Two Hundred Years of American CommunesTransaction Publishers, 1987 M01 1 - 516 pages The United States is the only modern nation in which communes have continuously existed for the past two hundred years. This definitive history of communes in America examines the major factors that have supported the existence and growth of communes throughout American history. The most impressive survey of the communal experience since the works of Noyes and Nordhoff, it is informed by a deep respect for the human subjects and organizational forms of American communes. The findings in the analytical chapters are of considerably theoretical import beyond the historical narrative. Oved details the founding, growth, development, and sometimes failure of alternative societies from 1735 to 1939: Icaria, Ephrata, Oneida, Shaker, religious, secular, and socialist communes. Extensive reference material cited will assure this work a special place in the archives of the literature on communes. |
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... only a short while . A lot may be learned from these experiments in collective living and also from the reasons for their disintegra- tion . Equipped with this material I set out to tell the Xiv Two Hundred Years of American Communes.
... tion based on cooperation and harmony . It quickly took root in American cir- cles , mainly among those who had suffered during the recession and intellec- tuals who were overtaken by the spiritual unrest of their generation ...
... tion of helping to solve the unemployment problem by establishing colonies in the western states . They also hoped that the commune would serve as a base for their political struggle . Their ideals attracted a strong following from ...
... tion , they had to endure their voluntary celibacy , mortification , and harsh dis- cipline combined with the autocratic leadership of Peter Sluyter . Under those circumstances it seems a miracle that Bohemia Manor survived for almost ...
... tion tower , from which they could follow the movement of the heavenly bod- ies that would announce the millennium . A vegetable and herb garden surrounded the house . The commune chose the name Woman in the Wilderness because of their ...
Contents
3 | |
19 | |
The Shakers American Religious Communes | 39 |
Religious Immigrant Communes | 69 |
Robert Owen and the First Socialist Communes | 109 |
Fourierist Communitarian Settlements | 129 |
Oneida Commune with Complex Marriage | 167 |
Icaria The Socialist Immigrant Communes | 193 |
Sunrise and Anarchist Communities | 311 |
The Hutterites A Bridge between Past and Present | 333 |
A COLLECTIVE PROFILE IN A COMPARATIVE APPROACH | 367 |
Ideological Principles | 369 |
Social Activity and Management | 379 |
Education Culture and Rituals | 393 |
The Family and Womens Status in the Communes | 411 |
Economic Assets and Liabilities | 427 |
Victor Considerant and the Fourierists at La Reunion | 215 |
New Odessa A Jewish Commune of the Am Olam Group | 223 |
The Kaweah Cooperative Colony in California | 233 |
Ruskin The Communitarian Settlement in Tennessee | 247 |
Communitarian Settlements and Socialist Parties in Washington State | 257 |
The Christian Commonwealth in Georgia | 275 |
Llano de Rio A Socialist Commune in California and Louisiana | 285 |
Dualistic Relationships with the Outside World | 447 |
Dissolution of the Communes Options or Inevitability? | 467 |
Epilogue | 481 |
Appendix | 485 |
Index of Names | 495 |
Index of Communes | 499 |