The German Citizenship and the Prussian Police

Author(s)	Karl Marx Friedrich Engels
Written	11 August 1848

Source: Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 7, p. 383;
First published: in Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 73, August 12, 1848.

Collection(s): Neue Rheinische Zeitung

Keywords : Germany, Citizenship, Police

Cologne, August 11. It is well known how the Prussian army paid homage to German unity on August 6.^[1] The Prussian police must not lag behind the Prussian army. Never have there been in its opinion more German foreigners or foreign Germans in Prussia than since an indivisible German National Assembly, a German Imperial Regent [Archduke John of Austria] and a German Imperial Government have been meeting in Frankfurt.

Herr Geiger, acting Police Superintendent, whose accession to the throne was greeted by us earlier with misgivings, seems to have received the special order to purge Cologne of German foreigners and to tolerate only Prussian subjects within the walls of the old imperial city. If he is consistent, who will save a person’s right of domicile except the police, the army, the bureaucracy and the natives? Herr Geiger himself will not be missing among these “last of the Mohicans”.

We shall report at a later time about the conflicts the editor-in-chief of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Karl Marx, had with regard to the Prussian right of citizenship. Today we are dealing with Herr Karl Schapper, a contributor and proof-reader of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.

Herr Schapper has received an invitation to visit the Police Inspector of his district this morning. The Police Inspector informed him that due to an order of Herr Geiger, he would have to leave Cologne and the Prussian state by tomorrow because he is a foreigner. The Inspector informed him at the same time that he would extend the period by a week out of courtesy.

Herr Schapper is not only a German but he is also a citizen of Nassau and he is equipped with a Nassau passport in optima forma. [in all formality] Herr Schapper resides at Cologne with his wife and three children. His crime consists of being a member of the Democratic Society^[2] and the Workers’ Association.^[3] as well as being the proof-reader of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. These are, of course, three crimes all at once.

“Every German possesses the general German citizenship,” reads the first paragraph of the German Fundamental Rights^[4] which has already been approved. Herr Geiger seems to interpret this in such a way that every German has the right to be expelled from 37 German states. Besides the legislation of the National Assembly, there is now Geiger’s legislation!

For Herr Hansemann, however, the Minister of action, we have a piece of advice: he may use police methods against deputies at his own discretion, but there is no playing around with the press. It can open the book of the bourgeois past and

If you are after a little amusement,
You may go dancing, but I'll play the tune —
[Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro]

no matter how many Geigers may threaten with their violins. [play on the words Geiger — the name of the Police Superintendent of Cologne — which literally translated means “violinist”, and violine — derived from the French word vision meaning both “violin” and “prison"]

↑ On August 6, 1848, troops of all German states were, by an order issued by the Imperial Minister of War Peucker on July 16, 1848, to take the oath of allegiance to the Imperial Regent Archduke John at the celebration parade. Frederick William IV, who himself claimed to be the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the German Confederation, cancelled the parade in Prussia appointed for August 6.
↑ The Democratic Society in Cologne, which met in Franz Stollwerk’s Café, was founded in April 1848. Among its members were small proprietors, workers and artisans. Marx and Engels took an active part in the management of the Society. At the meetings, Marx, Engels and other members of the editorial staff of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung managed to get certain resolutions adopted which unmasked the anti-revolutionary policy of the Prussian Government and condemned the irresolute conduct of the Berlin and Frankfurt Assemblies. A year later, when Marx and his followers took practical steps to create . an independent mass party of the proletariat, they decided to sever all organisational links with petty-bourgeois democrats, and withdrew from the Democratic Society. Nevertheless they continued to give support to the revolutionary actions of democratic forces in Germany.
↑ The Cologne Workers’ Association — a workers’ organisation founded by Andreas Gottschalk on April 13, 1848. Its 300 members had increased to 5,000, the majority of whom were workers and artisans, by the beginning of May. The Association was led by the President and the committee, which consisted of representatives of various trades. The newspaper Zeitung des Arbeiter-Vereines zu Köln was the organ of the Association, but from October 26 it was replaced by the Freiheit, Brüderlichkeit, Arbeit. There were a number of branches of the Association. After Gottschalk’s arrest, Moll was elected President on July 6 and he held this post till the state of siege was proclaimed in Cologne in September 1848, when he had to emigrate under threat of arrest. On October 16, Marx agreed to assume this post temporarily at the request of Association members. In November Röser became acting President and on February 28, 1849, Schapper was elected President and remained in this post until the end of May 1849. The majority of the leading members (Gottschalk, Anneke, Schapper, Moll, Lessner, Jansen, Röser, Nothjung, Bedorf) were members of the Communist League. During the initial period of its existence, the Workers’ Association was influenced by Gottschalk who, sharing many of the views of the “true socialists “ ignored the historical tasks of the proletariat in the democratic revolution, carried on sectarian tactics of boycotting indirect elections to the Federal and Prussian National Assemblies and came out against support of democratic candidates in elections. He combined ultra-Left phrases with very legalistic methods Cf struggle (workers’ petitions to the Government and the City Council etc.) and supported the demands of the workers affected by craft prejudices etc. From the very beginning, Gottschalk’s tactics were resisted by the supporters of Marx an(i Engels. At the end of June a change-over took place under their influence in the activities of the Workers’ Association, which became a centre of revolutionary agitation among the workers, and from the autumn of 1848 onwards, also among the peasants. Members of the Association organised democratic and workers’ associations in the vicinity of Cologne, disseminated revolutionary literature, including the “Demands of the Communist Party in Germany”, and carried on among themselves education in scientific communism through the study of Marx’s writings. The Association maintained close contact with other workers’ and democratic organisations. When, in the spring of 1849, Marx and Engels took steps to organise the advanced workers on a national scale and actually started preparing for the creation of a proletarian party, they relied to a considerable extent on the Cologne Workers’ Association. The mounting counter-revolution and intensified police reprisals prevented further activities of the Cologne Workers’ Association to unite and organise the working masses. After the Neue Rheinische Zeitung ceased publication and Marx, Schapper and other leaders of the Association left Cologne, it gradually turned into an ordinary workers’ educational society
↑ Paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Fundamental Rights of the German People worked out by the Frankfurt National Assembly was adopted at its session of July 21, 1848, with the following wording: “Every German possesses the general German right of citizenship from which it accrues that a citizen of every separate state enjoys all rights of a naturalised citizen of another state

[1] On August 6, 1848, troops of all German states were, by an order issued by the Imperial Minister of War Peucker on July 16, 1848, to take the oath of allegiance to the Imperial Regent Archduke John at the celebration parade. Frederick William IV, who himself claimed to be the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the German Confederation, cancelled the parade in Prussia appointed for August 6.

[2] The Democratic Society in Cologne, which met in Franz Stollwerk’s Café, was founded in April 1848. Among its members were small proprietors, workers and artisans. Marx and Engels took an active part in the management of the Society. At the meetings, Marx, Engels and other members of the editorial staff of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung managed to get certain resolutions adopted which unmasked the anti-revolutionary policy of the Prussian Government and condemned the irresolute conduct of the Berlin and Frankfurt Assemblies. A year later, when Marx and his followers took practical steps to create . an independent mass party of the proletariat, they decided to sever all organisational links with petty-bourgeois democrats, and withdrew from the Democratic Society. Nevertheless they continued to give support to the revolutionary actions of democratic forces in Germany.

[3] The Cologne Workers’ Association — a workers’ organisation founded by Andreas Gottschalk on April 13, 1848. Its 300 members had increased to 5,000, the majority of whom were workers and artisans, by the beginning of May. The Association was led by the President and the committee, which consisted of representatives of various trades. The newspaper Zeitung des Arbeiter-Vereines zu Köln was the organ of the Association, but from October 26 it was replaced by the Freiheit, Brüderlichkeit, Arbeit. There were a number of branches of the Association. After Gottschalk’s arrest, Moll was elected President on July 6 and he held this post till the state of siege was proclaimed in Cologne in September 1848, when he had to emigrate under threat of arrest. On October 16, Marx agreed to assume this post temporarily at the request of Association members. In November Röser became acting President and on February 28, 1849, Schapper was elected President and remained in this post until the end of May 1849. The majority of the leading members (Gottschalk, Anneke, Schapper, Moll, Lessner, Jansen, Röser, Nothjung, Bedorf) were members of the Communist League. During the initial period of its existence, the Workers’ Association was influenced by Gottschalk who, sharing many of the views of the “true socialists “ ignored the historical tasks of the proletariat in the democratic revolution, carried on sectarian tactics of boycotting indirect elections to the Federal and Prussian National Assemblies and came out against support of democratic candidates in elections. He combined ultra-Left phrases with very legalistic methods Cf struggle (workers’ petitions to the Government and the City Council etc.) and supported the demands of the workers affected by craft prejudices etc. From the very beginning, Gottschalk’s tactics were resisted by the supporters of Marx an(i Engels. At the end of June a change-over took place under their influence in the activities of the Workers’ Association, which became a centre of revolutionary agitation among the workers, and from the autumn of 1848 onwards, also among the peasants. Members of the Association organised democratic and workers’ associations in the vicinity of Cologne, disseminated revolutionary literature, including the “Demands of the Communist Party in Germany”, and carried on among themselves education in scientific communism through the study of Marx’s writings. The Association maintained close contact with other workers’ and democratic organisations. When, in the spring of 1849, Marx and Engels took steps to organise the advanced workers on a national scale and actually started preparing for the creation of a proletarian party, they relied to a considerable extent on the Cologne Workers’ Association. The mounting counter-revolution and intensified police reprisals prevented further activities of the Cologne Workers’ Association to unite and organise the working masses. After the Neue Rheinische Zeitung ceased publication and Marx, Schapper and other leaders of the Association left Cologne, it gradually turned into an ordinary workers’ educational society

[4] Paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Fundamental Rights of the German People worked out by the Frankfurt National Assembly was adopted at its session of July 21, 1848, with the following wording: “Every German possesses the general German right of citizenship from which it accrues that a citizen of every separate state enjoys all rights of a naturalised citizen of another state

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