ABSTRACT
Marx's phrases about Russia in the inaugural address had roused a good deal of opposition, for he maintained, just as in 1848, that Russia was still the mainstay of European reaction and that Russia must therefore be vanquished first. In 1870, before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, he wrote to Engels: 'It is my firm conviction that, though the first impulse will come from France, Germany is far riper for a social movement and will outdistance France by far'. The Bonapartist and clerical intriguers had been intimidated and energetic steps were taken to arm the whole population. This activity was far more than mere work of organisation; means working-class organisations were actively cooperating in introducing and consolidating the Republican régime; and this was the only way the working-class movement could grow, by cooperating in shaping the country's destiny. Short reports of meetings that appeared in a local London paper, the Eastern Post, only give the barest outline of Marx's views.
