Paris in 1834, split off and formed the new secret
League of the Just. The Parent League, in which only
sleepy-headed elements a la Jakobus Venedey were
left, soon fell asleep altogether: when in 1840 the
police scented out a few sections in Germany, it was
hardly even a shadow of its former self. The new
League, on the contrary, developed comparatively
rapidly. Originally it was a German outlier of the French
worker-communism, reminiscent of Babouvism 128 and
taking shape in Paris at about this time; community of
goods was demanded as the necessary consequence
of “equality”. The aims were those of the Parisian
secret societies of the time: half propaganda
association, half conspiracy, Paris, however, being
always regarded as the central point of revolutionary
action, although the preparation of occasional
putsches in Germany was by no means excluded. But
as Paris remained the decisive battleground, the
League was at that time actually not much more than
the German branch of the French secret societies,
especially the societe des saisons led by Blanqui and
Barbes, with which a close connection was
maintained. The French went into action on May 12,
1839; the sections of the League marched with them
and thus were involved in the common defeat. 129
Among the Germans arrested were Karl Schapper
and Heinrich Bauer; Louis Philippe’s government
contended itself with deporting them after a fairly long
imprisonment. Both went to London. Schapper came
from Weilburg in Nassau and while a student of forestry
at Giessen in 1832 was a member of the conspiracy
organised by Georg Buchner; he took part in the
storming of the Frank fort constable station on April
3, 1833, 130 escaped abroad and in February 1834
joined Mazzini’s march on Savoy. 131 Of gigantic stature,
resolute and energetic, always ready to risk civil
existence and life, he was a model of the professional
revolutionist that played a certain role in the thirties.
In spite of a certain sluggishness of thought, he was
by no means incapable of profound theoretical
understanding, as is proved by his development from
“demagogue” 132 to Communists, and he held then all
the more rigidly to what he had once come to
recognise. Precisely on that account his revolutionary
passion sometimes got the better of his
understanding, but he always afterwards realised his
mistake and openly acknowledged it. He was fully a
man and what he did for the founding of the German
workers’ movement will not be forgotten.
Heinrich Bauer, from Franconia, was a
shoemaker; a lively, alert, witty little fellow, whose little
body, however, also contained much shrewdness and
determination.
Arrived in London, where Schapper, who had
been a compositor in Paris, now tried to earn his living
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as a teacher of languages, they both set to work
gathering up the broken threads and made London
centre of the League. They were joined over here, if
not already earlier in Paris, by Joseph Moll, a
watchmaker from Cologne, a medium-sized Hercules—
how often did Schapper and be victoriously defend
the entrance to a hall against hundreds of onrushing
opponents—a man who was at least the equal of his
two comrades in energy and determination, and
intellectually superior to both of them. Not only was
he a born diplomat, as the success of his numerous
trips on various missions proved; he was also more
capable of theoretical insight. I came to know all three
of them in London in 1843. They were the firsts
revolutionary proletarians whom I met, and however
far apart our views were at that time in details—for I
still owned, as against their narrow-minded
equalitarian communism,* a goodly dose of just as
narrow-minded philosophical arrogance—I shall never
forget the deep impression that these three real men
made upon me, who was then still only wanting to
become a man.
In London, as in lesser degree in Switzerland, they
had the benefit of freedom of association and
assembly. As early as February 7, 1840, the legally
functioning German Workers’ Educational Association,
which still exists, was founded. 133 The Association
served the League as a recruiting ground for new
members, and since, as always, the Communists were
the most active and intelligent members of the
Association, it was a matter of course that its
leadership lay entirely in the hands of the League.
The League soon had several communities, or, as
they were then still called, “lodges,” in London. The
same obvious tactics were followed in Switzerland and
elsewhere. Where workers’ associations could be
founded, they were utilised in like manner. Where this
was forbidden by law, one joined choral societies,
athletic clubs, and the like. Connections were to a
large extent maintained by members who were
continually travelling back and forth; they also, when
required, served as emissaries. In both respects the
League obtained lively support through the wisdom
of the governments which, by resorting to deportation,
converted any objectionable worker—and in nine
cases out of ten he was member of the League—into
an emissary.
The extent to which the restored League spread
was considerable. Notably in Switzerland, weitling,
August Becker(a highly gifted man who, however, like
so many Germans, came to grief because of innate
instability of character) and others created a strong
organisation more or less pledged to Weitling’s
communist system. This is not the place to criticise
the communism of Weitling. But as regards its
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