Marx in Neue Rheinische Zeitung October 1848
Source: MECW Volume 7, p. 466;
Written: by Marx on October 13, 1848;
First published: in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 116, October 14, 1848.
Cologne, October 13. When the Camphausen Government fell we said:
“The Camphausen Government has covered the counter-revolution with its liberal-bourgeois cloak. The counter-revolution now feels strong enough to shake off this irksome mask. It is possible that the Government of March 30 will be followed for a few days by some untenable Government of the Left Centre (Hansemann). Its real successor will be the Government of the Prince of Prussia.” (Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 23, June 23.)
And in fact the Government of Pfuel (of Neufchâtel) followed the Hansemann Government.
The Pfuel Government handles constitutional phrases in the same way as the Frankfurt Central Authority treats “German unification”. If we compare the corpus delicti, the real body of the Government, with its echo, its constitutional declarations, appeasings, mediations and agreements in the Berlin Assembly, we can only use Falstaff’s phrase:
“Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying!"
[Shakespeare, Henry IV]
The Pfuel Government can only be followed by a Government of the revolution.