52
Since the history of German socialism and the labour movement was written
by literateurs and journalists who often had occasion to write articles for the press, or
to be members of correspondence or press bureaus, they concluded that the
"Correspondence Committees/index.htm" were nothing else than ordinary
correspondence bureaus. It appeared to them that Marx and Engels established a
correspondence bureau in Brussels from which they sent out printed circulars and
correspondence. Or, as Mehring wrote in his work on Marx:
"Not having had their own organ, Marx and his friends strove to fill the
gap as much as was possible by resorting to printed or multigraphed circular
letters. At the same time they endeavoured to secure themselves with
permanent correspondents from those large centres where communists lived.
Such correspondence bureaus existed in Brussels and London. A similar
bureau was to be established in Paris. Marx wrote to Proudhon asking for his
co-operation."
Yet it is sufficient to read Proudhon's reply a bit more attentively to see that he
talks of something wholly different from the usual correspondence bureau. And if we
recall that this letter to Marx belongs to the summer of 1846, then we must conclude
that long before Marx received the invitation from the London delegation to enter the
already defunct League of the Just, there existed in London, in Brussels and in Paris,
organisations the initiative for which emanated no doubt from Marx.
Thus toward the second half of 1846 there was a well-organised central
correspondence committee in Brussels where all the reports were sent. It was made
up of a considerable number of members, some of whom were workers. There was
also the Paris committee, organised by Engels and carrying on very active work
among the German artisans. Then there was the London committee headed by
Schapper, Bauer, and that same Moll who half a year later came to Brussels
presumably to urge Marx to become a member of the League of the Just. But as is
shown in a letter dated January 20, 1847, this Moll came representing not the League
of the Just, but the Communist Correspondence Committee, and he came personally
to report on the state of affairs in the London society.
We must conclude then that the story, about the forming of the Communist
League, which was started by Engels and which still travels from book to book, is
nothing but a legend.
53
Marx's organisation work has been almost completely overlooked by the
investigators; he has been transformed into a cloistered thinker. One of the most
interesting sides of his personality has been neglected. Were we to fail to realise the
important role which Marx -- and not Engels -- played during the second half of the
forties as the director and inspirer of all the preparatory work, we would not
understand the tremendous part he subsequently performed as organiser in 1848-49
and during the period of the First International.
After Moll's visit to Brussels, probably, when Marx became convinced that
most of the Londoners had freed themselves from Weitling's influence, the
convocation of a congress at London was decided upon on the initiative of the
Brussels committee. Pre-convention discussions and conflicts between various
tendencies began. It was worst of all in Paris, where Engels worked. When one reads
his letters, one is convinced that Engels was a capable politician. It appeared, for
instance, to Engels that he won a victory, of which he solemnly informs the Brussels
committee, not only because he succeeded in persuading the vacillating ones but also
because he "put it over" on some, and "bamboozled" others.
In the summer of 1847 the congress convened in London. Marx was not
present. Wilhelm Wolff represented Brussels and Engels the Parisian communists.
There were only a few delegates, but this perturbed no one. They decided to unite in
the Communist League. This was not a reorganisation of the old League of the Just as
Engels, who apparently forgot that he represented the Paris communist committee
which he had himself founded, assures us. A constitution was adopted, the first
paragraph of which clearly and definitely formulated the basic idea of revolutionary
communism.
"The aim of the League is the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the
rule of the proletariat, the abolition of the old bourgeois society
based on class antagonisms, and the establishment of a new
society without either classes or private property."
The constitution was adopted provisionally. It had to be submitted to the
separate committees for discussion and finally adopted at the next convention.
The principle of "democratic centralism" was made the basis of the
organisation. It was incumbent upon the members to avow the communist creed, to
live in accordance with the aims of the League. A definite group of members formed
54
the basic unit of organisation -- the nucleus. This was called a commune. These were
combined into districts with their district committees. The various districts were
united under the control of a special leading district. The leading districts were
responsible to the central committee.
This organisation subsequently became the pattern for all communist
working-class parties in their first stages of development. It, however, had one
peculiarity which vanished later, but which was still to be met with in Germany up to
the beginning of the seventies. The central committee of the Communist League was
not elected by the convention. Its powers, as the chief leading centre, were delegated
to the district committee of any city designated by the convention as the seat of the
central committee. If London was designated, then the organisation of the London
district elected a central committee of at least five members. This secured for it close
contact with a vast national organisation.
It was also decided by the convention to work out a project for a communist
"catechism of faith" which should become the programme of the League. Each
district was to offer its own project at the next convention. It was further resolved
that a popular journal was to be published. It was the first working-class organ that
frankly called itself "communist." It was published half a year before the Communist
Manifesto, but it already had as its slogan "Workers of all countries, unite!"
The publication of this journal never went beyond the trial number. The
articles were written and printed mainly by members of the Communist League who
lived in London. The leading article was in a very popular style. In simple language it
pointed out the peculiarities of the new communist organisation and wherein it
differed from Weitling's and from the French organisations. There was no mention of
the League of the Just. A special article was devoted to the French communist,
Etienne Cabet (1788-1856), the author of the famous utopia, Icaria. In 1847 Cabet
started a lively agitation with the purpose of gathering people who would be willing
to migrate to America and to build on its virgin soil, a communist colony along the
lines described by him in his Icaria. He even made a special trip to London in the
hope of attracting the communists there to his side. The article subjected this plan to
a very thorough criticism; it urged the workers not to abandon Europe, for it was
there that communism would first be established. There was another long article
which had apparently been written by Engels. In conclusion there was a general
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