ABSTRACT
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had always abominated Russian tsarism and eulogized Poland as a progressive and potentially revolutionary nation; small wonder that they greeted news of the insurrection with enthusiasm. Marx also expressed the view that the revolution would spread to Prussia. A theoretical interpretation of the Polish issue – primarily from the German angle – is given in a resolution drafted by Marx and adopted by the German Workers' Educational Association in London in October 1863. Marx and Engels ardently hoped for success of the Polish revolt. They felt that Russia's defeat would open the floodgates to revolution all over Europe. Reluctance to antagonize Bismarck may also account for omission from Lassalle's resolution of condemnation of Bismarck's help for tsar in crushing the Polish rising — a policy fiercely denounced by Marx and Engels. The restoration of an independent Poland under the aegis of Germany would be the most glorious and the most legitimate task facing Germany.
