial board of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung
Dr. Karl Marx, Editor