Intentional Communities in the USA

Extinct Group: || Oneida Community ||  Shakers || 
Contemporary Group: || Old Order Amish  ||  Hutterites  || Communes || 
Comparison of 19th century and 1960s utopian communities

Humans live for ideals, secular and religious. Intentional or utopian communities explicitly seek to establish ideals different from those of the society around them. In the USA, the dominant ideology has assumed that "salvation" and material prosperity could only be achieved by individuals. Yet dissident idealists have always existed in North America who looked upon the "New World" as a potential paradise for collective organization and ownership. [For a very different view of U.S. history -- the importance of prisoners -- see Scott Christianson.]

Several hundred groups (totaling at least 100,000 people) established alternative societies with various names:
* communistic societies
* socialist communities
* communitarian groups
* utopian settlements
* communes
Although these societies were different from the dominant one, they shared the national lore of earthy paradise, frontier self-reliance, and moral superiority.

six basic questions that all societies must answer:

US history of alternative groups:
1) from the beginning of European settlements North America e.g. Puritans in New England, Penn colonies
2) during the 1820-1890 economic depression; searching for a better life: political, economic, and religious

Before 1850
* more such colonies in NY and MA than in then the entire US after 1850, e.g., Shakers, Fourierists, Owenites, Amish
* largest number of utopian groups were political and economic
* largest number of members were in religious communities

 After 1850
* utopian colonies appeared in California
* declined noticeably elsewhere in the US
* agricultural settlement was essentially completed by 1850s, although officially the frontier was not closed until 1890 in the arid West

SUMMARY: past conditions for intentional communities
1) separatists ideals (religious, secular, and materialist) and in response to
2) economic hardships in the US (failure of the American Dream)

two major groups today
1) surviving 19th century intentional communities, e.g., Amish, Hutterites

• strong Christian-based religions
• rational, hierarchical structure
• strict male-female work and social roles
• moralist and puritanical

 2) newly-created, short-lived 20th century (1960s-1970s): communes
- since 1969, probably over 2,000 communes formed in reaction to affluent materialist lifestyles of their post World War parents and as anti-Vietnam war activities.

Multi-purpose and multi-organizational structures:
* religious, often eastern and western religious elements
* mind-altering drugs: LSD, peyote
* egalitarian (sex roles and power); also one strong leader
* highly experimental, very unstable, short-term existence
* amoral and free-wheeling

Extinct Group: Oneida Community ("The Perfectionists")
origin
founder: John Humphrey Noyes
established in Oneida, NY in 1849 with 87 members

women's revolutionary rights and roles
women's rights were respected as equal to men and the "selfish ownership" of them in marriage was rejected

• food preparation -- designed to free women from "the worst kind of slavery"
  A) women served only one hot meal, breakfast, each day
  B) women left food in the pantry for self-service for the other meals
• work -- women shared in all manual labor -- farm and crafts
  -- Oneida were well-known for their high quality crafts: silverware still bears their name
• clothing --women shortened their long dresses and wore trousers under them
• hair --women bobbed (cut) their long hair (first appeared in the dominant society in the 1920s)
  A) to save time and trouble and B) to discourage vanity

social structure

• the Oneida called it "complex marriage"
• the outside world called "free love" without recognizing the religious basis
• pooled their affections and property under God
• really wicked behavior was romantic attachment to one person: selfish love

sexual equally based on deeply held religious beliefs:

• every man was the husband of every women
• every women was the wife of every man

children

• women practiced birth control
• having only as many children as could be supported
• children (up to 12 years) lived in separate houses
• cared for by specialists, not by their biological parents
• freed mothers from child rearing
• children studied at universities and later returned to the community

social control: "law of love" -- criticism was used among members for self-improvement

outside world had stereotypes: sexual ones only
1) members distributed themselves by lot at bedtime

• fact: "central members" made decisions about who slept with whom
• fact: older and more spiritual people were preferred for mating

2) they all slept in one big bed

• fact: separate sleeping rooms and beds

 3) the children did not know their parents

• fact: children and parents visited several times a week
• fact: communal child rearing was practiced

 pressure from the outside created division in the community:

• In 1879, Noyes argued that "complex marriage" should be abandoned.
• In 1880, a joint-stock company, Oneida Community Ltd., was formed in which each member received shares.
• 226 members continued to conducted business in silverware, chairs, and silk thread.

today's irony: brides today select Oneida silverware without knowing that originally in the Oneida community each women was married to every man!

Extinct Group: Shakers or United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing
name and location

• outside world named them "shakers" because they danced and shook
• spontaneous dancing in the first 10 years than it became standardized
• dancing and shaking was necessary to rid person of sin
• mother church founded in 1792 in New Lebanon, NY
• settlements concentrated in NY and MA
• before 1850s: 6,000 members lived in 18 communities from MA to MS

founder: Anne Lee

• born in England where her visions and ideas were expressed among the Quakers
• female manifestation of the spirit of God on earth
• unschooled, yet she spoke 27 distinctive languages

sex was sinful, root of all troubles

• Anne Lee thought herself punished for her own sexuality because of the early deaths of all her four children
• right-side first in all things: cutting hair, harnessing horses, etc.
• sleep straight in bed; no diagonals in paths, cutting cloth or food

Christian ideals

• non-violence, pacifists (never fought in the Civil War --President Lincoln granted them exemption form the draft)
• common ownership of property
• many were vegetarians

 gender roles

• equality of the sexes but separated
• men used west doors
• women used east doors
• paths in the villages were only one-person wide so that the sexes would not touch
• separate eating, sleeping, and working areas

work

• philosophy: "put your hands to work, and give your hearts to God"
• very creative and socially helpful group to their own members and to outside people as well
• inventions to make less work, time for more leisure:

other characteristics:

• looked after orphans --source of new members!
• helped in national and local epidemics
• black and white shakers lived together in northern communities

decline

• only 1 or 2 in ten children remained with the Shakers
• last male Shaker died in 1961
• 14 sisters lived in 2 colonies (Sabbathday Lake, MA; Canterbury, NH)
• 70,000 people lived among them in nearly 200 years
• left a rich treasure of folk art, architecture, and music 

Contemporary Group: Old Order Amish
"A tractor gets work done more quickly, but horses and the love of hard work keeps us nearer to God." -- Amish bishop

background

• founder: Jacob Amman
• 1690s represented one of many Swiss Anabaptist groups
• came to PA from Switzerland as early as 1727
• (none left in Europe today)
• practices, technology, and world views: rooted in 18th and 19th centuries

overall philosophy

• God's work must be done in every day life
• slow changing in material and cultural values
• cultural and religious stability a virtue
• strong social conformity: shun or even excommunicate members

religion

• lack of formal religious structures (churches)
• religious hierarchy: bishops, ministers, deacons
• no full-time, paid clergy
• Sunday for rest: only necessary chores are done
• Sundays for church and visiting

housing characteristics

• no electricity, telephones, central heating
• dark colors (black or blue) curtains

 transportation

• no vehicles with rubber tires: autos, tractors, wagons
• use horses for all draft purposes

gender roles

• strong men-women distinctions in social and economic roles
• e.g. women do housework, gardens, and care for children
• e.g. men do barn and field work; leaders in church
• no family planning: large families
• married men have beards but not mustaches
• hooks and eyes on dress coats, no zippers; others use buttons

 schools

• no formal education beyond grade school
• separate schools, without electricity, etc.

relation with outside world

• want to be left alone; photos of themselves: vanity
• courts require that they pay property taxes, but not social security taxes
• pacifists, no military service

location

• Lancaster, PA is the center of Amish life
• they are found from PA, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, IA
• 80 percent of all Amish church districts in three states: PA, OH, IN

farming

• subsistence (self-sufficiency)
• with cash crops: tobacco, milk, vegetables
• hard work, "free" labor: large families (no family planning)
• organic farming practices, no monetary expenses
• pay cash for everything, including land
• small communities: 30-40 households
• out bid outsiders for land and farm buildings
• church groups must be within horse ride of each for Sunday worship

Contemporary Group: Hutterites or Hutterian Brethren
origin and location

• persecuted in Europe for religious ideas
• Protestant reform group: Anabaptist
• Hutterites came later than Amish, so they settled in the West
• 1870s small group settled in US (Dakota Territory)
• located first in US and later in Canada

 discrimination

• pacifists: promised no military service in US but W.W.I were conscripted
• 1919 South Dakota government tried to dissolve them because
  • leaders had a bad influence on their members
  • colony regulations and practices were contrary to SD law
  • they refused to support the US in time of war

• all but one of the 18 Hutterites moved to Canada to avoid military service
• 1947, Alberta government passed Communal Property Act:
  • prohibited Hutterites from buying land within 40 miles of another colony
  • new colonies could not own more than 6,400 acres
  • 90 day waiting period was required before land could be sold to them

 settlements and agriculture

• today, 200 colonies and 20,000 members
• small colonies: 100 people --called Bruderhofe (brother villages)
• large farm units: 4,000 acres in Manitoba, 6,000 in Alberta
• live in clustered villages, not scattered like the Amish
• common ownership of all property
• modern day technology in farming and houses
• grain and livestock farming
• buy farm an personal supplies and equipment wholesale
• each colony operates independently, but they help each other in crisis

 culture and gender roles

• plain clothing: black and dark blue
• women sew all clothes
• egalitarian values between same sex
• traditional men-women sex roles
• every day speech: extinct Tyrolean (German) dialect

Contemporary Group: Communes
Garry Wills (A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999) maintains that anti-governmental attitudes were embraced by the utopians. They wanted to be totally candid, totally voluntary, acting with organic spontaneity. Government represented the very things these people were fleeing -- it was mechanical, regulatory, based on division of labor rather than sharing, on remote and often secret processes of arranging other people's lives instead of letting them arrange everything themselves.

origin and names

• 1960s communes emerged in large numbers
• New York Times reported 2,000 communes; the National Institute of Health said that 3,000 was more accurate
• as diverse as 19th century ones
• self described as:
  · Jesus freaks and atheists
  · revolutionaries and apolitical
  · sexually puritanical and promiscuous
  · feminists and male chauvinists
  · rural and urban settings: half the communes in each place
  · technologically primitive and sophisticated
  · retreat from modern world and missionary to save the world
  · drug-free and drug-based

location

• northern CA, OR (urban and mountains)
• southwest (deserts)

·         New England (rural and urban)

Comparison of Past and Present Communal Societies:

Remember: Intentional groups struggle to create `prefect' communities that often provide guidelines for future dominant societies.

Acceptance, and indeed appreciation, of alternative lifestyles & communities recognizes the US historical experiences (shared by a handful of other neo-European countries) and provide richer models for human ideals & behavior in the present & future.

Created by Ingolf Vogeler and last revised on 23 July 2003.