Communist League

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See Communist League (disambiguation) for other groups of the same name.

The Communist League was the first Marxist international organisation. It was originally founded as the League of the Just by German workers in Paris in 1836. This was initially a utopian socialist and Christian communist grouping following the ideas of Gracchus Babeuf. It grew into an international organisation, which Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Johann Eccarius later joined.

The motto of the League of the Just was "All Men are Brothers" and its goals were "the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, based on the ideals of love of one's neighbour, equality and justice".

The League held a conference in London in June 1847 which Friedrich Engels attended. He convinced the League to change its motto to Karl Marx's phrase, Working Men of All Countries, Unite!. At the same conference, the organisation was renamed the Communist League and was significantly restructured. The conference itself was counted as the first congress of the new League.

The Communist League held a second congress, also in London, in November and December 1847. Both Marx and Engels attended, and they were mandated to draw up a manifesto for the organisation. This became The Communist Manifesto.

The League was not able to function effectively during the 1848 revolution, despite temporarily abandoning its clandestine nature. The Workers' Brotherhood was established in Germany by members of the League, and became the most significant revolutionary organisation there. During the revolution Marx edited the radical journal the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Engels fought in the Baden campaign against the Prussians (June and July 1849) as the aide-de-camp of August Willich.

The Communist League reassembled in late 1849, and by 1850 they were publishing the Neue Rheinische Zeitung Revue journal, but by the end of the year, publication had ceased amid disputes between the leading members of the group. In 1852, the organisation was formally wound up.