The League of the Just (German: ''Bund der Gerechten'') or League of Justice was a

Christian communist Christian communism is a theological view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support religious communism. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in Christianity beg ...

international revolutionary organization. It was founded in 1836 by branching off from its ancestor, the League of Outlaws (German: ''Bund der Geächteten''), which had formed in Paris in 1834. The League of the Just was largely composed of German emigrant

artisans An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, s ...

. In 1847, the League of the Just merged with 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 politically and ...

(German: ''Kommunistisches Korrespondenzkomitee''), an organization led by

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"
'' Communist League The Communist League (German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and the ...

. The new group tasked Marx and Engels with writing a political platform for itself. The resulting document was ''

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 ...

''.

History

Jacob Venedey and Theodore Schuster founded the League of Outlaws in

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. S ...

in 1834. They modeled the organization closely after

Philippe Buonarroti :''See also Filippo Buonarroti (1661–1733).'' Filippo Giuseppe Maria Ludovico Buonarroti, more usually referred to under the French version Philippe Buonarroti (11 November 1761 – 16 September 1837), was an Italian utopian socialist, wri ...

's vision of the "Universal Democratic

Carbonari The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...

" as an egalitarian international revolutionary fellowship organization, perhaps the first of its kind. Its members were German emigrants. Schuster's 1834 pamphlet, ''Confession of faith of an outlaw'' has been suggested as the first vision of marginalized people joining together in a coming

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 ...

. At its peak, the League of Outlaws had about 100 members in Paris and 80 in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. At this time, Schuster focused his efforts on advocating for the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with ad ...

and organized middle-class republicans into the League of Germans. As Schuster's and other key members' attention was focused on this work, the working class members of the Outlaws rallied around the leadership of

Wilhelm Weitling Wilhelm Christian Weitling (October 5, 1808 – January 25, 1871) was a German tailor, inventor, radical political activist and one of the first theorists of communism. Weitling gained fame in Europe as a social theorist before he emigrated t ...

. This group formed the League of the Just in Paris in 1836 as an offshoot from the League of Outlaws. The Outlaws dissipated in 1838 as their members prioritized other associations. Members of the League of the Just were German

journeymen A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

, primarily

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

s and

woodworker Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

s. Their stated goal was "the establishment of the

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" b ...

on Earth, based on the ideals of love of one's neighbor,

equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elite ...

and

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

".G.N. Volkov et al., ''The Basics of Marxist-Leninist Theory.'' Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1979. This was also referred to by the League as the "new Jerusalem". The motto of the League of the Just was "All men are brothers". They have been described as followers of

François-Noël Babeuf François-Noël Babeuf (; 23 November 1760 – 27 May 1797), also known as Gracchus Babeuf, was a French proto-communist, revolutionary, and journalist of the French Revolutionary period. His newspaper ''Le tribun du peuple'' (''The Tribune of ...

and as "

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...

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, a s ...

". They were anticipating a social revolution, which one of their leaders, Karl Schapper, described as "the great

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

day of the people." Friedrich Engels wrote dismissively of the League as essentially similar to other French

secret societies 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 a ...

except that it was German. The latter league had a pyramidal structure inspired by the

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 a ...

of the Republican ''

'', and shared ideas with Saint-Simon and

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (;; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in ...

's utopian socialism. Their goal was to establish a "Social Republic" in the German states which would campaign for "freedom", "equality" and "civic virtue".

was the most prominent leader in the movement. Weitling proclaimed himself a "social

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

" and denounced

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

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

as a source of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...

. Other significant leaders included

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. Youn ...

Bruno Bauer Bruno Bauer (; 6 September 180913 April 1882) was a German philosopher and theologian. As a student of G. W. F. Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalism, Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism. Bauer investigated the sources of ...

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 ...

, August Hermann Ewerbeck, and Johann Hoeckerig. Many members of the League of the Just were involved in the 12 May 1839 Blanquist revolt.Bernard Moss
"Marx and the Permanent Revolution in France: Background to the Communist Manifesto,"
in ''The Communist Manifesto Today: The Socialist Register, 1998.'' New York: Monthly Review Press; pg.10. This led to the group being expelled by the French government. They proceeded to move to London. In 1840 in London they established a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

called the Educational Society of German Workingmen. They continued to grow, until reaching a peak membership of over 1,000 people. In 1845 there was significant public debate within the League between Weitling, who advocated for an immediate uprising of workers, and

, who considered this premature, especially after his experience in the 1839 uprising. Schapper advocated for a longer campaign of

popular education Popular education is a concept grounded in notions of class, political struggle, and social transformation. The term is a translation from the Spanish educación popular or the Portuguese educação popular and rather than the English usage a ...

to prepare the masses for revolution. Karl Marx was hesitant about joining the League due to political disagreements, but was convinced by Joseph Moll that he could be more influential debating as a member from within the organization when Moll visited

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 ...

in January 1847. In June 1847, the League of the Just merged with the

to form the

Communist League The Communist League (German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and the ...

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

History

See also

Citations

References

Further reading