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Special pages :
On Germany. Note for the "Review" (May-October 1850)
| Author(s) | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | September 1850 |
First published in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, Vol. 44, second Russ. ed., 1977
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 10
Marx wrote this note when he and Engels were preparing the third international review. It is a sort of conspectus or plan of the section of the review in which the authors analyse developments in Germany. Some of the ideas were later developed thoroughly in the review itself, while others were left out of the final version, for instance the economic rivalry between Austria and Prussia.
1) Supremacy of Russia emerging openly. Hegemony divided between Prussia and Austria. The minor states formally secured once more thanks to their rivalry, true. But the princes of the minor states (e. g. Hesse,[1] Baden) disgraced in the eyes of most Germans, and thus the differences between the various houses and small townships, which were still being so keenly asserted as recently as 1848, smashed. Equally, in consequence of the results of the 1848 movement, the authority of all existing official powers diminished.
2) Prussia. Although excluded from the government, humiliated, sham Constitution, the bourgeoisie achieved everything and more than it dared demand in 1847.
3) Austriaâhitherto the peasantry given preference, reaped the results of the revolution. Protectionism.[2]
4) Trade policy differences between Austria and Prussia. Free trade; in Prussia nobility, as in England industrial bourgeoisie.
- â In September 1850, a Constitutional conflict flared up in the electorate of Hesse-Cassel between the Elector Frederick William I and the Chamber of Representatives. The head of the government, Hans Hassenpflug, who advocated absolutism, dissolved the Chamber and introduced a state of siege in the country, thus evoking vehement protests from the entire population. The Elector and Hassenpflug sought assistance from Austria, disregarding the fact that Hesse-Cassel belonged to the confederation of German states headed by Prussia. Austria and Prussia contended for the right to mount a punitive expedition against the Hesse constitutional movement and their rivalry in Germany became even more acute. Austria countered Prussia's plans by proposing a revival of the German Confederation of 1815, and early in September 1850, at a conference of minor German states in Frankfurt am Main, she secured the restoration of the Confederation and its Diet, where she exercised the predominant influence. Early in November 1850 there were even clashes between Prussian and Austrian detachments on Hesse-Cassel territory. Before long, however, Nicholas I forced Prussia to make concessions, temporarily abandon her plans for hegemony in Germany and let Austria fulfil the punitive mission in Hesse-Cassel.
- â This refers to measures taken by the government to place the National Bank of Austria under state protection; these included the ministerial decree of May 22, 1848, which allowed the Bank to limit the exchange of bank-notes for hard cash and introduced a compulsory exchange rate; the issue of state paper money with the Bank's assistance early in 1849, and the agreement of December 6, 1849, to regulate reciprocal claims between the Bank and the Exchequer.