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 COMMUNISM

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COMMUNISM

was Robert Owen, a Welshman, who had managed with remarkable success the New Lanark mills in Scot- land. He was the first to introduce the ten-hour day into factories and to refuse to employ very young children and pauper children. He also established the first infant schools in England. He made the village of New Lanark a model of good order, temper- ance, thrift, comfort, and contentment. He was a humanitarian and reformer who did not shrink from large sacrifices on behalf of his theories. Encouraged by the success of his efforts at New Lanark, and be- heving that men were good by nature and needed only the proper environment to become virtuous, strong, intelligent, and contented, he began to dream of a communism that should be world-wide. He would have all persons gathered into villages of between three hundred and two thousand souls, each of whom was to have from one-half to one and one-half acres of land. The dwellings of each village would be arranged in a parallelogram, with common kitchens, eating- houses, and .schools in the centre. Individual prop- erty was to be abolished. Such were the plans that he intended to try for the first time in the community of New Harmony. Before the end of its first year this community had nine hundred souls and thirty thousand acres of land. Before two years had passed dissensions had arisen, two new communities had been formed by seceders, and the original community had been dissolved. Several other communistic settle- ments which owed their existence to the teaching and example of Owen, were established in different States, but none of them outlived New Harmony. Like the latter, they all expressly rejected any religious basis. This seems to have been one of the chief reasons for their early dissolution. Toward the end of his life Owen gave up his materialistic notions, and admitted the supreme importance of spiritual forces in the for- mation of sound character.

The Oneida Community of Oneida, N. Y., was founded in 1848 by J. H. Noyes. Its purpose was primarily religious, "the establishment of the king- dom of God". At one period it had five hundred members. For more than thirty years its members practised not only community of property and of life generally, but also of women, through their so-called "complex marriages". The rearing of children was partly a parental but chiefly a community function. In deference to public sentiment outside, the practice of "complex marriage" was in 1879 discontinued. They then divided themselves into two classes, " the married and the celibate, both legitimate but the last preferred". However, nearly all of them got married within a very short time. In 1881 the community was converted into a joint-stock company, the mem- bers owning individual shares. Financially, the new corporation has been a success, but most of its common- life features disappeared with "complex marriage".

Between 1840 and 1S50 some thirty communities modelled upon the phalanxes of Fourier were established in different parts of the United States. Only one lasted longer than six years, and the great majority disappeared within three years. Their rise was due chiefly to the writings and efforts of an exceptionally able, cultured, and enthusiastic group of writers which included Horace Greeley, Albert Brisbane, George Ripley, Parke Goodwin, William Henry Channing, Charles A. Dana, Nathaniel Haw- thorne, and Elizabeth Peabody. The most notable of these experiments was the one at Brook Farm. Although it took the form of a joint-stock company, paying five per cent interest, it exemplified the prin- ciples of communism in many particulars. The in- dustries were managed by the community and all the members took turns at the various tasks; all received the same wages, all were guaranteed support for them- selves and their dependents, and all enjoyed the same advantages in the matter of food, clothing, and dwell-

ings. For the first two years (1841-43) the life was charming; but the enterprise was not a success finan- cially. In 1844 the organization was converted into a Fourieristic phalanx, which had an unsuccessful existence of a few brief months. Brook Farm failed thus early because it had too many philosophers and too few "hard-fisted toilers".

The Amana Community (Iowa) was begun in 1855 by a band of Germans who called themselves "True Inspirationists", on account of their beHef that the inspiration of the Apostolic age is still vouchsafed to Christians. Their distinctive religious tenets reach back to the Pietists of the seventeenth century, but as an organization they began at Hesse, Germany, in 1714. They came to America to escape religious per- secution, not to practise communism. According to their own testimony, the communistic feature was introduced solely as a means to a better Christian life. The community tolerates marriage but prefers celi- bacy. Those who marry suffer a declme in social standing, and are compelled to wait for some time before they can regain their former position. One of their " Rules for Daily Life ' ' reads thus : " Fly from the society of woman-kind as much as possible, as a very highly dangerous magnet and magical fire." The families live separately, but eat in groups of from thirty-five to fifty. All property belongs to the com- munity. In order the better to achieve their supreme purpose — self-denial and the imitation of Christ — their life is very simple, and barren not only of luxury but of any considerable enjoyment. The Amana Community has for a long time been the largest com- munity in existence, numbering between seventeen and eighteen hundred members. During sixty years the members of this community have lived in peace, comfort, and contentment, having neither lawyers, sheriffs, nor beggars.

None of the other communistic settlements of America presents features worthy of special mention. Of all the experiments made only the Amana Com- munity and the Shakers survive. Societies like the Co-operative Brotherhood and the Equality Com- monwealth of the State of Washington are examples of co-operation, or at most of socialism. Besides, the}' are all very young and very small.

C;eneralization.s Dk.^wn from Communistic Ex- periments. — The history of communistic societies suggests some interesting and important generaliza- tions. First: All but three of the American commu- nities, namely those founded by Robert Owen, the Icarians, and the Fourieristic experiments, and abso- lutely all that enjoyed any measure of success, were organized primarily for religious ends under strong religious infiuences, and were maintained on a basis of definite religious convictions and practices. Many of their founders were looked upon as prophets. The religious bond seems to have been the one force capable of holding them together at critical moments of their history. Mr. Hinds, who is himself a firm believer in communism, admits that there must be unit}' of belief either for or against religion. The im- portance of the spiritual and ascetic elements is further shown by the fact that nearly all the more successful communities either enjoined, or at least preferred, celibacy. If communism needs the ascetic element to this extent it is evidently unsuited for general adoption.

Second: It would seem that where religion and asceticism are not among the primary ends, com- munity of wives as well as of property easily suggests itself to communists as a normal and logical feature of their system. Even Campanella declared that " all private property is acquired and improved for the reason that each one of us by himself has his own home and wife and children"! Speaking of the de- cline of the Oneida Community, Mr. Hinds says: "Tlic first step out of communism was taken when