MIA: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of Periodicals


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Rheinische Zeitung

The Rheinische Zeitung für Politik, Handel und Gewerbe was founded on January 1 1842. It was, generally, a pro-democracy reformist publication of the Rhine's oppositional bourgeoisie to Prussian absolutism. Karl Marx wrote his first news article for it in May 5 1842. By October 1842, he was named editor.

On November 16 1842, enroute to England, Engels paid a visit to the Rheinische Zeitung offices – where he first met the new editor. Engels' time in England would result in a series of articles for the RZ – and those would, in turn, lead to his famous book, The Condition of the Working Class in England.

Under Marx's editorship, the paper promoted increasingly radical/revolutionary-democratic ideas – which would result in Marx being forced to resign (March 17, 1843), and the paper's complete suppression two weeks following (March 31, 1843).

In 1851, Marx (then living in London) planned to publish an abridged collection of his Rheinische Zeitung articles through Hermann Becker (living in Cologne) – with notes, etc. Marx, however, did not have the time to complete this project. These notes were found over a century later in the Cologne University library. Progress Publishers has since released them in the Collected Works.

See: Articles by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the Rheinische Zeitung