Ten Good Reasons for Creating Communes

by Raven

I recently saw a request by a reader to explain why anyone should want to create a commune.  It’s a good question, especially when I talk about how hard it is.  I’m going to copy the old David Letterman Top 10 list format focusing on what I think is the Top Ten reasons someone (like me!) might want to create a new commune.

#10)  Challenge Capitalism:  Income sharing communities are a direct challenge to the ideas of hierarchy and that some folks are worth more than others.  The more communes there are, the more visible this challenge is.

#9)  Expand the FEC:  I’ve pointed out that the Federation of Egalitarian Communities is at a low ebb.  There’s only four very visible communities and that’s not a very large network.  If communes are worthwhile, we need more of them.

#8) Create More Flavors of Income-Sharing:  This was once given as the reason why someone said they were starting a new commune in an area that already had a couple and it’s a valid reason.  There isn’t just one way of doing income-sharing and different communes appeal to different folks.

#7)   There’s No Income-Sharing Communities in Your Region:  Honestly, this is a major reason I’m going to try to help start a new commune.  If you want to live in a particular area and there’s no communes anywhere near there, why not create one there?

#6)  Creating More Communities for Seekers:  This is another major reason I want to help start a new commune.  It really bothers me when people want to join a commune and there aren’t any communities with openings.  There should be room in the communes for anyone who wants to be in one (and is appropriate).

#5) Demonstrate Radical Sharing:  This goes beyond the communes, but income-sharing communities (which often share a lot more than income) really demonstrate that radical sharing works (and also cuts our carbon footprint enormously).

#4) Create New Models:   I talk about communities as ‘laboratories for social change’.  We need to believe that things can be different, and communes show that we can live very differently–and it can work.

#3)  Create More Alternatives:  “There Is No Alternative” (TINA) is a phrase from Margaret Thatcher but it demonstrates the way that corporate capitalism keeps control.  “Oh yes, things are bad, but there is no alternative.”  Communes are a radical alternative to the system and they work.  Creating more of them just continues to demonstrate this.

#2)  Inspire Others:  If you can create a commune and get it to work, you show that it can be done–and that will inspire more attempts.  I’ve often said that if 90% of new communities fail, we need to create a hundred of them–so we will have ten new lasting communities.

#1)  Create More Support and Connection:  In an individualistic society, where you are supposed to make it on your own, communes are often places where you have people who care about you, people who support you as you support them, places where connection is more important than money or things.  Together we can do so much more than we can alone.

More please!