The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling

CHAPTER IV

IV. Weitling's "System"

N

o SUBSTANTIAL change occurred in Weitling's prin­

ciples or theories after the publication of the Garan­

tieen, although the later Evangelium des armen Sunders

provided some additional insight into the nature of the particular

kind of communism which he advocated. Though he published

millions of additional words during the remainder of his life, it

can be said that, as far as contributions to the literature of social

revolution are concerned, Weitling became intellectually "unem­

ployed" after the appearance of the Menschheit, the Garantieen,

and the Evangelium. The activities of Marx and Engels had no

effect on Weitling. He remained completely isolated from the

trends that marked the development of so-called modern, scien­

tific socialism.

The main purpose of Weitling's writings was to help mankind

find happiness and contentment, and these he believed were at­

tainable only under a system which guaranteed equality for all.

To produce a balance between the desires that are inherent in all

men, and the capacity to satisfy those desires by mechanical and

intellectual labor, he regarded a communist society as essential;

for it was harmony between desires and capacities that produced

good, and failure to provide that harmony was the cause of all evil.

It followed that production and exchange, or production and con­

sumption, would have to be administered in such a way as to ensure

that desirable balance between desires and capacities. Weitling

recognized that men were not equal in stature, intellectual powers,