The First Congress of the League, which was called last February 
by the Central Authority (Halle)334 and opened on June 2 here in 
London, has concluded its deliberations. In view of the whole 
position of our League, its sessions could not be public. 

But it is incumbent on us, members of the Congress, to make them 
public for you in retrospect, by at least giving you a survey of our 
proceedings. 

This is all the more our duty as the Central Authority in office up 
to now had to render account to us, and we, therefore, have to tell 
you how far the Congress was satisfied with this rendering of 
account. We must also do so, because we have added an article to the 
new Rules which makes all legislative decisions of the Congress 
subject to the vote of the individual communities’; hence, for this 
part of our decisions at least, there are two reasons why we owe you a 
statement of the grounds for them. 

After checking credentials the previous Halle had first to give the 
Congress an account of its conduct of office and to report on the 
state of the League. The delegates declared themselves completely 
satisfied with the way in which the Halle had looked after the 
interests of the League and had made a start with its reorganisation. 
That point was thereby disposed of. We take the following brief 
summary from the report of the Central Authority and from the 
original letters submitted to the Congress. 

In London our League is strongest. Freedom of speech and of 
association immensely facilitates propaganda and gives opportunities 
to the many able members to use their character and talent for the 
greatest good of the League and the cause. For this purpose the 
League uses the German Workers’ Educational Society, and also 
its branch in Whitechapel. Members of the League also take part in 
the Fraternal Democrats,*** the French communist discussion 
clubs,*?’ etc. 

The previous Paris Halle itself realised in how much better a 
position the London League would be to take over the central 
leadership of the affairs of the League. The security of all documents 
and of members of the Central Authority itself is nowhere else as 
great as here. During its proceedings the Congress had opportunity 
enough to see that the London communities have a sufficient 
number of competent peopie who can be entrusted with the supreme 
executive authority of the League. It therefore decided that the 
Central Authority should remain in London. 

In Paris the League has much declined in recent years.** The 
regional and Halle members have for a long time occupied 
themselves only with quarrels about formalities and alleged breaches 
of the Rules instead of looking after the affairs of the whole League 
or of its Gaus.* In the communities similar time-wasting, superfluous 
and divisive trifles were dealt with. At most they discussed the old 
questions which have been talked over again and again, ever since 
Weithng’s Garantien,> to the point of boredom. In the Paris League 
itself there was no sign of the slightest progress, not the slightest 
concern with the development of the principle, or with the 
movement of the proletariat as it was proceeding in other localities of 
the League, and outside the League. The consequence was that all 
those who were not satisfied with what they were offered inside the 
League looked outside the League for further enlightenment. This 
need for enlightenment was made use of by a literary knight of 
industry and exploiter of workers, the German writer Karl Grün‘This 
individual had sided with communism when he noticed that there 
was money to be made by communist writings. After some time he 
found that it was dangerous to continue to declare himself a 
Communist and found occasion to resign in the new book by 
Proudhon on the economic contradictions: which he himself had 
translated into German. This Grün used the economic statements in 
this otherwise quite insignificant book as the basis of lectures which 

he gave in Paris for League members. These lectures were attended 
by two kinds of people: 1. those who had already enough of 
communism in general; 2. those who hoped perhaps to get from this 
Grtn enlightenment on a number of questions and doubts never 
resolved for them in the community meetings. The latter were fairly 
numerous and consisted of those members of the Paris communities 
who were the most useful and the most capable of development. For 
a. time this Grin succeeded in dazzling even a number of these with 
his phrases and his alleged immense learning. The League was thus 
split. On one side was the party which had exclusively dominated the 
Halle and the region, the party of the Weitlingians; on the other side 
were those who still believed oné could learn something even from 
Grin. These soon saw, however, that Grin expressed definite 
hostility to the Communists and that all his teaching was quite unable 
to replace communism. Heated discussions took place during which 
it became clear that almost all League members remained loyal to 
communism and that only two or three defended this Grün and his 
Proudhonist system. At the same time it was revealed that this same 
Grün had defrauded the workers, as was his wont, by using 30 
francs, the sum collected for the Polish insurgents,? for his private 
purposes, and had also wheedled several hundred francs out of them 
for the printing of a miserable pamphlet about the dissolution of the 
Prussian Provincial Diet.* But enough; the majority of Grün’s former 
listeners stayed away and formed a new party which was mainly 
concerned to develop further the communist principle in all its 
implications and in its connection with social relations. By this split, 
however, the organisation of the League fell to pieces. In the course 
ot the winter the Central Authority sent an emissary who restored 
the organisation as far as possible. But soon the quarrels arose again; 
the three different parties and principles were irreconcilable. The 
party of progress succeeded with the aid of the Weitlingians in 
removing from the League the three or four stubborn Griinians who 
had declared themselves openly against communism. But then, when 
it came to the election of a delegate to the Congress, the two parties 
clashed in the regional meeting. The split became incurable, and in 
order at least to achieve an election, the three communities in which 
the party of progress was most strongly represented resolved to 
separate from the two communities on which the main strength of 
the Weitlingians rested and to elect a congress delegate for 
themselves at a general meeting. This was done. The Weitlingians 

were thereby provisionally removed from the League and the 
number of League members was reduced by one third. After 
examining the reasons advanced by both parties, the Congress 
declared its agreement with the action of the three communities, 
because the Weitlingian party had everywhere held up the League in 
its development; this had also been experienced both in London and 
in Switzerland. The Congress resolved unanimously to remove the 
Paris Weitlingians from the League and to admit the delegate of the 
Paris majority to the Congress. 

Hence, the number of League members in Paris has been greatly 
reduced; but, at the same time, obstructive elements have also been 
removed, and, through the struggle, minds have been quickened to 
renewed activity. A new spirit is making itself felt, and a completely 
new energy. The police persecutions seem more or less to have 
ended; they were in any case not directed against the party which is 
now victorious and from which only one member was expelled, but 
struck Grün’s party almost alone, proof that information of the 
Prussian Government was at the bottom of the whole persecution, as 
will be shown presently. And if the government has dispersed the 
public meetings at the Barriére, this too mainly hits the Grunians 
who made loud speeches there and inveighed against the Commu- 
nists, because here, of course, the Communists could not freely reply 
to them. Hence, the League is in far better shape in Paris now than at 
the time when the Halle resigned. We are less numerous but we are 
united and have capable people there. 

_ In Lyons the League has regular members who seem to be very 
active for the cause. 

In Marseilles we are also established. We have received the 
following letter about the membership there: “The position of the 
Marseilles League is not too good. Encouragement by letters would 
not help much; we shall try to arrange for some of us to go there this 
autumn and to organise the League anew.” 

The League has succeeded in gaining a firm footing in Belgium. 
Brussels has a competent community whose members are Germans 
and Belgians and who have already founded a second community in 
Liége among the Walloon factory workers. In that country the 
prospects for the League are quite encouraging, and we hope that at 
the next congress Belgium will already be represented by several 
delegates. 

In Germany we had several communities in Berlin which this 
spring were suddenly dispersed by the police. League members will 

have seen from the newspapers that a meeting of workers directed 
by League members was cancelled by the police, an enquiry was held, 
and as a result several leading members were arrested. Among the 
arrested was a certain Friedrich Mentel, a tailor born in Potsdam, 
about 27 years old, of medium, stocky build, etc. This man, who had 
formerly been in London and Paris, and in the latter place had 
belonged to Grun’s party and turned out to be a maudlin 
sentimentalist, and had, by the way, in the course of his travels 
got to know the situation in the League pretty accurately, was 
unable to stand up to this little ordeal. This time too it was seen 
that the weak-mindedness and vagueness of such sentimentalists can 
find final satisfaction only in religion. Within a few days this 
Mentel let himself be completely converted by a priest and twice 
during his arrest took part in the farce of Holy Communion. 
A Berlin member writes to us as follows: “...he told in court about the 
communities in Paris, London, Hamburg and Kiel (all of which he 
had visited himself) and gave the addresses to which Herm. Kriege 
sent his Volks-Tribun to Berlin. To somebody else, he said to his 
face: ‘Did I not sell you these books? Did we not go to meetings at 
such and such an address? Are you not a member of the League of 
the Just?’ And when the answer to everything was ‘No’, Mentel 
said: ‘How can you answer for this before God the Almighty and 
All-knowing?’ and other such stupidities.” Fortunately, Mentel’s 
baseness did not succeed in confusing the other accused, so the 
government had no alternative but to let the arrested be acquitted 
for the time being. Clearly, this Mentel’s denunciations are closely 
connected with the persecutions of the German Communists in 
Paris. We can only congratulate ourselves that the Grunian Mentel 
regarded the Grunians themselves as the real leaders of the League 
and denounced them. Thereby the real Communists were in general 
protected from the persecutions. Naturally, the entire Berlin 
circle was disorganised by these events. However, knowing the 
competence of the members there, we are hopeful that the 
reorganisation of the League will soon be effected. 

Hamburg is also organised. But the members there have let 
themselves be somewhat intimidated by these persecutions in Berlin. 
The contacts were not broken for a single moment, however. 

The League is also established in Altona, Bremen, Mainz, Munich, 
Leipzig, Konigsberg, Thorn, Kiel, Magdeburg, Stuttgart, Mannheim 
and Baden-Baden. In Scandinavia it is also already established in 
Stockholm. 

The position of the League in Switzerland is not as satisfactory as 
we might wish. Here the party of the Weitlingians was dominant 

from the beginning. The lack of development in the communities in 
Switzerland was particularly evident, on the one hand in their 
inability to bring the long-standing struggle with the Young 
Germans’ to a conclusion, and on the other hand in their religious 
attitude to the Young Germans and in the fact that they let 
themselves be exploited in the vilest manner by most despicable 
knights of industry, such as, for instance, the solemn Georg 
Kuhlmann of Holstein. As a result of police measures the League 
was so disorganised in Switzerland that the Congress decided to take 
extraordinary measures for its reconstitution. The success and the 
nature of these measures can, of course, only later be made known to 
the communities. 

Concerning America, we must wait for more detailed news from 
the emissary whom the Central Authority has sent there, before a 
precise report can be given of the final shape of the League’s 
conditions there.’ 

From this report and from the League letters produced two things 
emerge: firstly, that when the London Halle took over the 
leadership, the League was indeed in a difficult position, that the 
previous Central Authority’ had not at all attended to the duties 
incumbent on it; that it had utterly neglected to hold the whole 
together, and that in addition to this disorganisation of the League, 
elements of opposition had gradually germinated even in the 
individual communities themselves. In these circumstances, which 
threatened the existence of the League, the London Central 
Authority at once took the necessary measures: sent out emissaries, 
removed individual members who were jeopardising the existence of 
the whole, re-established contacts, called the general congress, and 
prepared the questions to be discussed there. At the same time it 
took steps to draw into the League other elements of the communist 
movement who until then had stood aside from it,**' steps which 
were highly successful. 

After settling these questions the Congress had to make a review of 
the Rules. The result of these deliberations lies before the com- 
munities in the new Rules, all the articles of which were accepted 
unanimously, and which the Congress moves should be finally 
adopted. In justification of the changes made, we make the following 
observations: 

The change of name from League of the Just to Communist 
League was adopted because, firstly, the old name had become 
known to the governments through the infamous treachery of that 
Mentel, and that in itself made.a change advisable. Secondly, and 
chiefly, because the old name had been adopted on a special occasion 
in view of special events*** which no longer have the slightest bearing 
on the present purpose of the League. This name is therefore no 
longer suited to the time and does not in the least express what we 
want. How many there are who want justice, that is, what they call 
justice, without necessarily being Communists! We are not distin- 
guished by wanting justice in general—anyone can claim that for 
himself—but by our attack on the existing social order and on private 
property, by wanting community of property, by being Communists. 
Hence there is only one suitable name for our League, the name 
which says what we really are, and this name we have chosen. In the 
same spirit we have altered the traditional names Gau and Halle, 
which we took over from the political societies and the German 
character of which produced a disturbing impression given the 
nature of our anti-nationalist League which is open to all peoples; 
these names have been replaced by words which really mean what 
they should mean. The introduction of such simple, clear names 
serves also to remove from our propagandist League the con- 
spiratorial character which our enemies are so keen to attach to us. 

The necessity to re-call the Congress, now called for the first time, 
to re-callit regularlyand to transfer to it the entire legislative power of 
the League subject to confirmation by the communities, was 
unanimously recognised without discussion. We hope that in the 
provisions laid down in this respect we have hit on the points which 
mattered and through which the effective work of the Congress is 
ensured in the interest of the whole. 

As to the omission of the headings, which insofar as they contained 
legal provisions are replaced by certain articles of the Rules, and 
insofar as they contained general communist principles are replaced 
by the Communist Credo, this gives the Rules a simpler and more 
uniform shape and has at the same time led to a more precise 
definition of the position of each particular authority 34 

After the Rules had been dealt with, various proposals were 
discussed which had been prepared either by the Central Authority 
or put forward by individual delegates. 

First of all, there was discussion of one delegate’s proposal to calla 
new congress in six months time. The Congress itself felt that, as the 
First Congress, which has been called and had met at a time when the 
organisation of the League was flagging, it had to regard itself above 

all as an organising and constituent assembly. It felt that a new 
congress was needed to deal thoroughly with the most important 
questions before it; since at the same time the new Rules had fixed 
the next congress for the month of August, so that there would be 
barely two months interval, and since it was also impossible to defer 
the Second Congress until August 1848, it was decided to call 
this Second Congress for Monday, November 29 of this year, 
here in London. We did not let ourselves be deterred by the bad 
time of the year any more than by the new costs. The League 
has survived a crisis and must not fight shy of an extraor- 
dinary effort for once.—-The new League Rules contain the 
necessary provisions for the election of delegates and so we hope 
that a large number of circles will send delegates to the Second 
Congress. 

The proposal of the same delegate to set up a special fund for 
emissaries also found general approval.—The point was made that 
our League has at its disposal two kinds of emissaries. Firstly, those 
who are sent out at the expense of the League with special missions 
to certain localities, either to establish the League in areas where it 
does not yet exist, or to organise it again where it is in decline. These 
emissaries must necessarily be under the direct control of the Central 
Authority.— Secondly, workers who are returning to their own 
homes or have to make other journeys. Such workers, often very 
capable men, could be used to the greatest advantage of the League 
for visits to many communities not far from their travel route, if they 
are reimbursed on behalf of the League for the additional expenses 
caused thereby. Such occasional emissaries can, of course, only be 
under the direct control of the circle authority and only in special 
cases be placed under the control of the Central Authority. Hence, 
the Congress decided to instruct the Central Authority to demand 
from every circle authority a certain financial contribution every 
three months and from these contributions to set up a fund for 
sending out emissaries of the first kind. Further, to instruct the circle 
authorities more than previously to use capable members leaving on 
journeys as occasional emissaries in the manner described and to pay 
the additional travelling expenses in advance from their own funds. 
In very special cases the circle authorities can apply to the Central 
Authority for a contribution for this purpose; whether this financial 
application is granted, is, of course, decided by the Central 
Authority. Every emissary is responsible to the authority which has 
supplied him with funds and must report to it. 

All of you will see how necessary it is to organise propaganda 
through emissaries and to subject it to central leadership. We hope 

that our decisions, taken after mature consideration, will meet with 
your approval and that they may be attended by good success for the 
cause. 

The next question was that of the organ of the League; it was 
recognised without discussion how necessary such a publication is. It 
was also readily understood that the paper could appear only in 
London, and that it should not appear more often than weekly and 
not less often than monthly.—Title, motto and format were agreed 
and you will be acquainted with them through the specimen number 
to be published in July. A commission is in existence to act for the 
editorial board pending the journal’s publication; then an editor, 
who also has already been appointed,’ will take over the direction in 
co-operation with the Commission. This considered, the Congress 
came to the question of costs. Firstly, various things are needed to 
complete the printing equipment, in particular an iron press, for 
which the Central Authority was instructed to call for a contribution 
from the circles. But then the costs were calculated. It was found that 
at 2 pence,=4 sous,=2 Silbergroschen,=6 Kreuzers for every 
weekly issue of one sheet the number of subscribers required to 
cover the costs would be greater than we can rely on with certainty at 
present. A monthly paper without an editor would be able to exist 
with fewer subscribers, but would not fulfil the League’s require- 
ments. But whether we would be able to get the number of 
subscribers needed for a weekly paper was, as we have said, too 
uncertain for us to enter into the necessary engagements. We 
therefore resolved as follows: To start with, a specimen number will 
appear in July free of charge. Then the individual communities will 
have to send word through their circles how many members they 
have, for the Congress has decided that at least as long as the journal 
_ is a monthly, every member pays for one copy, but every community 
receives only one, and the remainder are distributed free. League 
members must, moreover, make enquiries regarding the number of 
copies which can with certainty be sold in their area, gather 
subscribers and report on this, too. Then in November, taking 
account of the notices received by the Central Authority, the 
Congress will take further decisions and if possible launch the 
journal before the New Year. In the meantime the London printing 
press will be used to print pamphlets.*** 

Finally, the question of the Communist Credo. The Congress 
realised that the public proclamation 6f the principles of the League 
was a step of the greatest importance; that a credo which in a few 

years, perhaps months, might no longer suit the times and no longer 
correspond to the spirit of the majority, would be as harmful as a 
suitable credo would be useful; that this step had to be considered 
with particular care and must not be taken too hastily. Here, just as 
on the question of the League organ, the Congress became aware 
that it could not act definitively but only in a constituent role, that it 
had to give new food to the re-awakening life in the League by 
discussion on the plan of a credo. Hence, the Congress resolved to 
draft this plan and to submit it to the communities for discussion, so 
that proposals could be formulated for amendments and additions to 
be submitted to the Central Authority. The plan is appended.* We 
recommend it for serious and mature consideration by the 
communities. We have tried on the one hand to refrain from all 
system-making and all barrack-room communism, and on the other 
to avoid the fatuous and vapid sentimentality of the tearful, 
emotional Communists***; we have, on the contrary, tried always to 
keep firm ground under our feet by the constant consideration of 
the social relations which alone have given rise to communism. We 
hope that the Central Authority will receive from you very many 
proposals for additions and amendments, and we will call on you 
again to discuss the subject with particular zest. © 

This, dear Brothers, is the survey, the outcome, of our delibera- 
tions. We would very much have liked to have definitively settled the 
items before us, to have founded the League organ, to have 
proclaimed the communist principles in a credo. But in the interest 
of the League, in the interest of the comm[unist] movement, we had 
to set limits to ourselves here, we had to appeal anew to the majority, 
and to leave it to the second Congress to carry through what we have 
prepared. 

It is now for you, dear Brothers, to prove that you have the cause 
of the League, the cause of communism, at heart. The League has 
emerged victorious from a period of decline. Apathy and laxity 
have been overcome, the hostile elements which had arisen in the 
League itself have been eliminated. New elements have joined it. 
The future of the League is secure. But, dear Brothers, our position 
is not yet such that we can for one moment relax our efforts; all 
wounds are not yet healed, all gaps have not yet been filled, many 
painful effects of the struggle we have gone through can still 
be felt. Therefore the interest of the League, the communist cause, 
still demands of you a short period of the most strenuous activity; 

therefore for a few months you must not even for a moment weary in 
your work. Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary 
effort. A crisis such as our League has gone through, a crisis in which 
we had first to fight the fatigue caused by the heavy pressure of 
German and other police harassments and, even more, caused by the 
hope of an early improvement in social conditions apparently 
receding ever further from fulfilment; a crisis, furthermore, in 
which we not only had to fight the persecutions of our enemies, of 
governments either dominated by or allied to the bourgeoisie against 
us, but in which we found enemies in our midst who had to be fought 
and rendered harmless, with regard only for the threatened position 
of the League, for the menacing disorganisation of the entire 
German-speaking Communist Party, without any consideration of 
persons; Brothers, one does not recover from such a crisis overnight. 
And even if the existence of the League, the strength of the 
organisation, is re-established, there will have to be months of 
unceasing work before we can say: We have done our duty as 
Communists, our duty as League members. 

Brothers! In the firm conviction that you will feel the importance 
of the situation as much as we do; in the firm conviction that you will 
nevertheless be fully equal to these difficult circumstances, we 
confidently appeal to you, to your enthusiasm for the cause of the 
community! We know that the bourgeoisie’s infamous lust for gain 
leaves you hardly a moment to work for the cause; we know that it 
presses down to the lowest limit even the miserable wage it gives you 
for your hard work; we know that just now famine and the slump 
in business weigh on you especially heavily; we know that it 
persecutes you, imprisons you, ruins your health and endangers 
your lives if you find time and money despite all to work for the 
interest of the community; we know all that, and in spite of 
everything we have not hesitated for one moment to appeal to you 
for new financial sacrifices, to call on you to redouble your activity. 
For we ourselves would have to withdraw froin the whole movement, 
blushing and ashamed, if we did not know that the men who elected 
us to decide on the good of the whole, will vigorously and 
unhesitatingly put our resolutions into practice; if we did not know 
that there is no one in our League for whom the interest of the 
Communist Party, the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the victory of 
the community is not his very own, his dearest interest; if we did not 
know that people with sufficient determination to organise a league 
which exposes them to great dangers are also determined and 
steadfast enough to defy these dangers and to make this League 
great and mighty over the whole of Europe; if we did not know, 

finally, that such people are the more courageous, the more active, 
the more enthusiastic, the greater the obstacles they face. 

Brothers! We represent a great, a wonderful cause. We proclaim 
the greatest revolution ever proclaimed in the world, a revolution 
which for its thoroughness and wealth of consequences has no equal 
in world history. We do not know how far it will be granted to us to 
share in the fruits of this revolution. But this we know, that this 
revolution is drawing near in all its might; this we see, that 
everywhere, in France as in Germany, in England as in America, the 
angry masses of the proletariat are in motion and are demanding 
their liberation from the fetters of money rule, from the fetters of 
the bourgeoisie, with a voice that is often still confused but is 
becoming ever louder and clearer. This we see, that the bourgeois 
class is getting ever richer, that the middle classes are being more and 
more ruined and that thus historical development itself strives 
towards a great revolution which will one day burst out, through the 
distress of the people and the wantonness of the rich. Brothers, we 
all hope to live to see that day, and even if last spring we did not get 
the chance to take up arms, as the letter of the Hallé predicted we 
might, do not let that disconcert you! The day is coming, and on the 
day when the masses of the people with their solid ranks scatter the 
mercenaries of the capitalists: on that day it will be revealed what our 
League was and how it worked! And even if we should not live to see 
all the fruits of the great struggle, even if hundreds of us fall under 
the grapeshot of the bourgeoisie, all of us, even the fallen, have lived 
to be in the struggle, and this struggle, this victory alone is worth a life 
of the most strenuous work. 

And so, farewell! 

In the name of the Congress, 

Heide,» The President, 
Secretary Karl Schille 
London, June 9, 1847