League of the Just

“Bund der Gerechten”. A secret revolutionary group of German workers and craftsmen who were exiled in France between 1836–1838. Its predecessor was the “League of the Outlaws”, established in 1834. Its major leaders included Schuster, Shapper, Bauer, Moll and Weitling among others.

The organization advocated to establish a new society of community of property through the conspirative activities by a handful of heroes. The views of the members of the League reflected the semi-artisan nature of the German proletariat at that time, and was influenced by Weitling’s crude egalitarian communism, and later by “true socialism” and Proudhon’s petty-bourgeois socialism. With the assistance of Marx and Engels, the League of the Just gradually accepted the theory of scientific socialism. The League declared: We are convinced of the correctness of the theory of scientific socialism put forward by Marx and Engels and agree to adopt this theory as the guiding principle of the League.

Under the direct leadership of Marx and Engels, the League of the Just held a reorganization conference in London from June 2 to 9, 1847, renamed itself as the Communist League, and formulated a new constitution, using the new slogan “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” proposed by Marx and Engels, instead of the old slogan “All men are brothers”.