ENGELS TO CARL HACKENBERG*” 

London, 16 March 1895 
41 Regent’s Park Road, N. W. 

Dear Sir, 
Following are my brief answers to your questions: 

* Arbeiter-Zeitung 

1) Becker* was in Cologne when we came there in May 1848; *“* I had 
heard nothing of him previously. 

2) 1 know-nothing about this. **° 

3) ditto.” 

4) We got to know Becker as belonging to the more moderate trend in the 
democratic party. 

5) I believe Becker also gave talks in the Democratic Association ™*’ (the 
Eiser Hall) from time to time, but I hardly ever went there. W. Wolff, F. 
Wolff and Dronke attended more frequently on behalf of our editorial board” 
than did Marx or I. 

6) I do not know what associations you mean. On the whole, the Workers’ 
Union *** and the Democratic Association worked hand in hand in Cologne, 
although the former was more radical than the latter. As for what had been 
going on before our arrival, at the time when the Workers’ Union had been 
led by Dr. Gottschalk, I can say nothing definite about it. 

7) If by the Central Association ~” you mean the central section of 
democratic associations, led by the Frankfurt Left, I must say the Rhenish 
democrats soon lost trust in it and made themselves independent. 

8) We were on the same good terms with Becker as with the other 
bourgeois democratic leaders in Cologne, without making a secret of the fact 
that we were going considerably further than they and without expecting 
them to unconditionally support the stance taken by the Neue Rheinische 
Zeitung. The majority of them, Becker included, were not contributors to the 
paper, except, at the most, for publishing short, usually signed, articles from 
time to time in the local news section (then printed ‘under the line’). You will 
often come across the initials H. B. °°’ there. After the onset of reaction, in the 
autumn of 1848, democracy became more radical and Becker also drew 
closer to us. But he did not work more for the paper then either. 

9) I’ve no knowledge of this at all. **' I was already gone by then, we left 
Cologne in May. 

10) After we had gone, Becker and Heinrich Burgers founded the 
Westdeutsche Zeitung, one might say on the inheritance of the Neue 
Rheinische Zeitung? >” 

11) Ihave no further material on the Communist trial ** concerning 

* Hermann Heinrich Becker -” of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung 

Becker specifically. Becker had joined the Communist League, which was 
set up anew on the Continent at the end of 1849 or the beginning of 1850, 
and sat on the Cologne district authority, which was entrusted with the 
functions of central authority after the split in London. 

12) I know of no attempts to free Becker while he was on remand. If 
anything of the kind was contemplated, certainly good care was taken not to 
mention it in letters to London, for it would hardly have escaped the notice of 
the Prussian postal service. 

For the rest, I regret to be unable to give you any further information. I 
hope you have the latest edition (Zurich 1885) of Marx’s revelations con- 
cerning the Cologne trial,’ with my introduction.” If not, you may obtain a 
copy from the bookshop of Vorwdrts, 2 Beuthstrasse, Berlin; the earlier 
editions are incomplete. 

Incidentally, Becker’s involvement with the League was only an episode 
in his life, caused by the then rampant reaction. With the return of calmer 
times he again became what he had been previously, a bourgeois democrat, 
and, as you will know, went through all the changes undergone by German, 
and particularly Prussian, bourgeois democracy. This attitude stemmed from 
his whole nature, so Iam far removed from seeing any sort of careerism in it; 
on the contrary, if he had tried to remain more radical and carry the 
communist episode on, he would have missed his calling. In this he differed, 
very favourably, from Miquel. 

I hope these notes will be of use to you. 

F. Engels