Dragaera

OSC on the virtues of writer's block

Talpianna at aol.com Talpianna at aol.com
Thu Dec 4 22:01:58 PST 2003

In a message dated 12/4/2003 5:16:54 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
Chrisf.Olson at Sun.COM writes:
Though, as others have said,
communism, in the world in which we live, is impossible
to bring about.  I suppose it could work in an isolated
society, but then, that is not possible in this world,
either (at least, not if the society is to last).

Chris 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I think the longest-lasting commune in America was the one in Amana, Iowa, 
which survived in communal form for about a century.  There may have been 
longer-lived Shaker communities; but since the Shakers believed in celibacy, for 
most of that time they would have consisted of less than a dozen people.

Brook Farm, the Transcendentalist experiment,  was supposed to be communal, 
but the trouble was in getting the intellectuals to stop talking and actually 
farm.

And of course, as I stressed before, all these were voluntary.  There were a 
lot more in the mid-19th century, usually started by some charismatic prophet 
type, but they all ended in tears and recriminations.

I suppose the closest thing to the original notion of communism would be an 
Israeli kibbutz; but I'm not really well enough informed about them.

                            tal