The Communist League (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

established on 1 June 1847 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The organisation was formed through the merger of the

League of the Just The League of the Just (German: ''Bund der Gerechten'') or League of Justice was a Christian communist international revolutionary organization. It was founded in 1836 by branching off from its ancestor, the League of Outlaws (German: ''Bund der ...

, headed by

Karl Schapper Karl Friedrich Schapper (December 30, 1812, Weinbach – April 28, 1870, London) was a German socialist and labour leader. He was one of the pioneers of the labour movement in Germany and an early associate of Wilhelm Weitling and Karl Marx. You ...

, and the

Communist Correspondence Committee The Communist Correspondence Committee (German: Kommunistisches Korrespondenz-Komitee) was an association of communists founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels with committees in Brussels, London, Cologne and Paris with the aim of politicall ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, in which

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

political party and it was on behalf of this group that Marx and Engels wrote the ''

Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...

'' late in 1847. The Communist League was formally disbanded in November 1852, following the

Cologne Communist Trial The Cologne Communist Trial took place in 1852 in Cologne, Germany, and was conducted by the Prussian government against eleven members of the Communist League The Communist League ( German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international polit ...

Organisational history

Background

During the decade of the 1840s the word "

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

" came into general use to describe those who supposedly hailed from the left wing of the

Jacobin Club , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = P ...

of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

.David Fernbach, "Introduction" to Karl Marx, ''The Revolutions of 1848.'' New York: Random House, 1973; pg. 23. This political tendency saw itself as

egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...

inheritors of the 1795

Conspiracy of Equals The Conspiracy of the Equals (french: Conjuration des Égaux) of May 1796 was a failed coup d'Etat during the French Revolution. It was led by François-Noël Babeuf, who wanted to overthrow the Directory and replace it with an egalitarian and p ...

headed by

Gracchus Babeuf The Gracchi brothers were two Roman brothers, sons of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who was consul in 177 BC. Tiberius, the elder brother, was tribune of the plebs in 133 BC and Gaius, the younger brother, was tribune a decade later in ...

. The ''

sans-culottes The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . T ...

'' of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

which had decades earlier been the base of support for Babeuf — artisans, journeymen, and the urban unemployed — was seen as a potential foundation for a new social system based upon the modern machine production of the day.Fernbach, "Introduction" to ''The Revolutions of 1848,'' pg. 24. The French thinker

Étienne Cabet Étienne Cabet (; January 1, 1788 – November 9, 1856) was a French philosopher and utopian socialist who founded the Icarian movement. Cabet became the most popular socialist advocate of his day, with a special appeal to artisans who were bei ...

inspired the imagination with a novel about a utopian society based upon communal machine production, '' Voyage en Icarie'' (1839). The

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

ary

Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism. Biography Early life, political activity and first imprisonment (1805–1848) Bl ...

argued in favor of an elite organising the overwhelming majority of the population against the "rich," seizing the government in a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

, and instituting a new egalitarian economic order. One group of

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

in Paris, headed by

, organised themselves in the form of a

secret society A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ...

known as the

''(Bund der Gerechten)'' and participated in a May 1839 rebellion in Paris in an effort to establish a "Social Republic." Following its failure the organisation relocated its centre to London, while also maintaining local organisations in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

and

. Revolution was in the air across many of the monarchies of Europe.

Creation of the Communist League

The year 1846 found Karl Marx and his close friend and co-thinker

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, establishing a small political circle of radical German émigrés called the

and writing for the German-language '' Deutsche Brüsseler Zeitung'' ("Brussels German Newspaper").

Hal Draper Hal Draper (born Harold Dubinsky; September 19, 1914 – January 26, 1990) was an American socialist activist and author who played a significant role in the Berkeley, California, Free Speech Movement. He is known for his extensive scholarship on t ...

, ''The Marx-Engels Chronicle: A Day-by-Day Chronology of Marx and Engels' Life and Activity: Volume 1 of the Marx-Engels Cyclopedia.'' New York:

Schocken Books Schocken Books is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that specializes in Jewish literary works. Originally established in 1931 by Salman Schocken as Schocken Verlag in Berlin, the company later moved to Palestine and then the Uni ...

, 1985; pg. 22. Also important in this early circle was

Wilhelm Wolff Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Wolff, nicknamed "Lupus" (21 June 1809 – 9 May 1864) was a German schoolmaster, political activist and publicist. Life Wolff was born in Tarnau, Kreis Schweidnitz, Silesia (now Tarnawa, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Gm ...

, a talented and radical writer hailing from the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

peasantry A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

who had been forced to emigrate due to his agitation against the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

autocracy Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except per ...

.Franz Mehring, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 135. The Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee had at the same time small counterparts located in London and Paris, composed of a handful of radical German expatriates living there. Relations between these small groups were not close, with petty jealousies and ideological disagreements preventing the participants from functioning as an effective political unit. Be that as it may, in the latter part of January 1847 the disparate parts of the fledgling German Communist movement began to congeal in a single organisational entity when the London center of the League of the Just first broached the idea of organisational unity with the Communist Corresponding Committee. A letter of 20 January 1847 by Schapper requested that Marx join the League in anticipation of a scheduled London congress at which a new set of principles would be adopted based upon the ideas previously expressed by Marx and Engels.Mehring, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 139. Both Marx and Engels were persuaded by the appeal and they both joined the League of the Just shortly thereafter, followed by other members of the Communist Corresponding Committee. In June 1847, the London congress took place and the League of the Just adopted a new charter formally changing the group's name to the Communist League. The Communist League was structured around the formation of primary party units known as "communes," consisting of at least 3 and not more than 10 members. These were in turn to be combined into larger units known as "circles" and "leading circles," governed by a central authority selected at regular congresses. The League's programme called for the overthrow of the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. Th ...

and establishment of the rule of the

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...

and the construction of a new society free both of

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...

and

social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes. Membership in a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, inc ...

es. The initial conference was attended by Engels, who convinced the League to change its motto to

's phrase, ''Working Men of All Countries, Unite!''. At the same conference, the organisation was renamed the ''Communist League'' and was reorganised significantly. In particular, Marx did away with all "superstitious authoritarianism," as he called the rituals pertaining to secret societies.See

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. A life-long Marxist, his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work. ...

, ''Primitive Rebels'', chapter titled "Rituals in Social Movements", p.169 of the 1965 edition by Norton Library The conference itself was counted as the first congress of the new League. The Communist League had a second congress, at

Great Windmill Street Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north–south in Soho, London, crossed by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has had a long association with music and entertainment, most notably the Windmill Theatre, and is now home to the Ripley' ...

, London, in November and December 1847. Both Marx and Engels attended, and they were assigned the task of composing a manifesto for the organisation. This became ''

The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...

''. The League was not able to function effectively during the

1848 revolutions The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

, despite temporarily abandoning its clandestine nature. The Workers' Brotherhood was established in Germany by members of the League, and became the most significant revolutionary organisation there. During the revolution Marx edited the radical journal the ''

Neue Rheinische Zeitung The ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie'' ("New Rhenish Newspaper: Organ of Democracy") was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between 1 June 1848 and 19 May 1849. It is recognised by historians as one of the ...

''. Engels fought in the Baden campaign against the Prussians (June and July 1849) as the aide-de-camp of

August Willich August Willich (November 19, 1810 – January 22, 1878), born Johann August Ernst von Willich, was a military officer in the Prussian Army and a leading early proponent of communism in Germany. In 1847 he discarded his title of nobility. He later ...

. The Communist League reassembled in late 1849, and by 1850 they were publishing the
Neue Rheinische Zeitung Revue
' journal, but by the end of the year, publication had ceased amid disputes between the managers of the group. Willich and Schapper wanted to continue to focus on revolutions, while Marx and Engels wanted to focus on building an international workers' movement. This would divide the league in two. The Willich-Schapper Group would be located in France and become compromised by the Prussian police. In 1850, the German master spy Wilhelm Stieber stole the register of the League's members from Dietz, who was a member of Willich-Schapper group, which he sent to France and several German states. This would help bring about the imprisonment of several members. In November 1852, after the

, the organisation immediately disbanded. The Willich-Schapper Group would disband a few months after.

Notable members

Mathilde Franziska Anneke Mathilde Franziska Anneke (née Giesler; April 3, 1817 – November 25, 1884) was a German writer, feminist, and radical democrat who participated in the Revolutions of 1848–1849. In late 1849, she moved to the United States, where she campaign ...

* Heinrich Bauer * Johann Baer * Hermann Heinrich Becker * Johann Philip Becker *

Adolph Bermbach Adolph Joseph Maria Bermbach (14 December 1822 – 14 March 1875) was a German lawyer and revolutionary who worked in Cologne. Bermbach, a member of the Communist League, was a correspondent of Karl Marx and kept him abreast of anti-communist trials ...

Friedrich Heinrich Karl Bobzin Friedrich Heinrich Karl Bobzin (born 1826) was a German artisan and revolutionary who became a member of the German Workers' Society in Brussels in 1847. He participated in the Baden-Palatinate uprising of 1849. Together with Struve, Bobzin hea ...

* Karl Heinrich Brüggermann *

Karl von Bruhn Johann Karl Balduin von Bruhn (16 March 1803, Herzhorn – 9 August 1877, Altona) was a German journalist and revolutionary. Due to his philosophical beliefs, Bruhn joined the League of Outlaws and the League of the Just The League of the J ...

Heinrich Bürgers Johann Heinrich Georg Bürgers (21 June 1820, Cologne – 10 December 1878, Berlin) was a German journalist and an editor of the ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung'' He became a member of the Communist League and, in 1850, he became a member of the League ...

* Roland Daniels * Oswald Dietz *

Collet Dobson Collet Collet Dobson Collet (31 December 1812 – 28 December 1898) was an English radical freethinker, Chartist and campaigner against newspaper taxation. Background and work Collet was born in London on 31 December 1812, the son of John Dobso ...

Ernst Dronke Ernst Andreas Dominicus Dronke (17 August 1822, Koblenz – 2 November 1891, Liverpool) was a German writer and journalist. Because of his philosophical beliefs, Dronke became a "true socialist". Later he became a member of the Communist League a ...

Johann Eccarius Johann Georg Eccarius (also known as John George Eccarius; 23 August 1818 – 5 March 1889) was a Thuringian tailor and labour activist. Eccarius was a member of the League of the Just and later of the Communist League before becoming General Secre ...

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Karl Ludwig Johann D'Ester Karl Ludwig Johann d'Ester (4 November 1813 – 18 June 1859) was a German physician by vocation and a democrat and socialist by philosophy. Because of his beliefs, d'Ester joined the Cologne chapter of the Communist League. In 1848, he was elect ...

August Herman Ewerbeck August Hermann Ewerbeck (12 November 1816 – 4 November 1860), known by his middle name of Hermann, was a pioneer socialist political activist, writer, and translator. A physician by vocation and a German by birth, Ewerbeck is best remembered as a ...

Ferdinand Freiligrath Ferdinand Freiligrath (17 June 1810 – 18 March 1876) was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement. Life Freiligrath was born in Detmold, Principality of Lippe. His father was a teacher. ...

* August Gebert *

Andreas Gottschalk Andreas Gottschalk (28 February 1815 in Düsseldorf – 8 September 1849) was a German physician. He was a member of the Cologne community Communist League. He was an exponent of the "Left" sectarian tendencies of the German working class movement ...

Karl Theodor Ferdinand Grün Karl Theodor Ferdinand Grün (; 30 September 1817 – 18 February 1887), also known by his alias Ernst von der Haide, was a German journalist, philosopher, political theorist and socialist politician. He played a prominent role in radical poli ...

* Theodor Hagen *

Hermann Wilhelm Haupt Hermann Wilhelm Haupt was born in Germany in 1831. He was a business clerk and became a member of the Communist League. However, he betrayed the other defendants during the Cologne Communist Trial The Cologne Communist Trial took place in 1852 i ...

* Johann Joseph Jansen * Albert Lehmann *

Wilhelm Liebknecht Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist and one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Friedrich Wilhelm German Mauer Friedrich may refer to: Names * Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' * Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other * Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Year ...

Joseph Moll Maximilien Joseph Moll (14 October 1813 – 16 June 1849) was a German labour leader and revolutionary. He was a pioneer of the German labour movement and a figure in early German socialism. Moll was an early associate of Karl Marx. Early life Jose ...

* Peter Nothjung * Karl Pfänder * Jakob Lukas Schabelitz *

* Alexander Schimmelpfennig * Konrad Schramm * Sebastian Seiler *

Georg Weerth Georg Ludwig Weerth (17 February 1822 – 30 July 1856) was a German writer and poet. Weerth's poems celebrated the solidarity of the working class in its fight for liberation from exploitation and oppression. He was a friend and companio ...

* Wilhelm Christian Weitling *

Joseph Weydemeyer Joseph Arnold Weydemeyer (February 2, 1818, Münster – August 26, 1866, St. Louis, Missouri) was a military officer in the Kingdom of Prussia and the United States as well as a journalist, politician and Marxist revolutionary. At first a supp ...

* Edgar von Westphalen *

Ferdinand Wolff Ferdinand Wolff (7 November 1812 – 8 March 1895) was a German journalist by profession and a proletarian revolutionary. He joined the Communist League and became an editor of the ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung'' in 1848 and 1849. He was a close frie ...

Footnotes

External links