Report of Marx's Expulsion Sent by the Cologne Government Authorities to the Minister of the Interior von Manteuffel

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Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 10 March 1849


First published in the Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt No. 176, June 27, 1913
Printed according to the manuscript
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 9
Collection(s): Frankfurter Zeitung
Keywords : Cologne, Germany, Repression

Meanwhile Marx is still staying here, although furnished with neither residence permit nor card, and the newspaper of which he is editor continues with its destructive tendencies, deriding and ridiculing all that men normally respect and hold sacred, and urging the overthrow of the existing constitution and the establishment of a social republic, and its effects are all the more damaging since its impertinence and humour constandy attract new readers.

The earlier investigation into his affairs resulted in his acquittal, as did the one subsequendy opened against him for direct incitement to rebellion.[1]

The commandant of the local fortress has now called on the police authorities to expel Marx from here as a dangerous person. We enclose the application in question, along with the report of the Police Superintendent,[2] and we can only concur with the latter’s view that his expulsion from this town without his simultaneous removal from the Prussian state would achieve nothing; nor do we see any objection to proceeding forthwith with Marx’s expulsion if he gives any specific cause. Whether on tlie other hand it would be expedient to expel him at the present moment merely on the grounds of the dangerous tendencies of the newspaper which he has been editing in like manner for some considerable period, appears to be more doubtful. It is possible that taking such a step might provoke a demonstration by the democratic party in sympathy with Marx. For this reason and because the Royal Ministry of the Interior had previously seen fit in its directive of August 12a last to take note of the measures we have taken regarding Marx,[3] we consider it necessary to assure ourselves of Your Excellency’s agreement as to the expulsion of Marx from the state before proceeding.

  1. ↑ The reference is to the acquittals of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (the accused were Marx, Engels and Korff) and of the Rhenish District Committee of Democrats (the accused were Marx, Schapper and the lawyer Schneider II) at the trials held on February 7 and 8, 1849 (see notes.289 and 366).
  2. ↑ Geiger. See also this volume, pp. 496-97.— Ed.
  3. ↑ What is meant here is evidently the . order issued by the Prussian Minister of the Interior Kühlwetter to the effect that the decision of the Cologne royal government authorities not to grant Prussian citizenship to Marx remained in force (see Note 365, and also the article “The Conflict between Marx and Prussian Citizenship” and the letter from the Minister of the Interior Kühlwetter to Marx dated September 12, 1848, present edition, Vol. 7).
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