COMMUNISM
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COMMUNISM
whose theories received their final shape in his "Nou-
veau Christianisme" (1825), did not demand common
ownership of all property. Hence he is looked upon
as the first socialist rather than as a communist. He
was the first to emphasize the division of modern
society into employers and workingmen, and the first
to advocate a reconstruction of the industrial and
political order on the basis of labour and in the par-
ticular interest of the working classes. According to
his view, the State should become the director of
industry, assigning tasks in proportion to capacity
and rewards in proportion to work. He is also a
socialist rather than a communist in his desire that
reforms should be brought about by the central
Government, instead of by local authority or volun-
tary associations. Charles Fourier (Traits de I'as-
sociation domestique-agricole, 1822) did not even ask
for the abolition of all capital. Yet he was more of a
communist than Saint-Simon because his plans were
to be carried out by the local communities, to which
he gave the name of "phalanxes", and because the
members were to live a common life. All would dwell
in one large building called the "phalansterie". Tasks
were to be assigned with some regard to the prefer-
ences of the individual, but there were to be frequent
changes of occupation. Every worker would get a
minimum wage adequate to a comfortable livelihood.
The surplus product would be divided among labour,
capital, and talent, but in such a way that those doing
the most disagreeable work would obtain the highest
compensation. Marriage would be terminable by the
parties themselves. An attempt to establish a pha-
lan.x at Versailles in 1832 resulted in complete failure.
Etienne Cabet drew up a communistic programme
in his " Voyage en Icarie" (1840), which was modelled
upon the work of Sir Thomas More. He would abolish
private property and private education, but not mar-
riage nor the family life. Goods were to be produced
and distributed by the community as a whole, and there
was to be complete equality among all its members.
In 1848 he emigrated with a band of his disciples to
America, and established the community of Icaria in
Texas. In 1849 they moved to the abandoned Mor-
mon settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois. Here the com-
munity prospered for several years, until the usual
solvent appeared in the shape of internal dissension.
In 18.50 the small minority that sided with Cabet
settled at Cheltenham, near St. Louis, while the
greater number moved to Southern Iowa, where they
established a new community to which they gave the
old name of Icaria. The latter settlement flourished
until 1878, when there began a final series of disrup-
tions, secessions, and migrations. The last band of
Icarians was dissolved in 1895. At that time the
community numbered only twenty-one members; in
Nauvoo there were five hundred. Icaria has been
called "the most tj-pical experiment ever made in
democratic communism" and "more wonderful than
any other similar colony, in that it endured so long
without any dogmatic basis". The Icarians prac-
tised no religion. In his "Organisation du travail"
(1840) Louis Blanc demanded that the State establish
national workshops, with a view to ultimate State
ownership and management of all production. After
the Revolution of 1848 the French Government did
introduce several national workshops, but it made no
honest effort to conduct them according to the ideas
of M. Blanc. They were all unsuccessful and short-
lived. Like Saint-Simon, Louis Blanc was a socialist
rather than a communist in his theories of social re-
organization, property, and individual freedom. From
his time forward all the important theories and move-
ments concerning the reorganization of society, in the
other countries of Europe as well as in France, fall
properly under the head of socialism. The remainder
of the history of communism describes events that
occurred in the LTnited States. In his " American
Communities" William A. Hinds enumerates some
thirty-five different associations in which commu-
nistic principles were either partially or wholly put
into operation.
Co.MMUNisTic Societies in the United States. — The Ephrata Community (Pennsylvania) was, with two unimportant exceptions, the earliest. It was founded in 17.S2 by Conrad Beissel, a German, who had for some years led the life of a religious hermit. Three men and two women who shared his \-iews on the Sabbath were permitted to join him, and thus the six became a community. The members held property in common, laboured in common, lived in common, and observed complete equality of condi- tions. They regarded celibacy as preferable to the wedded state, and during the early years of the community the majority remained immarried. Their primary aim, therefore, was religious and spiritual instead of social and economic. The community never had more than three hundred members; in 1900 it had only seventeen.
The most important communistic organization in the United States is that of the Shakers. Their first community was founded at Mt. Lebanon, N. Y., in 1787. At present there are thirty-five separate com- munities with a total membership of one thousand; once they aggregated five thousand. Like the Ephra- tans, the Shakers are a religious sect and live a com- munity life for a religious purpose. The founders of their first American settlement were a band of English Quakers to whom the name Shakers was given because of their bodily agitations under the supposed influence of spiritual forces in their religious meetings. In the Shaker communities property is held in common (ex- cept in the case of members who have not reached the Third, or Senior Order), meals are taken in com- mon, there is a common hour for rising, modes of dress are uniform, and there are minute rules govern- ing manners and conduct generally. While all mem- bers are on a footing of equality, the government is hierarchical rather than democratic. They make con- fession of sin before entering, observe celibacy, ab- stain from alcoholic drinks, discourage the use of tobacco, and endeavour to avoid " all worldly usages, manners, customs, loves and affections, which inter- pose between the individual citizen of the heavenly kingdom and his duties and privileges therein". Ow- ing to its principles and practices. Shaker communism is as little suited to the generality of menasnionas- ticism. Their membership is recruited mostly through religious revivals and the reception of home- less children. Nevertheless the community has not been a complete failure as regards those who have remained faithful to its life. " For more than a hun- dred years", they maintain, "they have lived pros- perous, contented, happy lives, making their land bloom like the fairest garden; and during all these years have never spent among themselves a penny for police, for lawyers, for judges, for poor-houses, for penal institutions or any like 'improvements' of the outside world."
Two communities that had a considerable resem- blance to each other were the Harmonists, established in Pennsylvania in 1805 by George Rapp, and the Separatists of Zoar, founded in 1818 by Joseph Bau- meler in Ohio. Both communities were German, were religious rather than economic, held the same religious views, and practised celibacy. Early in their hi.story the .Separati-sts abandoned celibacy, but continued to regard it as a higher state than marriage. The Harmonists had at one time one thousand mem- bers, but by the year 1900 di-ssensions had reduced them to nine. The Separatists never numbered more than five hundred. They ceased to exist as a com- munity in 1898. The New Harmony Community was established in 1825 on land in Indiana th.at had once been occupied by the Harmonists. Its founder
