The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling

WEITLING'S "SYSTEM" 65
Weitling found that solution in what he called Kommerz¬
stunden. In addition to the tasks required of all able-bodied men
and women of the community to satisfy the demand for the prod­
ucts and services that were essential, he argued, an individual
should be given the opportunity to work voluntarily at some job
of his choice, beyond his regularly assigned duties. By such addi­
tional work, he could accumulate credit for extra hours of work
and service, and these extra hours would be recorded in a Kom¬
merzbuch specifically designed for the purpose. Such labor credit
then could be exchanged for the products produced by others in
a similar manner. Because Kommerzstunden also could be earned
by extra labor in the Industrial Army, Weitling made them avail­
able even to the most untrained and inexperienced members of
the community.
Like some distinguished economists, Weitling clearly adhered
to the "time theory" of value. He believed it was the universal
measure for determining the value of labor, whether manual or
machine; and he proposed to exchange labor for labor, eliminat­
ing the middleman and the banker from the economic system.
Value was to be estimated according to the amount of labor ex­
pended in the production of all items; and goods were to be ex­
changed through a Tauschsystem (a method of exchange) by
which money would be eliminated, or, perhaps it would be better
to say, one form of currency would be exchanged for another.
Specie would be melted down and used to produce tangible, useful
goods, and the Kommerzbuch would perform the functions once
performed by money.
Weitling realized, of course, that such utilization of the extra
time of private individuals to satisfy their individual whims and
desires, and the exchange of their extra products for those simi­
larly created by others, would have to be controlled in the interest
of the community as a whole. Production and consumption would
have to be kept in balance and an adequate labor supply assured
for the performance of the necessary services in the community
and the production of the essential products. The solution for that