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After several weeks of heroic but badly organised resistance against the
Prussian armies, the rebels were forced to cross over into Switzerland. The ax-
members of the staff of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and of the Workingmen's Union
of Cologne peregrinated to Paris, but in 1849, after the unsuccessful demonstration
of June 13, they, too, fell under the ban and were forced to leave France. Towards the
beginning of 1850 there came together, in London, almost the entire old guard of the
Communist League. Moll had perished during the insurrection in the south. Marx,
Engels, Schapper, Willich, and Wolff found themselves in London.
Marx and Engels, as may be gleaned from their writings of that period, did
not at first lose hope. They felt that this was only a temporary halt in the march of the
revolution and that a fresh and greater upheaval was bound to follow. In order that
they might not be caught unawares, they wished to strengthen the organisation, and
to tie it up more securely with Germany. The old Communist League was
reorganised; the old elements as well as the new ones from Silesia, Breslau and the
Rhine provinces were drawn in.
Very soon, however, differences began to spring up. The controversy came to
a head on the following question:
Even at the beginning of 1850, Marx and Engels thought that it would not be
long ere the revolution would be resuscitated. It was precisely at this time that two
famous circulars were released by the Communist League. Lenin, who knew them by
heart, used to delight in quoting them.
In these circulars -- and they can only be understood if we recall the errors
made by Marx and Engels during the Revolution of 1848 -- we find that besides
mercilessly criticising bourgeois liberalism, we must also attack the democratic
elements. We must muster all our strength to create a workingmen's party in
opposition to the democratic organisation. The democrats must be lashed and flayed.
If they demand a ten-hour workday, we should demand an eight-hour day. If they
demand expropriation of large estates with just compensation, then we must demand
confiscation without compensation. We must use every possible means to goad on
the revolution, to make it permanent, and not to let it lapse into desuetude. We
cannot afford to be satisfied with the immediate conquests. Each bit of conquered
territory must serve as a step for further conquests. Every attempt to declare the
revolution consummated is treason to its cause. We must exert our strength, to the
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last bit, to undermine and destroy the social and political fabric in which we live,
until the last vestiges of the old class antagonisms are eradicated forever.
Differences of opinion arose about the evaluation of the existing conditions.
In contradistinction to his opponents, the most important among whom were
Schapper and Willich, Marx, true to his method, insisted that every political
revolution was the effect of definite economic causes, of a certain economic
revolution. The Revolution of 1848 was preceded by the economic crisis of 1847
which had held all of Europe, except the Far East, in its grip. Having studied in
London the prevailing economic conditions, the state of the world market, Marx
came to the conclusion that the new situation was not favourable to a revolutionary
eruption, and that the absence of the new revolutionary upheaval, which he and his
friends had been anticipating, might be explained otherwise than by the lack of
revolutionary initiative and revolutionary energy on the part of the revolutionists. On
the basis of his detailed analysis of the existing conditions, he reached the
conclusion, at the end of 1850, that in the face of such economic efflorescence any
attempt to force a revolution, to induce an uprising, was doomed to fruitless defeat.
And conditions were then particularly conducive to the development of European
capital. Fabulously rich gold mines were discovered in California and in Australia;
vast hosts of workers rushed into these countries. The deluge of European emigration
started in 1848 and reached tremendous proportions in 1850.
Thus, a study of economic conditions brought Marx to the conviction that the
revolutionary wave was receding and that there would be no renewal of the
revolutionary movement until another economic crisis arose and created more
favourable conditions. Some of the members of the Communist League did not
subscribe to these views. These views met with the particular disapproval of those
who were not well grounded in economics and who attached inordinate importance
to the revolutionary initiative of a few resolute individuals. Willich, Schapper, a
number of other members of the Cologne Workingmen's Union, and the old
Weitlingites, coalesced. They insisted upon the necessity of forcing a revolutionary
uprising in Germany. All they needed, they claimed, was a certain sum of money, and
a number of daring individuals. They began to hunt for money. An effort was made to
solicit a loan from America, a loan with a German revolution as its objective. Marx,
Engels and a few of their near friends refused to participate in this campaign. Finally
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a schism occurred, and the Communist League was split into a Marx-Engels faction
and a Willich-Schapper faction.
It happened that at this very time one section of the Communist League which
was still in Germany, came to grief. It was since 1850 that Marx and Engels were
making an effort to strengthen the League in Germany along with its reorganisation
in London. Emissaries were sent to Germany with the purpose of establishing closer
ties with the German communists. One of them was arrested. The papers that were
found on him revealed the names of all his comrades. A number of communists were
jailed. The Prussian government, in order to demonstrate to the German bourgeoisie
that the latter had no reason to regret the few privileges it had lost in 1850, staged an
imposing trial of the communists. The upshot was a few long-term sentences for
several communists who included Friedrich Lessner. During the trial certain ugly
facts came to the surface -- the agent provocateur, Stieber, the falsification of
minutes, perjury, etc.
At the suggestion of the communists who stood with Marx, he wrote a
pamphlet in which he exposed the nefarious work of the Prussian police in
connection with the persecution of the communists. This, however, proved of little
assistance to the condemned. Upon the termination of the trial, Marx, Engels and
their comrades came to the conclusion that, in face of this unfortunate turn of events,
and since all revolutionary connections with Germany were severed, the League had
nothing to do but to wait for a more auspicious time; in 1852 the Communist League
was officially disbanded. The other part of the Communist League, the Willich-
Schapper faction, vegetated for another year. Some left for America. Schapper
remained in London. A few years later he came to realise the errors he had made in
1852, and again made peace with Marx and Engels.
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