History of The Socialist Movement in The United States - Utopian Communities

Utopian Communities

Utopian socialism was the US's first Socialist movement. Utopians attempted to develop model socialist societies to demonstrate the virtues of their brand of beliefs. Most Utopian socialist ideas originated in Europe, but the US was most often the site for the experiments themselves. Many Utopian experiments occurred in the 19th century as part of this movement, including:

• Brook Farm
• the New Harmony
• the Shakers
• the Amana Colonies
• the Oneida Community
• The Icarians
• Bishop Hill Commune
• Aurora, Oregon
• Bethel, Missouri
• Winter Park Florida

Robert Owen was a wealthy, Welsh industrialist who turned to social reform and socialism. In 1825 he founded a communitarian colony called New Harmony in western Indiana. The group fell apart in 1829, mostly due to conflict between Utopian ideologues and non-ideological pioneers.

Transcendentalist Utopians founded Brook Farm in 1841. The community was founded on Frenchman Charles Fourier's brand of socialism. Both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson were members of the short-lived community. The group had trouble reaching financial stability, and many members left as their leader, George Ripley turned more and more to Fourier's doctrine. All hope for its survival was lost when the expensive, Fourier-inspired main building burnt down while under construction. The community dissolved in 1847.

Fourierists also attempted to establish a community in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The North American Phalanx community built a Phalanstère, Fouriers concept of a communal living structure, out of two farmhouses and an addition that linked the two. The community lasted from 1844 to 1856, when a fire destroyed the community's flour and saw mills and several workshops. The community had already begun to decline after an ideological schism in 1853.

Another French socialist, Étienne Cabet, had American followers who attempted to establish a community in Nauvoo, Illinois after the Mormons left the city.

Utopian socialism reached the national level, fictionally, in Edward Bellamy's 1888 novel Looking Backward, a Utopian depiction of a socialist United States in the year 2000. The book sold millions of copies and became one of the best selling American books of the nineteenth century. By one estimation, only Uncle Tom's Cabin surpassed it in sales. The book sparked a following of "Bellamy Clubs" and influenced socialist and labor leaders including Eugene V. Debs.