ionary ideas were hurtling in
the air. The causes of the ruin that overcame this magnificent beginning
of a revolutionary working-class movement cannot be dwelt upon here.
Quarrels between the leaders, the incoherence of their policies, and
divisions over the use of violence utterly wrecked a movement that
anticipated by thirty years the social democracy of Germany. The tragic
fiasco in 1848 was the beginning of an appalling working-class reaction
from years of popular excesses and mob intoxications, from which the
wiser leadership of the German movement was careful to steer clear. And,
after '48, solemn and serious men settled down to the quiet building of
trade unions and cooeperatives. Revolutionary ideas were put aside, and
everywhere in England the responsible men of the movement were pleading
with the masses to confine themselves to the practical work of education
and organization.

Although Germany was far behind England in industrial development and,
consequently, also in working-class organization, the beginnings of a
labor and socialist movement were discernible. A brief but delightful
description of the early communist societies is given by Engels in his
introduction to the _Revelations sur le Proces des Communistes_. As
early as 1836 there were secret societies in Germany discussing
socialist ideas. The "League of the Just" became later the "League of
the Righteous," and that eventually developed into the "Communist
League." The membership cards read, "All men are brothers." Karl
Schapper, Heinrich Bauer, and Joseph Moll, all workingmen, were among
those who made an imposing impression upon Engels. Even more notable was
Weitling, a tailor, who traveled all over Germany preaching a mixture of
Christian communism and French utopian socialism. He was a
simple-hearted missionary, delivering his evangel. "The World As It Is
and As It Might Be" was the moving title of one of his books that
attracted to him not only many followers among the workers, but also
notable men from other classes. Most of the communists were of course
always under suspicion, and many of them were forced out of their own
countries. As a result, a large number of foreigners--Scandinavians,
Dutch, Hungarians, Germans, and Italians--found themselves in Paris and
in London, and astonished each other by the similarity of their views.
All Europe in this period was discussing very much the same things, and
not only the more intelligent among the w