After his apprenticeship Moll travelled widely across Europe in search of work, as was customary for tradesmen at the time.
On these travels he made contact with a number of German workers' associations, which exposed him to radical political and economic ideas.
Modelled on Mazzini's 'Young Italy', it advocated a similar mixture of democratic democracy, nationalism and social reform.
In 1836, Moll was expelled from Switzerland and went to Paris, where he joined the 'League of the Just', then under the influence of the utopian communist Wilhelm Weitling.
Moll was an important figure in the early German labour movement, playing a role in organising several workers' associations.