The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling

CHAPTER V

V. A Martyr's Crown

I

N Das junge Deutschland in der Schweiz, his volume on Young

Germany in Switzerland, Wilhelm Marr, who knew Weitling

in Zurich and was thoroughly familiar with the political cross­

currents that engulfed the Swiss cantons in the 1840's, made the

observations that communism was a manifestation of the futility

of the will; that communists lacked faith in themselves and in each

other; and that their doctrine had become "a social theology"

which "has its own sacred books, its prophets, its Messiahs and its

heaven." There was much truth in Marr's conclusions, for sects

actually were developing within communism itself. Before long,

each had its special Messiah, and, though the various groups pro­

fessed to agree in their major objective, they fought furiously

when it came to putting their theories into practice.

Weitling felt the urge to publish a confession which would

make clear to himself, his friends, and his enemies just where he

stood in this matter of communist theory and practice, and, spe­

cifically, how he related religion to the new gospel. Friends and

foes demanded clarification on this point. His friend Becker re­

ferred to him as "a communist without and in spite of the Bible"

but tried to show that Weitling nevertheless wanted to "prove that

one could be a communist with and according to the Bible."

Becker contended that an honest and sincere communist neverthe­

less could take the position that those who were loath to abandon

their old religious faith would find nothing in the Gospels, if

properly interpreted, to refute the social and economic theories