122 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST
Weitling issued new appeals to his countrymen in Germany,
and printed a pamphlet entitled Ein Nothruf an die Manner der
Arbeit und Sorge ("A Cry of Distress to the Men of Labor and
Sorrow"), which he distributed personally upon his return to Ger
many. His most important activity during this first brief sojourn
in the United States, was the launching of a new League of De
liverance, or Emancipation, the Befreiungsbund. He made a tour
of the country as far as New Orleans, on behalf of the Bund,
which he apparently regarded as the successor of the League of
the Just, and he claimed to have established lodges in New York,
Newark, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, and as far inland as New
Braunfels, Texas.
Shortly after news of the German Revolution of 1848 reached
the United States, Weitling called a meeting of the German work
ers in Philadelphia for April 29, 1848. His call indicates that he
regarded the events in the German states as a revolution for the
"social emancipation" of the workers and not merely a struggle
for a change in the political forms of the state. An Arbeiterverein
was organized in Philadelphia and a constitution adopted and
officers elected on May 3. Ten days later the new organization
held its first formal meeting.
The constitution of the Philadelphia Arbeiterverein defined its
membership broadly enough to include all who rendered useful
labor, whether manual or intellectual. It demanded that the state
provide full employment and care for the aged and the infirm;
denounced the drones in modern society; and called upon all
Americans, regardless of language or origin, to unite in the cru
sade for a genuine democracy of freedom and equality.
The society met every Saturday evening. It elected officers
twice a year and collected dues of three cents a week. At its meet
ings the membership debated such issues as land reform and na
tional workshops, endorsing the former and rejecting the latter;
denounced the tariff and advocated free trade; and urged the
abolition of inheritances and interest on capital. An auxiliary
organization was created to serve as an employment agency and
barré
(Barré)
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