By Michael Shook
“… we all eat strawberries with cream – whether we like strawberries with cream, or not.”
My mother had a number of sayings she was fond of, and this was a standard around the house, used when one of the three of us kids would whine about something not being fair. It reminded us we had no choice about the issue, whatever it was.
The sayings were always theatrically delivered in an accent, in this case faux Russian. This was appropriate not only because of the phrase, but because the communist “Red Threat” was a routine part of our lives in the 1950s through the 1960s, though the Soviet Union remained an issue until it imploded in 1991. China, of course, was then and remains now, problematic.
What is communism, exactly? To say that’s the subject of many books would be an understatement, but the simplest of answers, surprisingly accurate for its brevity, is that it’s an ideology envisioning a classless political and economic system, void of private property, where the means of production are commonly held, and likewise, the distribution of goods are produced.
The goal is to create a society wherein the fruits of labor are dispersed. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs,” in the well-known words of Karl Marx.
The idea of some sort of communism, loosely defined, has been around for centuries. In ancient Greece, Plato thought the ideal society would be absent private property, and further, that everyone would share everything, including wives and children (interestingly, sharing spouses and/or other forms of non-monogamy has been a part of many communal societies). He felt private holdings provoked envy, leading to disruption and conflict.
Aristotle, however, was wise enough to see, accurately, that the real problem was human nature, commenting “… it is not possession but the desires of mankind which require to be equalized.” Which is, of course, an impossibility.
Not that that has ever stopped us from trying to create a society wherein everyone’s life is fulfilled, every need met, every hunger satiated. One would think it a part of our DNA, given that we all used to live in hunter-gatherer societies. It could be said those were a kind of communalist culture, and perhaps this is why, historically, humans have gamely persisted in their efforts to recapture what appears, from the outside at least, to be an ideal lifestyle.
For instance, among the first Europeans to establish lasting settlements in North America were deeply religious people desirous of living in ways aligned with their values, ways that were explicitly communal. In practical terms, they were also in search of new places and ways to make a buck, and, not incidentally, places where they would not be burned alive for their beliefs.
A variety of sects made the voyage to these shores. In addition to the more familiar Puritans, Quakers, and Shakers, there were Dutch Mennonites, and French Huguenots. (The main branches of Anabaptist believers, especially Mennonites, Amish, and Hutterites, have lasted, and are still active in the US, Mexico, and Canada, as well as other countries.)
During the 1800s, dozens of communal settlements, less religious and more secular, sprang up around the New England and north central states, many of these were influenced by the philosophy of Frenchman Charles Fourier. He was a dedicated antisemite, a proto-feminist, and an advocate of a version of what might be called “soft” communism. He believed in people choosing a communal life, as opposed to being forced into it (for which he was excoriated by Marx).
Among his more outlandish beliefs, M. Fourier declared the ocean would someday no longer be salty, but would become a sort of lemonade. Still, he gets, if not the last laugh, at least a chuckle, since some of his ideas have become widely accepted, among them, a minimum wage, emancipation of and equal opportunities for women, and acceptance – once again – of a broad range of sexual behaviors.
The Pacific Northwest has had its share of communal societies. Here in the remote corner of the lower 48, land was available and opportunity abounded for risk-takers. For social reformers fed up with the Gilded Age, the time was ripe for new ways of living. As settlers moved into the greater Puget Sound region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of utopian communities sprang up. Some of the better-known were Equality on Whatcom Bay, Freeland on Whidbey Island, Burley and Home on the Kitsap Peninsula, Puget Sound Co-operative Colony near Port Angeles, Keil Colony near Willapa, Glennis Co-operative on Clear Lake near Eatonville, and Harmony near the upper Cowlitz River.
The latter three communities were so short-lived they were over almost before they began, but ultimately, none survived. Most lasted only one or two years, with a very few flourishing for a couple of decades before fading away. The only communal societies that have lasted, at least in the US, have been those rooted deeply in religion, as noted in some of the above examples.
These examples represent some of the ways humans have sought throughout history to ameliorate the most difficult aspects of life. And when the Industrial Revolution hit full stride in the 1800s, transforming society with a speed and chaos hitherto unknown, both labor unions and various forms of communism appeared in response. Across Europe and North America, such forms were especially appealing to the hordes of poor, displaced people, who hungered not just for food and shelter, but for a life of dignity.
It was during that period of economic and social rupture that Karl Marx conceived of and refined the dominant form of communist theory and practice that has endured to the present day. That moves us to look next month at both Marx’s philosophy, and Marx the man.
