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 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 ...

Early life

Joseph Maximilian Moll was born in Cologne on October 14, 1813. He was born into a poor working-class family and was apprenticed as a watchmaker. After his apprenticeship Moll travelled widely across Europe in search of work, as was customary for tradesmen at the time. On these travels he made contact with a number of German workers' associations, which exposed him to radical political and economic ideas.

Young Germany

In 1834 he joined the secret society 'Young Germany' in Switzerland. Modelled on Mazzini's '

Young Italy Young Italy ( it, La Giovine Italia) was an Italian political movement founded in 1831 by Giuseppe Mazzini. After a few months of leaving Italy, in June 1831, Mazzini wrote a letter to King Charles Albert of Sardinia, in which he asked him to uni ...

', it advocated a similar mixture of democratic democracy, nationalism and social reform. His friendship with the labour organiser and revolutionary

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 ...

dated from that period. In 1836, Moll was expelled from Switzerland and went to Paris, where he joined 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 ...

', then under the influence of the utopian communist

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 ...

. Schapper was also a member.

The League of the Just

In 1839, the League participated in an insurrection carried out by the 'Society of the Seasons', led by

Armand Barbès Armand Barbès (18 September 1809 – 26 June 1870) was a French Republican revolutionary and an opponent of the July monarchy (1830–1848). He is remembered as a man whose life centers on two days: * ''12 May 1839'', the day of the uprising ...

and

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 ...

. The insurrection was suppressed and Moll escaped to Britain. In 1840 he was one of the founders of the German Workers' Educational Association in London. In 1846 he became a member of the Central Committee of the League of the Just (which had been relocated to London). Under the influence of

, who replaced Weitling as the ideological leader of the group, the League was re-organised as the ' Communist League'. Moll was again elected to its Central Committee.

Revolution and death

When the

Revolution of 1848 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 ...

broke out in Europe, Moll returned to Germany. He went to Cologne, where he became president of the Workers' Association and helped propagate Marxist ideas among its members. In September 1848 he was implicated in an uprising; to escape arrest, he fled to London, but later returned illegally to Germany. In May 1848, he participated in the democratic revolution in Baden and took an active part in the fighting. On June 28, 1849, he was killed in Rotenfels, near Murg.

Significance

Moll was an important figure in the early German labour movement, playing a role in organising several workers' associations. He was an early associate of

and a figure in the transition from the early artisan communism of

and the insurrectionary tactics of

and Marxism. A street in Berlin (''Mollstraße'') is named after him.

Sources

*Beloussowa, N., 'Joseph Moll'. In: ''Marx und Engels und die ersten proletarischen Revolutionäre.'' Berlin 1965, pp. 42–75. *Becker, G., 'Joseph Moll. Mitglied der Zentralbehörde des Bundes der Kommunisten und Präsident des Kölner Arbeitervereins.' In: Bleiber, H., ''et al.'' (ed's), ''Männer der Revolution von 1848.'' Vol. 2. Berlin 1987 pp. 53–84. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moll, Joseph German socialists German revolutionaries 1813 births 1849 deaths