IV. New Harmony

3° AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. CHAPTER IV. NEW HARMONY. AMERICAN Socialisms, as we have defined them and grouped their experiments, may be called nOl't-religious Socialisms. Several religious Camm uni ties flourished in this country before Owen's attempts, and have con tinued to flourish here since the collapse of Fourierism. But they were originally colonies of foreigners, and never were directly connected with movements that could be called national. Owen was the first Socialist that stirred the enthusiasm of the whole American peo pie; and he was the first, so far as we know, who tried the experiment of a non-religious Community. And the whole series of experiments belonging to the two great groups of the Owen andF ourier epochs, followed in his footsteps. The exclusion of theology was their dis tinction and their boast. Our programme, limited as it is by its title to these national Socialisms, does not strictly include the religious Communities. Yet those Communities have played indirectly a very important part in the drama of American Socialisms, and will require considerable inci dental attention as we proceed.

NE\V HARMONY. 31 In atten1pting to make out from Macdonald's collec tion an outline of Owen's great experiment at New Harn10ny (which was the prototype of all the Owen and Fourier experiments), we find ourselves at the outset quite unexpectedly dealing with a striking example of the relation between the religious and non-religious Communities. Owen did not build the village of New Harmony, nor create the improvements which prepared his 30,000 acres for his family of nine hundred. He bought them outright from a previous religious Community; and it is doubtful whether he would have ever gathered his nine hundred and made his experiment, if he had not found a place prepared for him by a sect of Christian Com munists. Macdonald was an admirer, we might almost say a worshiper, of Owen. He gloats over New Harmony as the very Mecca of his devotion. There he spent his first eighteen months in this country. The finest pic ture in his collection is an elaborate India-ink drawing of the village. But he scarcely mentions the Rappites who built it. No separate account of them, such as he gives of the Shakers and Moravians, can be found in his manuscripts. This is an unaccountable neglect; for their pre-occupation of New Harmony and their trans actions with Owen, must have thrust them upon his notice; and their history is intrinsically as interesting, to say the least, as that of any of the religious Communities.

A glance at the history of the Rappites is in many ways indispensable, as an introduction to an account of Owen's New Harmony. We must therefore address ourselves to the task which Macdonald neglected.

32 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. THE HARMONISTS. In the first years of the present century, old Wtir temburg, a province always famous for its religious enthusiasms, was fermenting \vith excitement about the Millennium; and many of its enthusiasts were expect ing the speedy personal advent of Christ Among these George Rapp became a prominent preacher, and led forth a considerable sect into doctrines and ways that brought upon him and them severe persecutions. In 1803 he came to America to find a refuge for his flock. After due exploration he purchased 5000 acres of land in Butler Co., Pennsylvania, and commenced a settlement which he called Harmony. In the summer of 1804 two ship-loads of his disciples with their familiessix hundred in all-C'ame over the ocean and joined him In 1805 the Society was formally organized as a Chris tian Community, on the model of the Pentecostal church. For a time their fare was poor and their work was hard. An evil eye from their neigh bars was upon thenl. But they lived down calumny and suspicion by well-doing, and soon made the wilderness blossom around thenl like the rose. In 1807 they adopted the principle of celibacy; but in other respects they were far from being ascetics. Music, painting, sculpture, and other liberal arts flourished among them. Their nlU seunlS and gardens were the wonder and delight of the region around them. In 1814, desiring warmer land and a better location for business, they sold all in Penn sylvania and removed to Indiana. On the banks of the Wabash they built a new village and again called it Harmony. Here they prospered nl0re than ever, and their number increased to nearly a thousand In 1824 they again becarne discontented with their location, on NEW HARMONY. 33 account of bad neighbors and malaria. Again they sold all, and returned to Pennsylvania; but not to their old home. They built their third and final village in Beaver Co, near Pittsburgh, and called it Economy. There they are to this day. They own railroads and oil wells and are reported to be millionaires of the unknown grade. In all their migrations from the old world to the new, from Pennsylvania to Indiana, and from Indiana back to Pennsylvania; in all their perils by persecutions, by false brethren, by pestilence, by poverty and wealth, their religion held them together, and their union gave them the strength that conquers prosperity. A notable example of what a.hundred families can do when they have the wisdom of harmony, and fight the battle of life in a solid phalanx! A nobler "six hundred" than the famous dragoons of Balaklava!

Such were the people who gave Robert Owen his first lessons in Communism, and sold him their home in Indiana. Ten of their best years they spent in building a village on the Wabash, not for themselves (as it turned out), but for a theater of the great infidel experiment. Rev. Aaron Williams, D. D., the historian to whom we are indebted for the· facts of the above sketch, thus describes the negotiations and· the transfer: "The Harmonists, when they began to think of re turning to Pennsylvania, employed a certain Richard Flower, an Englishman, and· a prominent member of an English settlement in their vicinity, to negotiate for a sale of their real estate, offering him five thousand dol lars to find a purchaser. Flower went to England for this purpose, and hearing of Robert Owen's Community at New Lanark, he sought him out and succeeded in selling to him the town of Harmony, with-all its houses, 34 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS.

mills, factories and thirty thousand acres of land, for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This was an im mense sacrifice; but they were determined to leave the country, and they submitted to the loss. Having in the meantime made a purchase of their present lands in Pennsylvania, on the Ohio river, they built a steamboat and removed in detachments to their new and final place of settlement." Thus Owen, the first experimenter in .non-religious Association, had substantially the ready-made material conditions which Fourier and his followers considered indispensable to success. We proceed now to give a sketch of the Owen experiment chiefly in Macdonald's words. When our own language occurs it is generally a condensation of his. OWEN'S NEW HARMONY. "Robert Owen came to the United States in Decem ber I 824, to complete the purchase of the settlement at Harmony. Mr. Rapp had sent an agent to England to dispose of the property, and Mr. Owen fell in with him there. In the spring of 1825 Mr. Owen closed the bar gain. The property consisted of about 3°,000 acres of land; nearly 3,000 acres under cultivation by the society; 19 detached farms; 600 acres of improved land occu pied by tenants; some fine orchards; eighteen acres of full-bearing vines; and the village, which was a regularly laid out town, with streets running at right angles to each other, and a public square, around which were large brick edifices, built by the Rappites for churches, schools, and other public purposes."

We can form some idea of the size of the village from NEW HARMONY. 35 the fact 'which we learn from Mr. Winiams, that the Rappites, while at Harmony, numbered one thousand souls. It does not appear from Macdonald's account that Owen and his Community made any important additions to the village. " On the departure of the Rappites, persons favorable to Mr. Owen's views came flocking to New Harmony (as it was thenceforth called) from all parts of the coun try. Tidings of the new social experiment spread far and wide; and, although it has been denied, yet it is undoubtedly true, that Mr Owen in his public lectures invited the' industrious and well disposed of an nations' to emigrate to New· Harmony. The consequence was, that in the short space of six weeks from the commence ment of the experiment, a population of eight hundred persons was drawn together, and in October 1825, the number had increased to nine hundred."

As to the character of this population, Macdonald insists that it was "as good as it could be under the circumstances," and he gives the names of "many intel ligent and benevolent individuals who were at various times residents at New Harmony." But he admits that there were some "black sheep" in the flock. " It is certain," he says, "that there was a proportion of needy and idle persons. who crowded in to avail themselves of Mr. Owen's liberal offer; and that they did their share of work more in the line of destruction than COltS truc t£01l " CV1lstitution No. I. On the 27th of April 1825, Mr. Owen instituted a sort of provisional government. In an address to the people in New Harmony Hall, he informed them, "that AMERICAN SOCIAL ISMS. he had bought that property, and had come there to introduce the practice of the new views; but he showed them the impossibility that persons educated as they were, should change at once from an irrational to a rational system of society, and the necessity for a 'half way house,' in which to be prepared for the new system."

Whereupon he tendered them a COl'lstitution, of which we find no definite account, except that it was not fully Communistic, and was to hold the people in probationary training three years, under the title of the Preliminary Society of New Har1nony. "After these proceedings Mr. Owen left New Harmony for Europe, and the Society was managed by the Preli1ninary C011unittee.(!)" We may imagine, each one for himself, what the nine hundred did while Mr. Owen was away. Macdonald compiled from the Nez£) Harmony Gazette a very rapid but evidently defective account of the state of things in this important interval. He says nothing about the work on the 3°,000 acres, but speaks of various minor businesses as "doing well." The only manufactures that appear to have" exceeded consumption" were those of soap and glue. A respectable apothecary" dispensed medicines without charge," and "the store supplied the inhabitants with all necessaries "-probably at Mr.

Owen's expense. Education was considered "public property," and one hundred and thirty children were schooled, boarded and clothed from the public funds probably at Mr, Owen's expense. Amusements l1our ished. The Society had a band of music; Tuesday evenings were appropriated to balls; Friday evenings to concerts-both in the old Rappite church. There was no provision for religious worship. Five military companies, "consisting of infantry, artillery, riflemen, NEW HARMONY. 37 veterans and fusileers," did duty from time to time on the pubUc square. Constitution NO.2. "Mr. Owen returned to New Harmony on the 12th of January, 1826, and soon after the members of the Preliminary Society held aeon vention, and' adopted a constitution of a Community, entitled The New Har mony Community of Equality. Thus in less than a year, instead of three years as Mr. Owen had proposed, the 'half-way house' came to an end, and actual Com munism commenced. A few of the members, who, on account of a difference of opinions, did not sign the new constitution, formed a second Community on the New Harmony estate· about two miles from the town, in friendly connection with the first~"

The new government instituted by Mr. Owen, was to be in the hands of an Executive Council. subject at all times to the direction of the Community; and six· gen tlemen were appointed to this function. But Macdonald says: "Difficulties ensued in organizing the new Com munity. It appears that the plan of government· by executive council would not work, and that the members were unanimous in. calling upon Mr. Owen to take the sole management, judging from his experience that he was the only man who could do so. This call Mr. Owen accepted, and we learn that soon after general satisfaction and individual contentment took the place of suspense and uncertainty." This was in· fact the inauguration of Cons"titution NO.3. "In March the Gazette says that under the indefati gable attention of Mr. Owen, order had been introduced AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. into every department of business, and the farm presented a scene of active and steady industry. The Society was rapidly becoming a Community of }:qual ity. The streets no longer exhibited groups of idle talkers, but each one was busily engaged in the occupa tion he had chosen. The public meetings, instead of being the arenas for contending orators, were changed into meetings of business, where consultations were held and measures adopted for the comfort of all the members of the Community.

"In April there was a disturbance in the village on account of negotiations that were going on for securing the estate as private property. Some persons attempted to divide the town into several societies. Mr Owen would not agree to this, and as he had the power, he made a selection, and by solemn examination constituted a lutcleus ·of twenty-five men, which nucleus was to admit mem bers, Mr. Owen reserving the power to veto e~€ry one admitted. Th<;re were to be three grades of mem bers, viz., conditional members, probationary members, and persons on trial. (?) The Community was to be under the direction of Mr. Owen, until two-thirds of the members should think fit to govern themselves, pro vided the time was not less than twelve months." This may be called, Constitution NO.4. In May a third Community had been formed; and the population was divided between No. I, which was Mr. Owen's Community, No.2, which was called Macluria, and NO.3, which was called FeibaPeve1t-a name designating in some mysterious way the latitude and longitude of New Harmony.

NEW HARMONY. 39 "May 27. The immigration continued so steadily, that it became necessary for the Community to inform the friends of the new views that the accommodations were inadequate, and call upon them by advertisement not to come until further notice." Constitution NO.5. "May 30. In consequence of a variety of troubles and disagreements, c~iefly relating to the disposal of the property, a great meeting of the whole population was held, and it was decided to form four separate societies, each signing its own contract for such part of the property as it should purchase, and each managing its own affairs; but to trade with each other by paper money." Mr. Owen was now beginning to make sharp bargains with the independent Communities. Macdonald says, " He had lost money, and no doubt he tried to regain some of it, and used such means as he thought would prevent further loss." On the 4th of July Mr. Owen delivered hiscelebrated Declaration of Mental 11'ldependence,from which we give the following specimen: " I now declare. to you and. to the world, that Man, up to this hour, has been in all parts of the earth a slave to a Trinity of the most monstrous evils that could be combined to inflict. mental and physical evil upon his whole race. I refer to Private or Individual Property, Absurd and Irrational systems of Religion, and Mar riage founded on Individual Property, combined with some of these Irrational systems of Religion."

"August 20. After Mr. Owen had given his usual address, it was unanimously agreed by the m~eting that 4° AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. the entire population of New Harmony should meet three times a week in the Hall, for the purpose of being educated together. This practice was continued about six weeks, when Mr. Owen became sick and it was discontinued." Constitution No.6. "August 25. The people held a meeting at which they abolished all officers then existing, and appointed three men as dictators." COlzstitution NO.7. "Sept. 17. A large meeting of all the Societies and the whole population of the town took place at the Hall, for the purpose of considering a plan for the 'a1neliora tion of the Society, to improve the condition of the people, and make them more contented.' A message was re ceived from Mr. Owen proposing to fornl a Community with as many as would join him, and put in all their property, save what might be thought necessary to re se~ve .to help their friends; the government to consist of Robert Owen and four others of his choice,. to be appointed by him every year; and not to be altered for five years. This movement of course nullified all previous organizations. Disagreements and jealousies ensued, and, as was the case on a former change being made, many persons left New Harmony.

" Nav. I. The Gazette says: 'Eighteen months ex perience has proved to us, that the requisite qualifications for a permanent member of the Community of Common Property are, I, Honesty of purpose; 2, Temperance; 3, Industry; 4, Carefulness; 5, Cleanliness; 6, Desire for knowledge; 7, A conviction of the fact that the character of man is formed for, and not by, himself' NEW HARMONY. 41 " Nov. 8. Many persons leaving. The Gazette shows how impossible it is for a Comlnunity of Common prop erty to exist, unless the members comprising it have acquired the genuine Community character. "Nov. I I. Mr. Owen reviewed the last six months' progress of the Community in a favorable light. "In December the use of ardent spirits was abolished. "Jan. 1827. Although there was an appearance of increased order and happiness, yet matters were drawing to a close. Owen was selling property to individuals; the greater part of the town was now resolved into individual lots; a grocery was established opposite the tavern; painted sign-boards began to be stuck up on the buildings, pointing out places of manufacture and trade; a sort of wax-figure-and-puppet-show was opened at one end of the boarding-house; and every thing was getting into the old style."

It is useless to follow this wreck further. Everybody sees it must go down, and why it must go down. It is like a great ship, \yallowing helpless in the trough of a tempestuous sea, with nine hundred paSSc,1zgers, and no captain or organized crew! We skip to Macdonald's picture of the end. "June 18, 1827. The Gazette advertised that Mr. Owe11 would meet the inhabitants of New Harmony and the neighborhood on the following Sunday, to bid them farewell. I find no account of this meeting, nor indeed of any further movements of Mr. Owen in the Gazette. After his departure the majority of the. population. also removed and scattered about the country. Those 'who remained returned to individualism, and settled as farmers and mechanics in the ordinary way. One portion of the estate was owned by Mr. Owen, and the 42 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. other by Mr. Maclure. They sold, rented, or gave away the houses and lands, and their heirs and assigns have continued to do so to the present day."

Fifteen years after the catastrophe Macdonald was at New Harmony, among the remains of the old Com tllunity population, and he says: "I was cautioned not to speak of Socialism, as the subject was unpopular. The advice was good; Socialism was unpopular, and with good reason. The people had been wearied and disap pointed by it; had been filled full with theories, until they were nauseated, and had made such miserable attempts at practice, that they seemed ashamed of what they had been doing. An enthusiastic socialist would soon be cooled down at New Harmony." The strength of the reaction against Communism caused by Owen's failure, may be seen to this day in the sect devoted to "Individual Sovereignty." ] osiah Warren, the leader of that sect, was a member of Owen's Community, and a witness of its confusions and downfall; from which he swung off into the extreme of anti-Communism. The village of" Modern Times,"

where all forms of social organization were scouted as unscientific, was the electric negative of New Harmony. Macdonald thus moralizes over his master's failure: " Mr. Owen said he wanted honesty of purpose, and he got dishonesty. He wanted temperance, and instead, he was continually troubled with the intemperate. He wanted industry, and he found idleness. He wanted cleanliness, and found dirt. He wanted carefulness, and found waste. He wanted to find desire for knowledge, but he found apathy. He wanted the principles of the formation of character understood, and he found them misunderstood. He wanted these good qualities comNEW HARMONY. 43 bined in one and all the individuals of the Community, but he could not find them; neither could he find those who were self-sacrificing and enduring enough, to prepare and educate their children to possess these qualities. Thus it was proved that his principles were either entirely erroneous, or much in advance of the age in which he promulgated them. He seems to have forgotten, that if one and all the thousand persons assembled there, had possessed the qualities which he wished them to possess, there would have been no necessity for his vain exertions to form a 'Community; because there would of necessity be brotherly love, charity, industry and plenty. We want no more than these; and if this is the material to form Communities o:f, and we can not find it, we can not form Communi ties; and if we can not find parents who are ready and willing to educate their children, to give them these qualities for a Community life, then what hope is there of Communism in the future?"

Almost the only redeeming feature in or near this whole scene of confusion-which might well be called New Discord instead of New Harmony-was the silent retreat of the Rappite thousand, which was so orderly that it almost escaped mention. Remembering their obscure achievements and their persistent success, we can still be sure that the idea of Owen and his thousand was not a delusion, but an inspiration, that only needed wiser hearts, to become a happy reality.