THE WORKINGMEN'S LEAGUE 197tial to "emancipate the workers from the wage system and the
employer" altogether and to relate all labor politics to that ulti
mate objective. Though his experiences since the publication of
the Garantieen had modified his views in some details, he still re
garded his magnum opus as the platform for a genuine social revo
lution, a new kind of exchange, and the right kind of workers'
associations.
The German Central Committee of the United Trades, of New
York, and its representation in a permanent industrial congress
which presumably spoke for all workers, regardless of nationality,
seemed to Weitling to be at best only a small beginning. It is true
that the movement spread into other cities, and that the New York
Germans at first contributed rather generously to a common treas
ury. Before the end of 1850, Weitling was in correspondence with
persons as far away as Michigan, Kentucky, and Wisconsin who
wrote to seek advice as to the proper kind of labor organization
to be established. In reply, he proposed his Arbeiterbund, with
membership books like those used in Europe; he described a pro
gram which should include old-age pensions, sick benefits, a new
medium of exchange, and a plan of social organization to end the
existing employer-employee relationship. Weitling knew that
months of preparation with local groups and a substantial accumu
lation of dues and contributions would be required to launch such
a program on a national scale. The propaganda tours described
in the preceding chapter were planned to carry his gospel to the
Germans in all parts of the United States, but his inadequate Eng
lish made it impossible for him to make a more general appeal, a
fact which Weitling deeply regretted. He tried in vain to enlist
the formal co-operation of leaders like Brisbane and Cabet, but
the Arbeiterbund, started "officially" in 1852, was almost wholly
his own work.
Meantime, Weitling's Die Republik der Arbeiter published en
couraging accounts of the spread of its founder's principles into
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville and other cities.
Franz Arnold initiated the movement in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and