before, these problems, and the historical conditions of which they were born, compelled the Socialists and workers to fight as the extreme radical wing in the army of Democracy. The prize of victory and object of the struggle were to save the revolution, and thereby to insure the political rights and liberties necessary to the proletariat for the preparation of its own revolution—a revolution which Marx perceived germinating in the womb of the same society that he and his class were assisting in its struggle to emancipate itself completely from the yoke of Feudalism. For these reasons the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" was compelled to engage in democratic politics; it was compelled to fight with and for the bourgeoisie, but it discharged itself of this duty creditably, by steadily keeping the ultimate goal and things of permanent interest to the proletariat in view. In other words, the bourgeois revolution was but a means to the end, a stepping stone, to Marx and his followers; the end, the aim to be kept in mind, was—the proletarian revolution. In consequence, the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" did not seek to enlist the support of the lukewarm democrats with the aid of compromise and flattery, but attempted to whip them on and wrest them out of their lethargy, through a biting and unmerciful criticism. To this organ, as stated before, the revolution was an imperious command of the hour; a command which the bourgeoisie could not ignore but had to follow: a command clearly formulated by the force of material conditions and the scientific knowledge of social development flowing therefrom.
The immediate demands of the Communist Party in Germany were, due to the above-mentioned causes, therefore, far more moderate than the so-called minimum demands formulated in the "Communist Manifesto" for the rising revolution. They were demands chiefly created by the backward conditions of the economic life in that country, and were intended to improve the social conditions of the small farmer, artisan and laborer in general. The cardinal political demands were the undivided republic
