History of American socialisms

Preface

The object of this book is to help the study of Socialism by the inductive method. It is, first and chiefly, a collection of facts ; and the attempts at interpretation and generalization which are interspersed, are secondary and not intentionally dogmatic.

It is certainly high time that Socialists should begin to take lessons from experience ; and for this purpose, that they should chasten their confidence in flattering theories, and turn their attention to actual events.

This country has been from the beginning, and especially for the last forty years, a laboratory in which Socialisms of all kinds have been experimenting. It may safely be assumed that Providence has presided over the operations, and has taken care to make them instructive. The disasters of Owenism and Fourierism have not been in vain ; the successes of the Shakers and Rappites have not been set before us for nothing. We may hope to learn something from every experiment.

IV PREFACE.

The author, having had unusual advantages for observing the Socialistic movements, and especial good fortune in obtaining collections of observations made by others, has deemed it his duty to devote a year to the preparation of this history.

As no other systematic account of American Socialisms exists, the facts here collected, aside from any interpretation of them, may be valuable to the student of history, and entertaining to the general reader.

The present issue may be considered a proof-sheet, as carefully corrected as it can be by individual vigilance. It is hoped that it will call out from experts in Socialism and others, corrections and additions that will improve it for future editions.

Wallingford, Conn., December, 1869.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Introduction i

II. Birds-eye View .... lo

Chapter I. Introductory

Many years ago, when a branch of the Oneida Community lived at Willow Place in Brooklyn, near New York, a sombre pilgrim called there one day, asking for rest and conversation. His business proved to be the collecting of memoirs of socialistic experiments. We treated him hospitably, and gave him the information he sought about our Community. He repeated his visit several times in the course of some following years, and finally seemed to take a very friendly interest in our experiment. Thus we became acquainted with him, and also in a measure with the work he had undertaken, which was nothing less than a history of all the Associations and Communities that have lived and died in this country, within the last thirty or forty years.

This man's name was A. J. Macdonald. We remember that he was a person of small stature, with black hair and sharp eyes. He had a benevolent air, but seemed a little sad. We imagined that the sad scenes he had encountered while looking after the stories of so many short-lived Communities, had given him a tinge of melancholy. He was indeed the " Old Mortality" of Socialism, wandering from grave to grave, patiently deciphering the epitaphs of defunct " Phalanxes." We learned from him that he was a Scotchman by birth, and a printer by trade ; that he was an admirer and disciple of Owen, and came from the " old country" some ten years before, partly to see and follow the fortunes of his master's experiments in Socialism: but finding Owenism in ruins and Fourierism going to ruin, he took upon himself the task of making a book, that should give future generations the benefit of the lessons taught by these attempts and failures.

His own attempt was a failure. He gathered a huge mass of materials, wrote his preface, and then died in New York of the cholera. Our record of his last visit is dated February, 1854.

Ten years later our attention was turned to the project of writing a history of American Socialisms. Such a book seemed to be a want of the times. We remembered Macdonald, and wished that by some chance we could obtain his collections. But we had lost all traces of them, and the hope of recovering them from the chaos of the great city where he died, seemed chimerical. Nevertheless some of our associates, then in business on Broadway, commenced inquiring at the printing offices, and soon found acquaintances of Macdonald, who directed them to the residence of his brother-in-law in the city. There, to our joyful surprise, we found the collections we were in search of, lying useless except as mementos, and a

MACDONALD. 3

gentleman in charge of them who was willing we should take them and use them as we pleased.

On examining our treasure, we found it to be a pile of manuscripts, of letter-paper size and three inches thick, with- printed scraps from newspapers and pamphlets interspersed. All was in the loosest state of disorder ; but we strung the leaves together, paged them, and made an index of their contents. The book thus extemporized has been our companion, as the reader will see, in the ensuing history. The number of its pages is seven hundred and forty-seven. The index has the names of sixty-nine Associative experiments, beginning with Brook Farm and ending with the Shakers. The memoirs are of various lengths, from a mere mention to a narrative of nearly a hundred pages. Among them are notices of leading Socialists, such as Owen, Fourier, Frances Wright, &c. The collection was in no fit condition for publication ; but it marked out a path for us, and gave us a mass of material that has been very serviceable, and probably could not elsewhere be found.

The breadth and thoroughness of Macdonald's intention will be seen in the following circular which, in the prosecution of his enterprise, he sent to many leading Socialists.

PRINTED LETTER OF INQUIRY.

"New York, Marchy 185 1.

" I have been for some time engaged in collecting the necessary materials for a book, to be entitled ' The Comimtnities of the United States', in which I propose giving a brief account of all the social and co-operative experiments that have been made in this country

— their origin, principles, and progress ; and, particularly, the causes of their success or failure.

" I have reason to believe, from long experience among social reformers, that such a work is needed, and will be both useful and interesting. It will serve as a guide to all future experiments, showing what has already been done ; like a light-house, pointing to the rocks on which so many have been wrecked, or to the haven in which the few have found rest. It will give facts and statistics to be depended upon, gathered from the most authentic sources, and forming a collection of interesting narratives. It will show the errors of enthusiasts, and the triumphs of the cool-thinking ; the disappointments of the sanguine, and the dear-bought experience of many social adventurers. It will give mankind an idea of the labor of body and mind that has been expended to realize a better state of society ; to substitute a social and co-operative state for a competitive one ; a system of harmony, for one of discord.

" To insure the truthfulness of the work, I propose to gather most of my information from individuals who have actually been engaged in the experiments of which I treat. With this object in view, I take the liberty to address you, asking your aid in carrying out my plan. I request you to give me an account of the experiment

in which you were engaged at . For instance,

I require such information as the following questions would call forth, viz :

" I. Who originated it, or how was it originated .-' " 2. What were its principles and objects .-' " 3. What were its means in land and money .■' " 4. Was all the property put into common stock .-'

MACDONALD. 5

" 5. What was the number of persons in the Association ?

" 6. What were their trades, occupations and amount of skill?

" 7. Their education, natural intelligence and morality ?

*' 8. What religious belief, and if any, how preached and practised ?

" 9. How were members admitted ? was there any standard by which to judge them, or any property qualification necessary ?

" 10. Was there a written or printed constitution or laws? if so can you send me a copy?

"II. Were pledges, fines, oaths, or any coercive means used ?

" 12. When and where did the Association commence its experiment ? Please describe the locality ; what dwellings and other conveniences were upon it ; how many persons it could accommodate ; how many persons lived on the spot ; how much land was cultivated ; whether there were plenty of provisions ; &c., &c.

" 1 3. How was the land obtained ? Was it free or mortgaged ? Who owned it ?

" 14. Were the new circumstances of the associates superior or inferior to the circumstances they enjoyed previous to their associating ?

" 15. Did they obtain aid from without?

" 1 6. What particular person or persons took the lead ?

" 17. Who managed the receipts and expenditures, and were they honestly managed ?

" 18. Did the associates agree or disagree, and in what ?

" 19. How long did they keep together?

" 20. When and why did they break up ? State the causes, direct and indirect.

"21. If successful, what were the causes of success.'*

" Any other information relating to the experiment, that you may consider useful and interesting, will be acceptable. By such information you will confer a great favor, and materially assist me in what I consider a good undertaking.

" The work I contemplate will form a neat i2mo. volume, of from 200 to 280 pages, such as Lyell's ' Tour in the United States,' or Gorrie's ' Churches and Sects of the United States.' It will be published in New York and London at the lowest possible price, say, within one dollar ; and it is my intention, if possible, to illustrate the work with views of Communities now in progress, or of localities rendered interesting by having once been the battle grounds of the new system against the old.

" Please make known the above, and favor me with the names and addresses of persons who would be willing to assist me with such information as I require.

" Trusting that I shall receive the .'^ame kind aid from you that I have already received from so many of my friends,

" I remain, very respectfully, yours,

" A. J. Macdonald."

Among the manuscripts in Macdonald's collection are many that were evidently written in resp( nse to this circular. Many others were written by himself as journals or reports of his cnvn visits to various Associations. We have reason to believe that he spent most of his time from his arrival in this country in

MACDONALD. 7

1842 till his death in 1854, in pilgrimages to every Community, and even to every grave of a Community, that he could hear of, far and near.

He had done his work when he died. His collection is nearly exhaustive in the extent of its survey. Very few Associations of any note are overlooked. And he evidently considered it ready for the press ; for most of his memoirs are endorsed with the word "Complete" and with some methodical directions to the printer. He had even provided the illustrations promised in his circular. Among his manuscripts are the following pictures :

A pencil sketch and also a small wood engraving of the buildings of the North American Phalanx ;

A wood engraving of the first mansion house of the Oneida Community ;

A pencil sketch of the village of Modern Times ;

A view in water-colors of the domain and cabin of the Clermont Phalanx ;

A pencil sketch of the Zoar settlement ;

Four wood engravings of Shaker scenes ; two of them representing dances ; one, a kneeling scene : and one, a " Mountain meeting ;" also a pencil sketch of Shaker dwellings at Watervliet ;

A portrait of Robert Owen in wood ;

A very pretty view of New Harmony in India ink ;

A wood-cut of one of Owen's imaginary palaces ;

Two portraits of Frances Wright in wood ; one representing her as she was in her prime of beauty, and the other, as she was in old age ;

A fine steel engraving of Fourier.

In the* following preface, which was found among Macdonald's manuscripts, and which is dated a few months before his death, we have a last and sure signal that he considered his collection finished :

Preface To The Book That Was Never Published

" I performed the task of collecting the materials which form this volume, because I thought I was doing good. At one time, sanguine in anticipating brilliant results from Communism, I imagined mankitid better than they are, and that they would speedily practise those principles which I considered so true. But the experience of years is now upon me ; I have mingled with * the world,' seen stem reality, and now am anxious to do as much as in me lies, to make known to the many thousands who look for a ' better state' than this on earth as well as in heaven, the amount (as it were at a glance ) of the labors which have been and are now being performed in this country to realize that ' better state'. It may help to waken dreamers, to guide lost wanderers, to convince skeptics, to re-assure the hopeful ; it may serve the uses of Statesmen and Philosophers, and interest the general reader ; but it is most desirable that it should increase the charity of all those who may please to examine it, when they see that it was for Humanity, in nearly all instances, that these things were done.

" Of necessity the work is imperfect, because of the difficulty in obtaining information on such subjects ; but the attempt, whatever may be its result, should not be put off, since there is reason to believe that if not now collected, many particulars of the various movements would be forever lost.

" It remains for a future historian to continue the labor which I have thus superficially commenced ; for

MACDONALD. g

the day has not yet arrived when it can be said that Communism or Association has ceased to exist ; and it is possible yet, in the progress of things, that man will endeavor to cure his social diseases by some such means ; and a future history may contain the results of more important experiments than have ever yet been attempted.

" I here return my thanks to the fearless, confiding, and disinterested friends, who so freely shared with me what little they possessed, to assist in the completion of this work. I name them not, but rejoice in their assistance. A. J. Macdonald.

"New York City, 1854."

The tone of this preface indicates that Macdonald was discouraged. The effect of his book, if he had lived to publish it, would have been to aggravate the re-action against Socialism which followed the collapse of Fourierism. We hope to make a better use of his materials.

It should not be imagined that we are about to edit his work. A large part of his collections we shall omit, as irrelevant to our purpose. That part which we use will often be reconstructed and generally condensed. Much of our material will be obtained from other sources. The plan and theory of this history are our own, and widely different from any that Macdonald would have been willing to indorse. With these qualifications, we still acknowledge a large debt of gratitude to him and to the Providence Ihat gave us his collections.

AMERICAN SOCIALISMS.

Chapter II. Birds-eye View Of The Experiments

A GENERAL survey of the Socialistic field will be useful, before entering on the memoirs of particular Associations ; and for this purpose we will now spread before us the entire Index of Macdonald's collections, adding to it a schedule of the number of pages which he gave to the several Associations, and the dates of their beginning and ending, so far as we have been able to find them. Many of the transitory Associations, it will be seen, " made no sign " when they died. The continuous Communities, such as the Shakers, of course have no terminal date.

INDEX OF macdonald's COLLECTION.

Associations, &c.

Alphadelphia Phalanx Auxiliary Branch of the Association of

All Classes of All Nations Blue Spring Community Brazilian Experiment Brook Farm Brooke's Experiment Brotherhood of the Union Bureau Co. Phalanx

No. of Pages.

Dates.

1843—6.

on of

I

1826—7.

I

1842—7.

I

I

BIRDS-EYE VIEW.

I I

Cincinnati Brotherhood Clarkson Industrial Association Clermont Phalanx Colony of Bethel Columbian Phalanx Commonwealth Society Communia Working Men's League Convention at Boston of the Friends

of Association Convention in New York for organizing

an Industrial Congress Co-operating Society of Alleghany Co. Coxsackie Community Davis' Harmonial Brotherhood Dunkers ....

Ebenezer Community Emigration Society, 2d Section Forrestville Community Fourier, Life of Franklin Community Garden Grove Goose Pond Community Grand Prairie Community Grand Prairie Harmonial Institute Guatemala Experiment Haverstraw Community Hopedale Community Hunt's Experiment of Equality Icaria ....

Jefferson County Industrial Association Kendal Community Lagrange Phalanx Leraysville Phalanx Macluria Marlboro Association

5 II

II I

I

I

1845. 18 19

I

I

I

18-5

I

I

I

I

184,^

AMERICAN SOCIALISMS.

McKean County Association

I

Modern Times

Moorhouse Union

Moravians, or United Brethren

Murray, Orson S.

Nashoba . . . .

New Lanark

lO

SB-

Northampton Association

II

'S

One-mentian Community

Ontario Phalanx

I

Owen, Robert

Prairie Home Community

Raritan Bay Union

Sangamon Phalanx

I

Shakers

Social Reform Unity

Sodus Bay Phalanx

Spiritual Community at Mountain

Cove 3

Spring Farm Association

St. Louis Reform Association

I

Sylvania Association

-s

United Germans

Venezuelan Experiment

Warren, Josiah, Time Store &c.

TI

Washtenaw Phalanx

I

Wright, Frances

Wilkinson, Jemima, and her Comn

lunity 5

Yellow Springs Community

I

Zoar

BIRDS-EYE VIEW. 1 3

On general survey of the matter contained in this index, we may begin to sort it in the following manner:

First we will lay aside the antique religions Associations, such as the Dunkers, Moravians, Zoarites, &c. We count at least seven of these, which do not properly belong to the modern socialistic movement, or even to American life. Having their origin in the old world, and most of them in the last century, and remaining without change, they exist only on the outskirts of general society.

Next we put out of account the foreign Associations, such as the Brazilian and Venezuelan experiments. With these may be classed those of the Icarians and some others, which, though within the United States, are, or were, really colonies of foreigners. We see six of this sort in the index.

Thirdly, we dismiss two or three Spiritualistic attempts that are named in the list ; first, because they never attained to the dignity of Associations ; and secondly, because they belonged to a later movement than that which Macdonald undertook to record. The social experiments of the Spiritualists should be treated by themselves, as the secjiielce of the Fourier excitement of Macdonald's time.

The Associations that are left after these exclusions, naturally fall into two groups, viz. ; those of the Owen MOVEMENT, and those of the Fourier movement.

Robert Owen came to this country and commenced his experiments in Communism in 1824. This was the beginning of a national excitement, which had a course somewhat like that of a religious revival or a political campaign. This movement seems to have culminated in 1 826 ; and, grouped around or near that year, we find in Macdonald's list, the names of eleven Communities. These were not all strictly Owenite Communities, but probably all owed their birth to the general excitement that followed Owen's labors, and may therefore, properly be classified as belonging to the Owen movement.

Fourierism was introduced into this country by Albert Brisbane and Horace Greeley in 1842, and then commenced another great national movement similar to that of Owenism, but far more universal and enthusiastic. We consider the year 1843 the focal period of this social revival ; and around that year or following it within the forties, we find the main group of Macdonald's Associations. Thirty-four of the list may clearly be referred to this epoch. Many, and perhaps most of them, never undertook to carry into practice Fourier's theories in full ; and some of them would disclaim all afiTiliation with Fourierism ; but they all originated in a common excitement, and that excitement took its rise from the publications of Brisbane and Greeley.

Confining ourselves, for the present, to these two groups of Associations, belonging respectively to the Owen movement of 1826 and the Fourier movement of 1843, we will now give a brief statistical account of each Association ; i. e., all we can find in Macdonald's collection, on the following points : i, Locality; 2, Number of members ; 3, Amount of land ; 4, Amount of debt ; 5, Duration. We give the amount of land instead of any other measurement of capital, because all and more than all the capital of the Associations was generally invested in land, and because it is difficult to distinguish, in most cases, between the cash capital that was actually paid in, and that which was only subscribed or talked about.

BIRDS-EYE VIEW. 1 5

As to the reliability of these statistics, we can onlysay that we have patiently picked them out, one by one, like scattered bones, from Macdonald's heap. Though they may be faulty in some details, we are confident that the general idea they give of the attempts and experiences of American Socialists, will not be far from the truth.

Experiments of the Owen EpocJi.

Blue Spring Community ; Indiana ; no particulars, except that it lasted " but a short time."

Co-operative Society ; Pennsylvania ; no particulars.

Coxsackie Community ; New York ; capital " small ;" " very much in debt ;" duration between i and 2 years.

Forrestville Community ; Indiana ; " over 60 members ;" 325 acres of land ; duration more than a year.

Franklin Community ; New York ; no particulars.

Haverstraw Community ; New York ; about 80 members ; 120 acres ; debt ^12,000 ; duration 5 months.

Kendal Community ; Ohio ; 200 members ; 200 acres ; duration about 2 years.

Macluria ; Indiana; 1200 acres; duration about 2 years.

New Harmony ; Indiana ; 900 members ; 30,000 acres, worth $150,000 ; duration nearly 3 years.

Nashoba ; Tennessee; 15 members; 2,000 acres ; duration about 3 years.

Yellow Spring Community ; Ohio ; 75 to 100 families ; duration 3 months.

Experitnents of the Fonrier Epoch.

Alphadelphia Phalanx ; Michigan ; 400 or 500 members ; 2814 acres ; duration 2 years and 9 months.

Brook Farm; Massachusetts; 115 members; 200 acres ; duration 5 years.

Brooke's experiment ; Ohio ; few members ; no further particulars.

Bureau Co. Phalanx ; Illinois ; small ; no particulars.

Clarkson Industrial Association ; New York ; 420 members ; 2000 acres ; duration from 6 to 9 months.

Clermont Phalanx ; Ohio ; 120 members ; 9C0 acres ; debt 1^19,000 ; duration 2 years or more.

Columbian Phalanx ; Ohio ; no particulars.

Garden Grove ; Iowa ; no particulars.

Goose Pond Community ; Pennsylvania ; 60 members ; duration a few months.

Grand Prairie Community ; Ohio ; no particulars.

Hopedale ; Massachusetts ; 200 members ; 500 acres ; duration not stated, but commonly reported to be 17 or 18 years.

Integral Phalanx ; Illinois ; 30 families ; 508 acres ; duration 17 months.

Jefferson Co. Industrial Association ; New York ; 400 members ; 1 200 acres of land ; duration a few months.

Lagrange Phalanx ; Indiana ; 1000 acres ; no further particulars.

Leraysville Phalanx ; Pennsylvania ; 40 members ; 300 acres ; duration 8 months.

Marlboro Association ; Ohio ; 24 members ; had " a load of debt ;" duration nearly 4 years.

McKean Co. Association ; Pennsylvania ; 30,000 acres ; no further particulars.

Moorhouse Union ; New York ; 1 20 acres ; duration " a few months."

North American Phalanx; New Jersey; 112 members ; 673 acres ; debt ;$ 17,000 ; duration 12 years.

Northampton Association ; Massachusetts ; 1 30 mem-

BIRDS-EYE VIEW. 1 7

bers ; 500 acres of land ; debt ;^40,cx)0 ; duration 4 years.

Ohio Phalanx ; 100 members ; 2,2(X> acres ; deeply in debt ; duration 10 months.

One-mentian (meaning probably one-mind) Community ; Pennsylvania ; 800 acres ; duration one year.

Ontario Phalanx ; New York ; brief duration.

Prairie Home Community ; Ohio ; 500 acres ; debt broke it up ; duration one year.

Raritan Bay Union ; New Jersey ; few members ; 268 acres.

Sangamon Phalanx ; Illinois ; no particulars.

Skaneateles Community ; New York ; 150 members ; 354 acres ; debt $10,000 ; duration 2 1-2 years.

Social Reform Unity ; Pennsylvania ; 20 members ; 2,000 acres ; debt $2,400 ; duration about 10 months.

Sodus Bay Phalanx ; New York ; 300 members ; 1,400 acres ; duration a " short time."

Spring Farm Association ; Wisconsin ; 10 families ; duration 3 years.

Sylvania Association ; Pennsylvania ; 145 members ; 2394 acres ; debt $7,900 ; duration nearly 2 years.

Trumbull Phalanx ; Ohio ; 1500 acres ; duration 2 1-2 years.

Washtenaw Phalanx ; Michigan ; no particulars.

Wisconsin Phalanx ; 32 families ; 1,800 acres ; duration 6 years.

F ecapitulation and Comments.

I. Localities. The Owen group were distributed among the States as follows : in Indiana, 4 ; in New York, 3 ; in Ohio, 2 ; in Pennsylvania, i ; in Tennessee, I.

The Fourier group were located as follows : in Ohio, 8 ; in New York, 6 ; in Pennsylvania, 6 ; in Massachusetts, 3 ; in Illinois, 3 ; in New Jersey, 2 ; in Michigan, 2 ; in Wisconsin, 2 ; in Indiana, i ; in Iowa, i.

Indiana had the greatest number in the first group, and the least in the second.

New England was not represented in the Owen group ; and only by three Associations in the Fourier group ; and those three were all in Massachusetts.

The southern states were represented by only one Association — that of Nashoba, in the Owen group — and that was little more than an eleemosynary attempt of Frances Wright to civilize the negroes.

The two groups combined were distributed as follows : in Ohio, 10 ; in New York, 9 ; in Pennsylvania, 7 ; in Indiana, 5 ; in Massachusetts, 3 ; in Illinois, 3 ; in New Jersey, 2 ; in Michigan, 2 ; in Wisconsin, 2 ; in Tennessee, I ; in Iowa, i.

2. Nitmber of members. The figures in our epitome (reckoning five persons to a family when families are mentioned), give an aggregate of 4,801 members : but these belong to only twenty-five Associations. The numbers of the remaining twenty are not definitely reported. The average of those reported is about 192 to an Association. Extending this average to the rest, we have a total of 8,641.

The numbers belonging to single Associations vary from 1 5 to 900 ; but in a majority of cases they were between 100 and 200.

3. The amount of land reported is enormous. Averaging it as we did in the case of the number of members, we make a grand total of 136,586 acres, or about

BIRDS-EYE VIEW. I9

3,000 acres to each Association ! This is too much for any probable average. We will leave out as exceptional, the 60,000 acres reported as belonging to New Harmony and the McKean Co. Association. Then averaging as before, we have a grand total of 44,624 acres, or about i ,000 acres to each Association.

Judging by our own experience we incline to think that this fondness for land, which has been the habit of Socialists, had much to do with their failures. Farming is about the hardest and longest of all roads to fortune : and it is the kind of labor in which there is the most uncertainty as to modes and theories, and of course the largest chance for disputes and discords in such complex bodies as Associations. Moreover the lust for land leads off into the wilderness, " out west," or into by-places, far away from railroads and markets ; whereas Socialism, if it is really ahead of civilization, ought to keep near the centers of business, and at the front of the general march of improvement. We should have advised the Phalanxes to limit their land-investments to a minimum, and put their strength as soon as possible into some form of manufacture. Almost any kind of a factory would be better than a farm for a Community nursery. We find hardly a vestige of this policy in Ma^donald's collections. The saw-mill is the only form of mechanism that figures much in his reports. It is really ludicrous to see how uniformly an old saw-mill turns up in connection with each Association, and how zealously the brethren made much of it ; but that is about all they attempted in the line of manufacturing. Land, land, land, was evidently regarded by them as the mother of all gain and comfort. Considering how much they must have run in debt for land, and how little profit they got from it, we may say of them almost literally, that they were " wrecked by running aground."

4. Amount of debt. Macdonald's reports on this point are few and indefinite. The sums owed are stated for only seven of the Associations. They vary from $1,000 to $40,000. Five other Associations are reported as "very much in debt, " " deeply in debt," &c. The exact indebtedness of these and of the remaining thirty-three, is probably beyond the reach of history. But we have reason to think that nearly all of them bought, to begin with, a great deal more land than they paid for. This was the fashion of the socialistic schools and of the times.