WEITLING, WILHELM CHRISTIAN. - Propagandist, communist organizer, forerunner of communism in Germany, b. in Magdeburg on 8 Oct. 1807 and d. in New York on 25 Jan. 1871.
A tailor, poet, lively and fanatical publicist, he became a communist in Paris, reading Babeuf and the utopian socialists: Fourier and Cabet. Appointed foreign agent by the Parisian League of Communists, he was in Geneva in 1840 and then in Lausanne, Zurich and Bern. Here he wrote the Gospel of the Poor Sinner (Bern 1842), for which he was condemned and expelled. He traveled in Russia, England, Belgium and Holland for the purpose of organizing centers of communism: finally also to New York. However, the Revolution of 1848 found him in Berlin. Forced to flee, he returned to America where he founded the newspaper The Democratic Union and attempted a communist colonization in Wisconsin. Having returned to Europe, he made Hamburg the seat of communist propaganda and founded a League for Freedom. Threatened, he fled to London and in 1851 was for the third time in New York, where he published his Republic of the Workers for three years.
Scarcely educated, he was a theorist of new ideas, conceived quite simplistically: the State was bound to provide what was necessary to each member of the community, this member being, on the other hand, obliged to work six hours a day. Enlightenment, social revolution, anarchy influenced his mentality in equal measure and confusedly, inspiring his actions.
Bibliography3 worksW. Jung, Der kommunist. Agitator W. W., Würzburg 1926; K. Mieleke, Deutsch. Frühsozialismus, Stuttgart 1931; F. Müller, v. v. in Staatsarchi
BIBL.: W. Jung, Der kommunist. Agitator W. W., Würzburg 1926; K. Mieleke, Deutsch. Frühsozialismus, Stuttgart 1931; F. Müller, v. v. in Staatsarchiv, V (1932), coll. 1149-52.
Baronci, Mario. “Weitling, wilhelm christian.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, coll. 1664–1665. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/weitling-wilhelm-christian.
MLA
Baronci, Mario. “Weitling, wilhelm christian.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, coll. 1664–1665. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/weitling-wilhelm-christian.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec12_weitling_wilhelm_christian,
author = {Baronci, Mario},
title = {Weitling, wilhelm christian},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XII},
pages = {1664--1665},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1954},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/weitling-wilhelm-christian}
}
One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.
Click or scroll to zoom · drag to pan · Esc to close
