How do people feel about communes?

[Deja Q]

Jus' curious. O8)

[cavanaghjam]

1. they're communistic eom

[Lucky Luciano]

2. Definitely not for me...

I prefer the Bourgeois liberal lifestyle....there is no doubt that if I ran for president they would lay the intellectual urban elitist tag on me before I announced my candidacy.

[illflem]

3. They can be great

but invariably an elite forms with a leader who is on a power trip.
Must be human nature.

[imenja]

4. so tedious

I'm the child of hippies. I remember visiting a few communes as a kid. I couldn't stand the whole scene. I have no patience whatsoever for that kind of B.S. Sitting around smoking dope and growing organic produce isn't going to bring about a socialist revolution.

[Deja Q]

5. Oh, I don't mean smoking dope and all that...

People living together to share costs as a means to survive.

Definitely 'communistic'.

[imenja]

6. OK

that's just my association with them based on my childhood in the 60s. It seemed like they went together back then. Obviously people should live as they like, as long as it doesn't harm others. Sharing is by nature a wonderful thing. I was just expressing my own very personal reaction.

[Deja Q]

7. I appreciate your input and edification, BTW.

I didn't know that's what a hippie commune was about.

[teach1st]

8. How about a more successful hippie-type commune?

http://www.thefarm.org/

Not all communes are created equal.

"Who are these people who have managed to live so well on so little while contributing so much to vegetarians and others worldwide? In truth, they're a bunch of aging hippies.

"This community, so far ahead of its time, is the Farm, an experiment in communal living that began in 1971 when most of the current residents were still college students in San Francisco."

[teach1st]

15. By the way, a 1972 article by Al Gore on The Farm commune

http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/gaskin_stephen/gaskin_stephen_article1.shtml

[neebob]

9. I have a friend who left an ashram

after the guru or whatever they call the leader absconded with all the funds. So I have to say I'm not impressed with communes, unless someone can explain the difference between a commune and an ashram, in which case I'll be happy to reconsider my position.

[teach1st]

11. An ashram centers around a spiritual idea...

..usually around a spiritual personality (usually Eastern).

Communes come in different flavors, but most successful communes I visited had a a common philosophy or social ideal, but were not primarily spriritual.

[neebob]

13. Okay, then I definitely don't care for ashrams

but can go either way on communes ... unless an ashram is still a commune, in which case I don't like that particular kind.

[rug]

10. Depends on who's there.

[Chicago Democrat]

12. What kind? I lived on one for 3 months....

Basically fantastic...

I learned about chickens and goats and it was magical and wonderful and sex filled and very hippy. And i was in a state of innocence once again.

But I would have a hard time living there since I am full of angst and a commune is all about cooperation and harmony. Plus you have to attend meetings all the time and talk about -everything-, plus there are a million rules.

[Abelman]

16. Sex-filled?

Sign me up!

[brainshrub]

14. Depends on what you define as a Commune.

Monasteries & Kibbutzes are both different types of communes.

I plan to live in an "Intentional Community" called Earthaven within a few years. An intentional community is like a village with a constitution. (In this case, Earthaven is based on the principles of Permaculture.)

ON EDIT: Fixed links.

[2cents]

17. I'm not a good candidate

I'm too independent and antisocial.

(Now, where the hell did I put those Ayn Rand books);)

[mr_hat]

18. You could say Dennis.

[logosoco]

19. My sister lives on one now.....

actually it's called a worker owned cooperative because they have 3 business'. It's a very nice place, they own about 1000 acres and it's pretty self sufficient and easy on the environment.
It was a great place for my neice and nephew to spend much of their childhood, and actually my nephew is there now, learning and working on a lot of different things. My neice is out in the "real world" trying to pay off her college degree and find a job.

They probably aren't for everybody, but even my mom enjoys going there to visit .

[Nikia]

20. If I were single, I'd prefer it

I am an introverted type, but one who likes people. I like people who I like. I become comfortable with people once I get to know them. As long as I hit if pretty well with the group, I'd be happy to live with one. I never have really been attatched to material things or private property. I really enjoyed my dorm living situation at college.

[SarahB]

21. It would be great in theory.

If, in all honesty, most people didn't utterly annoy me. :shrug:

[Porcupine]

22. I suspect it's like Junior High School revisited...

at least that was my experience with a Co-Housing community I lived in for six years. If you were in with the in group you could do nothing and your every quibble demanded enormous attention.

If you did not mix socially or brown nose to the powers that be no amount of work or personal sacrifice on your part would get you respect and/or appreciation.

"Sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."-Star Trek

[Squeech]

23. They do tend to require

that all the people involved be devoted to a central idea.

I had a sort of fetish for American communes when I was in school. The successful ones were religious: the Shakers built over a dozen such communes, which lasted as long as the population-- which wasn't too long, since they were celibate and could only grow if they attracted new members. But their communes were not only prosperous but beautiful-- Shaker architecture and furniture design are widely revered today.

The Oneida commune was also religious in nature, but definitely not celibate, instead practicing a free love overseen by a benevolent leader (who somehow managed to be the father of a significant number of the commune's children). They too had great craft skills, specifically in metalworking. The Oneida silverware company is the institutional descendant of the commune (which fell apart when the father figure died).

Liberals kinda suck at it. Brook Farm and Fruitlands meant well, but financially, and emotionally, they were debacles.