Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/91

 SOCIALISTIC

SOCIALISTIC

inGermany (St. Louis, 1910); Rtan, A Living Wage, its Elhicaland Economic Aspects (New York, 1910); The Catholic Church arid Labour in Catholic Truth Society Pamphlets (London, 1908) ; The Pope and the People (New York, 1909) ; Tdrmann, Le developpe- mnit rfu catholicisme social depuis I'encyclique Rerum Novarum (Paris, 1909); Wright (ed.). Sweated Labour and the Trade Boards Act (London, 1911).

Leslie A. St. L. Toke. W. E. Campbell.

Socialistic Communities. — This title compre- hends tho.sp societie.s which maintain common owner- ship of the means of production and distribution, e. g., land, factories, and stores, and also those which further extend the practice of common ownership to consumable goods, e. g., houses and food. \\'hile the majority of the groups treated in the present article are, strictly speaking, communistic rather than sociaUstic, they are frequently designated by the latter term. The most important of them have already been described under Communism. Below a more nearly complete list is given, together with brief notices of those .societies that have not been discussed in the former articles. At the time of the Protestant Reformation certain socialistic experi- ments were made by several heretical sects, including the Anabaptists, the Libertines, and the Familists; but these sects did not convert their beliefs along this line into practice with sufficient thoroughness or for a sufficient length of time to give their attemjits any considerable value or interest (see Kautsky, "Com- munism in Central Europe at the Time of the Ref- ormation", London, 1897).

The Labadists, a religious sect with communistic features, founded a community in Westphalia, in 1672, under the leadership of Jean de la Badie, an apostate priest. A few years later about one hundred members of the sect established a colony in Northern Maryland, but within half a century both communi- ties ceased to exist.

The Ephrata (Pennsylvania) Community was founded in 17.32, and contained at one time 300 mem- bers, but in 1900 numbered only 17.

The Shakers adopted a socialistic form of or- ganization at Watervliet, New York, in 1776. At their most prosperous period their various societies comprised about .5000 persons; to-day (1911) they do not exceed 1000.

The Harmonists, or Rappists, were established in Penn.sylvania in 180.5. Their maximum membership was 1000; in 1900 they numbered 9. Connected with this society is the Bethel Community, which was founded (18-14) in Missouri by a group which in- cluded some seceders from Harmony. In 1,S55 the Bethel leader. Dr. Keil, organized another community at .Aurora, Oregon. The combined membership of the two settlements never exceeded 1000 persons. Bethel dissolved in 1880 and Aurora in 1881.

The Separatists of Zoar (Ohio) were organized as a socialistic communitj' in 1818, and dissolved in 1898. At one time they had .500 members.

The New Harmony Community, the greatest at- tempt ever made in this form of social organization, was founded in Indiana in 1824 by Robert Owen. Its maximum number of members was 900 and its length of life two years. Eighteen other communi- ties formed by seceders from the New Harmony society were about equally short-lived. Other social- istic settlements that owed their foundation to the teachings of Owen were set up at Yellow Springs, Ohio; Nashoba, Tennessee (composed mostly of negroes); Haverstraw, New York; and Kendal, Oregon. None of them lasted more than two years.

The Hopedale (Ma.ssachusetts) Community w.as organized in 1842 by the Rev. Adin Ballou; it never had more than 175 members, and it came to an end in 1857.

The Brook Farm (Massachusetts) Community was established in 1842 by the Transcendent alist group

of scholars and writers. In 1844 it was converted into a Fourierist phalanx; this, however, was dis- solved in 1846.

Of the Fourieristic phalanges two had a very brief existence in France, and about thirty were organized in the United States between 1840 and 1850. Their aggregate membership was about 4500, and their longevity varied from a few months to twelve years. Aside from the one at Brook Farm, the most note- worthy were: the North American phalanx, founded in 1843 in New Jersey under the direction of Greeley, Brisbane, Channing, and other gifted men, and dis- solved in 1855; the Wisconsin, or Cresco, phalanx, organized in 1844, and dispersed in 1850; and the Sylvania Association of Pennsylvania, which has the distinction of being the earliest Fourieristic experi- ment in the United States, though it lasted only eighteen months.

The Oneida (New York) Community, the mem- bers of which called themselves Perfectionists because they believed that all who followed their way of life could become perfect, became a communistic or- ganization in 1848, and was converted into a joint- stock corporation in 1881. Its largest number of members was 300.

The first Icarian community was set up in Texas in 1848, and the last came to an end in 1895 in Iowa. Their most prosperous settlement, at Nauvoo, num- bered more than 500 souls.

The Amana Community was organized on social- istic lines in 1843 near Buftalo, New York, but moved to Amana, Iowa, in 1845. It is the one communistic settlement that has increased steadily, though not rapidly, in wealth and numbers. Its members rightly attribute this fact to its religious character and motive. The community embraces about 1800 persons.

A unique community is the Woman's Common- wealth, established about 1875 near Belton, Texas, and tr:insf<'rred to Mount Pleasant, D. C, in 1898. It was (>rK:iiiized by women who from motives of re- ligion and conscience had separated themselves from their husbands. As the members number less than thirty and are mostly those who instituted the com- munity more than thirty-tive years ago, the experi- ment cannot last many years longer.

The most important of recently founded com- munities was the Ruskin Co-operative Colony, or- ganized in 1894 in Tennessee by J. A. Wayland, editor of the .socialist paper, "The Coming Nation". While the capital of the community was collectively owned, its products were distributed among the members in the form of wages. Owing to dissen- sions and withdrawals, the colony was reorganized on a new site in 1896, but it also was soon dissolved. About 250 of the colonists moved to Georgia, and set up another community, but this in a few years ceased to exist.

A number of other communities have been formed within recent years, most of which permit private ownershi|i of consumption-goods and private family life. As none of them has become strong either in numbers or in wealth, and as all of them seem des- tined to an early death, they will receive only the briefest mention here. Those worthy of any notice are: The Christian Commonwealth of Georgia, or- ganized in 1896, and dissolved in 1900; the Co- operative Brotherhood, of Burley, Washington; the Straight Edge Indu.strial Settlement, of New York City; the Home Colony in the State of Washington, which has the distinction of being the only anarchist colony; the Mutual Home A.ssociation, located in the same state; the Topolambo Colony in Mexico, which lasted but a few months; and the Fairhope (Alabama) Single-Tax Corporation, which has had a fair measure of success, but which is neither socialistic nor com- munistic in the proper sense,