America's Closest Relationship to Communism: The Oneida Community

When my grandparents moved to a town nearby Syracuse, I would visit them for about a week every summer. A town not too far from them called Oneida, New York, had a very rich history that my grandparents wanted to show me. Oneida is famous for their silver factory and for their famous family: The Oneida community. While I really did not understand at the time when I went to see the Oneida community, learning about the Second Great Awakening in high school and Communism at the U of M gave me a great picture of what the Oneida community was. It was America's best example of communist living.

Oneida Community http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_Community

The Oneida community was similar to a modern-day kibbutz in terms that they were a joint community with common religious ideals as well as a single product that they work with as well as social practices that resemble Marxism. The Oneidas were started by John Humphry Noyes during the Second Great Awakening and tried to create a Utopian society based on his beliefs. Noyes believed that "God could not expect the impossible from his subjects, and that the perfection that he demanded was not only attainable, but that it could be accomplished by an inner sense of salvation." Noyes also believed that "the millennium had actually arrived in 70 A.D. He based this on what he interpreted to be Christ's expectation that the millennium would arrive within one generation of His death. In Noyes' understanding, therefore, the saints had been separated from sinners for generations, and no longer needed to fear sin. These two ideas working in combination, led Noyes to the belief that the Kingdom of Heaven could be realized on earth." Through these Utopian ideals, he built a society where all his followers tried to duplicate heaven. Him and his followers built a communist society where everything was communal. Each member had a specific job and everything was shared. 

John Humphrey Noyes himself  http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%BE%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87:John_Humphrey_Noyes.jpg

Socially. Noyes believed that there was no marriage, which was similar to Marx, but for a different reason because Noyes believed that there was no marriage in heaven. All members of the community were shared. This was his idea called complex marriage was regulated by what he called "male continence," his form of birth control, where he was able to selectively breed to make the "best" individuals. This is contrary to what Marx believes because he did not believe in selective breeding but he did not believe in family living because it interfered with the idea of communism and family lifestyles was a product of the bourgeoisie which promoted capital and private gain. Also, in the community people had selective jobs that they performed for the good of the community. The products that were made were for the general use of the public, like in Marxism. The Oneida community was a productive communal society that profited $600,000 from sales and land holdings. There was no laziness in this society. In Noyes' society, everyone was equal. Even though most women did domestic work, they were considered equals. Children were also brought up in a communal setting to de-emphasize the point of family. While his experimentation only lasted about 33 years, many of his ideas relay to communist thought and was one of the first attempts in the United States at communism.

Karl Marx might approve http://www.historyguide.org/images/marx-bio.jpg

While there were similarities, there were differences in Noyes' society that did not relate to Marxism. One of the ideas was that religion was prominent in Noyes' society through the idea of making a society close to heaven and as a Utopia. Marx wanted communism to be a religiousless society because he thought religion was one of the main ideas of the bourgeoisie. Also, the society made goods like silver and developed it into personal profit. While it was a communal effort to make goods and sell them throughout American society, they did have a purpose for personal economic gain. Their own society totaled $600,000 in total sales and land holdings in the middle to late 1800's. While Oneida was a communist society, their ideas were perverted at times for personal communal gain as well as other non communist ideals. Overall, the Oneida community was one of the first attempts at a communist society in America.