WEITLING'S "SYSTEM" 57emotions, or in many other ways, and in this disparity among indi
viduals he discovered both the source of trouble and the cause of
progress. It was to ensure the balanced and equitable use of these
powers that he advocated communism.
Weitling knew that without the economic emancipation of
mankind, political action would fall far short of achieving the
ends he had in mind. A free press, for example, he considered an
impossibility as long as people were not free and editors were
hirelings of the wage system. Universal suffrage, though perhaps
desirable, would do little good as long as the rich remained rich
and the poor, poor. Though political action was desirable and a
republic more palatable than a monarchy, Weitling insisted on a
complete social revolution. "The reign of the majority over the
minority is as oppressive as the absolute command of a sovereign,"
he wrote on one occasion. "As republicanism will liquidate the
monarchies, so communism will liquidate the tyranny of majori
ties.... Communism will be as strong and inescapable as the
reign of God, and at the same time, it will perfect democratic self-
government to such a degree that men will be unaware that there
is a government because of the complete harmony that will pre
vail." And finally, because Weitling believed in the rule of science
and knowledge and that "Science must cease to be a privilege,"
he was eager to perfect a system in which those best qualified for
leadership would be in control of the administration of the state.
Weitling had a strange weakness for writing constitutions, and
he wrote many, for a variety of purposes, during his lifetime. In
his "Constitution for the Great Human Family," based on equal
division of labor and equal consumption of goods, the unit of or
ganization was a large one of perhaps a million people, who occu
pied a very sizable area. This union of families, known as the
Familienordnung, was composed of Familienvereine (family as
sociations) consisting of a thousand family units, governed by an
elected board. Ten of these Familienvereine in turn composed a
province, or Familienkreis, and each Kreis also was governed by
an elected board. Each provincial board selected a representative