Marx and Engels in Neue Rheinische Zeitung June 1848
Source: MECW Volume 7, p. 41;
Written: by Engels on June 2, 1848;
First published: in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 4, June 4, 1848.
Throughout the whole of North Italy various plots and schemes are being hatched, on the one hand to unite the smaller states with Sardinia and on the other to prevent that union. These intrigues are very similar to those for hegemony in Germany. Charles Albert is seeking to establish an Italian Prussia “on the broadest possible basis”, from Nice to Trieste. The affair is of absolutely no national importance; on both sides it is a question of local interests and the gratification of provincial vanities, such as can only be removed through the creation of a united and indivisible Italy. Until then, the decisive factor will continue to be the needs of the moment, and these are for union, since this would bring about, at least in some measure, a certain concentration of forces for the struggle against Austria.