THE WORKINGMEN'S LEAGUE 217nationwide controversy over the feasibility of calling another labor
congress. There were many original members, however, who con
tinued to defend the "spotless character" of their leader and to
assure him of their unqualified allegiance.
As matters grew steadily and rapidly worse, Weitling became
more violent and more emotional in his defense against the charges
of dictatorship. He accepted full responsibility for assuming the
office of treasurer of the Bund and announced that he would not
surrender his mandate until and unless the congress proposed for
1855 ordered him to do so. He protested his inability to find re
liable and competent helpers and insisted on obedience from the
disgruntled minority. In a dramatic rejoinder to his critics, full of
metaphors and similes, ranging from the old Napoleonic guard
that never surrendered, to the helmsman standing fast at the wheel
through a roaring storm, Weitling announced that he would re
main firm in the face of adversity. "Our propaganda is going back
ward instead of forward," he wrote in October, 1854; "the mem
bership of the Bund is decreasing instead of increasing. The cir
culation lists of the paper are shrinking and our resources are
drying up.... We shall begin all over again with what is left.
We have our honor, we shall benefit from our experiences and we
shall build for the future." Two months later, he called the new
congress, which never met. In May, 1855, he announced that he
would try to extricate himself from the colonization fiasco so that
he might, like Wallenstein, recruit a new army for the Arbeiter
bund.
After March 1,1854, when he assumed responsibility for the ad
ministration of all funds, Weitling kept the daybook of the Bund.
It continued to show small receipts from individuals from many
states, but the entries were diminishing rapidly and stopped com
pletely in March, 1856. In July of 1856, a few additional con
tributions were recorded, and as late as July, 1857, two loyal mem
bers continued to pay their dues. The same account book con
tained a carefully itemized statement of expenditures including
even such minutiae as five cents for a stamp and a few pennies for a