Engels in Neue Rheinische Zeitung August 1848

Mediation and Intervention.

Radetzky and Cavaignac

by Frederick Engels

Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 91

The armistices concluded as the result of Karl Albert's treachery will
expire in about three weeks (on September 21). France and Britain have
offered to act as mediators. The Spectateur republicain, Cavaignac's paper,
writes that Austria has not yet stated whether she will accept or decline
the offer. France's dictator is getting annoyed over the discourtesy of
the Austrians and threatens armed intervention if by a given date the Viennese
cabinet does not reply, or rejects mediation. Will Austria allow a Cavaignac
to prescribe the peace terms to her, especially now after the victory over
democracy in Vienna and over the Italian "rebels"? Austria understands
perfectly well that the French bourgeoisie wants "peace at any price",
that the freedom or bondage of the Italians is altogether a matter of complete
indifference to the bourgeoisie and that it will agree to anything so long
as it is not openly humiliated and thus reluctantly compelled to draw the
sword. It is said that Radetzky will pay a short visit to Vienna in order
to say the decisive word about mediation. He does not have to travel to
Vienna to do that. His policy has now prevailed, and his opinion will be
none the less weighty for his remaining in Milan. If Austria were to accept
the basis for peace proposed by England and France, she would do so not
because she is afraid of Cavaignac's intervention but for much more pressing
and compelling reasons.

The Italians were just as much deluded by the March events as
the Germans. The former believed that foreign rule at any rate was now
done with; the latter thought that the old system was buried for good and
all. However, the foreign rule in Italy is worse than ever, and in Germany
the old system has recovered from the few blows it sustained in March and
it acts with greater ferocity and vindictiveness than ever before.

The Italians are now making the mistake of expecting salvation
from the present government of France. Only the fall of this government
could save them. The Italians are further mistaken when they regard the
liberation of their country as feasible while democracy in France, Germany
and other countries continues to lose ground. Reaction, to whose blows
Italy has succumbed, is not merely an Italian phenomenon, it is a European
phenomenon. Italy alone cannot possibly free herself from the grip of this
reaction, least of all by appealing to the French bourgeoisie, which is
a true pillar of reaction in Europe as a whole.

Before reaction can be destroyed in Italy and Germany, it must
be routed in France. A democratic social republic must first be proclaimed
in France and the French proletariat must first subjugate its bourgeoisie,
before a lasting democratic victory is conceivable in Italy, Germany, Poland,
Hungary and other countries.

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