| Category | Template | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Text | Text |
| Author | Author | Author |
| Collection | Collection | Collection |
| Keywords | Keywords | Keywords |
| Subpage | Subpage | Subpage |
| Template | Form |
|---|---|
| BrowseTexts | BrowseTexts |
| BrowseAuthors | BrowseAuthors |
| BrowseLetters | BrowseLetters |
Template:GalleryAuthorsPreviewSmall
Special pages :
To The Committee of The German Democratic Society in Paris
First published in Russian in: Marx and Engels, Collected Works, Moscow, 1934
Note from MECW vol. 7 :
On March 29, 1848, the supplement to No. 89 of the Trier’sche Zeitung carried a report from Paris, dated March 24, in which the activity of the German Democratic Society (see Note 3) was criticised. This article was apparently written by one of Marx’s followers in the Communist League, probably with Marx’s help. The author vehemently denounced the idea of an armed invasion of Germany by the volunteer legion and stated that the German Workers’ Club associated with the Communist League had nothing to do with this venture. Deeply hurt by this article, the leaders of the German Democratic Society sent Marx a note signed by Bornstedt, Löwenfels, Börnstein, Volk and Mayer in which they demanded the author’s name. The reply is published here from a copy made by Engels. After Marx had rejected their demand, one of the society’s leaders, Herwegh, wrote a memorandum for the German periodicals (on April 3,1848), in which he justified the idea of a volunteer legion and venomously attacked communists. The German Democratic Society (below it is called the Society of German Democrats) was formed in Paris after the February revolution of 1848. The society was headed by petty-bourgeois democrats, Herwegh, Bornstedt (the latter expelled from the Communist League) and others, who campaigned to raise a volunteer legion of German emigrants with the intention of marching into Germany. In this way they hoped to carry out a revolution in Germany and establish a republic there. Late in April 1848 the volunteer legion moved to Baden where it was dispersed by government troops.
To Herr Bornstedt and Others
Paris, April 1, 1848
22 rue Neuve Saint Augustin
copy
The following will serve as a repay to the note of Herr Bornstedt and others which was this morning left with Marx:
1. Marx has not the least intention of rendering anybody an account for any German newspaper article.
2. Marx has not the least intention of giving an account to any committee or deputation of the German Democratic Society with which he has nothing to do.
3. If Herr Bornstedt and Herr Herwegh demand explanations in their personal capacity and not as members of any committee or society, then Herr Bornstedt has already once before privately and also once publicly been told to whom they should address themselves.