Communist League

The first working-class political party in the world based on the theory of scientific socialism. It was reorganized from the League of the Just at its first congress, June 2–9, 1847, in London.

The Second Congress of the Communist League was held in London from 29 November to 8 December 1847. Marx and Engels and communists from Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Britain and Switzerland attended this congress. Marx and Engels, entrusted by the congress, drafted the programme of the League, as The Communist Manifesto. The congress deliberated and approved this draft programme drawn up by the First Congress, which clearly stipulated that the purpose of the League was to overthrow the bourgeoisie, establish proletarian rule, eliminate the old bourgeois society based on class antagonisms and establish a new society without classes and private property. The League upheld the organizational principles of democracy, and the members of the circle authority and of the Central Authority are elected for one year, can be re-elected and recalled by their electors at any time. The League’s battle-cry was “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” The members of the League actively participated in the 1848 Revolutions in Europe.

By the end of 1850, the League’s activities in Germany had as a matter of fact ceased owing to police persecution and the arrest of many of its members. Following the Cologne Communist Trial plotted by the reactionary Prussian government, the League was dissolved on November 17, 1852, by the proposal of Marx.

The Communist League was the product of the combination of scientific socialism theory and the workers’ movement; it played a great role in widely publicizing scientific socialism and uniting revolutionary workers of all countries.