Ruskin Colony - Origins and Goals

Origins and Goals

The Ruskin Colony was originally founded by Julius Augustus Wayland (1854–1912), a newspaper editor and socialist from Indiana. The roots of the Ruskin project can be found in the movement within American socialism at the time towards the creation of new model colonies which would, in theory, challenge the American industrial system by creating ethical alternatives built in rural settings. The idea that new settlements such as Ruskin would eventually bring forth a revolution referred to as the "co-operative commonwealth" stood in contrast to socialists who believed that it was more important to do political and social organizing within the cities, the centers of industry. According to W. Fitzhugh Brundage in the book A Socialist Utopia in the New South: "The wastefulness and ugliness of competitive individualism, so glaringly apparent in late nineteenth-century cities, would be replaced by the efficient creation and collective control of wealth and technology" in this new settlement.