Communism

the common ownership of all property. Each member works for the community. Each is a member of one large family, embracing the entire community. Communism differs from socialism in that the latter contemplates that certain utilities or industries shall be owned by the people instead of the capitalists, and that wage earners work for the public instead of for private employers. Public ownership of waterworks, roads, gas plants, telegraphs, railroads, are some of the preliminary steps of socialism. Communism, however, extends to all forms of property. In a strictly socialistic community, a man may raise peas for his own table, but not peas for sale. The public pea patch takes care of the market. In a strictly communistic society, there are no private pea patches. The public patch is the only one; and, in fact, the public table is the only table. The communistic gardener could make no use of private peas if he had them.

The earliest Christian churches were communistic. Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, it may be remembered, were struck dead for pretending that they had put all their property into the common treasury, when in fact they were withholding a part. The various religious orders of monks and nuns are founded on the principle of communism.

The French Fourier (1772-1837), a Lyons merchant, questioned the righteousness of existing mercantile and manufacturing systems whereby the few become rich at the expense necessarily of the many. His doctrines, known as Fourierism, took root in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century. Horace Greeley was very much impressed with the idea of communism as a preventive of misery and want. The periodicals known as the the Phalanx and the Harbinger were founded to advocate communistic principles. Between thirty and forty associations or communities were organized.

Robert Owen, a British manufacturer, brought over a number of his countrymen to found societies. The most noted was that at New Harmony, Indiana. The Shakers are a communistic denomination, found chiefly in New York. The Oneida Community of New York was established in 1848. It carries on a number of industries. The steel trap used by the trappers of the Northwest for several decades bears the stamp of the Oneida Community. Oneida silverware is of excellent quality. The Amana Community still flourishes in Iowa. It comprises seven villages with surrounding farm lands. The society is noted for thrift, fine stock, and manufactures of woolen goods. Dowie's Zion City in Illinois is the latest notable attempt of the sort.

The following quotation is from the Britannica. It applies more properly to the talking communist. "The opinion that a communist is a man who has no property to lose, and who therefore advocates a general redistribution of wealth, is very widespread and popular. It is embodied in the well known lines of the cornlaw rhymer:

See Brook Farm; Socialism