That is because the colony adopted socialism that first year. They had agreed to equally share the fruits of everyone else's labor. So many colonists thinking that someone else was growing food for them decided to go out looking for riches instead. When the first winter hit, they found themselves woefully short of food.
In the second year, they decided not to distribute equally, but instead decided that each person was responsible for his/herself if they wanted to survive the second winter. If a person wanted to eat, they needed to either produce their own food or trade with someone else for it.
That second winter, the colony survived, thanks to the evils of capitalism.
Thanks for that post. That is what I remember from taking the tour at Jamestown. We had a similar story here in California. A utopian group wanted to build a community among the Sequoias and earn their money by building a toll road and attracting tourists. They were not roadbuilders, they were upper middle class. Since it was socialist, they kept expecting somebody else was getting the work done. Soon, they were begging their relatives to send them money and supplies, as they were going hungry. The enterprise folded, of course.
Capitalism isn’t easy but it gets the job done.
If you want to call that socialism, than so is a corporation. The Virginia Company was a for-profit business, that the settlers were employees of.