CRUCIBLE OF REVOLUTION 25
Die Menschheit was Weitling's first attempt to integrate the
workers' movement in its broader aspects with the new program
of communism, or socialism, interchangeable terms at the time.
Heinrich Heine called the little book "the catechism of the Ger
man communists," and Sebastian Seiler, a fellow communist, hailed
its author as "the new king of the tailors," who, "a la Münzer,"
would become the "founder of a modern sect of Anabaptists."^23
Both statements were exaggerations, but the first fruit of Weit
ling's literary labors nevertheless was a significant contribution to
the literature of pre-Marxian communism. The book was written
before its author had read Fourier, though it may be assumed that
his long discussions with workers and friends in Paris had made
him familiar with the general outlines of Fourier's plan for the
reorganization of society. Though Lamennais is cited in Die
Menschheit but once, his influence was greater than that fact
would indicate.
Weitling's little book belongs in the Christian communist tradi
tion. It reveals that its author was by nature deeply religious, what
ever his violent altercations with priests and churches may suggest
to the contrary. Weitling's communism was firmly grounded in
definite moral precepts. It called for absolute equality among hu
man beings and for a return to that happiness of which men have
been deprived by the exercise of political and economic power for
selfish ends. It was a vigorous protest against the existing state of
society which profited through the support of an organized priest
hood.
The remedy for such abuses obviously was revolution, thor
ough and complete, not partial or compromising. The break with
the past must be so complete that the new age proclaimed by the
new Messiah might begin.^24 Replete with Bible quotations, Die
Menschheit advocated the reform of Christianity itself and a re
turn to the original characteristics of its primitive stage, when men
(^23) Hermann Buddensieg, Die Kultur des deutschen Proletariats im Zeitalter
des Frühkapitalismus und ihre Bedeutung fur die Kulturidee des Sozialismus
(Lauenburg, 1923), 13; Seiler, Der Schriftsteller Weitling, 11.
(^24) Joho, Wilhelm Weitling, 33,