Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-02-09
THE COMMUNAL LIFE.
ATTEMPTS IN THIS COUNTRY TO Or
CAME COOPERATIVE COLONIES.

America "a Favorite Ground for COM
munistic EndeavorS-The Oneide Conn
munity - The Brook Farm Experiment.
The disbandment of the Zoar COM
munlty in Ohio marks the failure of
the strongest community ever found
ed and the one that seemed most
prosperous. But the Zoar community
has gone the way that all must tread
i'll the course of time.
For eighty-one years the Zoarites
have held together, having religious
bond of union, the founders being u
sect from Wurtemburg, in Germany,
called the Separatisis.
According to Professor Ely's "The
Labor Movement in America, " they
owned several thousand acres of land,
had several manufacturing establish
ments aud property valued at 81, 500, =
600, with membership of 800 souls.
There are so many of these attempts
to put socialism into practice, and for
the most part they are so insignif-
cant and unostentatious that statistics
are difficult to secure. Yet the best
estimates are that two hundred or
more serious attempts of the kind
have been made in America and not
more than half dozen are in exist
ence. For the most part these are
religious communities, that at Rus
kin, Tenn, being the exception.
These religious societies have been
dwindling in membership, the Shak-
ers having decreased in numbers from
5000 in 1S47 to less than 2000 today.
Discussions among the Amana colon
lists IN Iowa seem to be frequent and
its future seems to be uncertain.
There are also the colonies of Ann
helm and Riverside in California and
at Greeley in Colorado, recently
made, that have had an auspicious be-
ginning, though their future is un-
certain, Judging by the experience of
other organizations of the same kind
in the past.
A review of the various expert
ments trat have been made in Ameri-
ca would require a good-sized book.
America has been favorite ground
for such attempts, largely made by
those from the old world, who sought
more freedom and q rel4sf Il Jfn me
hnrdens ONO 90, dioivns OF the cid
world life in a new country. Among
the earliest we're the Labadists IN
Maryland, 1634-1722; Johann Keip Is
colony of "The Woman in the Wilder
ness," in what is now Philadelphia,
1695-17o4; the bunker celibates at
Ephrata in Lancaster county, Penn
sylvania, 1713, aud a community at
Snow Hill, near Harrisburg.
The Shakers in America date from
1774 and maintain their organization
to this day, though their complete
success is questioned and there have
been desertions recently and few con-
verts. The Harmonists, established
in 1887, first settled i'll Pennsylvania,
then went to Indiana, and later to
Economy, Penn, where they remained
until a split in the society few years
ago.
The Oneida, or Perfectionists, es-
tablished by John Humphrey Noyes,
at Oneida, n. Y, in 1881, dissolved,
and now exists only as lointstock
company for managing its wealth. OF
other religious communities that have
not been significant there are scores
such as those at Brockton, n. Y;
Mass; Mountain Cove,
the Oakesites, Aueora, Oregon; Beth
ell, Missouri, and others that are not
of great interest.
Fourierism, or the doctrines of
Fourier, the French socialist, who be-
lieyed that industry should be carried
on by isolated communities, made 4
great impression through the brilliant
writings of its founder. Over thirty
four phalanxes were organized in
America and they have all failed. The
most brilliant was Brook Farm, which
will live in literature as well as his
tory, because its members included
Emerson, Claiming, Cana, Margaret
Fuller, Theodore Parker, William
Curtis and other geniuses scarcely
less well known, who in the enthusi-
asm OF their youth believed they were
about to reform the world. Begin
ming as a cooperative farm, it became
Fourieristic community. The best
brains of New England discussed
philosophy, MIXED cows and hoed po-
tatoes until the members tired of the
life after five years of the monotonous
existence.
A different class are those commu-
mites that have been founded during
the last thirty years. These number
about sixty, and have been for the
most part formed by socialists who
wished to put their theories into prac-
tice on small scale. Lacking the re-
ligious bond, though, they have some
times succeeded for while, in the end
they have failed. The Icaria colony,
one of the largest, founded by the
French and dating back twenty years
before the period in which it is prop
erly discussed, dissolved in 1895.
Founded by CADET to embody the So
cialistic ideals embodied in his "Voy-
age On Icarie, it existed on the Red
River in Texas, thep at Nauvoo, Ill.
then at Corning, La. Their existence
was marked by every sort of trouble