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Wilhelm Weitling

October 21, 2023

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 to the United States.

Wilhelm Weitling

In addition to his extensive political writing, Weitling was a successful inventor of attachments for commercial sewing machines, including devices for double-stitching and the creation of button holes.

Biography Edit

Early years Edit

Wilhelm Christian Weitling was born in Magdeburg, Prussia, the son of Christiane Weitling and Guilliaume Terijon. Weitling's father was a young French officer who was billeted in occupied Prussia, who met and fell in love with Weitling's mother, a household maid.[1] His parents never married, with his father dying in the ill-fated 1812 French invasion of Russia.[2]

Weitling was raised in dire poverty, frequently in the care of others while his mother eked out a meager living as a maid and cook.[2] His formal education was minimal, limited to elementary study in the public school of Magdeburg and such reading as he was able to do on his own at the local library.[3] He was raised as a Roman Catholic through the age of 12, and read the Bible attentively, retaining an ability to quote scripture throughout his life.[3] In keeping with the dual nationality of his birth, Weitling was bilingual in French and German, learning English as well as the basics of Italian later in his life.[3]

Weitling was apprenticed to a tailor at an early age, living with his master and learning the skill of tailoring garments for women and men thoroughly.[4] He became a journeyman at the age of 18, leaving his hometown to travel across the German states in search of employment.[5] He landed in the city of Leipzig in 1830, where he began to take an interest in politics and to try his hand at the writing of satirical poetry.[6] He made his way to Dresden in the fall of 1832 and from there to Vienna in 1834, where he worked fabricating artificial flowers and decorations for women's clothing.[7]

In the fall of 1837 Weitling emigrated to Paris, a city which he had briefly visited two years before.[8] He would remain there for four years,[8] becoming deeply involved in the radical political ideas of the day, in particular the writings of Fourier, Owen and Cabet.

Political activity Edit

After joining the League of the Just in 1837, Weitling joined Parisian workers in protests and street battles in 1839. Tristram Hunt called his doctrine "a highly emotional mix of Babouvist communism, chiliastic Christianity, and millenarian populism":

In conformity with the work of the Christian radical Felicité de Lamennais, Weitling urged installing communism by physical force with the help of a 40,000-strong army of ex-convicts. A prelapsarian community of goods, fellowship, and societal harmony would then ensue, directed by Weitling himself. While Marx and Engels struggled with the intricacies of industrial capitalism and modern modes of production, Weitling revived the apocalyptic politics of the sixteenth-century Münster Anabaptists and their gory attempts to usher in the Second Coming. Much to Marx and Engels's annoyance, Weitling's giddy blend of evangelism and protocommunism attracted thousands of dedicated disciples across the Continent.[9]

In 1838, he published his first work, Die Menschheit, wie sie ist und wie sie sein sollte (The human race as it is, and as it should be), which was translated into Hungarian and other languages.

In 1841, after the abortive rebellion of the Blanquists, he went to Switzerland, visiting Geneva, Vevey and Langenthal in the Canton of Berne, and finally settling in Zurich in 1843. At all these places, he promoted the doctrines of communism with his preaching and publications, including the 1842 work Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit (Guarantees of harmony and freedom).

Weitling's work Das Evangelium eines armen Sünders (The Poor Sinner's Gospel) came out in 1845, but by this time the attention of the Swiss authorities had been attracted. He was arrested and prosecuted for revolutionary agitation, including blasphemy on account of having published a text which depicted Jesus Christ as both a communist and the illegitimate child of Mary. Found guilty, he was given a six-month sentence.[10]

On his release, he was deported back to Prussia. He resided for a time in Hamburg, but then left on a journey which took him to London, Treves, Brussels and New York City.

In Weitling's 1847 book Gospel of Poor Sinners, he traced communism back to early Christianity.[11][12]

Upon the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848 in Germany, Weitling returned to Germany, preaching his communism to little effect. When the revolutions failed in 1849, he returned to New York thus becoming one of the Forty-Eighters.[13]

His book Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom was praised by Bruno Bauer, Ludwig Feuerbach and Mikhail Bakunin, the latter of whom Weitling was to meet in Zürich in 1843.[14] Karl Marx, in an article from 1844, referred to Weitling's work as the "vehement and brilliant literary debut of the German workers,"[15] Although John Spargo suggested that "what won from Marx this high-sounding praise was simply the fact that Weitling's appeals were addressed to the workers as a class",[16] Marx himself emphasized Weitling's theoretical and philosophical "brilliance," which compared favorably to the more "economically" inclined English workers and the more practical "politically" oriented French workers.[17]

American years Edit

Weitling continued his activism on behalf of communism in the United States. In January 1850, he began the publication of a monthly journal, Die Republik der Arbeiter. By the end of the year, it had a circulation of 4,000. Toward the end of his life he turned from activism to technological and astronomical studies. For seven years, he was register at Castle Garden. He received nine patents for improvements to sewing machines, among which were double stitch, button hole and embroidery attachments. He received a patent for a dress-trimming crimper which he had worked on for 17 years, and on his death left several unfinished machines.[18]

He participated with the experimental German-American settlement of Communia, Iowa. Weitling died in New York City. A widow and six children survived him.[18]

Works Edit

  • Die Menschheit, wie sie ist und wie sie sein sollte (1838/39) German text online
  • Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom (Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit; 1842)
  • The Poor Sinner's Gospel (Das Evangelium eines armen Sünders; 1845)
  • Ein Nothruf an die Männer der Arbeit und der Sorge, Brief an die Landsleute (1847)

See also Edit

Footnotes Edit

  1. ^ Carl Wittke, The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling, Nineteenth-Century Reformer. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1950; pg. 3.
  2. ^ a b Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pg. 4.
  3. ^ a b c Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pg. 5.
  4. ^ Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pg. 6.
  5. ^ Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pp. 7-8.
  6. ^ Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pg. 8.
  7. ^ Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pp. 8-9.
  8. ^ a b Wittke, The Utopian Communist, pg. 11.
  9. ^ Hunt, Marx's General, pp. 131-32.
  10. ^ Wilson, Edmund (2003). "Marx and Engels Take a Hand at Making History". To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History. New York Review of Books. p. 164.
  11. ^ Frederick Engels: On The History of the Communist League, Nov 12-26, 1885 in Sozialdemokrat
  12. ^ Antonio Labriola, Socialism and Philosophy, VII, Rome, June 16, 1897.
  13. ^ Morris Hillquit, History of Socialism in the United States. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1906; pg. 163.
  14. ^ Leier, 106.
  15. ^ Marx, "Crutical Marginal Notes on the Article "The King of Prussia and Social Reform," in The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed., ed. Robert C. Tucker (New York: Norton, 1978), p. 129.
  16. ^ John Spargo, Karl Marx: His Life and Work. B. W. Huebsch, 1910; p. 89.
  17. ^ Marx, "Crutical Marginal Notes," p. 129.
  18. ^ a b "Wilhelm Weitling: An Inventor of Prominence — A Remarkable Career," New York Times, Jan. 27, 1871.

Further reading Edit

  • Frederick Converse Clark, "A Neglected Socialist," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 5 (March 1895), pp. 66–87.
  • Anton Jansson, "Building or destroying community: The concept of Sittlichkeit in the political thought of Vormärz Germany." Global Intellectual History 5.1 (2020): 86–103. online. Argues Weitling rejected this Hegelian idea as oppressive and said socialists must work to destroy it.
  • Anton Jansson, "'The Pure Teachings of Jesus': On the Christian Language of Wilhelm Weitling’s Communism." Praktyka Teoretyczna vol. 29, no. 3 (2018): 30–48. online.
  • Bruce Levine, The Spirit of 1848: German Immigrants, Labor Conflict, and the Coming of the Civil War. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
  • Hans Mühlestein, "Marx and the Utopian Wilhelm Weitling," Science & Society, vol. 12, no. 1 (Winter 1948), pp. 113–129.
  • Daniel Nagel, Von republikanischen Deutschen zu deutsch-amerikanischen Republikanern. Ein Beitrag zum Identitätswandel der deutschen Achtundvierziger in den Vereinigten Staaten 1850–1861. St. Ingbert, 2012.
  • Waltraud Seidel-Höppner, Wilhelm Weitling, 1808–1871: Eine politische Biographie. In two volumes. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang, 2014.
  • Waltraud Seidel-Höppner, Wilhelm Weitling. Leben und Politisches Wirken. Leipzig, Germany: Rosa-Luxembourg-Verein, 1993.
  • Carl Wittke, The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling, Nineteenth-Century Reformer. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1950.

External links Edit

  • Wilhelm Weitling at Marxist Internet Archive
  • Guide to the Wilhelm Weitling papers held at the New York Public Library

October 21, 2023
wilhelm, weitling, help, expand, this, article, with, text, translated, from, corresponding, article, german, january, 2022, click, show, important, translation, instructions, view, machine, translated, version, german, article, machine, translation, like, dee. You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German January 2022 Click show for important translation instructions View a machine translated version of the German article Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the English Wikipedia Consider adding a topic to this template there are already 8 913 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality If possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is 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language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at it Wilhelm Weitling see its history for attribution You should also add the template Translated it Wilhelm Weitling to the talk page For more guidance see Wikipedia Translation 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 to the United States Wilhelm WeitlingIn addition to his extensive political writing Weitling was a successful inventor of attachments for commercial sewing machines including devices for double stitching and the creation of button holes Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early years 1 2 Political activity 1 3 American years 2 Works 3 See also 4 Footnotes 5 Further reading 6 External linksBiography EditEarly years Edit Wilhelm Christian Weitling was born in Magdeburg Prussia the son of Christiane Weitling and Guilliaume Terijon Weitling s father was a young French officer who was billeted in occupied Prussia who met and fell in love with Weitling s mother a household maid 1 His parents never married with his father dying in the ill fated 1812 French invasion of Russia 2 Weitling was raised in dire poverty frequently in the care of others while his mother eked out a meager living as a maid and cook 2 His formal education was minimal limited to elementary study in the public school of Magdeburg and such reading as he was able to do on his own at the local library 3 He was raised as a Roman Catholic through the age of 12 and read the Bible attentively retaining an ability to quote scripture throughout his life 3 In keeping with the dual nationality of his birth Weitling was bilingual in French and German learning English as well as the basics of Italian later in his life 3 Weitling was apprenticed to a tailor at an early age living with his master and learning the skill of tailoring garments for women and men thoroughly 4 He became a journeyman at the age of 18 leaving his hometown to travel across the German states in search of employment 5 He landed in the city of Leipzig in 1830 where he began to take an interest in politics and to try his hand at the writing of satirical poetry 6 He made his way to Dresden in the fall of 1832 and from there to Vienna in 1834 where he worked fabricating artificial flowers and decorations for women s clothing 7 In the fall of 1837 Weitling emigrated to Paris a city which he had briefly visited two years before 8 He would remain there for four years 8 becoming deeply involved in the radical political ideas of the day in particular the writings of Fourier Owen and Cabet Political activity Edit After joining the League of the Just in 1837 Weitling joined Parisian workers in protests and street battles in 1839 Tristram Hunt called his doctrine a highly emotional mix of Babouvist communism chiliastic Christianity and millenarian populism In conformity with the work of the Christian radical Felicite de Lamennais Weitling urged installing communism by physical force with the help of a 40 000 strong army of ex convicts A prelapsarian community of goods fellowship and societal harmony would then ensue directed by Weitling himself While Marx and Engels struggled with the intricacies of industrial capitalism and modern modes of production Weitling revived the apocalyptic politics of the sixteenth century Munster Anabaptists and their gory attempts to usher in the Second Coming Much to Marx and Engels s annoyance Weitling s giddy blend of evangelism and protocommunism attracted thousands of dedicated disciples across the Continent 9 In 1838 he published his first work Die Menschheit wie sie ist und wie sie sein sollte The human race as it is and as it should be which was translated into Hungarian and other languages In 1841 after the abortive rebellion of the Blanquists he went to Switzerland visiting Geneva Vevey and Langenthal in the Canton of Berne and finally settling in Zurich in 1843 At all these places he promoted the doctrines of communism with his preaching and publications including the 1842 work Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit Guarantees of harmony and freedom Weitling s work Das Evangelium eines armen Sunders The Poor Sinner s Gospel came out in 1845 but by this time the attention of the Swiss authorities had been attracted He was arrested and prosecuted for revolutionary agitation including blasphemy on account of having published a text which depicted Jesus Christ as both a communist and the illegitimate child of Mary Found guilty he was given a six month sentence 10 On his release he was deported back to Prussia He resided for a time in Hamburg but then left on a journey which took him to London Treves Brussels and New York City In Weitling s 1847 book Gospel of Poor Sinners he traced communism back to early Christianity 11 12 Upon the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848 in Germany Weitling returned to Germany preaching his communism to little effect When the revolutions failed in 1849 he returned to New York thus becoming one of the Forty Eighters 13 His book Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom was praised by Bruno Bauer Ludwig Feuerbach and Mikhail Bakunin the latter of whom Weitling was to meet in Zurich in 1843 14 Karl Marx in an article from 1844 referred to Weitling s work as the vehement and brilliant literary debut of the German workers 15 Although John Spargo suggested that what won from Marx this high sounding praise was simply the fact that Weitling s appeals were addressed to the workers as a class 16 Marx himself emphasized Weitling s theoretical and philosophical brilliance which compared favorably to the more economically inclined English workers and the more practical politically oriented French workers 17 American years Edit Weitling continued his activism on behalf of communism in the United States In January 1850 he began the publication of a monthly journal Die Republik der Arbeiter By the end of the year it had a circulation of 4 000 Toward the end of his life he turned from activism to technological and astronomical studies For seven years he was register at Castle Garden He received nine patents for improvements to sewing machines among which were double stitch button hole and embroidery attachments He received a patent for a dress trimming crimper which he had worked on for 17 years and on his death left several unfinished machines 18 He participated with the experimental German American settlement of Communia Iowa Weitling died in New York City A widow and six children survived him 18 Works EditDie Menschheit wie sie ist und wie sie sein sollte 1838 39 German text online Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit 1842 The Poor Sinner s Gospel Das Evangelium eines armen Sunders 1845 Ein Nothruf an die Manner der Arbeit und der Sorge Brief an die Landsleute 1847 See also EditLeague of the JustFootnotes Edit Carl Wittke The Utopian Communist A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling Nineteenth Century Reformer Baton Rouge LA Louisiana State University Press 1950 pg 3 a b Wittke The Utopian Communist pg 4 a b c Wittke The Utopian Communist pg 5 Wittke The Utopian Communist pg 6 Wittke The Utopian Communist pp 7 8 Wittke The Utopian Communist pg 8 Wittke The Utopian Communist pp 8 9 a b Wittke The Utopian Communist pg 11 Hunt Marx s General pp 131 32 Wilson Edmund 2003 Marx and Engels Take a Hand at Making History To the Finland Station A Study in the Writing and Acting of History New York Review of Books p 164 Frederick Engels On The History of the Communist League Nov 12 26 1885 in Sozialdemokrat Antonio Labriola Socialism and Philosophy VII Rome June 16 1897 Morris Hillquit History of Socialism in the United States New York Funk amp Wagnalls 1906 pg 163 Leier 106 Marx Crutical Marginal Notes on the Article The King of Prussia and Social Reform in The Marx Engels Reader 2nd ed ed Robert C Tucker New York Norton 1978 p 129 John Spargo Karl Marx His Life and Work B W Huebsch 1910 p 89 Marx Crutical Marginal Notes p 129 a b Wilhelm Weitling An Inventor of Prominence A Remarkable Career New York Times Jan 27 1871 Further reading EditFrederick Converse Clark A Neglected Socialist Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science vol 5 March 1895 pp 66 87 Anton Jansson Building or destroying community The concept of Sittlichkeit in the political thought of Vormarz Germany Global Intellectual History 5 1 2020 86 103 online Argues Weitling rejected this Hegelian idea as oppressive and said socialists must work to destroy it Anton Jansson The Pure Teachings of Jesus On the Christian Language of Wilhelm Weitling s Communism Praktyka Teoretyczna vol 29 no 3 2018 30 48 online Bruce Levine The Spirit of 1848 German Immigrants Labor Conflict and the Coming of the Civil War Urbana IL University of Illinois Press 1992 Hans Muhlestein Marx and the Utopian Wilhelm Weitling Science amp Society vol 12 no 1 Winter 1948 pp 113 129 Daniel Nagel Von republikanischen Deutschen zu deutsch amerikanischen Republikanern Ein Beitrag zum Identitatswandel der deutschen Achtundvierziger in den Vereinigten Staaten 1850 1861 St Ingbert 2012 Waltraud Seidel Hoppner Wilhelm Weitling 1808 1871 Eine politische Biographie In two volumes Frankfurt am Main Germany Peter Lang 2014 Waltraud Seidel Hoppner Wilhelm Weitling Leben und Politisches Wirken Leipzig Germany Rosa Luxembourg Verein 1993 Carl Wittke The Utopian Communist A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling Nineteenth Century Reformer Baton Rouge LA Louisiana State University Press 1950 External links EditWilhelm Weitling at Marxist Internet Archive Guide to the Wilhelm Weitling papers held at the New York Public Library Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wilhelm Weitling amp oldid 1170776383, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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