Cologne, May 3. The congress of Rhenish municipal councils will 
take place after all, although in a less official form, and not until next 
Tuesday.>° 

It goes without saying that we are expecting nothing at all from this 
assembly composed of bourgeois elected on the basis of three classes 
according to the property qualification with the mass of the people 
debarred from voting. A deputation is to be sent to Berlin, which will 
not even be allowed into the presence of Herr von Hohenzollern. 

But it may be that the congress will not take place at all. On Sunday 
various party congresses will be held here in Cologne. The 
Government is trying at all costs to provoke a conflict between the 
people and the army, in order to be able to muzzle us Rhinelanders, 
just as the Berliners have been muzzled. 

It depends on the workers of Cologne whether this subtle Prussian 
plan will be frustrated. By their calm behaviour, by unshakeable 
equanimity in the face of the provocations of the soldiers, the 
Cologne workers can deprive the Government of any excuse for acts 
of violence. 

Decisive events are at hand. Vienna, Bohemia, South Germany, 
Berlin, are in a ferment and await the right moment. Cologne can 
play its part, it can play a very powerful part, but it cannot begin any 
decisive action. 

Let the workers of Cologne bear in mind, especially next Sunday, 
that all the provocations of the Government aim only at causing an 
outburst of sucha kind as will occur at a moment unfavourable for us but 
favourable for the Government. 

Only by great events can revolutions be carried through but if one 
accepts the challenges of the Government, the most that can result is 
a revolt. 

Workers of Cologne, remember the 25th of September!>"!