The Plymouth Pilgrims accidentally ran the first documented socialist experiment in America three centuries before Marx scribbled his manifesto. ... "common storehouse" system from 1620-1623 delivered textbook collectivist results

x.com ^ | May 5, 2026 | Handre @Handre

[ransomnote]

Handre

 

@Handre

The Plymouth Pilgrims accidentally ran the first documented socialist experiment in America three centuries before Marx scribbled his manifesto. Governor William Bradford's "common storehouse" system from 1620-1623 delivered textbook collectivist results: mass shirking, crop failures, and near-starvation.

Bradford recorded the disaster in detail. Young men "complained that they were oppressed" when forced to work for others without reward. Productive colonists watched lazy neighbors receive equal rations despite contributing nothing. The system "was found to breed much confusion and discontent" because it violated basic human incentives. People starved while fertile Massachusetts soil lay underworked.

The turnaround came swiftly in 1623 when Bradford abandoned the collective model and assigned private family plots. Production exploded overnight. Women and children voluntarily joined field work when their families directly benefited from extra effort. The same colonists who nearly died under socialism suddenly produced abundant harvests under private property.

Bradford explicitly credited private ownership for saving Plymouth Colony. He documented how individual responsibility transformed human behavior within a single growing season. Individual effort cannot be separated from individual reward without destroying both.

Every socialist experiment since Plymouth has repeated this identical pattern. Different century, different continent, same predictable collapse when planners ignore the reality of human nature.

No matter what they call it, whenever and wherever collectivist ideas are put into practice, disaster soon follows.

 

[cpdiii]

Forgot to add this. The most perfect form of government would be a benevolent dictatorship in a capitalistic economy. Benevolent dictators are hard to find and they degrade into Lord Acton's writings,.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is a famous 1887 maxim by British historian Lord Acton, warning that as power increases, moral sense decreases. It means that total authority removes accountability, leading to abuse and unethical behavior, as demonstrated throughout history.

He got it correct.

[redinIllinois]

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[stevio]

I did emphasize “loving” and when they were old enough to understand but young enough not to work. They’re older now and the ones that work pitch in for expenses and the ones that don’t have chores. My wife was a stay-at-home mother and home-schooled them. So it was part of their schooling.

[Jim W N]

Gov’t Command and Control fails every time. Goes against human nature and God-given individual rights.