128 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST
provements in the conditions of labor, and the establishment of
co-operatives. About forty delegates, representing thirty-five so
cieties drawn largely from northeastern Germany, attended the
sessions of this Congress. Delegates came from Berlin, Hamburg,
Königsberg, Leipzig, Breslau, Munich, Hanover, and other cities,
as well as from the Rhineland and Westphalia.
Weitling appeared at the opening session, armed with a pass
port from Magdeburg. He found Berlin greatly changed. "Every
street corner is plastered with caricatures and signs denouncing
the existing order," he wrote back to America. He reported that
newsboys were distributing radical papers in all the beer halls, and
that speakers' platforms had been erected on many vacant lots. He
visited the taverns and was favorably impressed with the quality
of the political discussions which he heard there, though he also
reported hearing a lot of ranting about democracy.^7
The first general workers' congress convened in Berlin on
August 23. Nees von Esenbeck presided and Stephan Born served
as vice-president. Weitling apparently failed utterly to grasp the
psychology of the congress. Its members were not revolutionists,
and they had no plan to remake the world. Their main objective
was to secure the recognition of their right to organize and to
establish a better scale of wages. Weitling took the position that a
"social parliament" must precede all such demands and advocated
the creation of a "social chamber" to prepare and present a com
plete program of reform to a "political parliament." He urged that
the members of the social chamber be chosen from all existing
classes, by a plan of voting that would ensure representation by
occupations. When the congress voted to create various com
mittees before turning to Weitling's proposal, the latter left,
angry, disappointed, and deeply hurt because his suggestions were
not accepted immediately. The congress itself accomplished noth
ing of lasting importance, though it selected Leipzig as the head
quarters for its central committee; created district committees
and local committees in twenty-two cities; planned a parallel
(^7) See Columbus (Ohio) Der Westbote, September 8, 1848.