New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-09-08
Experiments in Communism.

From the Chicago Journal.
A Cincinnati anarchist has been in
terviewed by one of the newspapers Of
that city. In answer to the inquiry
'what do the anarchists want?" this
exponent of the doctrine says they
want all kinds OF monopolies, corpora
tions and private property annihilat.
ed. No man should own anything in
fee simple. The Presidential, judicial
and all legislative Offices should be
abolished. He adds:
When the anarchists come into pow.
er estimates will be made upon the
amount OF goods it will take to fur.
nish the country, and the labor will
be divided accordingly. For instance,
an estimate will be made as to how
many shoes it will take to supply the
demand of all the people in the ma.
ton, and then all the shoemakers will
be put to work to make that many
and no more. There will be no over.
production, and as we have calculated
it the laborlng class will then only be
obliged to toll two hours and a
half per day to supply the nation it's
wants. There will be no sale and prof.
it, each trade will work for the othe,
and exchange equivalents. The pants.
maker will make pants for the shoe.
maker, and the shoemaker will pay
for them with shoes, and so on through
all the trades. Wewant this competi.
tive business system done away with
This man states that there arc at
least 1000 anarchists in Cincinnati,
and that they are anxious for a civil
war to break out to furnish them an
opportunity of fighting for their prin.
ciples. But there is a much easier and
better way than that. Why don't these
1000 half-brained people sell what
they have, throw the proceeds into a
common fund, organize colony, 20
out into the unoccupied land OF the
great west, and proceed to found a
community on the principles which
they advocate? Here is a simple, feas.
ible, practicable method of testing the
value of their theories, without blood.
shed, disturbance or trouble OF any
kind.
There have not been wanting exper.
iments in the line ofsocial communism.
Robert Owen founded such commu.
nifty at New Harmony, Ind, where he
bought 10000 acres of land and
dwellings for l, 900 people at his own
expense. But in four years he was
convinced of the impracticablllty Of
the undertaking, and went back to
England a poorer but wiser man.
The famous Brook Farm experiment
lat Roxbury, Mass, is familiar. It
contained such splendid men as George
Ripley and Nathanial Hawthorne,
and the brilliant Margaret Fuller lived
there for awhile. The dream was OF
simple living. light manual labor and
high moral, spiritual and intellect.
ual enjoyment. But the Brook
Farm people soon got tired Of
it. In" The Blithedale Romance"
Hawthorne gives fascinating pict.
ure of the idyllic but not sin
less life of that remarkable commune
ty, which failed to satisfy him, as it
failed to satisfy all the rest OF its
members. The Brook Farmers were
soon back into the world again-the
old, imperfect, unjust, sinful world,
which. with all it's drawbacks, they
found more endurable than the ideal
perfection OF the community.
Let the anarchists, socialists and
communists try some such expert.
ment on their own account and prove
it's practicability before they plot to
blow up organized society with pow.
der and dynamite. Otherwise they
will doubtless be strung up without
sympathy or mercy. as they deserve