THE GERMAN REVOLUTION 131
delegates, purported to represent 260 societies in 140 cities, were
Ruge, Otto von Corvin, Gottfried Kinkel, Fritz Anneke, Ludwig
Bamberger, Stephan Born, Nees von Esenbeck, the aged socialist
from Breslau, a professor from Marburg, Dr. Ewerbeck, Weitling,
the shoemaker Haetzel, and Kriege. Weitling acted as the official
representative of a New York group. His following, however, was
almost negligible, a fact which he explained by pointing out that
many of his co-workers already had left in the great migration to
America. His own attitude, as a Utopian revolutionary, made little
impression on a Congress composed so largely of bourgeois ele
ments and agreed on little more than the desire to establish a
united, German Republic. It is interesting to note that although
Weitling had traveled far and wide as a journeyman and a propa
gandist and therefore had firsthand knowledge of the nuisances of
petty boundaries, frontier guards and customs officers, he re
garded the unification of the German states as a mere side issue;
in contrast with Marx and Engels, who favored unification, he
paid little attention to the question. He steadfastly adhered to his
original plan for a truly international movement to liberate all
peoples, regardless of political boundaries.
The Congress met in the "English House" on the Mohren¬
strasse, in a hall decorated with German, Swiss, French, and
American flags. The members addressed each other as "citizen"
and used the familiar "du" Bamberger presided, and Kriege kept
a record of the proceedings. The debates were long and furious,
the accomplishments almost nil. Kriege was accused by the ex
tremists of coquetting with the bourgeoisie and betraying the
proletariat, and he replied sharply that he was beginning to find
the latter quite unreliable. Near the close of the sessions, Weitling
made an address bemoaning the extreme factionalism of the Con
gress, a condition which his own position helped to perpetuate.
He described the proceedings as "much talk and little action." As
a matter of fact, he played a very minor role in this "Congress of
Democrats," and when he suggested equal pay for all, his proposal
was greeted with raucous laughter. When he insisted on proclaim-
barré
(Barré)
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