THE WORKINGMEN'S LEAGUE 211
craftsmen. In October, 1852, the New York Gemeinde dedicated
its Arbeiter Halle at 73 Beekman Street with a program of music,
singing, dancing, and speaking, and the workers' chorus sang a
new song which had been written especially for the occasion and
was sold thereafter as a four-part composition for eight cents a
copy. The hall was used three times a week by women and chil
dren for all kinds of entertainments. F. A. Sorge, one of the most
prominent figures in the early history of the socialist movement
in the United States, worked at the New York hall in the winter
of 1852-53 for $3.00 a week. Weitling himself continued to act
as the man of all work for the Gemeinde, a service for which he
received $6.00 a week and room and board until the final collapse
of the movement.
The New York group supported an excellent singing society,
and its theatrical company presented a play each Sunday. Sunday
afternoons were reserved for the admission of new members;
Monday evening was dedicated to singing and dancing; and for the
rest of the week, the hall was available as a social room for reading,
smoking, and drinking beer. Lectures and debates were arranged
only rarely. In April, 1853, the ladies' auxiliary presented the men
with a new mural decoration representing a beehive embroidered
on a red background, with the inscription "Heil dem Arbeiter¬
bund," and on that festive occasion, a lad of seven recited Weitling's poem "Ich bin ein kleiner Kommunist."St. Louis, Philadelphia, Detroit, and New Orleans had similar
halls and staged many celebrations. In Philadelphia, the picture of
"our master Weitling" hung on the wall alongside the insignia of
the Bund. The group owned a good piano and maintained a gro
cery in the basement of the building. Its facilities were available
for dances, weddings, and singing societies five nights each week.
In New Orleans, the workers' hall was decorated with a red ban
ner and on the wall were inscriptions with Weitling's name in the
middle, the German word Tauschbank to the right, and "Emanci
pation of the Worker," in English, on the left.
Weitling believed that his little band made up in quality what