264 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST
"L.A." (probably the acting editor, Leopold Alberti) which
lauded the administration of the colony and reminded that Weitling had led the colonists out "of the chaos of passion and strife,"
even though he had been forced to observe the tedious processes
of discussion and deliberation; and that it had taken Moses many
years to organize the Israelites for their entry into the promised
land.The forty-acre mill site on the Volga, registered in Weitling's
name, remained the center of the controversy between him and
the colonists. Gradually, it dawned on the disillusioned leader that
perhaps the only reason for his election as administrator was the
desire to ensure a steady flow of funds from the Arbeiterbund to
the colony. On January 6, 1854, Weitling resigned his post. He
was tired of being a mere "automaton,... merely to let others
feel how free and independent they were." He called upon the
disgruntled to appeal their case to the other Gemeinde and he
agreed to abide by the results of a referendum to be taken by mail
on the controversial question: the title to the forty-acre plot. He
also offered to surrender his control of Die Republik der Arbeiter.
At the same time, however, he made it absolutely clear that under
no conditions would he consent to any proposals which would
make the Bund the milch cow of the colony. Rather than consent
to such a betrayal of those who had followed his leadership and
joined his organization, he would return to patching pants and
abandon reform altogether.
Weitling's resignation precipitated a violent controversy. It
was aired primarily in Die Republik der Arbeiter, which published
the opposing points of view fully and without censorship. It also
was aired in a voluminous correspondence between the various
Gemeinde, in which Weitling was pictured as an incompetent
administrator who had abandoned his own principles and violated
the constitution of the Communia Workingmen's League by re
fusing to surrender title to the land in dispute. Attention was called
to a written pledge by the colonists by which they promised never
to ask a penny for their holdings until all outside members of the