Germany.—On the 11th instant, the authorities of the Grand 
Dukedom of Hesse, seized at Darmstadt, at the publisher’s 
premises, the first number of a Communist Magazine, the Rhenish 
Annals, edited by Puttmann. There were, however, only fifty-five 
copies found, the remainder of the edition having been previously 
sold. The publisher, Mr. Leske, was at the same time informed 
that the Magazine was placed under the control of the police, he 
having to produce every number before it was issued, to the 
police, and to procure a license for issuing the same, under a 
penalty, in case of non-compliance, of 500 florins (forty-five 
pounds sterling), or, according to the merits of the case, imprison- 
ment. This blow aimed at the Communists, and at the same time 
at that little bit of a free press we have in Germany, will, however, 
prove useless. There are hundreds of means to elude this 
unconstitutional interference, which, no doubt, has been pro- 
ceeded to at the instigation of the hated Prussian Government. 
This same Prussian Government has procured from the Saxon 
authorities the expulsion of several public authors from Leipsic, 
among whom is Mr. W. Marr, one of the heads of that Young 
German Conspiracy in Switzerland mentioned in my last. In his 
case, as well as that of Weitling last year,? the authorities were 
afraid of imprisoning and bringing to judgment the party, 
although they had every legal pretence; they were satisfied with 
driving them away. 


* Rheinische Jahrbücher zur gesellschaftlichen Reform.— Ed. 
> See pp. 651-653 of this volume.— Ed. 


Persecution and Expulsion of Communists 655 


Switzerland— The Democratic Government of the Pays de 
Vaud has expelled from the canton Mr. A. Becker, a talented 
German Communist writer, as well as Mr. S. Schmidt and Dr. 
Kuhlmann, belonging to the same party, and dissolved the 
German Communist Club at Lausanne. The Radical Government 
of Zurich has likewise expelled Dr. Püttmann, editor of* the 
above-named Rhenish Annals, and belonging, too, to the Commu- 
nist party.