112 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNISTIn the hands of an inflexible theorist, it was developed into one of
the greatest orthodoxies of the modern world.^10 Engels was quite
ready to admit this derivation of Marxian socialism, and he ex
pressed great pride in its ancestry.^11 According to "scientific com
munism" a la Marx and Engels, the economic structure of society
was decisive for all social institutions, moral, legal, political and
religious; and even "moral theories" were the product of "the
economic stage which society has reached" at a particular time.
In short, even morality and religion were determined by the
processes of production and the exchange of goods.
In view of the ideological conflicts, the break between Weitling
and Marx was inevitable. It represented the clash between a master
of economics, scientific abstractions, and Hegelian dialectics, and
a simple-minded prophet of the brotherhood of man who had no
other formula for world betterment. It marked the collision be
tween a champion of the class struggle determined by scientific
economic laws, and a new Messiah who had faith in a kingdom of
love and science. Marx discoursed on scientific concepts and con
crete doctrine; Weitling dismissed such cold "closet analysis with
contempt." "I see nothing in Marx's head except a good encyclo
pedist, but no genius," he once wrote to Hess.^12 Strangely enough,
Marx always managed to avoid direct contact with the proletariat
about whom he wrote so feelingly. Weitling was no such closet
philosopher; he knew the hardships of the worker from personal
experience. Moreover, he was ten years older than his competitor
for leadership of the communist movement.
When the break came, Weitling undoubtedly was irascible and
violent in argument, but Marx was notorious for his arrogance
and intolerance. He never could brook opposition to, or the slight
est deviation from, the gospel which he had evolved and pro
claimed; and he had an overwhelming urge to dominate. Carl
Schurz spoke of his "offensive, insufferable arrogance." Karl
(^10) Mehring, Deutsche Sozialdemokratie, 3.
(^11) F. Engels, Die Entwickelung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissen¬
schaft (Zurich, 1882).
(^12) Quoted in Joho, Wilhelm Weitling, 112.