Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-27

one may calf II 10. but do not know any
thing about Its present character
How far have socialistic experiments
been conducted In America and how far
have they been successfulf'
socialistic Experiments.
collective ownership and operation by
q part OF the means of production has been
tried many times in America, with vary
Ing degrees OF success. The Owenite move
ment Of 1888 resulted la eleven colonies.
and the Fourierite movement Of 1sa2-4s re-
few colonies before these. and there have
been several since. A number of them were
highly successful commercially but for one
reason or another they ultimately dis
banded. A book, American Communities.
by William a. Kinds. will give you the de-
tails
Socialists do not regard the success or
failure OF these communities as directly
bearing on the validity OF their arguments
FOR cooperative commonwealth. Even
had every community been totally and dis
gracefully unsuccessful. the lesson would
be no more convincing than that regarding
republics before the American republic
was founded. About 33 per cent of all busi-
ness men fail during generation. An
other 80. or perhaps 80 per cent. merely
drag along: but no conservative would adj
init these facts to be decisive as condem-
nation OF the system OF privately owned
~
these communities failed because "a they
owned only a part of the means Of produc-
tion-having to buy their machinery from
outside and having to meet the competition
instance. or (2l for the reason that
their members were not trained in
collective life-does not matter much
as light upon the question OF
the ultimate coming of universal co-opera-
ton We predict ultimate cooperation just
as republican of one hundred and fifty
years ago would have predicted the ulti-
mate triumph of democracy. What we pre-
dict VIII come by necessity by reason OF
the Inevitable breakdown of the existing
regime. An absolute monarchy could not
maintain itself under the changing condi-
tons of production and social organization
II mad TO extend political power, first to the
rising middle class, and then to the work
Ing class. This has been true in every
European nation In which capitalism has
been developed-England. France, Italy,
Germany. Belgium. Holland-and now Aus
trfa and Russia are to follow. For like
reasons though not exactly Identical rea-
sons. capitalism. must give way to cooper
alton. 1t cannot maintain itself except at
the cost of increasing Unemployment and
pr1vation. That the working classes cannot
defense to terminate. The movement grows
everywhere-in Japan as in Germany in
Australia as well as in England and Amer
lea, and Its ultimate triumph cannot be long
delayed
The cooperative movements of Eng
land and Belgium, by the way which are
Tar nearer socialism than were any of the
American communities, have been excep-
tionally successful. The Ruskin colony was
first established at Ruskin. Tenn, about
forty miles due west of Nashville. It was
afterward moved to a point in northern
Georgia, and a couple of years later dis
banded. Something of its history from a
socialistic standpoint may be found in a
book entitled The Last Days of the Rus
kin Cooperative Association