XV. The Skaneateles Community

161 CHAPTER XV. THE SKANEATELES COMMUNITY. A WONDERFUL year was 1843. Father Miller's pro phetic calculations had created a vast expectation that it would be the year of the final conflagration. His confi dent followers had their ascension-robes ready; and outside multitudes saw the approach of that year with an uneasy impression that the advent of Christ, or something equally awful, was about to make an end of the world. And indeed tremendous events did come in 1843. If Father Miller and his followers had been discerning arid humble enougl?- to have accepted a spiritual fulfill ment of their prophecies, they might have escaped the mortification of a total mistake as to the time. The events that came were these: The ....L\nti-slavery movement, which for twelve years had been gathering into itself all minor reforms and firing the northern heart for revolution, came to its climax in the sun1mer of 1843, in a rush of one hundred National Conventions! At the same time Brisbane had every thing ready for his great socialistic movement, and )n the autumn of 1843 the flood of F ourierism broke upon the country. Anti-slavery was destructive; Fou rierism professed to be constructive. Both were ram162 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS.

pant against existing civilization. Perhaps it will be found that in the junction and triumphant sweep of these forces, the old world, in an important sense, did come to an end. In 1843 Massachusetts, the great n10ther of notions, threw out in the face of impending Fourierism her fourth and last socialistic experiment. There was a mania abroad, that made common Yankees as confident of their ability to achieve new social machinery and save the world, as though they were Owens or Fouriers. The Unitarians at Brook Farm, the Universalists at Hopedale, and the Nothingarians at Northampton, had tried their hands at Community-building in 1841-2, and were in the full glory of success. It was time for Anti slavery, the last and most vigorous of Massachusetts nurslings, to enter the socialistic field. This time, as if to make sure of out-flanking the French invasion, the post for the experiment was taken· at Skaneateles (a town forty miles west of the present site of the Oneida Community), thus extending the Massachusetts line .

from Boston to Central New York. John A. Collins, the founder of the Skaneateles Com munity, was a Boston man, and had been a working Abolitionist up to 'the summer of 1843. He was in fact the General Agent of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society, and in that capacity had superintended the one hundred National Conventions ordered by the Society for that year. During the latter part of this service he had turned his own attention and that of the Conven tions he managed, so much toward his private schemes of Association, that he had not the face to claim his. salary as Anti-slavery agent. His way was to get up a rousing Anti-slavery Convention, and conclude it by SKANEATELES COMMUNITY. calling a socialistic Convention, to be held on the spot immediately after it. At the close of the campaign he resigned, and the Anti-slavery Board gave him the following certificate of character: (( Voted, That the. Board, in accepting the resignation of John A. Collins, tender him their sincerest thanks, and take this occasion to bear the most cordial testimony to the zeal and disinterestedness with which, at a great crisis, he threw himself a willing offering on the altar of the Anti-slavery cause, as well as to the energy and rare ability 'with which for four years he has discharged the duties of their General Agent; and in parting, offer hin1 their best wishes for his future happiness and success."

In October Mr. Collins bought at Skaneateles a farm of three hundred and fifty acres for $15,000, paying $5,000 down, and giving back a mortgage for the remainder. There was a good stone farm-house with barns and other buildings on the place. Mr. Conins gave a general invitation to join. One hundred and fifty responded to the call, and on ,the first of January 1844 the Commu nity was under way, and the first number of its organ, The Comlnunitist, was given to the world. The only document we find disclosing the funda-: mental principles of this Community is the following which however was not ventilated in the Communitist, but found its way to the public through the Skaneateles Columbian, a neigh boring paper. We copy verbatim: Articles of Belief and Disbelief, and Creed prepared and read by John A. Collins, Novelnber 19, 1843. "BELOVED FRIENDS: By your consent and advice, I am called upon to make choice of those among you to aid me in establishing in this place, a Community of AMERICAN SOCIALISMS.

property and interest, by which we may be brought into love' relations, through which plenty and intelligence may be ultimately secured to all the inhabitants of this globe. To accomplish this great work there are but very few, in consequence of their original organization, structure of mind, education, habits and preconceived opinions, who are at the present tinle adapted to work out this great problem of human redemption. All who come together for this purpose, should be united in thought and feeling on certain fundamental principles; for without this, a Community of property would be but a farce. Therefore it may be said with great propriety that the success of the experiment will depend upon the \visdom exhibited in the choice of the 111aterials as agents for its accomplishment. "Without going into the detail of the principles upon which this Community is to be established, I will state briefly a few of the fundamental principles \vhich I regard as essential to be assented to by every applicant for admission: "1. RELIGION.-A disbelief in any special revelation of God to man, touching his will, and thereby binding upon man as authority in any arbitrary sense; that all forms of worship should cease; that all religions of every age and nation, have their origin in the same great false hood, viz., God's special Providences; that \vhile we admire the precepts attributed to Jesus of Nazareth, we do not regard them as binding because uttered by him, but because they are true in themselves, and best adapted to promote the happiness of the race: therefore we regard the Sabbath as other days; the org9'~ized church as adapted to produce strife and contention rather than love and peace; the clergy as an imposition; SKANEATELES COMMUNITY.

the Bible as no authority; miracles as unphilosophical; and salvation from sin, or from punishment in a future world, through a ·crucified God, as a remnant of heathenism. "2. GOVERNMENTS.-A disbelief in the rightful exist ence of all governments based upon physical force; that they are organized bands of banditti, whose authority is to be disregarded: therefore we will not vote under such governments, or petition to them, but. demand them to disband; do no military duty; pay no personal or property taxes; sit upon no juries; refuse to testify in courts of so-called justice; and never appeal to the law for a redress of grievances, but· use all peaceful and moral means to secure their complete destruction. "3. That there is to be no individual property, but all goods shall be held in common; that the idea of mine and thine, as regards the earth and its products, as now understood in the exclusive sense, is to be disregarded and set aside: therefore, when we unite, we will throw into the common treasury all the property which is regarded as belonging to us, and forever after yield up our individual claim and ownership in it; that no com pensation shall be demanded for our labor, if we should ever leave.

"4. MARRIAGE.-[Orthodox as usual on this head.] That we regard marriage as a true relation, growing out of the nature of things-repudiating licentiousness, con cubinage, adultery, bigamy and polygamy; that marriage is designed for the happiness of the parties and to pro mote love and virtue; that when such parties have outlived their affections and can not longer contribute to each other's happiness, the sooner the separation takes place the better; and such separation shall not be a 166 AMERICAN 'SOCIALISMS. barrier to the parties in again uniting with anyone, when they shall consider their happiness can be pro moted thereby; that parents are in duty bound to educate their children in habits of virtue and love and industry; and that they are bound to unite with the Community. "5. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.-That the Community owes to the children a duty to secure them a virtuous education, and w?-tch over them with parental care.

"'6. DIETETICS.- That a vegetable and fruit diet is essen tial to the health of the body, and purity of the nlind, and the happiness of society; therefore, the kill ing and eating of animals is essentially wrong, and should be renounced as soon as possible, together with the use of all narcotics and stimulants. '- 7. That all applicants shall, at the discretion of the Community, be put upon probation of three or six months. "8. Any person who shall force himself or herself upon the Community, who has received no invitation fronl the Community, or who does not assent to the views above enumerated, shall not be treated or consid ered as a member of the Community; no work shall be assigned to him or her if solicited, while at the sanle time, he or she shall be regarded with the same kindness as all or any other strangers-shall be furnished with food and clothing; that if at any time anyone shall dissent from any or all of the principles above, he ought at once, in justice to himself, to the Community, and to the world, to leave t,he Association. To these views we hereby affix our respective signatures.

"Assented to by all, except Q. A. Johnson, of Syracuse; J. Josephine Johnson, do.; William Kennedy, SKANEATELES COMMUNITY. 167 do.; Solomon Johnson, of Martinsburgh; and William C. Besson, of Lynn, Massachusetts." This was too strong, and had to be repudiated the next spring by the following editorial in the Com 'Inul'litist: "CREEDs.-Our friends abroad require us to say a few words under this head. "We repudiate all creeds, sects, and parties, in what ever shape or form they may present themselves. Our principles are as broad as the universe, and as liberal as the elements that surround us. They forbid the adop tion and maintenance of any creed, constitution, rules of faith, declarations of belief and disbelief, touching any or all subjects; leaving each individual free to think, believe and disbelieve, as he or she may be moved by knowledge, habit, or spontaneous impulses. Belief and disbelief are founded upon some kind of evidence, which may be satisfactory to the individual to-day, but which other or better evidence may change to-morrow. We estimate the man by his acts rather than by his peculiar belief We say to all. Believe what you may, but act as well as you can.

"These principles do not deny to anyone the right to draw out his peculiar views-his belief and clisbelief-on paper, and present them for the consideration and adoption of others. Nor do we deny the fact that such a thing has been done even with us. But we are happy to inform all our friends and the world at large, that such a document was not. fully assented to and was never adopted by the Community; and' that the authors were among the first to discover the error and ret rae e the step. The document, with all proceedings under it, 168 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. or· relating thereto, has long since been abolished and repudiated by unanimous consent; and \ve now feel ourselves to be much wiser and better than when we commenced." It will be noticed that there \vas a party in the Community, headed by Q. A. John'son, who saw the error of the creed before Collins did, and refused to sign it. This Johnson and his party made much trouble for Collins; and the whole plot of the Com munity-drama turns on the struggle between these two men, as the reader will see in the sequel.

Macdonald says, "A calamitous error was made in the deeding of the property. It appears that Mr. Collins, .who purchased the property, and whose ex periment it really was, permitted the name, of another luan [Q. A. ].] to be inserted in the deed, as a trustee, in connection with his own. He did this to avoid even the suspicion of selfishness. But his confidence was nlisplaced; as the individual alluded to subsequently acted both selfishly and dishonestly. Mr. Collins and his friends had to contend with the opposition of 'this person and one or two others during a great portion of the time." Mr. Finch, an Owenite, writing to the New Moral T¥orld, August 16, 1845, says: "Mr. Collins held to no-government or non-resistance principles: and while he claimed for the Community the right to receive and reject melubers, he refused to appeal to the government to aid him in expelling impostors, in truders and unruly members; which virtually amounted to throwing the doors wide open for the reception of all kinds of worthless characters. In consequence of his SKANEATELES COMMUNITY. 169 efforts to reduce that principle' to practice, the Com munity soon swarmed with an indolent, unprincipled and selfish class of 'reformers,' as they termed tllemselves~; one of whom, a lawyer [Q. A. }.], got half the estate into his own hands, and well-nigh ruined the concern.

Mr. Collins, from his experience, at length became convinced of his errors as to these new-fangled Yankee notions, and has now abandoned them, recovered the property, got rid of the worthless and dissatisfied mem bers, restored the society to peace and harmony, and they are now employed in fbrming a new Constitution for the society, in agreement with the knowledge they have all gained by the last two years' experience. "Owing to the dissensions that arose from thei r de fective organization at the first, a considerable number of the residents have either been dismissed, or have withdrawn from the place. The population, therefore, at present nUlnbers only eleven adult male members, eight female, and seven children. The whole nurnber of members, male and female, labor most industriously from six till six; and having large orders for their saw mill and turning shop, they work thenl night and day, with two sets of men, working each twelve hours-the saw-mill and turning shop being their principal sources of revenue."

The C01n1nUlzitist, September 18, 1845, about two years after the commencement of the COlnmunity, and eight months before its end, gives the following picture of its experiences and prospects, from the lively pen of Mr. Collins: " Most happy are 'we to inform our readers and the friends of Community in general, that our prospects of 17° AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. success are now cheering. The dark clouds which so long hung over our movement, and at times threatened not only to destroy its peace, but its existence, have at last disappeared. We now have a clear sky, and the genial rays of a brilliant sun once more are radiating upon us. Our past experience, though grievous, will be of great service to us in our future progress, and will no doubt ultimately work out the fruits of unity, in dustry, abundance, intelligence and progress. It has taught us how far we may, in safety to our enterprise, advance; that some important steps may be taken, of the practicability of which we had doubts; and others, in the success of which we had but little faith, have proved both safe and expedient. Our previous convic tions have been confirmed, that all is not gold that glitters; that not all who are most clamorous for reform are competent to become successful agents for its accomplishment; that there is floating upon the surface of society, a body of restless, disappointed, jealous, in dolent spirits, disgusted with our present social system, not because it enchains the masses to poverty, ignorance, vice and endless servitude; but because they could not render it· subservient to ·their private ends. Experience has convinced us that this class stands ready to mount every new movement that promises ease, abundance, and individual freedom; and that when such an enter;..

prise refuses to interpret license for freedom, and insists that members shall make their strength, ,skill and talent subservient to the movement, then the cry of tyranny and oppression is raised against those who advocate such industry and self-denial; then the enterprise must becon1e a scape-goat, to bear the fickleness, indolence, selfishness and envy of this class. But the above is not SKANEATELES COMMUNITY. 17 1 the only class of minds that our cause convened. From the great, noble, and disinterested principles which it embraces, from the high hopes which it inspires for pro gress, reform and, in a word, for human redemption, it has called many true reformers, genuine philanthro pists, men and women of strong hands, brave hearts and vigorous minds. " Our enterprise, the most radical and reformatory in its profession, gathers these two extremes of character, from motives diametrically opposite. When these are brought together, it is reasonable to expect that, like an acid and alkali, they will effervesce, or, like the two opposite poles of a battery, will repel each-other. For the last year it has been the principal object of th~ Community to rid itself of its cumbersome material, knowing that its very existence hinged upon this point.