126 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNISTshoemaker, friends who had been active in the League of the
Just in Paris, started the first workers' organizations in Berlin in
1847 and later were among the defendants in the first commu
nist trial held in the Prussian capital. One of the specific charges
levied against them was that they were avowed disciples of Weitling.^4
The cause of reform found expression in many revolutionary
poems, and among his papers Weitling preserved the manuscript
for five such poetic efforts. It cannot be established whether they
ever were published. One, entitled "Es gilt noch einen Kampf auf
Tod und Leben" (A Battle of Life and Death), was a call to fight
anew the battle against tyranny,
Soll Deutschlands junge Freiheit, kaum erwacht
Wie unser Staub in Nacht versinken modern?...Others, like "Kampfgesang" (Battle Song) and "Hilf dir selbst"
(Help Yourself), were appeals to his fellow countrymen to take
up the sword and to have faith in their own strength. The "Call
to Battle," a stirring, martial rhythm in seven stanzas, called for
an end to all Habsburgers, Hohenzollerns, and Wittelsbachers.
Another poem was a diatribe against the frequently inebriated
King of Prussia who "seeks courage in drink," and the last of the
series told the story of a crippled veteran with "decorations on his
old soldier's coat," playing a hurdy-gurdy and begging for alms.
It included stanzas of violence and fury against the inequalities
that existed between king and pauper.
The philosophical tailor saw no action in the revolution and
smelled no powder. But he worked feverishly with his pen to bring
about the kind of revolution of which he approved. "It is easier,"
he comforted himself when others referred to their military ad
ventures, "to expose one's breast to the rain of bullets in a time of
great excitement than to work for a plan, year in and year out,
undaunted by all kinds of discouragements and all the little blows
of fortune."
(^4) Valentin, Geschichte der deutschen Revolution, I, 85, 280; II, 96-99.