History of American Socialisms Part 6

"In furtherance of our great object we are preparing the means to bring up our children with industrious and useful habits, with national and of course rational ideas and views, with sincerity in all their proceedings; and to give them kind and affectionate feelings for each other, and charity, in the most extensive sense of the term, for all their fellow creatures.

"By doing this, uniting our separate interests into one, by doing away with divided money transactions, by exchanging with each other our articles of produce on the basis of labor for equal labor, by looking forward to apply our surplus wealth to a.s.sist others to attain similar advantages, and by the abandonment of the use of spiritous liquors, we shall in a peculiar manner promote the object of every wise government and all really enlightened men.

"And here we now are, as near perhaps as we can be in the center of the United States, even, as it were, like the little grain of mustard seed! But with these _Great Truths_ before us, with the practice of the social system, as soon as it shall be well understood among us, our principles will, I trust, spread from Community to Community, from State to State, from Continent to Continent, until this system and these _truths_ shall overshadow the whole earth, shedding fragrance and abundance, intelligence and happiness, upon all the sons of men!"

Such were the antecedents and promises of the New Harmony experiment.

The Professor appeared on the stage with a splendid reputation for previous thaumaturgy, with all the crucibles and chemicals around him that money could buy, with an audience before him that was gaping to see the last wonder of science: but on applying the flame that was to set all ablaze with happiness and glory, behold! the material prepared would not burn, but only sputtered and smoked; and the curtain had to come down upon a scene of confusion and disappointment!

What was the difficulty? Where was the mistake? These are the questions that ought to be studied till they are fully answered; for scores and hundreds of just such experiments have been tried since, with the same disastrous results; and scores and hundreds will be tried hereafter, till we go back and hold a faithful inquest, and find a sure verdict, on this original failure.

Let us hear, then, what has been, or can be said, by all sorts of judges, on the causes of Owen's failure, and learn what we can.

Macdonald has an important chapter on this subject, from which we extract the following:

"There is no doubt in my mind, that the absence of Robert Owen in the first year of the Community was one of the great causes of its failure; for he was naturally looked up to as the head, and his influence might have kept people together, at least so as to effect something similar to what had been effected at New Lanark. But with a people free as these were from a set religious creed, and consisting, as they did, of all nations and opinions, it is doubtful if even Mr.

Owen, had he continued there all the time, could have kept them permanently together. No comparison can be made between that population and the Shakers, Rappites, or Zoarites, who are each of one religious faith, and, save the Shakers, of one nation.

"Mr. Samson, of Cincinnati, was at New Harmony from the beginning to the end of the Community; he went there on the boat that took the last of the Rappites away. He says the cause of failure was a rogue, named Taylor, who insinuated himself into Mr. Owen's favor, and afterward swindled and deceived him in a variety of ways, among other things establishing a distillery, contrary to Mr. Owen's wishes and principles, and injurious to the Community.

"Owen always held the property. He thought it would be ten or twelve years before the Community would fill up; but no sooner had the Rappites left, than the place was taken possession of by strangers from all parts, while Owen was absent in England and the place under the management of a committee. When Owen returned and found how things were going, he deemed it necessary to mike a change, and notices were published in all parts, telling people not to come there, as there were no accommodations for them; yet still they came, till at last Owen was compelled to have all the log-cabins that harbored them pulled down.

"Taylor and Fauntleroy were Owen's a.s.sociates. When Owen found out Taylor's rascality he resolved to abandon the partnership with him, which Taylor would only agree to upon Owen's giving him a large tract of land, upon which he proposed to form a Community of his own. The agreement was that he should have the land and _all upon it_. So on the night previous to the execution of the bargain, he had a large quant.i.ty of cattle and farm implements put upon the land, and he thereby came into possession of them! Instead of forming a Community, he built a distillery, and also set up a tan-yard in opposition to Mr.

Owen!"

In the _Free Enquirer_ of June 10th, 1829, there is an article by Robert Dale Owen on New Lanark and New Harmony, in which, after comparing the two places and showing the difference between them, he makes the following remark relative to the experiment at New Harmony: "There was not disinterested industry, there was not mutual confidence, there was not practical experience, there was not unison of action, because there was not unanimity of counsel: and these were the points of difference and dissension--the rocks on which the social bark struck and was wrecked."

A letter in the _New Harmony Gazette_, of January 31, 1827, complains of the "slow progress of education in the Community--the heavy labor, and no recompense but _cold water_ and _inferior provisions_."

Paul Brown, who wrote a book ent.i.tled "Twelve months at New Harmony,"

among his many complaints says, "There was no such thing as real general _common stock_ brought into being in this place." He attributes all the troubles, to the anxiety about "_exclusive property_," princ.i.p.ally on the part of Owen and his a.s.sociates.

Speaking of one of the secondary Societies, he says there were "cla.s.s distinctions" in it; and Macluria or the School Society he condemns as being most aristocratical, "its few projectors being extremely wealthy."

In the _New Moral World_ of October 12, 1839, there is an article on New Harmony, in which it is a.s.serted that Mr. Owen was induced to purchase that place on the understanding that the Rappite population then residing there would remain, until he had gradually introduced other persons to acquire from them the systematic and orderly habits, as well as practical knowledge, which they had gained by many years of practice. But by the removal of Rapp and his followers, Mr. Owen was left with all the property on his hands, and he was thus compelled to get persons to come there to prevent things from going to ruin.

Mr. Josiah Warren, in his "Practical Details of Equitable Commerce,"

says: "Let us bear in mind that during the great experiments in New Harmony in 1825 and 1826, every thing went delightfully on, except pecuniary affairs! We should, no doubt, have succeeded but for property considerations. But then the experiments never would have been commenced but for property considerations. It was to annihilate social antagonism by a system of _common property_, that we undertook the experiments at all."

Mr. Sargant, the English biographer of Owen, intimates several times that _religion_ was the first subject of discord at New Harmony. His own opinion of the cause of the catastrophe, he gives in the following words:

"What were the causes of these failures? People will give different answers, according to the general sentiments they entertain. For myself I should say, that such experiments must fail, because it is impossible to mould to Communism the characters of men and women, formed by the present doctrines and practices of the world to intense individualism. I should indeed go further by stating my convictions, that even with persons brought up from childhood to act in common and live in common, it would be impossible to carry out a Communistic system, unless in a place utterly removed from contact with the world, or with the help of some powerful religious conviction. Mere benevolence, mere sentiments of universal philanthropy, are far too weak to bind the self-seeking affections of men."

John Pratt, a Positivist, in a communication to _The Oneida Circular_, contributes the following philosophical observations:

"Owen was a Scotch metaphysician of the old school. As such, he was a most excellent fault-finder and _disorganizer_. He could perceive and depict the existing discord, but knew not better than his contemporaries Sh.e.l.ley and G.o.dwin, where to find the New Harmony. Like most men of the last generation he looked upon society as a manufactured product, and not as an organism endued with imperishable vitality and growth. Like them he attributed all the evils it endured to priests and politicians, whose immediate annihilation would be followed by immediate, everlasting and universal happiness. It would be astonishing if an experiment initiated by such a cla.s.s of thinkers should succeed under the most favorable auspices. One word as to mere externals. Owen was a skeptic by training, and a cautious man of business by nature and nationality. He was professedly an entire convert to his own principles; yet set an example of distrust by holding on to his thirty thousand acres himself. This would do when dealing with starving Scotch peasantry, glad of the privilege of moderately remunerated labor, good food and clothing. Had he been a benevolent Southern planter he would have succeeded admirably with negro slaves, who would have been only too happy to accept any 'Principles.' He had to do with people who had individual hopes and aspirations. The internal affinities of Owen's Commune were too weak to resist the attractions of the outer world. Had he brought his New Lanark disciples to New Harmony, the result would not have been different. Removed from the mechanical pressure of despair and want, his weakly cohered elements would quickly have crumbled away."

Our chapter on New Harmony was submitted, soon after it was written, to an evening gathering of the Oneida Community, for the purpose of eliciting discussions that might throw light on the failure; and we take the liberty here to report some of the observations made on that occasion. They have the advantage of coming from persons who have had long experience in Community life.

_E.H. Hamilton_ said--"My admiration is excited, to see a man who was prospering in business as Mr. Owen was, turn aside from the general drift of the world, toward social improvement. I have the impression that he was sincere. He risked his money on his theories to a certain extent. His attempt was a n.o.ble manifestation of humanity, so far as it goes. But he required other people to be what he was not himself.

He complains of his followers, that they were not teachable. I do not think he was a teachable man. He got a glimpse of the truth, and of the possibilities of Communism; but he adopted certain ideas as to the way in which these results are to be obtained, and it seems to me, in regard to those ideas, he was not docile. It must be manifest to all candid minds, that all the improvement and civilization of the present time, go along with the development of Christianity; and I am led to wonder why a man with the discernment and honesty of Mr. Owen, was not more impressible to the truth in this direction. It seems to me he was as unreceptive to the truths of Christianity, as the people he got together at New Harmony were to his principles. His favorite dogma was that a man's character is formed for him, and not by himself. I suppose we might admit, in a certain sense, that a man's character is formed for him by the grace of G.o.d, or by evil spirits. But the notion that man is wholly the creature of external circ.u.mstances, irrespective of these influences, seems foolish and pig-headed."

_H.J. Seymour._--"I should not object to Owen's doctrine of circ.u.mstances, if he would admit that the one great circ.u.mstance of a man's life is the possibility of finding out and doing the will of G.o.d, and getting into vital connection with him."

_S.R. Leonard._--"The people Mr. Owen had to deal with in Scotland were of the servile cla.s.s, employees in his cotton-factories, and were easily managed, compared with those he collected here in the United States. When he went to Indiana, and undertook to manage a family of a thousand democrats, he began to realize that he did not understand human nature, or the principles of a.s.sociation."

_T.R. Noyes._--"The novelty of Owen's ideas and his rejection of all religion, prevented him from drawing into his scheme the best cla.s.s in this country. Probably for every honest man who went to New Harmony, there were several parasites ready to prey on him and his enterprise, because he offered them an easy life without religion. Even if he might have got on with simple-minded men and women like his Lanark operatives, it was out of the question with these greedy adventurers."

_G.W. Hamilton._--"At the west I met some persons who claimed to be disciples of Owen. From what I saw of them, I should judge it would be very difficult to form a Community of such material. They were very strong in the doctrine that every man has a right to his own opinion; and declaimed loudly against the effect of religion upon people. They said the common ideas of G.o.d and duty operated a great deal worse upon the characters of men, than southern slavery. There is enough in such notions of independence, to break up any attempt at Communism."

_F.W. Smith._--"I understand that Owen did not educate and appoint men as leaders and fathers, to take care of the society while he was crossing the ocean back and forth. He undertook to manage his own affairs, and at the same time to run this Community. Our experience has shown that it is necessary to have a father in a great family for daily and almost hourly advice. I should think it would be doubly necessary in such a Community as Owen collected, to have the wisest man always at his post."

_C.A. Burt._--"There are only two ways of governing such an inst.i.tution as a Community; it must be done either by law or by grace.

Owen got a company together and abolished law, but did not establish grace; and so, necessarily failed."

_L. Bolles._--"The popular idea is that Owen and his cla.s.s of reformers had an ideal that was very beautiful and very perfect; that they had too much faith for their time--too much faith in humanity; that they were several hundred years in advance of their age; and that the world was not good enough to understand them and their beautiful ideas. That is the superficial view of these men. I think the truth is, they were not up to the times; that mankind, in point of real faith, were ahead of them. Their view that the evil in human nature is owing to outward surroundings, is an impeachment of the providence of G.o.d. It is the worst kind of unbelief. But they have taught us one great lesson; and that is, that good circ.u.mstances do _not_ make good men. I believe the circ.u.mstances of mankind are as good as Providence can make them, consistently with their own state of development and the well-being of their souls. Instead of seeking to sweep away existing governments and forms of outward things, we should thank G.o.d that he has given men inst.i.tutions as good as they can bear. We know that he will give them better, as fast as they improve beyond those they have."

_J.B. Herrick._--"Although the apparent effect of the failure of Owen's movement was to produce discouragement, still below all that discouragement there is, in the whole nation, generated in part by that movement, a hope watching for the morning. We have to thank Owen for so much, or rather to thank G.o.d, for using Owen to stimulate the public mind and bring it to that state in which it is able to receive and keep this hope for the future."

_C.W. Underwood._--"Owen's experiment helped to demonstrate that there is no such thing as organization or unity without Christ and religion.

But on the other hand we can see that Owen did much good. The churches were compelled to adopt many of his ideas. He certainly was the father of the infant-school system; and it is my impression that he started the reform-schools, houses of refuge, etc. He gave impulse, at any rate, to the present reformatory movements."

It is noticeable, as a concidence with our observations on the l.u.s.t for land in a preceding chapter, that Owen succeeded admirably in a factory, and failed miserably on a farm. Whether his 30,000 acres had anything to do with his actual failure or not, they would probably have been the ruin of his Community, if it had not failed from other causes.

We have reason to believe from many hints, that _whisky_ had considerable agency in the demoralization and destruction of New Harmony. The affair of Taylor's distillery is one significant fact.

Here is another from Macdonald:

"I was one day at the tan-yard, where Squire B. and some others were standing, talking around the stove. During the conversation Squire B.

asked us if he had ever told us how he had served 'old Owen' in Community times. He then informed us that he came from Illinois to New Harmony, and that a man in Illinois was owing him, and asked him to take a barrel of whisky for the debt. He could not well get the money; so took the whisky. When it came to New Harmony he did not know where to put it, but finally hid it in his cellar. Not long after Mr. Owen found that the people still got whisky from some quarter, he could not tell where, though he did his best to find out. At last he suspected Squire B., and came right into his shop and accused him of it; on which Squire B. had to own that it was he who retailed the whisky. 'It was taken for a debt,' said he, 'and what else was I to do to get rid of it?' Mr. Owen turned round, and in his simple manner said, 'Ah, I see you do not understand the principles.' This story was finished with a hearty laugh at 'old Owen.' I could not laugh, but felt that such men as Squire B. really did not understand the principles; and no wonder there are failures, when such men as he thrust themselves in, and frustrate benevolent designs."

It was too early for a Community, when this country was a "nation of drunkards," as it was in 1825.

Owen's method of getting together the material of his Community, seems to us the most obvious _external_ cause of his failure. It was like advertising for a wife; and we never heard of any body's getting a good wife by advertising. A public invitation to "the industrious and well-disposed of all nations," to come on and take possession of 30,000 acres of land and a ready-made village, leaving each one to judge as to his own industry and disposition, would insure a prompt gathering--and also a speedy scattering.

This method, or something like it, has been tried in most of the non-religious experiments. The joint-stock principle, which many of them adopted, necessarily invites all who choose to buy stock. That principle may form organizations that are able to carry on the businesses of banks and railroads after a fashion; because such businesses require but little character, except zeal and ability for money-making. But a true Community, or even a semi-Community, like the Fourier Phalanxes, requires far higher qualifications in its members and managers.

The socialistic theorizers all a.s.sume that a.s.sociation is a step in advance of civilization. If that is true, we must a.s.sume also that the most advanced cla.s.s of civilization is that which must take the step; and a discrimination of some sort will be required, to get that cla.s.s into the work, and shut off the barbarians who would hinder it.

Judging from all our experience and observation, we should say that the two most essential requisites for the formation of successful Communities, are _religious principle_ and _previous acquaintance_ of the members. Both of these were lacking in Owen's experiment. The advertising method of gathering necessarily ignores both.

Owen, in his old age, became a Spiritualist, and in the light of his new experience confessed what seems to us the princ.i.p.al cause of his failure. Sargant, his biographer, referring to chapter and verse in his writings says:

"He confessed that until he received the revelations of Spiritualism, he had been quite unaware of the necessity of good _spiritual conditions_ for forming the character of men. The physical, the intellectual, the moral, and the practical conditions, he had understood, and had known how to provide for; but the spiritual he had overlooked. _Yet this, as he now saw, was the most important of all in the future development of mankind._"

In the same new light, Owen recognized the princ.i.p.al cause of all real success. Sargant continues:

"Owen says, that in looking back on his past life, he can trace the finger of G.o.d directing his steps, preserving his life under imminent dangers, and impelling him onward on many occasions. It was under the immediate guidance of the Spirit of G.o.d, that during the inexperience of his youth, he accomplished much good for the world. The preservation of his life from the peculiar dangers of childhood, was owing to the monitions of this good Spirit. To this superior invisible aid he owed his appointment, at the age of seven years, to be usher in a school, before the monitorial system of teaching was thought of. To this he must ascribe his migration from an inaccessible Welsh county to London, and then to Stamford, and his ability to maintain himself without a.s.sistance from his friends. So he goes on recounting all the events of his life, great and small, and attributing them to the SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OF G.o.d."