Preliminaries to Issue of Shares in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung Politisch-okonomische Revue, Edited by Karl Marx

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As is generally known, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung appeared from June 1,1848, to May 19,1849, under the editorship of Karl Marx as a daily newspaper in Cologne on the Rhine. It represented the most resolute democratic trend in Germany with such success that in spite of all suspensions and states of siege, in spite of all press trials and persecutions, hostility and obstacles of all kinds it numbered 5,600 subscribers after appearing for only eleven months. After the editorial board was twice acquitted by a jury, the Prussian Government had no other means of suppressing this dreaded paper than the use of force: When the partial uprisings in Rhenish Prussia were suppressed in May last year, the temporary rule of the sabre was used to remove the editorial board from Prussia by force and thus to make the continued appearance of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung impossible.

After taking part in the revolutionary movements of last summer, either in South Germany or in Paris, the majority of the editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung assembled again in London and decided to continue the paper from there. At first the paper can only appear as a review in monthly issues of approximately five sheets. But it will only fully serve its purpose of exercising an uninterrupted and lasting influence on public opinion, and create new opportunities also from the financial point of view, when the editorial board is in a position to produce issues in more rapid succession. It is therefore intended that, as soon as funds allow, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung should appear as a fortnightly of five sheets or, if possible, as a big weekly journal like the American and English weeklies and, as soon as conditions permit its return to Germany, at once to transform it again from a weekly journal into a daily newspaper.

A provisional estimate shows that with only fortnightly issues and a sale of 3,000 copies the Revue will yield an annual net profit of 1,900 talers.

To put the enterprise on a secure basis and to enable the Revue to appear fortnightly or weekly, a capital of £500 is needed, and an issue of shares for this amount is hereby opened on the following conditions:

1. Every share is worth 50 francs and will be paid up at once against a provisional receipt later exchangeable for the original share.

2. Every shareholder is liable only for the amount of his share.

3. Shareholders have the right to nominate representatives in London to inspect the conduct of the business.

4. A quarterly general meeting will be called to receive a report on the progress of the enterprise and the accounts and to take decisions on the future control of the conduct of the business. A lithographed business report will be sent to individual shareholders.

5. Profits accruing from the business will be added to the capital until the Neue Rheinische Zeitung can appear weekly. When the enterprise has prospered thus far, the profit will be divided into three equal parts, one remaining in a reserve fund, one distributed to shareholders as dividend, and the last going to the editorial board.

London, January 1, 1850

K. Schramm,

Manager of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung