In the popular imagination, Karl Marx's name is usually associated with The Communist Manifesto, a political pamphlet in which readers are warned that "a spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of communism." It is sometimes forgotten that Marx returned to the Germanies" shortly after the publication of that political pamphlet and on the eve of liberal revolutions against varieties of authoritarianism. Marx was an active participant in the March Revolution of 1848 and documented its rise and defeat as the editor-in-chief of the Neue Rheinishche Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie. Marx was unequivocal in his support for constitutionalism and the struggle for advancing civil and political rights across the German territories. Even as the liberal bourgeoisie ultimately sought a compromise with the Prussian Crown and the forces of restoration, Marx was adamant that a constitutional revolution could furnish the German working class with weapons for achieving political power and help to lay the foundation for a more emancipatory polity.
